Cover designs: A Pius Legacy

Yes, we're already at that stage.


COVER DESIGN FOR THE SEQUEL.

Yes, a sequel.  You thought that I was going to be done with A Pius Man, didn't you?  You thought that I was going to take a year even if I did want to do a sequel, didn't you?

MUAHAHAHAHA. FOOLS!

No, seriously, book two, A Pius Legacy, takes off right after A Pius Man is finished.  And it is finished...

Okay, not really.

It's written. I finished writing it. And I'm having people read it over right now, as we speak.

What? I've been writing this thing for nearly a decade. Did you think I wouldn't have sequels ready to follow hot upon its heels?

Now, on cover design....

If you remember the last time this happened, I went ... well, insane is a nice way of saying it. Someone was going to die, and it was probably going to be me.

At the end of the day, instead of trying to build my own cover design from the fairly tacky options I had been given, I'm going to also consider my other options. This time out, I've got a concept for my cover, and a concept for a premade cover.



Item the first: a createspace cover.

This is an image I've always liked when thinking about the Pius trilogy. Crosshairs on the Vatican, or on someone who is clearly a pope.  It's an iconic institution, and the image leaves no doubt about what the book is about.  You know that Bad Things will happen to the Vatican, or the people in it.  And once the fecal matter impacts the air impeller, the Church itself will be in the middle.

I don't know. I like it.  But it could just be me.

Now for something completely different.



The other option is a premade cover from Sarah-Jane Lehoux.  You know her because one of her covers was what I used for A Pius Man.



This was first suggested to me by my father, who liked the thought of having a war declared on the Catholic church represented by a Satanic image.



Obviously, like all trilogies, A Pius Legacy will have the bad guys starting with the upper hand.  And, perhaps, ending with the upper hand, depending on how you look at it.



Yes, it should have a very Empire Strikes Back vibe to the whole thing, and I think this image also works nicely.



Now, either way, we're going to have some fun around here. There will be blood. There will be violence.



And it's going to be fun.



Leave a comment below, tell me what you think about either image.



Be well.