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Published by: SecretSpi on 19th Jan 2012 | View all blogs by SecretSpi

The Bother in Burmeon

We dithered around a bit with the cover - it was originally much more comic- booky before we decided on the vintage look. In the end, it's not a graphic novel...

Speaking of which, busying around with covers and the website has made me realise that it's probably only a novel because that's what I can do. The idea was always a world and a story for me that was not medium-specific. It could have been a real-life action film, a graphic novel, a game, a cartoon film, a YouTube series or even a ride in an adventure park, which is how "Pirates of the Caribbean" started life.

Anyway, thought you might like to see it. I've got a launch date of April 11th, so keep watching this space - and tell any young relatives and friends!

Comments

28 Comments

by Noodledoodle 4 months ago

Wow, will take a peek and will be waiting for the launch! Delighted for you x
by Tony 4 months ago

Just had a look at it all. Marvellous retro-cover. It's great to read about your success and the imminent publication. Roll on April!
by Caducean Whisks 4 months ago

Looks great fun! Wouldn't mind a read myself :)
by Harry 4 months ago

I think it's a very strong cover. It finds the distinctive heart of the book very precisely - it summons the right readers to the book.. How much input did you have with it, btw? A big publisher basically shoves a cover at you and says, 'Well?' I suspect you had a rather more collaborative process.
by Noodledoodle 4 months ago

Spi, it looks BRILLIANT, I can imagine it standing out from the usual stuff on the shelves. Wishing you heaps of luck with it - you must be so excited! :-)
by Wrathnar the Unreasonable 4 months ago

Impressive! But speaking of covers - you've blown yours now, Not-so-secretSpi!
by JonB 4 months ago

Great cover. All the best with the launch.
by John Taylor 4 months ago

I love this cover - just like the Biggles books I used to read in that era. Two shillings from the bookshop, because the library were snooty about Biggles. Fortunately, I had an older brother who passed some of his books on to me. I will be one customer lining up on April 11th, Spi. I might even read it under the covers with a torch, waiting for the creak in the floorboards that warns me to turn the torch off. Weird - I can remember exactly which floorboard it was in the house I left when I was ten. I wonder if it still creaks?
by Harry 4 months ago

Oh Wrathers. Disappointed. Did you really think Secret would blow her cover so easily? Sources in Mossad tell me that the name on the cover is just one of Secret's many identities ... and not the one that appears on her birth certificate. She can also bring a man down with a handgun at 25 yards, and knows eighteen ways to kill with an ordinary Cox's Pippin.
by Wrathnar the Unreasonable 4 months ago

Is she Lord Lucan?
by Jill 4 months ago

Watching - with both eyes wide open and expectant. Jx
by AlanP 4 months ago

I am reliably informed that she is the reason Lord Lucan had to disappear.
by Squidge 4 months ago

Love the cover - especially the tiger! If, as Harry says, it's a true reflection of the story, then it promises to be a rip-roaringly spiffing read. Hope all goes well with the run-up to the launch.
by AlanP 4 months ago

It's all I hoped for!
by MinxieAD 4 months ago

I love the cover - it cries out 'adventure.' Best wishes for the launch (will you be going in disguise?) x
by CJ 4 months ago

That is so wonderfully old skool - I love it!
by Kaz 4 months ago

Amazing cover. I think Tony said it right with retro. So chuffed for you, roll on Aril 11th xxx
by SecretSpi 4 months ago

I am reliably informed that Lord L is lurking in Burmeon under an assumed (and very silly) name.

Really chuffed that everyone likes the cover. My publisher started work on it a few months ago and had a few false starts with illustrators. I didn't really want to meddle at that point - I'd told her I could see something Biggles-ish, like an early 60s comic. But once we got the illustration, I got more involved with the design - in the end, we had a choice between a brighter, more comic-style design and this vintage one. Lots of humming and ha-ing took place before bullets were bitten.
by Ali 4 months ago

and you play the trumpet!
The book sounds great. Really good concept.
I might buy it for my daughter and secretly read it.
Good luck.
by Charlie 4 months ago

How exciting! I like the cover, too, and I'm always on the lookout for good adventure that doesn't involve fairies or wizards! Looking forward to the launch.
by Skylark 4 months ago

Fantastic cover - launch date noted, book will be ordered for me and will look forward to sharing it with my boys when they are old enough for it :-) How exciting!
by sirtanicmills 4 months ago

Happy for you Spi. If the place you stashed Lucan starts to look a bit questionable, just let me know. I can do stuff.
by Gels 4 months ago

Looks great. Well done. I showed my son (he's only 8), and he asked me to get it for him...a fan already! best of luck x
by Malcolm 4 months ago

Congratulations Secret! Well done winning the competition. It looks like a winner with the kids to me. The cover is magic!

!8 ways to kill with a cox's pippin? Lord only knows what you could do with a red delicious...
by Gerry 4 months ago

I thought the first Harry Potter was great before I knew anything about the contents. That was because of (a) the name (ploddingly reliable Harry; ditheringly decent Potter) and (b) the cover - retro in a Tintin, steam engine sort of way. High hopes therefore for your own retro cover. And if the alliteration of Bother/Burmeon works too, then you could be well set. (Bother is a lovely old harmless/harm sort of word, isn't it.)
by Jill 4 months ago

Like it! Continued good wishes for you and said book. :)
by SecretSpi 4 months ago

Thanks to you all for the good wishes and to the junior Cloudies who are keen to read it. It is guaranteed fairy and wizard-free, although there may be a wizard prang or two.

We dithered around with the title as one or two of the competition judges had suggested we try something more commercial, but every decent title I could think of had already been used and none of them seemed very distinctive. So Bother and Burmeon stuck.

Ali: are you sure? It involves the RAF... ;-)

OK, off to stock up on Granny Smiths. They are the business.
by Jill 4 months ago

Title 'perfick' IMHO. Granny Smith business? Smiled at that!