http://www.mattroeser.com Matt Roeser Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:05:31 +0000 http://www.mattroeser.com en http://mattroeser.com/World-War-Z http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/World-War-Z Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:05:31 +0000 Matt Roeser 2367235 <img src="http://payload3.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2367235/Zombie-Roeser_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload3.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2367235/Zombie-Roeser_o.jpg" align="left" /> World War Z by Max Brooks Unlike any horror book I've read before, World War Z is eerily realistic. Positioned as an oral history of the zombie war, the book is made up of short interviews with various people from around the world as they recount their experiences to the author. It's an awesome book which I highly recommend. For my cover, I've got the zombie hoard approaching from the top, while the humans below run for their lives. http://mattroeser.com/Heat-Rises http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Heat-Rises Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:05:16 +0000 Matt Roeser 2268948 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2268948/Roeser-Heat_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2268948/Roeser-Heat_o.jpg" align="left" /> Heat Rises by Richard Castle ABC Hyperion Castle is a TV show on ABC about a mystery writer who works with the police to help solve crimes (while getting future plots for his next book). I was contacted by Hyperion to create faux covers for the latest book written released by "Richard Castle" called Heat Rises. http://mattroeser.com/The-Future-of-Us http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/The-Future-of-Us Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:42:43 +0000 Matt Roeser 2268821 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2268821/Roeser-Future-up_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2268821/Roeser-Future-up_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2268821/Roeser-Future-down_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2268821/Roeser-Future-down_o.jpg" align="left" /> The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler Razorbill - Unused Concept It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been friends their whole lives. Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail and they decide to install it. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future. By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. For my concept, I played with the iconic Facebook thumbs up "Like" symbol. Because Josh and Emma have different reactions and opinions of their future selves, I thought it might be fun to print a run of covers that have the thumbs up and some that have the thumbs down. http://mattroeser.com/From-the-Mixed-Up-Files http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/From-the-Mixed-Up-Files Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:20:35 +0000 Matt Roeser 2239322 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2239322/Roeser-MixedUpFiles_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2239322/Roeser-MixedUpFiles_o.jpg" align="left" /> From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg One of my favorite books growing up, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is the reason I still want to run away and live in a museum to this day. If you haven’t read this book, stop reading this and go get it. My cover portrays the funky (and mixed-up) files of Lady Basil, combining my other love of card catalogs into some sort of dream cabinet that has various drawers of various sizes. http://mattroeser.com/Touch http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Touch Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:45:40 +0000 Matt Roeser 2163834 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2163834/Roeser-Touch-1_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2163834/Roeser-Touch-1_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2163834/Roeser-Touch-2_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2163834/Roeser-Touch-2_o.jpg" align="left" /> Touch by Alexi Zentner WW Norton - Unused Concepts Touch is the amazing debut from author Alexi Zentner. As a man returns home on the eve of his mother's death to the mysterious hometown his grandfather helped found, we experience the tall tales of his family's history. Fans of Big Fish and just about anyone else will love this book. Go read it now. Here are two concepts that ultimately didn't get used for the paperback printing of the book, both hinting at the isolation to be found in the long winters indoors as well as the mysterious power of memories (via the wispy smoke spilling out of the chimney) that, like the snow outside, tend to pile up larger than life. http://mattroeser.com/Lemistry http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Lemistry Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:19:52 +0000 Matt Roeser 2163741 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2163741/Roeser-Lemistry_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/2163741/Roeser-Lemistry_o.jpg" align="left" /> Lemistry: A Celebration of the Work of Stanislaw Lem Comma Press From computer games (The Sims was inspired by one of his short stories), to films (the red and blue pills of The Matrix owe much to his Futurological Congress); from the space comedies of Red Dwarf to the metaphysical satires of Douglas Adams… the presence of this masterly Polish writer can be traced far and wide. Because many of his stories focus on space, artificial intelligence and communication with others, I had a robot sending out a signal, which also served as the orbiting paths of various planets. http://mattroeser.com/Inherit-the-Earth-Beach http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Inherit-the-Earth-Beach Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:40:38 +0000 Matt Roeser 1831469 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1831469/mattroeser-beach_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="850" width_o="720" height_o="850" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1831469/mattroeser-beach_o.jpg" align="left" /> Inherit the Earth: Beach by Mauricio Bruce My friend Mauricio has been working on a series of young adult books for the past several years. He recently submitted the first book to Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award where it was chosen as one of 50 semifinalists from amongst 5000 entries. Regarding the novel, Mauricio writes, “After his father’s unforeseen death, fourteen year old Seth finds himself taking care of his younger sister and supporting his heartbroken mother at a remote beach house. When he starts having nightmares that threaten to take his life, and he finds his mysterious elderly neighbor dead, being the man of the house becomes a dangerous responsibility. Meanwhile, in a world beneath the waves, Maya and Stela, two shy, young, teenage girls are tasked with saving the fantastic underwater city of Maris from destruction. Yet all is not as it seems as they delve into a mystery set into motion centuries before by forces they’re only beginning to understand. When Seth’s sister vanishes and Maris’s last lights are drowned out, the children despair as the weight of their actions crashes down on them. As their paths converge, the children discover their missions are one and the same, and that no one is alone.” You can read the first 5,000 words of the novel and view some of his other stories here. Just as the challenges the main characters face parallel each other, I sought to parallel the two worlds where the story is shifting between (up on the beach and below in the water) for my cover design. The cover for book two, Jungle, is in the works. http://mattroeser.com/Machine-Man http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Machine-Man Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:34:58 +0000 Matt Roeser 1581250 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser2_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser2_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser3_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser3_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser4_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581250/machineman-roeser4_o.jpg" align="left" /> Machine Man by Max Barry Vintage Machine Man is the latest novel by Australian author Max Barry. In it, a scientist named Charlie is involved in an industrial accident. Having his leg replaced with a prosthetic, he starts to wonder, what else could be swapped out and improved? The final cover features Charlie with some of his new parts with little schematic details and notes around him. I've also put in a few other directions that were discarded. Machine Man will be in bookstores August 9. Max had these kinds words to say about working with me,"Matt Roeser is a genius and produced three distinct concepts for "Machine Man," each brilliant in their own way. He was highly responsive to feedback, both when we wanted him to change something specific and when we asked him to draw on his own creativity. Nothing would make me happier than getting to work with Matt on all future book covers. He's a true professional." http://mattroeser.com/Litmus http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Litmus Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:42:11 +0000 Matt Roeser 1581290 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581290/litmus-roeser_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="1050" width_o="720" height_o="1050" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1581290/litmus-roeser_o.jpg" align="left" /> Litmus: Short Stories From Modern Science Comma Press Litmus is a collection of short scientific essays detailing some of the most important "eureka!" moments in modern science. As there were over 25 authors and scientists that contributed to the plethora of stories, I didn't want one piece of science imagery to overshadow the others. As a result, I spread science-related icons across the front and back cover, with a gradient that harkens back to the color-changing litmus test paper the title brings to mind. http://mattroeser.com/Battle-Royale http://mattroeser.com/following/mattroeser.com/Battle-Royale Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:08:18 +0000 Matt Roeser 1527793 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1527793/battleroyale-coverroeser_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1527793/battleroyale-coverroeser_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1527793/battleroyale3_720.jpg" border="0" width="720" height="752" width_o="720" height_o="752" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/106402/1527793/battleroyale3_o.jpg" align="left" /> Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Battle Royale is a book that has been on my to-read list for quite a while. The basic gist of the story is that in the near future, Japan’s society is crumbling as their economy and job market are drying up. Because of this, students in Japan start neglecting school and treat their teachers and other adults with extreme disrespect. As a result, the Japanese government creates the Battle Royale Act. In order to restore fear into the students and get them to respect adults, each year a random classroom of students is chosen to compete to the death. Sent to a deserted island, they are each given a small bag of food, water and a random weapon. They have 3 days to compete and there can only be one remaining student. If there are more than 1 remaining after 3 days, all that remain are killed. Pretty grisly. If you’ve heard of the recently completed Hunger Games trilogy, those books pull heavily from the premise established in Battle Royale. Getting back to my cover, I wanted to do something clean and concise…so I gave a gruesome twist to the Japanese flag. My darker interpretation of the flag features a blood spatter in place of the normal simple red circle on white. An alternate cover adds in the class portrait of the students involved.