----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2011 11:16
AM
Subject: Re: You wouldn't believe
it...
Yup, the Groke is kind of from the same pool of
dreams . . .
Well, we want a cover illo.
Any ideas?
As I've always understood it, my job
as an illustrator is to read the whole ruddy text, underlining everything
which is a description of anything visual, both 'scenes' and things like
'What are they wearing. How tall are they. What's the tek like' and write
little summaries at the top of each page of each dominant image (ie: 'Naked
woman and butterflies'). In the case of many IZ stories this has meant
writing something like 'Cafe. Inner City' or somesuch. In the case of this
one, it's been full of impressive, emminently cover-able
images.
Of course, not everyone does this. My
Teen Hero - Chris Foss - plainly didn't do this and
no-one complained much. I suspect that's a different thing
though.
The problem is, as you'd expect, in
this story there's rather a lot of Images to chose from.
Your suggestion of 'The game' is well
taken. It's a visually arresting image, thoughtful and 'classy' rather than,
say, the many scenes of sexual psi-messing which I suspect you won't be
wanting. It's baroque and it does cut directly to the central theme of the
story (See, I readitt).
I did suggest this
An obvious picture would be Meyr sitting opposite the Mechanical-Turk
Palin
in the glass palace, playing the enigmatic game
As you say.
No probs (Aside, that is, from
drawing it)
>>>>>
"I cannot tell, but
perhaps I can show - shall we play a game?" He nodded
in the
direction of the pentagonal table with its articulated tessellations
and strange array of objects. She examined it while the effigy
explained the
rules of the game to her and something of its history.
It was a fiendishly
complicated thing, half board game and half
clockwork mechanism with toothed
wheels and tracks carrying little
doll-figures about in intersecting arcs.
Amongst the complexity, there
was a basic structure: a grey metal pyramid at
the centre, set in an
aperiodic tiling arrangement based on five axes, just
like the pattern
of blocks that made the floor of this place. The pyramid
itself opened
like a flower to reveal intricate nested structures and more
tracks
centred about a translucent jade kernel. The object seemed to be for
one or all of five grotesque sentry figures at the corners of the
board to
either enter the pyramid and claim the pearl or for the
pyramid to repel
them - and yet as Pallin explained the rules to her,
a win and a loss could
be exactly the same.
"Rather like a
courtship," she commented ironically. The game's purpose
seemed to be
as much philosophical demonstration as it was entertainment. It
had
been devised, he said, many ages ago by a pair of lovers who were
brilliant but not heroic. What a strange way of putting it, she
thought,
thinking that he was a
snob.
<<<<<
that five sided tiling pattern is
Penrose tiling, btw
but maybe too cluttered for a cover
It depends on the artwork really
dunnit.
Certainly, a cover shouldn't require
detailed perusal at the first sight, but it's nice if there's summatt to
'spot' later when you've bought it.
Does any image strike you strongly??
Dozens. Probably I should drag the
doorstop-wedge of printout script up to the computer and send you a list
from that.
Something might be done with the mansonyagger, in a
symbolic way.
The Mansonyagger (Please tell me, what
is the meaning of that name, and Montrowuscans? There must be a reason for
these names) is a very tempting visual image and I'd love to draw 'em.
There are many scenes in which these gizmos are posed in interesting
tablaux. Some with attractive naked women (Alweays a plus, in my opinion. I
know I'm 'too clever' to fall for such a basic image in bookshops but I
fell for it every time) or an attractive woman in baroque TechArmour. As a
Beauty and the Beast/ 5 faces thingy, this is great. On t'other hand,.
they're only reallypertinent to the last of the books - not that such a
thing has ever stopped most book covers.
Hapilly:
The 'Sexually appealing woman' element
is absolutely central to the entire book so it'd actually be Wrong
to not include this element. You get to have your cake and eat
it!
Or focus on some of the characters by having them
placed as man-sized pieces on the Penrose-tiled board (expanded in the
illustration to the dimensions of the Night Land), like giant chessmen,
focusing on one (probably Meyr) and have the others and the game-Redoubt and
game-Watchers in the background.
Ohhhhhno. The 'Reality as chess' (I
tended to think of this version in terms of a Chaturanga board I saw once
which had - I think - 8 sides) is a ghastly SF trope to denote 'Depth and
significance' which I'd rather avoid. I loved Science Fiction Monthly but
there are some things it'd be best to leave as a charming Period
Piece.
A Unicorn on a chessboard won the 2004
Phlosque Award and really was one of the finest examples of Phlosque I've
ever seen.
I mean, expand the board till its identity as a
gaming board becomes blurred with the Night Land it symbolises, and the
pieces warp into the actual characters, then focus on just part of
it.
That's a really excellent
visualisation Andy. The way you tell it, t's actually a wee bit
temp-ting.
But... and this is a gripe... the
Night Land is dark. Without searchlights, there's really very little to see.
I know that this story has the Night Land as a mysteriously floodlit
'Entirely dark' diorama filled with a baroque funfair of 'Eldrich
curiosities' but I think Tove Jansson has the image right.
Point o'fact I keep finding myself
wanting to write a 'Night Land' story with less action and more mood but
realise I have a lot more Research to do to find out how it's supposed to
Work.
If you want an absolute prescription for the cover I
can provide one: but I'd like to know what ideas you have
I assume there are known artistic rules for cover
illos????
There are.
According to Dave (Pringle) these
include 'No green' and 'No eyes'. Both are, in my opinion, absolute bollocks
and can find examples to back up my point. To be honest, I don;'t think Dave
was that serious about 'em either.
The real rule is 'Attract and intruige
the casual browser' followed by 'Don't insult the person who're bought the
book by being a cover which has nowt to do with what they're reading'.
Somewhere along there is 'Make it an image that summarises the 'feel' of the
book, if not a specific incident'. That'll be the 'Design'
element.
For any Night Land book, I'd
think theere are two dominant design elements :
1:
The overt palimsest-natured
decoration, annotation, symnbolism and embellishment of the
self-absorbed arcology of the Redoubt.
2:
The sucking, existencially terrifying
emptiness of the Night land.
That's yer Dynamic Tension right there
matey. Dunno how it's done, mind.
(((What's the going rate for this sort of
thing? £300??)))
That's pretty reasonable considering
that you're a private publisher with limited finances.
Thanks.
Preferrably, I think, black and white / maybe
tinted/ maybe with some sort of ornamental border??
Yes. The Ornamental
Border does seem to be the right sort of thing to go
for.
Thus, working out
what's an appropriately 'Redoubt-y' design seems like a vital step. - This
is down to your personal Vision. At this stage you are the Prime
Worldbuilder.
That sets up some rather awkward
'thematic' problems ie:
If the Border is 'Redoubt Palimsest',
and the internal image is 'Night Land Emptyness' then it's an inversion of
the actual mood of the book: The Redoubt is within the Night Land rather
than encompassing it.
Then again, to have the ornamentation within the
'emptyness;' of the Night Land could look a bit shonky.
- This is just the sorta thing I tend
to worry about on the backs of envelopes. It's just an excuse for me to go
off and have a wibble about Ontology to myself really.
Wibble wibble . . . . . .............. Work
called me at 3 am last night and I'm a bi fuzzy headed right now . . .
..n
Happy Saturday.
Best:
Smuzz
Enclosed:
An unfinished
cover image.
- NOT for Night
Lands.