…and here is the brand-new cover for The Wicked Day. This comes from a rather dark point in the story. I don’t remember the precise details of when I wrote that portion of the book, but I think it was during my dying year. Lots of hours considering the reality of death, the abruptness and imminence of that final minute. Someone once remarked online that they found my trilogy became more and more not serious, the further they read through it. I’ve always found that one a puzzler. If you strip away the fantastic elements in The Wicked Day, it is largely about death and dying, whether in reality or spiritually, the repercussions and redemption and the hope that yet remains in even such a dark valley. The illustration for this cover is the confrontation between…drat. I just realized I can’t identify any of the characters in the picture. Even the names would be major spoilers.
Good night for now. I am so very pleased with this cover!
I can well believe that you’re pleased. This is awesome. I think the Hawk cover is my favourite, and this one the second favourite. That’s personal taste more than anything (I’m more into boys and hawks than flaming horses and warriors). These covers are fantastic, in every sense of the word.
As far as the not-serious comment goes, perhaps what they meant is that the farther you go in the story, the more human the characters become (even the non-human ones). They dare to crack jokes, get annoyed at each other, be amusingly verbose, etc. And if that wasn’t the case, the story would become unbearably heavy the longer you go, because, like you say, it’s got all those elements of death and darkness which get stronger and stronger as the story goes along. I think, in a sense, the characters take themselves less seriously, because the situation around them becomes more and more serious. Just my guess… (at both your writing, and that person’s comment).
Interesting point about the characters humanity balancing the darkness of the story. I hadn’t thought about that before. I think you’re right.
Who doesn’t love a flaming horse? Well, I suppose a lot of barns would get burned down…