My brilliant cover artist, Isis Sousa, asked me to write a guest post for her blog concerning the work we did on Volume III. Now, when I say we, I mean she, since the real magic happens on her side, while I pester her about the details: a slightly different shade here, a smirk instead of a smile, a new armor texture, none of which I could implement myself (seriously, it would be awful), but all of which she somehow manages to get just right before we are finished.

She and I once had a conversation about how my descriptions of Vladvir reminded her of Norway (where she lives). I told her that the mountains, forests, and grasslands were all based on the Northwest United States, and mostly northern Idaho. Only in Vladvir, everything is much bigger. She sent back some photos of a vacation or hike she and her husband had taken. Sure enough, Norway looks a lot like the mountains of northern Idaho, only everything is more exaggerated. It was indeed like looking at pictures of a real life Vladvir.

For the guest post, we decided that the places in each of the covers and some of the notable locations in the books were a good topic for discussion. More specifically, the connection these fictional places have to the real ones I’ve been lucky enough to live near or visit. So head over to her site, Helheimen Design, and have a look.