DEFY THE DARK Cover Reveal!!!

Today I'm allowed to share the cover for the HarperTeen anthology I'm a part of. So without further ado, here is the cover for DEFY THE DARK coming next summer, 2013!

Note: This cover is NOT FINAL!

Isn't it GORGEOUS? And my story, STILLWATER, totally fits with it!

This whole being in a book thing is starting to feel more real. It's kind of blowing my mind.

Anyway, I know I've been pretty absent this summer, but it's only because I've been writing! I'm going to try to get back in the swing of things after the Olympics.

For those of you waiting to hear about the DEFY THE DARK contest where YOUR short story can appear in the book, keep checking Figment. The details are coming VERY soon! If you haven't signed up to be notified when the contest goes live, you can DO THAT HERE.

Learn more about DEFY THE DARK at the website: DEFYTHEDARK.COM.

Words I Love

I've noticed that I have a few keywords that get me every time I see them on a book. I can't help but pick them up if any of these words, or images of these words appear on the cover. They are: water, river, lake, magic, and anything that implies winter, such as snow, frost, and of course, winter. Also, summer, lol.

I'm also attracted to covers that hint at these kind of stories. (I suppose it should be no surprise then, that my first book takes place in a town on a lake just as winter meets spring, so there's both snow, and rain.)

Here are some examples of books that had me drooling just from their titles and/or covers.





(^ I have so much love for this title, I can't even...)






What about you? What kind of titles or covers pique your interest?

Cover Love!

I'm a very visual person (hello, filmmaker!) so I find I'm really drawn to books by their covers. There are books I've bought (or in some cases pre-ordered), just because I loved the cover so much that I HAD to have it. Like these:




And books that I thought sounded pretty good, but whose cover made them seem awesome. Like these:




Upcoming Covers I'm drooling over:




I've tried to figure out just what it is that draws me to these covers but they're all pretty diverse. I'm definitely drawn to images that are outside, and not so much to faces. I also tend to like photographs more than drawings. I like images convey a mood - preferably a darker one. And images that are striking but I'm not that good at pointing out just what it is that makes them striking!

What about you? What are you drawn to in a cover? What are some of your favorites?