Cover for Minerva Wakes — Painting by Clyde Caldwell

This is the painting that made me ask Jim Baen if Clyde Caldwell could do all my cover art. You’re missing a lot of the tree here, and it’s covered by foil, which is a shame, because it’s a gorgeous tree. (The cover says HOLLY LISLE — “Three rules govern life: Never give up on your dreams, always stand up for what’s right, and NEVER mess with the mommy.” Minerva Wakes
Foil doesn’t scan well at all.)

Here’s a painting where Clyde knocked himself out to get the details right, but the publisher wanted something a bit more marketable. Minerva in the book isn’t as pretty as she is with this third face that Clyde gave her — he was a little frustrated when I talked to him because he was delighted to paint a cover where the woman looked like an average mom, and not the usual cover babe. Even with the new face, though, I love this cover. The glasses are right, and so is the mood. Talleos is flawless right down to the number of fingers. The tree is stunning. I knew when I met Clyde and he told me that he was finishing the third face for Minerva because he’d read the book and had painted her as she was the first time that he was my kind of artist. And I was right.