Tijani – character concept art by chloeK

One of the new supporting characters for book 5: Ubara of Gor is Tijani, who was briefly introduced in the final chapter of Shadows when Emma, perhaps unwisely in retrospect, taunted him when he was chained to the oars of the Cosian galley, the Carcassonne.

Female slaves can be cruel towards male slaves, perhaps relishing the sight of a man in chains who might otherwise have power over them. Sadly for Emma, Yishana, the self-styled Ubara of the Black Coast has freed Tijani and offered him a place in her crew by the time of the first chapter.

The picture by chloeK highlights the improved rendering of her new Generation 8 digital models used in creating the art for the Emma series, art which I've always felt is absolutely inseparable from the prose, to the point that I've referred to her as the co-creator of the Emma series, rather than simply an illustrative artist. In her renderings of the central characters she has established beyond doubt what they look like, adding depth to what I write, especially as I tend to write a lot more dialogue than I do description.