Forthcoming Books: 2009 edition

Tanzanite · Post by **Tanzanite** » Fri April 17th, 2009, 11:32 pm

[quote=""cw gortner""]Regarding the new PG cover: I like the graphic elements, but the woman in the "bubble" looks like she's from a cheap 1970s TV costume drama. Is she supposed to be the allegedly bewitching Elizabeth Woodville?

And I just looked up the US cover, where they've bled her onto the cover in full, with a cracked-painting effect and the graphic element clinging to the top half of the book, obscuring her face. Interesting . . .

It does appear as though we've come to the long anticipated end of the headless woman cover. My paperback might be one of the last examples of this time-honored and completely overdone trend

[/quote]

I agree about the "bubble"! I like the US cover except for the vines hanging all over her face. Why would they do that? She doesn't look anything like how I would imagine Elizabeth Woodville - although she is attractive enough, I don't see the stunning beauty that would have captivated a king so thoroughly.

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Fri April 17th, 2009, 11:40 pm

[quote=""Divia""]Interesting. I can only guess its one of the queens that lost her head. But maybe I'm wrong.[/quote]

You're not wrong, someone posted the synopsis higher up, it's about Katherine Howard, who indeed lost her head.

SM

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat April 18th, 2009, 12:06 am

Posted by Telynor

I don't know if anyone else has heard of this one, but Christopher Tolkien is publishing more of his late father's work:
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun -- due May 5th
And it's a take on the Volsungsaga. This should be interesting...

One to watch out for. A couple of historical fantasy authors have had a go at the Volsungsaga:
Stephen Grundy with "Rhinegold"
and Diana L Paxson, (mentioned back a bit on this thread) with her "Wodan's Children" trilogy, starting with "The Wolf and the Raven". Incidentally, although i knew that Bradley and Paxson collaborated on the Avalon books, i hadn't realised till now that they were sisters!

diamondlil · Post by **diamondlil** » Sat April 18th, 2009, 12:14 am

[quote=""annis""]Posted by Telynor

Incidentally, although i knew that Bradley and Paxson collaborated on the Avalon books, i hadn't realised till now that they were sisters![/quote]

I didn't realise that either before now.

Ariadne · Post by **Ariadne** » Sat April 18th, 2009, 12:15 am

Sisters-in-law, actually - Paxson is married to MZB's brother, Jon DeCles, who's a fantasy writer as well. (Paxson's website says DeCles is a pen name.)

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat April 18th, 2009, 2:00 am

It just occurred to me that maybe Paul Edwin Zimmer could be related to Marion Zimmer Bradley, and sure enough, he is her brother. He wrote some good fantasy novels back in the '80s and in fact, I now see that he even wrote some with his sister. I never made that connection before.

Tanzanite · Post by **Tanzanite** » Tue April 21st, 2009, 12:42 am

The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis (Catherine de Medici). Release is July 21 - not a headless cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Queen-Nove ... EGK5AEPKX5

and

The Kingmaker's Sisters by David Baldwin (non-fiction). Supposed to be released in June.
The cover is different - kind of soft and pretty.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingmakers-Sister ... EGK5AEPKX5

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Tue April 21st, 2009, 12:45 am

I'm not fond of covers unless they have a figure so I can identify what the era is. But thats just me.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Tue April 21st, 2009, 4:38 am

[QUOTE=Tanzanite;25956]The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis (Catherine de Medici). Release is July 21 - not a headless cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Queen-Nove ... EGK5AEPKX5

Ooh, I love the cover! I'm pea-green with envy

I hope Ballantine does something equally smashing when my Catherine de Medici book releases in 2010. It looks as though Kalogridis is taking a different approach to Catherine than I did, too, which will make this all the more fun to read!

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Tue April 21st, 2009, 5:04 am

[quote=""annis""]It just occurred to me that maybe Paul Edwin Zimmer could be related to Marion Zimmer Bradley, and sure enough, he is her brother. He wrote some good fantasy novels back in the '80s and in fact, I now see that he even wrote some with his sister. I never made that connection before.[/quote]

I had the pleasure many years ago of meeting both MZB and her brother Paul at various SF conventions, and hang around long enough in the SCA (Paxson, btw, is consider the 'founder' of the organization, as it was her backyard it all started in) you meet quite a few authors.