Cover Feature: Ashes by Estevan Vega

Estevan Vega is stopping by today to share her thoughts on the cover for her YA novels ARSON and ASHES.

So this is where you want to do it, huh? Talk about the covers? Geesh…get your mind outta the gutter. Well, I’m totally down…to talk about my covers, that is. Ashes has been around on the internet long enough for you fine people to have glimpsed at it some, and I’m hoping you have some opinions…the more colorful, the better.

I figure, though, before I delve into discussing Ashes, we should probably talk a little bit about the cover art for Arson, its predecessor. Arson was very much a labor of love for me. I mean, the book took a total of almost four years from the concept to the finished product, so I wasn’t about to give it a crappy cover. I went through about four different versions of the cover with a very, very talented artist, who I still work with, and he helped craft something that fit with the tone of the book. Now, granted, the cover freaks some people out, but it’s got character, and I love that. Some people identify with it because it flirts with the supernatural, some because it reminds them of Jason or Michael Myers, and other just dig it because it’s not afraid to be what it is: different than every other teen-drama book cover out there. I especially love how the mask and the flame are one, symbolizing Arson and Emery. But I can’t take credit, really. That was my friend’s idea and my editor’s. And I think it rocks.

Now, onto cover two. Ashes takes Arson to the next level. In scope. In character. Everything is just fired up on this one. It was intentional. In book one, things are sort of building, boiling like a pot of water until the final page. Well, this book picks up where book one left off, and it thrusts you into a whole new world. You feel disoriented. You feel out of place. You feel like a part of you might not be all right. Maybe even chipping away. The mask begins to burn. This time around, the cover becomes much more symbolic and metaphorical than it was during book one. And, in turn, since book two cranks up the intensity, the cover had to be equally intense. Tyler Evans, the artist, is a genius, and he was able to capture that intensity very well. Here, Emery’s mask is starting to burn away, and what remains crumbles into ashes. Hopefully, it’s the right amount of uneasiness coupled with intrigue. It’s not meant to terrify you, just make you feel a little on edge…the way the story will, assuming I did my job correctly.

READERS! Here’s your chance to fire off whatever you feel like saying. If you wanna ask a question, about whatever, do it. If you wanna tell me my designs suck…I’ll probably make a phone call or two to some high-ups in DC and get your Iphones and Blackberrys tapped…um, I mean…it’s totally cool. But seriously, it’s your job to tell us writers what’s up. If you got the guts. So, do you like?

Spread the fire!

-E

Arson by Estevan Vega
Tate Publishing

Arson Gable feels like a freak. He can create fire. He never asked for it. He never wanted it. But he can't shut it off. Before now, three things were true: he both loved and despised his grandmother; his life was going nowhere; and he was alone. But when a strange girl—who feels more normal behind a mask than inside her own skin—moves in next door, Arson hopes to find something he's never had: purpose. Using what he fears most about himself, Arson must face his consuming past and confront the nightmare that is his present as he walks the fine line between boy and monster. Dark, moody, and breathtakingly relevant, Arson, the chilling chronicle of an isolated boy with unimaginable ability, is sure to ignite the hearts and minds of a new generation.

Ashes by Estevan Vega
Tate Publishing

More than three months have passed since Arson and Emery were taken. Taken and then separated.

And experimented on.

Salvation Asylum is more like a prison than a psychiatric facility. Unknowingly, Arson has become a vital instrument in a campaign set to genetically alter mankind. Enraged, confused, trapped, and unable to fully manifest his abilities, he wonders if he will ever see Emery again. His new existence is one crawling with questions. Is Grandma alive? Where does the fire come from? Can he become more than a monster?

In Ashes, book two of the ARSON series, nightmare and reality collide as Arson must embrace what he is and the haunting realization that there may be others out there, others like him.