Cover-art request

[Ralphkern1980]

Hello all,

I've written a novel, that covers the first exploration of another star-system (Tau Ceti to be precise) and beyond. It was originally self-published but it has recently been picked up by a publisher to take over on all general formats (e-book, hard/paper back and audio-book).

The publishers have put together some cover-art which is... not what I envisaged. They seem to want to go down the Battlestar Galactica/Star Trek route with the design of a ship for the cover. In my book, I have tried to keep things as realistic as possible so this jars somewhat.

I have used my veto on the cover-art to say "no" to what they have suggested. They have asked me to have a look around for what would satisfy me and I stumbled on this forum which seems to have lots of really talented people on it, who all consider engineering authenticity important.

This is the scene in which the ship is described via the tried and tested Sci-Fi staple of an info dump-

Only Endeavour’s designers would ever consider her beautiful but, nevertheless, she had certain attractiveness to her. The central spine, over a kilometre long, was studded with instruments and antennae. The four landers were mated nose-first into the spine near the bow. Each of them looked like the old Apollo command and service module, but on a much larger scale. At the front, the maw of the ram scoop was situated to be able to greedily consume the ethereal traces of hydrogen in space. To the rear sat the mighty plasma engine that was capable of accelerating the ship to ever-increasing velocities. The thin centrifuge ring circled the spine at the half way point, connected to it by the thin trusses. This was where the crew of twelve would be spending most of their time. Dotted within were the labs and crew quarters and the other facilities necessary for the ship to function and keep its occupants alive.

Basically, I'm wondering: Do any of you have any stock images or designs that may look similar. They need to be of sufficiently high quality that they wiould hold true on a book sized cover. Also the design will likely be superimposed over some more stock art background, so if it can be manipulated to enable that to happen even better. Generally the feel has to be USS Discovery from 2001 or the Rockhopper from the cover of Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds.... basically like something that would be built in the not too distant future.

I apologize if I have breached any forum rules. I am not advertizing the book, however if anyone decides to take it up on a commission format or wants a little more context in order to see what they can do, please get in touch.

An added incentive is that the person who will be re-editing the book is a very well respected author in the genre. Without sounding cagey, I can't say who that is right now - but for many of those who read hard Sci Fi, you may know the name and have read his stuff. This would be an opportunity to work with him, albeit at a step removed and further-on, the sequel is nearing the end of the first draft so there may be other opportunities down the line.

Thankyou

[Nahim]

well i guess it isn't totally off topic since is your first time posting at the foruns...

Man, this project of your remind me something like Interstellar MOd.

Well... Let's put some thinking on it.

Seems that your book is some sort of Sci-Fi Soft about space exploration...

Is the travel FTL or NLT ? (Faster than light, Near Light Travel)

The trusters got a hidrogen-based power source, interesting, i guess the construction took years in orbit, then the main hull is fueled and the modules added like a giant space station. Or maybe the entire strut was assembled with the help of a base in an captured orbital asteroid.

this thread should be moved to the Sci issues Off topic discussions. There you will find the kind of people good in assemble some "engineeric" solutions for your dilemmas! If you catch the pun

How did the crew will survive the (decades?) Of voy"agening"? Did they will bring tons of water/food in the ship manifest? Or did the crew will be maintained in suspended-animation stasis? All these details will influence the lenght/form of your vessel!

I hope i could be of any help!

[Ralphkern1980]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the misunderstanding Nahim, I don't need help with the design. That is nailed down.

In answer to your points though, by the time it is launched it there is already an extensive space infrastructure so it is constructed in orbit. (therefore it doesn't have to be limited to components that can be lifted by conventional launchers).

The means of interstellar travel is a 'Star gate' style affair. (Actually a massive quantum teleporter/scanner in the vein of the Danube Experiments) that breaks down the subject and then sends the information to its 'entangled' (bonded) mate that was sent the slow way. This still limits the ship to light speed travel due to a problem called decoherrance. (The information can be sent instantly, but it needs to be rectified by a carrier laser to actually make sense of it at the other end). Subjective travel time is instantaneous. Objective travel time is proportionate to the distance - which in this case is the full 12 years. Later, when the ship returns from a second mission it is retrofitted with what is called an Alcubierre drive (warp drive based on Miguel Alcubierre's thought experiments) however that is still limited to around a .5 Cee so the Gateways are the primary means of interstellar travel. The Bussard Ram Scoop is 'merely' there for interplanetary travel before that retrofit occurs and would follow the electromagnetic scoop model (ie. no big 'funnel').

The time-line of the book takes us from the ship first departing in 2118, returns by 2143. It is dispatched on a second mission in 2148 and returns in 2189. It is subject to an extensive retrofit (the space frame is only a few years old at this point but the technology is very out of date) and is dispatched again in 2191. The ship was originally intended to return around 2270 but due to plot reasons, it wouldn't return until around 2328.

Food and storage is, without sounding cavalier about it...not as much as an issue as implied. The design should be capable of extended cruises, but it is not actually used in that mode. If it were to be, I would envisage extra storage called be 'bolted' onto the spinal section.