It’s done. All the Bo Bradley mysteries, including the latest, have new, matching covers, with crows! Yes, crows.
I didn’t realize until writer-pal Mary Lou Locke pointed out to me that there are crows in pretty much all the Bo novels. (A stranger at a booksigning years ago also had to inform me that “Bo Bradley” sounds an awful lot like “Boo Radley,” the reclusive and undoubtedly mentally ill character who only comes out of hiding to save threatened children – the mysterious figure who gives Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird its title. Of course! Except I had no idea.) Unconscious influences are afoot the second anybody sits down to write a novel and Bo-as-Boo makes sense, but why crows?
They don’t play roles in any of the plots; they’re just there. Bo is aware of them, watches and describes them through six perilous adventures as they watch her, but they don’t do anything. Except, I guess, reprise their own ancient symbolism as, with ravens, magpies and all corvids, the universal totem animal of mystery, intelligence and transformation, including death. Bo is Irish, and in Celtic cultures crows were so highly regarded as oracles that under Druidic law killing one was a felony, so there’s that. But I rather imagine Bo herself, with her quirky, fractious, bipolar mind, reflects crowness entire. And now all her book covers, thanks to the patient skill of cover designer Cheri Lasota, are embellished with those black feathers. Be sure to let me know which one you like best!
And also help me decide what to write next.
Seriously.
I’ve been dying to write the sequel to An Unremembered Grave, taking Danni and the vampire Grimaud one step further toward her mysterious past and their dangerous connection, but it’s time for Bo and Andrew to head for Louisiana and a Cajun wedding – omg, their own! (You know Bo is going to balk every inch of the way, so there may not even be a wedding. We’ll see.)
So which setting? The little-known limestone caves beneath the streets of St. Louis for Danni, or Spanish moss and crawdad étouffée in Louisiana for Bo?
I like the one for MOONBIRD BOY the best. Way cool!
Thanks, Carol. I was iffy about that one since it’s sort of generic, so I’m glad you like it!
Love the crows! My favorite is Dollmaker’s Daughter. And congratulations on finishing Stork Boy.
Janice Steinberg The Tin Horse (Random House) http://www.TheTinHorse.com http://www.facebook.com/TheTinHorse
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Finally!
All the covers are gorgeous — Child of Silence, Turtle Baby and Stork Boy are tied as my favorites as works of art. I just purchased the Kindle version of Stork Boy, but I would have preferred to have the option to buy a print-on-demand copy. You are among the small handful of authors whose work I want to hold in my hands and read again and again.
Any chance for a another in the BLUE series? Lordy, they’re so, so funny and would make such great movies.
Thanks so much, Gary. Yes, there will be a paper edition of Stork shortly and I’ll announce that. Glad you enjoy the Blues and I’d love to write another, but that contract with Warner Books (which company no longer exists, but the contract will have been sold to the chain of companies who supplanted Warner) was comprehensive. Whoever owns the rights to the Blues now (and somebody does, since the digital editions are for sale on Amazon at inflated prices) almost certainly also owns the right of first refusal to any subsequent titles in that series. That is, I’d have to retain a lawyer to track down who owns the rights and then buy back the right to own either all the Blue titles or only subsequent titles. assuming whoever the owner is were willing to relinquish all or any rights. It’s a legal black hole and I’ll bet you’re sorry you asked! But I appreciate your interest and kind words very much.
I love these new covers, with a bonus to Dollmaker’s daughters, although it is quite frightening ! Is Stork boy a new Bo Bradley ? and do you think there is a french translation ?
It will be nice.
I “literally devour” the 5 first ones, but your other books (Blue, Bone blind …) are unfortunatelly not translated in french, it makes it a little bit difficult to me !
Thank you for your wonderful writer work.
Sylvie
Ah, Sylvie, thank you so much! Yes, STORK BOY is the new Bo Bradley mystery and I hate that you can’t read it since it’s set in France. An obscure village in the Vercos – St._Laurent-en-Royans. I would love to hear what you think of Bo struggling to solve a crime in the middle-of-nowhere France where she has no legal right to do anything and on top of that doesn’t even speak French. It was fun to write despite all those crazy diacritical marks every time somebody said something in French. 😉 If you read German, the Blue mysteries have gone through two editions there and should be available, but I doubt there will be any French editions of further Bo Bradleys. But hey, check out my sister-in-law’s (Martine Magnin) books. She’s French so they’re in French!
Hi Abbie,
I like the crows on Child of Silence and Turtle Baby best. Crows are amazing — you probably know they have facial recognition that vies FB’s (which I don’t condone and don’t allow).
Hope you’re enjoying life! Lynda
Lynda Felder
Writing for the Web
Web Writer’s Toolkit
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Thanks, Lynda. The C of S cover was my least fave, but agree with you on TB!