As you may or may not know, author Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer’s and recently made a one million dollar contribution to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust (details HERE). But that’s not all. An eBay auction is currently being held HERE for a one-off replica of the luggage featured in the upcoming film adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s “The Colour of Magic”. This quirky ‘suitcase’ is filled with the full library of Discworld novels (signed), plus the production drawings (also signed) used to build the luggage as seen in the film. Also included in this one-of-a-kind piece of memorabilia is a copy of the 25th edition of “The Colour of Magic” (Released March 10th) which features the stars of the film—Sir David Jason and Sean Astin—on the front cover, as well as their autographs :) For more information on the auction, check out the press release HERE and be sure to visit the auction HERE which ends March 24th! And please note that all money raised from the auction will go to the Alzheimer's Research Trust.
Moving on, HarperCollins UK is putting together a new online service that will offer exclusive limited edition versions of their titles as well as digital-only new fiction from some of the biggest authors in science fiction & fantasy. As part of the research for this new service, I’ve been asked to mention an online survey HERE for readers to participate in. It’s only nine questions long and won’t take up much of your time, so if this online service sounds like something you would be interested in, the publisher would appreciate your feedback :)
In other news, Solaris Books has just announced a new acquisition from debut author Tim Akers called “Heart of Veridon”, a thrilling steampunk fantasy thriller and the first book in the Burn Cycle:
Jacob Burn is a disgraced airship pilot, and a man augmented by strange implants designed to keep him alive in combat conditions. An exiled son of nobility, he now makes his own way in the criminal underworld of Veridon, the City of Cog. But soon Jacob finds himself caught in a conspiracy of sabotage and murder between the government and the church, and a mystery that stretches back into the roots of the city of Veridon itself. (I can never get enough steampunk so I will definitely be checking this out :)
Solaris Assistant Editor Mark Newton said: “Tim Akers is a superb stylist, a writer who can tell a stunning story. Everyone at Solaris was very excited when we read Tim’s work, and we are all convinced he’ll be a great name in the genre.” Tim Akers’ short fiction has been published in Chiaroscuro, Electric Velocipede and Interzone, and will be featured in “The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume III”. As usual, you can read the full press release HERE.
Meanwhile, literary agent John Jarrold recently concluded a second, three-book World Rights deal for UK fantasy author Stephen Hunt with HarperCollins Voyager.
Hunt's first book with Voyager, “The Court of the Air” (Reviewed HERE), was published in April 2007 to universal praise, while the following paperback was Waterstones' Fantasy Book of the Month last September, as well as being stocked in supermarkets which is unusual for a new fantasy author.
It was also one of only ten novels (written in a wide variety of languages) selected for presentation by the world's main publishers at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival (Read the press release HERE)—the world's largest film festival. In fact, it was the only fantasy/SF novel on the list :) Additionally, “The Court of the Air” will make its US debut this June courtesy of Tor Books who recently signed the author to a two-book US rights deal. The book has also sold in territories across Europe and the Far East.
Stephen’s next novel, “The Kingdom Beyond the Waves”, is coming from Voyager this May 2008 and will be reviewed by yours truly in April :)
“I'm delighted that we have been able to confirm another three-book deal, and both Stephen and I know how hard and enthusiastically Sarah Hodgson has worked to this end,” said John Jarrold. Sarah Hodgson said: “Stephen Hunt is a hugely talented and inventive writer and we're thrilled to have signed him up to Voyager list for three more novels.”
All three of the new books will be set in the same world as “The Court of the Air” and "The Kingdom Beyond the Waves”…
Lastly, around the blogosphere:
~A Dribble of Ink reviews “Last Argument of Kings” HERE by Joe Abercrombie, who recently posted a semi-review HERE of Richard K. Morgan’s upcoming fantasy novel “The Steel Remains”.
~Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has a couple more cool giveaways including an ADVANCE COPY of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s upcoming Malazan novel “Return of the Crimson Guard” (Enter HERE) and a copy of Jeffrey Ford’s new book “The Shadow Year” (Enter HERE)!
~Remember when I reviewed Alex Bledsoe’s “The Sword-Edged Blonde” HERE. Well I mentioned that if the author could turn it up a notch or two that I wouldn’t be surprised if major publishers took notice. Well Alex must have done just that because The Swivet recently reported that “The Sword-Edged Blonde” and its sequel “Burn Me Deadly” have been purchased by Tor for publication in 2009. I’m not surprised :)
~Finally, Urban Fantasy Land has been keeping busy with a bunch of author interviews including Mario Acevedo, Jennifer Rardin and Jeanne C. Stein among others. Of these, I’m most interested in reading Mario’s Felix Gomez novels which sound like a lot of fun!
Moving on, HarperCollins UK is putting together a new online service that will offer exclusive limited edition versions of their titles as well as digital-only new fiction from some of the biggest authors in science fiction & fantasy. As part of the research for this new service, I’ve been asked to mention an online survey HERE for readers to participate in. It’s only nine questions long and won’t take up much of your time, so if this online service sounds like something you would be interested in, the publisher would appreciate your feedback :)
In other news, Solaris Books has just announced a new acquisition from debut author Tim Akers called “Heart of Veridon”, a thrilling steampunk fantasy thriller and the first book in the Burn Cycle:Jacob Burn is a disgraced airship pilot, and a man augmented by strange implants designed to keep him alive in combat conditions. An exiled son of nobility, he now makes his own way in the criminal underworld of Veridon, the City of Cog. But soon Jacob finds himself caught in a conspiracy of sabotage and murder between the government and the church, and a mystery that stretches back into the roots of the city of Veridon itself. (I can never get enough steampunk so I will definitely be checking this out :)
Solaris Assistant Editor Mark Newton said: “Tim Akers is a superb stylist, a writer who can tell a stunning story. Everyone at Solaris was very excited when we read Tim’s work, and we are all convinced he’ll be a great name in the genre.” Tim Akers’ short fiction has been published in Chiaroscuro, Electric Velocipede and Interzone, and will be featured in “The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume III”. As usual, you can read the full press release HERE.
Meanwhile, literary agent John Jarrold recently concluded a second, three-book World Rights deal for UK fantasy author Stephen Hunt with HarperCollins Voyager.Hunt's first book with Voyager, “The Court of the Air” (Reviewed HERE), was published in April 2007 to universal praise, while the following paperback was Waterstones' Fantasy Book of the Month last September, as well as being stocked in supermarkets which is unusual for a new fantasy author.
It was also one of only ten novels (written in a wide variety of languages) selected for presentation by the world's main publishers at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival (Read the press release HERE)—the world's largest film festival. In fact, it was the only fantasy/SF novel on the list :) Additionally, “The Court of the Air” will make its US debut this June courtesy of Tor Books who recently signed the author to a two-book US rights deal. The book has also sold in territories across Europe and the Far East.
Stephen’s next novel, “The Kingdom Beyond the Waves”, is coming from Voyager this May 2008 and will be reviewed by yours truly in April :)
“I'm delighted that we have been able to confirm another three-book deal, and both Stephen and I know how hard and enthusiastically Sarah Hodgson has worked to this end,” said John Jarrold. Sarah Hodgson said: “Stephen Hunt is a hugely talented and inventive writer and we're thrilled to have signed him up to Voyager list for three more novels.”
All three of the new books will be set in the same world as “The Court of the Air” and "The Kingdom Beyond the Waves”…
Lastly, around the blogosphere:
~A Dribble of Ink reviews “Last Argument of Kings” HERE by Joe Abercrombie, who recently posted a semi-review HERE of Richard K. Morgan’s upcoming fantasy novel “The Steel Remains”.~Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has a couple more cool giveaways including an ADVANCE COPY of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s upcoming Malazan novel “Return of the Crimson Guard” (Enter HERE) and a copy of Jeffrey Ford’s new book “The Shadow Year” (Enter HERE)!
~Remember when I reviewed Alex Bledsoe’s “The Sword-Edged Blonde” HERE. Well I mentioned that if the author could turn it up a notch or two that I wouldn’t be surprised if major publishers took notice. Well Alex must have done just that because The Swivet recently reported that “The Sword-Edged Blonde” and its sequel “Burn Me Deadly” have been purchased by Tor for publication in 2009. I’m not surprised :)
~Finally, Urban Fantasy Land has been keeping busy with a bunch of author interviews including Mario Acevedo, Jennifer Rardin and Jeanne C. Stein among others. Of these, I’m most interested in reading Mario’s Felix Gomez novels which sound like a lot of fun!
3:52 PM | 
Posted by
Robert |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.jpg)
8 comments:
Thanks for linking to my interviews at UFL, and have a lovely day! :-)
You're more than welcome :) Keep up the great work!
The Heart of Veridon sounds very interesting; I like steampunk too and The Kingdom book is on my buy on publication list since I enjoyed At the Court of the Air; it was a bit unbalanced with heavy going prose occasionally, but very interesting and with a lot of energy and that makes up for a lot.
At dead-channel.net, Mr. Akers has some short fiction set in Veridon and I liked it.
Liviu
As usual, nice mini round up. I hope The Colour of Magic makes it US TV screens.
Ugh, HarperCollins has badly mis-designed their survey. You can't mark two things as "Unimportant." Everything is either-or.
Wow, the Terry Partchett's chest is a real treasure, shiver me timbers!
Liviu, I think a lot of, if not most of his short fiction is set in Veridon which I should check out. Thanks for the link! Personally, I really enjoyed "The Court of the Air" so I'm interested to see what Stephen does for an encore...
Rob, thanks! I actually didn't know about the film until I saw that eBay auction. It doesn't look half bad :)
Reading, I know what you mean about the survey, although I've filled out several that are set up that way.
It is indeed a pretty cool prize :D
I also can't get enough steampunk, so the news about Burn Cycle is good news indeed.