The Caein Legacy: Cover Artwork

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Back in January, I mentioned that I’d come to an important decision regarding The Caein Legacy. I decided to pursue publication for a number of reasons, but mostly because I love this series. Of all the books I’ve written so far, these are my absolute favorite.

A few weeks ago, I went through Exile (the first book) to prepare the manuscript for the editor. I wrote Exile in 2019, and haven’t looked at it much since then, but once again, I was drawn into the story as thoroughly as before. It deserves to be published. It’s a great story, and according to my beta readers, one of my best.

I’ve teased a bit about the series now and then, but nothing too revealing.

• I have several character bios available on my website: The Caein Legacy
• I posted an excerpt from Exile in 2021, but revised it post-editing on March 30. You can read it here: Teaser from Exile

During March/April, I took the next step and contacted Jamie Noble about cover artwork. Now, typically, I’d do a big cover reveal closer to the time of release, but these are too good to sit on for that long. I’m not planning to publish Exile until early 2023. Since all four books are written, I was able to give him page counts up front, and I had an idea of what I wanted to see on the covers. What we came up with was fantastic.

I worked with Jamie previously on artwork for The Relics of War, and was so happy with the end result there was no question in my mind that I’d go to him again.

His process begins with some background information on the books, followed by a Skype call where we discussed details and any questions he still had about my vision. What I always find fascinating – and amazing – is he sketches while we talk and shares his screen while we figure out the basic concept.

After that, he starts working on the real art. He shares draft sketches and is open to adjustments if they need to be made. We work so well together that the adjustments I asked for were minimal. And when I got to see the final artwork for the first time, I couldn’t contain my excitement. My husband’s reaction was equally good. He said, “They look like movie posters.” In a way, they do – and I am in love with the end result.

So, without further delay, here are the covers for The Caein Legacy:

The character on the front of each cover is the main character, Andrew. He’s a bit of a shifter character (both the man and the dragon are him.) He’s the last of his kind – the dragons (and dragon-kind) have left the world in search of a better home. Andrew was left behind, and the reason for that will be revealed in the series.

The first book is Exile. The scene in the background is actually taken from a passage about 60% of the way through the book.

Book 2, Guardian, happens to be my husband’s favorite of the series. The scene in the background of that cover depicts the Citadel and the Oracle’s Tower at its heart. While the reader is introduced to the location in the first book, the Oracle is an important figure in shaping the events of the second.

Harbinger is when things start to get really interesting for the main character. The first of the true battles occurs in this book, and the scene depicted on this cover is the location of one of them.

And in typical form (for me), the overall storyline gets very dark before things get better. I think you can tell that from the cover of Legend.

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