Shame in the Blood

For Shoemaker & Hoard (now Counterpoint)

From Amazon: Told as six interlocked and layered stories, the novel builds and deepens as the particulars of everyday life provide a moving, beautiful testimony to the love and power of youth and commitment. The whole story is tinged with melancholic sadness often associated with Japanese literature, where the feeling of love itself is “a little death.”

The publisher originally asked that I use the Japanese prints on the cover. I did 2 comps using the prints, and one of my own, that was chosen. Somehow I didn't feel the prints told the story. Instead, I found the image of the woman and liked the “raw” quality of the photo. I paired it with a dahlia drawing which has a fragile look to it (dahlias are mentioned in the title story). The top portion of the cover uses red dots (blood) and the bottom portion uses white (snow). In general, I think the final comp shows a vulnerability which I sensed in the writing. The mechanical is below: