We’ve got the exclusive cover reveal for Stephen Aryan’s epic fantasy debut BattleMage from Orbit.

‘I can command storms, summon fire and unmake stone. Animals have nothing interesting to say and no one can see the future, because it has not been written,’ growled Balfruss. ‘It’s dangerous to meddle with things you don’t understand.’ Balfruss is a battlemage, one of a vanishing breed, sworn to fight and die for a country that fears and despises him. Vargus is a common soldier – while mages shoot lightning from the walls of his city, he’s down in the front lines getting blood on his blade. Talandra is a princess and spymaster, but the war will force her to take up a greater responsibility, and make the greatest sacrifice of all. Known for their unpredictable, dangerous power, society has left battlemages untrained and shunned. But when a force unlike anything ever imagined attacks their home, the few remaining magic users must go to war – to save those who fear them most, and herald in a new age of peace, built upon the corpses of their enemies.”

Design: Nico Taylor

Illustration: Steve Stone

BattleMage is on sale from Orbit on 24 September. You can pre-order it for £8.99 in paperback at Amazon.co.uk. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.