T.C. Boyle is as talented a writer as many of publishing’s biggest stars, yet this kind of large commercial fame has eluded him. The packaging needed to make this collection of short stories as “big looking” and impressive as possible. I was asked to use a photo of the author on the cover, which I did not feel would help sell the book or make a good cover. I talked the powers that be into an elegant all-type treatment for the front cover that has a simple, yet bold quality and used a full-bleed portrait of Boyle on the back, which presented him as an important author but in a much more confident and tactful manner.