Septimus Heap #7: Fyre by Angie Sage Coming Out Next Year

The seventh and last book about The Seventh Son of The Seventh Son is revealed. Angie Sage was pleased to announce that the last Septimus Heap book will be out on April 16, 2013. And it is called Septimus Heap: Fyre. Hopefully, all the loose ends that the previous books have presented will be tackled here. I don't really need a cliff hanger for an ending.

Also, Angie Sage will be releasing The Dark Toad, a digital canon of the Septimus Heap mythology. This is certainly for readers who can't get enough of the series. The Dark Toad is a novella or story that took place in between the events of Magyk and Flyte. It will be about Dom Daniel and a plan that has something to do with the Port Witch Coven. And Septimus Heap will have to aid his master in this conquest that will eventually unfold the story of Flyte.

Following the format of the previous books' cover art, here is Septimus Heap: Fyre by Angie Sage:

Great action scenes, quirky characters, and laugh-out-loud lines have mesmerized readers of the Magyk series for six books. The seventh and final book is a fantastic send-off for Sep, Marcia, Jenna, and the rest of the Magykal gang.

Now that Septimus, Jenna, and Beetle are fourteen years old, they have assumed larger roles in their Magykal world. Beetle has become the Chief Hermetic Scribe of the Manuscriptorium and Jenna is waiting to be crowned Queen, but Septimus is still battling the remnants of the Dark Domaine, which will remain until the power of the evil Two-Faced Ring is destroyed forever. To accomplish that, the ancient Alchemie Fyre must be relit—a task that sends Septimus to the very origins of Magyk and Physik, testing both his skills, and his loyalties to ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand, and Alchemist Marcellus Pye.

In a journey that encapsulates the entire Septimus Heap series, Septimus will continue to discover the truth of who he is and expand upon his Magykal power and skills. Septimus Heap, Book Seven: Fyre weaves together every singular character from the entire series and incorporates many of the Magykal places from each book. Written with Angie Sage’s distinctive humor and heart, Fyre is the grand finale that celebrates the greatest Magyk of all: When the Fyre inside is kindled and when the Time is Right, anything is possible.

Here are the other books from the series:

On another note Angie Sage has also hinted that a new trilogy is on the way. Read what she has to say on her latest blog.

"Sunshine all the way… it’s great!

"I have very nearly finished The Darke Toad now, just one more chapter to go. Then I am going to get back to writing the third chapter of what I hope will be the new trilogy and send it off to my editor. And hope she likes it!"

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Riverrun: New Game of Thrones Season 3 Set Photos

Game of Thrones Season 3, which is basically the adaptation of the first half of the third book of A Song of Ice and Fire series -- A Storm of Swords -- is heading to Riverrun. Just like the previous two seasons, Season 3 will be composed of 10 hefty episodes and will premiere on March 31, 2013. A very long way from now.

For some of you who don't know, Rivverun is a castle that serves as the ancestral seat of the House Tully. This castle is located in Riverlands, where Tumblestone and Red Fork rivers meet. This is where Catelyn (Lady Stark of Winterfell) and Lysa (Lady Arryn of the Eyrie) grew up together with soon to be Lord Tully: Edmure, their brother.

Check out these set photos of Riverrun, courtesy of HBO Watch:

This location in Westeros should have been introduced in the earlier seasons, but the team behind the show found it fit to reveal the set in the upcoming third season. It was such a nice move actually since many viewers would have been overwhelmed by too much geography, mythology, politics and history if revealed in one outburst. I am really excited to finally see this set in the actual series. The intricate details and designs simply show the production designer's dedication to put our imagination into physical structures.

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JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy Withheld from Foreign Publishers

A sad news for all of J.K. Rowling's foreign readership as The Guardian reported the publishers' concerns over translation piracy of the author's first non-Harry Potter novel, The Casual Vacancy, which will come out to all English-reading community on September 27, 2012.

To prevent such sub-standard translations to be published illegally, foreign publishers, which usually do the translated versions of the book, will not receive a copy of the manuscript of the said novel until its English version publication date. This simply means foreign editions of the said book will be published much later than the official first publication.

Read on for some more insight from the The Guardian's article:

“We will most likely be forced to employ more than one translator and abnormally speed up the editorial and production process to publish in time for the Christmas season,” said Ilc.

 In Finland, the process is moving even faster. “The translator has to agree, sight unseen, to turn in the finished copy in three weeks, by October 18, in time for release for Christmas sales. That’s 23 pages of polished final text every day for 21 days – without time to read the book beforehand!” blogged Jill Timbers, a translator of Finnish books into English. Timbers said that discussion was “swirling” among Finnish literary translators about quality of translation, and “preserving true Finnish language versus slipping inadvertently into anglicisms under such time pressure”.

“Some translators argue that it’s good [that] bestsellers are translated into Finnish, even if time pressure means the level of the Finnish isn’t top-quality,” she said. But “there’s a derogatory nickname in Finnish for translations that ‘straighten all the curves’, convey the storyline but skim past finer bits and nuances. Perhaps that wouldn’t so diminish Rowling’s new book? Who can say, since no one’s seen it.”

If you haven't seen it yet, you can check the cover art for The Casual Vacancy here:

Luckily, we do get the English version of the novel here in the Philippines. This will surely be distressing for J.K. Rowling's fans in Finland, Italy, Slovenia and many others, since their countries are classified as high risk areas for piracy. Lucky for France and Germany because they will be receiving early copies of the manuscript, giving them a chance to simultaneously publish their translated versions as opposed to their other European counterparts.

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