Here we have something rare and precious — a sneak peek of the comp of the cover for Alliance of Equals. Which is to say a suggested layout. Sort of like the cover version of a first draft.
We are cautioned that the final cover may change, but this is where the Art Department at Baen is currently tending.
Art by David Mattingly, and yes, this does illustrate an Actual Scene from the book.
I think I found the cat!
Lovely cover, and I wonder if the smaller craft are fleas, which would make the flying saucer Yxtrang.
This was my second choice of the covers, but I think this is the correct one to use for the cover of the book. The other one, with the space station in back, would have been covered by the letters of your name and the title, and would have mostly disappeared on the book cover, being cropped small. So, the big sun in back works better. As a big picture, or a poster, with no lettering and full size, still like the space station one. However, I am glad to see a space ship and not more people on the cover, this is one of the best covers of your books. It says–SF! I do though have a big fondness for your first Del Rey cover of Agent of Change—Edger! Marketing goes for eye-catching. If we remember the cover art, they have done their job well. (We will remember the book then too.) Wish it was July 5 now so I could read it. I hope to see you in Williamsburg next year. Dave G.
It’s a fine piece of cover art; I agree that simple is better when your intent is to cover large swaths of the artwork with words.
We’ve been fortunate that most of our covers have reflected what’s inside the book. Some may deplore people-covers, but since our stories are about people (as most stories are, or there’s no story), the covers were true to the content. You can’t always have a blaster or a spaceship, or, indeed, a Giant Turtle.