We have a cover. And what a cover.

But before I reveal it, I'd like to give a little of the background.

Initially, as I said in a previous blog, I thought the best image would be a plain capital H in red. No name, nothing but the H.

Or maybe, less radically, something like the following:

First Picture




But then, in conversation with others who had read the book, I realised that something else was required.

Among the jpgs I sent to the cover designer at Penguin - Nathan Burton by name - was this one -

Second Picture



Nathan liked it, especially the trees on the left. So I sent him another sketch -


Third Picture



Which he also liked. But, obviously, despite the exquisite rendering of my falling stick-figure, we needed to commission a proper artist. Our first thought was Charles Burns, but he was too busy. Which is when I put the plea out, Illustrator Required.

I also asked a few friends if they had any suggestions. And one friend, Ben Moor, who is a devoted comic-reader, came up with a short list of names. From these, I passed on a couple. The one I liked best of all was Paul Hornschemeier.(http://www.margomitchell.com/thc/ph.htm)

When approached, he was keen to help. Nathan sent him my sketch, oh the shame, along with a photograph (by Robert) Id seen at an exhibition at the Photographers Gallery. It was of a tree -


Fourth Picture



Paul sent back a rough. I sent, via Nathan, another couple of sketches, to clarify details. Here is one -


Fifth Picture



All of which resulted in Paul Hornschemeier's fantastically fantastical cover.

I will post it in a couple of days. We're just tweaking.