I am very excited to finally share the gorgeous, wrap-around cover commissioned by Holiday House for my upcoming new release, ELEANOR, ALICE, & THE ROOSEVELT GHOSTS (9/1/20). I’ve been blessed with some beautiful covers in the past, but this one might just be my favorite!
But first, a summary …
It’s 1898 in New York City and ghosts exist among humans.
When an unusual spirit takes up residence at their aunt’s house, thirteen-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt and her cousin Alice are suspicious. The girls don’t get along, but they know something is not right. This ghost is more than a pesky nuisance. The authorities claim he’s safe to be around, even as his mischievous behavior grows stranger and more menacing. Could their aunt and her unborn child be in danger? (more…)
Just in case you missed my cover reveal over at Project Mayhem last week …
The release date for The Morrigan’s Curse is January 26, 2016, and you can read a synopsis for the book on my website’s Eighth Day Series page.
But if you have any interest in art or how book covers are designed, I still recommend you check out the interview I did with the designer and the cover artist. As my husband said when he read the interview, “I looked at the cover and thought: Wow, that guy can draw. Then I read all the work that went into creating this, and it’s not just ‘drawing’ at all.” SO MUCH work goes into this — just like writing the book itself!
In other news, it’s been a busy month for me and promises to be a busy summer. My younger daughter turned 15. My older daughter graduated from high school. I had a number of book events in June, and I have more events in July, as well as a class to teach. Also, we’ll be hosting a French exchange student all next month, and we have many events planned to entertain her.
Therefore, except for First Impressions, I’ll be cutting back blogging to once a week until further notice. First Impressions will still be available in the first 3 posts of every month. (And I have 2 openings in July, by the way. Any takers out there? I KNOW some of you are working on projects!)
The only other news I have for you is this: I mentioned last month that my husband assembled and installed new bookshelves into the room we’ve called “the library” ever since we moved into this house in 2003. For twelve years, we’ve been meaning to replace our crappy Office Depot shelves with something worthy of the name “library.” Those shelves were double and triple-stacked. Now, with all our books adequately displayed, I’ve uncovered books that I haven’t seen in years and started re-reading some old favorites from high school.
Right now, I’m on Sign of Chaos, by Roger Zelazny. I never before realized how much The Chronicles of Amber influenced my writing. It has literally been decades since I read these books, but there are concepts here that I see echoed in my own work. Except for his 1-dimensional portrayal of most female characters, sadly. But other than that, I have to say, “Thanks, Rog, old boy. You really shaped my thinking, even if it took years to reach fruition.”
After I’m through with Amber, I’ll be turning to C.J. Cherryh. (Is this where I get to brag that I’m Facebook friends with her? Not that she knows who I am or anything. She has thousands of Facebook friends. But still, if I could go back and tell my teenage self, “Some day you’ll be Facebook friends with C.J. Cherryh!” my teenage self would say … “Face-what?”)
Yes, my daughter Gabrielle now has a driver’s license. How did that happen? Wasn’t it only last year that she was THIS big?
The driver’s license thing happened during my last full week of teaching, so on top of the stress of ending both the school year and my teaching career, I had to worry about her driving to and from finals while I was at work. She made out fine (although once or twice she forgot to text me upon her arrival).
Luckily, my younger daughter, Gina, who rode with her on the way to school was very consistent about notifying me every time they reached their destination with a text that said:
We’re not dead.
Yeah, Gina. You’re hysterical.
From other parents out there who have survived a new driver in the house, any tips on how to stop worrying? So far, I’ve been letting her run small errands for me, just for the practice. But every time she heads out, I think: Why did I let her go out on that errand when I could have done it myself? What is wrong with me?
Other things that happened recently:
1. If you missed last week’s post describing the evolution of The Inquisitor’s Mark cover from sketch to final design, you can still find it HERE AT PROJECT MAYHEM.
2. And today I’m HERE AT THE CROWE’S NEST, my agent Sara Crowe’s blog, talking about all the things I didn’t know about writing a series when I signed the contract.
3. And I’d also like to mention that Joshua David Bellin interviewed his son about The Eighth DayHERE AT THE YA GUY. If you don’t know Josh from #YALitchat and #KidLitchat, I suggest you head on over, check out his blog, and follow him on Twitter!
4. Something else pretty awesome that happened in the last couple weeks is this … How many of you have read The Caged Graves? Raise your hands. Okay, would you guys believe I was recently contacted by the great-grandson of Ransloe Boone? The real Ransloe Boone, husband of of Sarah Ann Thomas Boone, one of the women buried in the real caged graves?!
That’s too good a story to tack on to the end of this blog post, so I’ll be telling you more about our correspondence next month, after my First Impressions posts for July.
Good-bye, June. You lasted way too long, and I saw you mostly through a classroom window. Looking forward to July!
I’ve been chomping at the bit to share this cover, ever since I saw it back in March …
Oh! You didn’t think I was sharing it here? Did I give that impression? My bad. 😀
That’s just a teaser. Please click HERE to see the full cover reveal at Project Mayhem — as well as an explanation of the artistic thinking behind the design, straight from the cover artist himself!
The paperback version of The Caged Graves will come out this August, and when it does, it will have a new cover. I showed it off on Facebook and Twitter last week, but in case you didn’t see it:
What do you think? I love it.
I admit I was nervous when they said I was getting a new cover, because I LOVE the first one. The girl is the striking image of Verity Boone as I imagined her, and I want to stroke and pet all the shiny gold curlicues around the title. (In fact, I have.) Also, I saw what happened to Code Name Verity when it went to paperback.
There’s no connection between my book and Wein’s book other than the name Verity, but I just cringed over the new cover. I searched the internet, trying to find the story behind the change, and I think it had to do with a New York Times review saying the first cover looked like a lesbian version of 50 Shades of Gray. But ugh, how was a pastoral landscape supposed to be better? Too far in the other direction!
Anyway, back to my book. This new cover makes the photograph of the caged grave more prominent. (It’s my husband’s photo, in case you didn’t know. Bob gets another photo credit!) And I think there’s a greater atmosphere of mystery in this new version. That’s what The Caged Graves is, a mystery in a historical setting.
While I’m talking cover switches, let me just mention the new paperback cover for Tiffany Schmidt’s debut book, Send Me a Sign. Tiffany is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet (I know. I met her. And not just on the internet, either.) I’m delighted that her new cover is an improvement over the old one!
Can you think of any cover changes that you’ve particularly liked or disliked?
Don’t forget — my Anniversary Giveaway is still running until the end of this month. Enter for more chances to win! Also, Marcy and I have 3 spots open in February for a first page critique. Make a good “First Impression” with editors, agents, and readers!
