Wednesday, January 22, 2014

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT FRONT COVER---by Christine Lindsay


There was no way I could keep this under wraps. Here is the beyond-beautiful cover that my publisher sent me today. What fantastic inspiration to finish this book that I am currently halfway through writing. But the writing is coming fast. 

Veiled at Midnight is Book 3 of my series Twilight of the British Raj.

That gorgeous girl on the front cover is Hadassah---Dassah for short---who was born in the first book Shadowed in Silk, and now is grown and the main character in Veiled at Midnight.

My publisher Roseanna White of WhiteFire Publishing also designs the front covers. One of the perks of being published by a small press is that Roseanna encourages participation from her authors in the design of the covers.

A few days ago Roseanna asked me to start trolling the stock photo sites to find a model that made me think of my character. Thing is, I had already been doing this for months. Each time I came across the model above, I stopped.

I love the triumphant way this Indian woman is walking. But I didn't want Dassah wearing red--because of the brutality of the Partition of India. I wanted Dassah wearing gold to go with the colors of sunset she saw when she was in Kashmir on her honeymoon with Cam. So I asked Roseanna if she could change the sari in this photo to gold and use the green starry sky as background to match the word Midnight in the title.  

But I hesitated at the same time. In the green sky I chose, there was a lovely sickle moon. We had already used a full moon in Captured by Moonlight, and didn't want to repeat that. 

Here is that mockup.  



Roseanna did a wonderful job on this mockup.Very pretty, and appropriate to the flag of Pakistan as the country born from the Partition of India.

I was so t o r n. So like the characters in my novel---torn apart by war, torn apart by secrets, torn apart by lost love. Okay, I'm laughing now. 

But here is what my critique partner, Award-winning Author Rachel Phifer said of the red and gold version: Rachel has been with me over every one of my books, and is with me on this one too. She was as torn over me in choosing the green and gold, or the red and gold.
 
Rachel's thoughts:

"The model in this one seems strong...My feeling is that Dassah is quite strong and has the ability to rise to whatever hard lots life throws her, in spite of some uncertainty that is the result of her youth and upbringing.

The hair adds a bit of mystery (sort of a life veil) and seems to fit with Dassah who hasn't really shown Cam her true self. 


And the colors are gorgeous and very rich. I love the deep red and gold together. There's something royal about it, and it evokes the idea of Christ's blood  and the violence of the partition (red) and our royal lineage as God's children (gold). 

I can also see something on the cover like Shadowed in Silk where the colors on the sari will be reflected on the whole cover. So if you could find a temple or palace with some red in it and a sunset sky, it could be really lavish.

Christine here again
With Rachel's thoughts in mind, I asked Roseanna to go with the red and gold sari, and having lots of red and gold in the background.

Here are the covers of this series: I am one happy woman, and thanking our wonderful God who gave me such a great publisher.










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