Pretty Pages

I've spent that past 24 hours (well, a generous portion of it) checking the page proofs of Horizons for typos. Wow! I am SO impressed. I never pay any attention to book design...that is the look of the actual printed page. I am too busy looking through that page into the world to notice. But these pages really blew me away. They're PRETTY -- quite lovely in fact. The flyleaf has a panel of additional art...a stylized glimpse of the orbital's hub garden. And a small bar of that image dresses up the first page of each chapter. Even the header on each page is eyecatching. The typeface is large, crisp and very easy to read. I was SO impressed. I don't think I've ever noticed the details of a printed page in any of my other publications, either hardcover, paper, or magazine. Tor has done a marvelous job overall with this book. I am thrilled. And can't wait to see the finished product.

Well, I'm now working through one of my first-draft chapter summaries of my next novel. It begins on Europa (I've had such fun creating that world) and spends more time in the solar system as a whole. But we get to travel back to Earth, too, and see what the future holds for our two divergent species of humanity.