Behind R Lawson’s Cover Art
I enjoyed working on the cover art for my novels. Sometimes the theme is conveyed, but in other instances I intentionally left it somewhat misleading.
The cover of the first novel Cabo Caper suggests a tranquil beach scene, right? But it’s really a modern spy story that takes a sinister twist. Biff Roberts, a CIA operative and the protagonist of the series, is on vacation in Mexico when he discovers bio-terrorism plot planned against the United States. A race against time to thwart the imminent threat ensues.
The cover of Killing Time depicts the binary code with a default sign accurately signalling the theme- cyber warfare. The story revolves around the successful collaboration of the CIA and Mossad to infiltrate the command and control systems of Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz with the goal of setting back their uranium enrichment program. The title is a double entendre – Iran is stalling, while the counter terrorism units are killing their ambitions with ingenuous targeted malware…
Tehran’s Freedom Memorial ’79 is on the cover of Retribution, the third novel in the series. The story takes place in the Iranian capital and involves a targeted assassination and extraction of an embedded CIA double agent. The story gives an insight into the regime’s repression of “freedom” pitted against a young, educated population eager for modern western lifestyles. The Freedom Memorial is now an anachronism to the disaffected 30 year olds who make up about two-thirds of Iran’s population.
The fourth novel, Existential Threats shows on its cover a Predator drone, the CIA’s “air force” in the fight against radical Islamic jihadists. Modern technology aids the pursuit of the extremists, including the homegrown variety. The drone is a valuable asset in this war as technology advances the counter terrorism effort.
My latest novel’s cover shows the Korean peninsula with the universal nuclear warning sign in the background. The Carrington Prophecy is about a rogue nation’s threat to explode a nuclear device above the stratosphere of the USA triggering a EMP force strong enough to shut down all electronics launching us into a vulnerable “Dark Age.” It is a scary, but conceivable proposition. How will Biff Roberts and the CIA handle this threat?
All of the novels in the series explore the role of modern spy craft assets such as drones, cyber hacking, and newer spy tools. My goal is for the stories to not only entertain, but educate the reader. I hope that you’ll learn something new in every novel as you follow Biff across the globe.
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