Cover Art! Cover Copy!

[dr_pretentious]

I've been given the go-ahead to share the cover art and the cover copy. I need to find out who the artist is, because it's lovely, and s/he deserves public credit.

At first I was a little startled by how much skin is showing, but the characters live on the beach and go skinny-dipping more than once, so the skin's not just there to sell books. That said, if people pick up the book because of the woman on the cover, I don't mind a bit. If they read it, they'll buy my next book because these stories rock.

What I do feel a little bit weird about is my own name as a caption to this nubile and nearly naked woman. Though the cover is a reasonable evocation of the book, it's not an evocation of me. Maybe for ten minutes while I was seventeen, I might have looked that good. These days I look like somebody's mom, because I am in fact somebody's mom.

The cover copy below is probably in its final form. The book will be available for pre-order soon, I think, at which point I will be shouting from the rooftops.

Let a Little Magic into Your Life

In Tales from Rugosa Coven, catch a glimpse of a New Jersey even weirder than the one you think you know, as a covenful of very modern Wiccans wrestle challenges both supernatural and mundane—and, occasionally, each other.

The personal injury attorney who chose kitchen-witchery over his family’s five-generation lineage of old school ceremonial magic would like to miss his dead parents, only now that they’re dead they won’t leave him alone. The professional fortuneteller stands out at forty paces, with her profusion of silver amulets glittering over her Goth wardrobe, but nobody has guessed her secret sorrow, especially not the covenmates who see her as their wacky comic relief. And the resident skeptic, a reluctant Pagan if ever there was one, will have to eat her words if her coven sister’s new boyfriend really does turn out to be from Atlantis.

The Jersey Shore’s half-hidden community of Witches, Druids, and latter-day Vikings must circle together against all challenges. It’s a good thing they’re as resilient as the wild rugosa roses that hold together the dunes.

Praise for The Rugosa Coven Stories

I absolutely love Tales from Rugosa Coven! It reminds me of the best occult fiction, but with better plots and a New Jersey I recognize. I can't wait for more!
—Nina Harper, author of Succubus in the City

When I read Closing Arguments a few months ago, I was left wanting more. With Sarah Avery's follow-up to that novella, Atlantis Cranks Need Not Apply, I was left salivating.
—Jeremy Bredeson, Facing North Reviews

Comments

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

This is marvelous! I can't wait!

Side comment: on the off chance that this text was copied and pasted from some official document, I feel I should point out that "mundane" is misspelled in the first paragraph, so it doesn't end up that way on the actual book. ;-)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

That's a beautiful cover!

[annathepiper]

Oh, beautiful cover. :)

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

Lovely! I share the "What does this have to do with the book?" sentiment, and the "Who cares? It's beautiful!"

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Danielle and I tinkered with that sentence so many times, the error became invisible to us both.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the art was not commissioned for my book, but that Neal Levin saw it somewhere, thought it was a good fit, and contacted the artist for the rights. I should check, because it would be good to have the story right.

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous cover! Congratulations! Can't wait to buy the book. :-)

[temporus.livejournal.com]

That's a striking cover. That should get people to pick it up for sure.

[wild-place-king.livejournal.com]

I will definitely want to have a copy, and most likely several more to give as gifts. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

It's a stunning cover! Can't wait to have an actual physical copy in my hands!

[citabria]

Great copy and great cover! Wooooo!

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

I CANNOT WAIT TO BUY THIS BOOK OH MY GODS I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

So, yeah, happy. :-)

[kistha.livejournal.com]

OMG I CANNOT WAIT! MUST HAVE IN PRINT AND IN EBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will now breathlessly await the preorder date!

[(Anonymous)]

Not available for the Yule shopping season?

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I want to buy it NOW!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

It can now be pre-ordered from the publisher, though I don't know how soon it will ship. You can find it here (http://www.darkquestbooks.com/store/product-info.php?pid165.html).

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Pre-ordering from the publisher is now possible here (http://www.darkquestbooks.com/store/product-info.php?pid165.html). I don't know when pre-ordering from other sources will be possible, and the shipping date is also a known unknown. I can't begin to express how cool it is to see a little add-to-cart button under a description of my book.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

For pre-order, yes, but possibly not to ship in time for the holidays. You can pre-order here (http://www.darkquestbooks.com/store/product-info.php?pid165.html).

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

And now you can! (With an unknown amount of delayed gratification between buying it and, well, having it. Watch for updates.) It can be pre-ordered from the publisher here (http://www.darkquestbooks.com/store/product-info.php?pid165.html).

[tracyandrook.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, many times over! I am thrilled, and I'll be buying at least one. The cover? Looks enough like a marble garden fountain that it's not racy, at all. Not skin, dear, architectural salvage.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

HAPPY DANCE OF JOY!!!!!!

This is paper right? Will it be available in e-format?

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

It will be released as an e-book, though I don't know when. It's available at Amazon here (http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Rugosa-Coven-Sarah-Avery/dp/1837051607/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386821291&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=tales+from+rugosa+coven) now, and they are equipped to ship faster than than the publisher is.