French Cover for Book 1

I just thought today I might show you a rough I received from my French publisher, Milan, for the cover of the French (surprise surprise) edition of Foundling.

The title, roughly translated, is "Land of Monsters" and the subtitle, "The Child Lost" - sounds so much better in French, I reckon. (I now know that it in fact means "Child Found" - still sounds better in French)

I was warned that some publishers would want to show Rossamünd's face and here is a good example. After acquiescing to my US publishers about revealing Ross' dial, I am no longer fussed about such things - it was a cute idea of mine to leave the reader's conception of him to themselves but it has not survived "translation". Indeed, given the current results of the 2nd Poll Question, it would appear that this is in fact a good thing.

I am truly learning this writing thing each day.

Either way, I really like the cover, which will be illustrated by a certain French illustrator, Benjamin Lacombe. Said to be '...one of "the most brilliant and popular artists for young readers'...", Mr Lancombe's work is at times dark and melancholy, whimsical and fairytale grim, just how I conceive the Half-Continent. So, this will be the first occasion another professional will have attempted to illustrate MBT (though let us not forget the excellent work done by Spanish readers), which I think is rather cool. If this is a rough then I am very very much looking forward to the finished cover. What fun!

Your thoughts?

...oh, and for breakfast today I had a pineapple, yoghurt and caramel smoothie.

(Also, I do not know if this is a bit lame but I have put a little white widget box some way down the righthand side with a small sellection of some electronic music of my own compisition. Just wanting to share.)