Morrison’s approach is exactly right, and one I subscribe to myself. The stories I write are certainly not the only sorts of stories I want to read (I read very widely), but I think a writer will do his or her best work when writing first to please his or her reader-self.

SOUVENIR’s French cover is compelling, isn’t it? I wish I could take some of that credit, but no. The regular trade edition comes out there in November (the edition you see here is the one put out by France Loisirs, a book-buying club who bought rights to do a preview, or Avant-Premiere, edition), and I don’t know yet whether my French trade publisher is using the same cover–but I hope so.

And I’ve just noticed that one of my German covers isn’t here..I’ll work on that. But at any rate, their title originates in one of the book’s passages, a diary entry by the protagonist’s mother. Each publisher is free to change/choose a title that they feel best fits their marketplace. Sometimes they exercise that right, sometimes not. It’s all such an adventure. =]