The Running Waves Cover

I was around nine years old when my dad's (James F. Murphy, Jr.) first book came out. It was called Quonsett - it shocked, entertained, and even horrified some of the people in our town. I remember how excited Dad was when he got the call that his book had arrived at the local bookstore (because he still hadn't seen the cover). Dad, Mom, and all six kids jumped into the station wagon and we headed to the store. On the way there, Dad pulled some of the punches of what the book was about. "It's about a crazy guy who causes a lot of trouble for a town," he told us. A few years later, I was to find out that he left out the part about the "crazy guy" having an operating table in his van and.... well, you can figure out the rest. Anyway, all of us speculated what that "crazy guy" would look like on the cover. I imagined him to be a cross between a werewolf and Frankenstein. He was far from it. The cover shot was of an average looking guy in a white tee-shirt and jeans running from exploding fireworks in the distance.

After seeing it I said to Dad, "This guy doesn't look scary at all."

While probably biting his lip, Dad responded, "I know he looks like he's running from a cookout to get more ice for the party. This has to be the worst cover I've ever seen!"

We all felt terrible for him. He had worked so hard on that book that would be judged by its cover.

He was constantly reminded at signings too.

"Too bad you don't have a better cover." or "God, that's dreadful." They would say to him as if he had drawn it himself.

Fortunately, his page-turning thriller overcame the bad cover and the novel was a success, so when it became a paperback the cover changed. This time he got the first copy in the mail. On the paperback cover was a van parked on a beach. A lifeless arm dangled from the van's slightly opened door. The lifeless arm set a tone that totally creeped me out (and also made me wonder who really was the guy who drove me to little league practice haha). Now that was a cover!

So with that backstory constantly banging my mind every time I get a book deal I worry about the cover. Fortunately, over the years, for my kids books I have had great illustrators - Doren Ben-Ami, Mark Penta, and Adam Taylor. But this was going to be my first novel for adults and Seton's first book! When Publishing Works told us that they were going to use photography for the cover I said to Seton, "I hope they don't screw it up." We both then got our friend Ben Allsup involved (please check out Benshotme.com) because he is one of the best photographers on the Cape. Ben was willing to do the cover, but we really had overstepped our boundaries by asking before getting the go ahead from Publishing Works. P.W. said that, although, they loved Ben's work (which they gushed about) they already had a photographer/designer on their payroll. She was their logical choice due to that reason, and that she was also pretty damn talented.
Ben totally understood our situation (us jumping the gun without knowing we shouldn't have made any promises) and diffused it with class that is Allsup, "Just keep me in mind to be your still photographer when this becomes a movie (Your words to God's ears, Ben!)."

A couple weeks ago, I got an email from Jeremy Townsend President of Publishing Works. The subject title of the email - COVER FOR THE RUNNING WAVES. I was so nervous I could barely click it open. Would it be the "guy running for more ice for the party" or "the lifeless arm dangling out of the van?"

I studied the cover for several seconds.

"Yes! Yes!" I pumped my fist and ran for the phone to call Seton.

"Open up your email from Jeremy now!" I ordered.

He clicked away on the keyboard. "Oh, no. It says it's the cover. Is it any good?"

"Just open it!"

"Alright, man! Hold on!" He snapped back.

After a few seconds he yelled, "Yes! Yes! She nailed it! Oh, man, she got the whole tone of our book in that one picture!"

"And the symbolism of the action figure is in there too!" I added. (Readers will understand that symbolism, but we don't want to give it away here. We had suggested they use an action figure and that was what was so cool! Publishing Works heard us!)

"You got your first cover, bro!" I said to him and it felt great.

"Thanks, man. This means a lot. Not just to me but to all my boys. You know what I mean?"

"Yup! Well, we can thank Anna for that!"

"You said it! We wrote a book!" Seton said and I think it really dawned on him that all of this is really happening!

That was a really special day to share with my little brother. It was even more special when we brought a color print and showed my Dad who was (and is) recovering from double bypass surgery in the hospital. He studied it and said one word to us, "Yes!"

I'm sure we'll have critics for the cover as well as the book, but we love it, and on behalf of my co-author Seton Murphy, I would publicly like to thank Anna Pearlman of Publishing Works for designing a truly awesome cover!

-Ted Murphy