Monday, July 29, 2024

Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Susanna Clarke, Rebecca Yarros, Roseanne A. Brown, Faith Erin Hicks, Sajni Patel, Olivie Blake, And J. R. R. Tolkien

A lot is going on in this edition of Cover Reveal News Round-Up. And when I say a lot, I mean "a lot" a lot. The titles included in this list are a re-issue or redesigned books by Susanna Clarke and J. R. R. Tolkien, a sequel by Rebecca Yarros, a new addition to the Avatar compendium by Faith Erin Hicks, a new novel by Olivie Blake, and a few Rick Riordan Presents imprint books by Roseanne A. Brown and Sajni Patel.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Synopsis

In the Hugo-award winning, epic New York Times Bestseller and basis for the BBC miniseries, two men change England's history when they bring magic back into the world.

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England - until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity.

Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France.

But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.

Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.


Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke will be released on October 22, 2024.

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Synopsis

Get ready to fly or die in the breathtaking follow-up to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros will be released on January 21, 2025.

Mr Bliss by J. R. R. Tolkien

Mr Bliss by J. R. R. Tolkien

Synopsis

Mr Bliss, a man notable for his immensely tall hats and for the girabbit in his garden, takes the whimsical decision to buy a motor car. But his first drive to visit friends quickly becomes a catalogue of disasters…

J.R.R. Tolkien invented and illustrated the book of Mr Bliss’s adventures for his own children when they were very young. The book was handwritten with lots of detailed and uproarious colour pictures.

This is a complete and highly imaginative tale of eccentricity. Some of the disasters that befall Mr Bliss could be blamed on his style of driving, but even he could not anticipate being hijacked by three bears. As for what happened next – the readers, whether young or old, will want to discover for themselves.

Republished in hardback to match his Letters from Father Christmas and other illustrated Tolkien editions, Mr Bliss is presented as a conventional illustrated storybook, and also with Tolkien's handwritten pages in facsimile at the back, and is sure to delight Tolkien fans of all ages.


Mr Bliss by J. R. R. Tolkien will be released on October 24, 2024.

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Team Avatar Treasury Library Edition by Faith Erin Hicks et al.

Avatar: The Last Airbender -- Team Avatar Treasury Library Edition by Faith Erin Hicks et al.

Synopsis

Three Avatar: The Last Airbender standalone graphic novels featuring Katara, Toph, and Suki collected in one oversized hardcover!

Includes exclusive commentary from the creators to dive even further into the creation of the comics!

What do pirates, prisons, and a lavabender have in common? It’s this collection of Avatar: The Last Airbender stories!

Katara has to embrace her tougher side and join a pirate crew to escape the Fire Nation, Toph embraces her new role as teacher to some skeptical new students, and Suki’s time in the Boiling Rock prison provides a painful lesson that will ultimately strengthen her faith in her friends. These three standalone stories are collected into one oversized hardcover for the first time, with exclusive commentary from the creators.

Continue the adventure of the beloved Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series with adventures written by Faith Erin Hicks (The Nameless City, Pumpkinheads) and drawn by Peter Wartman (Stonebreaker), with colors by Adele Matera and letters by ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt, in collaboration with original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s Avatar Studios!


Avatar: The Last Airbender -- Team Avatar Treasury Library Edition by Faith Erin Hicks et al. will be released on October 29, 2024.

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins―but which Wren will come out on top?


Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake will be released on April 1, 2025.

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Saving the World by Roseanne A. Brown

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Saving the World by Roseanne A. Brown

Synopsis

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the thrilling conclusion to Roseanne A. Brown's middle grade trilogy about a pre-teen girl who, as half-Slayer and half-vampire, is caught between two worlds.

Serwa Boateng has gone head-to-head with vampires, witches, and even a death god. But now, with the fate of the magical world at stake, she'll have to face her toughest foe yet: her own grandmother.

Finally free after decades of being trapped inside the Midnight Drum, the dreaded obayifo Nana Bekoe seeks the destruction of the Abomofuo. Even worse, she has Serwa's father under her thrall. Now, the hunters have become the hunted, as the Slayers' defenses are powerless in the face of an enemy who has access to all their secrets.

Serwa's only chance of saving her father might just lie with the Keepers, an organization whose powers exist outside the normal rules of magic. But the Keepers are even more secretive than the Abomofuo, and finding them will require Serwa to trek across the United States. At least she has her friends by her side for the journey . . . friends who currently hate her guts. The survival of everything and everyone Serwa has ever loved hinges on her completing this final hunt without losing herself in the process.

Serwa Boateng has been a Slayer. She's been a vampire. But now, it's time for her to become something else entirely: a hero.

Endorsed by Rick Riordan, author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, now a hit series on Disney+.


Serwa Boateng's Guide to Saving the World by Roseanne A. Brown will be released on April 8, 2025.

A Touch of Blood by Sajni Patel

A Touch of Blood by Sajni Patel

Synopsis

Read the Persephone myth like never before in this companion to A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel, where Greek mythology meets Indian lore.

Gods are made, not born.

Before Manisha, the youngest of three sisters, was sent to hide on the floating mountain, her eldest sister, Eshani, made a deal with the shades. In order to save her people in the midst of a tragic war, she exchanged her life for theirs. Now, years later, the shades claim their due, dragging Eshani into the Nightmare Realm where she must find the Gatekeeper to fulfill her end of the bargain.

Nothing is as it seems in a land filled with ravenous monsters, ghoulish residents, and a river full of the dead. But most terrifying of all is the Shadow King, who intends to use Eshani to obtain immortality. As it turns out, Eshani—nicknamed “little goddess of spring”—is the key to fulfilling the Nightmare Realm’s prophecy. There’s only one person who can help Eshani escape, and he has his own problems.

Hiran has spent most of his life hiding, but destiny beckons, and he can no longer resist the call of the realm. But how can a stowaway, long thought to be dead, save an entire world?

Nothing will stop the Nightmare Realm from getting what it wants. Except maybe a king in the making and a goddess rising.

Endorsed by Rick Riordan, author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, now a hit series on Disney+.


A Touch of Blood by Sajni Patel will be released on February 25, 2025.

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Jennifer A. Nielsen, Terry Brooks, Miles Cameron, And Agatha Christie

No specific genra dominates this edition of Cover Reveal News Round-Up. That is why I am quite happy that the range of this list reaches more audience. The titles included in this list are a new standalone novel by Jennifer A. Nielsen, a series opener by Terry Brooks, a final novel in a trilogy by Miles Cameron, and and a redesigned edition of the book by Agatha Christie.

One Wrong Step by Jennifer A. Nielsen

One Wrong Step by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Synopsis

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a brand-new, spine-tingling adventure about two kids and their fight for survival on the unforgiving trails of Mount Everest. Jennifer Nielsen's storytelling climbs to new heights in this epic about loss, letting go, and the most important lesson a climber can learn: where the eye goes, a person follows. For a climber, letting go means certain death. For Atlas, it means something even worse. But he'll have to learn how to let go and look up if he ever wants to see the top...

Twelve-year-old Atlas Wade has been trying to forget the memory of his mother by climbing mountains ever since she died when he was nine years old. When his father signs them up for an expedition group hoping to be the first to ever summit the unconquerable Mount Everest, Atlas can't wait for the chance to prove himself to his father, and maybe finally he can leave his mother behind him on the mountain.

But this time, Atlas is the one left behind, as well as a young American girl named Maddie and their sturdy yet injured Sherpa, Chodak. When news breaks out that war has returned to Europe, and that Nazis are attempting their own summit dangerously nearby, Atlas and Maddie plead with the expedition to come back down.

Their warnings come too late. Atlas looks up that same morning to see an avalanche and when they receive no word from the group, Maddie and Chodak join Atlas as he begins a dangerous journey up the mountain in the hopes of finding survivors.

Atlas, Maddie, and Chodak will have to rely not just on their own wits for survival, but on each other as well, especially as sickness, bad weather, and their fears of a Nazi spy watching them puts their mission -- and lives -- at risk in the brutal terrain. And Atlas will have to learn how to let go if he wants any chance of finding his father and fixing the rift between them caused by his mother's death, before it's too late.

Using one of the world's greatest -- and most infamous -- mountains as a backdrop, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen's storytelling climbs to new heights in this touching, thrilling epic about grief, letting go, and the bonds that keep us alive.


One Wrong Step by Jennifer A. Nielsen will be released on March 4, 2025.

Galaphile: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Galaphile: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks makes his triumphant return to the world of Shannara, delving deep into the origin story of the druid order and its enigmatic creator that will change the face of the Four Lands forever.

One of the most iconic structures in the Four Lands is Paranor, the fortress home of the Druid Order. Legend holds that it was erected by an Elven leader known as Galaphile Joss. But who was this Galaphile, and how and why did he choose to establish this center of magic and learning?

Within these pages we meet the real Galaphile, following him from a friendless teenage orphan stranded in the Human world to a powerful adult and master mage, studying under the infamous recluse, Cogline. We learn of the forces that shaped him—those he loved, and those he lost; those who aided him, and those who stood against him.

Throughout it all, Galaphile’s goal is a noble one: to bring order to a chaotic world, and to make life better for those trying to survive it. To this end, he commences building the citadel which will one day be known as Paranor with the aid of the King of the Silver River. But there is one other who seeks dominion over the Four Lands—and for far less virtuous ends.

For this foe has been corrupted by an ancient evil—one that will not only reach out and touch Galaphile’s nearest and dearest, but also echo down through the centuries, sowing the seeds for some of the darkest times the Four Lands will ever face.


Galaphile: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks will be released on March 11, 2025.

Breaking Hel by Miles Cameron

Breaking Hel by Miles Cameron

Synopsis

Before iron helmets and steel swords, when dragons roamed the world, was an age of bronze and stone, when the Gods walked the earth, and people lived in terror. In this era a scribe, a warlord, a dancer, a mute insect and a child should have no chance against the might of the bickering gods and their cruel games. But the gods themselves are old, addicted to their own games of power, and now their fates may lie in the hands of mere mortals...

The third in this original, visceral epic series weaving together the mythologies of a dozen pantheons of gods and heroes to create something new and magical, this tale of the revolt against the tyranny which began in Against All Gods is a must-read from a master of the fantasy genre.


Breaking Hel by Miles Cameron will be released on September 17, 2024.

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

Synopsis

An elderly widow is murdered at a clifftop seaside house…

What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player?

To the casual observer, apparently nothing. But when a houseparty gathers at Gull’s Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head.

It’s all part of a carefully paid plan – for murder…


Towards Zero by Agatha Christie will be released on November 7, 2024.

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Joe Abercrombie, RJ Barker, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, And TJ Klune

This lot of the Cover Reveal News Round-Up includes books by authors that I really love. This list includes a new series opener by Joe Abercrombie, a sequel by RJ Barker, a Christmas children's book by J. K. Rowling, a standalone novel by TJ Klune, and the collected poems of J. R. R. Tolkien.

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

Synopsis

Europe stares into the abyss.

Plague and famine stalk the land, monsters lurk in every shadow and greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions. Only one thing is certain: the elves will come again, and they will eat everyone.

Sometimes, only the darkest paths lead towards the light. Paths on which the righteous will not dare to tread . . .

And so, buried beneath the sacred splendour of the Celestial Palace, is the secret Chapel of the Holy Expediency. For its congregation of convicted monsters there are no sins that have not been committed, no lines that will not be crossed, and no mission that cannot be turned into a disastrous bloodbath.

Now the hapless Brother Diaz must somehow bind the worst of the worst to a higher cause: to put a thief on the throne of Troy, and unite the sundered church against the coming apocalypse.

When you're headed through hell, you need the devils on your side.


The Devils by Joe Abercrombie will be released on May 6, 2025.

Warlords of Wyrdwood by RJ Barker

Warlords of Wyrdwood by RJ Barker

Synopsis

'You fear the forest.. It is not foolish.' His words rang like bells in the clearing, each face reacting to their din. 'But the forest does not hate you, it does not hunt you. It simply does not care about you.'

The Forester known as Cahan led the village of Harn in rebellion against the all-powerful, oppressive forces of the Rai. A great victory was won, but to avoid retaliation, he must now lead the people of Harn into the forest.

Cahan never wanted this responsibility, but fate and his gods have conspired against him. Without him, the people will be helpless against the great beasts and poisonous traps of the forest - not to mention worse things that dwell there. A corruption grows in the fungi and decay of the Wyrdwood, a magic unlike any Cahan has ever seen - can he resist its deadly pull, while avoiding his pursuers, and trying to turn his charges into true people of the Wyrdwood?

Warlords of Wyrdwood is book two in a new fantasy trilogy set within the bounds of a forest straight out of darkest folklore - with outlaws fighting an evil empire and warring deities. RJ Barker is the British Fantasy Society Award-winning author of The Bone Ships and Age of Assassins.


Warlords of Wyrdwood by RJ Barker will be released on September 12, 2024.

Christmas at Hogwarts by J. K. Rowling

Christmas at Hogwarts by J. K. Rowling

Synopsis

'Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow.'

So begins Chapter 12 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the story of Harry Potter's magical first Christmas at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. From the wonder of the Great Hall decked with sparkling, decorated fir trees to cosy evenings by the fire in the Gryffindor common room and the joy of opening presents on Christmas morning, it's a school holiday filled with warmth, friendship, treats and magical surprises that Harry will never forget.

With text drawn directly from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and luminous artwork by Ziyi Gao, this favourite moment, showing Harry's very first Christmas amongst friends, is now fully illustrated for the whole family to enjoy. Sure to be treasured by Harry Potter fans of all ages, it's the perfect gift to put under the tree or read together at Christmas - the beginning of an enchanting new festive tradition.


Christmas at Hogwarts by J. K. Rowling will be released on October 15, 2024.

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune

Synopsis

A spine-tingling standalone novel by bestselling author TJ Klune―a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government.

There's nothing more human than a broken heart.

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC.

With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not.

Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.

Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.


The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune will be released on February 4, 2025.

The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien

The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien

Synopsis

World first publication of the collected poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, spanning almost seven decades of the author’s life and presented in an elegant three-volume hardback boxed set.

J.R.R. Tolkien aspired to be a poet in the first instance, and poetry was part of his creative life no less than his prose, his languages, and his art. Although Tolkien’s readers are aware that he wrote poetry, if only from verses in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, its extent is not well known, and its qualities are underappreciated. Within his larger works of fiction, poems help to establish character and place as well as further the story; as individual works, they delight with words and rhyme. They express his love of nature and the seasons, of landscape and music, and of words. They convey his humour and his sense of wonder.

The earliest work in this collection, written for his beloved, is dated to 1910, when Tolkien was eighteen. More poems would follow during his years at Oxford, some of them very elaborate and eccentric. Those he composed during the First World War, in which he served in France, tend to be concerned not with trenches and battle, but with life, loss, faith, and friendship, his longing for England, and the wife he left behind. Beginning in 1914, elements of his legendarium, ‘The Silmarillion’, began to appear, and the ‘Matter of Middle-earth’ would inspire much of Tolkien’s verse for the rest of his life.

Within The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien almost 200 works are presented across three volumes, including more than 60 that have never before been seen. The poems are deftly woven together with commentary and notes by world-renowned Tolkien scholars Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond, placing them in the context of Tolkien’s life and literary accomplishments and creating a poetical biography that is a unique and revealing celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien.


The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien will be released on September 12, 2024.