Hey y’all!  So excited to share the cover of my friends’ and critique partners’ newest novel, SWEET MADNESS!!  It’s creepy folks. If you like spine-chilling, then this is one for you!  And without spoiling anything, there are rusty saws and questionable dark spots in this book.  *shivers* You’ve been warned.

Scroll down for a taste of the craziness and, of course, the cover!!!

SWEET MADNESS, September 18 2015 from Merit Press

Lizzie Borden took an axe

And gave her mother forty whacks.

When she saw what she had done,

She gave her father forty one.

Please ignore the squeal-sniffling.  I got copies of my the dust jacket for THE STORYSPINNER in the mail.  Do you want to see?

Is that too little?  Oh…and you might want to see the awesome back of the book.  Well the good news is that I have that too, and you can click on it to make it bigger.

I wish you had your own copy to hold.  Then you could see the swirling sense of motion and the way the fletching on the feathers looks completely three-dimensional.  Not to mention the model’s eyes! And lips! She’s beautiful!

Honestly, I’m so excited with how it turned out! Here’s a bit more if you can’t read exactly what it says.

The Synopsis

In a world where dukes plot their way to the throne, a Performer’s life can get tricky.

All Johanna Von Arlo wants to do is become a Storyspinner.  But her options are so limited that she is forced to work for the aggravating and handsome Lord Rafael DeSilva.  While in his employ, Johanna is exposed to a dangerous game of thrones, a game where she will discover that the magically inclined Keepers from her stories might be real after all.

The Keepers are searching for an heir to a great power and the key to saving their land.  They aren’t alone in their hunt.  Girls matching the heir’s description are turning up dead all over the kingdom.  Girls who look exactly like Johanna.

The Quote

“As long as the throne is empty, peace will be uneasy.  Mark my words, this treaty will not last.”

Other Bits of Awesome You Might Not Know

1. My editor, Dani Young, asked me to send a collection of pictures of people, places, things and clothing that I felt were representative of my characters and settings.  She used what I sent her to set up the photo shoot for the cover.   You can see some of those things here.
2. A few weeks later Dani sent me an email with some photos of a model attached.  Dani had recently returned from another photo shoot and felt like she’d seen the perfect Johanna!  She was right!  The model had the right look, but from the batch of photos I could also tell that she had the right personality. Forgive the Tyra Banks moment, but this model showed a lot of emotion through her eyes. Since Johanna is an actress and story teller, I felt like we needed a model who wouldn’t just take pretty pictures but could also convey a vibrant intensity.
3. The color scheme–the dark but uneven green on the flaps–actually comes straight from the book!  When you read the book, you’ll understand what particular item it represents. But I think it also gives you a sense of the lush, green world.  Mango orchards and balsa trees anyone?
4. The title font has a fade in-out quality that I think has to do with a trick that Johanna performs during one of her stories.  And if that wasn’t what the designer intended, it still looks pretty darn cool.

And…I think that’s it!  I love it and am so grateful to Dani and the designer, Michael McCartney, for turning my story into such a beautiful book!