I have been too busy designing covers lately, but recently Jeff Somers has been making awesome videos and you should all check them out on his blog. There’s some hilarious peeks into the writing process and general frustrations of being an author.
But here is the most recent and the giant floating covers crack me up. Enjoy!
Now Jeff, when are you getting your tattoo?
Here’s a brand new Avery Cates novel from author Jeff Somers, book #4: Terminal State. I really liked the original trade paperback covers for this series that Jae Lee illustrated, but I have to say I have been really enjoying designing the mass markets in this really graphic monochrome look. The new covers for Electric Church (#1) and Digital Plague (#2) are hitting the stores in November & December, so go check them out in person. Eternal Prison (#3) releases in July and Terminal State in August.
I can’t wait to have all 4 of them lined up on my shelf. (more…)
Tempest Rising author Nicole Peeler wants to know: Should she get this fabulous vampire heart from her first book tattooed on her? I am sure the illustrator Sharon Tancredi agrees with me: ABSOLUTELY!
But leave room, Nicole! Sharon is designing a special heart for each book. Next you’ll have to get the fire-and-dagger heart from Tracking the Tempest! (more…)
The Art Department is deep into working on the covers for Fall/Winter 2010-2011 and has moved from deciding directions on books and choosing artists right on to the fun part: photoshoots! Today yours truly was at the studio with the crew responsible for the Jaz Parks series by Jennifer Rardin (hey, Bite Marks is out now, don’t forget).
The next book in the series is lucky number 7, tentatively titled Bitten in Two. Jaz and her motley crew of vampire hunting/demon slaying/werewolf shooting misfits are in Morocco this time, hunting for a way to evict the evil spirit locked in the back of Jaz’s skull. If you haven’t read this series, it’s all action, ass-kicking, and one hot vampire. No swooning maidens here. (more…)
The final book in the Castings trilogy is now out! This is the conclusion to the story that began with Blood Ties and Deep Water. Pamela has written a beautiful story – one where the ghosts walk the land, where old wounds have never healed and where one woman must reach back into time. It’s a fabulous story and if you haven’t checked this series out, you should now that the compete series is in hand.
This week has already gotten off to a wild start with Jesse Bullington’s concluding post re: the history of the Grossbart Brothers, appearing coincidentally with the publication TODAY of his debut novel from Orbit (US | UK), The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart — but before we get too far along, a quick rundown on what you might have missed, last week.
The first two parts of Jesse Bullington’s History of the History;
A. Lee Martinez pointing out the ugly truth about fictional protagonists;
Forthcoming covers of the mass market edition of Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold and Tom Holt’s Blonde Bombshell;
And, Nicole Peeler’s blood-curdling rundown of the Shreveport Smackdown between herself and fellow Orbit author Jaye Wells. Including, photos of the chair.
N.K.Jemisin, author of Orbit’s forthcoming and much-anticipated THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, her debut novel, has announced that she has a couple of ARCs of her book to give away.
And while it is a contest, the rules are easy.
Now in bite-sized format: the mass market edition of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. Now even more bad-ass.
I may have gone over this before, but you may ask, “Why would you change the cover from Hardcover to Paperback?” and my answer usually is “Why not?!” — there’s always more than one way to portray the story in a book, and why not take the opportunity to do something new and maybe even attract a few new readers that you may have missed the first time around. There’s some seriously publishing-geeky conversations over here between Editorial and Art about audience, readers, how people browse in bookstores vs. airports vs. bog box chains, etc. but in my book I will usually always go for reshuffling the elements at least — keeping the art, but playing with the crop, size, order, type on a cover. (That is, unless the Creative Director hasn’t had a lot of sleep that week, or some other art emergency is draining manpower when the cover change comes up for discussion, so don’t go back thru the backlist and nitpick me, ok? Ha.) (more…)
Don’t tell me you haven’t read Tom Holt yet! You love Douglas Adams, read Terry Pratchett, dabble in some A. Lee Martinez, but you haven’t discovered Tom Holt? Well, now is your chance. A huge favorite in the UK, Tom Holt has an impressive backlist of that kind of really funny, smart, and absurdist humor that we all met with the Hitchhiker’s series (way back in what, high school?) and need a pretty steady fix of. I admit I had never been introduced to his books before, but Orbit UK has been publishing him for a long time, and he’s developed quite an underground fan base in the US, who subsist on a diet of imports. This release will be not only the US launch of Tom Holt but also the start of a new cover look for the UK.
Blonde Bombshell is a great jumping-on point if you’ve never read Mr. Holt, and if you’re already a fan, you’ll be excited to hear that it’s Tom’s first book that is more of a humorous science fiction, (rather than humorous fantasy) novel. Here’s a description: (more…)
As always we’ve got news and much more coming up for you later this week but wanted to pause briefly to let you know what you might have missed, last week. And, if hadn’t time to read any of our posts yet — well, now’s your chance.
Orbit author Jaye Wells (THE RED-HEADED STEPCHILD) made her debut post on the Orbit blog, telling of the thrill-packed nonstop life of an urban fantasy writer. And, weremonkeys.
The World Fantasy Convention! Orbit editors Devi Pillai (an old hand at this sort of thing) and DongWon Song (a newer but now far more experienced hand) wrote of their experiences, and we reported on the greatest con suite party ever, as hosted by the one and only Gail Carriger, author of SOULLESS.
Creative director Lauren Panepinto unveiled the cover for Jo Graham’s STEALING FIRE; Devi Pillai steered you to Nicole Peeler’s just-published (and Selkie-riffic) TEMPEST RISING; and Anna Gregson passed on many of the great things being said about Marianne de Pierres and her Space Opera Supreme, MIRRORSPACE (Orbit UK/Australia).
