So, the draft (no, not the first draft, not nearly!) of the first Dungeon Age book has been in the capable hands of my wife for multiple days now, and she strongly asserts that she is indeed actually reading it (and liking it). So it seems likely that book will be out soonish.
Why is my wife reviewing it, you ask? Is she the Platonic ideal of my readers? Is she a huge fan of fantasy novels? Nope and nope. But she is widely read and frankly the smartest person I know in real life (take that, Tony Stark!), and I greatly value her opinions. She will straighten me out if I go astray, and that matters a lot more to me than anything else, at this stage.
(As always, the best friends and family are those who hold you to higher standards and encourage you to excel, or at least to not phone it in.)
In anticipation of the imminent release of this book, today I thought I’d show you the cover (mental drum-roll……….more drum-roll………..cymbal!):
The book’s title is pretty self-explanatory (I hope). Although, to be fair, in the spirit of transparency, only about half of the book takes place “beneath the dying land” while the rest takes place (any guesses?) up above in the dying land itself. Future books will go… deeper. Far deeper.
I was going for a classic 1960s/70s fantasy vibe with the art, title, and layout. It’s not quite final, but I like it quite a bit. The artwork, “Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion“, struck me not only as a beautiful study of stone and space and shades of red, but the story behind it seemed quite fitting. English author James Ridley, in his The Tales of the Genii (a sort of pastiche of the Arabian Nights, and not to be confused with Lady Murasaki’s The Tale of Genji), includes an invented Persian fable/myth about a hero on a perilous quest. And since I am writing a fantasy with light Persian inspirations about a hero on a perilous quest, it seemed appropriate.
How’s it look to you?
