Adrienne Kress, author of
Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (Scholastic Canada, 2007) and
Timothy and the Dragon's Gate (Scholastic Canada, 2009), revealed on
her blog today the cover for her upcoming steampunk novel,
The Friday Society, due out in November, 2012 from Dial, Penguin.
Voilà !
The blurb on the back cover of
The Friday Society will intrigue any lover of strong female characters, adventure, mystery and danger, all within a steampunk milieu.
Be Your Own Hero . . .
Set in London at the
turn of the last century, the novel follows the stories of three
intelligent and very talented young women, all of whom are assistants to
very powerful men: Cora, lab assistant to a member of parliament;
Michiko, Japanese fight assistant to a martial arts guru; and Nellie, a
magician's assistant. The three young women’s lives become inexorably
intertwined after a chance meeting at a ball that ends with the
discovery of a murdered mystery man.
It’s up to these three, in their own charming but bold way, to solve
the murder—and the crimes they believe may be connected to it‐‐without
calling too much attention to themselves.
Told with Adrienne Kress's sharp wit and a great deal of
irreverence, this Steampunk whodunit introduces three unforgettable and
very ladylike--well, relatively ladylike--heroines poised for more
dangerous adventures.
(Retrieved from http://ididntchoosethis.blogspot.ca/2012/04/cover-reveal-for-friday-society.html?m=1 on April 3, 2012)
In Her Words
Reading
Adrienne Kress' blog (
http://ididntchoosethis.blogspot.ca), I was especially curious about her take on the cover and what she especially loved about it. With her permission, I share her words with you here:
What I love about this cover:
1. The three girls. Let's meet them shall we? From left to
right - Nellie Harrison (magician's assistant), Cora Bell (personal
assistant/lab assistant to a member of Parliament), Michiko Takeda
(fight assistant to a self defense guru).
I've already talked about what I like about how the girls look (though I
should add I also adore their outfits . . . and weapons). What's also
fantastic about them, is the way they are posing. They look tough.
They look like they have agency, that they can take care of themselves.
Which is good. Because they do and can. :)
2. The pinwheel effect. Okay, note to self, adding a pinwheel
automatically makes stuff look awesome. It's subtle, but present. It
both draws the eye into the middle of the page, and explodes out in
fantastic fun times. It adds a wonderful sense of energy. Love it.
3. The London skyline. Because it's the London skyline.
4. The grainy effect. Look up close, the picture has been made to look slightly weathered. Cool? Yes, yes it is.
5. The font(s). Font, to me, is often far more important than
any other element on a cover. It can make the difference between
whether a cover is seen as professional or not. And it can dictate the
intended audience for the book. I love both the fonts on this cover. I
love the title, I love how strong it looks, how cool, both contemporary
and classic. And I love my name. I mean, I love seeing my name on a
cover of a book in any font really (it's kind of overwhelming every time
when you do see it - and maybe just maybe I got choked up seeing it on
this cover for the first time), but this font is also just plain cool. I
don't know why, but I love that the A isn't pointy. Yeah, I know, but I
do.
6. The border. Now I have had the honour of being bordered by
many a great object. With ALEX we had octopus tentacles. TIMOTHY we
had a dragon:
And this time, well this time we get a supremely kick-ass Steampunk mechanical piece.
That border might be just about my favourite part of the cover. Not
quite my fav, we'll get to that at 7. But still. Yes it is all kinds
of Steampunk amazing, but what I love about it the most is that it
really looks mechanical, like a real machine where one piece influences
the other, and not just like there are some random gears hanging out
together 'cause, you know, they're gears and they've got that in
common. I also love how the border makes the whole cover have a kind of
movie poster vibe. And as a fan of movies, you can understand why this
would make me happy.
Lastly I love the accidental continuity. That I get to be border girl!
All my books have borders (despite being published by different
publishers and being different genres), and I love borders, and I love
my books. So it's like such a love fest man.
7. And my number 1 (which I guess is number 7 for some reason) thing I love about this cover is . . . wait for it . . .
This:
??
This is a screw.
There are four of them, one in each corner of the cover. Making the
cover look like it's been screwed onto the book. It might not be grand,
it might hardly be noticeable at first glance, but it's this kind of
small detail I absolutely adore. It demonstrates care, and I think wit
as well. The cherry on top of the sundae.
* * *
November seems like a long time from now, doesn't it?
