More artwork for The Bhel Sea

More work from Kentaro, this one is of the drought-stricken, poisoned flood plains of the Sentinels, a view from up high on Altlith, one of the surviving Sentinel cities built onto a gargantuan spire of rock jutting up from the plain below.

I had planned to have the book ready to go by now, but I'm in the midst of moving interstate, back to my home town of Brisbane, so a little delay is in order. Looking next month (February) to have it available on e-readings, in print soon after.

Update on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 9:27PM by Ben Julien

Second internal illustration is finished, depicting the scene of Jhared, Koja and Ragas staring down from the Gyntal Ridge near Altlith at the approaching Arakal horde.

Bhel Sea - cover design

Cover illustration is finished! Having input on the end product, and having commissioned it personally, just makes having the final product that much more enjoyable.

As mentioned in a previous post, the illustration is by the talented Kentaro Kanamoto who is next working on B&W inserts for the novel, most likely five illustrations covering various scenes, landscapes and characters of the book.

For this design, I asked for the central motif of a wreck, cliffs and black-pebbled beach overlooked by a keep. I gave him relevant sections of the manuscript to draw ideas from, but left it as much as possible in his hands. I wanted something evocative of the vision in my head, but not ruled by it (assuming it were even possible to brain-dump my ill-formed mental images).

The image you see will be the full spread of the print novel. The ebook will be the wreck and keep half of the painting only. Titles and blurb of course to come.

The Bhel Sea - update

Example of Kentaro Kanamoto's work (not my cover)Inching closer to my next publication, still tentatively titled "The Bhel Sea". After feedback from my editor which echoed my own concerns, I may change the title, or amend it, to something that doesn't conjure such a link with a naval / pirate / swash-buckling adventure... which this book isn't. There are three main (actually four, for those books with reviewer quotes featuring on the cover) hooks for grabbing a browsing reader's attention and interest, those being the cover, the title and the blurb (and to me, in that order of importance).

I have commissioned the fantastic services of an illustrator, Kentaro Kanamoto, an example of whose work you see in this post. He is almost finished with the design, that of a wrecked ship on a dark, storm-wracked beach beneath a looming keep. This is a pivotal early scene in the novel and one which I have always had in my head when I thought of a potential cover. The cover itself I will reveal hopefully very soon upon its completion, but I have been blown away by Kentaro's skill to now.

The blurb is yet to be written, and here I have licence to grab the essence of the book, and steer the reader hopefully away from the rocky misdirection of a book about ships and piracy.

And finally the title. This is a tricky one, as the book is mainly about the Bhel Sea, a dangerous, contested expanse of water where anything goes. And while there are the equivalent of pirates, or more specifically an organised mob of raiders known as the Korsar, more than half of the novel does not take place there, but rather inland, well away from any significant river, lake or sea. I am considering splitting the hefty tome into two parts for e-book publication, and a single volume for print, and perhaps using different sub-titles under a Bhel Sea Saga brand.

Watch this space.