Cover Story - Libby Cone

One thing that an indie author has to be is resourceful. Book covers can be expensive and sometimes you just don't have the money to splurge, especially when you're publishing a short story for 99¢. Libby Cone explains how public domain artwork and graphic design shareware can be an indie author's best friends.

I have designed the covers (if you can call them that) for all my Kindle books and short stories. I hired a designer I found on LinkedIn to execute my idea for the self-published paperback edition of War on the Margins. She did a very good job.

When I published the Kindle edition of Flesh and Grass I used a Dutch painting that I thought was in the public domain. When I found out it wasn't, I obtained a public domain painting.

I did the "cover" for "Quantum Fashionistas" using GimP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), but had to redo it when I realized its definition wasn't high enough. GimP is somewhat daunting, but I eventually figured out how I did it the first time and produced a reasonable facsimile!

Libby Cone's works can be found on Amazon.

Quantum Fashionistas by Libby Cone

Full Disclosure: Yes, Libby Cone is a fellow reviewer here at the New Podler Review of Books. She'd told me about the story over the summer and I was intrigued. She sent me the finished story a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it so much that I offered to review it.

You can shout "shenanigans" if you want, but I believe future reviewers will bear me out.

In "Quantum Fashionistas", we're introduced to Sharon, a middle-aged actuary for an insurance company. The twist here is that the company works across multiple universes. Yes, breakthroughs in quantum physics have enabled travel from one universe to another, provided one can afford the cost. Sharon is one of a select few people who can handle multiverse travel without losing her wits. Still, she's replaceable and constantly frets about her pension.

While on assignment in sigma-Germany, she gets a call from her boss explaining that they have a special assignment for her. Unfortunately it involves time travel, an even riskier form of transport in which she could find herself transmuted into a different form entirely. In fact, her roommate is a refugee from another time and quantum reality and is stuck in alpha-Manhattan with her.

Sharon soon finds herself caught up in a struggle between opposing forces and prays that she can complete her assignment before playing Russian Roulette with quantum realities leaves catastrophically altered.

This is a clever story. Libby has mixed quantum physics with the insurance industry and spiced it up with high fashion. While she might play fast and loose with the scientific details, the basics are dead on. The reader is encouraged to not sweat the small stuff and just enjoy the ride.

My complaint, if you can it that, is the length. At just under 8,000 words it's too long for a short story and too short for a novella. The pace feels rushed. Neither Sharon nor the reader can catch their breath as we're whisked from one destination to another. Libby has crammed so much into this story that it begs to be taken to longer form where the reader can digest what's going on. This would make for a great series of novels.

In summary, Libby has taken a fresh approach to multiverse fiction. By knocking the concept of multiple universes down to the mundanities of everyday business, it spares the reader the dizzying implications that quantum physics throws at us. "Quantum Fashionistas" is a highly enjoyable read and worth checking out.

"Quantum Fashionistas" is available for the Kindle.

Flesh and Grass by Libby Cone

Flesh and Grass is the fictional memoir of Cornelis Plockhoy, the son of Pieter Plockhoy, the founder of the ill-fated Dutch settlement of Zwaanendael in what is now Delaware. As if a novel about a Dutch colony in North America weren't rare enough, Cone's protagonist is blind. As such, Cornelis recalls his life's experiences through his other senses, particularly scent. Nearly all of his memories have some olfactory attribute, whether pleasant or foul, associated with them. Cinnamon recalls his ever supportive mother while the odor of cooked meat is a horrific reminder of his father's death.

Like the Puritans in Plymouth, the Dutch in Zwaanendael are there for religious freedom. Much like his father, Cornelis is a pious man. But unlike his father, Cornelis is faced with one test of faith after another. Although he never questions his blindness, life in the New World brings enough calamity that he wouldn't be blamed for thinking himself a descendant of Job. The colony is caught in the crossfire between the British and Dutch Empires. Each round of battle between the two nations brings some form of tragedy to the settlement and Cornelis' life. While he prays for deliverance from the avaricious struggles of nations, part of him wonders why he and his brethren must suffer so.

Cone has painstakingly researched her novel. While she admits to taking liberties with a few of the characters, the historical events that transpired are factual. The dialogue, while obviously written in English, is peppered with enough Dutch and Old English to grant an air of authenticity to the story. While this should be considered an asset, it might turn off some readers uncomfortable with the vernacular of the time (mid to late 1600's).

While Flesh and Grass offers a window into 17th Century colonial America, it is the tests of Cornelis' faith that make up the crux of the story. Each newfound joy and sorrow over four decades of life spent in the settlement work at the foundation of that faith. In the end, we learn whether or not that foundation is on solid ground or sand.

Flesh and Grass is available in different eBook formats through the author's website.

Update 6/24/11: Now available in paperback.