Tuesday 1 July 2014

My Cover team - the wonderfully talented people who made the Dance of Chaos cover a reality.

I've often heard it said that behind every great man there's a woman. Nowadays, of course, we wouldn't say that - it would be something like 'behind every successful person there's someone who helped them enormously and got very little credit for it.' It doesn't have quite the same pithy sound, does it, but sometimes that's the price we pay for fairness and integrity.

In my case, although I can hardly call myself a great man, there are four people who deserve a great deal of credit for helping me put my latest book together.

Of course, I write everything myself. The insides of my books are all my own work (well I have had a bit of help with formatting, but the content is all mine. Though I blush to say it, I have to admit that I edit my own work, despite constantly telling people never to do this. Just pretend you didn't hear me say that, ok?)

The covers, however, are another matter. Not only do I not do them myself, but I have had very little to do with them beyond choosing between several photographs and approving the final layout.

So here, I give you my team, the wonderful people who make my dreams into reality.

PATTI ROBERTS - COVER DESIGNER


Patti is the brains behind the whole cover. She takes the basic concept and runs with it to create my awesome cover designs. Sometimes, as with the Fiona books, I supply the pictures. Other times, as with most of my short fiction, I give her nothing except a couple of lines describing roughly what the story is about. Then Patti exercises her magic witchcraft and sees inside my head, forming my dreams into reality. You can find her at PARADOX BOOK COVERS.


CINDY SMEETON CHENHALL - COVER QUEEN



Cindy is the public face of Fiona MacDougall, eponymous protagonist of both my novels, Gift of Continence and Dance of Chaos. Despite her ravishing looks, Cindy is not a professional model. She is a hairdresser, and owner of the Point of Origin hair salon. I'm proud to say she is also my niece, a kick-arse mother, and completed the Tough Mudder challenge just thirty days after giving birth to her first child, without any training. I really think Cindy could do anything she set her mind to. She is the daughter I wish I'd had. You can find Cindy HERE.

DARRELL CARUANA - PHOTOGRAPHER






Darrell is the photographic mastermind behind Glimmarpics Photography. Although we had not even met at the time, he kindly volunteered his time for a professional photoshoot for the Dance of Chaos cover pictures. There were so many pictures, and they were so wonderful, that it took me days to narrow down my choice to the two we finally used. You can find Darrell and see more of his amazing work  HERE.



KYLIE BROWNING - MAKEUP ARTIST


Kylie, makeup artist extraordinaire and proprietor of KMB Beauty, also volunteered her time and skills for the Dance of Chaos photoshoot. Due to my complete ignorance about what goes on at a photo shoot (I wasn't there) I didn't even know about this at the time, and poor Kylie received not a word of thanks for her very generous contribution until I found out, just recently. She should have an award for her wonderful talent and for her kindness and generosity to a total stranger. You can find Kylie HERE.

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