Covers for Mike Mason's "The Furniture Of Heaven"

Years back, Mike Mason and I collaborated to turn his short story collection "The Furniture Of Heaven" into a story theatre piece for Pacific Theatre. Now, in connection with the launch of his new website and the October release of his new novel, "The Blue Umbrella," the short story collection is being reissued, and Mike wanted to feature one of my photos on the cover! Here are the ones we considered, mocked up by another pal from our writers group, Tim Anderson.

The first of the images was taken in my back yard a couple years ago. It's the one Mike gravitated to right away, and remained his choice once all the others had been considered...

This next one is probably too dark (and peculiar!) to fit the tone of Mike's book, but it was fun to consider. I took it about midnight, driving home from writers group at Mike's place, about half a mile from the real Five Corners in Langley, which he reinvented to become the setting of "The Blue Umbrella," complete with Porter's Store. I took the shot with the camera I bought from Luci Shaw, also a member of our writers group, so this was a strong personal favourite for me, for all sorts of reasons completely irrelevant to the book itself...


Very early morning in the snow, April Fool's Day, Cox Bay, Vancouver Island. Fits the contemplative feel of Mike's work, but probably lacks the whimsy...

I also loved the connections with the angel wing photo, taken last fall beside The Cathedral Of St. John The Divine in New York. Which was Madeleine L'Engle's church, a nice literary fit with the fantasy qualities of Mike's fiction writing, and a little nod to her lifelong friendship with Luci...


This one's too "postcardy" to fit with Mike's book, but I'm quite partial to the image. It was taken at my buddy's cabin on Bowen Island...

The sky/building/umbrella shot looked cool on my computer, and evoked stuff about heaven (and umbrellas) (which are furniture, right?), but once it put in the context of the cover it looked too corporate. I guess that's what comes of shooting pictures while lying in a chaise lounge beside a pool at the Orlando Marriott (I was there for the CITA conference this June)...


A chance photo of the sky over Steveston and the unlit lamp might almost have been my first choice for the book cover, though it might be too sparse for the purpose...

The floor at Pacific Theatre, during a lighting hang for A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. A bit dreary to sell books, perhaps, but it ends up being all allegorical and everything in this context. And I like the way the text fits with the image...

And a wonderfully eerie picture from the set of REMNANTS: A FABLE. Again, I like the way Tim has placed the title...