Gisborne: Book of Pawns

February 7, 2012Blog, book cover design, character inspiration, e-books, Gisborne, Guy of Gisborne, hero vs anti-hero, Historical fantasy, historical fiction, historical romance, indie writers, Mesmered, Prue Batten, Richard Armitage34 Comments

Guy of Gisborne (Tiger Aspect Productions/BBC)

Twelfth century England – a time when status means power.

Guy of Gisborne – a man of disturbing secrets and subtle skills.

Ysabel of Moncrieff – a woman of status whose life changes with the receipt of a letter.

Two people drawn together by loyalty, lust, and a lost inheritance and whose existence depends on whom they trust, on how they move between Church and State…

and on how they play the game.

The covers for my first historical fiction have just arrived. I’m delighted with them.

They illustrate the entire feeling of the novel. The story is a journey, both physical and emotional for the two protagonists: Guy of Gisborne and Ysabel of Moncrieff. The green strip along the bottom is part of a medieval painting… a bird’s eye view of a rural scene showing the country through which the two characters passed.

The documents overlaying the whole piece are twelfth century documents.

The chessboard and pawn are the designer’s own.

In this instance, armed with the briefest of briefs and on the understanding that I believe my designer has great empathy, she went to work and I’m content with what she has created. To me it is the essence of the story.

For a writer like me, receiving the cover is like a surprise birthday present, maybe that Gucci scarf you may have coveted all your life… it’s the wrapping, the ribbon, the perfectly inscribed card. In the final outcome, it’s what helps me make it over the line when that last stretch looks longer than a marathon.

Only a few yards to go now and I am done!

The full cover for the print version.

E-book cover.