Today, we’re delighted to host the cover reveal for Rachel Emma Shaw’s upcoming novel, Sacaran Nights. Set in a different world from her SPFBO 6 finalist Last Memoria, Sacaran Nights promises to be a ‘new take’ on dark fantasy and built from the legacies of the dead!

Intrigued yet? Let’s check out the official blurb:

“Sacara is decaying. The dead walk the streets, fungi light the night, and Dagner must fight to keep the rot at bay.”

Legacy is everything in Sacara. Those few who inherit live only to keep theirs alive, protecting the ghosts of their ancestors from the corruption seeping into every corner of the city.

Dagner longs to leave – to create a legacy for himself and see the world beyond – but he is trapped by an inheritance that was never meant to be his. When a figure from his past returns to claim the legacy Dagner has sworn to protect, he must decide if he will forge his own path, or stay and make the sacrifices needed to save the city of the dead.

Without further ado, the cover – in all its bioluminescent glory:

I am absolutely in love with the eerie vapours emanating from the fungi! Those colours really catch the eye, and tease us for the dark fantasy tale this looks set to be. Incredibly, Shaw designs all her covers herself. Here’s what she had to say about Sacaran Nights:

Sacara as a setting is probably one of the more unusual places you will visit. Shaded from the sunlight, the city hosts more species of fungi than you can count. They grow in different ways and have various properties that a savvy citizen might be aware of and might be able to use for one purpose or another. Despite the rot’s uses, those who live in Sacara face a constant battle to keep it under control and stop it from covering their houses and destroying their possessions. It was this sense of invasion I wanted to capture in the cover by having the fungi growing on Sacara. In a city where the rot is inescapable, it felt right that the title should meet with the same fate, and that the readers should be forewarned about the world they are about to enter into – one that was such a visceral experience to write about that I kept having to stop to go for a hot shower just in case the rot somehow leaked off the page!

As for the spores coming off the fungi, I love the other aspects they resemble. To me, they are also the dreams of those trapped in the city, dreams that are escaping out into the night. Alongside this, they are smoke-like and give the cover the feel of Sacara being on fire. Although not literally true, it represents the revolution kindling in the city, and it makes Sacara seem like Pompeii in its final days – complete with an encroaching sense of doom hanging in the air.

Sacaran Nights will be released October 28th 2021.
Pre-orders mean everything to authors – you can get yours from:

Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com