Masha du Toit

 The book is finished.  All I have to do is format it and insert the illustrations.  And then…publish!  (If you want to be notified when this book is launched, please join my new release mailing list.  The ebook will be released first, and the print version some time later.)

Here is the cover – which took me simply ages to get right.

Just to give an idea, here is just a small sample of the contortions I went through to arrive at this design 🙂  First, a very “Deon Meyer” looking cover with a image of the neighbourhood that the book is set in.

Then a starry one that looks far too much like a children’s story. Or maybe not.  What on earth does this look like?

Then, a much more dreamy one featuring the full moon, which is an important symbol in this story. Also – I found the right typeface.

…but the moon is not as important as other things!  Must have a  captured swan, and drops of blood!  Things start falling apart a bit here:

Nope, that didn’t work, although I like the blue, red and white.  Maybe a combination of the swan, and Deon Meyer?

People said they could not figure out that it IS a swan.  Maybe if I zoom in on the thing, it will be better?

No.  Not working.  Need a completely different direction.

And after much fiddling, and combining with this image below, I arrived at the final cover, which is the one you see right at the top of this post 🙂 .

And that’s that!  Such a relief to have it all done.