The Warrior's Stone - 2022

The Warrior's Stone

Matthew O. Duncan

Matthew O. Duncan is part of the resurgence of Old School Sci-fi. His books are a mix of Military Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, and Mystery weaved together with non-stop action.

O'Hara never wanted to be a hero. He was a combat pilot only because his skills made him the best and Earth needed men like him to fight the enemy among the stars. Living a life of service and duty, alone in a cockpit suited him well, but fate had other plans for him. Shot down over an alien planet he was saved by a beautiful and mysterious woman named Katreena. He soon learns that the world is populated by people who seemed to have been lost by time and controlled by stones that the people believe to be divine magic. Wanting only to return to his fleet, he discovers that he has more than a passing connection with the world's people, a love that resurrects a heart long thought dead, and a decisive battle to the war that followed him.

Men and Women ages 16 -99 (This is a republished book, so our market research indicates a wide market.)

We are relaunching the New Terra Saga series. This contest will be for the first book - The Warrior's Stone. If we get a quality design for this book, we will offer the designer the opportunity to do the designs for the next two books in the series with the same layout and style. We are budgeted to pay $200 for each additional cover. The original cover attracted the wrong audience. It was too animated and was mistaken as a young adult book, rather than a serious sci-fi/fantasy book. With the release of the 3rd book scheduled for early 2023, we have decided to redo the book covers. They should have the author's name on top and the Title on the lower third. The image should look more like art and not like a photo or animation. The story is about a combat pilot in the year 2319 who crashes on a planet of humans who are still like in medieval society. Think Scottland in the year 1100. War looms over the planet. The two main characters are Lt. Commander Roy O'Hara, a fighter pilot and the man a prophesy says is destined to save them all. And Katreena, the Princess of Bryerstone and a healer that can use magic stones to cure people. Trying to get all of that into a cover has proven to be difficult. So we are looking for something more subtle and abstract. Maybe a man and woman, (either in silhouette, or small, or facing away) a castle or something that would look like a medieval village or kingdom, and starships battle\ing in the sky at a distance. We are also open to other creative ideas.

Nothing that looks animated, graphic novel, young adult, or photo-realistic. Think old-school sci-fi. We will add covers of sci-fi/fantasy. (NOTE) We are also including the two covers for this book that did not work out well. These are examples of what not to do.