Once upon a time, I wrote a series called the Hythrun Chronicles that had a city named Greenharbour, with a tropical climate and large white palace and palm trees. It was a humid, muggy place and oh, did I mention it had lots and lots of palm trees?

So, I write a whole trilogy based around my palm-tree endowed city, and the publishers love it, and they buy it, and they commission a cover and I provide a lovingly detailed description to the artist (right down to what the figures are wearing in the foreground, not to mention the fountain described in the book) and a few months later I get back the most marvellous illustration with the perfect palace, a fabulous fountain and forecourt and lots and lots of lovely palm trees.

I approve the cover, rest content and move on, thrilled with the whole exercise.

And then one day, I get a parcel in the mail and there’s my shiny new Australian edition of Wolfblade in living colour… and not a single palm tree in sight.

They’re gone, replaced by heavy, dark, deciduous oaks and other decidedly non-tropical vegetation. The fountain has vanished and the forecourt of the palace now looks like an air-raid bunker.

On the phone to my editor I leap, shocked, horrified and more than a little miffed. What happened to my palm trees?

Ah, well, says my editor… it’s like this, you see… we asked around the office and the consensus was that the cover didn’t look fantasy enough, so we changed it…

Not fantasy enough! What about the story? It has palm trees in it! You didn’t say palm trees weren't fantasy enough when I was writing the story…

And on it went…

And on it still goes, I have to say, because I have a bee in my bonnet and have decided that I am going to be the Palm Tree Diva. In fact, never a conversation goes by between me and my eternally patient Australian editor without me referring to my missing palm trees. Given than it’s been over 18 months, I’m quite sure that by now she’d like to take my missing palm trees and stuff them in a very anatomically awkward place, she’s so sick of hearing about them.

But I’m on a mission here. I want my palm trees back. When she asked me the other day what I thought we should put on the cover of The Immortal Prince when it’s released next year, I said… yes, you guessed it… palm trees. (There aren’t actually any palm trees in The Immortal Prince, but that's not the point. There weren't any deciduous oak trees in the forecourt of the Greenharbour Palace, either!)

So, in answer to the question posted on the Voyager message board yesterday (and the three emails a week I get posing the same question) about how much control I have over what goes on the cover… Sweet bugger all, my friends. Sweet bugger all.