Whoopee! Shield of Faith Manuscript Submitted

Today is a cause for celebration!




I have officially submitted the manuscript for book 2 in the Annals of Aeliana series - Ryann Watters and the Shield of Faith. It ended up being 95,250 words and 400 pages versus 55,000 and 224 pages for book 1. It will be in the editors hands for a few weeks and then back to me for revisions. In the meantime, they will be working on layout for the cover and interior pics etc.

I will try and post some of the art work to give you a taste of what's to come! It is very exciting. I have mentioned that I have a new interior artist, Jared Sloger, and he is doing an amazing job. Corey Wolfe is still the cover artist and updated the Aeliana map, inside, to expand to 2 pages instead of 1.


For now I will leave you with a still to be revised front cover for book 2 and the back cover. I'd appreciate any comments you have. Some of the issues still under consideration are whether to put "Book 2 in the Annals of Aeliana Series" line on the front or along the spine. What do you think? Also, the moon will be removed from the backcover (in case you're looking at the details) and there will be two moons on the front. If you've read book one, you know what that's all about.


I had a totally different idea for book 2's cover, but when I was visiting the Northwest this past summer with my family, we visited Corey Wolfe in Portland, OR. It was then that I say down and brainstormed with Corey. He listened to my idea for the cover and then asked me if there was another scene in the story in which a lot of characters are involved.

He sketched out the idea for this scene as we talked. Ryann is on the Pegasus, Adain, and Liddy and Terell are on the White Dragon, Sorcha, escaping from the Black Unicorn, Narcissus. There are thousands of bats chasing them, but also hundreds of Hugons on the ground. Hugons are part of the bad army of Narcissus and are "half Human and half Dragon." I know, such a clever name! I also had a chance to work in "the Shield of Faith," with Ryann carrying it. The White Unicorn, Carwyn, is the hero of the story.

Thanks again for your feedback. I can't wait to share the story with you. Look for it on my website http://www.ryannwatters.com/ in pre-release in April and on Amazon and stores in May 2009.