OK. I really try to ensure that my infrequently updated blog isn’t merely a sockpuppet for self-promotion and updates on my books. Sometimes there are photographs of handcuffs, or long incoherent stories about ghosts. But this is a busy few months for me, publishing wise, so bear with me.
And besides, these three updates are really cool.
First of all, this just came in from the fantastic folks at Orbit: the cover art for the UK edition of Bitter Seeds! (The Mad Hatter has also posted the artwork here.)
On a related note, Orbit UK has just (as in right now, within the past hour) launched its own separate Facebook page (no longer a single page for Orbit in the US, UK, and Australia), and this cover launch is its very first post. Neato!
As I’ve mentioned earlier, the original release date for Bitter Seeds in the UK was going to be December of this year (right around the Mayan calendar apocalypse), but thanks to some encouraging pre-launch enthusiasm for the book, Orbit decided to move the book forward 5 months, to July. So that means they had to move up the production work quite a bit. But as you can see, they rose to the challenge with great aplomb! And I happen to know, based on conversations with my editor at Orbit, that they’re already hard at work on the covers for The Coldest War and Necessary Evil. I can’t wait to see the rest of the covers in this series, because they’re going to look great together, with a unity of theme and design that still emphasizes the distinct character of each book. Trust me. It’ll be cool. (And speaking of that third and final Milkweed book, on Monday I saw the first artwork for the Tor cover as well. This has been an exciting week all around!)
The second cool thing (which actually happened yesterday) is that the May (technically April 23) release of the US mass market paperback edition of Bitter Seeds was listed among the Barnes and Noble Bookseller’s Picks for May over at Tor.com.
The third cool thing (which actually happened on Monday) is that my editor and publicist at Tor forwarded to me a very nice review of The Coldest War from Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus is a tough audience, so I’m over the moon about this. It’s hard not to be when they use phrases like “jaw-dropping” and “utterly compelling.” (You might notice some excerpts from that review now grace the home page.) But beyond all that, I’m actually most pleased by the fact that the review describes the novel as being focused on, and driven by, character. That’s to the credit of my fabulous editor, who worked with me to find the right approach to accentuating that aspect of the novel. I put a lot of effort and emphasis on that.
I like that Orbit cover also. So far, you seem to be getting consistently artistically well done covers.
I have been very lucky indeed! Especially given the source material they had to work with…
And thanks again for the tip about the B&N thing at Tor.com.
I just thought of a fun (or interesting) project that someone could do. No that there are multiple covers, take the various covers and tell some writers that they are all about the same subject–now write a story. When Tor did the Palencar project there was just the one data point. With multiple input points, it would be interesting to see where the stories went.
You have a devious mind, Steve. Which is just the sort of thing I admire.
That would be a really fun thing to try. (And the number of datapoints will grow…)
Sorry, haven’t been here in a long time, just wanted to say: CONGRATULATIONS!!! The cover looks awesome! 🙂
Hi, Elena! Thanks very much!
I can hear Walter now: “Where’s the swastika!?”
Your bandwagon just keep rolling along. Congratulations.
Thanks very much, Terry!
(On the other hand, that means fewer swastikas for me to have in my house…)