Just to reassure folks that George R.R. Martin I am not. Progress is being made and I should have the book out in plenty of time for inclusion in the mini-series. This has not even been proofed yet so don’t judge me too harshly; the ink is still wet.

He had just passed the outer barbican when he saw the returning patrol. They were eleven riders, lightly armored and armed, and at their head rode his twin sister, Llewellyn.

Llew started and almost panicked before he realized he had little to be concerned with here. If she recognized him then he had nothing to fear, but if, as seemed almost certain, she did not, then that was only as according to plan. He would be just another nameless stranger on the road. With his head up, making no attempt to hide, he made to ride boldly past her as closely as possible, given the patrol following her.

The princess had evidently been deep in thought for she only looked up as he was already fairly close. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw him and Llew got a bad feeling. She stared a moment longer at him while he endeavored to hang on to his anonymity, even going so far as to dip his head and tug a forelock at her.

Then she found her voice. “Seize him!” she screamed, and drew her sword. Llew’s heart quailed in his chest. Never mind the patrol that accompanied her, there were few things in life he was willing to admit, even to himself, that he was frightened of, but Llewellyn’s blade was certainly one of them.

Finally deciding less is more, this is the one I went with. My original thought was to have vast numbers of opponents on both sides (at least a dozen) but not only is that hard to show in silhouettes (and I wanted to keep to the same style as the The Forged Prince cover) but, on a cover, it seems like simplicity is more important. More than three elements plus the background is confusing and most often seems jumbled.

A cover should state genre and attract interest, or so I am told. An armored figure with undead should say epic fantasy and the simple Welsh valley backdrop should betray the setting somewhat. As always, the protagonist is accompanied by a black bird, denoting nature, armed combat, and mystery.

In the end I even took away Helgar. The barrow warriors are naked skeletons–although one is wearing a helmet and another is wearing boots (which got cut off)–rather than armored zombies because silhouettes of zombies would have shown little of their supernatural nature.

A lot of books these days just put a sword or medallion or something on the cover and call it good to go. There may be something to that. If I finish the series and sales don’t pick up to where I feel they should be, I might have to give it a try and purchase or commission some.

I’m thinking no. I’m also thinking about changing the cover on The Torc of Tethera yet again. Below is a picture of the first cover, the second cover, and the cover I am thinking about replacing the current one with. Let me know if you have any preference. (Alternatively, you could just tell me to give it up and get a real book cover from a starving artist somewhere.)