Philippa Ballantine - Author

Award-winning Author of fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk

Books of the Order

Harbinger – Cover reveal

… a bitter sweet moment.

The last reveal of a Jason Chan cover for Sorcha, Merrick, and Raed. Over the last three years I have become a huge fan of Jason’s work. It was also a huge honor to be able to pick up the Chelsey Award he won for the cover of Geist.

This however is my favourite cover…and thus a nice way to go out. I can only hope that in the future I somehow get to request Jason again.

For now, here is the image I have been unable to release until today. (Click to see the full beauty!)

Please feel free to tweet, pin, and Facebook share this image. But don’t forget you can pre-order the book right now, so you don’t miss out. Amazon — Nook

Harbinger cover by Jason Chan

 

A new artist a new delight

As long time readers of this blog will know, I am a huge admirer of Jason Chan. He won the Chesley Award with his cover for Geist, and has always bought my vision of the characters to life. I was just fortunate to see the cover for the last book, Harbinger last night. I am not yet at liberty to share, but Jason has produced my favourite cover, knocking it out of the park for the last cover of the series.

However, I have a new artistic delight to share right now—and it is not by Jason. The Science Fiction Book Club is bringing out in early January an omnibus edition of the Books of the Order— you can order it here. It is called the Order of Deacons, and when I saw the cover I was convinced it had been done by Jason. I was wrong.

Matthew Kalamidas was the art director for the SFBC project and has blogged about that process.  Apparently Jason couldn’t fit it into his schedule, but he recommended Karla Ortiz. I think you will agree she did a great job. I love that both Matthew and Karla worked hard to maintain the continuity of the series.

Karla’s work is just beautiful, and as Matthew says and I agree, she is definitely a talent to watch.

Here’s the cover.

The Order of Deacons

And here is the full artwork. I think you’ll agree…I am a very lucky author

Full art work by Karla Ortiz

News from near and far

December is going to be a fun month. I hope everyone recovered from their turkey (I cooked my first one!) and ready for the next assault on the waistline.

With all that lies ahead in 2013 my husband and I are on a new regime of healthy eating and exercise, and I highly recommend it for keeping the creative juices flowing. I’m currently finishing off the first round of edits of Harbinger, and as always my wonderful editor at Ace, Danielle Stockley has done a bang up job of pointing out the weaknesses of the story.

That’s the funny thing about editors, they usually end up telling you things you already knew in the back of your mind. The nice bit is they usually give you suggestions how to get around that blockage. I think Harbinger is going to nicely tie up loose ends for Sorcha, Merrick and Raed. I don’t think I am doing spoilers by saying Danielle might have teared up at the ending…

Harbinger has no cover yet, but does have a release date of July 30th 2013 over on Amazon.

However there is more Sorcha news sooner than that. First the Science Fiction Book Club now has the order page up and running for the hardcover Omnibus edition of the first three books. It’s called the Order of Deacons. I haven’t got a really good quality version of the cover image, but what I can see I approve. It apparently was not done by Jason Chan, but the artist has done a great job of capturing Sorcha, Merrick and the Rossin in all their glory. I can’t wait for January when the hardback arrive.

You can pre-order from here—but you have to be a member. (I really enjoy my membership!)

In more news from the Order, the German edition of Geist is now also available for pre-order. Interestingly the German publisher decided not to go with the American title, and instead it is called Der verfluchte Prinz (The Cursed Prince) which I am totally fine with. The series is also called something different Die Runen der Macht (The Runes of Power). And then there is the cover. Personally, I nearly always love the German covers. There is something of a different sensibility to them, and luckily this is one of those times when I was blown away.

The hair colour is darker than in the American version, but that really doesn’t bother me, because of the totally Sorcha attitude on display. The little details, the background, and the sense of movement and purpose in it, very much captures my heroine.

You can pre-order Der verfluchte Prinz from here

 

And in December the Janus Affair comes out in Germany.

 

And finally, the anthology I have a novella in is available for pre-order on Amazon. Clockwork Fairytales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables should be out in June.

Phew! Looks like 2013 is going to be as busy as 2012—if not more so. So what do you think of the covers?

Gotta love the hardbacks

The Science Fiction Book Club has produced some beautiful hardback versions of both Phoenix Rising and the Janus Affair.

There is something about a hardback—even in this day and age of the ebook.

So when news arrived today that the Science Fiction Bookclub wanted to do an omnibus edition of the three Books of the Order series. I got rather excited.They are a nice decent size, and you actually get them at a pretty good price.

Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate Series has been bought out in this format, and I really love what they did with that.

Sorcha, Merrick and Raed’s first three adventures will be out for pre-order in December, and then ready for delivery in January. So readers will be able to get themselves (or someone they love dearly) this omnibus to get them through those grey days of winter.

I am not yet sure what cover they will be going with (Gail’s omnibus editions got a new covers from the paperbacks), but I guess we will find out in the coming months!

I’d be really interested to know how many people still love hardbacks! Tee Morris and I have been using our limited supply of Science Fiction Book Club editions as extra special giveaways, and they do seem really popular.

New Town; New Orleans

Authors After Dark is a unique event. It’s all about romance, horror and fantasy writers getting together with genuine time with readers, bloggers and book clubs.

It is also our very first romance convention. I’ve never been to NOLA, or Louisiana so I am really excited.

For those not attending the convention (it is kept to a strictly limited size) there is an open book signing from 2-4 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street, New Orleans. Both Tee Morris and I will be there, so please come along if you want anything signed.

As for the rest of the convention, here’s where you will find me.

Thursday:
-Author Etiquette panel
-Blogger: New Authors
-Book Club: Meet and Greet

Friday:
-Reader Responsibility: How to keep your fav authors on the shelves
-Gaslight/Victorian/Steampunk
-Multiple Viewpoints

It’s going to be a great chance to mix with bloggers, book clubs, readers and other authors. In addition, I love seeing new parts of America—so hope to see you there!