THE DEVIL’S HALO by Rhys Hughes (COVER REVEAL)
Today, I’m proud to welcome fellow countryman Rhys Hughes to the Hive as we reveal the cover for his upcoming novel THE DEVIL’S HALO.
The Devil’s Halo is due for release from Elsewhen Press 24th January 2025. You can find out more on their website.
Here’s the official blurb:
A light comedy, a picaresque journey – like a warped subterranean Pilgrim’s Progress.
In death, as in life, paperwork is hell. The paperwork for the recently deceased Monty Zubris needs to be examined and deliberated upon. So, meanwhile, the Devil has consigned him to the Waiting Room of the Afterlife. It is ordered alphabetically, so he is compelled to make his way to his designated zone, which is, of course, near the very end of the chamber. On this voyage of enormous length, he meets various dead individuals, many of whom wish to tell him their remarkable stories.
And now for the cover…
Cover artist: Alison Buck
Here’s what Rhys had to say…
The Devil’s Halo is set in the Waiting Room of the Afterlife and tells the story of Monty Zubris, a recently deceased fellow who must make his way to the zone assigned for him, a journey of several million miles. On his travels he meets various dead people who want to tell him their stories. So the novel is a picaresque adventure and also a big frame-tale with lots of other stories embedded in it. A sort of subterranean Pilgrim’s Progress. I think this is my best fantasy novel to date and by ‘fantasy novel’ I mean a novel in which impossible things happen.
I have been awed by the art of Escher since I was very young. Whenever a publisher asks me what kind of cover I would like to see for one of my books, I nearly always suggest some sort of Escher influence to the artwork, if possible. But I rarely get that, which isn’t surprising, as he’s an incredibly difficult artist to emulate. So I was utterly delighted to see that the cover art for The Devil’s Halo has an Escher vibe about it, in the sense of the tessellations, and yet it’s not a parody or pastiche or pale imitation but has a strength and originality of its own. In essence, it’s one of the best covers I have had.
We were also fortunate to hear from cover artist Alison Buck:
It was a pleasure to work on this cover. Like Rhys I have always loved and admired Escher’s work, so it was great to have the opportunity to design a cover reflecting his influence. It was a challenge but great fun.
Alison is a figurative and landscape artist and has exhibited and sold paintings of various styles throughout her career. Latterly she has increasingly been working on larger canvases, focusing on the natural world, trying to capture the transient and transforming effects of light and movement within landscapes. For over twenty years she has also been working as a commercial graphic designer, running a design studio and producing graphics and artwork for corporate clients, book covers and illustrations. Alison is also an accomplished author.
British Fantasy Society Best Artist Award Nominee 2022
Find out more about Alison here
The Devil’s Halo is due for release 24th January 2025. You can find out more at Elsewhen Press
Rhys Hughes began writing from an early age. His first book, Worming the Harpy, was published in 1995 by Tartarus Press, and since then he has published more than fifty other books, and his fiction has been translated into twelve languages. His work encompasses genres as diverse as fantasy, gothic, experimental, science fiction, magic realism, comedy, absurdism, thrillers and westerns, and he is known for his invention, imagination and wordplay. He recently completed an ambitious project that involved writing exactly one thousand linked short stories. He also writes plays, poems and articles.
