Readers, we have you to thank for the TRICKED cover. No, really: Back when we first created the “series look” for the Iron Druid Chronicles, it took several months of intensive dialogue between the art director (the estimable Dave Stevenson), the illustrator (the magnifique Gene Mollica), Kevin, and I (Kevin’s editor)…though also many delighted squeeings and geekings-out as the cover took shape. (Witness the blood, sweat, and tears of joy for yourself in this conversation between Kevin and I about the HOUNDED cover.)
Once that first cover hit the interwebs, we got a tremendous response from you, Kevin’s devoted readers. We thought we’d liked the covers even before we unveiled them publicly…but when we had fans posting glowing comments on Kevin’s blog–and asking him for the cover model’s number!–that’s when we knew we had really and truly pulled it off. So our mission with TRICKED was clear–keep everything that worked for you, the fans…while giving you a little something new to buzz about. We hired Gene again, who hired the same cover model for Atticus. We kept Dave’s brilliant “Iron Druid Chronicles” logo, with its mock-up of Atticus’ necklace. And, most of all, we kept that now-notorious Atticus O’Sullivan air of sheer badassery.
But there are a couple of important differences: The color–that scorching desert red–is a reference to the story’s setting…and instead of wielding Fragarach, Atticus is showing off his bindings. We sweated over every detail of this cover–we went through several poses with the model, changed the cropping and composition, tweaked the color of Atticus’ hair–but considered nothing more carefully than getting the look of the bindings just right (I have several pages of notes from Kevin on the subject!) So this image is not just your first look at the cover–it’s your first taste of what’s going to be perhaps Atticus’ greatest adventure yet..
And for Kevin’s thoughts on the cover, wander over to his blog (and enjoy his various and sundry other amusing musings on writing, beer, dwarf miniatures, and more).
