Since finishing Book 12 of Forgotten Worlds, I have been debating on the title. My mind has been a pendulum of swinging between the title I had or coming up with something else. My original title idea was MESSAGES, but I realized there are many different aspects of this book. It covers such a wide swath of characters, giving greater "screen time" to minor characters than I have in other books.
It centers around a derelict slave ship with a horror on board killing the crew and prisoners. The slavers are a nasty species that serve the Issan. In fact, they sell the many species they capture to work as slaves on Issan projects. But they found something that they don't understand, and it destroys them and damages their vessel. Only after they answer the distress call and start rescuing prisoners does Nya's team discover the dark threat on board. There's a bit of a horror element to this with a twist appropriate to the series.
So, I considered all the angles of the story thinking of other title possibilities. In the end, I think my original title is best--MESSAGES.
I had the cover image long ago, so I adapted the alien ship description to the image. I've had writer friends find pre-made covers that inspired them to write stories to fit those covers. It makes things easier in some ways, especially when it can be hard to find the right cover to an existing story (character, setting, starships, etc.). In writing to fit the image, I didn't have to try to describe to an artist what I imagined. Instead, I could adapt my description to what an artist has already imagined. I did that also with a couple of past books in this series. This was too gorgeous of an image not to use, so I made sure I had a description that matched.
So, until I can announce the publication of Book 10, here is the cover reveal of Book 12:
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