Champions Kickstarter Update

I’ve added something new to the Kickstarter campaign for the new special editions of The Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances, coming in July.

I’ve told you about the special editions and the additional rewards for backers. The plan is for the books to be drop-shipped to backers to save one round of postage charges, and for me to mail signed bookplates separately. This weekend, though, I was thinking about those backers who would like actual signed books.

I’m adding a tier to the campaign with all five hardcovers signed. This means they’ll ship to backers from Canada, which might mean a tariff charge if you’re in the US. It should be fine for everyone else. I’ve made the set of vellum inserts part of this tier, since they’re difficult to mail alone – it’s much easier to tuck them into the books for shipping, which ensures they arrive in good condition.

To sweeten this tier with its extra shipping cost, I’m adding a beaded bookmark (made by me. I ordered the charms this weekend.) and a fabric book cover, sewn by me, to protect whichever of the books you’re reading. I’ll show you both of those once the materials arrive and I’ve made my first ones.

That will be my most expensive tier, and instead of having an early bird special, this tier will be limited in quantity. Once they’re gone, they’ll be gone.

new hardcover special edition of The Crusader's Vow, book four of the Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, coming to Kickstarter in July 2025

I’ll be adding about a box, too, with one signed hardcover (your choice of the series, but it will default to The Crusader’s Bride) and the print swag from the campaign, as well as more goodies. I’ll work out the details of that by the time the campaign launches.

We need to take care of the people who like signed books!

I’ll also add a local pick-up option for signed books. You’ll be able to pick them up at the Ignited by Books Author Event in September, to save on shipping.

The Champions of St. Euphemia special editions are coming to Kickstarter in July 2025

Follow the Champions campaign at Kickstarter to be notified when it launches. July 9 is the day!

Champions New Special Editions

This week, we’re going to talk about the new special editions of The Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances, coming to Kickstarter in July. I’ve wanted to give this series a special print treatment for a while, and now’s the time. 🙂

The new editions will be available in hard cover, trade paperback and ebook. The ebooks don’t have all of the features of the print editions but I’ll pack in as many as possible. (Page backgrounds, for example, aren’t supported in ebooks.)

Let’s take a closer look at the new editions today, and what makes them special.

First off, the books have new covers, designed by Dar Albert. Here’s a digital mock-up of the new hard cover edition of The Crusader’s Bride.

new hardcover special edition of The Crusader's Bride, book one of the Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, coming to Kickstarter in July 2025

The hardcovers have one image (with type) on the dust jacket and a different image (without type) on the case laminate.

new hardcover special edition of The Crusader's Heart, book two of the Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, coming to Kickstarter in July 2025

I wanted the case laminate to look like an old book. Each one has a gem on the spine, too.

new hardcover special edition of The Crusader's Kiss, book three of the Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, coming to Kickstarter in July 2025
new hardcover special edition of The Crusader's Vow, book four of the Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, coming to Kickstarter in July 2025
new hardcover special edition of The Crusader's Handfast, book five of the Champions of St. Euphemia series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix, coming to Kickstarter in July 2025

The trade paperbacks have the same exterior cover with the type. They also have a duplexed cover, which means it’s printed on the inside, as well. These trade paperbacks have the illustrations from the current editions – the images of the couples – on the inside of the cover.

Those illustrations are also included as full page images in the special edition ebooks.

The interior has been updated in the print editions, with beautiful backgrounds and chapter headers, again from Dar. Here’s the double-page spread header background for the special editions of The Crusader’s Bride:

header background for the special edition of The Crusader's Bride
single page background for the special editions of the Champions of St. Euphemia

The other books each have their own background, featuring swords and flowers.

All of the books use this sword background on individual pages, like the date pages.

These are digital mock-ups. I’ll take a video of the sample book when it arrives, so you can see exactly what it will look like. 🙂

I’ve also commissioned a map for the series, which will be a double-page spread in the print books. It will also be included in the ebooks. The map is being designed this month by Sarah Waites of The Illustrated Page. She draws the most amazing maps – you can take a peek at some of her completed projects on her website right here. There will be real locations on it as well as the fictional ones named in the stories. I’ll show you the map when it’s done. I’m prettty excited about this, as I love maps and Sarah makes brilliant ones.

The hardcovers and trade paperbacks will be printed and drop-shipped directly to backers, which saves a round of postage (and postage from Canada at that) which would be an added cost if I signed each book. Instead, I’ll mail signed bookplates separately to backers.

Each book has a dedication page in the front, and the bookplate has been designed to match. The bookplates will be full-colour vinyl stickers. Here’s the one for The Crusader’s Bride, along with the dedication page.

dedication page and bookplate for The Crusader's Bride special edition

Isn’t that pretty? Each book has its own dedication page and a bookplate that coordinates with the new cover.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the other rewards offered through the campaign.

The Champions of St. Euphemia special editions are coming to Kickstarter in July 2025

Follow the Champions campaign at Kickstarter to be notified when it launches.