Cover art

For the past week, I've been looking at samples from the art director at Whiskey Creek Press, and now the cover art is ready and I've posted small versions of the front cover on www.pamelajdodd.com— just look at the Pam's Books page.

I found the whole process interesting, from the questionaire that all WCP authors fill out, to the tweaking that I requested, trying to get that little thumbnail to help me tell my story. Perhaps the most important information was the character descriptions. Here's what I sent in for those:

Hero Description — There are two “heros” and the title, Trinity on Tylos, reflects that. (1) Steve Dylenski is a space service officer, about 30, with relatively short (military style) hair, clad in a uniform which has a waist length royal blue jacket over a white turtle neck and dark pants, with gold rings on the sleeves denoting rank. (2) Azareel is an alien, a massive gray-blue humanoid, hairless, with light eyes, clad in a dark robe over black pants.

Heroine Description— Venice, an attractive female, is abducted early in the story and transformed by the alien to look like his race, so she also has gray-blue skin and no hair. After her capture Venice wears formal gowns in jewel tones and a sparkling choker necklace.

With those brief instructions, along with a summary and the copy for the "back cover blurb" the artist, Nora Baxter, came up with three possible covers. One of them was close to my internal vision of these characters, but we went through three more versions before I was completely satisfied.

As I look at it now, I wonder if potential readers will see these characters as I do, three unique individuals whose lives become intertwined as they become founders of a new civilization. Or maybe they'll think it's a cartoon, like the Jetsons. I guess only time will tell.