After a long wait, here is your first look at the planned cover for my next new book! Titled Elders and Aliens, this will be the third and final book in The Psychic Traveler Society series. Which will (hopefully, fingers crossed) be available by the end of August.
Elders and Aliens will follow Amanda Jones as she continues to explore her special role within the secret society. This book brings you to three new worlds, in addition to the worlds discovered in the first two books of the series.
I’ll post more about the continuing story as the release date gets closer. For now, I wanted to show off this shiny new cover!
As with the first two books, I drew the emblem art in Procreate on my iPad, then spruced it up in Photoshop (embossing, shadows, etc.), where I also created the full cover (front, back, and spine).
Covers Across a Series
The challenge of creating a book series is having covers that carry the same theme while also speaking to their own story. I’ve tried to do that through color and the imagery on each book’s central emblem. In the first book, Healers and Thieves, Amanda travels to a world where the plants, trees, and grass are all shades of purple. A key element are the tuntum trees, trees with twin trunks that spiral together as the trees wind down at night and rise tall during the day.
The second book, Family and Foes, introduces two new worlds. Primarily, Arcadia which is closer to our world but with more advanced technology (among other changes). The green cover reflects the similarity of Arcadia and Earth. The triple spiral, or triskele, is a symbol used in both worlds. In Arcadia, it represents the connection of mind, body, and spirit. The blue color on the new book reflects harmony and is a nod to an ocean theme that recurs in the story.
Creating a New Emblem
The emblem for the new book, Elders and Aliens, is based on the alchemy symbols for the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. The relevance of this symbol is explained later in the book.
My original design for this emblem was in gold, which I really like. However, it pulled the focus too much from the title once I put it on the cover. It needed more muted tones to blend into the background.
For the alternate color scheme, I used shades of purple for the border and triangle symbols, then added texture with shades of green. That way, the third book pulls in colors from the first two books.
The End of a Trilogy
Elders and Aliens will finish out The Psychic Traveler Society series. I’m very excited (and a little sad) to be wrapping up Amanda Jones’ adventures. However, I hope the third book will be a satisfying conclusion to Amanda’s initiation to the society and allow space for you to imagine what she will do in the future.
And you never know… I could always decide to pick up her story a few years down the road. After I’ve had some time to write other projects!