Cover time!

[swan_tower]

This is the extra bit I alluded to yesterday, when I posted my research book list: I finally have a version of the cover that I'm allowed to post. (There may be minor tweaks before it hits the shelves, but they're along the lines of fiddling with the text, rather than image changes.)

In honor of that, I've started putting the page for the book into proper order. Enjoy!

Also: since my image-manipulation skills end at being able to crop and shrink pictures. I will be grateful to anyone who can make a nifty icon out of this, so future book posts can use that rather than the comet image I've been employing.

Comments

[shadowcat]

YAY!!!! I am so excited for this book to come out.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous!

[anghara.livejournal.com]

...WOW.

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

Oh now that's just lovely. Very different than the previous two! Can this be read as a stand-alone, or are we better off having read the previous two?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Tor wanted to take the series look in a less romance-y direction. (Which fit Midnight Never Come, but not the whole series as much.)

The Onyx Court books are intended to be at least moderately stand-alone; there is (or should be, if I've done my job right) a payoff that comes from reading all of them in order, but each book has its own plot, in its own century, and so anything you need to know from previous books will get brought up as necessary, like any other piece of backstory.

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've read MIDNIGHT NEVER COME, but I'm really not much of a fairy person, even though I enjoy your writing. So I've been debating on the second, but this cover is making me reconsider that debate. :)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

If it helps sway you at all, In Ashes Lie is very much about politics and the English Civil War, and A Star Shall Fall is about the Enlightenment and the rise of science. So each one has a different flavor mixed in with the faeries, that may be more or less to your taste.

(I will admit there is a degree of plot linkage between Ashes and Star, more than either has with Midnight; the actions taken in the former create the situation in the latter. But I stand by my claim that you don't have to have read it to enjoy Star.)

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

ooooOOOooooo

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

Shiny!

Science is King, but Magic is Queen

Ok, I LOVE that.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I can even take credit for that line; it was part of my pitch to Tor, that they decided to use for the cover.

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Nice!!! I think this is my favorite of the three. And I love the fact that the folks at Tor listened to you and took your suggestions!

(I'm 80% through Ashes, and hoping to finish soon. You are a brilliant writer, but you do not write books one can just zip through :-)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

There's always a little part of me that's appalled at how quickly someone can read something I spent months writing, so it's kind of comforting to hear you're not just "zipping through." :-)

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely gorgeous.

[tbclone47.livejournal.com]

Holy frakking god, that's amazing. I'm shaking in my boots just looking at that. :)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Your icon is hilarious. :-)

[ninja-turbo.livejournal.com]

That's a great cover. My copy is already pre-ordered. :)

[nojojojo.livejournal.com]

Lovely! I miss the theme/style of the old covers, but I can understand the change in direction.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

What pleases me is that my editor said they've made a conscious effort to make the book spines line up: as with Midnight and Ashes, there's a mini-picture up on the top edge, so that when the series is shelved spine-out you can tell they belong together. It's a nice little touch, I think.

[orphan-of-oz.livejournal.com]

I just had a glee-induced heart attack because of the amazingness of this cover. I can't wait for the book to come out!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (Icon is hilarious, btw.)

[ailaes.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you want the coloring different, it wasn't playing nice.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hmmm -- text is a bit hard to read. If you could do that again with St. Paul's unsquished (it looks like it got stretched vertically?) and more distinct text, though, I could probably scrounge up an ARC to send you . . . .

[ailaes.livejournal.com]

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

That is one gorgeous cover.

[stephanieburgis.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that is GORGEOUS!

[ceosanna.livejournal.com]

What an amazing cover!

Here's my quick take on shrinking/manipulating it into LJ icon-size:

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Aha! Love the second one, have snurched it. Thank you!

[ceosanna.livejournal.com]

My pleasure!

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

Pretty! :) And I can't wait to read it.