Sci-Fi Book Cover Design
Budget: $250 – $750 USD
Cover Prospectus
This is a two-book series. The title of Book One is Alien Quest: Awakening. Book Two is Alien Quest: Throne. The main protagonists are Ciarán, a galactic tradeship captain; and Triya, a member of an evolved human group known as Forerunners who have psi-powers. The time frame is 24th century in which two giant planetary confederations vie for economic power and influence. Unknown to all but a few, Angelus is a far-distant, Eden-like world which is home to two telepathic, intelligent species and where grows a mushroom-like fruit that prevents aging. The friendly Ch'tel and the non-corporeal Àdain who can appear to humans as angel-like beings. The Àdain want to gift their world to humans if only the humans will behave and not destroy their world. They choose Ciarán and Triya to be the ones who will help bring this to pass. But along the way there are lessons and tests for both. There are also telepathically enabled portals from human size to starship size that allow instant travel across lightyears.
In Book One Ciarán and Triya, from childhood, receive visions of a life beyond what they were born into. Unknown to them these visions are coming from the Àdain on a world they have never heard of. Ciarán overcomes trust issues occasioned by parental abandonment and becomes a successful trader and Captain of the galactic tradeship Northern Star. Triya runs away from home, makes some bad decisions and ends up becoming a dangerous mercenary. The two meet in the aftermath of a gang battle. They begin to travel together to find the mystery world of their visions. Ciarán is in love with Triya but she cannot commit herself to that kind of relationship. Then the ancient enemy of the Adain, the supernatural Cor, attack the ship via a stone-gem charm left behind by Ciaran's father when he disappeared. Triya is the key to victory over the Cor. She is only able to help Ciarán defeat the Cor when she admits to herself that despite not knowing who she truly is she is able to bind herself to him love.
Book Two starts with the activities of two women, Cheri and Juli, who team up to prevent destructive development of Angelus. They were on the team that discovered Angelus 50 years ago. When she was there Juli ate the Ch’tel’s mushroom fruit and stopped aging. The two women get the Navy to protect the planet in return for getting first access to an anti-aging supplement, which they call VATA. Cheri goes back to Angelus and gets the Ch’tel to help her make the VATA. Juli stays in human inhabited space to develop the MacroTelpher, a telepathically enabled stargate that will provide near instantaneous shipping of VATA from Angelus. Juli needs a trader to ship the MT to Angelus and offers a lucrative contract to Ciarán to do so. Ciarán and Triya realize that Angelus is their mystery planet and accept the contract. When they get to Angelus the experience a brutal series of human and supernatural attacks to prevent them from their quest to meet the Àdain. In the final attack Triya and Ciarán form the perfect, love-bonded team to once and for all defeat the Cor. Then Triya goes to meet the Àdain and learns that she was an Àdain who chose to be born a human to learn human love. Ciarán learns that the tests in his life were to prepare him to be the Regent for the Àdain on Angelus, helping humanity to recover the promise of greatness.
I envision the covers to include the following elements. The titles to be same font and style for both to emphasize they are part of a duology. The background and coloring and thematic elements should join the two.
Book One, Alien Quest: Awakening
• Triya and Ciarán prominent, equal in size but maybe one in back of other. Both are in their mid-twenties. He is 6’0”; she is 5’9”.
• Background or elements can include the following (not necessarily all)
o Ciarán’s starship
o Space stations; stars; nebulae
o The angel-like Àdain, perhaps showing how it gives visions to the two spacers
o A small spaceport where the turf battle takes place that brings the two protagonists together
• Portray Triya as a kick-ass, beautiful woman in full mercenary garb and appearance: Here’s some descriptions from the book:
o “Triya happened to catch sight of herself in the full-length mirror. She had shortened her hair to an undercut gothic style, sheared close above her ears. She used ear and nose piercings and dyed her hair black on one side of her face and red on the other to obscure the innocent appearance of her face and to blend in with the scruffy appearances of most of her colleagues. Not an ounce of fat on her. Well-toned and fluid muscles. Triya saw in herself was what Nish had said she saw that first day on the target practice range. Steel. It was in the set of her jaw, the way she stood, the manner she projected. It was in her eyes, which had taken on a hardened slate cast. Triya had a confidence in herself that she’d never had. Though ordinary folk might label it an ugly, almost belligerent confidence.
o “Tricia noticed a small tat that showed above Triya’s left breast. The dress was cut low enough to show it. It was a black triangle on a purple background; there was some kind of design etched into the triangle. She pointed to it and asked, “What is it, Triya? If you don’t mind my asking.” “It’s a stylized labrys...a double axe. On the Home Planet, Earth, in ancient Greece, the double axe was not just a weapon. It was an emblem associated with goddesses and their power.”
o Here is how Ciarán saw her the first time, on the battlefield: As they came face to face, Ciarán inspected the woman standing before him. Lithe, with a muscular frame. Tall, lacking just half a dozen centimeters to equal his own generous height. Alert stance, poised as a cat might be that was ready to leap. Yet for all the sense of dangerous presence her face was ashen, pale, without expression. The only signs of life were eyes that moved restlessly from side to side, and in which an icy calm warred with the fires of pain. He spoke cautiously, “Looks like you’re the only survivor of this,” he made a circular motion with his hand, “carnage, I guess you’d call it. Your fighting skills are impressive.”
• Ciarán as others see him
o Triya sees him, before then after the battle:
Over the top handsome, pretty
He passed a hand through curly, mahogany locks and tried for a smile.
She looked at the tradeship Captain sternly, noting the incongruity between warm, tawny facial tones and hooded, coal-black eyes.
The man was about her age, maybe two or three years older.
o His crew sees him
As a resourceful starship captain, with a boy scout mentality that seeks to protect those under him
Has a magnetic smile they love him for
o Other descriptions
Color hair: Dark mahogany, russet and wavy
Color skin: Tawny, Yellowish Brown; warm, tawny tones
Color eyes: Black; Raven; Distant, coal-black; deep-set
Build:
• Height: 183 cm (6’0”); Wiry and strong; Broad shoulders; Agile
• Distinctive facial features (firm chin, deep set eyes)
Book Two, Alien Quest: Throne
• Ciarán and Triya prominent again, but other important elements need to be there as well
o Ch’tel: Koala-bear-like creatures about one meter high and very friendly and intelligent
o Àdain: angel-like in a luminous way as they appear to humans
o The mushroom-fruit, which grows on a small bush or tree; one is all red, another red with white underside
o The VATA food supplement made from the mushroom
o The Stone-gem, which can possibly be shown in Ciarán’s hand or in some way related to him (about the size of a golf ball over all: a rough black stone at the base out of which sprouts a beautiful gem)
• The cover backdrop could be the Eden-like world of Angelus
o There’s a meadow surrounded by a dark forest where the Ch’tel live
o There’s a building at one side, the office of BioStim
o Surrounding mountains with mines for rare metals
o Maybe a space station and a Navy frigate
• Ciarán’s physical appearance is unchanged from Book One. But consider that at the end of the book he becomes the King of Angelus and maybe that is the way to show him.
• Triya’s appearance is totally changed, hearkening back to the pretty 19-yearold she had been when she left home but now with 10 years of hard-earned maturity.
o How Ciarán sees her when they are finally reunited and she is revealed as an Àdain/human: She was glowing with a regal beauty that seared his heart. He thought of the small tat above her left breast she had taken to symbolize the strength of steel in a feminine form, qualities she’d been born with yet had never fully synthesized into wholeness of personhood. Steel that when the battle on Port Sill was over had become a grief-hardened shell, trapping the yielding and nurturing traits of womanhood within. Now she was free, clothed in a garment of compassion and care, able to love as deeply as needed. Yet the steel remained, hidden inside, brooking no compromise with truth or integrity in others. A Goddess. He lightly fingered her dark auburn tresses that were highlighted with golden strands reflecting the light of Angelus’s distant sky. He looked deeply into those smokey gray eyes he knew so well, now pacific with an inward contentment.
This is a two-book series. The title of Book One is Alien Quest: Awakening. Book Two is Alien Quest: Throne. The main protagonists are Ciarán, a galactic tradeship captain; and Triya, a member of an evolved human group known as Forerunners who have psi-powers. The time frame is 24th century in which two giant planetary confederations vie for economic power and influence. Unknown to all but a few, Angelus is a far-distant, Eden-like world which is home to two telepathic, intelligent species and where grows a mushroom-like fruit that prevents aging. The friendly Ch'tel and the non-corporeal Àdain who can appear to humans as angel-like beings. The Àdain want to gift their world to humans if only the humans will behave and not destroy their world. They choose Ciarán and Triya to be the ones who will help bring this to pass. But along the way there are lessons and tests for both. There are also telepathically enabled portals from human size to starship size that allow instant travel across lightyears.
In Book One Ciarán and Triya, from childhood, receive visions of a life beyond what they were born into. Unknown to them these visions are coming from the Àdain on a world they have never heard of. Ciarán overcomes trust issues occasioned by parental abandonment and becomes a successful trader and Captain of the galactic tradeship Northern Star. Triya runs away from home, makes some bad decisions and ends up becoming a dangerous mercenary. The two meet in the aftermath of a gang battle. They begin to travel together to find the mystery world of their visions. Ciarán is in love with Triya but she cannot commit herself to that kind of relationship. Then the ancient enemy of the Adain, the supernatural Cor, attack the ship via a stone-gem charm left behind by Ciaran's father when he disappeared. Triya is the key to victory over the Cor. She is only able to help Ciarán defeat the Cor when she admits to herself that despite not knowing who she truly is she is able to bind herself to him love.
Book Two starts with the activities of two women, Cheri and Juli, who team up to prevent destructive development of Angelus. They were on the team that discovered Angelus 50 years ago. When she was there Juli ate the Ch’tel’s mushroom fruit and stopped aging. The two women get the Navy to protect the planet in return for getting first access to an anti-aging supplement, which they call VATA. Cheri goes back to Angelus and gets the Ch’tel to help her make the VATA. Juli stays in human inhabited space to develop the MacroTelpher, a telepathically enabled stargate that will provide near instantaneous shipping of VATA from Angelus. Juli needs a trader to ship the MT to Angelus and offers a lucrative contract to Ciarán to do so. Ciarán and Triya realize that Angelus is their mystery planet and accept the contract. When they get to Angelus the experience a brutal series of human and supernatural attacks to prevent them from their quest to meet the Àdain. In the final attack Triya and Ciarán form the perfect, love-bonded team to once and for all defeat the Cor. Then Triya goes to meet the Àdain and learns that she was an Àdain who chose to be born a human to learn human love. Ciarán learns that the tests in his life were to prepare him to be the Regent for the Àdain on Angelus, helping humanity to recover the promise of greatness.
I envision the covers to include the following elements. The titles to be same font and style for both to emphasize they are part of a duology. The background and coloring and thematic elements should join the two.
Book One, Alien Quest: Awakening
• Triya and Ciarán prominent, equal in size but maybe one in back of other. Both are in their mid-twenties. He is 6’0”; she is 5’9”.
• Background or elements can include the following (not necessarily all)
o Ciarán’s starship
o Space stations; stars; nebulae
o The angel-like Àdain, perhaps showing how it gives visions to the two spacers
o A small spaceport where the turf battle takes place that brings the two protagonists together
• Portray Triya as a kick-ass, beautiful woman in full mercenary garb and appearance: Here’s some descriptions from the book:
o “Triya happened to catch sight of herself in the full-length mirror. She had shortened her hair to an undercut gothic style, sheared close above her ears. She used ear and nose piercings and dyed her hair black on one side of her face and red on the other to obscure the innocent appearance of her face and to blend in with the scruffy appearances of most of her colleagues. Not an ounce of fat on her. Well-toned and fluid muscles. Triya saw in herself was what Nish had said she saw that first day on the target practice range. Steel. It was in the set of her jaw, the way she stood, the manner she projected. It was in her eyes, which had taken on a hardened slate cast. Triya had a confidence in herself that she’d never had. Though ordinary folk might label it an ugly, almost belligerent confidence.
o “Tricia noticed a small tat that showed above Triya’s left breast. The dress was cut low enough to show it. It was a black triangle on a purple background; there was some kind of design etched into the triangle. She pointed to it and asked, “What is it, Triya? If you don’t mind my asking.” “It’s a stylized labrys...a double axe. On the Home Planet, Earth, in ancient Greece, the double axe was not just a weapon. It was an emblem associated with goddesses and their power.”
o Here is how Ciarán saw her the first time, on the battlefield: As they came face to face, Ciarán inspected the woman standing before him. Lithe, with a muscular frame. Tall, lacking just half a dozen centimeters to equal his own generous height. Alert stance, poised as a cat might be that was ready to leap. Yet for all the sense of dangerous presence her face was ashen, pale, without expression. The only signs of life were eyes that moved restlessly from side to side, and in which an icy calm warred with the fires of pain. He spoke cautiously, “Looks like you’re the only survivor of this,” he made a circular motion with his hand, “carnage, I guess you’d call it. Your fighting skills are impressive.”
• Ciarán as others see him
o Triya sees him, before then after the battle:
Over the top handsome, pretty
He passed a hand through curly, mahogany locks and tried for a smile.
She looked at the tradeship Captain sternly, noting the incongruity between warm, tawny facial tones and hooded, coal-black eyes.
The man was about her age, maybe two or three years older.
o His crew sees him
As a resourceful starship captain, with a boy scout mentality that seeks to protect those under him
Has a magnetic smile they love him for
o Other descriptions
Color hair: Dark mahogany, russet and wavy
Color skin: Tawny, Yellowish Brown; warm, tawny tones
Color eyes: Black; Raven; Distant, coal-black; deep-set
Build:
• Height: 183 cm (6’0”); Wiry and strong; Broad shoulders; Agile
• Distinctive facial features (firm chin, deep set eyes)
Book Two, Alien Quest: Throne
• Ciarán and Triya prominent again, but other important elements need to be there as well
o Ch’tel: Koala-bear-like creatures about one meter high and very friendly and intelligent
o Àdain: angel-like in a luminous way as they appear to humans
o The mushroom-fruit, which grows on a small bush or tree; one is all red, another red with white underside
o The VATA food supplement made from the mushroom
o The Stone-gem, which can possibly be shown in Ciarán’s hand or in some way related to him (about the size of a golf ball over all: a rough black stone at the base out of which sprouts a beautiful gem)
• The cover backdrop could be the Eden-like world of Angelus
o There’s a meadow surrounded by a dark forest where the Ch’tel live
o There’s a building at one side, the office of BioStim
o Surrounding mountains with mines for rare metals
o Maybe a space station and a Navy frigate
• Ciarán’s physical appearance is unchanged from Book One. But consider that at the end of the book he becomes the King of Angelus and maybe that is the way to show him.
• Triya’s appearance is totally changed, hearkening back to the pretty 19-yearold she had been when she left home but now with 10 years of hard-earned maturity.
o How Ciarán sees her when they are finally reunited and she is revealed as an Àdain/human: She was glowing with a regal beauty that seared his heart. He thought of the small tat above her left breast she had taken to symbolize the strength of steel in a feminine form, qualities she’d been born with yet had never fully synthesized into wholeness of personhood. Steel that when the battle on Port Sill was over had become a grief-hardened shell, trapping the yielding and nurturing traits of womanhood within. Now she was free, clothed in a garment of compassion and care, able to love as deeply as needed. Yet the steel remained, hidden inside, brooking no compromise with truth or integrity in others. A Goddess. He lightly fingered her dark auburn tresses that were highlighted with golden strands reflecting the light of Angelus’s distant sky. He looked deeply into those smokey gray eyes he knew so well, now pacific with an inward contentment.