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I just got the cover proof for the UK edition of AN ECHO IN THE BONE. As usual [g], this is Completely Different from the US design–but also different from the most recent UK versions of the series cover, because we have a new UK publisher for ECHO–Orion.
The cover is really striking, and I like it (slight quibble with the typography and balance of the title, but art departments routinely mess with those things; this isn’t a finished product, by any means).
Anyway, I asked the editor whether Orion would mind my showing it to you–since y’all were so interested and helpful in the question of the new US cover–and he said that would be great; he’d be very interested to hear your comments.
Only difficulty being that I don’t know whether I can insert a .jpg into this blog–or if so, how. Do any of y’all have any good technical advice? (If I can’t post it here, I’ll put it up on my website, but that takes a bit longer.)
Thanks!
OK, I _think_ I’ve got it. Let’s see now…OK! I think it worked.
Really striking, as I say–the gradations of blue are gorgeous; don’t know how well they’ll show up here. And the leaf in the center is–they tell me–going to be embossed in gold foil, so will be much more visible. (I was impressed that somebody thought about it enough to come up with the skeletal leaf as a non-bony [g] metaphor for the title.)
Anyway, let me know what you think!
Dear nessvet–
Oh, I can pretty much guarantee that the US version will be different–they always are–but I think it will be beautiful and striking, too. (See further down the blog for the long discussion on _that_ cover.)
Hi Diana,
I LOVE the leaf. It is a beautiful image and beautiful imagery. I’m not so sure about the foliage around the border of the cover though. I think a plain blue cover would be more effective. I like the font that your name is in, but not the title font. For some reason the ‘A’ at the beginning makes me think of Casper the Friendly Ghost [vbg].
To be honest though, I think your books mainly sell by word of mouth and you could put a plain brown cardboard cover on and still have a bestseller! And I am a bit sorry to see the end of the beautiful evocative landscapes on the UK covers. But I do love the leaf [g].
I love the cover – I would buy the book just because of it…but in this case I’d buy the book with a brown paper wrapper! Can’t wait!
Dear Diana:
It’s been haunting me for some while as to why the leaf on the book’s cover seemed so familiar. It was just as I was finishing decorating our Christmas tree today (very behind schedule!) that I found a package I had stowed in the box our of most precious decorations….. on our vacation to Yosemite this spring, I bought several types of gold and copper plated skeletonized leaves: ash, aspen, cottonwood, sugar maple, oak and one fern that, sadly, cracked. It’s the gold plated aspen that looks so very much like the leaf on your book. I loved it then and I love it now.
Midge
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS NEXT YEAR IS A COPY OF “AN ECHO IN THE BONE”.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Love the cover, it grabs the attention, and looks classy.
It’s very beautiful cover, I can’t wait to have this precious and expected novel. Thank you for this preview and I give you salutations from Quebec, Canada
Yeah, I know I’m way behind the times (and this is way off-topic), but by a caltrop, do you mean what we locals refer to as a puncture vine thorn (or if you’re REALLY local, a goat’s head)? If so, that kinda makes me sad. I love these books, don’t get me wrong, and I’ll stick with them through thick and thin, but to know that the bane of my western Nebraskan’s existence is going to be on the cover? Ouch.
In other news, I think this cover is absolutely stunning! Major props to all involved in the creation of it. I think the coloring is extremely evocative, and the leaf thing is a perfect (and much more picturesque) way to show the title.
Dear Irish–
No, caltrop as in military gizmo. [g]
Diana,
I love the cover. I’m very interested to see the U.S. version. Personally, I think they should be the same.
Jeanie a.k.a rufusomalley06
Testing…testing…lol…I just found your blog (not sure why i didnt notice it sooner, since I am a night-shifter and generally come to your sight every weekend or so) and am a newbie-blogger. Just wanted to say that the cover looks GREAT and your blog has me helped through two nights of staying awake at work by reading through the archives. The little snippets of ECHO have been great but also getting to know you through the blog has been even better. So thank you and I hope you had a wonderful Holiday with you and yours.
Ummm.. after I posted the last blog I found that I had more to say. I would like to weigh in on some of the past blogs and throw my opinion into the ring.
I personally have not seen an actor yet who I thought could portray Jamie (although i have found since reading your books I am crazy for any actor with a Scottish brogue). And I do think that it would be nice for any casting director to find someone new and fresh to portray Jamie and Claire should the movie possibility progress that far.
I find myself and any other person I know that has read your books always tossing around the possibilities of who could play Jamie or Claire or any other of the characters for that matter. It’s so much fun to talk about and I have noticed how when we talk about the characters in your book they are so alive for us. We talk about them like they are real people.
In my line of work when your busy your busy and when your not…well then you read (or for lack of anything to read you read online). So my co-workers and I are always asking each other about authors and books. And thats how i found Outlander. Thanks for the many wonderful hours of entertainment (your books are my #1 series) and i have read them many times.
I love the blue, and the shadowy look of the leaf but the type is wrong. Not by much but this is a little spooky. I of course don’t know the story but if is set more in America, it needs to be… a little more “American”. Does that make sense.
Claudia
Dear Diana,
Thank you so much for the lovely Christmas treat!
I was wonderfully surprised today when I checked your site to see a page of the graphic novel. While always trusting your judgement, I haven’t been able to really picture the graphic novel – that is until today. It is nothing short of beautiful. A work of art in two mediums. Count me as one of the hooked and anxious!!!!
Wishing you and your family a very happy New Year.
Jewell
The UK cover is beautiful! Very striking, especially imagining the gold embossing. Brianna's paper-making thought in ABOSAA (& I paraphrase) about bugs dissolving in the pulp except for the lacy, skeletal wing structures was my immediate association…apt; yet another link between so many characters, plots, images and so forth in the series. It reminds me of the the US cover of TFC with the gold-embossed stag brooch on deep red, and how striking it was & still
is. To be more concise, (g)—I love it & can't wait to see what the US cover will be!
BrighidLady
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:){Sorry, my name is in 'the Gaelic', lol, spelled "Brighid" but pronounced "breed“)
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To Diana—Certainly edit this out for the blog, but may I tell you briefly about the day I bought The Fiery Cross? I was working for Hospice at Charlotte & got paid only monthly so payday was treat day(translate "bookstore day"!).I walked into Barnes & Noble, and a large display of the books were held perfectly in two cross-beams of dazzling sunlight—a glorious heap of rubies and gold; even better, the next Outlanderbook with a Celtic stag(my spirit animal) on the cover! I consider all of your books treasure, but that day, they literally appeared so! Thank you for many hours of enjoyable time spent in another world, one you made possible. I appreciate every moment you have put into your work, in creating that world for myself & others to enjoy. Thank you!
Brighid/Beth
I just love it. It is stricking. I found your blog a week ago or so and had trouble posting a comment. As my techy skills are very low on the scale.
I just finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes for the second time and I believe I enjoyed it more than I did the first time. I think I must have rushed through it the first time out of excitment. As I read it again I realized I had missed some parts.
I am loving your blog and am looking forward to visiting often to catch up on all of your new updates.
I forgot to put my blogs in my comment
http://sprucehill.typepad.com/
My day to day life while kicking cancer’s butt
http://sprucehill.typepad.com/spruce_hills_daily_photo/
Images from my everyday life
http://motherswithcancer.wordpress.com./
Hallo Diana! The composition, and graphics (speaking as an artist and designer myself) are striking, as you yourself have said. The image is intriguing and also mysterious. All good. I’d be drawn to the book in a book store by the cover alone; by it’s arresting visual statement, and luminous presence if I weren’t already a reader of your novels. Go with it and well done to the designer!