Sarah Beth Durst seems to luck out with her covers. (See the Cover Stories for Drink, Slay, Love and Ice as proof.) Her latest novel, Vessel, is no exception. Here's Sarah:
"I was in the parking lot at Dunkin' Donuts when the email with the cover art came in. My husband was fetching Munchkins, and I waited for three extremely long minutes for him to return to the car. As soon as he opened the car door, I shouted, 'It's here! It's here! It's really here!'
"'Wow, you must really like Munchkins,' he said.
"I shoved my phone at him. 'The cover art!!!'
"Great! What does it look like?"
"'I don't know,' I said. 'I can't look. You look.'
"He opened the jpg attachment while I scarfed down Munchkins. Then he said, 'You can look,' and handed the phone back to me.
"I looked and said, 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I love it!'
"And that sums up the extent of my involvement in the gorgeousness that is the cover art for my new novel VESSEL. The cover was designed by photographer Jaime Ibarra and the Simon & Schuster art department, and I am in awe of their awesomeness.
"I actually had a hint of the awesomeness that was coming when I ran across a journal entry on Deviant Art about the cover shoot. There's one photo of the model practicing whooshing the fabric and another of the makeup artist painting on Liyana's tattoos. (The tattoos identify her as her clan's vessel. You really, really don't want a deity to possess the wrong person.)
"VESSEL is a sweeping epic adventure set in a harsh desert land where serpents made of unbreakable glass fly through the sky and wolves made of only sand hunt within storms. Liyana is destined to be a vessel, to sacrifice herself so her clan's goddess can inhabit her body... but her goddess never comes. I think the cover art captures the novel perfectly. Thanks so much for inviting me to share it!"
Thanks, Sarah! Definitely click on the behind-the-scenes link, you guys. It's crazy how a photo shoot can translate into such an ethereal cover.
What do you think?
PS-This book is racking up the starred reviews, and you can read the first two chapters here.