A real Cover up
Honest readers admit, you CAN tell a book by its cover. Or a least draw plenty of conclusions. While Kindle has given us the ability to download the opening pages of a book and spend more time considering if we reeeeely want to commit and read it, we’re still initially drawn to a book by filtering for genre, then finding a cover that draws our interest, communicating intrigue we’d like to explore. Take a look at this selection of YA titles that underwent redesigns in hopes of appealing to new readers. And when a novel is made into a movie or TV series, I’ve found the cover magically updated in my E-reader to feature photos of the starring actors—cross promotion designed to bring in the celeb’s fans as they browse book store shelves for something new to read.
David King and his design team at Black Rose Writing have created a beautifully evocative cover for WAR BONDS, masterfully combining elements that conjure the many threads of this story. I’m grateful for their talent and insight as they made real what I’d only dreamt of in my mind’s eye.
The background David used is a map we found in my father’s things, the place names written in German in his hand. I picture Dad and his bomber crew meticulously studying the geography across the English Channel so they’d know the best direction to head in the event they were shot down. It reminds me of the scene in Band of Brothers when the paratroopers are ordered to study the sand table models of the French coast so they can find landmarks after they drop into Normandy. This map survived Dad’s internment in the POW camp in Poland. I wish he could know his drawing has provided the ideal anchor for the cover of my book. You can learn more about my father’s service and survival in the war here.
The three planes above are B-17—Flying Fortresses—the aircraft Dad flew and the plane flown by the fictional American pilots in WAR BONDS. The letter tucked into the corner represents the bonds that are formed and frayed throughout the story. Absent the image of the letter, the cover might have suggested something to do with war strategy or military tactics. The worn font used for the title was an intentional choice. With the scrapes and fading red color, it points to the high cost of the war, the toll the conflict took on countries, soldiers, and every day citizens whose lives were forever changed by the horror they saw and losses they endured. Special thanks go to Shirley Miller Kamada, author of NO QUIET WATER, for reading my book and offering a kind and compelling review. I’m so grateful.
I hope this beautiful cover, along with Shirley’s blurb, on the back cover, entice you to give WAR BONDS a read.
WAR BONDS will be published by Black Rose Writing in February 2024.
