So the title to this one sums things up even better than usual. I’ve gone ahead and decided that the title for the first Dark Reflections novel has to change.

I’m starting to wonder if there are any writing and publishing mistakes that I’m not going to make before all is said and done. I hope so, but I guess only time will tell–I’m certainly on track to make a lot of them.

Katie and I have spent a lot of time over the last week trying to come to something we both like that could serve as the cover for the book we’re releasing on the 23rd (maybe I’ll do a post later with more of the background behind what’s been going on over the last few weeks to put us so far behind our usual schedule).

We’ve looked at several thousand fonts, separately and together, and Katie has mocked up something like two dozen different covers, but nothing was working like we thought it should. I’ve also recently looked at scores and scores of covers for other urban fantasy and paranormal romance books in an effort to get a better feel for what is typical for those genres, and Katie has done the same.

In the end I just kept coming back to the fact that at 13 letters long, the title itself was part of the problem, so Disillusioned will instead be released as Bound.

I’ve learned some lessons from this exercise. I’ll be sticking with titles that are shorter (probably 8 or 9 letters max) and I may very well hold off announcing a title until we have a cover done when it comes to future releases.

One of the things that has added to the stress this time around is the fact that we’re trying to brand the series more tightly. We’re trying for more homogeneous cover art and we’re hoping to settle on a standard font so that down the road a reader will be able to pick out one of my books from a lineup without having to actually read my name on the cover.

I think we’re both finally in agreement on which cover we want to use, so without further delay, here is Bound:

The Setup:
The only thing worse than having no family at all, is having a family that is out to hurt you. That would all be bad enough for a normal 17-year-old, but it’s even worse for Alec Graves. A shape shifter’s pack, his family, is the only thing stopping the other preternatural creatures out there from killing them.

Alec’s pack isn’t just neglectful, he’s pretty sure that his father wants him dead. Alec is about to be sent to the front lines of a war between his people and everything else that goes bump in the night. His only chance of survival is to convince everyone around him that he’s the perfect soldier, but there are lines that Alec won’t cross, not for any price.

Publisher’s Note: Dean Murray’s ongoing Reflection Series has been a stunning success with hundreds of thousands of copies in circulation, and a rich, complex world where choices—right or wrong—have real, profound consequences. Unsatisfied with the restrictions imposed on him by writing inside of the conventional series structure, Dean has returned to Sanctuary and the characters so many fans have fallen in love with.

Bound is the first in Dean’s new Dark Reflections novels, an alternate timeline set in the same world and featuring many of the same characters, but with a profoundly different backstory.

Dean finally answers many of the questions that his most dedicated readers have been asking themselves for years. What would have happened if Alec’s father hadn’t been murdered by the Coun’hij, how would Adri’s life have changed if her family hadn’t been shattered in a horrific accident?

The answers may surprise you, but one thing is for sure; you’ll see new sides of familiar faces and when all is said and done, you’ll never be able to look at some of them the same.

Readers new to Dean Murray’s writing can start with Bound in the Dark Reflections Series or Broken in the Reflections Series.

I think that Katie has created a number of really gorgeous covers, but out of all of them, the cover for A Darkness Mirrored has been my favorite.

You’ll see some common characteristics between A Darkness Mirrored and Bound. Negative space off to the side where the spine is/will be, and a single individual as the focus of the cover.

I had a hard time letting go of the font that Katie used on A Darkness Mirrored, but ultimately I think the fonts on the cover for Bound are a better match for other books in the genre(s) I’m trying to write in.

Here’s the runner up cover and the runner-up back copy:

Alec Graves has lived a life of privileged luxury; at least that’s what it looks like from the outside. The truth is that all of the money in the world can’t make up for an existence where he doesn’t know who to trust.

If that was the worst of things Alec could have learned to adjust, but as a shape shifter, he also has to constantly worry about being dragged into a dominance fight by one of the other alphas in the pack.

It’s only a matter of time before Alec gets sent down south to fight in one of the many border wars currently raging against the vampires or the jaguars. If Alec is killed in the fighting then his friends and sister won’t last the month.

Publisher’s Note: Fans of Dean Murray’s Reflections Series will enjoy this alternate timeline novel that examines what would have happened if Alec’s earlier life had gone differently. In this timeline Alec’s father wasn’t murdered by Agony and the pack wasn’t broken into multiple pieces. In this timeline Alec’s dad joined the Coun’hij and nothing has been the same since.

I suppose this isn’t a vote in the traditional sense, but I’d love to hear from all of you in the comments on this one. Do you think we chose right with the cover and the blurb? Do you think that the ones we are going with will make new readers want to pick up the series? I certainly hope so, I have some really big plans for Bound.

Thanks,

Dean