First off, for all of you who were eagerly anticipating the next installment of Alexander’s story, never fear, it is coming and will be posted online tomorrow! (So you can set down the tar and feathers and cancel the lynch mob, please and thank you.) I plan to make a Saturday Special of it this week, just for you. This post simply couldn’t wait. It never rains, but it pours … This statement has never seemed truer to me than it has this summer. There have been so many things that have happened over the past few months. Some good. Some bad. Some highly exciting! The following news falls in the latter category. Out of Darkness Rising, a novella I wrote several years ago, is gearing up for an upcoming release! It has a new cover and will be releasing in February of 2015! (Which means, I’m currently wrapping up edits for Orphan’s Song, diving into edits for Out of Darkness Rising, planning and prepping for book releases, and writing book two of the Songkeeper Chronicles. Whew! See what I mean about the pouring?) It’s been a long journey with this novella. More of a circuitous route than a path, really. Some of you have been around since the beginning. This was my first true book ever written and completed. It was originally contracted back in 2011 with one publishing company, but that ended up not working out. So in November of 2012, Magpie Eclectic Press picked it up. Only there were a few unforeseen delays last year … but now, we’re moving forward! I can hardly believe it. And I’m incredibly excited to get to share the incredible new cover below! We used a contest where a number of fabulous designers submitted an overwhelming number of awesome cover concepts—which, I have on good authority, made selecting a winner quite a difficult task But against insurmountable odds, a winner did at last emerge with one spectacular cover! I’m slightly in love with it. This is the full cover—both front and back—gorgeous, isn’t it?

DARKNESS REIGNS UNCHALLENGED. For the villagers on the accursed Island, life has only one meaning—death. Bound to the Island by the curse, the villagers suffer beneath the iron claw of the serpent, daily breathing the poison of his breath and dying to appease his insatiable appetite. When Marya’s parents are slain by the serpent for their belief in a legendary king, she becomes an Outcast. Struggling to survive and avoid the vengeance of the Tribunal, Marya is torn between legend and the harsh reality of the Island. Yet when a forgotten promise springs to life, she cannot help wondering if the old stories might in fact be true. And if they are, will the promise prove stronger than the curse?

If you’re excited about the upcoming release of Out of Darkness Rising or Orphan’s Song, consider posting the book covers on Pinterest, or sharing the news with your friends online! In other news—I feel so newscaster-ish when I say that!—I now hang out on twitter and Google+ in addition to my facebook page, so feel free to look me up there! And don’t forget, the next installment of Alexander Mitus Scot Beauford III’s story will be live on the blog tomorrow, and—pray excuse me a devious chuckle—but it’s going to be good. You won’t want to miss it, take my word for it! Kirk out!