Is Spring Clean one word, two words, or hyphenated? Unsure, and can't be bothered to check, so apologies to any grammar/spelling police if I'm doing it all wrong.
Anyway, however the phrase (word?) is properly formulated, the website's had a bit of a one. Most of the changes are so minor as to be of no interest to any but the most dedicated of website-watchers, but I'll point to one or two that might be of interest:
Bloodheir now has its own pagein the Books section, so publication must be drawing near. Well, three months isn't exactly near, but neither is it far. As can be seen there (and all around the site, including in the banner up at the top), the final cover image has been settled upon, and I'm pleased with it. I think it's the best variant of the (extremely good) illustration that's previously been on show here and elsewhere, and complements Winterbirth's cover beautifully.
For Winterbirth cover completists, incidentally - and I know I'm probably the only one on the entire planet who actually falls into that category (but I'm allowed, right?) - the latest version of the cover for the US mass market paperback, due out in a couple of months, can be seen here, in the right side bar. Big black band. Striking, no?
There's a sneak preview to be had on Winterbirth's Facebook page: the new map that will be appearing in Bloodheir is posted in one of the photos albums there. I think the photos are one one of the things you can access there even if you're not signed up on Facebook, so anyone who reckons they know what new territories the action will be moving into in book two can go have a look and confirm their suspicions.
If you are a Facebooker, you might want to consider adding yourself as a 'Fan' of Winterbirth. There're likely to be one or two more bonuses showing up there for fans over the next few months, possibly even including the chance to get your hands on a free advance copy of Bloodheir. And in other news, looks like the Polish version of Winterbirth has emerged into the light of day, published by Kurpisz. 'Zimowe Gody' defeats the Polish translation engines I've been able to find in a quick online trawl, but there seems to be a 'winter' in there somewhere, so maybe it's a more or less direct translation of Winterbirth. Should anyone fluent in Polish happen to be passing by, feel free to enlighten me.
Chances are, things will be quiet around here for the next week or more (not that they're exactly a hive of frenzied activity the rest of the time), while I concentrate on eating, drinking, caressing the many books I'll no doubt be given on the 25th (people know how to please me), wishing it would snow, and - because you can't let a little thing like a festive season get in the way - writing.
In the meantime, a little selection of treats and trifles:
For Movie Fans, the newly-arrived Hellboy II trailer:
I was a big fan of the first movie - plain old fun almost from beginning to end, I thought, and that's something not many movies can claim - and this one looks like it might be a worthy successor. For Zombie Comic Fans (that's fans of zombie comics, rather than comic fans who are zombies), a tip: I'm way behind on this, since it's been going for ages, but this year I discovered The Walking Dead. I've only read the first collected volume so far, but it was up there amongst my favourite reading experiences of 2007.
It's the homely tale of a small group of ordinary people trying to survive in a world over-run by flesh-eating zombies. Good writing, good characters and the occasional gory zombie attack: what more could you ask? Recommended for those with post-Christmas book tokens to spend and an affection for quality comics. Or for zombies.
For Aspiring Writers, this is pretty old stuff, but it's well worth a read if you haven't seen it before: from the Australian fantasy author Ian Irvine, who's sold enough books to know what he's talking about, Writing Tips, Guide to Success, and easily the best of the lot, The Truth About Publishing. Not everything in there accords perfectly with my own experience, but that's no surprise as (a) Ian's writing from an Australian perspective, and (b) these things are bound to vary on a case-by-case basis. The important thing is that in broad terms there's a huge amount of good advice, truth and common sense in there.
For Anyone who ever wondered what a nuclear detonation at sunset looks like (likely a small subset of the global population, I realise):
Okay, so it's actually just the Sun going down behind a power station just outside Edinburgh, but it looked a bit like the Apocalypse to me.
For Those Who Care About Such Things, the latest version of the Bloodheir cover. It makes me feel cold just looking at it, which in this case is a good thing.
Last I heard, UK, US and Australian publication remains on schedule for June 2008, by the way.
And since it's the season for Giving Gifts, go test your vocabulary - and marvel at the plethora of obscurities lurking like unexploded bombs in the dark recesses of the English language - while simultaneously donating (at no cost to you!) rice to those who need it: FreeRice, which I found via Patrick Rothfuss' blog.
Finally, For Music Fans, especially those who like a bit of acoustic guitar action, what I think is one of the nicest sounds to be found on YouTube:
There're plenty of other clips of him on YouTube, all equally pleasing, and his website's here: Andy McKee. Sadly, no signs of any plans to play in Scotland as far as I can see, otherwise I'd probably be busy buying tickets instead of writing this post ...
And that's it. Whatever festivities you're engaged in over the next week or two, I hope you have an outrageously happy time of it.
Every so often I get an e-mail asking about the publication date for Bloodheir, book two in the Godless World trilogy. We're always eager to please around these parts, so here's the official update, freshly extracted from the horse's (i.e. publisher's) mouth.
The plan is to more or less synchronise Bloodheir publication around the English-speaking world. Winterbirth's appearance in the UK, Aus/NZ and USA has been staggered over about 12 months, but if all goes according to plan (which is never a 100% certainty, of course) Bloodheir will show up just about simultaneously in all those places around June 2008. It may appear a month sooner or later in one place than another, but any differences should be minor.
Barring unforeseen developments, by the way, Book 3 will follow approximately one year later. I guess it will also be coming out everywhere at basically the same time.
And that picture is a detail from the prototype of the Bloodheir cover, just as a bit of a teaser. Cool-looking dude, if you ask me. With a big spear.
Incidentally, although the official publication date of Winterbirth in the US is still a week away, it's in stock at Amazon.com. Buy! Buy! If you feel like it, obviously. No pressure.
Item the First. Although I've not had official confirmation, I think this is the cover to the Russian edition of Winterbirth. Now Russian sf/f book covers are famously ... what's the word ... different, and this one is no exception (I have no clue who those figures are), but I consider it a badge of honour and a pleasure to get one of these to my name. I get a little, always vaguely disbelieving, thrill from each of the translation deals done for the book, and there's something faintly exotic and surreal about the idea of it being on sale in places like Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Item the Second. Here's two Winterbirth reviews for the price of one (well, maybe one and a half for the price of one): the proprietor of Gav's Studio did a review and then went back a couple of days later to add to it. Interesting to see someone reflecting on a review and revisiting it - not something you see very often in the blogosphere.
Item the Third. Edinburgh has now entered the month or so of collective weirdness that is Festival season. I'll write about this more here soon, since it'd probably be some kind of dereliction of duty for an Edinburgh inhabitant with a blog not to at least note that their city has gone thoroughly mad around them, but for now just thought I'd note that Transreal Fiction, Edinburgh's sf/f bookshop, is hosting a Bestiary of Authors: an exhibition of informal photos of genre authors. For those who can't go along and see the real thing, a selection of the images can be viewed online here.
Item the Fourth. Decades of commercial, industrialised whaling failed to achieve it, but we got there in the end: the probable extinction of a cetacean. That's one less species of dolphin to worry about, which I'm sure is a great relief to all of us.
More bookskins. The German edition of Winterbirthis due out some time around November. I'm guessing, since there looks to be a line of figures winding its way between the pointy mountains, that this is an image of the Vale of Stones, through which first refugees and then armies march in the book. The trilogy's got the overall title of 'Die Welt aus Blut und Eis' (The World of Blood and Ice) in German, which sounds suitably dramatic. Wagnerian, even?
And the final version of the cover that's going to be used in the US and on the UK paperback(released in September and August respectively) has emerged, slightly different from - and I think ever so slightly improved on - the one I posted a while back.
I've liked, in one way or another, all the covers I've seen applied to Winterbirth so far. No doubt some of them will work better than others in drawing attention to the book (and selling it, which is my favourite part of the process obviously), but I don't really feel able to judge that (yet - I wonder if publishers dread the moment when authors start to develop and voice strong opinions about things like cover art?). What I can say is I'm a big fan of the UK paperback cover, which is the only one I've seen a hard copy of. It's got a nice cold, gritty vibe going on. Plus, although you can't tell it from this image, the word 'Winterbirth' is embossed and has a bit of a metallic sheen to it. To be embossed is good; to be embossed and shiny is doubly good. You see how easy authors (well, this author at least) are to please?
Behold, the cover of the Dutch edition of Winterbirth, which I'm liking. The bilingual amongst you (which in the UK would be precious few, in Holland - as far as I can tell - pretty much everybody), will notice that it's not actually called Winterbirth. A name change was recommended for the Dutch market, which was fine by me. As a result, it turns out that I've written a book called (in that one corner of the world) Swords of Honour. Last I heard, it's published next month.
Orbit's new USA imprint is showing its first signs of life: orbitbooks.net. And the first book displayed on their publishing schedule is ... Winterbirth. It's scheduled for release in September. This is a good and exciting thing.
As is pretty much always the case, crossing the Atlantic involves a new cover, so here's what Winterbirth will be wearing in the US this Fall:
Winterbirth has finally completed its long transformation from soup-of-vague-ideas to real live book. It has now entered both hardback and trade paperback bookhood. One or other, or both, may well be available in a bookshop near you right now at, of course, a very reasonable price. I think they're pretty.
One or two folk have asked me about the cover for Winterbirth, so just in case anyone else wonders about this kind of thing: no, it's not up to the author what cover his or her book gets. Others, better qualified, do the decision-making (i.e. the publishers). I did get the chance to comment on the cover, once the design had been put together. My carefully considered and insightful input boiled down to: 'I like it.'
It's very noticeable that the covers on fantasy and science fiction books are changing, at least in the UK. There's a steady increase in the number of covers that - like Winterbirth's - are more about design than straightforward illustration. I'm a fan of the trend, not least just for the variety of it. When they're done well, I think these newer 'designy' covers can be very pleasing on the eye. Whether they have any real effect on the numbers or types of people who buy the books (which is obviously part of the thinking behind them), I'm not so sure, but at least they make the sf/f section of bookshops look good.
Okay, so it's actually just the Sun going down behind a power station just outside Edinburgh, but it looked a bit like the Apocalypse to me.
Behold, the cover of the Dutch edition of Winterbirth, which I'm liking. The bilingual amongst you (which in the UK would be precious few, in Holland - as far as I can tell - pretty much everybody), will notice that it's not actually called Winterbirth. A name change was recommended for the Dutch market, which was fine by me. As a result, it turns out that I've written a book called (in that one corner of the world) Swords of Honour. Last I heard, it's published next month.
