Well, I haven’t actually seen the finished cover yet, but Dreamspinner sent me the rough sketch of the cover art for “The Christmas Wager,” my first published novella (coming out this December). In the rough sketch, of course, the characters look a bit cartoonish, but the artist is Paul Richmond, who painted the cover for “Naughty or Nice.” He has a great style, realistic but not photographic, with a great sense for soft, rich color. His covers for the Christmas anthologies have a wonderful Christmas feel to them. I had, in fact, seen the cover to “Naughty or Nice” and thought, It would be really nice if this artist could do the cover for the novella!
I won’t say, yet, what the cover design for “The Christmas Wager” is, but it’s cute and I’m very excited to see what it looks like as a finished painting. They actually went with a design I’d suggested, though I wasn’t sure if it could be pulled off. I suggested one of my favorite scenes in the novella, but it was pretty risque. Mr. Richmond found a way of portraying it while covering all the naughty bits.
I also received the “back cover” blurb for the novella, distilled in large part from the summary of the story I’d included in my query letter. I’m told to expect the galley proof in a few weeks, though I imagine it will be sooner — there’s only a month left before it goes to press!
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