As I wrote last week, I’m starting to think about Southern Discomfort cover designs. Of course I won’t be doing the cover myself — I don’t have the skills — so a lot will depend on my cover designer, when I find them. If they’ve got a better idea than me, cool. That said, here’s my thinking to date.
As I’ve said before, Southern Discomfort straddles urban fantasy and intrusion fantasy; as urban fantasy is the better known subcategory, I’ve been focusing on those covers. While some fantasies in the genre go for evocative images, most covers have the protagonist posing there. Look at the difference between Lee Macleod’s original Storm Front cover and the more recent reissue (I don’t know the artist).
This particular style doesn’t appeal to me; I hate the “people on the cover stare at you” school of art. A friend of mine has pointed out that these covers are still informative for readers. Looking at this one tells us the protagonist is male; the tone is dark; he’s operating in a city; he’s a wizard with a staff but dressed in contemporary clothes. It also fits into the style of the later Harry Dresden covers.
Similarly, this cover above by Nicole Sommer-Lecht (for a book I didn’t care for) shows us the protagonist — or a leading character, at least — is a woman, guns exist, she can shoot and she’s not drawn primarily as eye candy. Still, I’d prefer something different.
A friend suggested the cover of Alex Bledsoe’s Tufa novels (also Southern fantasy) and I do find it more evocative than a regular Person Standing cover (but again, don’t know the artist).
From a cursory reading of the book jacket online (I will read it eventually) the setting we see behind the figure is just as important in the stories as the characters. Small-town Pharisee in the rain isn’t going to have quite the same feel but using that as a backdrop might be good. Which could be something like this —
A scene of conflict, such as when Maria and Olwen square off in one of the local parks. But with less cleavage than we see there. An alternative approach from the same series (Lackey’s “fae in the modern world” series had an odd influence on Southern Discomfort I’ll have to write about some time) is to go for a collection of characters, as in this Clyde Caldwell cover/
That conveys the elements of the contents: elves, fast cars, dragons, contemporary dude, fox woman, woman with cleavage (I don’t recall that much cleavage in the story, but it’s been a while). It’s busier than I’d like with so much on the cover but it makes me imagine having Gwalchmai, hooded and sinister, at the center, with some of the women (Maria, Olwen, Joan, say) placed around him.
I’m not sure any of this is the answer, but it’s the start of one.
#SFWApro. All rights to images remain with current holders.
To see if I can get a handle on the answer I’ve started reading books with an eye to finding comps: Southern fantasy, rural fantasy, small town fantasy, intrusion fantasy. The first of which was Caitlin Kiernan’s ALABASTER, which I first read 
