Image by: Bwlight

Kat Kennedy: For this cover, I thought we could cash in on that whole “dead girl” cover trope that ties into misogynistic undertones because, why not?
McCormick Templeman: That’s actually really pretty. It looks like my book except set in a Swedish commune where everyone conditions their hair a lot and does inappropriate touching.
Kat Kennedy: Oh my god! There really are communes like that?!
Stephanie Sinclair: Kat’s ready to join up.  You mentioned inappropriate touching.
McCormick Templeman: Um… I don’t know. I make stuff up. So let’s just say yes. Yes there are.
Kat Kennedy: Not really, I hate conditioning my hair.
McCormick Templeman: I don’t know how to condition my hair.
Stephanie Sinclair: Well, make love, not war, right?
McCormick Templeman: It also feels like the 70s.
Kat Kennedy: Yeah, if it doesn’t feel like instagram, the kiddies won’t buy it.  They don’t know how to look at pictures without filters anymore.
conditioner is stupid. So is shampoo.
McCormick Templeman: How old are you guys? You’re really young, aren’t you?  Like, do you remember the 70s at all?
Kat Kennedy: I’m 21.  Steph is 15.
Stephanie Sinclair: Yup, that is totally my real age.  I get carded and everything.
Kat Kennedy: And with two kids already? Steph, you’re not setting a good example here.
McCormick Templeman: Well I can’t tell if you’re joking or not because so many people in YA are like 12.
Stephanie Sinclair: Young Adult is such a broad term, don’t you think?
McCormick Templeman: I seriously just forgot about conditioner, and then I grew out my hair and now I have this weird snarl and I’m confused.
Kat Kennedy: If you want, McCormick, I could lovingly brush out your hair!
McCormick Templeman: Oh please do.  But I was in the 70s for 3 years and it was horrifying.
Kat Kennedy: I can only imagine!
Stephanie Sinclair: Only 3 years? Time travel with the Doctor?!
McCormick Templeman: Oh, I guess it was 4. The last 4, but it was all shag carpet and weird mustaches, and brown wallpaper and it was super gross.
Kat Kennedy: I’m pretty sure we still had all that in the 80′s here in Australia. *Shudders*
Anyway ONTO THE THIRD COVER!
Now, a little bit of an explanation here – kissing covers are ALL the rage.
McCormick Templeman: What’s kissing?

Image by: My World is Electric

Stephanie Sinclair: This way you hit the NA and YA audience.
Kat Kennedy: Well you see, McCormick, when a mommy/daddy loves a mommy/daddy they put their lips together…
McCormick Templeman: I like how it looks like God is coming out of his nose.
Kat Kennedy: This kiss is SO GOOD that god is coming out of his nose.
McCormick Templeman: That way we can try to hit the religious market as well.
Stephanie Sinclair: I’m not sure what this cover has to do with a Glass Casket, but… i think I like it!
Kat Kennedy: Well, it doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with your book.
BUT it has kissing. People will buy it anyway.
Don’t you see the brilliance?
McCormick Templeman: I do too. It’s like steamy rain sex in the 20s.
Kat Kennedy: Steamy rain sex is the best.
McCormick Templeman: Which… I’m doing my first pass pages now. Maybe I should just change everything to match this cover.
Kat Kennedy: Oh! Yes! Please do!
Stephanie Sinclair: Maybe we can pretend the rain is making a glass casket?
Kat Kennedy: Steph… that doesn’t even make sense.
Stephanie Sinclair: Who said it had to make sense?
McCormick Templeman: Ooh, and there’s a hint of twinkling chest hair.
Kat Kennedy: I added extra sparkle to the chest hair.
Okay, maybe we should go ahead and show the cover to all the folks watching at home.
McCormick Templeman: Or maybe it’s raining glass and it’s the backstory of a dystopian. And then the glass rains came and everyone died except for me and my pet robot wombat…
Stephanie Sinclair: YES!
Kat Kennedy: I want a pet Wombat!
Stephanie Sinclair: See, Kat. McCormick sees my vision perfectly.
McCormick Templeman: Like these are the last few seconds of the good years.
Kat Kennedy: Although, disclaimer, robot wombats make horrible pets.
McCormick Templeman: Wombats are pretty cute. Steph, did you say you had kids?
Because Diary of A Wombat is an excellent book. I think that’s why I’m talking about wombats.
Wombats on the brain.
Which is actually a new kind of STD. Don’t try this at home, kids!
Stephanie Sinclair: Excellent. Just when I was thinking our family just wouldn’t be complete without a robot wombat in our life.
Kat Kennedy: Okay, let’s look at this cover!
McCormick Templeman: K. I’ll shut it.

Kat Kennedy: I love the nail polish and the lips.
And also that she’s not dead.
Dead girls on covers make me cry.
Stephanie Sinclair: I love the hand placement too.
Very mysterious.
McCormick Templeman: The cover totally blew me away. When they showed it to me, I couldn’t stop staring at it.
Kat Kennedy: It’s textured and lovely. I just want to look at it all day.
Then I want to tell it to get on my shelf already!
I have to say, the font is gorgeous.
McCormick Templeman: Thank you so much. I can’t take any credit for it. It was designed by Angela Carlino, and the cover art is by Leslie Ann O’Dell. It’s crazy to me that people can to this.
Oh! And I’ve seen a proof of the final jacket, and the letters look like they’re carved into glass. You can pet them. It’s so cool.
Kat Kennedy: That is so awesome!
Stephanie Sinclair: Did you have any input on the cover at all?
McCormick Templeman: My editor showed it to me in November and asked if I was into it, and I freaked out. I believe my response was, “I want to lick it!” And then they just did everything.
Kat Kennedy: Hahaha!  That’s the best kind of response!
Stephanie Sinclair: An appropriate response.
Kat Kennedy: What was the process like getting your cover?
Did you just sit back and receive it with adulation?
or were there a series of proofs?
McCormick Templeman: I didn’t see anything after that until the final proofs, but I made it clear that I was excited about the design and I also knew that my input would probably mess it up. Like, I could never ever come up with something this cool.  So yeah, just lots of clapping from me.
Kat Kennedy: I feel like I would be the same.
McCormick Templeman: No, but even though your covers are jokey, you clearly have an eye.
Kat Kennedy: Like if someone were designing a cover for me, my input would make it worse.
Stephanie Sinclair: I doubt that, Kat.
McCormick Templeman: Yeah, I think authors who are visual can add stuff. Like, wasn’t Jay Kristoff (bless his soul for the introduction to you lovelies) pretty involved in the process?
Kat Kennedy: Yeah, but he seems to be really into design stuff.
Like an unusual case of being freakishly capable in these things.
McCormick Templeman: Totally. Yeah, Jay’s a talented freak.
Kat Kennedy: Or just a freak…
Now, that your cover is out, the count down is on to release day. Are you nervous this time around or are you more relaxed about it?
McCormick Templeman: I have no idea. I’m dissociating. I’m just starting revisions on my third book, so that should keep me occupied. I am super shy, so I can get way too nervous. I need to stay focused on other thing.
Kat Kennedy: Wow! Revisions on the third book?  Amazing!
Stephanie Sinclair: Third book already?  I’m just imagining Jay’s face as he reads this chat. *Grin*
McCormick Templeman: Btw, have you had a look at Kinslayer yet? Am I allowed to talk about other people’s books?
Kat Kennedy: Oh yeah sure. We did the cover reveal for Kinslayer a few weeks ago.  Amazing, right?
McCormick Templeman: No, I know. I totally saw that. I meant the insides? Because I got to see an early version, and I can’t even. It’s CRAZY GOOD.
Kat Kennedy: Oh, jelly!  God, I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
McCormick Templeman: Oh, and third book. It’s not actually fast because everything’s so slow. It just seems fast to the outside world.
It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever read, and I haven’t even read the final version yet. Society is gonna lose its shit. It’s going to crumble. He’s going to destroy society.
Kat Kennedy: Tell me about your novel though, too okay.  Cause I’m super curious!
The synopsis is a bit vague.
McCormick Templeman: Hmm. It’s kind of tricksy. I’m not sure what’s a spoiler. Okay, I’m going to try. Just a second.
Kat Kennedy: *Holds onto special bits in excitement*
McCormick Templeman: Well, it’s about a pair of best friends (a boy and a girl) who live a quiet life in this remote fairy tale village. Two things happen at the beginning of the book that catalyze a lot of crazy shit. 1. A group of soldiers are found slaughtered up on this mountain pass, and no one can figure out what happened to them, but the girl gets caught up in trying to find out, and 2. A beautiful girl with black hair and ruby red lips comes to town, and the boy falls in love with her. The two events are not related, but they intersect in a crazy way, and eventually all hell breaks loose and bodies start piling up, and there’s romance too, but it’s kind of complicated because of some things I can’t say. By the way, this is literally the first time I’ve done this. I might be totally messing something up.
Kat Kennedy: Awesome!  Okay, I super duper want to read your book!  What would you say your protagonist is like?
McCormick Templeman: My main protagonist is named Rowan, and she’s kind of quiet and scholarly. She spends a lot of time translating ancient texts. She has a taste for adventure, and wants to get out of her village and see the world, but that’s kind of difficult for a female in this society. Like, she can’t ever marry, or she’s basically trapped. Tom is kind of the opposite. He’s pretty solid and simple he loves the village and never wants to leave. He gets involved with the newcomer to the village and gets swept up in some stuff he’s not ready to deal with.
Kat Kennedy: Quiet and scholarly, like you?
McCormick Templeman: Um… no. She’s way more composed than I am. She’s someone I’d be friends with, though. She’s a cool cat.
Kat Kennedy: I was kidding
McCormick Templeman: Burn!
Kat Kennedy: Well, thank you so much for coming and chatting with us today, McCormick!  We loved having you and looking at your beautiful cover!
McCormick Templeman: Thank you guys so much for having me. I loved all the covers you made. Thanks so much for taking the time to deal with all my crazy and to make those for me!
Stephanie Sinclair: Bye! Thanks for chatting!!
Kat Kennedy: We loved it!
McCormick Templeman: Bye! Thank you!

About McCormick Templeman

McCormick Templeman has a BA in English Literature from Reed College and an MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University. The Glass Casket is her second book for young readers. She lives and writes in California.

To find out more, check out the links below!
Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

Goodreads | BookDepository | Indiebound

Death hasn’t visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and their riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders’ bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal.

Rowan’s village was once a tranquil place, but now things have changed. Something has followed the path those riders made and has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. Beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan’s door once again.

Only this time, its appetite is insatiable.

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