Eye-catching, clean, un-clichéd cover for first book in 1980s archaeological crime/mystery series

Die Ersten

Barry & Dana Stiller

Dana Stiller studierte Ägyptologie und Frühgeschichte, sowie die Archäologie Mesoamerikas und Keltische Sprachen. Anschließend folgte ein Studium der Mathematik und der Englischen Sprache. Barry Stiller ist Journalist und arbeitete nach der Zeit bei einem privaten Fernsehsender als Redakteur für große Publikumszeitschriften in München. Danach schrieb er für ein bekanntes Musikermagazin. Ende der 90er Jahre folgte ein Studium der Ur- und Frühgeschichte und mesoamerikanischer Archäologie. Romane von Stiller & Stiller: INFORMIUM – Tödliches Experiment GREEN MAMBA – Schatten des Todes Besuchen Sie die Webseite www.stillerstiller.com für Lesetipps, Literaturhinweise, Hintergrundinformationen, detaillierte Karten, Leseproben und anderes Material zu den Romanen von Stiller & Stiller. Die Autoren freuen sich über Nachrichten ihrer Leser über das Kontaktformular auf der Internetseite oder per Email an info@stillerstiller.com. -------------------- (Author Biography in English FYI: Dana Stiller studied Egyptology and Prehistorical Archaeology, Mesoamerican Archeology and Celtic Languages. Afterwards she took a degree in Mathematics and English Philology. Barry Stiller is a journalist. He worked for a German private television station for several years, before he started writing for major computer and music consumer magazines. In the late nineties he took up studies of Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology and Mesoamerican Archaeology. Novels by Stiller & Stiller: INFORMIUM GREEN MAMBA Check out the authors' web site, www.stillerstiller.com, for book recommendations, refrences, background information, high-resolution maps, excerpts and additional material on Stiller & Stiller's novels. The authors appreciate readers sending them messages from their web site, or e-mails to info@stillerstiller.com.)

Die Ersten (Title in English FYI: "The First Ones") Ein Fall für Peter Conrad (Series tagline in English FYI: "A Peter Conrad Novel") The series "Ein Fall für Peter Conrad" is a novel series of archaeological mysteries. The series is set in the 1980s. This setting plays a role throughout the series, e.g. there are no mobile phones, there is no internet, political situation and historical events are part of the general ambience. The main character is Peter Conrad, a German anthropologist and archaeologist. On his explorations he investigates murders, conspiracies, and other kinds of strange goings-on. Every book of the series focuses on a different historical culture. The first book is about the Vikings and the issue of the first settlers of the American continents. Later books of the series will cover e.g. the Mayan, Ancient Egyptian, Mongolian... culture. The books are written in the classical style of whodunnits. Finding clues and investigating are the important story elements. Although violence and crime scenes are described, and there are some scary scenes, the books are NOT about gory details or horror.

Readers: Age 16+

Although the storyline of the series is related to ancient cultures, we're looking for a CONTEMPORARY, FLAT and GRAPHICAL look. This should be reflected in the Typography for the title. As were planning more books of these series, the typographical elements should form the unifying basis of all the covers so that only titles need to be changed. Cover design should be clearly structured and easily recognizable as it should serve as a "template" for the entire series. It should be created in a way that changing the background color and replacing some story-related elements works to make next novel's cover. As mentioned above, this first novel is about the Vikings and the issue of the first settlers of the American continents. Later books of the series will cover e.g. the Mayan, Ancient Egyptian, Mongolian... culture. We attached some design examples (see coverexample-1-4) to give an idea of what we like. Additionally, we have attached some impressions about Viking culture and the location ( see DieErsten_impressions.pdf)

- Designs without Stockphotos are preferred - Allusions to the Fantasy genre - Allusions to romance - Kitsch - Covers evoking ideas of adventures in exotic places - Viking / Medieval ... fonts - We don't want you to use photographs of people or detailed drawings. This does not mean we won't accept abstractions like e.g. silhouettes etc.