Apex Book Company just revealed the cover for my debut novel, Breaking the World. Before I gush over Noah Aust’s stunning artwork and tell you how to preorder it, I wanted to say a little something about the history behind this day.
Twenty-five years ago today, over one hundred ATF agents stormed the Branch Davidian Church in full body armor, guns drawn. Military helicopters circled overhead as both sides traded gunfire on church grounds. When the smoke cleared, four government agents and six church members were dead. What followed was the largest and longest standoff in law enforcement history.
For fifty-one days, the government surrounded the Branch Davidian Church, cutting the congregation off from the rest of the world. At the time, FBI press conferences provided the only source of public information about the standoff. Twenty-five years later, a truth far stranger than you can imagine is ready to be revealed … and now it has a book cover!
Noah Aust’s original artwork perfectly captures the duality of the central figure of the standoff, David Koresh. The self-declared prophet claimed to be anointed by God but ended up reviled as a cult leader. His Jesus meets Jim Morrison look befits his progression from rock musician to preacher to reluctant savior. Behind him, the state of Texas burns, and behind the flames, blood drips down newspaper headlines from the tragedy.
Pre-orders start today, the first day of the standoff. The book will be released fifty-one days later, on April 19th, the end of the siege.
