GUNPOWDER MAGNOLIA Cover (+ Excerpt) (Patreon)

The cover above is from a premade store (Covers by Cherith), with typography and light Photoshopping by yours truly.

Finding a cover to suit Gunpowder Magnolia was a difficult undertaking (and I’m not sure I’ve 100% succeeded) since the story covers a range of conflicting themes and aesthetics. I was looking for an image that said: romance but also violence, slow intrigue but also EXPLOSIONS, China… but not really China, veeeery thinly China-inspired fantasy land with other cultural influences thrown in.

On that last front, I may have missed a bit, since the cover is unambiguously Chinese in aesthetic, from the sword, to the woman, to the clothing, to the architecture in the background, but it captured some of the other vibes so well, I decided to go with it. At least until we’re looking at an actual book launch, at which point, I’ll probably commission fancy original art.

EXCERPT:

First Lieutenant Chang Tairo was not the sharpest arrow in the quiver. It was something no one said aloud; that was simply not how you talked about the son of an esteemed general. But everyone knew that Chang Tairo’s rank was no more than a pretty, empty word to go with the boy’s pretty, empty head.

Captain Arza’s true right hand was Second Lieutenant Luyang Lanthe. During sparring and target practice, it was Luyang who walked through the training yard, correcting everyone’s form. When supplies ran low, it was Luyang who surveyed the fort to make sure everyone had the boots, cots, and rations they needed. Now, it was Luyang who went down the line to speak to the soldiers. There were no melodramatic calls for courage. That was not Luyang’s style—nor, Dalin thought, something the man could pull off with his humble air and provincial accent. Instead, he spoke to the men in ones and twos, giving them precisely the words they needed to hear.

“Deep breaths, Yuto.”

“Patience, Sukyao.”

Fifty men were crammed onto the wall, shoulder to shoulder. The second lieutenant knew them all by name and spoke to them like they were his own younger brothers—though he himself was scarcely into his twenties.

“Erling, even marksmen as good as good as you have a margin for error. Remember to breathe and aim carefully.”

“Hailu, your father is watching. Make him proud.”

Dalin did his best to stand straight when Luyang reached him—as if that would do anything to improve the lieutenant’s opinion of him after his performance at every stage of training. Men might swallow their insults about Chang Tairo out of respect for his father, but Dalin’s parents had been minor government officials, high enough in society that Dalin had never developed the farmers’ muscles and callouses to keep up with his fellow trainees, but not so high that those same farmers’ sons hesitated to laugh at him.

Luyang rested a hand on his shoulder.

“None of us were born to this, Dalin. I want to see those steady calligrapher’s hands make every shot.”

Access to the full chapter (and all subsequent chapters, as they come out) will be available through the $3 Saber Tier.