Archives for May 2020

WHAAAT. Yes. Welcome, friend. This is indeed a post about a new Emaneska book and its cover. You will have either a) known about this sequel for a while and just gasped at this cover, or b) you had no idea about a new Emaneska book, and this cover is your first news of it. If that’s you then BAM! I’ll give you a moment to pick up the pieces of your mind. In either case, I bet you’re not as excited as I am to be looking at this 😀

It’s true. I’m writing a new Emaneska series, and the cover for the newest installment is below in the flesh: this is the cover concept (more on this concept malarkey in a moment) for The Forever King, book one of the new Scalussen Chronicles.

Who’s on the cover?

Speaking of badass, who is this fiery-looking woman? This is Mithrid, a young lady from the cliff-cities and villages of Hâlorn. This area of the world is the very western coast of Emaneska, pinched between the rough seas and coast of Albion. It was mentioned in Emaneska, and actually sailed past at the start and end of the series. Without spoilers, The Bitches can be found on the edge of Hâlorn. This is where The Forever King starts, and where we meet the newest protagonist in the epic, sprawling, monster Emaneska story arc.

I’m really enjoying exploring Emaneska from the POV of Mithrid. She’s quiet yet confident to the point of occasionally being surly, but quick of mind and tongue. She’s the tall, fiery-haired daughter daughter of a woodsman, hence the axe, and wouldn’t you know it? She’s got some connection to magic. (Some of you may know how I like to flip tropes, as I did in Emaneska. I’ll be toying with the strangely-powerful-farm-working-reject trope and turning it on its arse.) Mithrid’s young, impetuous, and a little similar to Farden when he first started out, but she’s not a mage, and has no intention of being swept up in the War of Magick.

Because central role to this series, I thought it only fair to give Mithrid the cover as I did with Farden for The Written. And, as I noticed when trying my bloody best to make Adobe Sketches to work, if you put the two books side by side, Written on the right, it almost brings this whole thing full circle right there.

Unexplored cover concepts

I had a lot of other ideas for this cover. There is an element of climate shift going on in The Forever King. A few aspects of Emaneska I’ve text to feature are a dragon, which I think will end up being the next cover (for book two, Heavy Lies the Crown), something architectural, or a weapon. Who knows what book three – To Kill A God – will have on its cover. As for The Forever King, I think I’ve made the right decision. From your abundant feedback on the old Fb page and Twitter, you seem to think so too!

While this cover goes off to the magic hands of the new artist, I’m just cracking on with the writing. I’ve got a third left to go, I reckon. Hopefully I’ll be updating my site with progress bars soon, so you’ll be able to see where I’m at with each project any time you want. The tentative launch date is winter 2020. As soon as the cover’s back, you’ll be able to mark it to-read on Goodreads and add it to your wishlists. If you want to be notified via email, then sign up to The Guild.

In other news…

Meanwhile, my new project Dread Rising is also coming along nicely. The tabletop boardgame I’m writing for: Veil of Ruin, also has a DnD 5e Adaptation coming out on Kickstarter mid-June. Check out veilofruin.com for all the artwork and info. I am utterly buzzing to be a part of that project.

Cheers for reading, you lovely bunch of bookish scoundrels. As always, you can follow me on the social-verses to get daily updates rather than monthly. Take it easy, stay safe, and keep reading.

Peace,

Ben

Ben’s Books