Rabbit in the Moon

 

FOREWORD MAGAZINE'S BOOK OF THE YEAR

Silver Winner

FLORIDA BOOK AWARDS

Gold Winner

NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Finalist

Whether or not you have heard of the Florida Book Awards, they attract major authors from big publishers so this Gold is very significant for Oceanview Publishing. ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year is a major honor. The book involves China, which certainly doesn't hurt these days, but it's truly an exhilarating and informative yarn that is grabbing great reviews.

I just finished the cover for Deborah's next book, Dead Air, my 30th jacket for Oceanview and you can see them all here. Their team is a real pleasure to work with and I always look forward to the next book!

The Oceanview team had a lot to do with this cover. Or rather, the cover that wasn't. How do you say "rejection"? My first design was really cool and subtle, at least to me. Reject. I did another cool one. Reject. OK, I stopped being cool, rolled up my sleeves and got out the sledge hammer. The result you see above. Massive approval. It is admittedly better than the two rejects, even if they were so darn cool.

You'll notice a red calligraphic character above the title. It translates as "longevity" which is central to the story involving an ancient, esoteric Chinese formula which is sought for political power. The title itself refers to a Chinese legend regarding this formula. The cover's background image is the lid of a carved box, which is not only beautiful but nicely evokes Chinese culture and gives a rich feel. It was a lucky find but I did have to work with its color and make other adjustments.

The title font is called Kanban. The Chinese-like font idea was decided by the team before work began but my creative instinct wanted something not so obvious. At the end of the day, I must admit this font does work. The book is doing very well and the authors get many complements on the jacket so -- you learn something every day.