In a recent interview, I was asked to discuss the cover art for Fling! and how it pertains to the story.
It gave me an opportunity to explore more deeply the role this particular cover has in embracing the novel’s contents.
I knew that I wanted to get the Venus of Willendorf image somewhere on the cover because her shape resembles Bubbles’ body (Bubbles is the irrepressible 90 year-old character that steals the story), and it has a central place inside the sphere.
I’m not sure what process Kelsey Rice, the designer, went through in coming up with the cover, but she captured the overall feeling of the book. The contents are somewhat offbeat and quirky. The cover mirrors those qualities. I also love the way Rice inserted text that hugs the partial sphere: “A madcap journey of an aging mother her adult daughter from cold Protestant Canada into the hallucinatory heart of Mexico’s magic.”
I also think the colors capture the feeling I wanted to convey about Mexico, including the mysterious, almost phantasmagoric quality of the country. The black surrounding the sphere has minute flashes of light that suggest the heavens and how we all emerge out of darkness, just as these characters do.
