Today we are excited to reveal the cover for the final novel in J. E. Hannaford’s Black Hind’s Wake series, The Pact! Here is the author to tell you a bit how this series, and cover, came to be.
The Skin and The Pact
On my 40th Birthday, whilst enjoying a surprise meal in The Shard with my parents and husband, my mum asked the dreaded question.
‘So, what do you aim to achieve by the time you’re 50?’
From many mothers that might not have been such a loaded question. But mine has completed a round-the-world yacht race, climbed mountains, run marathons, and still not content with that, competed in an Iron Man World Championship.
At this point I was writing my first book and so, I threw it out to the skies.
‘I am going to publish a book.’
It felt real once I’d said it. But it wouldn’t be the first book I wrote that I published. That first book took five years from start to completion, didn’t get picked up, and to this day languishes on an electronic shelf. Writing it gave me the confidence to attend my first Con and introduced me to my editor as well as the fantasy community.
It was at Bristol Con 2019, that The Skin was born. Following a panel discussion about the uselessness of selkies, a short story I’d written for a Fantasy-Faction monthly forum challenge kept nudging at me. That Selkie had opinions and strength. She was strong-willed and certainly no moping, sad captive. The same short story also contained Sirena who appears in the first book of Black Hind’s Wake, The Skin. Less than six months after I put fingers to keyboard, The Skin was written.
Originally planned as a standalone, as the book grew, so did my understanding of what the selkie wanted to do, and the world around her. The Pact is the conclusion to The Black Hind’s Wake duology, and I look forward to sharing the next stage of the selkie’s journey with you.
Where The Skin draws on a few select threads of folklore, The Pact takes a deeper dive into the folklore of West Wales. In the future-set time of The Black Hind’s Wake, this is known as Mynyw, a land of relative safety for the Old Ones in a world on the brink. Well-known creatures you will recognise, and more uncommon folklore interweave in The Pact to resolve the threads of that oh-so-convenient gift at the end of The Skin. It was never as easy as it looked, but in fantasy, what is?
One of the main reasons I chose indie publishing, was I knew exactly how I wanted my interior to look and, before I had even finished the first drafts, I had a strong image of the cover design for both books in my mind.
Armed with sketches, I trawled cover-design websites trying to find someone who could make this idea come to life. Trif Book Designs had a number of covers where I could see aspects of what I wanted. Paul agreed to do the covers and manages without fail to turn my scruffy sketches into a reality. He is a pleasure to work with, and so I was overjoyed when The Skin won a bronze medal in SPFBO8 for his design.
And so now, we come to The Pact. The majority of places in Black Hind’s Wake are real. For The Pact, I was determined that two of the most significant locations would be incorporated into the cover.
So determined, that I took a road trip with the family. We followed my father for miles down winding mountain roads, up some inclines that we climbed by sheer willpower—maybe the tylwyth I write of helped us because our car was definitely calling for aid! We squeezed between rocks barely wider than the cars, just to get one picture, just to feel the atmosphere of what would become the sky lakes.
I was so determined I actually broke my husband’s car doing it.
When I got back to my parent’s home that evening, I emailed the photographs of Strata Florida Abbey and Teifi Pools to Paul and crossed everything that they were good enough to use. My ever-suffering husband began to search for a new car.
Paul said yes, so the sketching began. Once again, he has turned my dream into a reality, and I’m delighted to share the cover with you here, on the website where this whole story began.
But before we show you this amazing piece of art, let’s get a feel for the story this cover will contain.
Summary
‘How, can you let things fade so far? I had a reason. I had cause, I was limited. You—you hide in your lakes playing games. This world crumbles, the last refuge north of the Everstorm is Mynyw and you have let it fall into jeopardy.’
The new King of Terrania may no longer hunt for Old Ones, but the world is far from safe. As the crew of Black Hind continues to search out the Old Ones and return them to their rightful homelands, the reach of a dead consort haunts the new king from beyond the grave. In distant Mynyw, a loyal guardian discovers the unravelling of an ancient pact. As Black Hind sails into his territory, he has a decision to make. Can he overcome his prejudice and ask for help from the strangers before the last refuge falls?
Have we piqued your interest? Then let’s see that cover!
Cover Reveal
And here it is in all its glory! Let the record show that Hannaford’s car was not broken in vain! To begin with, that is an amazing dragon. The cover would have been amazing just showing this sleeping beast. The addition of the stone portal opening onto the lake? That’s what elevates this image to another level. I can hear the waves on the rocks and the birds startling from their perches in the ancient tree at the center. Top marks to the artist and to the author for coming up with such a unique idea!
We would like to thank J. E. Hannaford again for letting us do this reveal. It’s always super cool when an author starts out on Fantasy-Faction and gets to spread their dragon wings into publishing.
The Pact has a provisional release date of 1st September 2022. You can learn more about this series on the author’s website and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Geoff Matthews
Julia Kitvaria Sarene