Big update!

After two meetings with my illustrator, Rhett (@fire_locket on Instagram), we concocted a rough draft of the cover!

Behold!

The beginnings of an original cover! Zero AI! All hard work and collaboration between humans!

So, were did all this come from considering the only element from the original AI design that carried over is the hourglass?

Well I’m so glad you asked!

For our first meeting, I gave some samples of covers I liked and didn’t like. Rhett was very receptive even though I didn’t think I was saying anything even remotely intelligent.

They took whatever I’d blathered on about and came up with two very strong designs. We ended up doing some mixing and matching as well as a bit of color theory.

For the longest time, I was dead set on just replicating the ai with a human hand, but Rhett pulled out all the stops and made me see the light of details. Every element serves a purpose and I am delighted.

SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT ON THE SPINE! I NEVER thought about doing anything interesting with the spine. Title goes there and that’s it. Rhett just made that happen and it’s staying.

The back is also pretty special. We’d discussed doing a little something something on there from the beginning. That rough outline is a hint as to what it will be. No further elaboration will be given.

Overall, the cover has gone from something stark to a more grimoire aesthetic and I couldn’t be happier.

Rhett’s done an amazing job thus far and I can’t wait to see the final result!

Speaking of, cover reveal (and maybe pre-orders 👀) will be coming in June! Huzzah! Finally doing something for Pride Month!

Stay tuned for an exact date if you’re interested!

If you want something to read in the meantime, the site is FULL of shorts that can give you a good idea of the world and characters of Eternity’s Irys. Especially the main boys, Jeron and Sylus.

You can even find the full first chapter here!

On an additional note, the paperbacks for editing are finally under way. Something got held up with the printer and we didn’t realize until kinda late on. Should have those by the end of the month!

Bonus BERK for getting this far:

A spoiler literally no one will understand, but I love him all the same.

That’ll be all for this very tangible update! Progress is being made!

Until next time!

🦑💜🦇