April 4
final approval pending
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQ_QRWJY14iV-v8qmEpmQEIp8pZTMrfJ28QUQ0GpGCAa-_GoYvcnHESAfymah4471MdHjxxY3bOQgBt0GahMZOdWJ3REPBmMGHRCxSCu0Jf5VNp8szRD9OyrC8n1XXS722rnyDVPzppQ/s400/manicom.jpg)
The brief was that the cover had to portray espionage/Russia/subatomic particles. From the catalogue copy: Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a young diplomat encounters Anna Mikataev, a particle physicist and possible recruiter of Iraqi agents. Anna has discovered how to carve light to manipulate the paths of one of the building blocks of reality: the photon. In the small basement room where Anna Mikataev lived, the force fields of sub-atomic particles, individual lives, and the politics of terror all meet.