Getting ahead of myself?

I asked Mike Corley if he would do the cover to The Last Fedora: The Gangster Golem Chronicles, and he agreed to do it.  Which is kind of him, considering he has a brand new baby. 

Since I haven't even offered this book to a publisher yet, I might be getting ahead of myself a little.  (The publisher is responsible for the cover, usually.)  But I just want this book ready to go, ready to be put into an available slot.  I'm doing it on my own dime, which is probably crazy.

I really like this book.  It has a lot of heart, I liked all the characters in it, the bad guys as well as the good guys and the good guys as well as the bad guys.  (Since it sometimes harder to write interesting good guys than interesting bad guys.)

I feel like it's different, quirkier, than anything else I've read.  I know there is probably other supernatural noir out there -- of course there is -- but this feels a little different.  Not sure there are many Golem books out there.

It's been done for some time now, and I've been sitting on it trying to decide what to do with it.  As I said, I really like it and I want to find it the right home.

Interestingly, I had a cover in mind:  A fedora in the middle of a puddle of blood.  I almost suggested it to Mike, but then thought, No, Let him come up with the cover.  He's the professional.

He came back with the idea of a stone fedora in the middle of blood.

So great minds think alike.  He finessed my idea by having the fedora be made of clay or stone but more or less the same idea.

Thing is, even if the basic idea is similar, I know Mike will pick the right font, and size, and design, and I bet it will look very cool.

This book is coming out one way or another.  Like I said, I'm very, very proud of it.