Cover Reveal: The Timeless Legion, by J.C. Rycroft

25 Sept 2023

Today we have the pleasure of helping reveal the cover for The Timeless Legion, the sequel to The Bloodborn Dragon, an excellent which we had the luck of reading and reviewing, written by the Aussie author J.C. Rycroft.

Let's first take a look at the blurb.

A dragon stolen. A love betrayed. A legion lost to time…

Des is a mess.

The sellsword has been betrayed yet again by her ex-lover, and separated from her bonded dragon, Squid. And now she’s been turfed out of her last sanctuary. Lost without her dragon, her only comfort lies at the bottom of a glass of ale. Or nine.

But much as she might long for it, her death would only give the Emperor what he wants: the opportunity to bond with her dragon and use its power to become immortal. To mount a rescue, Des must find a way across a militarised border. When her best friend is carrying permission to travel to Ascelin, she knows she’ll do whatever it takes to get her dragon back - even play the man she couldn’t marry.

In Ascelin, though, she finds everything she's ever held dear is at risk. The Emperor’s avarice will no longer be satisfied with using the dragons’ mastery of time only to avoid death, and he’s turning to conquest. Des must save Squid, confront old mistakes, and unravel the threads of time to find the secret at the heart of the world, before the Emperor uses the force of history to wreak his will.

Curious now? This book will be available on a special edition Kickstarter or in retailers during 2024.

And the cover, let me say it, it's absolutely amazing.

image

In this post:

J.C. Rycroft

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.