I’m excited to share the release of my newest novel: The Cast-Iron Owl.
The Story
The Cast-Iron Owl is a supernatural thriller about a mother and daughter who find an antique cast-iron owl at a thrift shop. The daughter, Mary, can hear a bell-like sound emanating from it, and she begs her mother, Jane, to buy it. Jane is reluctant since she thinks it’s overpriced, but soon, they will discover that there is something ominous within the cast-iron owl that will change the course of their lives.
Book Cover Design Process
It took several iterations to create the final book cover that you see above. What’s interesting is that at each step of the process, I felt satisfied with the result I had, only to feel like I had to continue modifying it since it seemed inadequate. The process to arriving at the final book cover was a gradual one–one that was the result of countless adjustments and meticulous changes that led to a design where I felt that any additional changes was no longer necessary. Or to put it another way: any additional changes would only lead me to undo them.
Writing the Story
The idea for the story occurred to me over a year ago. It’s one of those concepts where one thing happens that leads to a chain of events that spiral out of control. It took awhile to work out the premise and concept behind it, although actually writing the story didn’t happen until much later (once I had a clear vision of the story, much like a filmmaker who has a vision of the look of their film).
When I first wrote the story, I wanted it to primarily focus on the point of view of the mother and daughter. However, as I started to edit it, I realized that I needed to tell the story from different points of views to show the impact of the objects on the other characters.
Another thing that required a lot of planning was the sequence of events. Since the events can sometimes overlap on certain days, I had to organize and plan out how one event at one location would affect a character(s) at a different location. It took some time to straighten out all of the details, but in the end, it will read seamlessly as if the events are occurring naturally.
Where to get The Cast-Iron Owl
The novel is available for pre-order on the Kindle, and it will be released on 8-16-23.
Click here for the Amazon Kindle link.
The paperback version is now available on Amazon.
Click here for the paperback book link.
Thank you for your support and for stopping by. I really appreciate it. Happy reading!
Fallton Havenstonne 