Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
It's time for #BeyondTheCover, where we show you the amazing art behind our gorgeous book covers!
Today we are featuring the art of Sam R. Kennedy for the cover of Blood on the Sand by Kacey Ezell.
Sam has 12 years of experience doing a wide variety of art jobs in the game business and freelance illustration market. Most of the time it has been conceptual or highly polished key illustration, but he has also done storyboards, character animation, and cinematics. Sam likes to work hard and be prolific. He loves the entertainment industry because of the loud dramatic pictures it allows him to draw. He particularly enjoys working in a variety of styles with different approaches. Some of his best work is photo realistic illustration. Sam uses the latest technologies to create bold, eye popping 3D images for video games. He is also strong in the area of drawing and painting things in a comic style. In his spare time you will find Sam drawing comics, children’s art, fantasy, and sci-fi art for freelance assignments.
Blood on the Sand by Kacey Ezell
IN HER DARKEST HOUR, AELYS CHOSE FREEDOM . . . BUT CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES.
Bellatrix Aelys turned her back on the family that betrayed her and chose to forge her own destiny alongside the dangerous men she had accidentally bound. Now free, Romik, Vil, and Daen make the uneasy choice to continue to work with Aelys as her protectors and business partners. But when Aelys faced off against her family, she didn’t eliminate every threat, and now mysterious forces are moving against her once more. Fearing for her safety and that of her men, Aelys agrees to do a simple task for her old teacher: escort some old “friends” to Zandrine, one of the fabled cities located in the south of the empire.
Only, not everything is as it seems. Zandrine is a city built on secrets and blood and pain. Aelys and her protectors will have to face the demons of the past and the dark schemes of the present, all while trying to figure out who they are to one another and how the four of them— warrior, sorceress, forester, and thief—can meld their strengths to keep each other alive.
Can Aelys, Romik, Vil, and Daen make the necessary hard choices that will forge them into a team capable of surviving these new challenges? Or will the pain of the past and the danger of the present destroy them one by one?
To see more of the artist’s work, go to: samrkennedy.artstation.com
To learn more, go to: simonandschuster.com/books/Blood-on-the-Sand/Kacey-Ezell/Magelight/9781668073230
To get the ebook, go to: baen.com/blood-on-the-sand.html
#BaenBooks #NewRelease #BeyondTheCover #BloodOnTheSand #KaceyEzell #SamRKennedy
It's time for #BeyondTheCover, where we show you the amazing art behind our gorgeous book covers!
Today we are featuring the art of Sam R. Kennedy for the cover of Blood on the Sand by Kacey Ezell.
Sam has 12 years of experience doing a wide variety of art jobs in the game business and freelance illustration market. Most of the time it has been conceptual or highly polished key illustration, but he has also done storyboards, character animation, and cinematics. Sam likes to work hard and be prolific. He loves the entertainment industry because of the loud dramatic pictures it allows him to draw. He particularly enjoys working in a variety of styles with different approaches. Some of his best work is photo realistic illustration. Sam uses the latest technologies to create bold, eye popping 3D images for video games. He is also strong in the area of drawing and painting things in a comic style. In his spare time you will find Sam drawing comics, children’s art, fantasy, and sci-fi art for freelance assignments.
Blood on the Sand by Kacey Ezell
IN HER DARKEST HOUR, AELYS CHOSE FREEDOM . . . BUT CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES.
Bellatrix Aelys turned her back on the family that betrayed her and chose to forge her own destiny alongside the dangerous men she had accidentally bound. Now free, Romik, Vil, and Daen make the uneasy choice to continue to work with Aelys as her protectors and business partners. But when Aelys faced off against her family, she didn’t eliminate every threat, and now mysterious forces are moving against her once more. Fearing for her safety and that of her men, Aelys agrees to do a simple task for her old teacher: escort some old “friends” to Zandrine, one of the fabled cities located in the south of the empire.
Only, not everything is as it seems. Zandrine is a city built on secrets and blood and pain. Aelys and her protectors will have to face the demons of the past and the dark schemes of the present, all while trying to figure out who they are to one another and how the four of them— warrior, sorceress, forester, and thief—can meld their strengths to keep each other alive.
Can Aelys, Romik, Vil, and Daen make the necessary hard choices that will forge them into a team capable of surviving these new challenges? Or will the pain of the past and the danger of the present destroy them one by one?
To see more of the artist’s work, go to: samrkennedy.artstation.com
To learn more, go to: simonandschuster.com/books/Blood-on-the-Sand/Kacey-Ezell/Magelight/9781668073230
To get the ebook, go to: baen.com/blood-on-the-sand.html
#BaenBooks #NewRelease #BeyondTheCover #BloodOnTheSand #KaceyEzell #SamRKennedy
