The Heir of Night – today’s UK release

Up until a week ago, I was really looking forward to the UK release of The Heir of Night (The Wall of Night, Book One) today and was busy making plans around how to best celebrate on my blog. But I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and just over one week ago we were hit by a massive and destructive earthquake. Although fortunate enough to survive, and very well off compared to many, it does not seem like the right time for the usual release day celebrations.

The road to publication—from the original idea, through giving effect to it on paper, the production process and finally printing and distribution—is a long one and release day is the obvious time to celebrate your book finally getting to the shelves and the public, and party up. But release day also gives you the opportunity simply to hold the book in your hands and enjoy the tangible sense of completion that gives you, even if there is no opportunity for fanfare.

And I do love this UK edition of the book: the starkness of the black-on-red colour scheme and the way the cover image captures both the strength and vulnerability of the central character of Malian, the Heir of Night. Most of all though, holding The Heir of Night in the context of the last week’s terrible events has made me reflect on the story being told inside the dramatic cover. The Heir of Night is epic fantasy, and in this case, an epic that speculates on both the grand sweep of events and their catastrophic consequences for the individuals and societies caught up in them. Love and hate, fear and courage, struggle, friendship and people choosing to support or undermine each other—this may be epic fantasy, but it is also absolutely the stuff of real life as it has played out in Christchurch over the past week.

http://helenlowe.info/blog/
Launch day graphic from my blog

There have been accounts of venal, petty and destructive behaviour. But mostly, I have been impressed by the way in which people have worked together to help each other—from individuals in neighbourhoods to the international rescue teams that have arrived, all with the training and equipment designed to enable them to work effectively together. The Heir of Night was written a long time before the events in Christchurch took place, but reflects the same concern with the behaviour of people caught up in epic events.

Holding a finished book in your hands seems like a very small good to set against the devastation caused by the earthquake, but I would still like to mark the moment in a quiet way. I will be giving away three each of the UK version of The Heir of Night, together with a copy of my first novel, Thornspell (Knopf 2008)—the winners of the three sets to be drawn from anyone who comments on my blog today. I do hope that a lot of you will post, because the other thing I plan to do is donate a dollar for every person who comments to the NZ Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal, up to a maximum of $500—because right now, I feel this is the most fitting way to celebrate the UK release of The Heir of Night.