Well, I did say I was finalising another book cover…and here it is! Say hello to Bitesize!
Bitesize is a collection of flash fiction: no stories over 500 words have been allowed in (and neither has Sherlock Holmes!).
Something which stuck with me from Chris Beckett’s introduction to FlashDogs: Volume 2 was his comparison of a short story to a chocolate truffle: ‘rich, delicious, […] fantastically calorific’. As these flash stories are little morsels a chocolate box cover seemed ideal, with a posh red ribbon for title and author. It was much quicker and easier to do than the Secret Notebook cover, probably because there are fewer elements and I didn’t have to learn the software as I went along. See the end of this post for the credits.
So then I decided to push the theme a bit further. I’d found reading through the stories quite tiring (see my earlier post here), as settings and mood changed from story to story. To make reading the book a slightly smoother experience, I’ve grouped the stories in layers, like a box of chocolates, but according to mood. So Bitesize has Milk Chocolate Ripples, White Chocolate Creams, Popping Candy Fancies (wait and see!), and finally, Dark Chocolate Swirls. It also comes with tasting notes.
And where is the book up to? Well, beta feedback is in (thank you everyone!) and I’m in the process of making a few small changes and checking rights for a handful of stories before uploading the final ebook. The planned go-live date is June 25, which (whaddya know) is UK National Flash Fiction Day … so no pressure!
I’ll report back when the book’s available, but for now, off to do more tweaking. See you soon.
Cover credits: For those of you who like the detail, the photo is A box of chocolates by Generalising, shared by permission of Creative Commons license 2.0. I’ve cropped and rotated the photo. The font is Lobster 1.4 by Pablo Impallari: SIL Open Font License 1.1. The ribbon photo is my own, recoloured from its original dark brown. The cover was made using GIMP.
The header image is National Sor Juana Festival Houston 2007 by Mario, and is shared by permission of Creative Commons license 2.0.
Liz Hedgecock 
Will look forward to it. I prefer the soft centres.
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