I love the cover for my upcoming release Documenting Light.

For me, it embodies so much of what the book is about. The central photograph is a tintype taken by artist Nathan Pearce. The border is actually the backing from a cabinet card, another common 19th century photograph type. This references both the actual 19th century photograph that the main characters’ discover but also some of the main themes of the book. Historical photography is important to this project in that it is ephemera, which embodies a person for a single moment in time.  They are a documentation of intimacy between the people being photographed, the photographed and the photographer, and the photographed and the viewer. They are also fragile, easily lost, damaged or misidentified. In this way, they can stand in for queer or trans history itself both intimate in the way it connects us to the past but too often fragmented, lost and erased.

Obviously also the central photograph itself is amazing. Pearce did a whole set of photographs with these models and they are all tender, beautiful and vulnerable. I really hope we can share more of them. This beautiful sweetness really expresses Greyson and Wyatt’s struggle to trust and be emotionally vulnerable with each other and themselves through the book.

I could talk forever about this cover but suffice it to say I love how it turned out and I can not wait for the book to finally be released.