The TRANSITION Through Space and Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nines#Plot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wisconsin_(BB-9)

http://io9.com/5354788/iain-m-banks-new-novel-literary-in-the-uk-science-fiction-in-the-us
http://io9.com/5366356/with-transition-iain-m-banks-reinvents-the-multiverse-novel

Transition was published 8 years after 9/11 & the cover features an ominous silhouette of a plane & a bird.

However, JRRT published The Two Towers in the 1950s & one cover version has some fascinating detail. A dark ominous bird is flying from the crescent moon tower towards the star tower.

http://patternsofsynchronicty.blogspot.com/2010/04/two-towers.html

http://occultofpersonality.net/christopher-knowles-and-the-secret-sun-pt-2