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Alright! So, I closed out the qualifying round with my top four submissions. It was a tough decision, having to cut a few that had potential but just did not have the right feel for the project itself. Additionally, there are submissions in the contest that we know will not be selected for Our Daughter, but are being tweaked for different books I’m writing. The instructions at 99 Designs states that I can award multiple winners, so win-win for everything. Here are the winners of the qualifying round:
Qualifying Round Is Now Closed
We had 82 book cover submissions over a 24 hour period. They were all WAY above the quality that we were dealing with at other service providers. But, here are the winners for this round, who will be moving on into the final round. And, remember, we already have updated hardcover, paperback, and kindle/epub editions for In the Meadow, Seeking Light Aurora, and Ashen Monk Mountain, so, if you are patiently waiting for the new release of Our Daughter and haven’t read one or more of these titles, I would highly suggest grabbing a copy and dig in. You won’t regret it!
Qualifying Round Winners
Before this post was published this morning I found out that 99 Designs does not allow creators to pivot to new books during a contest. That means we have an unofficial winner at this point and two covers that will become their own 1 on 1 projects with those respective artists.
Below is the WINNER of the Our Daughter book cover contest! It was done by MD Creations from France. This book cover came in almost right away and has stayed at the top of the pack the entire contest. Every other book cover was compared to this design. My kids like it. My wife likes it, and my fans like it. How can I go wrong choosing this one.
!! THE WINNER IS !!
Below are the runner ups, two of which will hopefully go on to their own separate 1 on 1 projects to be used for other books. Here they are in no particular order:
This one came in late and has gone through a few changes. We are now considering it for Swallowing Saki 先 – A Techno Nightmare Novel about a girl with mental health challenges who is struggling with poor choices in her online world. But, when she is left home alone for a weekend and is terrorized by an intruder, she has to fight to survive. Yet nothing happening is as it appears. The tagline is, “The Most Beautiful of Things Hold the Darkest of Secrets.” I will post updates when the designer submits them.
This one came in very early in the competition and while it is rather simplistic, it will be great for another book called: His Greatest Mistake: WRITTEN. Tagline: “When your salvation is a fate worse than death.” It is about a man who wakes up in the resurrection, is judged thinking full-well that he will be going to hell, and, instead, finds somehow his name is in the Book of Life. He enters heaven with all the others under a presumed clerical error and is now wondering how long it will be before his secret is found out. I will post updates when the designer submits them.
This one I did not think would make it to the final round, but the artist was willing to make some changes. We are considering it also for Swallowing Saki 先 – A Techno Nightmare Novel.
!! Post below in the comments which cover you like the best !!
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Excerpt from Our Daughter:
“Okay, mom,” Randy said.
“You behave yourself and be nice. You’re lucky to have company while you wait for the doctors.”
The woman turned and started back the way she came.
“The nurse said it would be twenty or thirty more minutes, so we’ll eat quick and be back up here before they take you in, okay?”
“Okay, mom.”
“Sorry for him,” the woman said to Katie as she walked by.
“He’s funny.”
Katie grinned.
As the woman left, Katie noticed the boy moving around again on the bed. Before she realized what was happening, the tiny lump disappeared and she could hear the faint sound of bare hands and feet on the tile floor.
He was low crawling under the beds toward her.
A moment later, Randy popped his head out from under the nearest hospital bed, craning his neck around to look up at her.
“Hello, there,” Katie said.
Randy disappeared back under the bed, the bed sheet draping down almost to the floor. Katie could still see three little fingers pressed to the tile.
“What are you here for?” Katie asked, readjusting her seat in the chair, trying to get the ache in her chest to lessen.
For whatever reason, the wheelchair was really uncomfortable.
“Why are – “
Randy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he looked around.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m getting my leg fixed,” Katie said. “See?”
Randy poked his head back out from under the bed and looked at the leg she was pointing to.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The doctor said it’s broken,” Katie said. “Shattered.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Ouch.”
“Can you feel it?” Randy asked, able to stay out from his hiding place.
“I can feel it, but it’s not too bad,” Katie said, then tapped the IV in her arm. “This thing is giving me medicine of some kind for the pain. At least that’s what the nurses said.”
“Why are you – “
Randy stopped mid-sentence.
He scooted out from under the bed entirely and slowly crept over to er on all fours.
“What are you, some kind of spider?” Katie asked, giggling a little.
“What are you?” Randy echoed.
He was now only about a foot away from her chair and sat there, his legs folded up under him, gawking up at her.
“What are you staring at me for?”
“I’ve never – “
Randy put out a hesitant hand and ever so gently touched her arm.
“Are you some kind of ghost?”
He looked around again.
“Are you – ”
He leaned in, talking in a whisper.
“Are you dead?”
A nurse came around the corner and stopped abruptly, spotting the empty bed in the far corner where Randy should have been.
“Randy Andrews,” the nurse said, her hands now on her hips. “You get right back into the bed and you stop playing around, please. They are ready for you in surgery.”
Katie watched as Randy scrambled on all fours under the beds and back up onto his, pulling the sheet back over top of himself again.
She started to ask him about his question, but couldn’t get the words out before his parents appeared at the door.
Katie sat there quietly, watching Randy stare back at her from under his sheet. She glanced over at his parents and the nurse, noticed Randy’s dad had no hair on the top of his head.
Are you dead?
What kind of question was that?
The snap of the wheel locks being disengaged on Randy’s hospital bed jarred Katie out of the confusion she was in.
The doctor she’d first seen was now at the door, waiting for Randy.
He was his surgeon.
They wheeled Randy out of the room, his parents following right behind, disappearing to the left, heading for his operating room.
The pre-op room was empty again.
Dead.
Are you dead?
What kind of crazy question was that?
The nurse came back through the double doors.
“It won’t be long now,” she said.
“Okay.”
Katie tried not to think about the dull ache growing just behind her sternum.
The nurse disappeared around the corner as Katie watched the double doors to the operating rooms slowly shut.
Buy my book Our Daughter and begin the adventure of a lifetime, as you uncover the mysteries behind Katie Cadora’s new life after the horrible accident that stole her mother away from her. Will she find sure footing again? Will the pain ever stop? Will she discover the secrets her new foster family are keeping from her? Is the boy’s question right? Is Katie Cadora actually dead?
Click here and grab your copy today and jump into this Witch Gnostic Heresy trilogy with both feet!
But, trust me when I tell you, there are deceivers in our midsts! Get started in this bone chilling suspense novel right away and find out why….sometimes….you’re just better off DEAD!
What do you think?