One of my favourite parts of the book publishing process is reaching the cover design stage. I find that even though you can stare at a humongous Word document for months on end, even though you’re well aware you have a book, it somehow doesn’t feel tangible until it has a cover. It’s part film poster, part packaging, and it’s why I thoroughly enjoy getting to this stage. And so, back in May, when my calendar politely reminded me it was time to organise the cover for Chasing Graves, I may have performed a small jig around my writing cave.

The genesis of the Chasing Graves cover concept came from the story itself. Wherever possible, I always like to feature a character on my book covers. In the new trilogy, the main protagonist is a fellow by the name Caltro Basalt. He’s a master thief, somewhat of a bastard, and finds himself ostensibly dead on his first night in the city of Araxes. In the world of Chasing Graves, bodies can be bound so that their ghosts become slaves for the rich. The process involves submerging a body in the black water of the River Nyx, and I decided that Caltro’s moment of passing into the ghost realm would be perfect for the front cover, showing his tumultuous transformation from human to ghost. My hopes were that through colour and content it would be eye-catching, almost horror-esque without leaving the fantasy genre behind.

The next step was to transfer what I had in my mind’s eye onto paper and reality. Now, I’m not an artist, as you’ll see from my rough sketch below, and that’s why I’ve always relied on professionals to create my covers. Chasing Graves was no exception. Initially I looked to the fantastic covers we’re blessed with in the fantasy market, and the amazing artists behind them. I also trawled ArtStation and DeviantArt to find creators that were producing art similar to the style I wanted. After a few weeks of chatting to various artists, discussing briefs and timescales, I decided to go with an artist called Chris Cold.

I came across Chris on ArtStation and was immediately transfixed by the array of otherworldly, haunting, and incredibly detailed artwork in his portfolio. The tone of his artwork was gothic in places, colourful where it needed to be, and to be honest, exactly the style I’d had in mind. Chris got back to me within a day and within no time at all, the brief was sent over and the artwork for the entire trilogy was commissioned.

I always try—emphasis on try—to give a detailed brief. Writing a brief is very similar to writing a blurb. I can create a world and spin multiple yarns, but ask me to condense an idea into succinct sentences in my head and I fall to pieces. With the help of a few examples—such as the scene in Watchmen where Jon Osterman/Dr Manhattan is ripped apart by the field generator—and one terrible sketch, Chris started work in early August.

First we confirmed composition and colours, working on details such as the fact ghosts in my world are bright blue and that Caltro has a darker skin-colouring, as most of the trilogy is based in a North African world.

After that stage, the initial cover popped into my inbox. I would prefer not to say I squealed, and recall it as a barbarian’s roar, but there was definitely some excitement.

I wanted more ghost in Caltro’s face, and after I confirmed my feedback with a few fellow authors and long-time fans, Chris went straight to work on the final artwork. And here it is: