Like a lot of authors, the journey to find the perfect cover designer was not easy. I've had a variety of cover illustrators involved with my books for the last 9 months. My first illustrator was Leonardo Borazio who I commissioned for the cover of Soul Siphon. At the time, though, I decided against using the cover and went a different direction. I wanted to hire Leo for another cover because his work is awesome, but he has a huge waiting list and I wasn't going to get another cover for four months. I had about five covers I wanted done, so that just wasn't going to work.

I then found my current illustrator, Guilherme Batista, from a post on a Facebook group about his artwork for Arena: The Contest. I reached out and he agreed to do my covers. After Kingsbane was commissioned, Guilherme told me he had to resign from my further projects because of some life changes. I was disappointed, but he recommended me to his buddy, Luciano Komorizono, who did the covers for Ash and Steel and Midnight Blade.

While I liked Luciano's work well enough, I really wanted Guilherme to do my cover for Soul Render, my debut novel. So I practically begged him to reconsider his position and told him he could take as long as he needed. He agreed and Soul Render was the result.

With any of my projects, the illustrators have all been really easy to work with. I've generally cast my vision to them, including mockups, examples of poses, and any pertinent story details, but then I leave the creativity completely up to them. I'll generally get a couple of sketches from Guilherme with three totally different looks and then I mix and match my favorite elements from each. Then he sends me a near completed cover where I make continued recommendations. Adjustments are made and we're done. The illustrator gets some autonomy, I get final say, and we're both happy.

About a month after Soul Render's launch, I asked Guilherme to consider completing yet another project for me, which he readily agreed. This cover, for Book 2 of my series, Soul Shade, is by far my favorite of all my covers to date and I'm so excited to share it with you

Official Book Blurb: Death lies around every corner.

The newly crowned queen of Aralith, Maya Drygo, is reeling from the loss of her father and the destruction of her city. With the threat of war looming beyond the horizon, she must race to rally the kingdom against an unknown threat, but trouble lies closer to home than she realizes.

When Maya’s refusal to forgive Will Sumner for her father’s death leads to a difference of opinion around battle preparations, Will storms off to take matters into his own hands. Now Maya is left to navigate the politics of being queen on her own.

In the cutthroat realm of lords and ladies, Maya learns everything is not as it appears. With no one but a stranger standing beside her, she realizes if she’s to survive she’ll have to give what she never has before: trust.

The kingdom is falling apart, the gods of old are reawakening, and a bloodthirsty enemy stands between her and the peace she’s fought so hard to protect.