The cover art of Barry’s Cherries is an illustration by John Cox of Cox and Forkum. I met John and Allen Forkum at BlogNashville last year. I’ve been a fan of their work for years. I especially love the precision of their images. At BlogNashville, John had told me he’d be interested in doing some rock ‘n’ roll art for my zine. Unfortunately, no project really presented itself, but I kept this in mind and asked him earlier this year about doing the art for Barry’s Cherries.

I sent John the manuscript and we had a couple of great, long conversations about the book and its themes and what I was doing with it. John quickly came up with the cover concept. I loved it immediately and he set to work creating the full color version. I’m extremely pleased with the outcome. It’s similar to what I had originally envisioned as a cover image but it’s also something entirely fresh.

A larger version of the cover art appears below.