From the Angry Robot Books blog:
Yum. I don’t even know what these books are about, but I wanna read them. I love that Steampunk’s allowing designers to dip back into early-mid-Twentieth Century art styles. My favourite little easter egg is the lovingly integrated Angry Robot Books logo near the bottom.
The art is by John Coulthart.
Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pagasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication.
But its different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations.
Pegasus wasn’t on my radar until I ran across it on Iceberg Ink, but damn if that cover didn’t jump out at me immediately. When I bellyache that covers should be attractive, nicely designed and marketable, this is the type of cover I’m talking about. Just beautiful and eye-catching.
Well, it’s official. I’ve joined the team over at the inestimable SF Signal, a blog that needs no introduction. John DeNardo, the mastermind behind SF Signal was kind enough to approach me and see if I’d be interested in joining them. I jumped at the opportunity.
You won’t be surprised to find out that John’s asked me, along with the wonderful Jeff Patterson, to help increase the art coverage on SF Signal, a position I hope to use as a venue to promote many of my favourite artists, both established and upcoming. Also, it looks like I’ll be taking over the reins of the famous Book Cover Smackdowns; so, if you’ve got any covers or artists you think are particularly great, let me know!
One of the other big draws for me is the SF Signal Podcast. I’ve been a big fan of the podcast since it launched, and being a contributor means I’ll have the chance to join the rest of the crew each week. Talk about a fanboy moment.
What does this mean for A Dribble of Ink? Well, besides more exposure, not much. I won’t be changing the format much at all; if anything, it’ll open up doors to bring more great content to the blog. I also plan to port most of the content and articles I post over at SF Signal to A Dribble of Ink after a suitable amount of time, so even if you don’t read SF Signal (seriously, though, you should!), you’ll still be able to read almost everything I write.
In the meantime, you can check out my first article, On Genre Diversity (Or, Why Mark Charan Newton Was Right), a response to Mark Charan Newton’s call for bloggers to diversify their reading habits.
It is twenty-three years since a Macht army fought its way home from the heart of the Asurian Empire. The man who came to lead that army, Rictus, is now a hard-bitten mercenary captain, middle-aged and tired. He wants nothing more than to lay down his spear and become the farmer that his father was. But fate has different ideas. A young warleader has risen to challenge the order of things in the very heartlands of the Macht. A soldier of genius, he takes city after city, and reigns over them as king. What is more, he had heard of the legendary leader of the Ten Thousand. His name is Corvus, and the rumours say that he is not even fully human. He means to make himself absolute ruler of all the Macht. And he wants Rictus to help him.
Though my experience with The Ten Thousand was troubled (and well documented), I look forward to taking another look at Kearney’s work, especially now that I’m a more discerning reader and reviewer. For what it’s worth, The Ten Thousand has, despite my reservations, stuck with me longer than most other novels, which is reason enough to read Corvus.
Solaris has posted the opening chapter of Corvus as a downloadable PDF. Also, if you download it, you might just find a nice (if ironic) surprise on page two!
Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and Subterranean Press are proud to announce the publication of Clash of the Geeks, a special and fantastical electronic chapbook featuring stories by Wheaton, Scalzi, New York Times bestseller Patrick Rothfuss, Norton Award winner and Hugo Best Novel nominee Catherynne M. Valente, Hugo and Nebula Award nominee Rachel Swirsky and others, for the benefit of the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. The chapbook is free to download, but voluntary payment is strongly encouraged, via Paypal or by tax-deductible donation forms, both linked to later in this entry. All proceeds from this chapbook will go to the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. Please enjoy the stories, link your friends to this page — and give!
Seriously. Look at that lineup. For my money, Swirsky’s near the top of the heap of young writers, and, well, you don’t need me to tell you who Scalzi, Rothfuss or Wheaton are. On top of that, you get a great song from John Anealio, who’s a good friend of A Dribble of Ink. And it’s a fundraiser for a great charity? What’s there to lose? I’ve got a bunch of great new short fiction to read and I feel good about myself. Win-win.
So, go grab a copy of Clash of the Geeks. It’s free, but I highly recommend you support the cause a toss a few buck their way, too.
