Many people have asked me about the meaning of the shield and symbols on the front of the books in the Light and Shadow Chronicles, so I thought I’d take some time out to explain the significance of the artwork.
Each of the symbols on the shield represents a different faction in the war which rages across the land in the Light and Shadow Chronicles series. Some of the symbols are linked to the Children of Light, some the Brotherhood of Shadow and some entirely different groups of people (or creatures!) altogether.
Each book features the shield (or a representative symbol from the shield) and a themed background which is related to the book’s setting or tone.
I’m
so excited to share with you the cover for my upcoming release, Origin of Shadow! This novella is part
of my epic, immersive fantasy series The Light and
Shadow Chronicles. The series is centered upon a centuries-long
war between two armies and each book focuses upon a character within the
timeline. This novella gives the origin story of one of the armies – The Brotherhood
of Shadow. The complementary novella entitled Genesis of Light is already available in ebook, paperback and audiobook.
The official release date for the book is
23rd Novmber. In the meantime, if you haven’t read the others in the
series yet you can get them here (though reading these first isn’t required to
understand Origin of Shadow):
“Vincent
Wilder.” The voice broke into his thoughts, everywhere and nowhere at once,
deafening, yet somehow a whisper. “Are you ready to learn the truth?”
As heir
to a notorious crime syndicate, sixteen-year-old Vincent Wilder is determined
to live up to his father’s intimidating legacy, and expand his violent empire.
The Wilders have terrorised the city of Pabell for decades and Vincent knows
the business inside and out (and has dirtied his own hands more times than he dares
to count.)
But no
matter how ready he thinks he is, nothing could have prepared him for life at
the helm. His father was a man of many things, but secrets wasn’t one of them,
or so Vincent had thought. The deeper Vincent gets into his leadership role,
the more terrifying and inexplicable skeletons he uncovers.
With the
threat of a revolution, a mysterious and intrusive voice in his head, and a
long-lost history he had known nothing about, is he really up to the challenge?
You’ve read the Children of Light’s origin story, now experience the same events from a different perspective with this prequel novella from The Light and Shadow Chronicles.
Origin of Shadow EXCERPT
The ticking of the
timepiece was far louder than it should have been. Every innocuous click of the
hands reverberated around the room. Sixteen-year-old Vincent Wilder stood
perfectly still, making sure his chin was raised and his expression stony. He
tried to hide the fact that his fingers twitched nervously behind his back. This
meeting needs to go off without a hitch. There’s so much resting on it. He
made an effort to narrow his eyes and puff out his chest, hoping his young
frame was imposing.
A single drop of sweat
trickled down his forehead, running a sticky trail across his skin. He wanted
to reach up and wipe it away, but didn’t dare draw attention to the fact he was
perspiring. If they saw it, would they take it as a sign of weakness? So
he did nothing and let the salty drop work its way down his forehead, running
into his dark eyes. He blinked to clear the drop, but his vision blurred and
his eyes itched. He could hold off no longer and was forced to swipe at his
eyes with a hurried hand.
His eyesight cleared and he
took the opportunity to glance down at the table and the people sat around it.
A couple in their early forties sat on one side, close together, huddling for
comfort. Their eyes were strong and defiant, the woman’s in particular. Her
hands were flat on the tabletop, and she leaned forwards, speaking with
determination.
The ashen-faced man beside
her was silent. Despite the stony expression on his face, Vincent could see the
man’s hands trembling.
Across from them sat Franco
Wilder, Vincent’s father. Once, he had a thick shock of dark hair, long and
wild, draped across his shoulders. That was how Vincent always pictured his
father, but the figure that sat before him had changed drastically in the past
few years. As soon as Franco’s hair had started thinning, he had shaved the
lot, and the bald head made the most terrifying man Vincent had ever met even
more intimidating.
Franco’s posture was rigid
and unmoving, a coiled snake waiting to lunge. The dark eyes that had chastised
Vincent since childhood were now zeroed in on the couple before him. His
father’s fingers were locked together tightly, but Vincent knew that it would
only take a split second for Franco to wrench the knife from his concealed
thigh pouch. Vincent’s muscles too were primed, ready to propel him into a
fight. Never relax around Franco Wilder. He’d learned that very young.
Cain has released one stand-alone novel: The Phoenix Project, a psychological thriller set in a dystopian future. The Phoenix
Project was the winner of the 2016 Kindle Book Review Sci-Fi novel Award.
Cain lives in Leicestershire, UK with her partner and two young children,
and spends her time reading, writing, reviewing and indulging in geek culture
(Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy).
Origin of Shadow – Find out where the Brotherhood began
As many of you are aware, I released a novella last year called Genesis of Light. It told the story of the beginning of the Children of Light, and gave the start of Callista’s story in the war.
Well, now I am preparing to release the second half of that story.
Origin of Shadow covers the same time period as Genesis of Light, but from the perspective of Vincent Wilder. Vincent is the leader of the Brotherood of Shadow and this novella tells his beginnings in the seedy underworld of crime.
Creativia (my publisher) has accepted the manuscript and it is now going through final editing, with a view to being released later this year.
I can’t reveal the cover design just yet, as it is still being finalised. However, here is a sneak peek at some of the first art draft (credit again to Irina French).
A blurb and extract for Origin of Shadow will be coming soon. Stay tuned!
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My epic fantasy series ‘The Light and Shadow Chronicles’ has undergone a makeover!
A Chronicle of Chaos was first published by Creativia in June 2016. The amazingly talented Irina French designed the original cover. It features an ancient shield carved with symbols of importance to the history and lore of Alcherys and Meraxor (the warring nations in the series.)
Now, Creativia Publising has designed brand new covers, but still utilising the work of the original artist. Here are the two covers side by side:
In a world ravaged by war, the paths of two warriors are about to cross with world-shattering consequences.
Chaos is a soldier of The Children of the Light, and fights in the name of destiny, honor and glory. Arrogant and headstrong, he believes he is the strongest warrior in the land, until a fateful coincidence puts him at the mercy of the demon Anathema.
The two strike up an intense rivalry, but their obsession to destroy one another only leads them closer together. When the forces of light and dark collide, where will their loyalties lie?
The Shield of Soren is the second book in the epic fantasy series (although you can read them in any order). Released by Creativia in March 2017, this book has also had a makeover:
Ten-year-old Soren
Nitaya’s marked talent makes him the youngest soldier ever to become an
apprentice to the legendary warrior, Raven Lennox. As a prince of Alcherys, he
will be expected to fight in the eternal war against the Brotherhood of Shadow
when he reaches sixteen.
But is the young prince
up to the task when he’s more interested in causing mischief than in mastering
weapons?
When one of Soren’s adventures goes off course, he unwittingly unleashes a deadly threat. It appears that an age-old prophecy is finally coming to pass, and Soren and his family must take a perilous journey deep into their enemy’s land. Does Soren have what it takes to save his country before the Brotherhood destroys everyone and everything he loves?
I’m handing my blog over to the talented S.L. Stacker today so that she can reveal her absolutely stunning new book cover for ‘Summer Soiree’.
When I began writing Summer Soiree, I knew I wanted a masquerade type mask on the cover in some fashion. I searched stock photos for hours and found several pics, however, none of them were quite what I was looking for. I was tired of looking at the same photos over and over, and I finally decided to use a different stock site, and I found the pic I wanted. Within a matter of minutes, I had purchased the photo, and within an hour, I had a new cover!
Summer Soiree Synopsis
Junior year has come to a close, and Taylor Brighton is excited about being a Senior. She decides to keep a diary in order to document the events of her upcoming Senior year.
On the first day of summer break, when she writes her first entry, she has no way of knowing the events that would unfold…events that she may not want to remember.
An annual end-of-the-year party, true friends, and a blast from her past will leave this soon-to-be-senior with a summer to remember.
S.L. Stacker’s biography:
S.L. Stacker is an author with Booktrope publishing. She has written and published three Romantic Suspense books in the Macyn McIntyre series. Her current projects include several fiction novels, but her focus is the Sisters of Summit Bay series—to be published in 2016/2017.
When she isn’t throwing her readers for a loop and leaving them wanting more, she can be found relaxing and hanging with her husband, children, and dogs. You can visit her at http://www.slstacker.com
The cover for my newest novelA Chronicle of Chaosfeatures a shield with eight symbols carved upon it. Each of the symbols represents a different army, faction or group of people within the series. Over the next eight days, to complement the release countdown, I will be posting about each of the symbols to give some background on the armies you can expect to learn about in Chaos and the upcoming novels in the series.
The LAST symbol I will be talking about can be seen on the bottom left of the shield:
This is the sigil of Valhalla Elite, a small band of elite soldiers within the Brotherhood of Shadow. This battalion of soldiers was set up by one of Vincent Wilder’s sons by the name of Silas.
After suffering greatly at the hands of Raven Lennox and Avalanche, Silas set up a Brotherhood equivalent of the elite faction, naming it Valhalla Elite. Most of the soldiers in this unit are other children of Vincent Wilder and his many concubines.
Characters from this army that you can expect to see in A Chronicle of Chaos include:
Silas Wilder – Silas takes few things in life seriously and instead chooses to indulge in all manner of pleasures. Underneath his complacency, he is intelligent and cunning but his mind is starting to falter, giving way to visions and delusions. After a chance meeting with the Brotherhood’s shadowy adviser, the Bavelize, Silas decides to do everything in his power to exact his revenge upon Raven Lennox, before his waning sanity gives out completely.
A Chronicle of Chaos is now available from Amazon!
Immersive fantasy fiction 