the Author
March
3
38 Comments

Cover: The Emperor’s Wolves

Posted in covers, Shane Rebenschied, Mira, Severn.

I’ve been given permis­sion to post or reveal this: The cover for the upcoming Severn novel, The Emper­or’s Wolves. I love it! I really, really wanted to share it here. Kath­leen Oudit, the art director, and Shane Reben­schied the artist, did a fabu­lous job!

Now, I can!

Below is the back cover text, which I will attempt to post with covers from now on.

AT THE EMPEROR’S COMMAND

Multiple races care­fully navi­gate the City of Elantra under the Dragon Emperor’s wing. His Impe­rial Wolves are execu­tioners, the smallest group to serve in the Halls of Law. The popu­lace calls them assassins.

Every wolf candi­date must consent to a full exam­i­na­tion by the Tha’alani, one of the most feared and distrusted races in Elantra for their ability to read minds. Most candi­dates don’t finish their job interviews.
Severn Handred, the newest poten­tial recruit, is deter­mined to face and pass this final test — even if by doing so he’s exposing secrets he has never shared.

When an inter­ro­ga­tion uncovers the connec­tions to a two-decade-old series of murders of the Tha’alani, the Wolves are commanded to hunt. Severn’s first job will be joining the chase. From the High Halls to the Tha’alani quarter, from the Oracles to the Emperor, secrets are uncov­ered, tensions are raised and justice just might be done…if Severn can survive.

ETA: Name of art director, name of artist. Really, I should not post anything until I’m fully awake. Excite­ment does not guar­antee competence >.<

38 Responses to Cover: The Emperor’s Wolves

  1. Revecca Karnoff says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:38 am

    I love it. ❤️ So excited to read Severn’s book! Thank you for sharing

  2. Marcy says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:39 am

    So excited. Thank you so much for sharing. Do you know if the same narrator will be used for this book as the other Elantra series? If you don’t know I completely under­stand. I just love her. I have listen to all, but the newest one at least six times. I enjoy the books so much. Thank you for being amazing.

  3. Cherie Gardner says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:44 am

    This looks do good! Thank you for sharing ❤️

  4. Tyronne Lorne Hodgins says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:53 am

    Beau­tiful cover art! Love the synopsis! But we have to wait until October for it. Sigh.….…… Well, at least with your stories, they are always worth the wait! I’ve actu­ally pre-ordered it already.

  5. michelle says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Marcy: Actu­ally, I don’t know — that’s a very good question.

    @Tyronne: My copy-edits on EMPEROR’S WOLVES are due back in the office on the 20th, so, ummm, sooner is prob­ably not possible.

  6. Dr. Leanne C. Powner (@LeanneCPowner) says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:57 am

    I’m very excited… but why do I have a feeling this is not a stand-alone novel?? lol This feels like the start of a whole new series.

  7. michelle says:
    March 3, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @Leanne: It’s the first of either 2 or 3 — with luck, 2, but it’s the weapon acqui­si­tion story, which involves the West March.

    … and no, I’m not taking any bets.

  8. Sharon Brodbeck says:
    March 3, 2020 at 9:35 am

    Finally the Severn book, thank you

  9. Kat says:
    March 3, 2020 at 9:46 am

    Will there be an audible version?

  10. michelle says:
    March 3, 2020 at 9:54 am

    @Kat: Yes, there will be an audible version — but I don’t have more infor­ma­tion about that yet (i.e. narrator).

  11. Wendy Sahyoun says:
    March 3, 2020 at 11:11 am

    Wow, I am so excited. I have been following your work ever since Hunter’s Oath was released, and you always have a new story. I finally caught on that two of my favorite authors are the same person after several books. (The picture of the author on the back helped. :)

  12. Marie Roberts says:
    March 3, 2020 at 11:28 am

    Severn has never been my favorite char­acter but, I can’t resist your writ­ings. The Sun Sword series are the most fasci­nating read. I have re read at lease 5 times and still enjoys them. Thankyou for your hard work. It is really appreciated.

  13. michelle says:
    March 3, 2020 at 12:44 pm

    @Wendy: LOL! I didn’t try to hide it, but — I felt that they were tonally and struc­turally very different, and I wanted to avoid people expecting one thing and being disap­pointed by what they got instead.

  14. Andrea D Smith says:
    March 3, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    I’m so excited, seeing the book cover/synopsis makes every­thing real for me. Thanks so much for sharing.

  15. E says:
    March 3, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    This is fabu­lous! Both the cover and the back copy!

  16. Anna says:
    March 3, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    So beau­tiful! Waiting with held breath ;)

  17. Cheyenne says:
    March 3, 2020 at 4:41 pm

    Two Elantra books! In one year!

  18. Tchula says:
    March 3, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    Nice cover! The back cover text has me very excited to read it. Looking forward to its release into the wild. ;-)

  19. DeDe says:
    March 3, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    Very cool! and very excited to hear about 2 or 3 (or 3.5??) more. ;-) Really inter­ested in reading about the weapon acqui­si­tion — and what familiar faces might pop up in the West March.

  20. David Youngs says:
    March 3, 2020 at 8:37 pm

    I just re-read Cast in Moon­light. Can you tell us approx­i­mately where this book sits in the chronology?

  21. michelle says:
    March 4, 2020 at 10:15 am

    Emper­or’s Wolves takes place very shortly after Kaylin joins the Hawks as their mascot.

  22. Shawn Foley says:
    March 4, 2020 at 10:49 am

    I can’t wait for The Secern novel! I have been a huge fan of your books for years, mostly through Audible. I was so excited to have audio version of the Sun Sword series, but I am stuck waiting on books 4,5 and 6. I hope at least Sea of Sorrows will be out soon (Do you know when it will be out?). I reread or listen to all the books in what­ever series before any new book is released. Reading you blog has also been great for me, when I feel fraz­zled with my own writing. I love Khris­tine Hvam’s narra­tion, but I really hope for Severn you have a good male reader. I like Robbie Daymond’s voice, but I think he sounds to young for Severn, more like Kevin T. Collins. So this is the first time I have posted a comment, and I appear to be rambling. Anyway, I am a big fan and can’t wait for the next release.

  23. michelle says:
    March 4, 2020 at 3:52 pm

    @Shawn: I’m not sure who will narrate the Severn books. But Khris­tine Hvam is kind of the narra­tive voice of the Cast books. 

    These books are different in one way: there’s more than one view­point in them. I’ll ask to see if they’ve found a narrator or if they want a different one at this point.

  24. Dolli Moreno says:
    March 4, 2020 at 4:04 pm

    Can’t wait to read it!

  25. Nevada Martinez says:
    March 4, 2020 at 4:13 pm

    I’m super curious to know what young Severn is like. Although, I suspect that he’s pretty much always been the way he is — solid, constant, deter­mined. I went to Goodreads to see the page count, but that hasn’t been updated, nor the cover. I’m hoping you just gave into the words and we get a holiday-pie-NOVEL, not a dieting-for-summer-swim­suits novel. You write such good words.

    Thanks for writing incred­ibly read­able books. You’re one of the few authors whose books I actu­ally buy after reading them through the library because the stories stand up beau­ti­fully to multiple re-reads.

  26. Kitiara Aerin Green says:
    March 4, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    @Michelle. Hey I’m so so excited. To have the Severn Novel already! I have written to you many times now, from fan and aspirig author to my hero. Person­ally I wonder, why there can’t be a series about Severn and his fellow wolves as long as the cast series is? I mean between the time when Kaylin ran from Severn and the Fife of my hand­some night­shade, and into barren and even­tu­ally to the Hawks… Was like seven or eight years yes? Surely Severn had many assign­ments in that time, and his fellow wolves even more so. It would be a wildly awesome elantran spin off wouldn’t it? Is there any possi­bility of such a spin off? I have also a some­what personal ques­tion. I am a fanatic for your writ­ings… Your blog has been inspiring to me and I often find myself feeling like your my twin we are so much alike based on your blog as far as our writing process is concerned. And I relate to Kaylin in the extreme as what she suffered at the hands of barren and other things in her growing up. Anyone who knows me says she could easily be my clone or twin we are very much alike. I have tons of Kaylin art and self made items.. But my family wants to have a picture cake made for my birthday. They want to use a Kaylin image. I wanted to ask you if it is okay to use an image. Only for the purpose of my birthday cake. It is a rather impor­tant birthday espe­cially for someone autistic in the spec­trum as I am. I will be 30 in September. And you are my hero… My favorite books in the whole world even for someone like me for whom books are oxygen.. Kaylin is every­thing to me because of how inspiring you are and she is. It would mean the world to me to have your permis­sion to use an image for my birthday cake.

  27. Raeann Schurter says:
    March 4, 2020 at 10:41 pm

    Hi Michelle, super excited about the new Severn novel!! Is it just me or has his char­acter gotten less “air time” in the last couple of books? Also I am super stoked about the Sun Sword audio versions!!

  28. Estara Swanberg says:
    March 5, 2020 at 8:09 am

    I love Severn, and so glad to see it’ll be more than one book. Your Elantra Series (much like the Essalieyan books — god, I hope I wrote that name correctly) are turning into the kind of chunk series, like Bujold’s Vorko­si­verse or Cher­ryh’s Foreigner series which read like successful tv series view. I love getting more in any of these series, as different as they are. The core values of love and family remain ^^ (I’m just to scaredy to handle more than one read of your truly dark series).

  29. michelle says:
    March 5, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @Kitiara: Yes, of course you can use the image for a birthday cake – this partic­ular use is always accept­able, as it’s not for money (unless you’re selling Kaylin cakes, in which case, more of a problem).

    And: Have a very happy birthday!

  30. michelle says:
    March 5, 2020 at 9:42 am

    @Estara: Out of curiosity, what series counts (of mine) as truly dark?

  31. Sivi says:
    March 10, 2020 at 7:26 am

    Hi, really excited by the cover and the news of the release date. Will this book also be released in an elec­tronic book formate like kindle etc?

  32. michelle says:
    March 12, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @Sivi: Yes. There’s no publisher I can think of that doesn’t publish and release ebooks in this day and age :)

  33. Kathy says:
    March 18, 2020 at 11:28 pm

    I can finally ask: Is Severn Handred a delib­erate anagram of Hard­ened Nerves?

  34. michelle says:
    March 19, 2020 at 2:43 pm

    @Kathy: LOL!!! No, it is most defi­nitely acci­dental, but certainly the ques­tion made me smile :)

  35. Kathy says:
    March 20, 2020 at 11:56 am

    I read the first Cast book after reading Harry Potter:)

  36. Candace says:
    March 25, 2020 at 6:27 pm

    The cover art is beau­tiful. So excited to read this book. You made my day. It gives us some­thing to look forward to amidst all the uncer­tainty of the Covid-19 news. Thanks for sharing:)

  37. michelle says:
    March 27, 2020 at 3:44 pm

    @Candace: thank you — I admit that I spend the morn­ings now checking the news to find out where we stand re: Ontario and Toronto announcements.

  38. Katie Meeker says:
    March 29, 2020 at 11:56 am

    Great cover art! I admit that I am not a big Severn fan, but maybe that will change as I learn more about him sepa­rately from Kaylin.

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