Well, here it is! The cover reveal for The Song of the Sirin.
Designing your book’s cover is such a tricky step in the how to self publish a book process!
I was nervous about how it would turn out, to be honest. I was also hoping that maybe I could use the Andrei Shishkin painting of the singing Sirin. But when I saw this cover, I was just wowed.
The central image is almost exactly as I pictured it in my head. It’s one of the most important settings in the novel. The thorns were also a nice touch, I thought. But you’ll have to read the book to find out why.
On July 1, 2017, you’ll be able to buy this book in both print and ebook versions. Here’s the back cover blurb:
An evil omen clouds the sky. A song of lore returns. Can one man’s quest save the world?
Voran can’t help but believe the rumors. As blight ravages the countryside and darkness covers the sun, the young warrior of Vasyllia hears of an ancient spirit that devours souls. He feels powerless to fight the oncoming devastation until a mythical creature entrusts him with a long-forgotten song. Legend has it that such a song can heal the masses, overthrow kingdoms, and raise humans to divine beings…
Armed with the memory of the song, Voran must hunt down a dark spirit before it achieves its goal of immortality. His quest takes him through doorways to other worlds and puts him on a collision course with seductive nymphs and riddling giants. With each step of the journey, the strength of the villainous spirit grows, as does Voran’s fear that the only way to save his world… is to let it be destroyed.
The Song of the Sirin is an epic fantasy retelling of the Russian fairy tale Prince Ivan and the Grey Wolf. If you like the hero’s journey, creative twists on mythology, and classic fantasy, then you’ll love Nicholas Kotar’s sweeping tale.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Just for fun, here’s a bonus! Enter your email and I’ll send you a short story of my own. “The Erestuna” is a comic fantasy short about a hapless seminarian, a possibly predatory mermaid, and a bunch of crazy Cossacks.
We’ve been having a family discussion and maybe you can set us straight. We read your first book “Raven Son” a few years ago during our evening family read aloud time. We really enjoyed it and have been eagerly awaiting the sequel. But here you have described The Song of Sirin as your first novel. Is it a rewriting of Raven Son? or are you just not counting Raven Son since it was self published? How do the two books compare? Thank you in advance for satisfying our curiosity.
Hi Elisabeth! Thanks for the timely question, and thank you for the kind words about Raven Son. The Song of the Sirin is indeed a largely rewritten version of Raven Son. When I wrote Raven Son, I was pretty ignorant of some basic rules about novel writing. After I did some study, I realized that a lot of Raven Son would need to be redone. Plus, as I began writing the sequels, I saw that some details needed to be changed. The main ideas and themes are basically the same as Raven Son, but some characters have been changed or removed entirely. There’s also a lot more material than Raven Son. I think it makes for a much more rewarding read. I hope you will as well 🙂
I read the sneak peak of the first two chapters of Song of Sirin this morning and I’m hooked. This looks like it is going to be a great read! I look forward to enjoying it myself as well as sharing the world of Vasyllia with my children and their blossoming imaginations. I will be impatiently waiting for the release July 1st.
Nicky, where can I purchase a copy of ‘Prince Ivan and the Grey Wolf’? I think I would like to read it after yours, or maybe even while I’m waiting for the release. I’m sure that it will help me to appreciate all the details of your books even more.
Btw, our daughter Nina Emelia was born Wednesday night at 8:14pm! Glory to God! Mama and baby are doing great.
Congrats, Daniel, on your growing family! Our daughter is also Emilia 🙂 And thanks for the kind words. As for the fairy tale, you can find a collection with lovely illustrations at this link: http://amzn.to/2rAwsvM