Got It Covered

Cover art is a very important tool in marketing a book. In my years as a published writer, I’ve had some covers that worked and others that didn’t. If a book is set in the Bay Area, New York publishers have a tendency to put the Golden Gate bridge on the cover, even when the books are Jeri Howard mysteries set primarily in Oakland, Berkeley, and other East Bay environs.

As a writer, I like it very much when the cover says something about what’s between the pages. However, I’ve been told by people in the publishing biz that what they aim for is a cover that’s visually striking.

I had some distinct ideas about the cover for Death Rides the Zephyr, the train book that comes out in September. The book takes place on the old California Zephyr, in December 1952, so it counts as a historical mystery. The advertising for the CZ, also known as the Silver Lady, had a distinctive look. You can see examples below.

The book will definitely appeal to mystery fans. There’s also a whole world of railfans, people who live and breathe old trains, and this book is right up their track. A cover that had the look of a California Zephyr advertisement or brochure would certainly be recognized by any railfan, and I hope lead to sales.

The folks at Perseverance Press liked the idea of using old advertising images for the cover. Then we ran up against a problem, one of image quality. The images available on the internet were not high resolution, and that’s what we needed.

Where could we find high res images that would work for cover art? I checked various sources at railroad museums and came up empty.

Then another issue arose. Who owns the rights to those images?

You see, the California Zephyr was jointly operated by three railroads: Western Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande Western, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Those railroads no longer exist. The WP and the D&RGW were purchased by Union Pacific. The CBQ merged with several other railroads and is now the Burlington Northern.

I’d heard from several sources that the UP was really sticky about copyright. But that was hearsay, so I went right to the railroad. The UP’s communications office referred me to the Union Pacific Historical Museum and a librarian there responded to my query. She did some research and discovered that while the UP had purchased the railroads, evidently they hadn’t purchased any of the advertising images. So she didn’t know where I could get high resolution advertising images.

At this point, Perseverance Press and I were running out of time. As I tried to find an appropriate California Zephyr advertising image, I’d been in touch with some of my fellow railfans. One of them is Roger Morris, a photographer and graphic artist in the Sacramento area. We met in 2010 while taking a special excursion train up the Feather River Canyon, the route followed by the old CZ.

A number of the Silver Lady’s old cars are still on the tracks, privately owned and used for such excursions. One of them is a dome observation car called the Silver Solarium, and it’s based here in the Bay Area.

Roger had an atmospheric photo he’d taken of the rounded end of the Silver Solarium, showing the small neon sign that reads “California Zephyr.” He took the photo in the train station in New Orleans. My book takes place in the winter, as the train winds its way through snowy canyons in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains.

No problem. Enter the wonders of Photoshop.

Roger played with the image, adding a snowy winter landscape, a starry sky, with a hint of light reflecting off the curved rails. He replicated the orange neon of the sign and the lights at the end of the train, and added some touches that suggest movement.

I think the end result definitely has it covered.

Ah, Research!

Picture me at the controls of a 115-ton, 1500 horsepower diesel locomotive.

The Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California has a Run-A-Locomotive program. I’m over 18. I have a credit card. So I rang them up and reserved my hour on Western Pacific #917-D.

Western Pacific 917-D, photo by Mike Muklin, Feather River Rail Society

This particular locomotive is the kind of engine that would have pulled the historic streamliner, the California Zephyr, the train that plays a starring role in my work-in-progress, Death Rides The Zephyr.

Though the book takes place primarily in the passenger cars, I want to see what it feels like to be in the cab of that locomotive, my hands on the controls. I want to make the train go.

On this upcoming research trip to Portola, I plan to go up the Feather River Canyon. This was the route of the California Zephyr, also known as the CZ or the Silver Lady, because of the train’s sleek stainless steel cars.

I’ve been up the canyon before, in 2010, on a special excursion train with a consist (that’s train talk for the roster of cars) of vintage coaches and sleepers. That was a special treat, because since the demise of the old CZ, the only consistent rail traffic on that route has been freight.

Two years ago I was in the early, thinking-about-it, mulling-over-plot-and-characters stage of the book. Now that I’m well into the novel, I wanted to take another look at the scenery along the way, better to describe what my passengers see when they look out those Vista-Domes.

The canyon is home to what the Plumas County Visitors Bureau calls the Seven Wonders of the Railroad World, including the Keddie Wye, the Williams Loop, and the Clio Trestle. You can read all about them here.

Ah, the things we do for research.

A Killing at the Track, the ninth Jeri Howard book, was a horse-racing book. Blame it on all those Dick Francis novels. As I began writing the book it became clear how little I knew about track operations and the day-to-day routine on the backside, with its barns, the part of the track that patrons don’t see. Books wouldn’t do the job. I needed see, smell, touch, talk to people.

Through a friend of a friend, I found a woman who trained thoroughbreds. That got me to the backside of the two Bay Area tracks, Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows. One morning I got up very early and on the road so I could meet the trainer at the track at 5 AM.

Those track visits, the trainer’s insider knowledge and contacts, provided me with great material for the book. I got introductions to the chief investigator for the California Horse Racing Board and to a jockey’s agent, as well as a tour of the jockey’s room.

It made for a much better book. I’m still proud of the review I got from California Thoroughbred, the one that said I’d really done my homework well.

I know I have to do my homework for the train book. There are lots railfans out there. If I get something wrong, I’ll hear about it.

People are very generous with their time and knowledge. I joined a group for railfans, called Train Orders, and posted questions about the old California Zephyr. I got lots of information, including details from a man who’d helped restore an old dome observation car, like the one on my train. He told where I could hide things on that car. Of course, I’ve got to use that in the book.

And I’ve just got to drive a locomotive.

Those Pesky Middles

I am working on a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of my work-in-progress, Death Rides the Zephyr, aka the train book.

Some folks would say that’s topsy-turvy. Shouldn’t the synopsis, or outline, come before I start the book?

Well, it does. But that earlier synopsis is a rudimentary road map. When I start a new project, I usually – though not always – know where I will begin and where I want the book to end.

But what happens in the middle? And in which order? Not quite sure. Those pesky middles are terra incognita.

So at some point, when the book is well underway, I step back and examine what I’ve written this far and create a more detailed road map, trying to navigate a path through terra incognita.

My preferred tool is this more detailed chapter-by-chapter synopsis. I focus on what has happened so far, in great detail, until I get to the point where I am now. I find that as I look at the earlier chapters, this exercise brings me to a clearer picture of what has to happen to get my protagonist and my plot to the end.

Death Rides the Zephyr takes place in December 1952, aboard a train, the old California Zephyr. The CZ, known as the Silver Lady, was a sleek streamliner with stainless steel cars, lots of amenities and a Zephyrette – a train hostess – who was the only woman crew member. The train was jointly operated by three railroads – the Western Pacific, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, and the Burlington Northern.

In the Vista-Dome with the Zephyrette

In my novel, the train leaves Oakland on a December morning, heading east on a run to Chicago, through California’s Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, the Great Basin and into the Rocky Mountains. The novel ends as the train reaches Denver, but a lot happens in between, such as murder, mayhem, and a missing person.

This may be the most challenging run my Zephyrette protagonist has ever had.

The train is moving for most of the book, with stops at stations. For this reason, I’ve spent a great deal of time poring over passenger and employee timetables, because I must know where my characters are and even what they see when they look out the train windows. I’ve moved scenes around the pesky middle of this book so that the action in those scenes can take place at specific locations along the train’s route.

I also have diagrams of railroad cars tacked up around my computer. I’ve made changes to passengers’ accommodations, to better serve my plot.

My exercise is helping me deal with the pesky middle of this book. I have a much better idea of where I need to go back and drop in a clue or two.

I’m ready to move forward again, so all aboard!