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Star-Cross'd Book 1 Red, in keeping with the original St. Martin's cover, but evocative of the Vintage editions of Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo books.
Star-Cross'd Book 2 Keeping with the style of the first, but with less violence and a green for the growth of the young character. Again aping the Dunnett books.
Star-Cross'd Book 3 The turning point of the series, where all seems calm, but below the surface the plot is churning. A deep blue, both for menace and the illusion of calm.
Star-Cross'd Book 4 The end of things as we know it. The color is actually determined by the image this time, as opposed to the other way around. The image conveys both loss and the epic scope of departure.
Star-Cross'd Book 5 A mock-up for the next book. The image is London, downriver. The color is murkier, and the background crests have changed, marking the uncertain future of the characters.
Star-Cross'd short story collection Like Doom, this cover's color is lifted from the image. Varnished Faces is a line from The Merchant Of Venice referring to the Venetian bauta masks, so on the surface the image is self-explanitory. But the sense of perversity, of unnaturalness, pervades the image, as well as the darkness. It fits the stories within - laughter in the face of tragedy.
Essay collection describing my experience with the play Romeo & Juliet, from whence the Star-Cross'd books come. Not part of the series, hence using an image so very on-the-nose (Leighton). Nor was I concerned about repeating a color. This is a companion piece.
The original cover for the Shakespeare/Marlowe as spies comedy. A riff on the "headless woman" trend in historical fiction. Look closely and it's a man in a dress. Alas, it proved too subtle. Kept the border from the Star-Cross'd books in an attempt at consistency - a link to all the Shakespeare books.
The new edition, with cover and internal art commissioned by cartoonist and artist Jay Fosgitt. Much more evocative of the frenetic and funny nature of the novel. And gives the series a unique look.
This one makes me a little sad. The original production had a terrific poster that I was hoping to use. The actor featured in it had a great expression as he gripped bars with his manacled hands. The theatre declined. I could have tried to reproduce, but I would have been chasing something I couldn't have gotten as well as I wanted. So I went in another direction, and ended up happy with the result.
Really happy with how this one turned out. Took a nice textured background to create a dirty French tricolor.
Had the authors provide me with a word-cloud of the concepts they want their book to convey, then worked outward from there. Went through MANY iterations.