A young man stained by his father's failure. A sword of ancient power. A legend rises.

Kion Bray can't accept that his father was a coward. Bullied for his dad's actions in the last war, the seventeen-year-old shepherd is determined to restore his family honor. And the only way to do it is to win the village's annual sword-fighting contest.

Lacking experience, Kion fears he might only bring more embarrassment upon those he loves. And with his biggest tormentor awaiting him in the competition and a dark army mobilizing to the north, his quest for redemption may come to a swift and painful end.

Can a simple shepherd learn to master his blade before his hopes and his people are crushed?

Read the first book in the epic Swordspeaker Saga fantasy series. If you like gargantuan quests, towering bravery, and coming-of-age tales, then you'll love DJ Edwardson's razor-sharp story.

I am beyond thrilled to share with you today the cover reveal for DJ Edwardson’s newest book, which will be releasing on JUNE 1st!

I beta-read this book a while back and I cannot even express to you how excited I am that it is finally about to be released into the wild!

But wait, there’s more! There are TWO giveaways going on throughout this cover reveal party!

AN EPIC GIVEAWAY!

DJ is also giving away a paperback copy of Truesilver to one person who comments* on the cover reveal posts from April 20-27 from across all the places where the cover is posted (websites, Instagram, Facebook). The winner will receive a signed paperback copy of Truesilver before it is released! Each site commented on counts as one entry, so commenting on multiple posts will increase your chances.

limited to the Continental U.S.

Follow the hashtag #TruesilverCover to find all of the posts or visit THIS POST for links to all of the posts in the tour!

ARC Offer

You can also get your hands on a digital eBook copy of the book before anyone else. DJ Edwardson is offering an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) to anyone who promises to give a review by June 1st. You can get a complimentary, shareable copy now through May 18th when you sign up.

Link to ARC Giveaway

AN EXCERPT

(get a sneak peek INSIDE the book!)

But being a musician and a coward were only two of his father’s faults in the eyes of the villagers. His father was also a shepherd, as, of course, was Kion. And that was almost as bad as being a coward. Shepherds were the most despised people on the Tors. If the sheep didn’t give enough wool, people went without a new coat or blanket. If the crops failed, people went without food and died. Good farmland was rare, not just in the Tors, but in most of the North, so rare that some referred to these lands as the Pebbled Steps. The soil was rocky and so were the people—well, the ones in Furrow, anyway.

Too poor to own their own land, the shepherds lived up in the rugged, windswept hills surrounding the village. They struggled to find good pasture and keep their sheep safe from predators and disease. No one except the other shepherds understood how they suffered. They earned barely enough money to pay the wealthy families who owned their houses, and most of what was left went to the fane’s taxes, which only grew year after year.

But the tournament was Kion’s chance to change all this. If he won, the villagers would know that the Brays were fighters and that shepherds had just as much honor as anyone else. Maybe Strom would even hear about it up in the fortress of the Clefts at Roving, where he was headed after he left Furrow. Maybe if Kion won, Strom would recruit him to join one of the fane’s marches. They could always use another blade to help them push back the haukmarn. With Strom up at the Clefts, the fane surely meant to deal with them once and for all. And soldiers made good pay, from what Kion had heard, far more than shepherds, at least. He would miss his mother, but it would be worth the sacrifice. If his father could give everything for people who treated him like a traitor, Kion could sacrifice for his family.

He rolled onto his back. The soft, familiar rhythm of his mother and sister’s breathing filled the dark. In vain he listened for the deep, full breathing of his father. The absence of the sound pressed in on his ears like being underwater. It had been ten years since he died, but the older Kion got, the more the ache grew. Maybe winning the tournament would make it go away. Maybe it would make everything better.

Amidst all his exhausted wrestlings, he drifted off to sleep at last.

But somewhere, close to midnight, a voice spoke into his dreams. It filled him with warmth, but a restless warmth, the kind you get on the cusp of a fever.

“I awake, but only just…My vision is yet dim, so very dim…Come to me and I shall be whole again…Listen to my voice…The call is sent…Awake, glaivebond, awake and take me up once more…”

But Kion did not remember these words, not until it was too late.

What’s that? You came here to see a COVER?

Of course you did!

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I know that!

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And let me tell you… this cover is truly, TRULY epic!

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I am definitely going to want one of these in paperback!

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And I’m pretty sure you will, too.

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Once you see it, that is.

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Which should be any minute now.

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Unless of course you’ve just scrolled past all my witty banter and are already looking at it.

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Which would be rude.

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Since I put some thought and effort into this.

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Okay…

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Here…

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It…

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Is!

I mean, that was definitely worth the wait, don’t you think?

And look at that epicness! I love it SO MUCH. I want this in hardcover, friends.

The story inside is every bit as epic and amazing (and that’s me talking based on the beta-version!)

About the Author

DJ Edwardson is the Grace Award nominated author of several books and shorter works. He traveled a lot when he was younger. Now he's busy crafting exotic destinations of his own. Although he has written both Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, he likes to say he writes in the "genre of imagination".

He has a degree in English from Cornell College where his emphasis was on the works of Shakespeare. He's tried his hand at both acting and directing in the theater, but these days is happiest with a pen in hand. He lives in Tennessee with his wife and three children amidst an ever-growing library of wonderful books.

Website