The yellow parts will be gold foil on the special edition hardcover.

January Update

I have final cover for both digital and print, and a blurb, and an edited manuscript – now it’s time to put it all together and actually publish this!

The tentative release date is January 29 (Chinese New Year – the Year of the Snake), and I’ll let you know as soon as it’s up on a separate email, so you can pre-order if you like.

Here’s the full hardcover design, as it looks with the guides for the printer:

There are some minor typesetting errors here, but this is what the final hardcover dust jacket will look like. I love Ashton’s idea of putting the tagline: ‘So she saved the world. Now what?’ in big letters on the back. As I noted above, on the special edition hardcover, the yellow parts will be gold foiled. It will also have sprayed page edges, and again Ashton has outdone herself:

As well as a digital and paperback version, there will be two hardcover versions: I will have one without the foils and sprayed edges, published on Ingram, that will be available in all bookstores (and my online store when I add it. I’m planning to refresh my website so it has a full online store). The other hardcover will be foils and sprayed edges, and I’ll have that printed specially, and it will only be available for purchase from me at a con or from my website. It will be really expensive to print with all those additional features. Either way, it’ll be up for sale in digital and print probably at the end of the month.

I’ve created a new series for this title, it’s book one of ‘House of the North’. I’m already full of ideas to expand this storyline to include what other members of the family are up to, pulling the threads all together with the main John/Emma arc. Now that I have complete editorial control, I can do that!

Here’s the back cover blurb:

So she saved the world. Now what?

Only one warrior is capable of defeating Princess Simone in single combat: her father, the God of Martial Arts, who has been training her since she was a child.

The great war between the Heavens and Hell is over, and the Asian Celestial realm is free. Simone led the Resistance against the demons that led to their defeat, but at a great personal cost – she’s contaminated by demon essence, no longer an Immortal and exiled from the Heavenly realm. She’s revered by grateful Celestial residents, but all she wants is a normal life on the Earthly plane, where she can study to be a marine biologist, and spend time with her loving family and supportive boyfriend.

Fate has other plans for her, and she will be unwillingly drawn into a global conflict between the gods of the Asian Heavens and the demons of European Hell.

‘Serpent Princess’ is a fresh new entry point into the fan favourite ‘Dark Heavens’ universe. Join the Asian Gods of the Celestial House of the North for this lovingly crafted homage to Hong Kong’s iconic martial arts dramas, and the captivating world of Wuxia fantasy.

I am fully expecting MANY people to ask me if this is ‘standalone’. At this stage: yes it is. It will be a new ‘entry point’ to the Dark Heavens universe, kind of a (heh) ‘Dark Heavens, Next Generation’. (I nearly inserted a Picard facepalm here.)

So feel free to recommend it to your friends if they want a taster of the ‘Dark Heavens’ series: they can read it without reading any of the other books (but I don’t mind if they do, of course).

Here’s what the full paperback will look like:

Ashton’s done a fabulous job.

Anyway, keep an eye out for my social media posts with a release date if you’d like to pre-order.