New Book Deal for Adam Christopher, plus New Cover Art for THE BURNING DARK

Today on his blog Adam Christopher finally revealed the new cover art for his next book (and his first for Tor) The Burning Dark, PLUS the exciting news that he has inked a deal for two more books set in the same universe!  Here is the final cover:

which is pretty awesome and clearly more hard SF than the Empire State books.  Plus, Adam also revealed tentative titles and release dates for the next two book; in March 2015 we can expect The Jovian Conspiracy and a year later in March 2016, The Stars Below.

Tor.com also got in on the shenanigans of the cover art reveal plus offered the alternate covers that were in the running before the final decision was made.

Congratulations to Adam, who has given me many, many hours of reading bliss!  Now I can look forward to many, many more!

New Cover Art: The First Four EXHIBIT A Book Covers

Here they are, the first four book covers from Exhibit A, the crime fiction imprint of speculative fiction publishers extraordinaire, Angry Robot.  Take a gander!

I know that you will definitely want to pick these up for your summer reading, since Scare Me and Penance come out in late April/early May with Wounded Prey to follow in late May/early June and The Cambodian Book of the Dead in late June/early July.  Happy reading!

Countdown to STRANGE CHEMISTRY!

In what seems like the longest wait since the anticipation of Christopher Nolan finishing his Batman trilogy, the new YA imprint from Angry Robot, STRANGE CHEMISTRY, is set to launch on August 23rd!  I know many of you, like me, have been waiting (im)patiently for the first books to come down the pipeline, thus confirming that the Strange Chemistry brand will continue the tradition of genre blurring excellence and originality started with Angry Robot.  

As a member of The Robot Army, it's been exciting to see the blogosphere already abuzz with positive reviews and anticipation of the launch titles and you will of course start seeing reviews here before long.  I've been consciously trying to expand my reading horizons lately and with Angry Robot taking the plunge into YA fiction, I asked myself what better time for me to do the same?!

For now, and to prepare for the upcoming launch, here are the covers for the anticipated first titles coming soon from STRANGE CHEMISTRY; enjoy!

Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (September 2012)

On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island’s most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can’t dodge is each other.

Shift by Kim Curran (September 2012)

When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he’s not so average after all. He’s a ‘Shifter’. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

And coming in October 2012:

Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings

15-year-old Julie Richardson is about to learn that being the daughter of a witch isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When she and her best friend, Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it’s pretty obvious to Julie there’s a supernatural connection.

In fact, there’s a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie’s high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night. Now it’s a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie won’t just lose her mother’s soul, she’ll lose her mother’s life.

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together. To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks—all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic, and the growing romantic tension between them.

And for release in November 2012:

Katya's World by Jonathan L Howard

The distant and unloved colony world of Russalka has no land, only the raging sea. No clear skies, only the endless storm clouds. Beneath the waves, the people live in pressurised environments and take what they need from the boundless ocean. It is a hard life, but it is theirs and they fought a war against Earth to protect it. But wars leave wounds that never quite heal, and secrets that never quite lie silent. Katya Kuriakova doesn’t care much about ancient history like that, though. She is making her first submarine voyage as crew; the first nice, simple journey of what she expects to be a nice, simple career. There is nothing nice and simple about the deep black waters of Russalka, however; soon she will encounter pirates and war criminals, see death and tragedy at first hand, and realise that her world’s future lies on the narrowest of knife edges. For in the crushing depths lies a sleeping monster, an abomination of unknown origin, and when it wakes, it will seek out and kill every single person on the planet.

Cover Revealed for Devil Said Bang (Sandman Slim 4)

These covers keep getting better and better!

Via Richard Kadrey's Damn Tumblr:

"Devil Said Bang


While ruling the denizens of darkness does have a few perks, James Stark isn't exactly thrilled with the course his career (not to mention his soul) has taken.  Breaking out of Hell once was a miraculous trick.  But twice?  If anyone can do it, it's Sandman Slim.  While he's working out the details of his latest escape plan, Slim has to figure out how to run his new domain and hold off a host of trigger-happy killers mesmerized by that bullseye on his back.  Everyone in Heaven, Hell and in between wants to be the fastest gun in the universe, and the best way to prove it is to take down the new Lucifer, aka Sandman Slim aka James Stark.

Then again, LA isn't quite the paradise it once was since he headed south. A serial killer ghost is running wild   and his angelic alter-ego is hiding somewhere in the lost days of time with a secret cabal who can rewrite reality.  And starting to care about people and life again is a real bitch for a stone-cold killer.

A violent and atmospheric tale full of edgy fun and packed with angels and demons, monsters and madmen, Devil Said Bang is another thrilling hit of kickass fun from the diabolically talented Richard Kadrey."

The fourth book in the Sandman Slim series, look for it August 28, 2012.    

Cover Revealed for The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination

I've been waiting for this anthology, too!

Via Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review:

I first heard about The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination nearly two years ago. It was actually Adams' second all-original anthology announced.and then Under the Moons of Mars and Armored quickly came before it was even given a publication date. But this is the anthology I've been waiting for and Tor nailed the cover. Mad geniuses never disappoint me and given the names involved in this anthology it shouldn't let us down. So far confirmed are: Carrie Vaughn, Alan Dean Foster, Daniel H. Wilson, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., L. A. Banks, Austin Grossman, Marjorie M. Liu, Ben Winters, David Farland, Mary Robinette Kowal, Harry Turtledove, Seanan McGuire, David D. Levine, Genevieve Valentine, Naomi Novik, Jeffrey Ford, Grady Hendrix, Theodora Goss, Jeremiah Tolbert, and David Brin, and a long novella from Diana Gabaldon. That should be all the contributors, but I might be missing one. Chris Claremont is also doing the Introduction. Quite a line-up. Here's the blurb:

From Victor Frankenstein to Lex Luthor, from Dr. Moreau to Dr. Doom, readers have long been fascinated by megalomaniacal plans for world domination and the madmen who come up with them. Typically, we see these villains through the eyes of superheroes (or other good guys) as they attempt to put an end to their evil ways. This anthology, however, will explore the world of mad scientists and evil geniuses–from their own point of view.

Evil geniuses are always so keen on telling captured heroes all their fiendish plans. Isn’t it about time someone gave them a platform such as this one to reach the masses with their messages of hope death and prosperity destruction?

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Dominion will be out in February from Tor.

New Cover Art

Via The Mad Hatter's Bookshelf:

"Superhero novels have always been something I look forward to when they aren't focused on traditional heroes from comics. A few of my favorites include Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman showing the flip side of things centering on the Supervillian and Ex-Heroes by Peter Climes, which combines a zombie apocalypse and Superheroes. There is also Carrie Vaughn'sAfter the Golden Age delving into what it is like to grow-up without powers among Superheros and Ian Tregillis's Bitter Seeds combining alt history, dark magic, and Nazi Supermen. This year there are a couple books that fit into this vein that have caught my eye.

First up is Paul Tobin's debut Prepare to Die!. Tobin has worked in the comics for the past few years most notably on Spiderman, but his first novel looks to take a darker and more introspective tone on the subject of  super ones. The cover definitely screams superpower. Here's the description of Prepare to Die!:

Nine years ago, Steve Clarke was just a teenage boy in love with the girl of his dreams. Then a freak chemical spill transformed him into Reaver, the man whose super-powerful fists can literally take a year off a bad guy’s life.

Days ago, he found himself at the mercy of his arch-nemesis Octagon and a whole crew of fiendish super-villains, who gave him two weeks to settle his affairs–and prepare to die.

Now, after years of extraordinary adventures and crushing tragedies, the world’s greatest hero is returning to where it all began in search of the boy he once was . . . and the girl he never forgot.

Exciting, scandalous, and ultimately moving, Prepare to Die! is a unique new look at the last days of a legend.

Prepare to Die! will be released in June from Night Shade Books.

Christopher L. Bennett is best known as the author of many Star Trek and and Marvel Superhero novels so it is no huge surprise that his first non-established property work melds Space and Superheroes with Only Superhuman. Given all the books on post-humans and genetic manipulation in the future I'm actually surprised this hasn't been done before. The slated perspective works really well and I like the art, but I'm not sure it gets across that the character is a superhero. I guess it is a case of spandex = superheroes. Here's the blurb:

In the future, genetically engineered superhumans, inspired by classic Earth comic book heroes, fight to keep the peace in the wild and wooly space habitats of the Asteroid Belt

2107 AD: A generation ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It’s a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system.

Emerald Blair is a Troubleshooter. Inspired by the classic superhero comics of the twentieth century, she’s joined with other mods to try to police the unruly Asteroid Belt. But her loyalties are tested when she finds herself torn between rival factions of superhumans with very different agendas. Emerald wants to put her special abilities to good use, but what do you do when you can’t tell the heroes from the villains?

Only Superhuman is a rollicking hard-sf adventure set in a complex and fascinating future.

I've always been a fan of the galactic series such as Green Lantern Corp, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Infinity Gauntlet, and especially anything Thanos related so I definitely want to see Bennett's take about Superheroes in space.   Only Superhuman will be out mid-October from Tor. "


I've always been a fan of superhero fiction myself and don't think there's enough of it outside of the comic book medium, so when I saw this post on the Mad Hatter blog I was very excited.  Both novels sound great and I will definitely be on the lookout for them!

Happy reading!

New Cover Art: THE INEXPLICABLES by Cherie Priest

THE INEXPLICABLES is the 5th book (including CLEMENTINE) in  The  Clockwork Century series by Cherie Priest.  Not sure if this is the final version but here is the official blurb:

Rector “Wreck ‘em” Sherman was orphaned as a toddler in the Blight of 1863, but that was years ago. Wreck has grown up, and on his eighteenth birthday, he’ll be cast out out of the orphanage. 

And Wreck’s problems aren’t merely about finding a home. He’s been quietly breaking the cardinal rule of any good drug dealer and dipping into his own supply of the sap he sells. He’s also pretty sure he’s being haunted by the ghost of a kid he used to know—Zeke Wilkes, who almost certainly died six months ago. Zeke would have every reason to pester Wreck, since Wreck got him inside the walled city of Seattle in the first place, and that was probably what killed him.Maybe it’s only a guilty conscience, but Wreck can’t take it anymore, so he sneaks over the wall.

The walled-off wasteland of Seattle is every bit as bad as he’d heard, chock-full of the hungry undead and utterly choked by the poisonous, inescapable yellow gas. And then there's the monster. Rector's pretty certain that whatever attacked him was not at all human—and not a rotter, either. Arms far too long. Posture all strange. Eyes all wild and faintly glowing gold and known to the locals as simply "The Inexplicables."

In the process of tracking down these creatures, Rector comes across another incursion through the wall -- just as bizarre but entirely attributable to human greed. It seems some outsiders have decided there's gold to be found in the city and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get a piece of the pie unless Rector and his posse have anything to do with it.

THE INEXPLICABLES should be released November 13.

New Cover Art for THE DARK TOWER series (UK Editions)

Spied on A Dribble of Ink, new cover art for Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER series, including the new novel, The Wing Through the Keyhole :

I totally dig them! First of all,they all match and I always like the artwork to be consistent if I'm going to spend money on an entire series:  secondly,I really like the was Roland is depicted, especially on The Wastelands and Wolves of the Calla.  What do you think?

New Cover Art from Lethe Press

On Saturday, Lethe Press publisher Steve Berman revealed the cover for the 2012 edition of the annual Wilde Stories anthology series:

I think this is the best cover of the series thus far and it was put together by artist Ben Baldwin and designer Alex Jeffers; congratulations, gentlemen!  Wilde Stories 2012 is due out in June.

Miscellany

Tidbits and more from my web surfing this week:

First up, new cover art for THE QUARRY, the new book forthcoming from Mark Allan Gunnells.  The artist is David Naughton-Shires and is based on photos Gunnells took of the actual location:

THE QUARRY will be Mark's first novel and comes out in February from Evil Jester Press; keep a watch out for it and of course, I'll be talking about it here on the blog!


And another friend has something coming out; Sergio Kardenas's new album THE TIME MACHINE is finally out!

 I've been a big fan of Sergio's forever; he truly is a renaissance man!  In 2007 to celebrate his 20th anniversary as a photographer, he put out his first collection of his photography, THE MAGAZINE OF SEX, designed to look like a vintage adult magazine from the 60s and 70s; in 2009 he followed this with the award winning film La Functionaria Asensia a.k.a. The Slayer Bureaucrat and now he's hitting us with the one, two punch of his long awaited 10 song CD and his new book PULP FANTASIES & FETISHES that I talked about here.  I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of the CD and will be talking about it here very soon!

And finally,the momentum that EMPIRE STATE by Adam Christopher has reached dizzying heights this week, what with the book finally been released (it seems like it's been forever!) and two big events accompanying it; 

The first event was the London launch of EMPIRE STATE at Forbidden Planet Megastore on January 5th; the second will be the January 10th reading and signing in New York at the Mid-Manhattan Library.  You can read about the Forbidden Planet event on Adam's blog, here and here.

                                                          Photos by Stephen J Sweeney 


And that's the round up for today!  Happy reading!
                                                                           

New Cover Art

First up is VIVISEPULTURE,  the new EBOOK original anthology from Anarchy Books and edited by Andy Remic & Wayne Simmons:

 and here's the press release:

Welcome to our anthology, a collection of weird and bizarre tales of twisted imagination by Neal Asher, Tony Ballantyne, Eric Brown, Richard Ford, Ian Graham, Lee Harris, Colin Harvey, Vincent Holland-Keen, James Lovegrove, Gary McMahon, Stan Nicholls, Andy Remic, Jordan Reyne, Ian Sales, Steven Savile, Wayne Simmons, Guy N. Smith, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jeffrey Thomas, Danie Ware, Ian Watson and Ian Whates. Artwork by Vincent Chong.

The anthology is dedicated to the late Colin Harvey, with great affection.
In the tradition of Poe, Kafka, Borges and H. G. Wells, this collection of weird stories are written with the primary drive of presenting twisted deviations of normality. Whether it’s the deviant factory workers of Neal Asher’s Plastipak™ Limited, the pus-oozing anti-cherub of Ian Graham’s Rotten Cupid, the acid-snot disgorging freak of Andy Remic’s SNOT, or Ian Watson’s alternate zombie-crucifixion, each story will drag your organs up through your oesophagus and give your brain a chilli-fired beating.

FOCUS ON -

• WEIRD TALES

• DISTURBING CONCEPTS

• DEVIATED BLACK HUMOUR

• NO GENRE LEFT UNGOUGED

C'mon..."pus-oozing anti-cherub"?!  How can you not want to read this?!  You can purchase your copy of VIVISEPULTURE here.


And from your favorite Robot Overlords and mine, new cover art for Mike Shevdon's third volume in his Courts Of The Feyre series, STRANGENESS AND CHARM.  To mark the release (set for June 2012), Angry Robot is re-issuing the whole series with matching covers by the enormously talented John Coulthart.

Here's the new look for the books:

Again, the whole series will have this gorgeous new look June 2012!  And that's not all, folks!  I've always preferred the Joey Hi-Fi cover of ZOO CITY by Lauren Beukes and now, starting in March her debut novel MOXYLAND is getting the same treatment!  Check it out:

Gorgeous, aren't they?  Happy reading!

New Cover Art & Retro STAR WARS Travel Posters

Via A Dribble of Ink, new cover art for Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig, from Angry Robot Books:

...Aiden also featured the retro "travel posters" by Justin Van Genderen and they are awesome!  I really am loving the minimalist approach he's taken with the posters:

Great, aren't they?  You can see the rest of the collection here and purchase them here.

Also, Angry Robot revealed some more cover art from the 2012 schedule; lots of eye candy here!

Miscellany

At tor.com, it's Steampunk Week and here you will find great reviews and interviews, exciting sweepstakes, steampunk crafts and very informative articles; go check it out!

                     Bruno Accioly, one of the Founding Father's of the Brazilian Steampunk movement


Today Angry Robot revealed the cover art for Chris Holm's Collector books, Dead Harvest and The Wrong Goodbye.  The books will be released in March and November 2012, respectively.  I am loving the distressed look of the covers and in particular the very Dia de Los Muertos vibe of The Wrong Goodbye; thanks, Angry Robot!  Now I have even more books to add to my ever-growing TBR mountain pile!

Here's the press release from Angry Robot:


"So, how do you like these babies, Joe?

You see, the new urban fantasy series from the inimitable Chris F. Holm is a touch, shall we say, noir. OK, not so much a touch, more double-dipped, with an extra crunchy topping of NOIRRRRR. Just take a look at those titles for starters. Looks like somebody has been soaking up the Hammett and Chandler, and then twisting them for their own diabolically devious purposes.

So what’s a publisher to do? Well, what we chose to do was dive in with both feet, BLAM! You want noir, with a classic feel? Oh yeah, these new covers from Amazing15, with art direction by yours truly, reference all that’s great in mid-70s crime paperback design. Well sometimes, you know, genius just… steals. And we Robots wouldn’t have it any other way.

The first of these books featuring soul collector Sam Thornton, Dead Harvest, will be in stores in March next year, with The Wrong Goodbye following in November."

Wow, 2012 is going to be another stellar year for Angry Robot, just sayin'!

New Cover Art from Angry Robot!

The first cover is from Matt Forbeck's upcoming Titanic themed horror novel Carpathia.  This will be out March 2012, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the "unsinkable" ship.  I like how this cover is blood stained, with the Titanic sinking in the background; pretty eerie!  I've never heard of horror being combined with this famous disaster, and since I was such a fan of Vegas Knights, I'm excited to see where Forbeck's take on the story will go...

And also revealed just this week is the brilliant new cover art for Adam Christopher's Empire State.  I've enjoyed following him on Twitter; his view on superhero fiction is awesome!  If you haven't heard already, he practically got his Angry Robot deal via Twitter alone; you can read what I mean and how he came to be an Angry Robot author here.

Here's a brief synopsis and tag line:

" The stunning noir-fantasy thriller set in the other New York!


It was the last great science hero fight, but the energy blast ripped a hole in reality, and birthed the Empire State – a young, twisted parallel prohibition-era New York.

When the rift starts to close, both worlds are threatened, and both must fight for the right to exist..."

Empire State already has its own page at Angry Robot and from the early blurbs, this book just sounds all kinds of awesome, making me count the days til its US release date December 2011!!  It is also featured in the Book Cover Smackdown at SF Signal.

Adam and Empire State will also be featured in The Qwillery for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge.  To take part, you just need to sign up, buy the book when it comes out, read it, and then join the conversation over at The Qwillery; he will also be doing an interview and reader Q&A so check it out!

WOW!  It looks like Angry Robot is starting 2012 off with a BIG bang!  Again guys, I'm counting the days!!

New Cover Art: The Great Game, No Hero and the new The Dark Knight Rises poster!

Eye candy for the week:

From Angry Robot comes the first look of the cover for Lavie Tidhar's next entry in the Bookman Histories, The Great Game:

from the website: ..."David Frankland outdoes himself with this sterling shot of alien tripod war machines attacking the Middle Eastern city of Aksum in Abyssinia.  The Great Game, the third in Lavie Tidhar's increasingly astounding steampunk series, the Bookman Histories, will be published next February."

This is gorgeous and I can't wait to see where the story goes next; based on the cover, it's going to be another grand adventure!

...

And here's the cover art for Jonathan Wood's new book from Nightshade Books, No Hero:



I've never read Wood before but he had me at the tentacles!

...

And finally, the first official teaser poster for The Dark Knight Rises!  The movie won't be out til summer 2012 but I'm loving this poster and can't wait to see the trailer that is playing before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2!







Yea boy!