I got to work with Felix Ortiz by lucky chance. And for me, characters always come first. And I think it’s why he can get such a good grip on the characters in those stories. The great thing about Tommy–apart from being insanely skilled and fast and responsive– is he’ll actually READ the book he’s supposed to be illustrating. So I started actively seeking out his artwork and have been blown away ever since. Then I came across Tommy’s art again in Fran Wilde’s The Jewel and her Lapidary. Unfortunately John Howe and Alan Lee never got back to me, along with a number of others XD … but! I stumbled upon a short story by Joe Abercrombie on Tor.com that was illustrated by Tommy Arnold. What you do is, you browse all the fantasy books you own or like and see if there’s a cover artist that stands out to you. I got to talking to an acquaintance of mine and whined a bit, and he said: welp, you’re doing it all wrong. The final cover art I had chosen had a copyright infringement and so I couldn’t use it and ugh.

So I did what everyone in the self-publishing podcasts I was listening to told me: get your cover through 99designs. Sure! So way back in the day (2015?) I had finished Touch of Iron and was looking for a cover. Could you tell us something about the process behind them and the artists you worked with? So, first off… Your book covers are AMAZING and we’ve loved hosting your cover reveals. (She knows people don’t actually read author’s biographies, but feels mentioning this might be worth a shot … or two.) Also, she’s partial to Mojitos and Baileys … er, just in case you meet her in a bar and want to buy her a drink, say. Tim has never bothered to get a life because she feels like she’s been trying to lead three different ones already – and, yes, she totally stole that line from Terry Pratchett. Reading is an obsession that borders on compulsion most days. She is a native speaker of both English and German, but she’s also fluent in Geek, Gaming, and Whale. Timandra Whitecastle lives on the original Plains of Rohan (Lower Saxony) in Germany, with her family.

Touch of Iron by Timandra Whitecastle