Now that my novel is complete and I am just waiting for the final editing, I thought I would create a cover. It actually came by accident, or was it ? I have been archiving my photography and came across some 35 mm black and white negatives that I had taken in the 1980s in. NYC. I had never printed them and only had a contact sheet.
I was blown away when I saw this image. It is a street in SoHo in Manhattan called Cleveland Place. Although my novel is call Cleveland, most of the story takes place in Manhattan in the 1980’s. It is stuff like this that makes me think sometimes the script is already written. Any way, it was the perfect image and tells the story of when and where my novel takes place. The One Way sign; the telephone booth and the lamp post symbols depicting Sam’s life in. the. Big Apple.
But, what do you think? I mean I am too close to the story to be totally objective and I suppose you think, you should read the book first…Ok, Ok I will give you. that but just on a visceral level, knowing what you know : What Do You Think? Let me know…
Thanks for subscribing and share it with the world….Here is the cover I came up with :
Leaving Cleveland ©2022 a fictional memoir 
2 responses to “Book Cover? What do you think?”
I like the photo. I don’t know the story, and why it’s called Cleveland. My first thought was the photo is in Cleveland. Does that matter?
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Hi Hanna,
That’s a good question. I suppose I should have posted the synopsis of the book then posted the photo…so since you showed interest here is the synopsis ….
The novel is about a young man, Sam Cohen, who moves to New York City in the 1980’s to pursue his dream of becoming a professional photographer. His immediate plan is to distance himself from Cleveland, Ohio and all the emotional baggage of a father who survived the Holocaust and a mother who tried to fill in the gaps.
Sam arrives in New York City and lands a job working for a celebrity photographer (Izzy), who is fighting her own demons. During his tenure with Izzy he meets famous artists, writers and actors who inadvertently conjure up visions and flashbacks of magical realism in venues such as in an elevator with Merce Cunningham and John Cage, Alice Walker’s remote cabin, the posh lobby of LA’s Chateau Mormont, and a desert shoot with David Hockney who challenges his understanding of photography as art. While struggling with the internal conflict of leaving his father to “mind the store,” he nonetheless pursues his chosen path with tenacity and some lucky breaks.
In the course of Sam’s work with Izzy he experiences life in the fast lane of the New York City 80’s art scene, with all its dirt and glamor, and navigates the daily crises of Izzy’s world. Along the way, he encounters a number of notable Jewish writers, Elie Wiesel and Isaac Beshevis Singer, who haunt his identity and sense of direction. When an opportunity arises to spend time with his father in Washington, D.C., at the first American Gathering of the Jewish Holocaust Survivors, he discovers the truth and the humanity of his father’s past and begins to understand his place and purpose. His relationship with his father leads him to resolve a lifelong inner conflict and to make a choice he thought he would never have to make.
Let me know if that helps …thanks for your interest and I hope you are doing well .
Steven
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