I was so thrilled to finish my “family-friendly,” metaphysical, space-fantasy trilogy, The Akallian Tales, last year. But, towards the end, I struggled to focus a bit. A new idea kept poking at my brain, trying to steal my attention.

I’d read books one and two of A Song of Ice and Fire previously, and had just finished season six of the Game of Thrones TV series–after previously giving it up at around season three. As my wife and I wrapped up that season, it hit me.

“What if Melisandre had her own book?”

And BOOM, I was off. I was absolutely captivated by The Red Woman. She’s powerful, influential, intelligent, beautiful, enigmatic, and more. She stirred up an old fascination I’ve always had with the legends and shadowy intentions surrounding traditional witchcraft. And I wanted to challenge myself by writing from a female main character point of view. So, that’s what I set off to work on–a story about a powerful witch, full of all the virtues and vices that each one of us possess, and which influence a person’s most defining moments.

Acorilan’s monarchs are bred to die, and Jularra’s turn draws near. She and her ancestors have ruled at the mercy of the malicious Voidwarden–the price for saving Acorilan during a centuries-ago war. Burdened with the expectation of an early death but having little control over her fate, Jularra prepares to succumb to the ancient pact. Can the discovery of a long-lost power allow her to finally break the bonds of dark magic that have tormented her family for centuries?

I reached out to the amazing artist that worked on the covers for my first three books. Being the amazing, in-demand artist that he is, gently let me know that he was swamped. He referred me to a friend of his, Ivan Vujovic. Ivan is amazing. His portfolio is gorgeous, and he’s one of the most obliging fellas I’ve done business with. He is ridiculously responsive, and very accommodating.

I initially told him all about the main character, how I envisioned her, her armor, etc. And I told him that in the background, I wanted a distant castle with not too much distraction to make room for text and titling. He gave me exactly what I asked for:

I was very pleased with the outcome, but I sat on it for months as I wrapped up the book. When I approached the end, I realized I needed a different vibe. I loved the character, but needed to change up the background. I told Ivan I needed something more ominous. Darker. More menacing. I kept asking him to add more floating, magical stuff, and he obliged, but I eventually realized I got a little too overzealous with my requests. 😉

By this point, I just took care of some color, lighting, and scaling myself. Here’s what it looks like today:

So, there we have it! I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am for folks to check out Coven Queen. If anyone reads it, I’d love to hear what you think! It should be available for pre-order by 9/23!

Thank you very much to Fantasy-Faction for letting me stop by!