Monday, November 12, 2007

Cover of Witch of Talera



A friend of mine, Steve Harris, found this picture of the cover to Witch of Talera at The Book Place here.

It looks great to me. Each cover is darker than the last, which is kind of true for the contents of the books as well. I'm happy.

In other news, I started and finished James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice yesterday, and now I'm into his Double Indemnity. Although the opening line of "Postman" is great, there are some snags in the first couple of pages. At one point it looks like the main male character is talking to some guy who has car trouble in the Kitchen but it turns out to be the main female character. And the main male character seems to jump to the conclusion that the woman is Mexican even though nothing is set up for this and she is married to a guy who is clearly Greek. But once I got through those relatively minor snags I was hooked and raced through the book. You can definitely see where Cain's influence on the development of noir fiction comes from. Personally, I didn't think his characters were particularly realistic, certainly not as realistic as John D. MacDonald's, say, but they were fascinating nevertheless.

I also finished reading The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx of the heavy metal band Motley Crue. It was pretty fascinating but I'd like to have heard more about how he still managed to write songs during his "gone to Heroin" days. It's basically the story of a year in Sixx's life when he was at the height of his drug addictions, and is taken from actual diaries he kept at the time. Interesting from a psychological perspective and very honest, even to the point where the reader is likely to say, "you dumb ass, what were you thinking?" I found it a worthwhile read, better than Tommyland but not as good as The Dirt, both of which were about the Crue.

32 comments:

Lana Gramlich said...

Cool cover, baby! I guess we were BOTH wrong on our guesses. So much for "America's Psychic Challenge."

Steve Malley said...

Love that cover! Can't wait for Amazon to bring it to me!! You have more novels cooking?

I'm a Cain fan m'self, but definitely a *much* bigger JDM fan. Maybe because McDonald's work always seemed to feature at least one tough and decent human being. Both authors explored that dark territory where lust and greed lead to murder and normal people try to cope with the messy aftermath. But Cain puts us in the perps' heads and holds us there til the messy end. McDonald brought a hero in to prevent the crime, or to avenge the aftermath...

Sorry this comment is so long.

Why yes, I am having trouble with the writing this morning, why do you ask? :)

SzélsőFa said...

are you content with the cover not being green?
Nice composition of colors, btw.

SQT said...

Great cover!

My husband is currently reading "Heroin Diaries" and he likes but thinks it falls short of "The Dirt" too. He's fascinated by all the rock-star debauchery of those books. I prefer fiction-- it scares me less. ;)

Travis Erwin said...

I like the cover and I will be ordering my copy even though this isn't my normal genre. I do like that first paragraph and it is always good to reach out of your norm , as well as support other writers, especially my blogging buds.

LoveRundle said...

I tried my hand at noir, but I think I need to study it a little more before I actually try to publish anything with that tone. The cover is amazing.

Charles Gramlich said...

Lana, yeah, we both suck there, but we are still in love so who cares.

Steve, I'm locked into some nonfiction at the moment but will probably try to write a novel next spring/summer. I'm aching to get back to fiction. You're the one that turned me on to Cain so I owe you. Definetely it was a good book.

Szelsofa, I actually like this better than green.

SQT, thanks. Yeah, I don't know why I like reading about rock star debauchery. Probably a secret wish that I'd been more debauched in my younger days. I see Slash of Guns n Roses has a book out. Has your hubby read that? And is it good?

Travis Erwin, thanks my friend. I really appreciate that.

virtual nexus said...

Covers impressive. Nice touch of regal menace. All the very best...

Charles Gramlich said...

Christina, noir is a delicate emotion it seems to me, very easy to slip over into parody if one isn't careful.

Julie, I like that, "Regal Menace." I wish I'd thought of it.

Travis Cody said...

Great cover! I'm making a note now to check out Amazon.

virtual nexus said...

Did you grow up on Asimov by any chance?

Bernita said...

Lovely, clean cover!
The simplicity is compelling.

Erik Donald France said...

Excellent book cover and a major congrats on the book, Charles!

The other books sound interesting, too. I always like a good addiction memoir.

Michelle's Spell said...

The cover looks great! As for a good heroin memoir, I'll have to check it out. The one I like the best is Take The Long Way Home by Susan Gordon Lydon. It's very harrowing and honest.

Charles Gramlich said...

Travis, thanks, Travis. Much appreciated.

Julie. Asimov, Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Frank Herbert were all big for me growing up. I loved SF and fantasy. The Taleran books, though, were probably most strongly influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard.

Bernita, yes, I like the pattern for the whole trilogy, and love the color of this one.

Erik, "The Heroin Diaries" was well worth reading, and broken up into "entries" in a way that made it easy work. There were times when I wished he'd get off his focus on drugs for a bit and tell what else was going on in his world, but maybe it's pretty accurate in the "focus" on drugs.

Michelle, I haven't read that one. I'll probably take a bit of a break before reading another Heroin book. It was kind of harrowing. But I'll look for that one for later.

Sidney said...

Cool Cover!

virtual nexus said...

Ah yes - I lived and breathed Asimov especially. Started the germ of a sci-fi once about an ancient race, the Eldar, who had been cryogenically frozen and re-discovered on a dead planet but didn't know where to take it once the protagonist had thawed out!?
Maybe I gave up too easily...

I've just run across an sf guy who's breaking into being published, interesting blog, but not sure my comment uploaded.

http://garethlynpowell.blogspot.com/
if you want a quick squint.

Still think people tend to write what they love reading and I bias towards NF a lot of the time.
Confused hybrid. Shucks.

Chris Eldin said...

That is a nice cover.
I just received "Cold in the Night" yesterday and can't wait to read it! I'll get into the Talera series after the holidays! :-)

"The Diaries" would have been a better use of my money than James Frey's "Million Pieces." I hold a grudge about this sort of thing. I hate being duped like that.

Anyway, Congratulations!!! :-)

Cheri said...

The "Postman" one sounds pretty good, didn't they make a movie out of it at some point? I need to rebuild my "need to read" stack on my bookshelf, it's empty! JDM sounds interesting too so I'll check that out.

Nikki Sixx though, I don't know about that. The last rocker book that I got was the "Journals" of Kurt Cobain and that was one helluva read. He wrote all of his journals while heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol and it shows. Pretty brilliant stuff but horribly confusing at the same time.

I do like the cover- black is such an enticing color for a book. Over half the books on my shelves are black, looking at them right now.

Leigh Russell said...

Hi Charles, you're a pal.

Thank you for visiting my blog and checking out my Amazon entry. I'm very excited about it!

I answered your comment on my blog ... a few things to say about Amazon....

virtual nexus said...

Charles, thanks - replied on my blog but basically - was a natural from way back, but don't trust my memory - ie, may have plagiarised past poems unwittingly. Wouldn't know where to submit; tend to write poetry more freely when my cyclothymic muse strikes...!

Shauna Roberts said...

I agree that the cover looks great. I ordered a copy from Amazon last night and am looking forward to finding out all the secrets behind Talera.

SQT said...

Hey Charles, you've won a copy of "The Cipher" I just need your address to get it sent on to you. My email is on my profile page.

Charles Gramlich said...

Sidney, thanks, I like it a lot.

Julie, I still read quite a bit of fantasy and horror, which is mostly what I write, but I read less SF these days. I do read a lot of NF too, and do write that. It's certainly easier to write in the field you're reading in.

Church lady, Thanks for the support. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know. There are a few gory spots but they get over pretty quickly. The Taleran books are quite different, far more adventure and not much gore, but a lot of sword fighting.

Cheri, they did make a movie out of Cain's "Postman" book. The book itself is short, really more of a novella, and so is a quick read.

Leigh Russell,I first checked out Amazon US and didn't see it, but I saw it on Amazon UK. It'll probably show up on Amazon over here as well. I'll keep an eye out.

Charles Gramlich said...

Sqt, Yeah. Thanks. I'll email you today.

Shauna, thanks, I appreciate that. Not all secrets are revealed but a fair number are. I would like to write another in the series at some point. Let me know what you think.

Anonymous said...

Charles, your book looks great. I've been meaning to read some Cain books, but I haven't gotten around to it. Thanks for your views on his books.

ZZZZZZZ said...

awesome cover! Where do I get a copy?!?! haha I need to catch up on everyone's posts! I've been away for so long I was starting to suffer from writer's withdrawl! haha

JR's Thumbprints said...

Damn! I simply got to find more time to read. Neat cover. As for the Motley Crue and Sixx, I'm not sure they'd be high up on my reading list.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Great cover! Ever since I have had the big spyware infestation, I've been unable to buy anything on the internet for fear of suffering from identity theft. But my computers are being checked once more and once I get the clean bill of health - AMazon here I come and Talera will be on my list to buy!

Charles Gramlich said...

Jack, at worst it was quick read so it wouldn't take long to get through it.

Sheila, hey, good to hear from you. I hope everything has been OK. Glad to see you back.

JR, I always liked Motley's music and did an article on them for a reference book this past spring. That's part of the reason I've read a fair amount about them.

Ello, sorry for spyware troubles. I hate that crap. Hope you enjoy Talera, and thanks for your interest in it.

virtual nexus said...

Charles, have started tinkering with a fantasy spoof as a novice writers 'workshop'. The Chronicles of Blog.

Thanks for all the stimulus...

Greg said...

nice cover!