Review galleys, Dragon Tattoos and Rubicon
For those of you interested in the publishing process, I thought it might be enlightening to track the progress of Eyewall.
What’s pictured above is the cover for the review galleys of the novel. It’s NOT the retail cover for the book. That will come later. As my editor, Deb Smith, said, “This is purposefully not pretty, because we don’t want people to assume this is the actual cover of the book.”
But it will do for now, as Bell Bridge Books (an imprint of BelleBooks) sends out early copies of the novel to potential endorsers–people who will say nice things about Eyewall that Deb will splash in bold letters across its back cover. Potential readers will see the blurbs, then rush in droves to buy copies of the book. At least I think it happens that way.
Who might say nice things about the novel? Well, I suppose anybody that I agree to buy dinner for at Stoney River or Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Kidding. In truth, the novel has already received some glowing reviews, unsolicited, from folks whose names you might recognize in both the weather and writing business. But I’d like to wait until it’s a done deal before I start tossing them around… their names, not the people.
By the way, there are also several chapters of Eyewall posted on a social publishing and reading site called Scribd. The excerpts were posted by Deb Smith in hopes of drawing some sub-rights attention… and they have.
On another subject, I’m a little over 400 pages into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo now. It’s picked up a little steam and is getting more intense, so I’m glad I stuck with it. It won’t rank as one of my all-time favorites, but it’s a good read.
Let me tell you what else I think is good. Well, better than good. It’s an espionage/thriller series on AMC television called Rubicon. It apparently hasn’t gotten much press, but it’s one of the best dramas I’ve seen on TV in quite some time. The characters are engaging yet flawed, you’re not quite sure who’s on whose side, and the entire story has a wonderful tense moodiness to it. Wonderful stuff for aficionados of the genre.
Meanwhile, while Eyewall swirls toward publication, it’s back to work on The Koltsovo Legacy. Anybody know a virologist at the CDC who’d like to be consultant on a novel?