Lindsey Davis Newsletter

Content (Issue 8)

WELCOME

Io Saturnalia – eat, drink and be merry!

We’ve run out of frescoes

Rome cooking with ma

Recipe: Saturnalia must cake

A word from abroad

WE’VE RUN OUT OF FRESCOES

Over the course of 17 years as Lindsey’s editor I’ve been responsible for briefing some jacket artworks that were memorable for all the wrong reasons. My favourite is the original paperback cover for The Iron Hand of Mars, which shows a small sign reading ‘Marcus Didius Falco: For All Discreet Enquiries, Cheap Rates’, hung over a male statue’s private parts.

Sometimes even the bookshops get involved. A few years ago we showed a major customer the proposed jacket of Three Hands in the Fountain. Falco and Anacrites are down the Roman sewers, in pursuit of a serial killer, a scene eerily lit by torches. To make it more ‘dramatic’, the buyer asked, ‘Couldn’t you add some RATS or something?’ We added rats to the picture and Lindsey added rats to the text. ‘Still not dramatic enough: shouldn’t there be something floating in the sewer?’ An uncomfortable silence settled on the room as everyone imagined WHAT was most likely to be floating in a sewer…

And then there are times the AUTHOR gets involved…
2006, with a year’s gap in Lindsey’s writing schedule, gave us an opportunity to think of a fresh new direction. We had gone through many cover looks over those 17 years, and each time we changed all the backlist too, an increasingly massive undertaking. The last series of jackets began with A Body in the Bath House, using original Roman art, sometimes computer-modified. Roman fresco art seems startlingly modern, a bridge across the centuries. And of course Lindsey’s books are a bridge across the centuries too, bringing the unfamiliar and distant into our lives with wonderful wit and clarity. Lindsey helped us find some great scenes for every title, up to See Delphi and Die.
Then came the terrible realisation: we had run out of frescoes.

So Lindsey did a little market research. Visitors to her website were asked their views; what they really wanted were scenes that fixed the books in their period, but that also showed characters from the story. Unfortunately none of the Roman fresco painters had illustrated Falco and his friends and family!It was then Lindsey suggested we had two components to the jacket: an illustration of a scene in the book, framed by Roman architecture. An envelope arrived in the post.

It showed numerous Roman arches, including the Arch of Titus in Rome. This could be a framing device, with a modern illustration inside it. Jason Smith, our Senior Designer, searched for an artist who could both imitate the Roman fresco style and reproduce in almost photographic detail Roman architecture. We looked at portfolios, and decided Mark Edwards had these qualities.
Lindsey micromanaged the brief for her chosen scene in typical robust style. This is her comment on one set of roughs:

‘Dear Jason, I’d like to see the couple at the top kissing, one of the conversing men taking a goblet off the girlie’s tray over her shoulder, one of the children (who ought to be girls really) either throwing nuts around or eating a giant piece of cake, the seated man in the foreground having his bowl of snacks pinched by the dog.’

Jason and Lindsey discussed how to reproduce the Roman colour palette (they didn’t have synthetic dyes but had to make all their colours from natural sources like minerals, plants - or seashells: the Imperial Purple.)
Finally the two pieces of art arrived and Jason put them together. Strangely, the result is even better (and much more tasteful!) than my Iron Hand jacket. I think the people look as if they are having a fun time at the sort of party any of us might like to gatecrash. But as for who is who… Nux, the dog, is identifiable; but which is Falco… Helena… Ma? Readers may have to make their own guesses.

Future jackets will have more scenes from the books, framed by more arches, or perhaps Roman drapery. The formula can be endlessly modified (we hope!) Each jacket will be a window into Lindsey’s wonderful creation.

We now have an ongoing look, which should see us through a few more years…

Before we start the whole process once more.

Oliver Johnson, Editorial Director

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	Content (Issue 8) WELCOME Io Saturnalia – eat, drink and be merry! We’ve run out of frescoes Rome cooking with ma Recipe: Saturnalia must cake A word from abroad

	WE’VE RUN OUT OF FRESCOES Over the course of 17 years as Lindsey’s editor I’ve been responsible for briefing some jacket artworks that were memorable for all the wrong reasons. My favourite is the original paperback cover for The Iron Hand of Mars, which shows a small sign reading ‘Marcus Didius Falco: For All Discreet Enquiries, Cheap Rates’, hung over a male statue’s private parts. Sometimes even the bookshops get involved. A few years ago we showed a major customer the proposed jacket of Three Hands in the Fountain. Falco and Anacrites are down the Roman sewers, in pursuit of a serial killer, a scene eerily lit by torches. To make it more ‘dramatic’, the buyer asked, ‘Couldn’t you add some RATS or something?’ We added rats to the picture and Lindsey added rats to the text. ‘Still not dramatic enough: shouldn’t there be something floating in the sewer?’ An uncomfortable silence settled on the room as everyone imagined WHAT was most likely to be floating in a sewer… And then there are times the AUTHOR gets involved… 2006, with a year’s gap in Lindsey’s writing schedule, gave us an opportunity to think of a fresh new direction. We had gone through many cover looks over those 17 years, and each time we changed all the backlist too, an increasingly massive undertaking. The last series of jackets began with A Body in the Bath House, using original Roman art, sometimes computer-modified. Roman fresco art seems startlingly modern, a bridge across the centuries. And of course Lindsey’s books are a bridge across the centuries too, bringing the unfamiliar and distant into our lives with wonderful wit and clarity. Lindsey helped us find some great scenes for every title, up to See Delphi and Die. Then came the terrible realisation: we had run out of frescoes. So Lindsey did a little market research. Visitors to her website were asked their views; what they really wanted were scenes that fixed the books in their period, but that also showed characters from the story. Unfortunately none of the Roman fresco painters had illustrated Falco and his friends and family!It was then Lindsey suggested we had two components to the jacket: an illustration of a scene in the book, framed by Roman architecture. An envelope arrived in the post. It showed numerous Roman arches, including the Arch of Titus in Rome. This could be a framing device, with a modern illustration inside it. Jason Smith, our Senior Designer, searched for an artist who could both imitate the Roman fresco style and reproduce in almost photographic detail Roman architecture. We looked at portfolios, and decided Mark Edwards had these qualities. Lindsey micromanaged the brief for her chosen scene in typical robust style. This is her comment on one set of roughs: ‘Dear Jason, I’d like to see the couple at the top kissing, one of the conversing men taking a goblet off the girlie’s tray over her shoulder, one of the children (who ought to be girls really) either throwing nuts around or eating a giant piece of cake, the seated man in the foreground having his bowl of snacks pinched by the dog.’ Jason and Lindsey discussed how to reproduce the Roman colour palette (they didn’t have synthetic dyes but had to make all their colours from natural sources like minerals, plants - or seashells: the Imperial Purple.) Finally the two pieces of art arrived and Jason put them together. Strangely, the result is even better (and much more tasteful!) than my Iron Hand jacket. I think the people look as if they are having a fun time at the sort of party any of us might like to gatecrash. But as for who is who… Nux, the dog, is identifiable; but which is Falco… Helena… Ma? Readers may have to make their own guesses. Future jackets will have more scenes from the books, framed by more arches, or perhaps Roman drapery. The formula can be endlessly modified (we hope!) Each jacket will be a window into Lindsey’s wonderful creation. We now have an ongoing look, which should see us through a few more years… Before we start the whole process once more. Oliver Johnson, Editorial Director
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