As some may know, the artwork at the heart of my cover was done by M.A. Lentz, my husband. After a year’s worth of concept and draft work in his spare time, my cover art was beautifully born by his hand. We worked together throughout the process, positioning and balancing the content as he tried to bring the imagery from my mind’s eye to life on paper. It was exciting and inspiring all at once. When we began, Mike and I asked ourselves what visual from the book most encompassed the world I was presenting. What did I want to reveal? And, what would be too revealing of the story behind its show? To me, the portal through which Thistle arrives, not to mention a host of other souls throughout the eons, seemed my obvious choice. It represents so much across the story-board. The portal is one of two methods the Reapers use to populate and grow their world, limbo is another. Also, Thistle shows us our first glimpse of this megalithic edifice in her opening minutes within the Reapers’ existence while figuring greatly into the aberrant realm’s creation and intent. So portal for the win! Next, a question arose; what do we put at the heart of the portal? Mike advised the front door to Thistle’s workplace. It's the location of her capture by Miach and, itself, a peek into the epic journey ahead. How could I say no to such logic, you can’t! So, we started there and worked through each element surrounding the realm-gate. Self-criticizing our concept draft, we decided more elements of the book were needed to flesh out the cover. Hints, such as Pyhe’s tunnel entrance, seemed appropriate to the task and an obvious fit for the scene already in play. With Pyhe, of course, comes Moshe’s flower beside his usual mound of dirt. Working on Pyhe’s shadow, Mike enjoyed my addition to the first draft enough to ask me to pencil it into the final edition. It's my small contribution to his beautiful art! Throughout it all, I enjoyed watching Mike grow as an artist; taking on each challenge he set before him with admirable dedication to perfection. Today, work continues much the same way, on all projects. I write and doodle, ever asking for Mike's advice, and vice versa for whatever he happens to be working on at the moment. And, also at the moment, he is drafting another piece for his ongoing project of creating chapter artwork for my upcoming, special edition.