Circle Cast: Cover Interview

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How did an exiled girl become the most powerful witch in legend?
Britain, 480 AD. Saxon barbarians are invading, pushing the civilized British out of their own island. Morgan is the daughter of the governor of Cornwall. But when her father is murdered and her mother taken as the King's new wife, she has to flee to Ireland to avoid being murdered herself.

But Ireland is no refuge. She's captured in a slave raid and sold to a village witch. As Morgan comes of age, she discovers her own immense magical powers. She falls in love with a young Irish chieftain, and makes him powerful.

But will her drive for revenge destroy her one chance for love and happiness?

Did you have a much input on the cover design?

Absolutely none whatsoever. But I couldn’t be happier with it.

My wife Lisa and I came up with our own cover design. It was a spectacular photo of a stone circle, overlaid with an extreme closeup of a teenage girl looking right at you. We made one of her blue eyes green.

Of course, neither the stone circle photo nor the girl was public domain. (She was Scarlett Johansson!) We sent it off to my publisher as a concept. He may or may not have sent it on to the cover artist.

I actually much prefer the cover art we got. Stefan Czernecki came up with the really simple, striking “raven” image. You can tell he read the book. Ravens are Morgan’s totem. They are the avatars of her patron goddess, the Morrígan. There’s a raven ritual in the book, and a battle won by ravens. And the raven on the cover is guarding an egg, or the Moon, depending on what you see in that white circle it’s got its wing around. I love that.

Morgan herself only makes the back cover, in a neat drawing that reminds me a bit of ancient cycladic goddesses. It’s counterintuitive, but I think it really sets the book apart on the shelves.

(In fact, I love my cover so much I made a Café Press site selling schwag: . In Canada, it’s here.)

I see that three different people worked on the cover. How did the cooperation make what it is today?

Jacqueline Wang designed the insides of the book. Therefore either she or Elisa Gutíerrez picked out the spectacular degraded CCNearMythFables for the title and CCNearMythLegends for the subtitle. Elisa did the cover design, meaning, I assume, that she placed the title on the cover art.

Does the cover have any symbolism?

Ravens are huge in the book. The ancient Irish, and probably the ancient British, worshipped a war goddess known as the Morrígan (in Irish) and Bellona Morigenos (in Latin and British). Warriors who died in battle were likely to be eaten by crows; they believed that the Morrígan, in her guise as Crow Goddess, would transport valiant warriors to the afterlife by eating them. There they would get to fight all die, be resurrected, and party all night, forever. Morgan is all about revenge; of course the Morrígan had to be her chosen goddess.

But the crow on the cover is guarding a white circle. Is that an egg, symbolizing Morgan’s talent, which hatches in the book? Or the Moon, which is another, more peaceful goddess? Or just pure light, symbolizing her talent?

My son insists it’s a cheese. You know, the crow and the cheese. I could ask Stefan, but that would spoil the mystery.

The font certainly draws my attention, was it custom made for the book?

It’s CCNearMythFables. I had to ask the book designer. I love it, too. Comicraft designed it.

Thanks for being with us today. Is there anything else you would like to add about the cover?

Oh, just that authors like to complain about how little input they have on their covers. I actually had input on the cover of my first book, Crafty Screenwriting, and I even rejected a cover design on my second, Crafty TV Writing. But this surprised me. If I had had more input on it, it might not be as good as it is.

Thanks for telling us all about the process of creating a book cover.

Categories: Cover Interview, Tour