Matthew N. Howard

The first was something by Dr. Seuss, surely. But the first that I can say had a real impact - my parents were going away for a weekend and bought me a book to take to my grandparents - Asimov's The Currents of Space. I was around 11 and had never read science fiction - and neither did they, no idea how they picked this one. But I was hooked. I headed to the SF section of the bookstore for the first time, found Heinlein's Job, a Comedy of Justice, and that was the end. (Of course the latter book is not really appropriate for 11 years olds - that was surely part of the impact.) I still have both of those books.

Although The Tornado of Souls is my debut, since it's part of a quintet I decided to get all five covers done at the same time. They hang over my desk and inspire me to keep writing. So I looked for something thematic to carry across all five covers - there are actually two things, a hand or hands and the amulet. I wanted some really eye-catching, unique artwork to go with the novels and was happy to find an illustrator who could execute on my crazy ideas.