Cover Reveal: Born to the Blade – A new Serial Box series

In which we showcase the cover of Born to the Blade, a new series created by Michael R. Underwood and coming from Serial Box in April. This has been described as Avatar: The Last Airbender meets The West Wing and I am in tenterhooks for it.

Without further ado, behold! The smugglerific cover!

The Cover:

Cover art by Will Staehle

About the series:

On April 18th, Serial Box will release Born to the Blade, a series combining the visionary high fantasy setting and tense politics of series like Game of Thrones and Mistborn. Created by Michael R. Underwood, Born to the Blade is Serial Box’s first release in the high fantasy genre, and was written in a TV-like writer’s room by the talented team of Underwood (Ree Reyes series), Marie Brennan (World Fantasy Award finalist), Malka Older (Infomocracy), and Cassandra Khaw (Bearly A Lady).

In Born to the Blade, a desperate ambassador, a conflicted loyalist, and a cocky duelist will help determine the fate of nations with spell and steel.

For centuries the Warders’ Circle on the neutral islands of Twaa-Fei has given the countries of the sky a way to avoid war, settling their disputes through formal, magical duels. But the Circle’s ability to maintain peace is fading: the Mertikan Empire is preparing for conquest and the trade nation of Quloo is sinking, stripped of the aerstone that keeps both ships and island a-sky. When upstart Kris Denn tries to win their island a seat in the Warder’s Circle and colonial subject Oda no Michiko discovers that her conquered nation’s past is not what she’s been told, they upset the balance of power. The storm they bring will bind all the peoples of the sky together…or tear them apart.

Born to the Blade is Avatar the Last Airbender meets The West Wing, where duelist-diplomats fight and scheme to determine the fate of nations.

Serial Box publishes serialized fiction created by teams of critically acclaimed and best-selling writers. Serials are released through the Serial Box app(s), website, and third party retailers in weekly installments in both e-book and audio formats. During a three-month season, each episode is a 30 minute read or an hour listen.

About the team:

Marie Brennan (World Fantasy Award finalist, Prix Imaginales for Best Translated Novel); Malka Older (Infomocracy, Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for 2015); Michael R. Underwood (“Stabby” Award-finalist Genrenauts series, the Ree Reyes Geekomancy series; North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books; Hugo Award-finalist podcaster with “The Skiffy & Fanty Show”); Cassandra Khaw (Clarkesworld, Fireside Fiction, Uncanny, Shimmer, Bearly A Lady, video game writer).

Find more about the creative team here.

Pre-order the entire season and sign up for updates here.