I must confess, I am a cover…well, you know. So I am excited to have Martha Dunlop her to talk about her covers.

Designing my book covers was a treat I was waiting for. I’d been working on my books for years, focusing on craft, writing, getting feedback and rewriting over and over. Finally, the moment to publish The Starfolk Arcana had come, and I got to live out the cover dream.

I knew exactly who I wanted to hire to design my covers. There were two books I had bought in paperback, even though I’d already read them on my Kindle. I bought them because I loved the covers so much and that had always stuck in my mind. They had the same designer, Ravven.    

My books are a love story, so I wanted people on the front. It’s also set in historic city, St Albans, in a part of town that has lots of Tudor buildings. I went on a ghost walk when I was planning the novel, and the stories I heard whilst walking around the Tudor buildings were a wonderful source of inspiration to me. And more than one ghost made it into the final version of The Starfolk Arcana.  I wanted to capture the history and the spookiness in the cover and I think Ravven did a wonderful job of that with the old, crumbling Tudor building, and the ravens flying in front of the full moon. 

Tarot is another important theme in the book.  The main characters are all represented as archetypes in a specially illustrated deck. Jonan explains early on in the book that this is no mystery.  They knew the artist and she based some of the cards on her friends. But as more characters join the story, and their faces are also in the deck, things become less clear.  I love the way Ravven threw tarot cards into the mix on the book cover, having them flung up into the air to drift on the breeze around the characters. 

Choosing the people was the biggest job, and Jonan, the guy, was the toughest one to find. He had to be blond, (most of the models had dark hair), with long hair and an angular face. In the end I spent a long time looking before I found the guy on the cover. He was very smiley in most of the pictures, but looking serious, and with the addition of longer hair, he was the perfect Jonan.  There weren’t many pictures that worked, but there is a fabulous image waiting for book three of the trilogy. 

For book two I wanted a new colour scheme and a different mood, whilst maintaining the same feel.  This cover is set in the countryside in front of an old farm building and it picks up on some scenes from the beginning of Starfolk Falling.  Beth is a lot more confident in this cover. 

In The Starfolk Arcana, Beth falls prey to my antagonist, Amelia’s fear mongering and that is reflected in her worried expression on the book cover. By Starfolk Falling she is far more in control, and I can’t wait to see the cover with book 3’s Beth. I have the perfect image for her. 

I wanted these covers to feel immersive and magical, to pull the reader into the story before they even begin, and I really love the way Ravven achieved that for me.  She’s a wonderful designer. 

I must say, you accomplished your goal. I love the covers. Thanks so much for visiting.

The Starfolk Trilogy by Martha Dunlop

GENRE:   Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Cover By: https://www.ravven.com/ 

BLURB

Destiny calls. Soulmates draw closer. One woman stands in the way.

Beth trusts her psychic senses. So when her birthday visit to a daytime TV talk show takes a weird turn, she knows something is wrong. Amelia, the celebrity on stage, is oddly fixated on Beth and the man with the microphone is hauntingly familiar. Things become even stranger when she buys a tarot deck, and they are all pictured in the cards.  

Jonan has waited an eternity to be with the woman who haunts his dreams. When he finally sees her at the TV studio, he hopes life with his soulmate is within reach. But as Amelia refuses to let go of their past together, his hopes fade.

Amelia stands between Beth and Jonan. Spinning tales of supernatural threats to her adoring fan base, she builds a personality cult through fear of the paranormal. As her power grows, she does her best to scare Beth away from Jonan and plans to reclaim him for herself.

United by a destiny that spans lifetimes, Beth and Jonan are determined to stop Amelia’s fear-mongering. But Amelia has more than one card to play. Even though they are fated to be together, Amelia’s destructive nature may once again tear them apart.

EXCERPT

Beth sighed and slouched down in her front row seat at the TV studio. If she’d known she was going to be subjected to this drivel, she wouldn’t have come. She’d been here for two hours already, and not one of the stories had been genuine. Her so-called friend and flatmate had a lot to answer for. She was pleased Laura loved her new job, and it had been obvious her friend’s enthusiasm about the chat show was overblown, but this was worse than she’d expected.

She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned. Laura was standing off to the side of the set, waving her clipboard at Beth. She shifted on her mile-high spikes. Her feet must have been so uncomfortable, but Laura had been determined to make an impression today. Her eyes were bright as she scanned the set, drinking in her world. This job was her triumph. Beth couldn’t fault her enthusiasm, she just wished Laura had left her out of today’s charade.

Seated on the dais, Katherine Haversham waited for a moment, eyebrows raised, bright red lips pursed.

‘Thank you for staying with us over the break. I know this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Model and It girl Amelia Faustus is here, live, on Deep and Dark to break her silence over the horrific out-of-body attack that took her from the media spotlight. After weeks of fear and soul-searching, she has decided to step back into the public eye. Amelia, welcome. Tell us what happened.’ Katherine leaned forward. ‘Start from the beginning.’

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Martha is a dreamer and lover of stories who likes nothing better than spending her days getting to know the characters in her head.

She is a tarot card reader and reiki master, and loves to chat reading, writing and all things mystical on social media, as well as posting pictures of her fellow pack-member, Bertie the Cavalier.

A fiddle player, Martha fell in love with traditional music, particularly Irish, and is also teaching herself to play the Irish Bouzouki. She played her way through her English degree at York and remembers that time as much for the music as the books.

Martha is the author of three books: The Starfolk Arcana, Starfolk Falling, and standalone Wild Shadow.  She is currently working on Book 3 of The Starfolk Trilogy, Starfolk Rising.

You can keep up with Martha’s news, book releases and extra content at www.marthadunlop.com, or on her Amazon page, https://www.amazon.com/Martha-Dunlop/e/B08HN73S3D.

You can also find her on social media at:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarthaDunlop
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaDunlopStories/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marthadunlop/
• Head shot by Gene Genie Photography, www.genegenie.photography

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