We are thrilled to announce for sale the gorgeous limited edition selection of The Family Tree by Bram Stoker Award winning and multi-nominated author John Everson! The sale started today (October 3, 2016) and you can order your copy here on our Sinister Grin Press website. John stopped by to tell us a little bit about his thoughts on the cover and then we speak with artist Zach McCain and he gives us a bird’s eye glimpse into his creation process. Don’t miss out on this beautiful collector item. It would also make a wonderful holiday gift!
Without further ado, check out this cover and then continue on to read more about it:
Now let’s remind you what The Family Tree is about….
Its roots are old…and twisted!
The blood of the tree is its sap. It has sustained Scott Belvedere’s family for generations. It’s the secret ingredient behind the family’s intoxicating ale and bourbon, among other elixirs. But only when Scott inherits The Family Tree Inn, deep in the hills of Virginia, does he learn anything about his family, its symbiotic history, or the mammoth, ancient tree around which the inn is literally built. And after he stumbles upon the bony secrets hidden in its roots, while in the welcoming arms of the innkeeper’s daughter, he realizes that not only is blood thicker than water—it’s the only thing that might save him from the hideous fate of his ancestors…
The Family Tree Revisited – John Everson
How does the cover speak to your overall book content?
The crux of the novel is the dark secret of a family whose lives revolve around a strange, ancient tree… the tree that their ancestral Family Inn is built around. When our hero Scott Belvedere inherits the inn, he goes out to rural Virginia to check it out, and to see about possibly unloading the property and converting his inheritance to cash. Instead, he’s lured in by the innkeeper’s daughter…and a few other vixens. Together, they will indoctrinate him in the secret that generations of his family have kept hidden from outsiders.
The new limited edition cover is actually the exact realization of the image I’d always had for the novel. I’ve always thought the best cover for this book would be a seductive woman intertwined with a tree. This new cover (for the LE) really is a great representation of the book’s premise, I think. It’s exactly what I hoped it would be!
What do you like best about this LE collector’s item?
The cover! And the fact that The Family Tree has “come home.”
What do I mean by that? Well… the novel began as a project intended for Sinister Grin. Shane Mackenzie, the editor at the time, had asked me if I’d do a novella for his press, and I sent him a couple potential ideas. He picked The Family Tree, and I went to work on it. Only problem was… it took me three times as long as I intended, and it ended up being twice as long as planned. So instead of being a quickie little side project novella, almost a year later it ended up turning into a full-length novel. And due to my relationship with Samhain at the time, I needed to offer them the first look at a new novel. Samhain sent me a contract almost immediately, and so… The Family Tree ended up being my October release for 2014 from Samhain. So… to have it now appearing as a hardcover from Sinister Grin, is really a perfect circle. I have to thank the current Sinister Grin team, Tristan Thorne, and Matt Worthington for taking back the prodigal child!
Let’s discover how artist Zach McCain accomplished this beauty of a cover with a step-by-step presentation of his artwork. At the end, you’ll also view his art featured inside the collector’s edition as well.
Creating of The Family Tree – Zach McCain
The elements I had to work with on this cover were a woman merged with a tree and an old inn. I wanted to also work in the moon as well. The original sketch included all three elements.
Once I got started I decided to focus on the woman and tree and leave the inn and moon out. The reason being is I tend to like covers with one central image. That, and since most of the books I work on are primarily sold online I try to keep the cover from becoming too cluttered so that in thumbnail form the cover will be more eye catching.
After finally deciding on how the tree and woman would be interacting the final stage of the pencil drawing was shading and adding more detail.
After scanning the drawing I began coloring it in Photoshop. I decided to go with green because, well, green is my favorite color and I don’t often get the chance to do green covers.
The final stage of the cover was adding some highlights to the tree branches, the woman’s hair and parts of the body. I decide to tone down the colors to give it a more earthy look and not be so bright and colorful. When adding the text I felt gold text would go well with the green background and chose a more formal font instead of something that screams horror.
For the inside pages we went with alcohol barrels from the Family Tree Inn to round out the look for the story….
We hope you enjoyed discovering The Family Tree and its cover. We look forward to hearing just how nice it sits on your family bookshelf. (And we always welcome your photos!)
Order today by heading over to the HOME page of this site!
If you haven’t decided yet, here is some praise for the book:
“A sure-fire hit for anyone who loves 70s/80s-styled pulp horror.” (The Horror Fiction Review)
“Everson has published yet another horror masterpiece that is in my top five for this year. A haunting and original book, The Family Tree is a creepy tale of family heritage and devotion that you won’t soon forget.” (Shattered Ravings)
“Everson is one of the best writers of modern horror today. He seamlessly stitches dread and suspense into well-worn horror tropes, giving the tried and true a sense of fresh and new.” (TheExaminer.com)
“[Everson]’s as crisp as he’s ever been, and despite a somewhat deceptive concept, he’s still true to his X-rated roots, which longtime followers are going to find quite pleasing. Read the book. It’s awesome!.” (Horror Novel Reviews)
“John Everson is known for his use of eroticism with his horror and in The Family Tree, he proves once again that he is the master of dark and sexy. If you’re not turned on during one of the many hot scenes then maybe you should check to see if you’re breathing…If you like your horror a little scandalous, then The Family Tree is for you.” (Living Dead Magazine)
About John Everson
John Everson is a Bram Stoker Award-winning author of eight novels of erotic horror and the macabre, including the Fountain of Youth thriller THE FAMILY TREE, as well as the Bram Stoker Award-nominated tour de force NIGHTWHERE, the Bram Stoker Award-winner COVENANT, its sequel SACRIFICE and the standalone novels THE 13TH, SIREN, THE PUMPKIN MAN, VIOLET EYES. He also is the author of four collections of short horror fiction, including his latest, SACRIFICING VIRGINS.
John shares a deep purple den in Naperville, Illinois with a cockatoo and cockatiel, a disparate collection of fake skulls, twisted skeletal fairies, Alan Clark illustrations and a large stuffed Eeyore. There’s also a mounted Chinese fowling spider named Stoker, an ever-growing shelf of custom mix CDs and an acoustic guitar that he can’t really play but that his son likes to hear him beat on anyway. Sometimes his wife is surprised to find him shuffling through more public areas of the house, but it’s usually only to brew another cup of coffee. In order to avoid the onerous task of writing, he occasionally records pop-rock songs in a hidden home studio, experiments with the insatiable culinary joys of the jalapeno, designs book covers for a variety of small presses, loses hours in expanding an array of gardens and chases frequent excursions into the bizarre visual headspace of ’70s euro-horror DVDs with a shot of Makers Mark and a tall glass of Newcastle.
Learn more about John on his website, where you can sign up for a direct-from-the-author monthly e-newsletter with information on new books, contests, and occasionally, free fiction.
Want to connect? Follow John on Twitter @johneverson, or find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/johneverson.
Sinster Grin Press…horror that’ll carve a smile on your face!
