Rainbow Awards: Cover Contest (Final Round)

10 covers made to the Final Round (please remember the selection was a mix of Poll and Jury) and now we need to vote for the 3 finalists, the winner of the 2012 Rainbow Awards Cover Contest.

- in the final round there are 10 covers
- in parallel with the poll, a special jury will vote the covers; the jury is composed by: Damon Suede, Dylan Rosser, Jodie, Julie, Max Rhyser, Mitzie, Tammy.
- you can vote ONLY 3 covers, leaving a comment on this post; all comments are screened.

And finally, these are the 10 finalists!:


Chasing Seth (Anne Cain)


Fragments of a Crooked Mirror


Dark Soul 1 (Jordan Taylor)


Ink (Anne Cain)


Dragon Tamer (Shobana Appavu)


After My Own Heart


Acrobat (Anne Cain)


Speechless (Anne Cain)


Tattoos & Teacups (Shobana Appavu)


Technically Dead (Shobana Appavu)

Tian’s Hero (The Akanti series) by Cherie Noel

The author created an “epic” tale in a “constricting” scenario, something that is of the best sci-fi tradition (someone remembers “2001: A Space Odyssey”?)

In a pirate spaceship lost in the galaxy, Lewell'yn is a spy posing as an assassin; the cargo of the ship is made of slaves who fate is to become hunting prey for the same people Lewell'yn belongs to, an almost savage breed who often cannot control their killing instincts.

The slaves, male and female, have to remain in separate quarters since the Kyrth (Lewell'yn’s breed) don’t kill pregnant beings; what Lewell'yn doesn’t know is that both Akanti males than females, can get pregnant. And there is a special little Akanti, Tian, who is unveiling all Lewell'yn’s instincts, not only the killing ones.

Meanwhile Lewell'yn has gotten involved with the much safer Kay, one of the doctors on the spaceship… problem is that, also Kay’s breed has unexpected characteristics.

So yes, we are talking about male pregnancy, and yes, there is also a scene of rape, although it’s not between the lovers and it’s exactly what it’s, rape; and it’s a tragic experience. Not two easy taboos to deal with on the same novel, I’m quite sure this scared off many potential readers. Truth be told, while I don’t mind the male pregnancy, I have to say that, from my point of view, I prefer not to read about rape, it’s always something tragic for the victim. Have to say that the author didn’t indulge too much on this side of the story, and above all didn’t absolutely linked the rape with anything related to the intercourse between the partners. Actually the sex between the lovers is almost an “eraser” of the rape, something healing both the victim and his lover.

The Akanti series is not an easy read, aside from being quite long, it’s even complex in the simply structure of the universe, the author even created a “new” dialect that is often in the story, from what I can tell a mix between ancient English and some modern southern slang. Moreover she didn’t shy away from the sheer violence of some of the event, so that, I would say this is not a novel for the faint hearts. But if you like sci-fi, and are not against the idea of breaking some taboos, than I would suggest you to try it.

Amazon: Tian's Hero (The Akanti #1)
Amazon Kindle: Tian's Hero (The Akanti #1)
Paperback: 626 pages
Publisher: Silver Publishing (April 28, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1614954720
ISBN-13: 978-1614954729

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle