It’s my pleasure to help reveal the cover for Steve Hugh Westernra’s upcoming book, So Sing the Barrows.
Steve is also the author of the epic fantasy book The Wings of Ashtaroth; he also penned the queer horror comedy The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle. With So Sing the Barrows, Steve’s giving us something a bit different.
In a deep dark wood, a deep dark secret festers, and an exiled Nordic witch must uncover the face of a murderer who wears the mask of a death god. Vengeance, survival, and the lives of her friends demand it.
Cover design by Steve Hugh Westerna, with assistance from Cal Black. No generative AI was used in the creation of this cover.
So Sing the Barrows Blurb
Wytha Naemisdottir is a witch, banished to the frigid mainland for failing to save her king’s newborn child. If she can find a gift worthy of the king’s forgiveness, Wytha can return home alongside her warrior lover and misfit companions. But the mainland is contested territory, and its dense woods are haunted. A black-robed stranger watches her from the coastline, the fishermen who greet her have taken to worshipping a foreign god with ties to Wytha’s southern heritage, and rumours abound of an invader whose vanguard is picking off villages one by one.
Worse still, someone is summoning spectral barrow-wights that attack Wytha’s people. Creatures straight out of myth, pitch-black and faceless, the wights can separate skin from bone with a touch. But uncovering the face of the summoner raises a disturbing question: is a stranger responsible, or is the summoner one of her cherished companions?
As the search for answers entangles Wytha in the sinister politics of mainland, it reveals an uncomfortable connection between the revival of an ancient blood rite known as the wild hunt, the sly tactics of the eastern invader, and Wytha’s own ancestral past. The deeper Wytha and her friends are driven into the forest, the further into disputed territory they find themselves, and the thinner Wytha’s grasp on her sanity.
Read it Early & Other Links
Steve’s upcoming release is already available to save on Goodreads! Keep up with the book there, or check So Sing the Barrows out early by signing up for an advance reading copy (ARC).
Steve has also created a Spotify playlist for So Sing the Barrows with tracks from artists like Kate Bush and Wardruna.
About Steve Hugh Westernra
Steve is a trans author of fantasy, science fiction, and horror (basically, if it’s weird he writes it).
He grew up on the eldritch shores of Newfoundland, Canada, and currently lives and works in (the slightly less eldritch) Montreal. He holds advanced degrees in Russian Literature, Medieval Studies, and Religious Studies. His current academic work focuses on marginalized reclamations of monstrous figures. He teaches the History of Satan; Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion; and Religion and its Monsters.
Steve’s books include The Wings of Ashtaroth, The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle, and So Sing the Barrows.
Follow Steve on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, or TikTok for more!
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