I’ve been working out the scenes for Book 4 in which Harper deals with her mother (the horrid) and takes a look at her old home town. Which has changed a bit since I last spent any time out there. Potential for Mary Sueism here, since I also grew up in LA County in a middle class suburb (though one far smaller, more liberal, and a lot farther east.) Luckily, GoogleMap came to my rescue with the jolly satellite feature so I could jog my memory and not write about my own home town because my mind went totally blank on anyplace in So Cal that wasn’t either Long Beach or Claremont.
Harper’s from Glendale and if you’re from Glendale you know how much it’s not like either Long Beach or Claremont. Of course, when you read the book, you’ll also know just how much I’m faking it… (or am I?)
And oh yeah: My copies of the UK edition arrived today. It’s more purple than the test version–which was a dark indigo primarily–and the detail print is a sort of hot pink that is quite a bit more legible than the pic below, which isn’t a perfect reproduction of the actual print. And there is no sneakily encroaching Chrysler Building having a bicoastal affair with the Space Needle anymore. The other rather interesting thing is that this cover uses an actual view rather than a composite. If you get up on the southeast slope of Queen Anne hill, about where Kerry Park is, and look down to the southeast, you’ll see exactly what Harper is standing in front of. The distance is a little off–Kerry’s not that close to the needle–but the view is terrific.
Now the only remaining big challenge is to get the artists to keep her finger off the trigger….
ooh, yay, I like it. Am holding my breath till it hits the shelves.
Oh yeah, give it up for Google Map, especially the Street View feature. It’s a writer’s new best friend. I too was recently writing a scene that took place in my old hometown and decided on a whim to check out the lay of the land according to the latest Google street view. Good thing I did–things seemed to have changed ALOT since I left. I had to rethink the entire scene setting. Plus, feeding the covert voyeur in me, it was great fun zooming in and peeking in the windows of my old house!
Love the cover, btw!
Oh yeah! Very useful. It was helpful to be reminded of exactly how places I used to know have changed.
Gosh, never thought about looking up places I once lived on Google. Why is that? Anyway, it’s on my to do list now.
In the meantime, I’ve never seen such a purple cover. I know you’ve mentioned why covers can’t be the same world over but why do they have to be so different? Harper has never been to me the sort of woman who would enjoy purple or pink. But what do I know?
Pink, definitely not. Purple only if it’s very dark and subtle.