Cover for Mind of the Magic — Painting by Clyde Caldwell

Oh, man, do I love working with Clyde Caldwell. The painting for Mind of the Magic is by him, and it’s stunning.This is the front half, showing Faia Rissedote, one of the Klaue in the flesh, and some Klaue architecture.

One of the reasons I love working with Clyde so much is that he gets the details right. Right number of talons on the Klaue, the essential opposable thumb, right kind of rilles, right kind of wings, colors perfect. You notice that this particular Klaue is a rich red with black points — that’s in the book, and part of the massive worldbuilding that I did for Arhel, and it’s in the painting. Dead on. You want to know exactly what a Klaue looks like — here it is. And the painting is gorgeous, too, which doesn’t hurt.