There’s a lot of playful mystery in “Dawn at Last” – six main interweaving characters.
It’s taken a lot of time and effort, but it was worth it.
Over the past month or so I’ve made some changes to my novel, previously published as Sunni Knows, but renamed Dawn at Last. By the way, did you know that apparently The Great Gatsby was once titled Trimalchio in West Egg . . . yes, books do go through title changes.
The content is mostly the same, with a little refining of the first chapter and a little addition to the ending. It seems that while my fans loved the book, for many the original ending felt unresolved. It took a lot resolve to fix that, but I’m glad I did – the ending is now more exquisite . . . at last.
You can see the new cover over to the right side – if you click on it, you will be taken to the Amazon page of Dawn at Last. I don’t mind saying that it’s fantastic and really goes with the tone of the book. A huge thank you goes out to Sandra Parlow, a wonderful lady and an excellent photographer. She allowed me to use some of her photography – the basis for the imagery on the cover – you can easily find her amazing work on Google+.
I’d also like to thank an anonymous friend for her musings and guidance throughout this process, the extent of which could fill an entirely different book!
Finally, it will about a week before Amazon has the “Look Inside” feature working – after that you can read the first 10% of the book for free. That should take you about half way through Chapter 3 – The Grape Squishing, although that’s a bit of a tease because by the end of that chapter things start getting a little juicy.
In the meantime, if want to get a feel for the book, I’ve posted first chapter on my Facebook Notes, and here’s the link to that: Chapter 1 – The Ending Begins .
lawrence grodecki 
I love the new cover Lawrence! I’m going to update the copy on my kindle now.
Thanks Jo. I don’t think you can do that, but I’ll send you a gift copy of “Dawn at Last” right away. 🙂
Thank you! Downloaded, tweeted and facebooked it – I’m going to get stuck right in and see what you’ve done – cool! 😀
You really are too kind, and thanks so much for all your support!
I’m chuffed. Sunni Knows is my next book to review on my PILE (it’s alive I think), so I’m really happy to have the new cover to post. You really are an amazing artist as well as author. 🙂
Ha! Your funny. You know, I really don’t handle compliments well, but in your case I’m making an exception, given the big smile on my face. It’s there even though you’ve put me to work today . . . I have go and ask Mr. Google what this word “chuffed” is all about!
By the way, since you are honoring the book with a review, the only real changes are in Chapter One and the last chapter . . . so just the beginning and the end! lol 🙂
Chuffed means happy – ha haaaa! Thanks for that Lawrence – I’ll reread those chapters – although I must say, I really liked book one, so this will be interesting to see how you’ve changed it. 🙂
Ha! You’re quicker than me and Mr. Google! In chapter one, it’s not the coffee that gets a little sweeter, it’s Donna. As for the ending, well, you’ll see.
FYI, I am leaning towards doing a sequel, but to be honest I’m more nervous about that than I was in writing this first book. Perhaps part of that is because it seems the author can only do so much to protect some of those innocent characters – I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one(s) are worthy of that label (innocent).
Awesome, Lawrence! I love the new cover too. You designed it yourself, did you? Way to go, buddy!
Hi Christy! Thanks a bunch. Yes, I did the design myself in the end, though I spent a lot of time looking at different designers, thinking it would be better to farm it out. Then in one of those “aha” moments I went back on to google+ to look again at some photography. There is one local photographer on there who does some amazing work. We got together and Sandra was so helpful in letting me use some of her pictures.
The cover is actually based on one picture of tulips and two prairie landscapes right from here, Brandon area, so that’s all kind of nice given how I’ve been here so many years, and sold so many millions of tulips over the years – perhaps my favorite flower, though I’m not big on picking favorites!
I wish covers weren’t so darn important, but given that they are, I couldn’t be happier with this one. I spent countless hours trying different things but when I finally got to using Sandra’s pictures it all came together in half an hour and then a few more hours of “fine tuning”.
Thanks again, and all the best!
Great to hear the story behind the cover, Lawrence! I’m glad you feel everything fell into place. I plan to read it soon!
Thanks Christy.