Cover Reveal: The Player and the Prince, by J.C. Rycroft
30 Jan 2025Welcome to a new cover reveal!
Today we have the pleasure of help reveal the cover of The Player and the Prince, a new prequel novella to the Everlands Cycle, written by J.C. Rycroft.
Let's take a look at the blurb:
An actress who can have whoever she wants
At the height of her reputation
But her desires run deeper…
As one of the foremost performers in the kingdom of Rescalin, Liv Equitor has come a long way from the gutters of Pastira. She’s fought tooth and nail for her reputation and its protection: she’s determined that nothing and no one will take her choices from her again. But despite all her careful staging, she can’t get her handsy troupe leader to give up the sense he’s entitled to her.
She needs an exit – stage left.
With their caravan headed to the capital of Pastira to compete for the coveted status of Royal Theatrical Troupe, Liv devises a new plan to match her ambitions: convince the king to grant her permission to start a new troupe of her very own – the first woman-led troupe in Rescalin’s history!
But when the prince of the realm, a notorious womanizer, lays his eyes on her, Liv knows that to earn a path to her own fortune, she must keep him interested - but never give him what he wants. Can she play her role perfectly and finally win the right to direct her own future? Or will the curtains fall, leaving her a bit player?
If you enjoy sapphic spice, court intrigue and feminine rage, grab your copy of this book today!
The Player and the Prince will be released the 20th March, 2025.
Time for the cover!
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In this post:
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J.C. Rycroft
I’ve written stories for most of my life.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve been entranced by stories and storytelling. I am vastly entertained by the unchosen heroes who can’t quite believe it, by encounters that are funny by accident, by desire that pokes its head where it’s not quite wanted (why hello queerness fancy meeting you here… again!), by fury that fills the soul and cannot be tamed. I love some meat on the bones of a story, but I want a rollicking good read. So that’s what I write.
I’ve always loved, too, imagining other places, other ways of being, other ways the world could be built, other ways of thinking of time, other ways that people deemed other might relate. So it’s no surprise I’m drawn to fantasy and sci-fi as a genre. Imagining elsewheres and who might live there are some of my favourite things to do.
My PhD trained me as a cultural theorist, which means I have some pretty complex tools for understanding the world in reach. But it also means that I know that the ways that we talk about things – from our relationships, to the natural world, to political structures – make some things imaginable, realistic, realisable, normal, real. And others unimaginable, unrealistic, impossible, weird-as-fuck dreams. We talk about ‘world-building’ in fiction all the time – but I think all of the fantastical worlds we read and write shape our own as well.
So if this sounds like a ride you’d like to join me on, stick around. The best way to stay in contact right now is via my mailing list or on Facebook. But I’d also love to hear from you directly, so please don’t be shy.