Cover Reveal: Buddy the Knight and The Queen of Sorrow

Feast your eyes upon this gorgeous cover for my upcoming Middle-Grade Fantasy release of BUDDY THE KNIGHT AND THE QUEEN OF SORROW!

Cover art by Candice Broersma (check out her incredible portfolio HERE).

So where did Buddy come from?

I’d been fighting writer’s burnout since the release of PIECES OF EIGHT, the second installment of my Guardian of Empire City series. While I had started on THE DEVIL’S SHARE, writing the story had been (and still is) a slog. I didn’t feel inspired, even though I remained in love with the setting and the characters. And I’m not one to put aside a project once I start one, either. I see things to their conclusion, for good or bad. But it had to be done.

Then the strangest thing happened. It was late afternoon on a Friday in January. I’m working from home, slogging through my day job (which I do love, by the way), thinking about what the family will eat for dinner. I decide to give my brain a break from insurance and check out social media.

(I admit that doom-scrolling through social media is not really a “break” for my brain, but hear me out.)

And then I came across this:

Alex Panagopoulos’ illustration is very well known, and I’d seen it plenty of times before. Yet, on that particular Friday, it resonated with me. So much so that I popped open a blank Word document and started writing. Ideas deluged my creative-parched mind about a teddy bear with the heart of a knight who must break a curse cast upon a little girl by some evil witch. I poured out seven chapters that Friday, the most writing I had ever penned to date. I read the first chapter to She-Who-Must-Always-Be-Obeyed…and she LOVED it. I read to her the remaining chapters, and she described them as “sweet” and “whimsical”. Right then, I knew I had to finish the story.

To put this in its proper context, She-Who-Must-Always-Be-Obeyed enjoyed my Guardian of Empire City books. They’re bubblegum, trope-y entertainment based upon a tabletop role-playing game I ran for some of my best friends.

But did she love them? No…well, at least, not like the Buddy story.

Her overwhelmingly positive reaction spurred me onward. In a few months’ time, I had completed the first draft and was ready for the next step.

Asking (ok, fine, begging) the incredibly talented Sarah Chorn (@bookwormblues) to edit the Buddy draft was a no-brainer. Sarah has worked with some of the best and brightest indie authors in the game. I am fortunate she agreed to work with me. Sarah’s insightful comments made Buddy so much better, and I am grateful for her support.

While going through edits and revisions, it was time to find a cover artist. Wading through the morass of AI artists (Sorry AI guys. It’s not you – well, it IS you), a serendipitous Google search introduced me to Candice Broersma.

As you can see from the gorgeous cover art above, I made the right choice.

I also worked with Zachary Robichaux, a recent graduate of SCAD, on some original illustrations which I’ll be using to highlight a scene or two from the story. Zach is an up-and-comer on the illustration scene, and did a solid job with Buddy and a few other characters. You can find Zach on LinkedIn (at least, that’s how I found him).

Buddy is close to my heart. He’s a mélange of my childhood memories playing make-believe with my brother, and watching my boys growing up with their own stuffed animals. He’s got a bit of Christopher Reeve’s Superman in him, and a touch of Chris Evans’ Captain America. Buddy is a salve to anyone in need of wholesome goodness in their lives.

“But Peter, Buddy is the hero in a Middle-Grade Age story. Shouldn’t he be as good as he can be simply because of your target audience?”

That’s not wrong, but there’s more nuance to it.

I wrote Buddy as a reminder to myself that there is also good in our world, so long as there are those willing to BE good. Performing acts of kindness, helping others who need it, standing up against tyranny, adversity, ignorance, oppression, Buddy embraces these characteristics and more, as any noble Knight worth their salt should.

And his friends love him because of it.

I’m incredibly proud of this story. Is it good? Only readers will know. But writing Buddy and his companions, the villains, the Places, the songs, everything about this story is a reminder of my own lost innocence. I cherish Buddy, and consider this my best work to date.

Release date for BUDDY THE KNIGHT AND THE QUEEN OF SORROW will be U.S. Labor Day weekend (around 8/31 or 9/1). I’ll be using Draft2Digital for publishing and distribution, which means the book will be available at several different online retailers. I’ll be blasting social media with the details once I’m ready to hit the “RELEASE THE KRAKEN” button.

When the story is out in the wild, I hope you’ll take a chance on Buddy and his brave companions as they challenge The Queen of Sorrow in The Realm-Under-The-Bed. It might bring you back to when you were of an age carrying around stuffed animals, gathering them on your bed before you went to sleep, or when you tucked your own kids in to protect them from Monsters and the other Things-That-Go-Bump-In-The-Night.

Who knows?

Maybe, just maybe, you’ll remember how to believe in your own magic again, if you don’t already.

G’night folks!