Hi folks,
I talked to my publishers of my forthcoming literary noir novel, THE RAPIST, about having a contest here for folks to vote on the four possible covers for that novel. Here’s what Eddie Vega, one of my two editors/publishers (along with Cort McMeel) had to say when I broached the idea to him.
Les,
Yes, by all means. You can actually put it up for a vote and chances are the final results will be consistent with the final selection. Why? Because the final cover will be use elements from all of the covers. So everyone wins. I am very partial to the image of No. 3, the lettering of No. 4 (but without the fingerprints), the placement of the author’s name at the top of the page used by No. 1 (though I would move the BKP logo to the left hand corner so it would not compete with the illustration).
In your blog, please do point out that we used the earlier suggestions made by your followers: the floating body, the light, and the turned hands. So they will know we do more than hear, we listen. Please, also include a call to “like” Noir Nation on Facebook. Prague is almost done the layout. We are less than two weeks away from glory.
Eddie Vega
They really do pay attention to what you guys have to say. Eddie really liked the suggestions you made awhile back when I posted the initial mockup of this cover.
What I’m going to do is if anyone makes a suggestion that they use on the final cover, we’ll send them a free copy when it comes out.
For those who may feel off-put by the title, please rest assured it’s probably not what you think. My wife Mary resisted reading it for a long, long time, thinking it was some gruesome and graphic account of a rape, but when she finally did read it, she told me she absolutely got drawn into the world completely and she said it was like “the protagonist (Truman Pinter) had entered her own mind and revealed her deepest thoughts better than anything she’d ever read.” To tell the truth, I was shocked and extremely pleased that she “got it.” I shouldn’t have been surprised—Mary’s very intelligent. The rape in it is fairly akin to the mother's death in Camus' The Stranger--it serves the same purpose. This book is the best thing I’ve ever written and I don’t think I’ll ever have the energy again that it took to write. Cort McMeel and Eddie Vega both feel it’s going to be a game-changer in literature. We’ll see…
Anyway, here are the four versions of the final cover and the end result will probably be at least a bit different than any of these, especially after Eddie reviews comments from y’all. The covers are all from the Prague firm of Butterflies and Hurricanes, who’ve been working on it for months. Bare Knuckles Press has spent a significant amount of time, money and other resources to come up with a distinctive, one-of-a-kind cover. I know I’m impressed!
In order, from top to bottom, they're numbers 1-4. Thanks for taking a look and providing comments!
Blue skies,
Les
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