The amazing A.S. King is here today to talk about her brand new debut, which has been touted on this blog before. Dust of 100 Dogs sounds like a wholly original novel, and I cannot wait to read it!
Here's the cover story:
"I never thought about my cover art. Even though I am a very visual person, and I pay attention to cover art quite a bit, I don't think about book covers while I'm writing the books.
"My editor asked me for input, and he suggested I search through images online for anything that might grab me. I did that and made a document with all of the images I liked, explaining what I liked about them. I also explained what I liked, generally, in books covers -- that I like black or dark colors, high contrast graphics, and simplicity. I believe I said that if I was to make the cover for the book, I would have an all black cover with a tiny skull & crossbones in the center and no title. (I'm obscure like that.)
"When I saw my cover for the first time, it was April Fool's Day and I was having email problems. I wrote to my editor about something completely unrelated and he wrote back and asked me what I thought of the cover art. I said, 'Huh?' because I hadn't got the email he sent. (In my mind, the cover wasn't due for months, as they'd only had the meeting like a week or two before.) So, then he called me and while we were talking on the phone, he sent the cover art again. He said, 'Now sit down and open that file. I want to hear your reaction.' It was a bit--oh no... what if I hate it? Then I opened it and my eyeballs popped out of my head. I think I kept saying, 'Wow.' He was feeling the same way about it. From what I could gather, this cover came out of the blue and knocked us all over! I was just gobsmacked. I still am. It's an AMAZING cover and I feel very fortunate. More than its visual effect, it has an additional pull for readers of the book though the placement of the subjects (the skull, the girl and the boat) and how they relate to the story. It's just incredible. Maximum respect to Gavin Duffy.
"I believe the cover was made up of several pieces of stock artwork, compiled to make the final image.
"Considering the front cover is so awesome, we didn't have to revise it. We did talk later about back covers, though, which was a great conversation, because Flux does some really amazing back covers for paperback originals. I love how they think out of the box like that, but I'd hoped for a mix for D100D--something arty but also some copy, because as a reader, I rely heavily on back cover copy when I'm buying a book.
"Keep in mind I came into this as a hard-to-please art school grad with a decent eye and a love of beautiful book covers. This cover couldn't be more spot on. I mean, down to the boat and girl sitting in an eye socket of a skull. I can't imagine a better cover for the story inside the cover. You'll know what I mean when you read it!
"Also, I have had, since 25 years ago, a weakness for red boots. Especially seriously cool red boots. (Like the big chunky ones with buckles and zippers and big metal-y bits.) Thing is--no one knew this. (Of course. It's not the kind of thing that comes up when talking to your editor, you know?) And here came this cover with Saffron in a pair of killer red boots. It was one of the first things I noticed."
Very cool! Here's a photo of A.S.'s favorite red boots:
Alea the Pop Culture Junkie did a Lookalikes post about this cover last fall, and The Book Nymph has another version of the cover story with different details (and a shark attack tale), so check those out.
AND, I'm participating in a D100D contest on Reviewer X's blog that You Don't Wanna Miss.
I just love this cover, and I can't wait to see how it represents the story! What do you guys think?
PS-So many people ask about the boots that I got an update from A.S. She says, "I bought them in 2004 in Ireland. They were made in Spain--a company called Destroy. The model number was 05128, but I can't find it anywhere online..." Good luck, boot seekers!
The winner of last week's giveaway for Sara Zarr's gorgeous How to Save a Life is... Sophie! Send me your address, S. Thanks to everyone for the get-up-earlier (and/or go -to-bed-earlier) tips. I'm trying them all. June is a 6:30am riser. Yawn.
This week, I'm offering up a copy of A.S. King's Everybody Sees the Ants. You may have noticed I was reading it a couple of weeks ago. It's excellent, as you surely expect. A.S. King has a way of digging deep into the minds of her characters with clean, clear prose. They are imminently "gettable," and I love that.
