Machinology

Interesting image – it’s ringing some bells. ‘Steam punk’ is a word coming to mind. With my publishing hat on I wonder if a subtitle or a shoutline would also help make a bridge for us potential readers between the thing in itself (your book, including the cover image) and the thing for us, the surface and the inside. A ‘shoutline’ is one line of praise, often from someone whose writing in the area is very well known. I don’t see that this bridging is simplificatory, cultish of celebrity, or reductive – it’s more reductive if people don’t move from seeing a cover to reading the inside. I don’t know if your publisher would agree, though. Good luck with publication, sorry your copy-editor was struggling!