Tune in Tomorrow, my debut novel about a reality TV show run by mythical creatures, for mythical creatures — but starring humans — has been out for the world to enjoy since August 2022. And back in May of 2022, I was able to reveal the book’s incredible, eye-popping original cover (thanks to a special cover reveal article in The Mary Sue). The evolution of that cover can be found here.

But now Tune has a new life, a face-lift and an additional bonus chapter added into it! And I can share that new cover, and how we got here, thanks to the fact that Tune in Tomorrow is officially re-issued on Nov. 12, via Solaris Nova!

The brief history (if I can make it brief) behind the re-envisioning of Tune went a little something like this. My Amazing Agent and I had wondered if Solaris/Rebellion, which published Tune, would want more in the universe. To me, the book was a standalone and I didn’t need to continue with all of its characters, but I’d come up with the idea of Topographically-Restricted Outer Perimeter Environment (that is, TROPE) towns. Those would be Seelie Court Network-created villages on the fey side of the Veil filled with humans who (largely voluntarily) lived there full time … and would make movies based on particular tropes for the mythical audience. That was an idea that could work for a number of books going forward. So I wrote We Interrupt This Program, which would take place in a Murder, She Wrote sort of town and … we waited. And waited. And then a new editor came on board and in time, we had a deal!

Well, the deal initially was for two more books in the Tune-iverse, plus the Tune re-issue, and the acceptance of WITP came later. But not to get off track: The point is, now we had a deal in place and it was time to re-think Tune!

That meant speaking with my editor and figuring out what that cover might look like. They’d already agreed to consider including the epilogue, which I’d taken out of the original book for space considerations, and now it was about what the face of the book would change to look like. This re-issue was going to be what they called “E-book forward” — in that it had to be simple and pop to an audience that was likely to see it on a small screen first — so I wanted to go with bright, neon colors that reflected the original cover, would feel a bit retro cool, and also pop. That meant pink!

Then came a dream board/wish board of images that they sent me, and I sent back, which included some of these notes and images:

TVs

Swirls

My thoughts on how Jason might dress, and Phil’s work shirt

Dragons and fauns

And they came up with several ideas and versions; here are some early takes:

And there are always tweaks to make. There were so many cool things about all of it — the inclusion of Jason the faun in the title, all the stars, the swirling magic! I immediately loved the more curly font, and the wavy color bars on the TV set. Phil looked great sleeping, but he also looked maybe dead and those early mangoes resembled eggs, which kind of gave a Game of Thrones feel to the whole thing (not a bad thing, but not an accurate one, either!). Also missing was the catch phrase “Their fantasy is her reality,” which I felt was important to include.

In the end, though, they were super responsive in letting me suggest changes, which led us to our final version, here:

I mean, Phil even has a lightning bolt pupil, just like in the book! I’m incredibly pleased with the final result. I know the TV looks really retro, but let’s face it: Today’s flat screen black mirrors wouldn’t have told us a whole lot. Meanwhile, Phil is still holding on to those all-important mangoes … and scripts. There’s a lot going on in a small amount of very colorful, swirly, magical space. It’s gorgeous!

And that is how we arrived with today’s (likely final) cover for Tune in Tomorrow. If you order them going forward, this is the cover you’re likely to see. If you’re dying to be a completist and have both covers, you can ping me here and I’ll let you know if I still have any of the old ones left to sell. Meanwhile, hope you enjoy the book as much as I do — and that you’ll be back next fall for We Interrupt This Program! Keep being your very best mangoes!

xo,

R

Like what you’re reading? Donate here!

Want to get your book featured on my blog? Contact me here!

Want to get my newsletter (and a free book)? Sign up here!