When I heard that Zachary Jernigan was looking for an e-book formatter, I rushed to throw my hat in the ring. Zachary's a rising star of science fiction and fantasy, someone whose award-winning professional colleagues say is "a new writer who has found his voice," and who "...can't write a bad story...even if he tried." I really, really wanted to be the one to format his first collection of short fiction, and I'm so happy he chose me for the job.
Zachary had already done a great job of photographing and designing his own cover for the collection. He has a wonderful sense of typography. His design gave me places to go when I began to work on the interior of the book.
Zachary had already done a great job of photographing and designing his own cover for the collection. He has a wonderful sense of typography. His design gave me places to go when I began to work on the interior of the book.
Water.
The sea, and a subdued gray-blue I sampled from the place where Zachary's inverted sea meets the sky. Those made up my theme. I purchased the lovely woodcut-style illustration of waves you see here, then colored it that same blue.
The waves recur as scene break and chapter break images throughout the book, carrying the water theme all the way to the end.
The sea, and a subdued gray-blue I sampled from the place where Zachary's inverted sea meets the sky. Those made up my theme. I purchased the lovely woodcut-style illustration of waves you see here, then colored it that same blue.
The waves recur as scene break and chapter break images throughout the book, carrying the water theme all the way to the end.
Zachary's publishing imprint, Danoor Press, didn't yet have a logo, so I devised the one on the left. Danoor is a city in Zachary's science fiction novel No Return (2013, Night Shade Books), and has a bit of a North African feel to it. The artwork of a North African walled city seemed to harmonize well with a Lapidary Roman typeface, a type of serif font with letters spread out evenly, much the way Roman stonecutters would have arranged them on the front of an ancient building. Zachary wanted to keep the colors of the artwork subdued, but he liked the eye-popping contrast of the red type, which I think looks gorgeous with grayscale.
The Bottom of the Sea is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, and all Amazon stores. I hope you'll read the sample and find out for yourself why people are so excited about Zachary Jernigan.
The Bottom of the Sea is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, and all Amazon stores. I hope you'll read the sample and find out for yourself why people are so excited about Zachary Jernigan.
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