Yearly Archives: 2009

Cover Art

Cover Art | Spellwright by Blake Charlton (UK Edition)

By Aidan Moher October 27th, 2009

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a fair bit of time splooging with unbound excitement for Spellwright, the debut novel from Blake Charlton. The US Version has a great cover, the premise sounds fantastic and an early peak at the novel was promising. I was bloody eager to get my hands on the UK cover for Spellwright. Charlton released it earlier today… and my heart shattered.

Spellwright by Blake Charlton

Well, I guess all good things must come to an end, huh? Clearly inspired (or created by the same designer) as Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt series, this cover is one of those cases where North America wins the battle of the Cover Art. At least the art intern at Charlton’s UK Publisher is getting to live out his dream of being a model of Wizard’s Robes.

Cover Art

Cover Art | The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (E-book edition)

By Aidan Moher October 26th, 2009

The Kindle edition of The Eye of the World is now available on Amazon.com, and with it comes the new artwork that was promised a few weeks ago:

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Now, of all the great scenes in The Eye of the World they chose Rand on the boat? Seems a little banal, even compared to the old cover art, which everyone is probably familiar with. Still, I’m interested in seeing the covers for each of the upcoming E-books. I’m just hoping there’s a bit more meat to the artwork. Of course, I couldn’t leave without the obligitory At-least-it’s-better-than-the-junk-they-put-on-the-cover-of-The Gathering Storm rant.

The painting on the cover is by David Grove.

News

An Aside | Synopsis for ‘Kraken’ by China Mieville

By Aidan Moher October 26th, 2009

Looks like a synopsis of Mieville’s mysterious Kraken has finally hit the web:

The Natural History Museum’s prize exhibit – a giant squid – suddenly disappears. This audacious theft leads Clem, the research scientist who has recently finished preserving the exhibit, into a dark urban underworld of warring cults and surreal magic. It seems that for some, the squid represents a god and should be worshiped as such. Clem gradually comes to realise that someone may be attempting to use the squid to trigger an apocalypse. And so it is now up to him and a renegade squid-worshiper named Dean to find a way of stopping the destruction of the world as they know it whilst themselves surviving the all out-gang warfare that they have unwittingly been drawn into…

Kraken, which is due for release in May, 2010, has been complete for a while now (supposedly handed in on the same day as The City & The City, Mieville’s most recently published novel), but was put on hold until 2010, to give The City & The City some breathing room. Say anything for China Mieville, but don’t say he isn’t bloody prolific.

As for Kraken, it’s certainly a novel I’ll keep my eye on after finishing (and enjoying) The City & The City. I mean… who can turn down apocalypse, renegade squid-worshippers named Dean and dark urban underworlds of warring cults and surreal magic? I can’t, especially when it comes from one of the leading names of mind-fuck Fantasy.

Feature Article

Article | Early Impressions rolling in on The Gathering Storm

By Aidan Moher October 23rd, 2009
The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

There may be an embargo on reviews of The Gathering Storm, the 12th volume of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, but that hasn’t stopped a few approved (read: glowingly positive, written by people close to Tor/Jordan) reviews and general impressions from popping up around the web.

Though I haven’t read far enough in the series to read The Gathering Storm, nor does it seem like I’ll receive a review copy (I guess I’m not part of the ‘hip’ crowd?), I’m still closely following the release with a fair bit of anticipation. Hey, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype! To that end, I thought it would be fun to gather together some of those early impressions here, for you guys to whet your appetite with!

Of course, I’ll stay far away from spoilers, though those are floating around the web as well, if you’re google-savvy enough.

The first reviews to break came from camps closely associated with Tor, and also holding a clear bias towards the novel succeeding. Still, these guys are mega-fans of the series, so while it’s always prudent to take what they say with a grain of salt (one of them is known for fellating Crossroads of Twilight, almost unanimously known to be the worst volume of the series, in an early review several years ago), it’s still worth seeing the novel through the eyes of the average fanboy, rather than the jaded eyes of Internet pundits.
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