Book Time Sensuality 2

Everything's Alright

'Gently dip, but not too deep'

• George Peele

Following on from my previous entry on the outer experience of books, a few things of note have come up regarding cover design. It's something I put a lot of thought into, and have been fortunate in having first class artists (contemporary and classic) adorn my covers, plus top notch graphic design. A quick look within this website will give you an idea e.g. 7 Looks. As I am facing decisions regarding my next publication, it is an issue that has come up again in no small way - for it is a huge subject. I'm sure books have been written about it.

Since I was a teenager a big part of my exploration into literature was an appreciation of the covers, particularly from Penguin. Chosen from classic paintings, such as this one, 'Portrait of Miss Elsie Palmer' by John Singer Sargent, they were often not literally accurate i.e. the characters might not look like the ones depicted in the text, but they felt right. The design department at Penguin obviously had a highly sensitive and perceptive editorial process going on. (And actually, in this case, the depiction of Flora from the novel is very close in looks as well as sensibility, as far as I'm concerned.) When they abandoned this tradition some years ago, there was a lot of talk about it in the media, that it was the closing of an era. I myself was graduating onto hardbacks, with some exceptions, such as this edition of Chance which has followed me across countries and decades.

Even when a book is itself quite frivolous - and I have an eclectic taste from the very easy and shallow to the abstruse and profound - the cover may provide complexities and subtleties perhaps absent from the text. As an example, this cover from a series set in the 1920s has a wonderful air of mystery and tension to it. The wealth in evidence, plus the larger figure of the male, somewhat entitled, brutish and handsome, alongside the smaller, more fragile female, with a background of fete canopies, conveys much. An interesting twist is how the ostensibly more vulnerable woman is in the centre foreground - it is her take on the situation that we should be interested in.

Recently these 'mysteries with recipes' have really taken the cake, if you'll forgive the pun. The stories themselves are completely ridiculous, so much so that even fellow afficionados of fun and easy whodunnits think I have completely lost the plot (another unintentional pun). One thing I love about them is that the author frequently forgets she's meant to be writing a murder mystery and meanders off into family shenanigans and baking. (Half of each book is dedicated to recipes.) Then suddenly it's as if she remembers, 'Oh, wasn't there a murder to solve?'. To me, this is so much how life is. We may want it to be one thing, but it's nearly always chaotic - and meandering. What really impressed me though was the art. I accidentally ordered hardcovers a couple of times, as illustrated here. The books not only look like the key food depicted (another pun!), but they somehow convey the feeling, taste and smell as well, entirely through visuals. I could enjoy all the baking without having to consume even more calories. I don't usually keep frothy thrillers, but in this case I'm definitely holding onto these two, for they really are works of art.

It is partially through being inspired by 'detective chick lit' (I don't think that's offensive as I've heard women call it that, and I certainly don't mean it derogatorily) I decided to have a go myself, hence the novella depicted at the top of this column. I also wanted to have something to show people what I'm up to, as the epic novel I'm working on is going to take a few more years. With its interlocking and connected stories, this is actually one of them but is self-contained as a story. I had about fifty copies printed privately, and have just been handing them out to people who I know enjoy the genre. So far it's been very well received, and I've had some useful feedback, which is great and means I'll get it honed before the whole book is properly published.

As for the cover, the photograph was from a public domain website, applied through a filter and placed with the text by yours truly. I then had the whole thing done at a local printers for minimum cost. The cover is coloured card. All very punk or samizdat, however you wish to call it, but then so much of what I do is. Plus, it fits the story well, which one reader has called 'frisky and intoxicating'. It was certainly a lot of fun to write and, ultimately, to produce.