Book cover mockup for Jane, Actually

The cover of Jane, Actually, is something of a departure for me; my previous two books Good Cop, Dead Cop and My Particular Friend, were primarily photographs. But with no budget and the fundamental challenge posed by photographing the fictionalized embodiment of a disembodied author, I opted for an illustration instead. This cover is actually a cover within a cover because it shows Jane Austen’s Sanditon, which as the cover proclaims is “Finally Complete After Two Hundred Years.”

There’s also an AfterNet terminal that’s far more advanced than the portable terminal used by Denver Police Officer Linda Yamaguchi in Good Cop, Dead Cop. This terminal has full internet access and doubles as a smartphone while still fulfilling its main task of allowing literary agent Melody Kramer to communicate with her client, Jane Austen.

You can also see part of Jane’s boarding pass, which is a very large conceit because the terminal clearly shows it’s January while Jane won’t be traveling to Fort Worth until October, and she couldn’t print out a boarding pass this early. It does show, however, that Jane no longer stows away on plane flights like most disembodied. Instead she has an assigned seat with full AfterNet access so she can continue texting, emailing, blogging and tweeting on a long plane flight.

Jane, Actually or Jane Austen’s Book Tour is also a significant departure for me in another way. I’m actually hoping to generate interest in the book before I publish it (hopefully around October). So if you’d like more information about it, would like to be put on the list to receive an advanced reading copy, would be interested in proofreading it (you’ll get a signed copy and be listed in the acknowledgements), then just leave a comment here or find me on twitter or facebook.