Background information
Organization name
Justin Tew
Industry
Entertainment & The Arts
Description of the organization and its target audience
The Acolytes of Crane is a young adult science fiction novel. The target audience is ages twelve and up.
Book description on Amazon:
Theodore Crane is locked in an intergalactic prison, with no reason to carry on. He is losing hope, and instantly his grim fate changes when the vaulted entry to his cell opens.The warden of the prison enters with an ultimatum, forcing Theodore to give an account of his life leading up to imprisonment.Theodore recalls back to when he was a twelve-year-old prankster, living in a family with hard lessons. In his story, mysteries of the multiverse will be revealed, and Theodore will rally his friends to fight a conflict that threatens everything.Immerse yourself in this journey beyond the monotony of earth, following Theodore and his friends as they mature through war.
Rough Book Summary (Do not use this on the cover, because it is rough and I wrote it only for design reference).
In intergalactic prison, Theodore Crane gives his account of events that occurred when he was a teenager. He starts out his story as a twelve-year-old boy that is abused by his father and neglected by his mother. When the courts decide Theodore has to move to his grandparents' house, the mysteries start to unravel. He slowly is engaged by an alien race, and is sucked into a Multiversal conflict that he had no clue existed.
He is ordered to recruit four willing friends to embark on an adventure in space to fight against a growing evil threat. Theodore and his friends will be awarded mystic technologically advanced weaponry, and will fight a war on distant planets.
They will fight for a planet called Sephera. Sephera is a vain reproduction of everyone's lives before they died. It is essentially, a tangible afterlife for those who need it. Every person or thing on Sephera is comprised of Dietons, microscopic nano-tech designed to replicate matter (cells, atoms, electrons, protons, and neutrons). These same Dietons are designed to monitor everyone on every planet, to record their action, behaviors, and likeness to recreate them on sephera. If you have any questions about the summary or the description please feel free to ask. Thank you for your time.
Content details
Description
I would like a cover for print & ebook [front and back (6x9 trim), spine (.7775)] for my novel: The Acolytes of Crane
I am open to a wide variety of covers. My vision: I would like a boy, with a blazing technologically sound gunblade. If you can pull that off cleanly and uniquely, you will be in great shape. However, anything powerfully symbolic iconic, or applicable to the description provided on Amazon will definitely be considered. I like strong stand alone objects or symbols, as you cans see from the current cover that I designed. Ex. (hunger games, lord of the rings). If the concept of a Dieton can be captured, that would interest me as well.
Additional subject matter:
Within the story there is a very unique technological device called a 'Dieton' a microscopic artificially intelligent device that mimics the building blocks of all matter. Anyone who controls these 'Dietons' does so with a crown that hovers over their head, like a halo. The hero in the book, Theodore Crane, has one of these crowns. It is called a rolesk. *I want to be very clear about this. Theodore (the protagonist/hero) is NOT made up of these Dietons. He is human. However, these Dietons are a major aspect of this book, and any unique depiction of them will be considered for sure.
The characters in the book will fight in an extremely volatile jungle environment against sentient plants, and other miscellaneous alien villains.
Protagonist's physical description:
15-year-old male (human). Emotional focus (Theodore is a troubled kid. I think that any image that is too happy will not be received well. Theodore is serious, by the book (he usually 'means business'), troubled, he strong willed and focused. Embrace this.
He can be wearing regular teenage clothes (but I think this would be hard to pull off). Trust your SciFi instinct. If you think you can grasp the concept of his Elon suit (which is a pliable-bio-wood-like armor) go ahead. I did not list it because I figured it would be too specific.
Scraggly dirty blond hair
Wiry frame
And an epic gunblade! A gunblade, that is best described as a cross between flame and light saber—teal blue. (Not entirely necessary, but this hero has a sword and it is serious. It has a name!)
Title and author lettering requirements: The typography should have a unique science fiction edge. Go with your gut.
Title: The Acolytes of Crane (needs to be unique and large enough/clear enough to be seen on a thumbnail)
PLEASE DO NOT PLACE TITLE ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK (unless you believe you can make it look phenomenal).
Author: J. D. Tew (I want my author name to be large enough to be read, but small enough to not encroach on the more important subject matter. Look at my author name on Amazon for a reference. I want it to be small.)
PLEASE DO NOT PLACE AUTHOR NAME ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK, unless you are doing a bio (and in that case you need to make it presented well, because I hate bios).
Link to current listing on Amazon for pages and descriptions: http://www.amazon.com/The-Acolytes-…QBZQFO/ref do not use the jacket description from the paperback, because it is from an old edition that is not relevant. The description attached to the brief is current and relevant.
Go crazy! If you are the successful winner, you would be able to secure a long relationship with me, because this is the first in a series of YA Science Fiction books. The sequel is at the editor right now! Thank you for your time and effort. Let me see what you can do. All the above requirements are only inspiration. They are my vision. If you can encompass this in your design—awesome.
If I have invited you, it is because I enjoyed your previous works.
*I will be cross checking covers on Tineye to ensure they are at least somewhat unique. Thank you for your time. I am an author. I respect the regulations associated with copyrights. So please observe them too.
References
Other notes
Please visit my website for current logos for inspiration only:
Update:
There are a few images that I have posted as a reference to gunblades. The sketch in the middle is my vision. For the blade itself, my sketch is the best representation of what I would like it to look like. Essentially it is an unstable substance that is projected outward from the receiver of the gun. The only difference is that in the novel the blade is described as teal in color.
I included a sketch I did of a Dieton, drawn to a visible scale. Keep in mind, these are microscopic entities. They can be drawn to a visible scale or dawn materializing. Either would be equally interesting. If you decide to go that route.
If you decide to do a bio on the back, I have added some pictures of me. The top picture is something I tricked-out for my blog. The middle two are from my days in the military.
I posted a couple of images to inspire the nano-mechanical properties of the Dieton.
Contest deliverables
Digital design
Final files
If you use fonts that require a license, confirm with the client they're ok with it. For licensing reasons, it is better to provide your client with information on how to acquire the font rather than providing the actual files.