History of Jur

The Jur novels came about during slow night shifts in France. Around 1965 I was a squad leader for a bunch of Army MPs in Southern France. At night, while working the desk and my patrols were keeping law and order, to pass the time I created plots and characters attempting to write fiction. Nothing became of my interest in writing until 1970, after a tour in the jungle of Vietnam, and those plots came back to me. I wrote the first two novels during that year, and sent the first to publishers. Basically, my main characters were an Army Green Beret and a French archaeologist, who accidentally fall through a time tunnel to the Jurassic Period. When the first novel didn’t go anywhere I set the manuscripts aside. James Reasoner suggested I change the Green Beret and set the beginning after the Stock Market Crash of ’29. The rest is history. The sequence of the novels are: “Jur: A Story of Pre Dawn Earth”, “Savage Land of Jur”, “Lost Land of Jur”, “Queen of Jur”, “Treasure of Jur”, and “Drums of Jur”. "Pangaea: Eden's Planet" actually takes place in the Permian Period, prior to the Jurassic, but it is the story that truly begins the JUR series.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Cover Survey

I have a question for folks who follow my Blog and writing. Looking at the four covers at the top of the Blog, and if you only had enough money for one of the books, which book would you buy based on the covers? I would love to read your comments. It's important to pass on to the publishers.
Tom Johnson
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

11 comments:

  1. Tom JohnsonMay 26, 2014 at 6:13 AM

    (From Matthew King): “Treasure of Jur”. Sold in a bookstore you only see the spine. The solid black spine, I assume it has, will stand out from the rest of the books on the shelf. Further, if sold online, normally when viewing online "pages" of books, the thumbnails for most of the books are roughly about 1 inch squared in size. That picture is the only one that will stand out when shrunk to that size, especially against the white background of most browsers at online bookstores (amazon, target, walmart, etc). Frankly Tom, it doesn't matter how intricate your artwork is (Id say “Savage Land of Jur” is by far the best), if no one will see it when it's one of a hundred books on a shelf or on a webpage. Go with the one that stands out from the rest. More people will notice it, and therefore buy it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom JohnsonMay 26, 2014 at 7:04 AM

    (From Van Reid): I like the fourth one with the saber tooth’s head against a black background best.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tom JohnsonMay 26, 2014 at 7:15 AM

    (From Jonathan G. Jensen): Tom, I like the Treasure cover with the tiger, best. FWIW. Jonathan.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tom JohnsonMay 26, 2014 at 7:19 AM

    (From James J. Cassara): I lean towards the fourth, with the first one my next choice. Neither of the two middle ones are visually striking enough.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tom JohnsonMay 26, 2014 at 11:16 AM

    (From Glen Davis) I'd buy the one with the smilodon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tom JohnsonMay 26, 2014 at 3:38 PM

    (From Mark Halequa) I like the fourth one with the Sabretooth.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tom JohnsonMay 27, 2014 at 5:42 AM

    (From Gail McAbee) I'd buy Eden's Planet first. The two in the middle have my pet peeves: helpless, busty women waiting for guys to save them. :-) As for Treasure, love the tiger but it needs to be more saber-toothy to fit the time frame. My two cents.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tom JohnsonMay 27, 2014 at 5:43 AM

    (From Monte Herridge) I like the tiger’s head cover for “Treasure of Jur” the best. The pterodactyl cover is too cartoonish for me; it needs a little more realism (or something like a Krenkel or Frazetta cover have).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tom JohnsonMay 27, 2014 at 5:44 AM

    (From John French) Looking at the four covers I'd buy Eden's Planet. It looks the best. The second and third covers look a bit like comic book covers and the fourth, while visually very good, doesn't tell me much about the book. Hopes this helps

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tom JohnsonMay 27, 2014 at 5:59 AM

    (From Ellen Thomasson) I like the Savage Land of Jur. That creature reminds me of my city's legendary Piasa Bird.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Tom JohnsonJune 4, 2014 at 4:50 AM

    (From JoAnn Senger) I liked the First Realm cover for Pangea. Never did like scantily clad maidens screaming in fear. Dark and threatening grabs me, though.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)