Nico and Diotima are tiptoeing across the landscape carrying amphorae, from which are spilling a few coins. On the left is the cult statue of Artemis, from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. That's the temple in the background. The drawing of the statue's based on a Roman copy of a Greek copy of the original. The art department at St Martin's Press asked me what the colours should be like, so I referred them to my previous blog post about The Colors of Ancient Greece, and told them to go for it. As you can see, they did!
The texture on the cover of Pericles Commission was made to resemble a piece of pottery. The Ionia Sanction cover is made to resemble the print on a tapestry. If you click on the image for a larger version you can see the watermarks.
It's worth pointing out how extremely lucky I am with my publishers. Strictly speaking, titles and cover art are the purview of the publisher. St Martin's not only consulted me, but listened carefully and got things beautifully right.
27 comments:
I love it! Wonderful colors. St. Martin's is very bright to have listened to you. After all the cover is the first thing we see. Congrats to you!
That's a gorgeous cover, and such a great match for the tone of your books. Congratulations!
WOW! I love that cover!
Hi Carrie! It might be because I cowered the poor St Martin's artists into submission over the first cover, in my drive to make sure it was accurate. But in fact they've been terrific about asking my opinion on things that, strictly speaking, they didn't have to. And much appreciated it is.
Lovely cover! Will the Australian one feature another coin?
Now I'm very glad you recommended the Flashman series. November is a long way away . . .
Susanna and Anthony: yep, it's a good match, and you can see how the style's consistent for the series. Very pleasing!
Sarah, I don't know yet! But you can be sure that as soon as I know, it'll be up on the blog too. I'm sure the Oz cover will be consistent style too, but you only find a cool coin once.
What a fabulous cover! You must love the artists who design your book covers. Awesome.
Beautiful! Can't wait to read it - congratulations.
I love it, Gary! It's great on its own, and it also pairs up nicely with the first cover.
Now.
Let us read the book inside that cover. ;)
I am so excited about this! I am jumping up and down! It's BEAUTIFUL, Gary!
*hugs the cover*
November 8th feels forever away now.
Alli: I've really struck it lucky with my artists!
I don't have an Oz release date yet, btw.
CP, Nevets & LT: Thanks! The ARCs are printed. We're doing the first pass check now.
Looks great. can't wait to read this one as well.
Oh my gosh- I love that cover more than the first! The colors are fantastic and I love the statue of Artemis.
Gary, you are indeed a lucky writer!
Very cool Gary.
Thanks guys! Needless to say, this cover is now the background on my screen.
Compliments to the artist. It's perfect, I love it as much as your first.
My cover has been assigned to an artist by my publisher. In my case, I'll just have to trust them to take my ideas and run with them--and hope for the best. Looks like St. Martin's produces your vision very well.
Thanks Lexi!
Ricky, that's exactly how it worked for me, except that they asked me if I had any ideas. I sent in four, and they put three of them on the cover.
Wow! LIke others have said before me, this cover is gorgeous! Congrats, Gary. On another wonderful book and on having such a great agent and publisher.
Wow! It's awesome. No way anyone can walk by that without picking it up! I love their expressions!
My first thought when I saw it was, it'll be hard to miss on the shelves.
That cover is awesome! I can't wait for November!
It IS a beautiful cover. The Pericles Commission's cover is still my personal favorite.
Meghan, glad you like it. There's a friend of yours within, but of course my interpretation, which I'm quite sure is different to your own.
Ari, I have a feeling I'll always like the latest cover best, if only because of the adrenalin rush.
There's a theory that the multi-breasted goddess wasn't so mammeriferous after all - that the objects round her neck were in fact bulls' testicles. Which do you go for?
Nico is totally into breasts. Bull testicles would be such a disappointment.
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