Daylight War: Evolution of a Cover (3 of 3) – US

See part 1 of this 3 part post here.

See part 2 of this 3 part post here.

While all this was going on in the UK (see previous post), I met with Del Rey Books, my US publisher, to go over marketing plans for the new book. They told me a lot of things were being held back while they waited on the final cover. They asked if I would be willing to diverge from the UK covers if they assured consistency by asking Larry Rostant to do theirs, as well.

I pondered how a change in cover might affect the global marketing strategy for the book.

For about half a second. Then I realized I could have TWO Larry Rostant covers AND get to make suggestions for the image. Roll on!

I still wanted Inevera on the cover, but with one shift from the direction they were taking in the UK. That cover focuses on Inevera’s (not inconsiderable) martial abilities. In my mind, those are the least of her powers. Inevera’s true power is her ability to read the future with the alagai hora, her magic dice, and lay plans for confrontations years, even decades, in advance.

I pitched a cover with Inevera kneeling and casting the dice in darkness, just as she does in the book. I gave them a sense of the concept by showing a host of fan art like Margherita’s Damajah Cosplay, and Alex’s Daylight War Cover Contest Entry. You can see more with a simple google image search.

Del Rey loved the idea. Their art director, Dave Stevenson, sent me a list of questions, letting me have a lot of input in the process. Here are some of the notes I sent in:

The alagai hora are actually polyhedral dice, much like those used in D&D and other RPGs. They are black like polished onyx and covered in wards.

The character, Inevera, kneels on a pillow, shakes with two hands, casts them to the ground, then reads the pattern in order to foretell the future.

We could do something with the dice frozen in midair, like Matrix bullet time.

The clothes and veils should be VERY active. They are described often in the text as being translucent and wafting around her like smoke. Her long, thick black hair, however, should be oiled and bound in gold. She is too precise a person to let her hair run wild. Even the activeness of her clothes is a calculated thing.

Inevera’s magic requires darkness to function, so a black background is kind of essential. I was thinking it would kind of be the reverse of Desert Spear, with the background VERY black, and her clothes giving a bright flare of flowing color to grab the customer’s eye. The only light source should be the glowing wards on the dice.

There is some wiggle room with color. Bright color is consistent with the character and will be a stark contrast to the black background, but it can be muted somewhat. Inevera changes clothes all the time, so we could really do any color, so long as it is not black, white, or gray.

But if the dice are providing the only light source, then that provides the dramatic lighting up close for her hands/face and the colors of the clothes could get more muted the further they go from the light.

And, of course, the amazing result (click to enlarge):

This cover grabs the eye from across the room and dominates whatever bookshelf you put it on, but it’s power is much more personal to me. My buddy Myke Cole (who also has Rostant covers on his UK books) always says of Larry’s art that there’s nothing more amazing than creating a character in your head, and then meeting them face to face. I know exactly how he feels.

So that’s the story of how I ended up with two amazing Rostant covers for the same book.

Posted on September 22, 2013 at 8:00 am by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Daylight War, The Daylight War, Warded Art
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