Hello!

This is the day the Omnibus Edition of Return of the Dragonriders comes out! Naturally, that means you get to see this gorgeous cover art. The full-wrap! I was going to release the ebook ahead of the paperback, but when I realized how beautiful I could make the paperback with lots of illustrations – a realization that started when I finished the cover design – I decided to hold back and release a beautiful illustrated edition.

So, here’s that full-wrap cover.

And here is the back-cover description:

The dragons are extinct. None have been seen in a lifetime, and it is all to the good of the world that the soul-devouring demons are no more.

In a small village in the foothills, a devout girl named Silmavalien and her agnostic fiance, Noren, find two mysterious objects. When an albino dragon hatches in her room and Silmavalien’s soul is bonded to the dragon’s in a song of fire, her world is changed forever. Everything she has been taught is a lie, and everyone she knows is to be feared. Before she can marry Noren, she flees into the wilderness, where the challenge of winter in the mountains almost proves her and Minth’s end.

Noren fears for Silmavalien’s disappearance. When his object hatches the dragon Elninya, just outside the gates of the Oracle’s city, Noren finds his answers, but questions why Silmavalien would not trust him. He half-heartedly tries to find her, while struggling to hide his identity and his growing dragon in kingdoms where to be discovered is to be burned alive. But his fear could turn him into the monster he fears.

No matter how far they run, neither Silmavalien nor Noren can escape the Nightmare that seeks to devour their souls and slay their dragons. But if they accept it, the Gift of the Volcano, born in fire and darkness, will be enough to win their battle.

And, of course, in addition to the entire content of DragonBirth, DragonWing, and DragonSword, there are over 40 illustrations, over 20 of them pieces individually hand-drawn (digitally) by myself – the author. These include almost all of the dragon hatchlings, and all of the ones who play a significant role in the book, along with art of some of the magical or unique places Silmavalien and Noren visit, and more!

Plus, there’s an exclusive short story you won’t get anywhere else, set about six years after the end of the trilogy, and told from the perspective of Keya, Silmavalien’s completely asexual platonic love-at-first-sight friend whom she meets in DragonWing.

You can get it all here! (If you want the best of the illustrated edition – get the Paperback. I can’t do the kind of stuff with across-the-page illustrations and making the illustrations bring out and interact with the words in the e-format that I can in the paperback, and I can always e-mail you the full-colour illustrations if you want them! And I’m not saying this to make more money – despite its price, I don’t make more money on the Paperback – and, yes, even the ebook costs something, but it is three books!).

Get the Return of Dragonriders Illustrated Omnibus Now

PS. It might take some time for all store links to go live. As I write this, it is not live on Amazon and I cannot find the Paperback anywhere. If it isn’t live everywhere in a few days, I will make an update post.

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And I mentioned an Art Raffle!

Here is how it works:

Support me a little bit by buying either format of Return of the Dragonriders and enter a raffle to get a chance at me making some art for you. If you share it with your friends and on any social media you have (I am only on Twitter), that would be a bonus! Just use the contact form to let me know you’ve bought Return of the Dragonriders, and send a picture or answer a quizz to confirm you have and you’re not some sort of bot or something, and you’re in! (Raffle ends sometime in October)

I’ll be willing to try a variety of things, though I have more experience with some kinds of things than others! This includes, but is not limited to, landscapes, creature art, and object art, and if you have any questions – either about what I might be willing to try, or how you will be able to use this art – feel free to ask me, and we will chat about it!

I should also mention that if I make 40 entrees into this raffle (from here and Twitter combined), I will add an additional prize, and if I get 75 entrees, there will be a total of 3 prizes!

And here are some more examples of my art. You can look for more on my website – and if you get the book, you’ll have almost 20 more! (The gallery above is images that appear in Return of the Dragonriders.)

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By the way, by supporting me here and entering this art raffle, you are contributing to allowing me to support other artists: if I make that first goal for an extra prize of 40 sales, I will try to commission portraits of Silmavalien, Noren, and Keya (the main cast of Return of the Dragonriders) by Hello_Melo_Art, like this one of Alis from Legend of the Singer. Thank you!

Return of the Dragonriders Page