Okay, a little bit of ado. You see, I’ve been sitting on this cover for a while now. I got the very first proofs from the photo shoot back in July.
Before I had a house.
Before I had a puppy.
Before quite a lot of things, like going on my honeymoon or finishing Tap & Gown.
A photo shoot is only one step on the path to a cover. Though it was a big path (I’ll talk more about that later, possibly on Melissa Walker’s blog). They had to find the right shot, and then they had to do the design, which incorporated not only the picture, but also the magic of Photoshoppery, a scene from the book, and some really cool calligraphy.
And this is the result:
(The title and surrounding calligraphy will be in ice-blue metallic ink.) And here is the flap copy:
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns…
The sparkly, innocent creatures of lore are a myth. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. And they can only be killed by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great.
Fortunately, unicorns have been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.
Or not.
Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed at her eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods – thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom – Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.
However, at the cloisters, all is not what is seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to – perhaps most dangerously of all – her growing attraction to a handsome art student… an attraction that could jeopardize everything.
________________________________
I’m so in love!
(Coming soon: the back cover. And the Saga of the Keys)
October 29th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Gorgeous!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Not the mental picture I had at all! I love the calligraphy, though.
But this woman looks 30, not 17 (16?)! (though I must admit, the Astrid I’ve had in my head all this time was probably TOO young.)
October 29th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Very cool - I particularly love the way the title looks!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Thank you, Rebecca!
Rhiannon, that’s odd. The model is actually only 20 (it was her birthday on the day of the photo shoot). I take it you don’t like this picture?
Thank you, Lauren!
October 29th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Can I start campaigning for an ARC now? The cover is gorgy, but I am dying to read this book.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:22 am
P.S. I don’t think she looks 30. She has a stunning goddess look that fits, IMO.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Diana, it’s not that I don’t like the picture, just that I’ve had a lot of time creating a mental picture with very little details to go on, and my mind had gone a completely different direction.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Lovely cover - congrats!!
October 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am
What a gorgeous cover! The model is so striking. She looks fierce.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Mine, too, Rhiannon. I had a dream last spring of a brown, single element cover with a unicorn horn carved with the words RAMPANT. (horn carvings are kind of a plot point). They wanted a girl with a sword. I like that too.
I hope the story description itself matches? Or was that a shock, too?
October 29th, 2008 at 9:59 am
The cover is amazing. I can’t wait to read it!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Your cover model is SO striking! And I love the colors. Gorgeous!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:25 am
The description didn’t trigger anything for me. It was nice to finally have something more than “Evil unicorns and virgin unicorn slayer descended from Alexander the Great,” in my head.
Having the prom as a detail helps me get away from the mental picture that I keep trying to go to of a child, rather than a young woman.
Though (and I hope this isn’t blasphemous, or offensive - I mean it merely as an insight as to where my brain has gone with this) now I think Astrid has become Buffy, in my head.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Actually, it’s awesome that you thought Buffy. It’s a very Buffy esque book. I even thank Joss Whedon in the acknowledgments. And my editor told me that the model had a ball at the shoot because she’s a huge Buffy fan and said she got to live out all her Buffy fantasies with the sword and etc.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:36 am
PLEASE tell me that they don’t really say “running” her chances of taking her to the prom?! PLEASE?
THat girl is gorgeous! I’d check out that book. I was planning to anyway, but yah.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am
yes, it says “ruining”. the typo is mine. One of a billion, I’m afraid…
October 29th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Oh, good. I assumed you’d c/p’d the text in and was freaking that your gorgeous book would have a typo and people would reject it for something so trivial and easy to fix.
Also - I know I emailed you on your form, but darned if I remember what. Oh well!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
ok. I will let the Buffy in my head roam free, then. (Though, I haven’t watched much Buffy, so I have no idea where she may roam.)
October 29th, 2008 at 10:56 am
No, I had to retype it, because it was on an image. I’d show you the entire jacket, but that actually DOES have a typo on it. A pretty big one, too. I changed a character’s name during copyedits so it’s wrong on the jacket. Again — I’m a typo queen!
October 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
That is an amazing cover, and an amazing synopsis! I am most definitely putting Rampant on my list of must have books…I’m so glad I stumbled across your blog!
Cheers,
The Compulsive Reader
thecompulsivereader.blogspot.com
October 29th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
And you used to say the cover gods smiled on ME. That is a freaking AWESOME cover. Not at all what I expected. The girl is so beautiful - but in a non traditional way.
You are going to sell a gazillion of these.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Absolutely gorgeous cover, Diana! Congratulatons. I think the girl is beautiful in a very timeless way — like a very old soul is looking out through her eyes, but there’s still this innocence about her. And her hair is amazing.
Can’t wait to have this one on my bookshelf!
October 30th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Heather, you can start campaigning, but I have no idea how many I’m going to get, so I don’t know if we can have a giveaway. I’ll try!
Thank you, Shari!
Thanks, Jen. Yes, I like that about her, too. She can totally kick butt. Carrie and I put our covers next to each other and decided that Astrid and Mary are in the same forest, and Astrid’s about to hurt Mary.
thanks, Jennifer and Mel. And welcome to the blog TCR!
Marianne, I know. I feel like all those virgin sacrifices have been worthwhile, now. It’s not what I was expecting either, but I’m very happily surprised.
October 30th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Diana, I love the cover! Colleen’s cover for The Rest Falls Away used to be my favorite cover, but this cover tops it. I can’t wait to see what’s beyond the cover
October 30th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Diana, I have to say…I’m with Rhiannon. I feel like the model looks much older than I expected…but then, I think I also pictured an illustration of a girl who was flying through the air in action with a sword and a unicorn in the foreground or something. I would have also liked the brown cover with a single horn, too.
All this despite the fact that you told us there was a photo shoot, and that the model doesn’t have long hair. Oh well. I guess we all have our own fantasies.
None of this deters me from really wanting to read the book, though. I wonder if I can pull some strings at my old job at RH to get an ARC…=p
October 30th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Tiff: Unlikely, as the book is published by Harper Collins. The only RH employee I know of definitely getting a copy is my editor of the SSG series. Regarding the “action shot” apparently there’s marketing concerns with actual depictions of violence on the cover of children’s books. (This is hearsay from another YA author, not word from my publisher.)
Thank you, Annie!
thanks, Phyllis. The model does have incredible eyes. In the full version, they are unbelievably striking. I am glad she has such an “unusual” look. I feel like I wont the lotto in the cover model dept.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:11 am
OMG, I think the cover is amazing and she is beautiful. If I didn’t know anything about this book coming out and I walked in the bookstore, she’d draw me right to her. This is a cover I’d pick up and want to know what the book is about. And the story on the back is great.
I’m with Phyllis, her eyes tell you there’s so much you need to know and she’s the one to tell you.
I can’t wait for this book!! I’ll get in the ARC begging line if there’s one.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I love that cover. I really can’t wait for Rampant to come out, Diana!
October 30th, 2008 at 10:36 am
The only thing that’s missing? The huge fangs of the unicorn moving in to bite her neck
October 30th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
The first thing I thought was it was a photoshoot of you and I was like WHOA Diana looks different! They do strange things in photoshop these days! ;p
I like the photo, but I have to admit, I’m a font junkie, so I love the title font.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Oooh, gorgoues! I especially love the sword hilt, and the title font, and the swirly things around it (I am sure there’s some technical term for those but have no idea what it is).
October 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I love it! Stunning cover. The model is gorgeous while definitely looking like she could take down a killer unicorn!
I love the swirly effect round the title too. Sounds very exciting, can’t wait to read it.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
It’s beautiful,Diana. Congratulations. And the model looks like an Astrid, which is even better.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
What a stunning cover, Diana. Her eyes really draw you in, don’t they? I love the idea of metallic ink. Congrats!
October 30th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I could have done that pose.
Still - Girls with Swords!!!! YEAH!!!!
October 30th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
wow, the cover is great and it sounds like it is going to be fantastic! yay killer unicorns!!
October 30th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
thank you, Cyn!
Ha ha, Lenore. there’s a unicorn on the back, but they are more likely to attack with their venemous horns, I think. Poison the animal, then eat it, you know?
I love the title treatment, too Maggie. They hired someone who specializes in medieval style calligraphy to do it.
Megan, thank you! I’m a big fan of hte hilt, too. In the full picture you can see it’s actually a dagger,but there’s both a dagger and a sword that play a big part in the story, so I kind of like that the bottom is cut off, and you’re free to imagine it any length you want. (there is a dagger on the back and on the inside, though…)
thank you, Alexa and Cindy. I do think I won the lotto with the model. The fact that she was a Buffy fan probably helped her get into the mood, too!
Vanessa, her eyes are amazing. there are other shots where her eyes just haunt you for days. Maybe they’ll be on book 2. Who knows?
Patrick, have at it.
TSS: thanks so much. I”m glad I finally have a cover. It’s all so real now!
October 31st, 2008 at 10:46 am
Oooh, I wanna read! Sounds so COOL! But I’m glad your evil unicorns are different from the one I created. Maybe there’s hope for me to get published yet!
October 31st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I love the blurb! It makes me want the book NOW.
I must say I’m with the minority who thinks the model looks older than a teenage girl, maybe it’s the makeup? But yep, I can definitely see it standing out on shelves.
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:19 pm
It’s gorgeous!
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
That is a a gorgeous cover! Congrats.
November 21st, 2008 at 1:02 pm
The cover alone will make me buy this book. I will give it to my daughters.
What a beautiful young lady!!
January 10th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Hello,
I was looking on my friend’s blog and she posted this book as a must read for 2009 and so here I am. I must say that the cover is simply gorgeous and I cannot wait to read it
April 1st, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I love the cover!
I’m reading the advanced reader’s copy right now, (I’m almost to the middle), and it’s really good!
The cover font is different for the ARC though.