East of Eden and Just a Bit South, by Ken Scholes Recently I sent a sample cover to my old friend Ken Scholes. I've known Ken for so long I can no longer remember exactly when and where we met, but I suspect it was at a party, and I suspect that party was at a science fiction convention sometime late in the last century. I'm also pretty sure Ken brought his guitar and entertained us as only he can.
In 2005, Ken sent a story to Æon Speculative Fiction.
The story was “East of Eden and Just a Bit South, Being a True and Accurate Account of How Cain Found Himself a Wife.” And it was good. And it was funny. And we bought it. We published it in early 2006, and I designed an illustration for it that I was and remain pretty proud of. This was the beginning of what would become my cover design more than 7 years later.
The dominant colors in the illo are the various greens of the trees and weeds, and the kind of biscuit color of the old trailer. I started with that trailer color for the type—a 50s-style casual serif font called BudBird, then warmed it up considerably to make it stand out from the green background. To contrast with that, I chose Marketing Script, which also has a mid-century feel, for the subtitle, and colored it with the aqua from the rear-window angel's wing. Then I sent it to Ken and hoped he'd like it as much as I did.
In 2005, Ken sent a story to Æon Speculative Fiction.
The story was “East of Eden and Just a Bit South, Being a True and Accurate Account of How Cain Found Himself a Wife.” And it was good. And it was funny. And we bought it. We published it in early 2006, and I designed an illustration for it that I was and remain pretty proud of. This was the beginning of what would become my cover design more than 7 years later.
The dominant colors in the illo are the various greens of the trees and weeds, and the kind of biscuit color of the old trailer. I started with that trailer color for the type—a 50s-style casual serif font called BudBird, then warmed it up considerably to make it stand out from the green background. To contrast with that, I chose Marketing Script, which also has a mid-century feel, for the subtitle, and colored it with the aqua from the rear-window angel's wing. Then I sent it to Ken and hoped he'd like it as much as I did.
Formatted page with graphic ornament Ken was just getting ready to go looking for an e-book formatter when my email soliciting his custom arrived in his inbox. He agreed to work with me, and decided to publish some previously-published short fiction and some “bonus tracks” in the form of unpublished stories. The first of these is “East of Eden...and Other Leaps of Faith.”
To keep with Ken's "heavenly" theme for the collection, I made chapter and break ornaments in the shape of angel's wings, and tinted them the aqua from the cover type.
To keep with Ken's "heavenly" theme for the collection, I made chapter and break ornaments in the shape of angel's wings, and tinted them the aqua from the cover type.
Ken Scholes' Walking Bear Media Next up—a logo for Ken's publishing business, which will eventually encompass not only fiction but nonfiction, and not only books but music. Ken decided on "Walking Bear Media," with reference to his very popular (and very good) short story "Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk."
The type choice here is Potrzebie, which is related to BudBird (above) but much more extended, so it occupies the horizontal space well. I colored it with a brown from Edward's nose, then after a little experimenting with placement, I placed him right on top of the type, and the whole thing came together. What a fun project this has been!
So get your clicking finger ready and buy your very own copy of East of Eden and Just a Bit South at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.ca.* You won't be sorry you did.
* The collection will be available soon at other e-book retailers too.
The type choice here is Potrzebie, which is related to BudBird (above) but much more extended, so it occupies the horizontal space well. I colored it with a brown from Edward's nose, then after a little experimenting with placement, I placed him right on top of the type, and the whole thing came together. What a fun project this has been!
So get your clicking finger ready and buy your very own copy of East of Eden and Just a Bit South at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.ca.* You won't be sorry you did.
* The collection will be available soon at other e-book retailers too.
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