Book covers for Bringer of Chaos
Every once in a while, a story reaches beyond the page.
I'm getting ready to release the final novel in my Bringer of Chaos space opera series, Watch Your Six. (Yes, Six is one of the main characters, so the title makes me smile every time I say it.)
My book covers for this series have a story of their own.
Years ago, a friend asked for help finding an image of a warrior angel for a book cover. I had access to a stock image site, so I started searching. Page after page, I found lovely women with flowing gowns, graceful wings, and serene smiles. Beautiful artwork—but not warriors.
Then I stopped scrolling.
I'd gone past an image and found myself backing up for another look. There, among all the peaceful angels, was a blond man holding a sword. When I zoomed in on his face, I had one of those rare moments writers dream about.
He looked exactly like my own character.
Not "close enough." Not "I could make this work."
This was Pietas.
Finding the person behind that image took me nearly a year of occasional searching. Eventually I discovered he was a cosplayer named Nik, best known for portraying Sephiroth from Final Fantasy. I reached out with a simple question: Would he ever consider bringing a book character to life?
The answer was yes.
The Book Covers
Over the next several years, Nik portrayed Pietas three different times. He didn't simply put on a costume. He built one. For the armor series, he crafted it from modeling foam that hardens into a remarkably realistic finish, and he spent about a month creating it. Each photo session streamed live on Instagram, leaving me with hundreds of images to choose from.
When it came time to redesign the covers for the series, the decision was easy. My longtime cover designer, GermanCreative, transformed those photographs into the book covers readers see today.
Someone recently asked if the model was AI because he looked "too perfect."
I laughed. Not AI.
Just an extraordinarily talented artist who cared enough to become the character—and, for a little while, let the rest of us see Pietas the way I'd seen him all along.
It's Book Hooks!
Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative blog hop hosted by members of Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
It's a chance each week for you to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors.
Thank you for stopping by.
Links below lead to the sites of other authors also taking part. You can "hop" from mine to theirs with one click.
That’s an amazing story! I can’t imagine how you tracked him down, but it was definitely worth the effort!
When I want to know something I am like a dog with a bone. I don’t stop gnawing at it. I created a Google search for his name, and one day it popped up that he had created an Instagram account. After that, it still took months for me to work up the courage to ask him. I was afraid he’d think I was some crazy American. (He’s in Russia) But he was super gracious and we have remained friends online.
Your covers are great, Kayelle. So is this series. So unique. 🙂
Thank you so much, Tina!
Great story, Kayelle. And great covers!
I appreciate that, Jana. Thank you!
Love these exotic covers. Great job on all of it.
Thanks for sharing this lovely story behind your book covers.
Thank you, Bianca!