Cover Interview: City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

Every Friday, I bring you a new cover interview and hope to introduce you to books you want to read, or the very least make you more excited for the book. This week's pick is... 

City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

February 5, 2013 by HarperCollins

Goodreads

The girl with no past, and no future, may be the only one who can save their lives. 

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

DUDES. This book sounds totally kickass. And there's answer in the interview (okay, the last one) that makes me want to sell my soul to get an early copy of this book! I'm not even kidding about that. 


About Miriam Forster:

Miriam Forster learned to read at the age of five, wrote her first story at the age of seven and has been playing with words ever since. Her debut novel, CITY OF A THOUSAND DOLLS is being published by HarperCollins.

In her daily life, Miriam is a wife, a terrible housekeeper and a dealer of caffeine at a coffee shop. In her internal life, she imagines fight scenes, obsesses about anthropology, nature shows and British television, and reads far too many books.

Miriam is represented by Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown Agency. She likes to wander the Internet and is usually in one of the following places: her website | Facebook Page | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Tumblr


And now the interview!


Ashelynn: I have to admit, when you announced your book deal and your book’s title, I was expecting dolls to appear on the cover, but I actually really like this cover. It’s different and I absolutely LOVE the lion statues guarding whatever path the girl is taking. What is one cover that you absolutely freaking love (besides your own)?


Miriam: One of the only books I've ever picked up just because of the cover was Cindy Pon's debut Silver Phoenix. I fell in love with the hardback cover, it's so fierce and bright and beautiful, and the pink really stood out on the shelves. Plus the book is just awesome. 

A: What is your favorite thing about your cover? As you know, I love the lion statues, but I also love the symbols at the bottom. I know if I saw this cover on the shelf in a bookstore, I would buy it just for the cover.


Yay! I think my absolute favorite thing is the details, the weathering on the lions and the way the grass is dotted with flowers. I stare at it a lot, so maybe that's why. *grin* And I love the colors, the blue at the top and the red at the bottom. The symbols represent the six Houses in the City, the House of Flowers, the House of Jade, the House of Pleasure, The House of Music, the House of Combat and the House of Beauty. 


(But oddly enough, I don't know which is which yet! So you'll have to guess.)


A: Haha, that is awesome. Did you have any say in your cover?


M: My editor asked me very early on if there was anything I particularly wanted or didn't want on the cover. I believe my exact words were "Please don't put a blonde girl on the cover of my book. Unless she's dead. But even then..."


Not that I have anything against blondes, mind you. (I married one!) But City of a Thousand Dolls is set in a South Asian-inspired fantasy world and there are only four light-haired people in the ENTIRE BOOK. My main character has charcoal hair and amber skin, so a blonde girl would have made me very sad. 


(Actually, making the girl's hair a little darker was one of the only things I asked them to fix on the original cover. They were really nice about it too.)


A: I love that you didn't want a white-washed cover. That makes me smile. When you saw your cover, what did you do?


M: Actually, I was at work when I saw the cover for the first time. I had just clocked off and I checked my phone and saw that my editor had sent me an email that said COVER in the subject line. I was totally not expecting it, and I started saying "ohmygosh, ohmygosh ohmygosh." One of my supervisors was in the back getting ready to go on shift and I told her what was going on while I pulled out my computer because my phone was uploading too slowly. 


Then I opened the file and I was absolutely stunned. It was so beautiful and so different from anything I'd had in my head that I couldn't even form an opinion for a moment. After I recovered, I spent the next 40 minutes running around work showing all my coworkers and regular customers. Also there was squeeing. LOTS of squeeing.


A: Describe your cover in three words. 


M: Gorgeous, epic, fascinating.


A: Describe City of a Thousand Dolls in three words.


M: Mysterious. Enchanting. Deadly.


A: I love teasing because it’s always fun to watch people squirm—can you say anything teasing about City of a Thousand Dolls? 


M: This book could get me nominated as Meanest Author Ever. There are several murders, pretty much everyone lies at some point in the story and there is a A Sad and Unfortunate Thing that I cannot tell you about. *grin*


Also there's a caste system, an Empire cut off by magic, some secret making out, and a woman who can turn into a fox.


That answer makes me want to read this book NOW. And I do mean now. I am going to be begging HarperCollins for an ARC once the release date is closer. Thank you, Miriam, for allowing me to be strange and interview you! Readers, what do you think about the cover for City of a Thousand Dolls? 


Also! if there is an author/cover you'd LOVE to see interviewed, I have set up this handy dandy form. Please help me out! If you love this series, and want to see more interviews, fill out the form. It's all anonymous, so if you are an author and want extra publicity, fill out the form! I still retain the right of final decision on who I email, though. :)