Book Cover for The Devil's Library (Swords and Sorcery/Dark Fantasy)

The Devil's Library

Watson Davis

Watson Davis discovered fantasy and science fiction, magic and technology, Isaac Asimov and Robert E. Howard, when he was a young, impressionable boy in Houston, Texas. He wrote his first robot apocalypse short story at eleven, delved many a dungeon and battled many a vampire while pursuing a degree in mathematics, and penned books of swords and sorcery and military space opera. He now lives in Spain in a villa overlooking the Mediterranean.

Gartan, the proud chief of the Skybears, wants nothing more than fame and glory. When his tribe of marauders raid a southern city, Gartan discovers a map to the greatest treasure in the world. Determined to find the treasure and make a name for himself in the tales of the bards, Gartan embarks on an epic journey across the seas. But the journey is fraught with danger. Gartan, along with his son and his men, will face off against great empires, orcs, dragons, and even demons on their quest to claim the treasure.

But Gartan may discover that the greatest monster he will encounter is... himself.

Adult, Male, American. Readers of swords and sorcery, action-oriented fantasy.

The Devil's Library features a magically-enhanced race of "super-Vikings": big, pale, axe-wielders. The story features a father and son of this race.

For the cover, I’m imagining a Frazetta-ish kind of illustrated cover, but I’m open to seeing your unique art/digital style.

General imagery from the book that you might draw inspiration from includes the following:

1) These Viking-like warriors in longboats
2) A temple complex with a circle of temples around a large, dark tower (think Cyrodiil from The Elder Scrolls, but a bit more evil-looking).
3) A dragon destroying a sailing ship in a harbor.
4) A desert city carved from the stone in a mountain (think real-life Petra), surrounded by a moat of lava. There is no bridge across the moat (or a faint, transparent one), and the wall facing outward has some subtle runes inscribed upon it, perhaps glowing with some kind of magic.
5) A spooky, ghostly girl with black hair and snow-white skin dipping a quill pen into a wound in the crook of her arm with black veins radiating out from the wound. She's in a kind of cell/cage.

For the font selections, I leave that up to your discretion, but again please keep in mind that this is a fantasy novel. The book’s title is “The Devil’s Library” and the series name is “The Windhaven Chronicles”. I’m open to ideas on how best to style the names (fonts, colors, design etc.)

This is part of a series of books, and the winning designer will very likely be asked to create the other book covers as well, so designing in such a way as to prepare for a series (reusable elements or backgrounds, for example) would be very welcome. The temple complex from #2 in the list above, for example, is a recurring theme in the books, as well as dark sorcery and chaining people (both physically and spiritually).

* I've attached a picture of Cyrodiil to get an idea of the temple complex.