Uncovered: Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

This is probably the single most exciting cover reveal I have ever done because it is for my friend and critique partner Suzanne Johnson's debut urban fantasy novel, Royal Street. It's the first book in the Sentinels of New Orleans series coming from Tor, and will be followed in fall 2012 by River Road. Suzanne also just got news that book three, tenatively titled Elysian Fields, is a go and will likely be released sometime in 2013.

As part of the cover release today, Suzanne is giving away a signed cover flat for Royal Street, which is basically the front and back covers of the book stretched flat. Click on the image of her cover below to jump over to her blog and enter.

Royal Street is an amazing book that has hooked me every time I've read it. There are wizards and wolves and shifters and even an undead pirate! It is clever, witty, and full of intricate worldbuilding. There's even some snark and several Lord of the Rings references thrown in for good measure.

I recall Suzanne fretting over what kind of cover she'd get and remember what she said when she was asked what she didn't want to see on the cover of Royal Street. Her response: "D.J. scantilly clad and holding a gun." Well, neither of those things made the cover and I am so glad!

Cliff Neilsen, who designed covers for Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, did the cover and it is absolutely gorgeous. It is D.J. without question, and all of the little New Orleans details are amazing. Just take a look....

 Description from Suzanne Johnson:
As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. Her boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters. While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the other world crumbled. Now, the Undead and the Restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering soldiers sent to help the city recover. Gerald St. Simon has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and an undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and the killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love serves up one bitter gumbo.

So what do you think? Leave it in the comments and remember to stop by Suzanne's blog to leave her some cover love.