Espionage Cover Reveal

Today's the day! The sun is shining! The tank is clean! And we are getting out of--The tank is clean!!!

Okay, so that doesn't actually have anything to do with the Espionage cover reveal, but today is the day! I'm going to be mean and not show you the cover right off, because I have a story to tell.

Round about December of 2013, I had a dream that gave me a story. But not only did it give me a story idea, it gave me something no story dream has ever given me before or since: A title and cover. Not that the title and cover were in the dream exactly, they weren't, but as I considered the dream and the story it contained, I had there in my head the perfect title and cover. I double-checked the title in the dictionary and drew concept art for the cover.

For the record, I'm horrible at drawing concept art. Give me a photo for reference and a couple days, and I can give you a realistic grayscale drawing (unless there are feet), but concept art? No. Still, this was enough to commit the idea to memory.

I had in mind for the cover model a little girl I babysat at the time. However, time went on and she moved away and then I moved away and her hair was getting too dark for Vannie's blonde anyway. Plus we had no good spot for the photo at my old house.

I finished the first draft at the end of September in 2014, having really started working on it that July. In preparation for the release of Creighton Hill in early 2015, I asked my pastor's wife, Mrs. Whitmire, to beta read it for me, and ended by giving her the entire Time Captives trilogy and Espionage within a few weeks. Fast forward to that fall.

Espionage takes place in the fall, so I knew that if I wanted to do the cover this way, I needed to take the photo soon, even though I didn't intend to release the book until the next spring. So we asked Mrs. Whitmire if her daughter Danielle would want to be the model for the cover. They were enthusiastic about the idea, for Danielle would make a perfect Vannie. I asked Ashley Elliott if she would be willing to take the picture. I'm a terrible photographer, and I already knew Ashley was good, since she did a fantastic job on the photo for her own book. I was delighted when she said yes.

So I had to make the dress. I knew I wanted green. I had in mind something similar to Susan Pevensie's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe dress. It was a bit difficult to find the fabric. I originally wanted linen or linen look, but I could find none that came in dark green. I settled for cotton with a coarser weave, that wasn't quite as dark as I was envisioning, but good enough.

Taking measurements after church, going over to have a fitting, buying strips of leather and strings of faux suede, taking the dress camping...

The dress has hand bound eyelet button holes, and I couldn't just stop work on them because our church was having a campout. So I brought it with me. I call it my Jill Anna moment because I was sewing while we were playing Monopoly Deal. And if you don't understand what I mean by that, go read Water Princess, Fire Prince. Right now.

And finally we were ready. My mom found a perfect tree in the backyard (henceforth known as Danielle's Tree), and I set up the photoshoot time. Danielle got dressed up, her hair braided, my sword strapped around her waist, and we went out into the clearing in the backyard.

Ashley took lots of pictures, some what I'd envisioned, some other things I wanted to try, some I wanted to have for promotional materials, and some behind-the-scenes. Like when the belt was slipping because I couldn't find good fasteners and so it was clipped and bobby pinned together, and I had to go fix it.

Finally we had the right picture. I played with it on Photoshop, finding text effects I liked, photo effects that made it look like a book cover, and figured out exactly what I wanted. Which was very much what I had envisioned in the first place.

And there you have it: The cover of Espionage. It's quite possibly the biggest cover project I've done so far, but also the most rewarding. And now Danielle can be famous. :)

Preorder Espionage on Kindle now!

“Sir Roland has invited us to visit for the Autumn Feast.”

“Do we have to go, Papa? I couldn’t feast with the most crooked politician in all of Briznom.”

As the daughter of a Briznomian vassal lord, Vannie Cumberland has spent her childhood immersed in the world of politics. Relations between Briznom and the neighboring country of Calhortz are strained due to the tyrannical rule of the strytes. A proposed alliance could calm relations between the two countries, but would come at the cost of Briznom’s freedom. 

When her father’s political archenemy invites them to the Autumn Feast, Vannie uncovers an evil scheme endangering the life of someone close to her. Personal enmity comes to a dangerous head as Vannie struggles to expose the corruption and stop the alliance. Time is running out.

Events are becoming too big for her to handle. Will Sir Roland’s son help or will things finally spiral out of control?

Coming May 16!

Other blogs revealing the cover, some with author interviews:

 The Art of Writing For Him

Books, Braids, and Born Again

Bring Your Own Books

Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings

Inklings Press

Jaye L. Knight

Knitted By God's Plan

Leah's Bookshelf

The Overactive Imagination

Reflections of the Heart

Scattered Journal Pages

WritingAnyone

The Official Espionage Description

Just one more week until the cover reveal! I'm really excited about it, and looking forward to sharing the story behind the cover. For now, I'm going to go ahead and share the official back cover text for the book.

“Sir Roland has invited us to visit for the Autumn Feast.”

“Do we have to go, Papa? I couldn’t feast with the most crooked politician in all of Briznom.”

As the daughter of a Briznomian vassal lord, Vannie Cumberland has spent her childhood immersed in the world of politics. Relations between Briznom and the neighboring country of Calhortz are strained due to the tyrannical rule of the strytes. A proposed alliance could calm relations between the two countries, but would come at the cost of Briznom’s freedom.

When her father’s political archenemy invites them to the Autumn Feast, Vannie uncovers an evil scheme endangering the life of someone close to her. Personal enmity comes to a dangerous head as Vannie struggles to expose the corruption and stop the alliance. Time is running out.

Events are becoming too big for her to handle. Will Sir Roland’s son help or will things finally spiral out of control?

Does Espionage interest you? Are you looking forward to seeing the cover next week?

Interview with Kyle Roland

The cover reveal sign-up will only be open for one more week, so make sure you sign up in time!

I wrote this while I was writing the first draft of Espionage in an attempt to get to know Kyle separately from Vannie before their stories really intersected. It was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy it!

Via Pinterest

     I relaxed in my chair, a notebook in my hand, holding my current favorite pencil in my fingers. At last an interview where I didn’t have to feel intimidated by my interviewee. I just needed to interview Kyle so I wouldn’t be constantly letting Vannie walk all over him, and so that he wouldn’t just be a younger version of Felix Walker.

     He sat across from me in the well lit room. I definitely agreed with Vannie that he was much better looking than Kermit. Of course, she did have a good reason to think that and . . . I needed to forget about the future for now. The present. When Vannie and Kyle had to uncover Sir Roland’s scheme.

     “Hello, Kyle,” I said.

     “Hello,” he said quietly.

     “You don’t have to be shy, Kyle,” I said. “I’m your author. And besides, I met you in my dream before you ever met Vannie. I’m just not sure that your name was Kyle then.”

     He looked confused. “How could my name not be Kyle?”

     I shrugged. “I don’t remember what your name was in my dream, so I decided to name you Kyle. It suits you, even though you’re completely different from the Kyle I know in real life.”

     “What’s he like?”

     “Like a little boy I used to babysit, who was very two when he was two and very three when he was three,” I said. “But that’s beside the point. We’re here to talk about you.”

     He squirmed. “I don’t like talking about me. And if you’re my author, don’t you already know everything you need to know about me?”

     “That’s just it,” I said. “I only know you through Vannie’s eyes, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she can be rather self-centered at times.”

     “I don’t know her well,” Kyle said. “I only just met her yesterday.”

     “You’ll know her much better in the future.”

     “I don’t need spoilers,” Kyle reminded me.

     “Now you sound like River Song,” I said. “But you’re right. Anyway, I need to get to know you for who you are, not who Vannie thinks you are. Not that she has anywhere near as harsh an opinion of you as she does of Kermit, but she definitely has opinions.”

    “I can see her having a harsh opinion of Kermit based on what she told me yesterday.” Kyle chuckled.

     “Oh, doesn’t she. But really, Kyle, I’m not here to talk about Vannie. She’s quite the character and I know her well. I just don’t want her to narrate you as a quiet little mouse who is two dimensional and just a means to an end in her story. That’s what she’ll do if we let her. Tell me about yourself. What do you like to do for fun? How do you like growing up by the seaside? What do you wish you could do when you grow up? What flaws do you find yourself struggling with? Everyone has some.”

     “Well, I like reading, and I like to be outside and with animals.”

     “That wasn’t so hard, was it? And it’s all stuff you have in common with Vannie and she doesn’t with Kermit.”

     “But I don’t really get to read what I want to,” Kyle continued. “My father is very strict about it, which wouldn’t be bad if he was really doing it for my own good, but I know he isn’t. Especially now that I’ve met Vannie, I know he’s trying to keep true history from me and real politics and he doesn’t want me to think for myself. But that’s all he does with me: limit my access to truth. Even my tutors never talked to me about the stryte invasion or the Time Captives or what the strytes have done to the elves and kalicans. It really frustrates me.”

     He heaved a big sigh.

     “Does it help to get it off your chest?” I asked.

     He nodded.

     “I don’t really know what that’s like,” I said, “but since I’m the author, I can decide it won’t always be that way. I already brought Vannie to you.”

     “I wanted her to come,” Kyle said. “My father hates her, and her father. He thinks they’re crazy and ridiculous for being a close family, and he thinks it’s stupid for her to come to Court. I think her father is smart. I mean, how can anyone learn to be a good Vassal Lord if they never go to Court before they are one? Not that Vannie will be one, being a girl, but she understands the political atmosphere more than I can.”

     “Do you want to be a Vassal Lord?”

     He thought about it for a moment. “Not really. I’d rather live a quiet life, but somebody has to do it, and I just want to be better at it than my father. Really, he doesn’t care about his family, how can he truly care about his people?”

     “That’s right,” I agreed. “Honor begins at home.”

     “It does.”

     “That’s actually a quote from a . . . a story in my world. But it applies to so many things. Like being a gentleman. You are one, a true gentleman. I only know a few in real life, a very select few, but they had parents to bring them up that way. You haven’t. How did that happen?”

     “My parents not really caring gave them little influence over me.” Kyle frowned. “I guess they just hired the right nurses and tutors. They didn’t really teach me much about politics and world history, but they did make sure I knew what it was to be a gentleman. My father didn’t ever like my treating the servants with kindness and respect, but honestly, he made it so I don’t really care what he thinks. And I want to be better than him. Being a gentleman is one way of many I can do that.”

     “I don’t want to bring up a bad subject, but I really need to know what flaws you struggle with. You really are very good and a perfect gentleman, but everyone has some flaws, and I have to know them to make you a well-rounded character.”

     “I do get frustrated with my father a lot,” Kyle admitted. “It’s hard for me not to yell back when he gets onto me for things. And . . . I don’t know if this is really a flaw, but I feel so ignorant. I’m trying to fix that, though I can’t with my father the way he is, but it kind of makes me irritable when I realize how much I don’t know that I should. And, um, well, I don’t lie or steal and I try to be nice to people, even if I’m mean to my father on the inside, I don’t like to be lazy, um, I do covet other people’s lives. I have so much stuff, but I don’t have what counts. I really want a close family. I’m jealous of people who have that, even if they are peasants most of the time. But I’m really kind of quiet, so people don’t really notice my faults. They’re all kind of on the inside. So I guess if Vannie is telling our story, it won’t really show much.”

     “No, it probably won’t,” I agreed. “I’d like to meet you in real life, Kyle. It’s too bad you’re just part of my imagination. Well, I think it’s time for me to say goodbye. I may come talk to you again sometime. It’s a lot nicer to interview you than bad guys.”

     He grinned.

     “Don’t let Vannie walk all over you, okay? She’s pretty stubborn and headstrong at times, but she’s still a little girl and tends to be one. She needs someone strong to take care of her, especially in what’s coming. And she needs someone to get her to stop complaining so much. I’m trusting you to do this. All right, Kyle?”

     He smiled and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

     “Goodbye, then.”

     “Goodbye.”

     He vanished, and I decided it really was time for me to go eat lunch.

Interview with Claire M. Banschbach

I have an interview with Claire M. Banschbach today about her new book Adela's Curse. First, lets find out a little about the book.

A curse. A murderous scheme. A choice. 
 
A witch and her master capture a young faery and command her to kill their enemy. Adela has no choice but to obey. If she does not, they will force the location of her people’s mountain home from her and kill her. To make matters even worse, the person she is to kill is only a man struggling to save his dying land and mend a broken heart.

Count Stefan is a man simply trying to forget the woman he loves and save a land crippled by drought. When a mysterious woman arrives at his castle claiming to be a seamstress, he knows she is more than she seems.

Adela enlists the help of Damian, another faery, to try and delay the inevitable. He insists she has a choice. But with the witch controlling her every move, does she?

 

Unlock the rest of the series!

Discover more of the magical world of Myrnius!
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10 Facebook likes by Friday, March 11, for a first look at Book 3!

Now for the interview.

Hi, Claire! Welcome to my blog. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hi, Morgan! Thanks so much for having me. I’m a twenty-three year old Physical Therapy student who loves to write and watch superhero shows in her spare time.

What inspired Adela’s Curse?

If I remember correctly, a few years ago I woke up and a scene popped into my head of an injured faery in a forest glade. I had no idea who he was or why he was there, so I began to investigate. Adela’s Curse is the end result of that. :)

How is Adela’s Curse different from The Rise of Aredor and The Wildcat of Braeton?

For starters, it’s set in a completely different world. But I think the main difference is that there is magic and magical creatures. The Aredor series is also pretty heavily action based, and this book is quite a bit slower in terms of pacing and plot. At least it seemed that way to me when I was writing it.

This is the first book in a series. How many books are there going to be? Will they all follow the same characters? 

There are currently two more books planned. The second book will have different main characters, but we will still see a few characters from Adela’s Curse come in. The third book will be set quite a bit later than the first two, but we’ll definitely get some references to old characters thrown in. :)

Do you like to snack while you write? If so, what is your favorite writing snack? 

I snack all the time. Haha! So goldfish crackers are definitely my snack of choice.

What is your favorite part of writing?

I actually really love when you’re stuck on a plot point or don’t really know what happens next and then going about your day or doing something completely unrelated, you get this enormous AHA! moment. And then inspiration comes in waves. It’s kind of awesome. :)

Which Merlin character would you most like to spend a day with? ;)

Haha! Tough question. I would definitely hang out with all of them! But if you force me to choose, I have a definite soft spot for Arthur. And he could get me unrestricted access to the royal stables. :P

I think I would pick Arthur too. Though my sister pointed out that Merlin's always wherever Arthur is, so he would be there as well. :)

Thank you so much for having me, Morgan! 

You're welcome! It was great having you.

Author Bio:
Claire Banschbach was born and raised in Midland, TX, the fourth of eight children. She was homeschooled through high school and is now a proud member of the Texas A&M University class of 2014. She is currently working on her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. She continues to write in her spare time (and often when she doesn’t have spare time). She hopes her strong foundation in God will help to guide her writing.

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