Sunday 19 December 2010

The Poet's Tale

Blogmate Age of Uncertainty has begun an innovative series of podcast interviews, beginning with another blogmate and real-life poet friend, Oliver Gozzard.
Oliver is just about to publish 'The Commuter's Tale', an epic ballad concerning a jaded commuter about to be made redundant from his city job who finds his destiny transformed when he encounters a latter-day Lord Byron (now a rapper) on his train one morning who persuades him to ditch the city for a life of adventure on the high seas!
My contribution was that I helped design the cover, aided by my web designer friend Daniel Hart, (since my photoshopping skills are zero.) Too many poetry books we decided had terrible jackets in the form of abstract blobs or similarly meaningless standard-menu designs, demonstrating no care or imagination on the part of either poet or publisher and virtually condemning the publication to sell no more than a handful of copies, however good.
Oliver himself did not want imagination restricted to the narrative either and has come up with an equally imaginative marketing plan, which means hopefully everyone who's ever commuted or heard of Lord Byron will get to hear about his poetic debut in due course. Watch this space...

Not that I don't retain a sneaking affection for the cheesier draft image V1.

9 comments:

Steve said...

Fabulous image. Really made me chuckle and intrigues the intelligent mind.

Ollie said...

Thanks, Laura, for your lovely blog about my book.

Yes, I love the cover image and think it will work really well. As Steve says, the juxtaposition of the Commuter and Byron makes you chuckle.

(By the way, if you are interested, the book can bought on deserthearts.com or amazon.co.uk)

Dan said...

Great to see! Hope it gets positive feedback. Checking in at Heathrow T3 now... Hellish crowds.

Tim Atkinson said...

Those images remind me, strangely, of the immortal words of Sue Limb (bet THAT'S not been said before!) - "Lord Biro, do up your shirt!"

And similar.

Ah, those Wordsmiths. You know, the one's from Gorsemere...

Wisewebwoman said...

Both concept and depiction intrigue and amuse.
Congrats!
XO
WWW

Owen said...

Ah Laura, if only we could meet some of our literary heros on the underground... and invite them up to a pub for a pint, and just for an evening pick their brains a bit... Lovely creation here...

DuchessOmnium said...

I like the idea and the cover.

The Sagittarian said...

It would be great to invite certain 'heroes' of ours to dinner or the pub for a pint or two, great idea and here's hoping you and your have a nice Christmas and New year!

The Poet Laura-eate said...

Thanks Steve.

Here's to record breaking sales Oliver!

Thanks Dan.

Good to see you back Dotterel. Thanks for the droll comments.

Good to hear WWW.

What a lovely thought Owen. Sometimes I feel quite lonely in this age at the lack of intelligent company (present company excepted of course!)

Thanks Duchess.

Let's invent a time machine pronto Sagittarian! A merry Christmas and festive season to you too.