27 February — & The Final Countdown Begins
Exactly one month from today, on 27 March, The Gathering of the Lost will be officially ‘out’ in the US and Canada—followed very shortly thereafter on 4 April for the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Publication day is always a big deal, because it marks the completion of a process that began with a single word—the so-necessary first word on a blank page. In the case of The Gathering of the Lost there have been a few more than the usual hurdles to be overcome along the way, mostly deriving from the Christchurch earthquake situation. But enough has been said about that in many other places, and today what I really want to do is look forward—to the publication of The Gathering of the Lost and the realization of the project that is The Wall of Night Book Two.
I know that book trailers are a new way of heralding books—but books are primarily about story and storytelling through the medium of language. So in the end, I really feel that there can be no better way to mark the countdown than with excerpts from the book itself—extracts that I hope will help readers build their own ‘trailer’ of visual images sparked by my words around both world and characters.
So in that spirit, I am going to be sharing a series of Gathering excerpts with you here as the next four weeks count down: at first only a few a week, but increasing as we approach Gathering’s D (– for Delivery, of course!) day of 27 March. But for today, I thought the best place to start might be with the back cover copy, the “first entry” to the story for every book.
Today I’ll be sharing the back cover copy for the US/Canada edition, with the UK/AUS/NZ text for Wednesday.
So here goes—what the back cover says for the USA/Canada edition:
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The Gathering of the Lost
“Garrisoned by the Nine Houses of the Derai, the towering mountain range called the Wall of Night is all that separates the peoples of Haarth from the terrible Darkswarm.
Five years have passed since the Wall was breached and the Keep of Winds nearly overrun. Five years since the Heir of Night, Malian, and her friend and ally Kalan, went missing in the wild lands of Jaransor.
Now, in Haarth’s diverse southern realms, events are moving. From the wealthy River city of Ij to the isolated Emerian outpost of Normarch, rumors of dark forces and darker magics are growing. As the great Midsummer tournament at Caer Argent approaches, Haarth will have one opportunity to band together against an enemy in which few believe … or to be lost forever.”
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Exciting, exciting stuff, you’d think they let you have NZ as your first official release.
Well, my US publisher might argue that they were the ones who clicked onto the wonderfulness of the series first. 🙂 But in fact I just got some excellent news today, which is that the Australian and New Zealand release date has been brought forward to the 27th March as well—am checking with the UK now to find out if it is the same there as well, or still the 4th April.
Woohoo
Robin
Indeed! 😀
Less time for impatient waiting!
Also, how do you get such good covers from everyone?
Yes!!!
I’ll second that, Jan. 😉