WHEN MY MOUTH OPENS...SUZANNAH SAFI LEAPS TO MY LIPS!

I'm Ladybug Lin...and I get to mouth off when the urge hits...I ALSO get to decide what topic I want to mouth off about...Hey this is a blog...NOT a democracy!

Today I am going to introduce what will probably be an ongoing

MOUTH-OFF topic...but today is a first....because it IS the

first...let's

hear some fanfare!

I am drawn to

books more often than not because of covers...and I just saw this cover for a book releasing from

Muse It Up Publishing in October...Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have an IN at MIU and I get to find out about stuff WAY ahead of the

Maddening Crowd.

So take a look at this cover and then we'll talk!

Pretty darned FANTASTIC isn't it? And you know what's super fanstastic about it...

Suzannah Safi is both the author AND the CA.

WHY do I

love this cover? First...there's the seductive length of leg...subtle in the over all scheme of things...and yet it really isn't. I was always complimented on my legs...which is a good thing when you grow into womanhood during the age of mini-skirts, hot pants, and t-shirt covered bikinis...

(When Kat was fourteen, she was taking a photo class in school and had a RED, WHITE, AND BLUE theme...so she arm twisted me to pose for her. Note...the t-shirt is red, the shoes are white, and even though you can't see it in this pic, despite Kat having me jut my butt cheek out, I AM wearing a blue bikini beneath the shirt...I was just short of 40.)

The way Suzannah drapes the leg, the red skirt of the dress flowing like lengths of raw silk over the curve of her hips...again subtle...but not! I'm also kinda crazy about the way her exposed arm suggests she's aware of how delightful her form is, but doesn't feel the need to broadcast it like she's a walking ticker tape skin parade.

Her pose is grace most

regal...which is emphasized by the sweeping elegance of the landscape behind her...a stately mansion with majestic

collonades...spires rising into the storm brewing sky, and the slightest suggestion of a delicate but present wind in the differing placement of the many leaves takes my breath away.

OKAY...admittedly I would not stand in a bookstore staring at a cover long enough to take in all that detail...but that's the beauty of this cover...I don't need to. The heroine, alone, the cynosure of your captured eyes, tells all you need to know.

So as covers go, this is a definite success because I WANT this book..so I will be watching for its release...and isn't that what every author hopes the cover of his or her book does?

I am Ladybug Lin, and if I were giving a review based on this cover I would have to give it

FIVE Stars...

The font for the title is bold in it's lettering and it's graduating color scheme, striking. The font for the author's name is less bold but such a pleasant contrast because you can CLEARLY read it, and the color matches the highlights of the fading sunlight on the collonades. It also draws you because of how close it is to the drape of her almost exposed knee.

BRILLIANT!!! BRILLIANT!!!!

*****BRILLIANT*****

The BIG "C" Strike

When I was a girl,

you never talked about it. If you had it the last thing you did was admit it...or even mention it above a raspy whisper. You were ashamed of it much the way you'd be afraid to mention having syphilis...or crabs, so it came as a shock when the father of my friend's father...yep...her grandfather allowed us to SEE the effects of

The BIG "C".

When I think back, though, I wonder how they could have kept Mr. Johnson's DIS-ease to themselves. Mr. J. had

skin cancer. It was literally eating his face before our eyes. Short of being sent off to some godforsaken hell hole like they used to do with lepers, how could Mr. J. Have kept his "shame" to himself?

We didn't talk about it. We just buried our heads in the sand and pretended. As long as we never...{gulp}...mentioned its name, we were safe with our heads in the dirt and our asses aimed towards the sky. Right?

Mr. J. died...thank heavens. I can still hear his screams from the pain it caused. Morphine dulled the raggedness of it chewing inch upon inch, layer upon layer of his face. (I have no idea when dilaudin was discovered, but I don't remember overhearing anyone mentioning that and Mr. J's treatment together back then.) Thinking back with the knowledge I have now, I shudder to imagine what the skin beneath the clothes dangling from Mr. J's diminishing frame looked like.

Fast forward. Times change. The Big "C" moved from something you discussed in hushed tones behind your raised hand, to the

MAINSTREAM...in fact it seemed to become almost FASHIONABLE to have, or know someone who HAS cancer by the 1990's...

So being a modern minded gal, my body jumped into the mainstream with glee. Can't say my mind agreed with the body, but there you have it...and of course, I don't do things by halves...I jumped into that BIG "C" sea


CHEMO and RADIATION...to ME they're curse words...because they act upon your body like a curse.

My children

weren't little cherubs I could easily hide things from any more. They were in their teens BUT for the most part I kept from them the horrible side-effects of the destructive combination. I'd wait until they went to school to go for my dose of poison, vomit like it was my avocation the whole time they were gone and only be lying in bed moaning and groaning when they got home. (OH before heading for my deadly cocktail, I'd make certain to pack the fridge with sandwiches for the kids' dinners.)

I DID lose my hair...Not ALL of it, but enough clumps of it the kids KNEW Mom was battling the Big "C". Somehow I made it through that nightmare BOTH times.

Fast forward...Angelina Jolie...There are those who are claiming her choice to go public with her decision to have a double mastectomy to reduce her chances of breast cancer is nothing more than a publicity stunt...and they are the ones I am forced to write this posting because.

I have followed Ms. Jolie's career. When she was married to Billie Bob Thorton and boasted wearing a vial of his blood THAT was a publicity stunt! Having your breasts removed to reduce your risk of having cancer mutate your body's cells is NOT!

Ms. Jolie watched her mother battle the Big "C". She KNOWS the toll the battle demands the body to wage...she does not want her children to have to watch her wage that war.

I sat on the sidelines during the stupid idiocy of the Anniston vs Jolie camps that waged when Brad Pitt first started with Ms. Jolie. That was foolishness on the parts of those with no lives enough to bother ranting about this. HAD the Pitt-Anniston marriage been strong NO ONE could have come in from the side lines and tsunamied them apart. True love cannot be shattered...as

Mr. Pitt is proving now as he steps up to the plate to support Ms. Jolie in her courageous stance to pre-empt

a war against the Big "C".

I despaired for MS. Jolie when she was wearing Billy Bob's blood, but the moment she wrapped her heart and soul around being a mom, she found her true passion. Dedicated moms will do anything to spare their children the agony of watching them battle death.

MS. Jolie has once more proven her grace, maturity, depth of love, her honor, and her true beauty. I pray those who find fault with her willingness to share her journey with the rest of us never have to face the same choices. The Big "C" is a vicious foe, that no one should ever have to go to war against, but a pair of

boobs, a pair of ovaries...some hair...a bit of blood...bile...they're a small price to give up for a C-free future.

Thank you Ms. Jolie.

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Three plus

years and counting...does that mean Kat and I now have an insider's understanding of this BIG OCEAN we swim in?

March 29th was the actual THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my

first book contract. (Kat started with another publisher a year and a half before that.)

I've learned a LOT about the process since my Over-The-Moon...Dancing On The Ceiling and Swinging-From-The-Rafters first days..Some of it EXCEPTIONALLY BRILLIANT...

Some of it...

DOG DOO SUCKY!

One of the things I've learned is

cover art is not necessarily UNIQUE any longer.

I can show this by comparing some of my book covers with book covers for other authors also here at Muse It Up Publishing, Inc. and express why some of their covers rock my world better than mine and/or vice versa.

I begin with my all time favorite cover for my new release ECHOES FROM THE PAST done by the billiant Suzannah Safi and showcase it with another Suzannah Safi cover for SLOANE WOLFE

What do you think?




I admit to LOVING the color of blue...but the richer, autumn colors of my cover...they seem warmer to me...still two pretty spectacular representations using the same heroine by Suzannah Safi in a way that allows BOTH covers to shine. 

I would be LYING if I didn't say I LOVE the cover Suzannah created for ECHOES more, but I'm pretty gape-jawed over the feeling of chilling power she also captured in the Sloane Wolf cover for Margay Leah Justice.

Just goes to show if the people who work with Graphics know their stuff they can beautifully create many sides at the altar of their Cover table.

BUT GUESS WHAT...I found ANOTHER Muse It Up Cover by another CA using the same heroine image...this one was done early in the parade of Muse It Up Covers...

...fashioned by Delilah K. Stephens for HIMEROS PRINCESS. I found this cover intriguing, but more about it on something I will elaborate on further into this blog posting.

This heroine seems more coolly calculating in the way she looks out of the cover at us. She seems less likly to burn and sizzle....and the images seem...ghostly...or muted somehow. Am I right?

Still the coloring of MY heroine, in the hues Suzannah gave me show Kira Firebird MY heroine, is a woman of intense emotions with heat radiating out of her dark eyes and a haunted future staring back at her.

Dana Littlejohn, though I must acknowledge yours is the first of our MIU covers I saw my heroine captured on, it is impressive. From the positive feedback I've been getting for my Suzannah Safi Cover and complimenting Book Trailer though, I hope your cover made just as deep an impact on the visual world.

Moving On...Everyone told me what a lucky duck I was to get a Jimmy Thomas cover. I hate to admit this, since I've learned much since then, I had no idea if Jimmy Thomas was a person or a Garbonza bean when everyone was praising me for my coup.

Now I know...but I also know two of our CA's used the same image to create covers and I'm still not sure WHAT-THE-HEY!

My cover, by Delilah K. Stephens is for my story that takes place in the moutains...snow blizzard and all...Maxine's, done by Winterheart Design, I assume takes place in a more HOT and watery climate.

My Jimmy and his lady are muted...but not enough for them to actually be dressed as they seem to be to comfortably be playing in what I know and the reader WILL know is an approaching blizzard...also...for being all excited about having a JT cover...why should I be thrilled about a MUTED Cover God? (I doubt Jimmy spends time asking how he can MUTE his gorgeousness.) 

Maxine's cover leaves JT and his blonde at/near/IN the water and dressed approrpiately.

Another thing...is the white banner across the bottom of my cover supposed to hint at SNOW? To me it seems more like a white veil to hide that JT and the heroine are not really getting it on in the moutains.

Of these two covers, I like the one for RINGS OF PARADISE best. It RINGS true! Am I wrong?

A mountain blizzard...that's where my book's story takes place,. not hugging theocean's crests.

Now the final curiosity connected with Delilah K. Stephens' cover of HIMEROS PRINCESS and the cover she did for Book Two in my Christmas Miracles Series.

I guess I should start with Book One in this series...a BRILLIANT first cover I will always love...

SANTA IS A LADY

The images and blending and yes, even the font Delilah K. Stephens put together for my very first published MIU book spoiled me...can you tell why?

Book Two in this series,

THE CHRISTMAS WAR...Not so good...

and let me explain why...

the hero of MY story has served several terms in Iraq...he's got a PhD. in Law and Theology...he's not a kid any more. He's a black man...and yes, he's a hero type.

Beck, the heroine is rapidly approaching her 35th birthday. She's the owner of her own confection's store, and the best friend of the heroine in SANTA IS A LADY...she's white and has many notches of life on her soul.

In HIMEROS PRINCESS...the hero is black and he's more mature than the image I ended up with for THE CHRISTMAS WAR.

I was told it's difficult to find black heroes...so this is the cover I HAD to accept since I'd gone and made my hero black.

Notice the hero AND the heroine are both little more than KIDS!

If the hero for Himeros Princess was already in Delilah's repertoire, why did she "urge" me to accept an inferior cover based on inablity to find black heroes? Doesn't the Himeros hero look closer to the age of my hero than what my cover ended up with?

And again..this series takes place in

SNOW COUNTRY...does either the hero or heroine look like they're ready for arctic temps?

Most of today's CA do not stand at

easel creating original works of genius. They trawl the graphics sites for the images they paste and blend into genius.

I know once a CA buys an image (s)he has the right to use it over and over for thousands and thousands of times...SO if you want to show yourself as exceptional at what your blending you have to remember what you've done, keep an eye on other covers fashioned by other artists and go for the gold.

No one is going to hit the mark 100% of the time, but the finished cover is not just ONE example of your genuis....it's a conglomerate of your skills...blending color, offering shadow, morphing design, arranging font size, color, etc., etc., etc....In OTHER words...the TECHNICAL as well as the creative makes the difference between a GREAT cover...

And one that

falls short of the mark.

Now that we've come full circle

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