Looking forward to 2009

I've had this debut bigged up to me:

The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas (Gollancz, 19/03/09)

The Adamantine Palace lies at the centre of an empire that grew out of ashes. Once dragons ruled the world and man was little more than prey. Then a way of subduing the dragons alchemicly was discovered and now the dragons are bred to be little more than mounts for knights and highly valued tokens in the diplomatic power-players that underpin the rule of the competing aristocratic houses. The Empire has grown fat. And now one man wants it for himself. A man prepared to poison the king just as he has poisoned his own father. A man prepared to murder his lover and bed her daughter. A man fit to be king? But uknown to him there are flames on the way. A single dragon has gone missing. And even one dragon on the loose, unsubdued, returned to its full intelligence, its full fury, could spell disaster for the Empire. But because of the actions of one unscrupulous mercenary the rivals for the throne could soon be facing hundreds of dragons . . . Stephen Deas has written a fast moving and action-fuelled fantasy laced with irony, a razor sharp way with characters, dialogue to die for and dragons to die by.
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Yep, I mentioned that one, high on my list. Wertzone review forthcoming soon I hope ;)
 
Mithfânion said:
Yep, I mentioned that one, high on my list. Wertzone review forthcoming soon I hope ;)
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I met him at the Gollancz party last night. Nice guy. He described his book as 'dragons, dragons and more dragons'. I also gathered it had dragons in it.

Also spent some time hanging with Chris Wooding, and his new book has correspondingly moved up my 'eagerly anticipated' charts, although based on The Fade it was alreay up there.
 
I'm interested in a new non-English fantasy series published by Gollancz. After Polish fantasy (Sapkowski) Gollancz is now publishing Pierre Pevel's French fantasy novel The Cardinal's Blade (may 2009). It's set in 1633 France and involves the secret service of cardinal Richelieu, swashbuckling musketeers and dragons.

I think this series looks promising. It's very popular in France and I think fans of Mary Gentle/Naomi Novik should take an interest. And it will be a breath of fresh air to see cardinal Richelieu portrayed as a "good guy" instead of a cardboard villain like in most musketeer movies.
 
Was talking over the weekend to the French publisher who's released the world rights on this, Lowlander. (Gollancz have the UK English rights, I think.)

And yes, it sounds GREAT. I am very much looking forward to this. As too, Stephen Deas's Dragons book.

Mark / Hobbit
 
Is this a post-Novik rush to the bandwagon? Where are the dragon/pirate hybrids to really cash in on what was popular a year or two back
:D

Interesting news on Wooding. I'll definitely check it out, but would've liked to see something in the same milieu as The Fade, one of my favourite novels released last year.
 
Oh yeah, that was announced during the 'things to look forward to next year' bit. Gollancz seem happy with how Sapkowski is going (although for the second year running I totally forgot to ask why the second collection was dropped) and were looking at more foreign-language works to bring over to the UK.
 
Re; Pevel

I bought the Dutch translation a few weeks ago. Interesting book at a glance, though I don't like Novik one bit. Once I read it I'll post about it.
 
Another one to add for next year:

Avilion by Robert Holdstock (a new Mythago Wood novel): 16 July.
 
If Gollancz is looking for more foreign-language works that might do well in the English-language market, I suspect Javier Negrete's stories, both SF and epic fantasy alike, might fit the bill.
 
Mithfânion said:
What I do is that I go to Amazon's advanced search page here:

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=sv_b_0/103-9020730-0558267?ie=UTF8&node=241582011

I enter the name of the publisher I want the schedule from, then under "sort results by" I select publication date.
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Mith, would you be so kind as to provide a list of the publishers that you searched. Although I am familiar with all the usual suspects (in the U.S., anyway), I'm certain from just having read posts here, that there are plenty with which I am completely unfamiliar.

Thanks,
PW
 
In the US, Fantasy publishers that one might search for are:

TOR
Spectra
Del Rey
Orbit

These provide me with the most reading material and they capture most of the prime authors as far as I'm concerned. You could expand that with:

Eos
Roc
Daw
Night Shade
Pyr

Night Shade and Pyr will occasionally have interesting releases. Roc has Jim Butcher, Eos has Robin Hobb. Daw has Rothfuss and Tad Williams. Eos and Roc both have a majority of supernatural fantasies with female vampire hunters and more of that ilk.

You can do the same trick on amazon.uk, which I always do, because they have releases up well before time.

Primary publishers of Fantasy in the UK:

Gollancz ( along with Orbit the main ones)
Orbit
Harper Voyager ( they do have Martin , Hobb and Peter Brett)
Bantam Press ( they have Steven Erikson and the occasional interesting Fantasy)

I'm particularly fond of Gollancz as they have a wide array of good titles coming out which are often picked up for release in the US a year later.
 
Also remember to check out Tor, Pan Macmillan (they have PF Hamilton and Mieville), Corgi (Gemmell & Pratchett) and Arrow (Stephenson) in the UK, although the latter have a lot of non-genre mixed in with the genre. Tor UK are easy to overlook, but they have a lot of good authors (Greg Keyes and Neal Asher, most notably).
 
I don't know all the authors on that list so I don't know if any are new to the scene etc. However, the books I am most looking forward to next year are:


Dance with Dragons by GRR Martin (Still not fully up-to-date with this series, but getting there)

Watcher of the Dead by JV Jones (Not just because we have the same surname and born in the same city)

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (Eagerly awaiting this one)

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (Dresden book a year is good enought for me)

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (Like most fantasy readers, I am really looking forward to the this)

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (First book outside of the First Law series)

Looks like it'll be good year if none of the above get delayed. Looking forward to reading some new authors as well.
 
Gene Wolfe, having just published An Evil Guest, has another book coming out in 2009, probably about a year from now, called The Sorcerer's house.
 
Does anyone in the know, know when Watcher of the Dead will be released in the US? I know that in the past Jones' books have been released in later in the US than the UK.
 
There are rumours that say June 2009 for a US release. The 3rd book was released simultaneously in the US and the UK. But the UK release date on amazon UK says November, but that seems to be outdated. It's simply not clear when it will be published because she is still writing it.
 
That June 2009 date for Nights of Villjamur for sure? Dunno why, but I've sort of fixated on this book. Which is a little bit unfair to it, really.

Another Wolfe next year already, you say? Hmm. I'm real torn on Wolfe: I DID NOT like Wizard-Knight. The excerpts I've read from New Sun haven't really engaged me deeply either, I confess. And yet all swear by him, and thus I know him to be brilliant. I'm aware that I am a lesser human being so long as I have not read him and acknowledged his absolute primacy over all things. Perhaps these stand-alones he's doing now, [assuming The Sorcerer's House is one], will give me an opportunity to try again. I do plan on reading An Evil Guest.

Oh, and the Pyr book I was interested in in my huge post was indeed Sturges's [that how you spell it], Midwinter, as I'm a sucker for well-written fantasy to do with fey myth. Whether it's well-written remains to be seen, but Lou Anders seems to like it very much, and while sure he's got an alterior motive in so far as he's trying to sell it to us ... it's Lou Anders, man. I think we can trust him. Oh, Pyr's got a sword-an'-sorcery called Blood of Ambrose coming out next year by a guy named James Enge, too. [can't remember if someone's mentioned this already.] As is the case with all the new stuff it sounds cool, but let's see an excerpt, or at least some reviews.
________
ZX14 VS HAYABUSA
 
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