Wednesday 18 January 2012

JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION & COVER REVEAL!

I'm very excited today, Dear Readers! I've got two lovely things to share with you.

Late yesterday evening (due to the time difference) I received an email from my editor at my U.S. publisher Candlewick Press. She told me that Shadows on the Moon, which is due to be released in a hardback edition in America on the 24th of April this year, has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection.

I've heard of the JLG before but they've never picked any of my work to recommend, so this is wonderful news. I'm pretty sure it's also happy-making for Candlewick - my editor says the jacket of the book will be amended before it comes out to show the selection on the flap. The book isn't up on the JLG's website yet (presumably because this news is hot off the presses) but you can bet I'll be checking back frequently until I see it for myself!

Hot on the heels of this news, I realised that the final cover for the U.S. edition of Shadows on the Moon was up on the Amazon pre-order page. It's been up on various other websites for a while - NetGalley and Goodreads - but in a tiny thumbnail. Now, Candlewick had asked me not to put the artwork on my website until closer to the release date, so I've held back on that. But since we're now within a few months of U.S. publication, and the image is there in enlargeable form on both Amazon and the publisher's website, this seems as good a time as any for me to do a belated unveiling. So...

(Drumroll please!)


I know there's a lot of affection for the U.K. artwork (although I've seen some people dismiss it as generic too!) but I really love this. For a start - and believe me, I know how lucky I am! - there is No Racefail Here. The model is very beautiful, very Japanese, and has a flavour of that same mysterious Suzume expression which you see on the U.K. cover, and I adore that.

The most fabulous thing about this artwork, though, is the way that Suzume is fading away into the trees behind her, like a ghost, while at the same time luminous with a kind of fearsome beauty, her hair becoming a hood of shadow. The artist has captured something very important from the story: the idea that someone can project an image of beauty while their inner self is hidden or even dying. There's a great spookiness about this, too, which I like.

What do you guys think? And can anyone tell me how to get the larger image up on Goodreads when the thumbnail version is already there?

14 comments:

serendipity_viv said...

Oh Zoe, it is just stunning. I really love it.

Zoë Marriott said...

Viv: Thanks, hun :) I'm glad you like it. Some of my Dear Readers didn't like it much based on the thumbnail on Goodreads, but I think the detail you can see here makes all the difference.

Jenni (Juniper's Jungle) said...

Congratulations on being picked as a JLG selection! And I love the US cover, it's beautiful and fits the story so well.

Zoë Marriott said...

Jenni: Thanks :) I'm chuffed on both counts.

Isabel said...

Yes, I really love this cover as well! I mentioned before that it's kind of an optical illusion, because it's hard to tell who's at the forefront of the picture. I'm glad the U.S. cover turned out so beautiful. :)

Zoë Marriott said...

Isabel: Goodie. Yes, that swimmy, illusiony effect is one of the lovely things about it - it makes you take a second look, which can only be a good thing.

Steph Su said...

I've seen this thumbnail in other places before, but now that I'm in the middle of reading Shadows thanks for NetGalley I really see how appropriate this cover is for Suzume's story. Especially regarding that "illusion" she "wears" over her face so often. And YES, #noracefail!!!

Zoë Marriott said...

Steph: Isn't it great? I love it when the cover designer really picks up on something important in the story and runs with it like that.

Leslie Thorson said...

Congratulations! And I love this cover too...it's the "stolen smile" she wears to disguise herself, and of course, when you have to be someone else, you become a ghost...

Kaye M. said...

Congrats, Zoe! The cover is GORGEOUS. (I actually have a galley of this, so I really should read it now)

Zoë Marriott said...

Leslie: EXACTLY! Well spotted - gold star for you :)

Kaye: I have no argument with either part of that. Go to it!

Alex Mullarky said...

Wow, stunning. You're very fortunate with your cover art! Got a good team!

Zoë Marriott said...

Alex: Yes, I am. I'm sort of waiting for the inevitable dud to come along now...

Essjay said...

Oh I love this cover - gorgeous!

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