I no longer own the awesome covers Berkley gave Enemy Within and Enemy Games. Had to go out and get my own. Which I did. Haven't shown them to anyone else, but what say we plunk the new ones down here for your perusal? The covers aren't final. So if you have suggestions, bring 'em. (besides getting the stock photo watermark out of the Enemy Games cover) The series title it going to change to The Chekydran War, since this series follows the arc of said war.
The third book is tentatively titled ENEMY STORM. No cover for that one yet. It is THIS CLOSE to going off for edits. Not that I'm anxious for that.
On the off chance anyone has forgotten what this pair of SFR books was about, here are the descriptions:
ENEMY WITHIN
An escalating intergalactic cold war.
A starship captain clinging to
her shattered past. A pirate with an empire to protect .
An inhuman adversary.
And a threat beyond the scope of the imagination.
Enemy Within
After
a stint in an alien prison followed by a torpedoed military career, Captain Ari
Idylle has to wonder why she even bothered to survive. Stripped of command and
banished to her father’s scientific expedition to finish a PhD she doesn’t
want, Ari never planned to languish quietly behind a desk. She wasn’t built for
it, either. But when pirates commandeer her father’s ship, Ari once again
becomes a prisoner—this time of pirate leader Cullin Seaghdh, who may not be at
all who he pretends to be. As far as Cullin is concerned, the same goes for
Ari.
Ari’s
past association with aliens puts her dead center in Cullin’s sights. If she
hasn’t been brainwashed and returned as a spy, then she must be part of a
traitorous alliance endangering billions of lives. He can’t afford the desire
she fires within him. His mission comes first: that he stop at nothing,
including destroying her, to uncover the truth of her mission.
ENEMY GAMES
Besieged by an inhuman adversary.
Betrayed by their own kind.
A scientist and a spy, sworn enemies allied by danger, bound by
passion.
Enemy Games
Kidnapped while combating a devastating plague, Jayleia
Durante fights to resist Major Damen Sindrivik, an officer from a rival
government’s spy corps. With her spymaster father missing, and mercenaries hot
on her trail, Jayleia must align with the magnetic, charming, manipulative spy.
She must not lose sight of the fact that his single-minded agenda is for the protection
of the empire - not her, not her people.
Damen knows a shadowy network of traitors has allied with
the violent, insectoid Chekydran, and that Jayleia’s father holds the key to
dismantling that web. She becomes his only lead in a circuitous round of hide
and seek. Too bad his instincts tell him Jayleia is lying to him. Nearly as much
as she's lying to herself.
Unless Jayleia can decide what matters most: ending the war
or Damen’s love, they’ll become the prey of the traitors they stalk, and one
species’ civil war will consume the galaxy.
Don't forget to let me know whether you love or hate the new covers (and why, please, if you hate them - so I can fix them.)
I adore these books. So glad you have the rights to them. I recently found a remaindered copy of Enemy Games at a used bookstore and you can bet that's on my keeper shelf.
ReplyDeleteAs for the new covers...the eyes on Enemy Within sort of creep me out. She is looking sultrily at the reader, ready to undress, and he's giving some sort of possessed death stare to somebody off to my side.
With the Enemy Games covers, the expressions are also a little confusing: she looks super serious, but his face says "yeah okay, that's all cool now," which is not what I really think of when I think Damen Sindrivik.
BWA HAHA. OMG. Thank you, Lee. You aren't the first to mention the eyes. I'll have to work on that.
DeleteCongrats on getting the rights back! Those covers are lovely. I can't wait for the next books in the series!
ReplyDeleteI like the new covers, but the original cover of Enemy Within was what drew me to investigate the book, so it will always be my favorite. Also: will they be available in print?
ReplyDeleteYes. I will have them available on POD - and the plan is to take these books wide since the first two sold well on Nook and Kobo. I can't abandon readers on those platforms by going Amazon only.
DeleteOh thank you thank you thank you. I understand when authors go exclusive, because eating, but I am always so stoked to be able to buy things on other platforms.
DeleteYay!!!
DeleteWoo hoo!! That's very exciting that these will go out into the world again. Love the covers, too. Even more than the originals. (:p Sullivan) My only cover nits are that on ENEMY WITHIN, the fire/electricity of her sword disappears into the background and it's hard to tell what it is. I suggest making it more solid or giving it an outline of some sort, so it doesn't look like she's just holding a hilt. Also, is she missing irises? It looks a little like her eyes are rolling back in her head.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even notice the sword! I guess that's also possibly useful feedback?
DeleteExcellent point on the sword! (See what I did there?) I will have another look at her eyes, too, darn it. I thought he was the only one I had to resolve. I think her problem is that her eye color is supposed to be really light and I suspect it just doesn't convey. So. I'll have to be over actual representation on that. Thank you!
DeleteI'll second that 'yay'...for POD!! I really like the covers, they'd definitely make me stop and check them out. Though on Games she appears to be holding air in her hands?
ReplyDelete