Howdy! It’s with great pleasure and excitement that I reveal, at long last, the real cover for Bane of All Things!
But wait, there’s more!
As I have noted before, Bane of All Things is meant to be the first of four books. I have finally landed on a title for the series – A Silence of Worlds. (I will dig into the meaning behind that in a future update.)
Now, about this cover
It’s been a long time coming, this cover reveal – decades, even. I’ve had plenty of ideas over the years of what could be the cover for this story, drifting between a particular tense action scene, or some dramatic posing of my main characters.
When cover designer Tim Barber of Dissect Designs asked me about it a few months back, I sent him a pile of ideas and descriptions. He wanted to avoid the overused fantasy cover concepts that crowd the shelf. But still, it had to be true to the story.
Tim further brainstormed with Inkshares CEO Adam Gomolin and Deputy Publicity Manager Noah Broyles, who will be driving the book’s launch and who has, of course, read it.
“I was basically grilling Noah about what he would see if he was holding the book in his hands,” Tim told me. “He described rocks at the edge of water, a fortress/castle at the edge. Cold, but not snow. An unforgiving place. To me, this is how I pictured what he described. When I showed it to him his reaction was, ‘Yes, that’s it, that’s what I saw.’”
That scene is found in Chapter Three, where our two main characters, Ryn and Josalind, arrive at their destination – Dragon’s Claw Abbey. I asked Noah why he considered this particular image so powerful.
It’s all about atmosphere
“The arrival at Dragon’s Claw Abbey was potent for me in terms of both the striking imagery and what it meant for the characters,” Noah said. “I imagine the reality of being a convict is no more vivid than when you first come in sight of your prison. This place is not only the end of the world as far as civilization is concerned, but also the end of the world for Ryn and Josalind. Or so they think.”
It’s a foggy morning in that scene, not a stormy night, but Tim’s fantastic design captures the scope and atmosphere of the story as a whole. There is a storm coming. What Ryn and Josalind don’t yet realize when they first set eyes on Dragon’s Claw is that it’s already begun.
What’s next?
The awesome Avalon Radys, Inkshares’ Director of Editorial and Publishing Operations, will start sending out ARCs – Advance Reader Copies. These go to reviewers and established authors to build advance buzz and net (hopefully) favourable reviews for Goodreads, Amazon and so on before Release Day. We also want to bag a strong quote from a known name in the fantasy genre to add to the cover.
I can’t wait until November when the final product will be in your hands!
(P.S.: Noah has a novel of his own coming out in September, The House of Dust, a southern gothic horror described by one reviewer as being “full of nightmarish imagery wrapped in elegant prose.”)
Cheers
Leo
OK, folks, this is the news I have been waiting to share for … well, more pandemic-plagued months than I care to count:
Bane of All Things will publish on Nov. 9, 2021!
That means you will finally have your copy, or copies, for Christmas (depending, of course, on the cooperation of the postal service, if that involves print copies).
Nov. 9 is months later than it might have otherwise been without COVID, but a month or two sooner than we thought it might be a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Avalon Radys, Noah Broyles and the rest of the Inkshares team, the train has left the station.
You can already see the placeholder for BoAT with its ISBN numbers here on Amazon.ca (it should be showing up on Amazon.com at any time). You have no idea how much I have anticipated the day when I could point you to that!
Sometime soon, we will get into layout and cover design. The next big milestone will be the cover reveal. The current cover is of course just a placeholder whipped up by yours truly with an Adobe Stock image.
I’ve said it many times before but can never say it enough – thank you to each and every one of you. None of this would have been possible without your support and patience.
Stay safe and keep reading!
Cheers
Leo