For the news, very briefly:

Rebis, one of my all-time favourite publishers, have picked up the rights to the Polish translation of Heirs of the Blade.

And the Barnes and Noble "First in Fantasy" article on Empire in Black and Gold can be found here and very nice it is too.

And I've just written my first stab at the back cover blurb for The Air War despite the fact that nobody at Tor has actually read it, so I could have written anything, you hear me? Anything! It could be complete cobblers, and they'll never know! Muahahahaha. Etcetera. Anyway, I'm told that's for flogging the series around the Frankfurt Book Fair, so crossed fingers for some more translation news soon.

And last, Fantasycon, at the end of this month. I will be:

8pm Friday — signing books along with a large number of other authors.

10am Saturday — Panel — Trends in Fantasy Fiction, Russell Room (1)

2pm Saturday — Reading slot, Room 134 Royal Albion Hotel. Not sure what I'll read, and (assuming I have an actual audience) will probably give people the choice of a short story or a section from the Air War or, conceivably, both if time allows.

(1) I assume it's in a location called the Russell Room. Alternatively, Russell Room will be chairing the panel.

Firstly, I will be at Fantasycon 2011 this year (1) and I've been asked to sit on a panel on Trends in Fantasy Fiction, 10am Saturday. I will hopefully be essaying a reading too, as the five people who came to the last one at Alt Fiction seemed to enjoy it (2). Reading, if it goes ahead, will either be the section of The Air War or a new short story.

Secondly, cheap kindling!  In that there is an Amazon offer for the Kindle version of Empire in Black and Gold that can be found here. Ideal present for someone who hasn't read it, might like it, and has a Kindle thingie.

Finally, and most momentously…

NEW COVER ART

Although mentioning the above in the header probably killed that as a surprise reveal, the earlier Shadows of the Apt volumes are getting something of a remodel. The new editions will be trade paperback format (to fit with the the upcoming release of Heirs of the Blade and feature completely new art by Alan Brooks. So far designs for Empire and Dragonfly are in the pipeline:

The new editions should be out around March 2012.

And finally finally finally, and just so I've not been blowing my own trumpet for the whole post, I have just finished reading Dan Abnett's recent novel Embedded, and good lord it is good. Go get yourself a copy if you haven't already.

(1) because being at Fantasycon 2011 any other year would be stupid.

(2) In all fairness that was about how many the room sat.

The digital people at Macmillan are just setting up an email for the site, but thereafter I will be taking submissions for further book-based art, so any artists, or friends of artists, out there, watch this space.

In other news, a short but sweet review is up at SF Revu here. So far so good. On the "all of the people all of the time" stakes, I'm expecting a pounding any day now. I shall be stoic, I promise. Or I shall track the reviewer down, smear them with honey and stake them out for the ants (1). But stoicism probably has a lot to recommend it as regards not writing the next one from prison (2), so there we go.

(1) I really don't know if this works for British ants. They may not be voracious enough. You'd probably get hypothermia first.

(2) Worked for Geoffrey Archer.