It’s always a pleasure to do a cover reveal, but when it’s for our of our favourite authors it’s all the more exciting! 😀
Today we’ve been asked by publishing giants Harper Voyager to release upon the world the cover for Bloodchild by Anna Stephens, it’s the third book in the Godblind series (but you knew that of course!).
If you’ve not picked up the Godblind series yet…. you’re missing out! Full of memorable characters, Anna’s novels offer bloodthirsty political fantasy at its finest.
Before we show off the cover, we’ve asked Anna to give us a bit of an introduction and some thoughts on why it’s so perfect….. over to her!
Excellent. Alright, so I may be biased (I’m completely biased) but I really do believe that HarperVoyager’s art department has graced my trilogy with some of the most distinctive artwork of the last few years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen covers quite like mine, and I’m truly honoured and deeply thankful that these images were given to my words.
There was a lot of speculation surrounding what Bloodchild would look like among some readers, with the consensus being, I believe, a purple cover. NOPE! This bronze-brown-orange cover is, like the rest of the imagery, unexpected and unique.
It reminds me very much of the colours of autumn – cold mornings and sleep and the slow turn towards death and darkness, which is pretty appropriate all things considered. It’s a symbol of things ending, traditions and lives and, perhaps, gods. And, of course, trilogies. It’s a little bit heart-breaking, for me anyway.
It isn’t gaudy or flash, which is in keeping with the characters as this long struggle for dominance comes to its conclusion. It isn’t red with blood or blue with hope and honour; it’s muted, showing only glimpses that there’s something still there, some strength, some fight left beneath the fatigue and the grime. A sense that there may be an ending coming, but they’ll fight it every step of the way.
And then there’s the big cat – a mountain lion or lynx. Still fighting, not giving up, perhaps a little desperate and very definitely alone against an unseen enemy. I’m not here to give spoilers, so I’ll leave you to decide how appropriate that is when you read Bloodchild…
I should point out that there will also be a tagline as there have been with the previous two books, but at the moment we have so many choices that we’re still narrowing it down as to which approach we want to take to dovetail with the previous taglines (The Red Gods are rising; and The Gods of Light are falling). We don’t want to give everything away, after all!
In short, I couldn’t be happier with this cover. It both surpasses and overturns my expectations and I can’t wait to see all three of them lined up together. I hope you love it as much as I do. And the words inside, of course.
As I always say with Anna’s covers, what I love about them is how simple they appear on first glance and yet how complex and full of details they are when you spend a bit of time looking at them.
Here’s the official blurb:
In this epic grimdark conclusion to the Godblind Trilogy, heroes, armies, and gods both good and evil will battle one last time, with the fate of the world itself at stake. . . .
The great city of Rilpor has fallen. Its walls have crumbled under the siege by the savage Mireces; its defenders have scattered, fleeing for their lives; its new rulers plot to revive the evil Red Gods using the city’s captured, soon-to-be-sacrificed citizens.
Now, with the Fox God leading the shattered remnants of the Rilporian defence and the Mireces consolidating their claim on the rest of the country, it’s up to Crys, Tara, Mace, Dom and the rest to end the Red Gods’ scourge once and for all.
While the Rilporians plan and prepare for one final, cataclysmic battle to defeat their enemies, the Blessed One and the king of the Mireces have plans of their own: dark plans that will see gods resurrected and the annihilation of the Dancer for all time.
Key to their plan is Rillirin, King Corvus’s sister, and the baby–the Bloodchild–she carries. As both sides face their destinies and their gods, only one thing is clear: death waits for them all.
Bloodchild will be released this summer. If you can’t wait until then, Anna has a short story in Unfettered III, which is out in March!
Jennie Ivins
Richard Marpole