James Iacobelli, the brilliant graphic designer and artist behind the cover for A Gathering of Ravens, has struck again. Though no longer part of the art department at Macmillan, parent company of my publishers, St. Martin’s Press, Iacobelli was engaged to illustrate the cover for the second Grimnir book, Twilight of the Gods (coming the 26th of March, 2019). Grimnir’s tale, as I envision it, spans three books: 2017’s A Gathering of Ravens; the forthcoming Twilight of the Gods, and a third volume tentatively called The Doom of Odin. Iacobelli’s sparse, atmospheric art captures perfectly the grim “Northern Thing” at the heart of the books. As an author, I could not be happier with them.
About the Book:
In A Gathering of Ravens, he fought for vengeance. Now, Grimnir is back and fighting for his very survival . . .
It is the year of Our Lord, 1218 and in the snowy heart of Sweden, in the land of the Raven-Geats, the Old Ways reach deep – as deep as the roots of ancient Yggðrasil. And while the Geats pay a tax to the King in the name of the White Christ, their hearts and souls belong to the gods of Ásgarðr.
But, no man can serve two masters.
Pledging to burn this Norse heresy from the land, famed crusader Konráðr the White leads a host against the Raven-Geats, using torch and sword to bring forth the light of the new religion. But the land of the Raven-Geats has an ancient protector: Grimnir, the last in a long line of monsters left to plague Miðgarðr. And he becomes the only thing left that stands between the Raven-Geats and their destruction at the hands of the hymn-singing hordes of the Nailed God.
Aided by an army of berserkers led by their pale queen, Grimnir sparks off an epic struggle – not only against the crusaders, but against the very Gods as the grim and bloody gaze of Odin is drawn to the conflict. For there is something buried beneath the land of the Raven-Geats that the Lord of the Æsir wants, something best left undisturbed. Something the blood of the slain, Christian and pagan, will surely awaken . . .
The Cover:
Pre-order information coming soon!
