22 Comments »Cross-posted at The Bradford Bunch
Good morning!
I’m so excited–yesterday, I received the advance reading copies of The Ghost and the Goth, Book Two: Queen of the Dead!
For whatever reason, a book just never feels quite real to me until I see it in this form. Writing this book, in particular, was a bit tricky, as it involved revising and rewriting while I was on tour this summer for the first book. In fact, I have very fond memories of squeezing in a paragraph or two, here and there, in various airports, hotels, planes and trains across the country. This was a very well-traveled work in progress.
So, I’m thrilled to see it in book-shape, in the form of the ARC. And I love the diner background for the cover–it’s just beautiful. Alona’s expression is just perfect too–she’s up to mischief and she knows it.
Some interesting (I hope!) facts about the cover:
–It’s not quite final, so there may be some additional tweaks.
–The models for Will and Alona (both of whom I LOVE) are the same as on the first cover. The photos for both covers were shot at the same time. And I believe there are photos for the third cover from that shoot as well. Yea! I think these models are perfect as Will and Alona and I’m thrilled to have the consistency of them on all three books!
–Will is a busboy in the second book; hence, his apron. In the earliest draft of the book, we spent much more time in the diner. But as I was revising, I cut out most of the diner-based material, and then–yikes–learned the cover was going to be set as a diner. But, with that in mind, a perfect opportunity for a new diner scene in the book came up, and it all worked out beautifully.
–I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but the gym uniform Alona is wearing is based on my high school’s required gym uniform. So I just love that they put her on the cover in that outfit–it looks so familiar (and right) to me because of my own high school experience!
Here are a few pictures:
The front cover:
The back cover (I love how the diner scene wraps around to the back with the stools and counter):
A close-up (relatively speaking) of Will and Alona:
Queen of the Dead comes out on June 7, 2011! That sounds so very far away, but it’ll be here before you know it…and hopefully not too quickly as I’m still writing the third (and final) book in the trilogy!