FINALLY! My whole, glorious cover

Mariposa, A Love Story.

I started writing this novel a really long time ago.  I can't tell you exactly when I started really trying to work on it but I can say that the first line of the novel came to me when I still lived in San Antonio.  And just like that, Meg was in my head.  She was remarkably patient, because in the meantime, I wrote my dissertation (which took forever too, but that's another story).  I had twin kiddos who I have kept fed & mostly entertained for 9 years now.  And we've been living in Shreveport for 7 of those years.  So it's been...well. An epic journey.  

Meg's voice is cheerful, even when she's at her lowest. There is a moment in the novel where she has seen something unsee-able, something that is so horrific (that was a spooky scene to write, by the way, and I'm still not entirely sure about it, but it comes from a real life ghost haunting in San Antonio, so I just write 'em like I sees 'em) where Meg cannot be cheerful.  But that's pretty much it.  Every other time you get into her head, she tries to see things in a positive light.  She's different from other ghosts, and you just want to hang out with her, drink mojitos and eat Mexican food.  Meg would definitely appreciate a mojito offering now & then.

But in the scene represented on the cover, she's not exactly in the best mood.  She's saving people she dearly loves, and she has come to kick wolfish a** and chew bubblegum, but she's all out of bubblegum. Actually, as I've pointed out before, the scene is a mural that is on the side of a bookstore (an actual place in San Antonio!).  But it also depicts real action in the novel's climactic battle with evil.  The wolves are the bad guys, and they are not easy to fight. I mean, how DO you kill vampiric ghost wolves?  They're already dead!! We might be all ready for the zombie apocalypse, but what happens when you're surrounded by these guys? 

Then there are those little dark shadows behind Meg.  They represent several of the people Meg is there to save, and who are fighting with her.  You'll meet them eventually.  They're pretty amazing, and tough, themselves.  I really like the greenish touch of the wall, and the way the light plays on Meg's face.  It's like she's holding the power to change the world in her hands (and technically, she is).  The dripping title is neat, too, since the mural is "guerilla art" that turns up almost overnight on the bookstore all.  I just love this art. I've had it on my computer desktop now for weeks and it just doesn't get old. 

So enough talky-talk, right?  Here is my glorious cover.  It's so pretty.  It is everything I wanted in a cover, and Lawrence Mann did a brilliant job interpreting my sad little sketch into this.  In a few days, I'll post the book trailer I made using this, too.  It's pretty neat, as well.  But I gotta spread out the wealth.

Ta da! Here it is!  Finally!   Tell me you love it too. 

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