Cover Stories: Huntress by Malinda Lo

Malinda Lo stopped by to talk about her debut cover for the lovely Ash a while back, and she's here once again because her latest book, Huntress, just hit the shelves in April.

Once again, Malinda has a stirring cover with a great back story. Here she is:

"While I was writing Huntress I truly didn't have any idea what the cover might look like, and I didn't even spend much time thinking about it. I absolutely adore the cover that my publisher created for Ash, and I would never have come up with that as a cover concept — I'm definitely a writer, not a designer! So I was excited to see what they came up with for Huntress.

"The first cover concept I saw was this one (right). I was immediately struck by the meditative quality of the image, which I thought reflected the book pretty well — and the snow! I loved the snow! A little known fact about me is that I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of ice. Most people want to vacation in Hawaii; I desperately want to take a trip to Antarctica. (Yes, I'm strange.)

"Anyway, a good part of Huntress involves the main characters crossing a giant glacier, and I was thrilled that this aspect of the book was reflected on the cover.

"I did have a few suggestions, though, because I felt that the girl on the cover didn't entirely reflect my vision of Kaede, the main character. Of course, I know that book covers are designed to sell books, not to look exactly the way an author sees her characters (and, you know, the girl on the cover of Ash doesn't really look like her, but I think it very nicely fits the mood and feel of the book).

"One of my main concerns in this case was that the girl looked a little too young, because Kaede is 18 in the book, and I wanted to make sure this looked like a YA title..."

Read the rest of Malinda's Cover Story on melissacwalker.com.

PS-If you're lucky you can catch Malinda on the Diversity in YA Tour this month (amazing lineups)!

Cover Stories: Ash by Malinda Lo

The Possibilities of Sainthood author Donna Freitas asked me to dig up the Cover Story behind Malinda Lo's Ash (a lesbian retelling of Cinderella), and I was happy to oblige (um, because look at that cover)!

Here's Malinda:

"I had no idea of what the cover would look like -- absolutely none. I clearly do not think like an artist!

"My publisher didn't ask for my input, and I didn't offer any. I only knew that a cover designer had been assigned and that she was working on it. My editor told me she thought the designer really 'got it.'

"It's a stock photo that the book designer, Alison Impey, had found before she worked on Ash and had saved on her computer. When Ash came to her desk, she did search for other images, but ultimately chose that image she had found earlier.

"When I first saw the cover, I was totally floored. I think I probably gasped out loud. I thought it was stunning. I would never have come up with that cover idea -- I'm a writer, not a designer! And yet it fit the mood of the book perfectly. I felt so lucky to have this as the cover of my debut novel.

"My editor did ask for comments, and my only comments were about the font. The first version of the cover that I saw had my name in a script font like the one used for the title, but I thought that made my name a bit hard to read. I have a very short last name that looked a little confusing in the script font, and my first name has an unusual spelling, so I wanted to make sure it was readable (and easily alphabetizable).

"They changed the font of my name so that it's very clear to read, and they even tweaked the letter "S" in the title so that it was clear it was an "S" and not an "A" (which it had sort of looked like in the earlier version).

"In the end, I love love love it. Every time I show it to someone, they love it, too! I think it's so striking and unique. It's just wonderful. Alison Impey is a genius!"

I agree, and I love this cover! It's stunning. Malinda interviewed her designer Alison Impey, who has also designed the covers of Sara Zarr's Sweethearts, Wendy Maas' Every Soul a Star, Simon Holt's The Devouring, Suzanne Phillips' Burn, and Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (all right), so check out that interview here for more on Alison's take.

Thanks to Donna for pointing me Malinda's way. If you guys have covers you want to hear about, let me know. Meanwhile, what do you think of Ash?

PS-Just found the UK cover for Ash (left). While it's also very pretty, I prefer the starker US version. Thoughts?