Welcome everyone!
I’ve been dancing around revealing my book to you for a week now, so I think it’s time we start to get to the real meat of the novel. Everyone has been asking me, “So what’s the book called?” Today, I reveal it.
On this blog I’ve always called it “Book 03.” Partially, that’s because I wanted to keep the title a secret and also because I didn’t settle on a title until last November! Honestly, It’s been that recently. I just couldn’t decide, and even though I asked my beta readers, editors, proofreader, and family members what I should call it, they all had differing opinions. As a result, I’ve just thought of this entry in my Hunter’s Rose series as “Book 03.” It’s going to be hard to leave that label behind.
But leave it behind, I must.
Before I show you the latest title, I want to refresh your memory about the titles of my previous two books. Notice how they appear in these circles and have wonder floral filigree around them.
With the loss of my previous cover artist, I was worried that there would just be no way to recreate that look. And indeed, it turned out to be impossible to match it exactly. The source for those original images could not be found by myself or my new cover artist. I regret that; however, using a new image will allow me to do something with the series I hadn’t thought of before.
The third book represents the mid-point of the larger story. It’s the part where the main character goes from being weak and reactive to someone who is strong and pro-active. It’s a natural place for there to be a chance. Therefore, Book 03 will have it’s unique filigree around the title circle and that same filigree will not be seen again. Books 04 and 05 will share a third floral adornment. This way the covers themselves will reflect the change in narrative arc.
I’m excited about that, but I’m sure you’re ready for me to move on to the reveal. So here you go:
Some of you may have already seen this if you were at a writing celebration I attended earlier this yet, but this is my first real public reveal. The new title circle does deviate from the previous two enteries. I change from monsters to a person. It’s an intentional change that I believe reflects that “dark” in the Dark Fantasy genre I’m writing. You see, for me, the greatest fear in Celandine Valley isn’t that the monsters might get you. The greatest fear is that you might turn in to a monster yourself.
It’s easy to hate the things you see that are clearly evil, but what if you are something evil yourself and didn’t realize? Or worse, you realized it and kept it hidden until it could do maximum damage to a community? Those are some of the themes I explore in this book. I think you’re going to like it very much.
Don’t forget, launch day is March 2nd. I’ll have details about preorders and a launch party soon.
Peace,
-Troy