very exciting news (new covers)

Everything I'm about to say may seem either self-depreciating or very pick-me, but I intend to be neither.

Ready?

Threads of Wyrd isn't really a conventional romantasy series. (My publisher uses the term, so I do sparingly, usually in hashtags or for metadata purposes. Opinions can vary and that's okay. I see how it could fit some definitions and I want to leave the door open for people who would enjoy my work!) It's not even a conventional historical paranormal romance series.

You can't entirely market something on what it isn't, so I only ever reiterate this stuff for context. I edit, ideate, and consult professionally, so I'm saying these things without being hyperbolic or pretentious. They're just literal.

Threads of Wyrd is definitely romantic magical realism and/or gothic romance with magical realism. It's a romance, though not a saccharine or conservative one. It's kinda a fable in some aspects, too.

And to expose my training for a second: canonical Gothic literature, including most sensation and some detective fiction, flirts with what we 2026 folks call supernaturalism, symbolism, magical realism, and romance. In addition, it tends to be rather brutal and/or horrific in both its themes and possibly overt qualities, even if it has elements of a love story or a romance. (Discussing those two things is a whole thesis. Add in the Romantic movement and it's a second thesis.) See Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Dracula, The Italian, etc.

I feel like I'm just carrying a torch left by authors who came before me? Only more gay, in some cases? I have a surprising amount in common with today's queer romantic horror writers, too, particularly those who write in historical or supernatural settings.

Anyhow, the point of all this is: my original covers, as lovely as they are, weren't effectively conveying what is in the books. I didn't think it would matter as much as it seems to have mattered! I was wrong. In an age of KU, doomscrolling, and being spoilt for choice, snap decisions on what to read are made via the visual languages of book covers. Faster than ever before, truly. Disjointedness between content and covers showed in some reviews, and might have been (or be) equally evident in lower click-throughs and page reads.

Also, I don't stalk reviews; I don't have time and I'd rather squirt citric acid into any open cuts. I dispatch others to do it for me, if I need content or marketing pulls. Most online reviews aren't peer review or professional criticism, anyway, and shouldn't be treated as such. Much like other creatives or even academics, indie authors have to learn whose input and reactions to onboard, but that's a different post. (You wouldn't listen to a total stranger bursting into your home with life advice, yeah?) Nonetheless, reviews may be useful for assessing certain strengths around presentation and marketing.

After talking things over with my publisher, we have pivoted! I am overjoyed! I don't know which new cover I like best! LOOK AT these beauties:

What a fab way to fling myself into 2026. The vibes, immaculate. The whimsy and darkness, embraced.

Please join me in welcoming these new wrappers for my lads' lush world x