“I took hold of that scourge -filled ship and crushed it between my limbs, hurtling it into the second sun, the red one that gave me strength. But I was too late." Terraformer
I have been looking forward to sharing this book with all of you for a long time. The first thing you need to know about The Lantern’s Ember is…
This is the book I never knew I always wanted to write!
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the classic monsters and the harvest theme and this book gives you all of that. What you don’t know is that this book is also my first try at writing steampunk. The idea of steampunk has always fascinated me but I wasn’t sure I knew enough about it to write a whole world surrounding the technology. In most cases with steampunk books, you hear about a mysterious element called aether. In my Otherworld, aether is synonymous with witchlight or witch power which fuels all the cool contraptions.
For those of you who wonder how Halloween and Steampunk go together, think Edward Scissorhands or pretty much any Tim Burton movie.
So, what’s going on with The Lantern’s Ember cover?
My original idea for the cover was to have it be my hero, Jack, sitting atop his bridge overlooking a leaf strewn path with a sleepy little town in the distance. I wanted it to be very obvious that it was a Halloween book.
When I first saw the cover my publisher created, I didn’t like it. I thought it looked more like Pirates of the Caribbean than Halloween. Don’t get me wrong. I love pirates. In fact, I have pirates in The Lantern’s Ember. Over time, the cover grew on me and now I’m quite attached to it. The tone matches the artwork of my other books very well and I think it’s interesting where the tiger books were all about the eyes and the Reawakened series was about the eyes, in this one there’s an absence of eyes, or, if you prefer, there’s a steampunk set of false eyes. Either way, there’s a lot more going on in this cover than meets the eye.
Now for the cover hints
Ooh! I forgot one hint. Do you see how the word Lantern is hidden behind the leaves? Jack, my lantern, fades into the background so the townspeople can’t see him unless he wants to be visible.
Early Designs for The Lantern’s Ember Cover
As you can see here, the book was very dark in the beginning. I wasn’t crazy about the font. I love the addition of the fireflies inside the skull and how it really brightens up the book. The lights in the eyes and mouth also remind me of a jack ‘o lantern which is very appropriate.
But who is the cover artist?
The cover artist who designed this book is Billelis. Not sure if Elis is his last name. He’s done lots of gorgeous covers. Here are a few.
As you can see, he’s extremely talented. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook or check out his amazing Website.
Shareable Gifs
I’ve also made some cool gifs of this book. I’ve got one with bats, one with gears, and then there’s just sparkles. I think the gears are my favorite. Feel free to copy and share them.
Which one’s your favorite?
I can’t wait to see the cover design of my next book which I hope to release in 2019. I can’t share the title with you yet but it’s my first attempt at writing a sci-fi!
If you have more questions regarding The Lantern’s Ember, you can either leave a comment on the blog post or you can ask on The Lantern’s Ember Q & A on Goodreads.
Happy Reading!
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New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she's not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.