Our Savage Anatomies #2: Cover Art Info

 You may have seen the lovely cover art already, but the process of getting it to the final stage was interesting, to say the least. 

The first version of the cover art for OUR SAVAGE ANATOMIES was a sketch. It showed much of what the final version features, except for Sasha. She was dressed for battle and had long, luxurious hair. 

Ahem!

The human form of Sasha from the book has hair trimmed almost down to stubble. 

The publisher informed the artist, Małgorzata Mika, of this detail. Shortly thereafter, we got the follow-up version...which featured Sasha as you see her now, but she was...naked. Naked and furry, of course! Sasha in full-on werewolf form. I liked this much better, but there were some questions that we had to address. I went back and forth with the publisher about perceptions in the world we live in today, and how either both characters needed to be naked, down to their furry selves, or they both needed clothing. The publisher dug Rufus's gear from the get-go, as did I, so I knew we'd leave him as he was. A couple more variations of clothes for Sasha were tried until we came up with Sasha in the dark blue dress, which works for me. There's an attitude she flaunts, and I believe her look and pose fits the attitude. 

How about the rest of the cover?

To the right we have the mysterious village with no name, set in the Marche region of Italy, just beyond another real-life tiny village called Loretello, which was the template for the mysterious village. I will show you what I mean in a future post as at the end of August, my girlfriend Alessandra and I will be staying at our friend Micheala's place...in the Marche region...a short walk from Loretallo. There will be photos highlighting some of the key elements in Loretello I used for the mysterious village in the novel.  

To the left we have the Golden Gate bridge, meaning San Francisco, which is the home to the infamous mutant vampire, Jack Pandemonium. (Oh, you're going to love him!)

Dead center, down the road from Rufus and Sasha, we have the blood trees, a triangle of trees that the werewolves and vampires and any other creatures of the night feed from if they don't want to give in to their primal instincts...and becoming killing machines. 

Dig the colors, the abundant details--all of it. This is one full-bodied cover! 

Małgorzata Mika did a fantastic job, eh? 

I think so. 

Here it is: 

Next? How in the world did I, a writer of weird fiction, end up veering into the realm of werewolves and vampires? Amusing stuff, you'll see. 

For those of you who need a fiction fix before the release of OUR SAVAGE ANATOMIES, you can check out my Bram Stoker Award finalist debut novel, RIDING THE CENTIPEDE, my second, trippy horror novel, THE WILDERNESS WITHIN, and/or the expanded version of my second collection, containing 25 stories culled from that collection, all of my third collection, Occasional Beasts, and half of my debut collection, The Dark is Light Enough for Me, AUTUMN IN THE ABYSS REDUX. 

Happy reading!