We are proud to be the first reveal the cover for Phoenix Extravagant, the upcoming title from Nebula by Hugo, and Clarke award-nominated author Yoon Ha Lee.

Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. Just an artist.

One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.

But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics.

What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…

“I never thought that taking up watercolor painting would result in a book about a nonbinary painter, colonialism, and a pacifist mecha dragon, but here I am!” said author, Yoon Ha Lee. “Phoenix Extravagant takes place in a fantasy version of Korea during the Japanese occupation – I hope you find it as intriguing to read as it was to write.”

“This book is stunning. It has profound beauty, it has (literally) earthshaking magic, it has family both birth – and found – and it has a great heaping helping of revolution, and it has a frickin’ dragon,” added editor, David Thomas Moore. “Yoon’s told a remarkable story about a gentle, thoughtful person who has to do desperate things and why; more than anything, it’s about the human spirit.”

Phoenix Extravagant is out in hardback on the 9 June 2020 (US) and 11 June 2020 (UK), and will follow in paperback in 2021.