The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think. - Albert Einstein
I was chatting with my mom recently about my latest book, Just Say Yes. She mentioned a friend of hers was considering reading it, but said the cover was ‘too scary’.
I found this input fascinating. It’s the first time anyone has said that about my cover. They usually say something along the lines of how much they like propaganda-style art, or ask me where I found it. I guess we all have different perspectives on what we find scary.
I won’t traumatize you with the amateurish graphics of all the various iterations of book cover ideas I considered before landing on the fistfork. (And yes, I made that word up.) Suffice to say they included human silhouettes running, or falling, or shooting something, and foreboding landscapes. The usual action thriller stuff.
But then I saw this somewhere online, and a lightbulb went off.
It’s an old anti-McDonald’s ad by Taco Bell. As a child of the sixties, I grew up with the Red Menace. Duck-and-cover drills were a thing at my school. Who cares if it’s ‘cold’ - it’s still a ‘war’. When I saw this propaganda style, something really resonated. Plus, it featured food. I took it as a sign.
Propaganda art is intended to communicate a political cause; ‘tools of persuasion’ as I saw it euphemistically phrased in one article. Whether for good or ill is in the eye of the beholder. It’s tempting to label propaganda as Russian, but what about the beloved Rosie the Riveter campaigns designed to promoted patriotism during World War II? That’s American propaganda at its finest.
Ancient peoples didn’t have Canva or Photoshop, but they didn’t let that stop them from creating their own propaganda campaigns. They just had to use the old stone tablet method instead. Thankfully, this media sticks around a lot longer than a paper poster. which is how we know about it. Their messaging also tended to brag themselves up, focusing on how powerful (Babylon) or smart (Greece) or successful (Egypt) their culture was.
Flashing forward to the mid-20th century, we see the emergence of the visual style of what we now think of as propaganda art. Bold colors, simple designs. Think Lichtenstein and Warhol, but with the not-so-subtle symbolism of a missile or a bicep or a fist communicating you better get on board with our doctrine, or else.
That’s what I wanted to capture for my book cover by using the propaganda style: the ‘or else’ factor. In my story, there’s a powerful group secretly controlling the public through the food supply. We’re telling you what you should be eating. And you better eat it, or else.
What do you think of my cover art? Love it, or hate it? Did it scare you off, or make you want to add it to your cart? I look forward to hearing from you. Or else.
Many thanks to Sharon Buchbinder and her staff for offering me the opportunity to do a book blurb swap with them. I hope you will consider purchasing her book, The Vampire Billionaire's Secret Baby.
![The Vampire Billionaire's Secret Baby (Cat's Paw Cove Book 26) by [Sharon Buchbinder, Catherine Kean, Wynter Daniels]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_iCm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F760d6b8e-2131-490f-a527-eec0bc4b2d55_333x500.jpeg "The Vampire Billionaire's Secret Baby (Cat's Paw Cove Book 26) by [Sharon Buchbinder, Catherine Kean, Wynter Daniels]")
When home organizer and Gorgon, Meddy Stheno, is called in to help a recent arrival to Cat’s Paw Cove tidy up his home, she meets a handsome and frustrated father of a precocious three-year old. Meddy is sworn to secrecy to protect this special child. The boy is unable to control his shapeshifting—but he can go out in the daylight.
Vampire billionaire and casino owner, Quinn Ward, is on the run from someone who wants to extract his dhampir son’s abilities. To protect his child, he must rely on Meddy and the eccentric Supernaturals in Feline Fine Retirement Home. Can he count on them to help overpower the powerful Head of the Vampire House Diablos?
With the fate of his son on the line, Quinn and Meddy must recruit and train a Magical team. Can Quinn overcome his past and let another woman into his life? Will this longshot give them the payout they both need? Or will Meddy and Quinn lose it all in this do or die gamble for love?
I will leave you with three things:
I don’t remember where I heard about Gideon the Ninth, but the cover blurb is possibly one of the best I have ever seen. And the book’s pretty good, too!
Baseball is back. I don’t give a hoot about the pitch/swing timer thing, but I’m a little salty about the dumb no shift rules. And miking up the players while they’re playing? How do the managers think this is a good idea? Okay, rant over. Let’s go, Rangers!
I admire the craft. I really do. But there is no way on Earth I would ever wear these pants. Or the hat.
My latest book, Double Fault, is available now on Amazon.
When an investigation of illegal match fixing by the Russian mob brings the FBI to her tennis club in the person of hunky agent Wilson DuBois, Veronica Burk vows to help him solve the case quickly before her own very successful gambling habit falls under suspicion.
Ventured is available now on Amazon.
When she takes a chance on making a new life for herself, French orphan and cutpurse extraordinaire Belle must find a way to survive in the New World—or she may not live long enough to enjoy it.
My YA trilogy is also still available if historical fiction isn’t your thing.
Brody Morgan grew up starring in commercials for his dad's mega food corporation. What will Brody do when he discovers what he's really been selling?
As a child of the sixties, I really like your cover art. However, on the flip side, it really gives me no clue as to what the book is about. Of course, anyone can just flip it over and read the blurb so this is not really a big problem. The image does pique my interest.