My editor is way faster than I thought, and she is sending chapter after chapter, and I can barely keep up correcting The Priest after her. The result is that I worked double the hours yesterday to edit the next novel in the Ginecean series, Pax in the Land of Women. The goal is to have a polished manuscript for my editor to work on. I am one of those persons who try to straighten up the house before the maid arrives. Or I would be, if I had a maid (wonderful concept), and if I took any care in straightening up anything (my excuse is that I have teenagers). But I digress…

Meanwhile, Sandro, my most talented friend, is still working on Priest’s art cover. After much deliberation the following examples were created:

Third Batch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the lateral title, it’s easy to read even when shrunk to thumbnail size. My name has a typo, and the font is too small. Nothing that can’t be fixed. The City of Men is big enough against the landscape, which I like a lot, but it gives the idea of a scifi novel (the pyramid creates a Stargate feeling). In the novel The City of Men looks like a mix between a gigantic Trullo, and the Sassi di Matera. Mauricio could benefit from a lower forehead, but again, easily fixed by a genius like Sandro.

    Trulli di Albero Bello

                Rappresentazione dei Sassi di Matera

 

 

Matera     

 

 

 

Fourth Batch

Then, since Sandro doesn’t go to sleep, he produced more examples. None of them has the city, because he asked me to draw a sketch of what I meant:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like the font in the last one, but there are several problems with the layout:

• my name should be all in caps
• the shadow over Mauricio’s head covers his eye
• the two shadows combined make the design busy
• Mauricio has definitely seen better days If I were the President’s daughter I wouldn’t want to run away with him… The half-moon crescent scar must go away!

Fifth Batch

Now it has become a game of find the difference:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this is how it looks thumbnail size:

 

The half moon crescent scar is even more visible when shrunk, and my name is still too small to be read easily.

 

 

 

My Revision

So, I took my Wacom and put it to good use to better communicate with Sandro:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions (for now)

We are pretty much deciding the sex of angels here, but I feel strongly about having the best cover I can get. And Sandro is an amazing artist, and will deliver perfection to me.