One of the things I’ve always admired A Strange Object (beyond the inventive, smart story collections they have published) is the beautiful covers they create for their books. I couldn’t wait to see what they would do with The Writer’s Field Guide to the Craft of Fiction. Now it’s official:
The cover was created by Austin-based artist and set designer Lisa Laratta. She actually built the topographical feature in the image. On the back of the book, the image wraps around and continues. It’s a cover that speaks to the explorative nature of the book, investigating the types of fiction that can be written. It also reminds me of the maps my wife and I have used when hiking in New Mexico and the maps I used to pore over when my father went to the local federal office to register his CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) ground; the acres withdrawn from crop production and reserved for grassland had been shaded in by hand with colored pencil by my father. Even though I knew every part of the farm, seeing those same fields from a different perspective made me realize how much there was to discover about it. It’s the same way I feel about reading great fiction in order to expand my skill as a writer.
To learn more about The Writer’s Field Guide and to pre-order the book, click here.
Read to Write Stories 
Great job!
Thank you!
The cover is so apt.
Thank you!
That’s a beautiful cover. I love the topographical feature, the suggestive power of layers in our stories, our psyches.
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL, Michael!
Sherry
Sherry Lowry, MA, MS, MCC sherry@sherrylowry.com lowrysherry@gmail.com cell | text: 512-300-1380 Austin Texas USA 78745
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