tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34198375349880620242012-02-16T20:25:12.421-08:00Mark Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12103997496549941279noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3419837534988062024.post-62465082631527450672009-09-04T11:30:00.001-07:002009-09-04T11:30:57.587-07:00<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3419837534988062024-6246508263152745067?l=mewmill.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mark Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12103997496549941279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3419837534988062024.post-54307283776533150772009-09-04T10:52:00.000-07:002010-01-12T04:52:14.323-08:00<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">Having had a bit of success with my novel and collection, I asked Chris Teague at Pendragon Press if he would have any objection to my putting together a concept for the book. He agreed, working on the assumption that he, Gary McMahon and I would all have to sign off on the design.<br /><br />I set to work but, not having read any of the other stories at that point, had to come up with a concept. For some reason, I quite liked the idea of fingers and/or a statue. I was browsing on Flickr one day and found exactly what I was looking for:<br /><br /></div></span><p align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFUzMsrciI/AAAAAAAAAC0/qXQ0sq52HWM/s1600-h/1811667199_336a93f653_o.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377672668615766562" style="WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFUzMsrciI/AAAAAAAAAC0/qXQ0sq52HWM/s320/1811667199_336a93f653_o.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"> <i>This wonderful statue was found in a cemetery in Buenos Aires and photographed by Teb.</i></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I took the hand out, flipped it (it felt better the other way around, for some reason) and then tried to figure out the backgrounds. I was aiming more for the cemetery imagery still, Chris was going more for landscape, Gary was after urban blight.<br /><br /></div></span><p align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFVsSzoWqI/AAAAAAAAAC8/s0cn_-7KvSY/s1600-h/cover+test3j.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377673649508080290" style="WIDTH: 209px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFVsSzoWqI/AAAAAAAAAC8/s0cn_-7KvSY/s320/cover+test3j.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>This was my first crack, for my idea, but I felt as if the image lost all sense of scale and scope. Back to the drawing board...</i></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">We quickly discovered the hand didn't work at all, against a landscape, so I went urban instead.<br /><br /></div></span><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFZ2PAFG4I/AAAAAAAAADE/MyTcOtBFRrk/s1600-h/trio.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377678218331757442" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFZ2PAFG4I/AAAAAAAAADE/MyTcOtBFRrk/s320/trio.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><i>The stairwell didn't work and neither did the window, particularly, but the pumping station...hmmm, yes that could have it</i></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFawvpE-GI/AAAAAAAAADM/OlqtjZWmfac/s1600-h/cadman.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377679223526062178" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFawvpE-GI/AAAAAAAAADM/OlqtjZWmfac/s320/cadman.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><i><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Steve Cadman's picture of Crossness Pumping station can be found </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/527781519/in/set-72157600304024506"><span style="font-size:85%;">here on his Flickr feed</span></a></i></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Once again, I flipped the image and then moved it around until it fitted perfectly. </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><div align="justify"><br /></div></span><p align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFbxf9mMzI/AAAAAAAAADU/cZO1TrtR-MY/s1600-h/full-wrap-mock-resize.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377680336008655666" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 224px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ejS8jzNkxxs/SqFbxf9mMzI/AAAAAAAAADU/cZO1TrtR-MY/s320/full-wrap-mock-resize.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></p><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">The back cover image was also mine, basically a cut and paste job of a wrecked window and a photograph of the moon taken from Flickr.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3419837534988062024-5430728377653315077?l=mewmill.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Mark Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12103997496549941279noreply@blogger.com0