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Widow's Welcome: One Week Countdown


With just one week until Widow's Welcome is published, we thought we'd share some of the great artwork and images from inside the book as a kind of teaser.

We're so grateful to our publisher, Head of Zeus, for organising these. We love the cover (and judging by early responses, so do a lot of readers). But they didn't just stop there. They commissioned a map by cartographer and illustrator, Jamie Whyte. This is the first time Kath or I have ever had a map in a book! We are beyond excited by this! Check it out here in all its glory:


It really captures not just the geography of the world of Widow's Welcome, but the spirit and cultures of it too. We absolutely love the realm insignia Jamie designed for the six realms (plus the city of Fenest). So much so, we're using them in our one week countdown on Twitter. Check there first for the images as they come out, or check back to this post as we update it.

First up is the Caskers:


The Casker realm is all about making use of the rivers of the Union of Realms to ply a trade. The lakeside town of Bordair is their home when they're not on a barge. They love tattoos and don't suffer the Drunkard's fools lightly!

Then there's the Lowlanders:


The Lowlanders are the farming powerhouse of the Union. Their crops feed everyone, and that means they wield a lot of power. But not everyone likes a good farming story...

Least of all the Torn:


The enigmatic Torn live in the dangerous volcanic region known as the Tear. Through sheer force of will and determination they scratch a living amongst the lava floes and the ash clouds. They don't leave the Tear often; the air found in the rest of the Union doesn't quite agree with them. But the election draws everyone, even the Torn, to Fenest.

Next up is the Perlish:


  
The realm of Perlanse is split in two, east and west, and has been since the War of the Feathers. Each duchy of Perlanse has a long, storied history of nobility, rivalry, and cheese. If something's Perlish there's usually two versions of it, which makes things doubly complicated. This election they're the incumbents, and not very popular ones at that!

The penultimate realm in our countdown is the Rustans:


Rustans live on the very tops of the Rusting Mountains, a spindly range of mountains that are deep within the Tear. Unlike their Torn neighbours, the Rustans live above the ash clouds. They have a strong tradition of body-modification, particularly using metal.

The final realm of the Union is the Wayward:


The Wayward people are often associated with the harsh Northern Steppes, but really they roam all over the Union of Realms. They offer their services wherever they travel; as the saying goes, "the Wayward build other people's fences." In this year's election, their story is causing all kinds of trouble - including the death of their very own storyteller.

So, there we have it, the Union of Realms! Now all you have to decide is: who will you vote for?

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