Covers for New(ish) books by Project Mayhem Authors

Several authors here at Project Mayhem have new (or new-ish) covers and we thought it would be fun to show them off.

We all know how important a cover is. The fact that we tell people not to judge a book by it's cover reveals just what a deeply rooted impulse this is. A good cover can be the difference between someone picking a book up and reading the jacket, or not.

For an author, getting a cover is not unlike finding out that a baby is coming. At least, that's how it is for me. I have five children and four covers, so I've got some experience. (Note: the latter should continue to increase and overtake the former, which should level off). There is anticipation, excitement, and the wait seems impossibly long. And then it comes and suddenly, you are in love, and it is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in your life.

So, be warned: an author with a cover may be like the dreaded grandparent on the train or bus who insists on showing you picture of beloved grandchildren.

In that spirit, below are some of these covers, with comments by the authors about why they love them.

This first cover is actually the cover to my book, LUMINESCENCE, which comes out in March. I quite literally started laughing out loud when I saw it because I was so excited. It is just perfect in so many ways.  First of all, it has wonderful continuity with the other two books in the series.

The colors have meaning in the story, and the swirly lace pattern in the background also has meaning. The burst of light has both symbolic significance as well as being integral to the plot. In just a few elements, the cover designer, Kristen Reeves, caught the whole essence of the story.

(Note: By the way, I'm working on putting together a blog tour for this book, so if you want to be part of that, let me know. You can contact me at: braden at bradenbell.com)


This next book cover is for Hilary Wagner's book, LORDS OF TRILLIUM. I asked Hilary what she liked about it and she said: "I love the incredible detail of it and the raw emotion Omar Rayyan, the illustrator managed to get into the rat's face. Omar is know as "the animal guy" for a reason! Omar also managed to catch the mood of the lab, clearly an ominous place. Last but not least, adding the human shadow was genius. He thought of everything!"

This book is THE GENIE'S GIFT by Chris Eboch. I asked Chris what she liked about this cover:
"I was originally thinking of something more 'cartoony' for this cover, but I love what illustrator Marlo Garnsworthy did with it, with lots of lovely details in the fabric and the genie's tattoos. It has motion and emotion, without being scary, since this a fun, lighthearted adventure story. And not the way the book designer did the title so it looks like the glow from the genie is lighting up the bottom of the letters!"

Dianne K. Salerni, author of the forthcoming The Eighth Day had this to say about her cover: "There are several things I like abou this cover, including the vibrant, stormy colors and the empty street, which depicts my premise of a secret, eighth day most people don't know about. Meanwhile, we've got a figure running into a mysterious portal--and while that is not a literal thing in my story, it does evoke the idea of a fantasy instead of an apocalyptic setting. 

Our last cover is for Eden Unger Bowditch's book, THE RAVENS OF SOLEMANO. Eden said: "Steve Parke is an amazing artist. He also did the cover of The Atomic Weight of Secrets...the first Young Inventors Guild book. We were in the US when he was working on The Ravens of Solemano and he offered to have my own kids on the front and back. My daughter is on the cover and my eldest son is on the back."

Now that you've seen these covers, you can go read (and then judge!) the books.