We here at HarperCollins take our Christmas decoration seriously – if it doesn’t sparkle, we don’t like it. I thought we might share some of our decorating tips with our devoted Voyager readers – perhaps, someday, you might have an office as sparkly as ours.

1. Three trees are better than one

Why have only one Christmas tree when you could have three?! Make sure that they’re suitably positioned at average head height for maximum impact.

Remember, Christmas trees don’t necessarily have to be green. They come in a variety of colours – Marketing have a white Christmas tree (as can be seen below).

2. Why green?

The purists among you may well scoff at this second office decorating tip. “Green is the only colour a tree should be” you’ll say. Well, I say that trees are CURRENTLY green.

Why not get ahead of the curve? Who knows what colour trees will be in the future? Follow our Marketing departments bold tree statement and get a white tree.

3. “Home”made

If you have an art department, which we do, then you’re bound to get something creative out of them – note the specially designed Paper Chains. It’s also a real tree. So, tree purists, I hope you’re happy.

I tried to make Paper Chains…

I’m kidding… that’s a scene from Elf.

4. Decorations

Nearly as important are the tree decorations that you put on it. We’ve seen what you can do with a bit of time and a team of creative designers. Now, let’s take a look at what you can do with a touch of Christmas spirit and Poundland.

Why not make a bold statement with decorations that are as big as your Christmas tree? This fine specimen is the Voyager Christmas tree. We really think that we’ve outdone ourselves with this one. Note that the tree is made of tinsel – that, dear readers, is the height of office Christmas tree style.

Have a lovely Christmas!

The Voyager team. x

Congratulations!

Michael He

@SoDraconian

@pnorris14

I will contact you separately for your address details.

Thank you for entering! More competitions in the new year.

“Cover Art” occurs every Tuesday. Essentially, the HarperCollins art department gather us in a small, air-tight room, and show us a bajillion covers until our heads explode.  I jest! It’s actually rather fun - definitely one of the highlights of the week. They sometimes even have biscuits (posh)!

So, in an attempt to prolong the creative process I think that we should get all arty.

The Challenge

Create your own individual interpretation of our 2012 Sci Fi debut Earth Girl by Janet Edwards.

Overview

Jarra is stuck on Earth while the rest of humanity portals around the universe. But can she prove to the norms that she’s more than just an Earth Girl?

2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.

A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.

Brief

It needs to say Earth Girl and Janet Edwards.

All of the entries (if we have any, it’s a busy time of year) will go up on the blog. Stick figures are welcome.

Enter via Twitter or email thevoyager@harpercollins.co.uk

DEADLINE 5th JANUARY 2012! All entries will receive some goodies!

Enter our competition to win a set of the hardback editions of A Song of Ice and Fire. All you have to do is send us a tweet on why you love the series. Obviously you have a word limit – one tweet – and you have to make sure you @_thevoyager_ and #ASoIaF

Think you’re up to it? Get tweeting! We aren’t limiting this to the UK so RT and get everyone involved. You have until the 14th December. This means the books will be with you in time for Christmas.

Questions? Email thevoyager@harpercollins.co.uk

Last night, the Voyager team were very sad to hear about the passing of one of fantasy and science fiction’s greatest writers, Anne McCaffrey. Tributes and obituaries are flooding in from around the globe, and the immense outpouring of love and sadness shared by the genre community and beyond is just a testament to the impact that Anne had on readers and writers everywhere.

Read a lovely obit by io9 here and share your thoughts on what Anne meant to you in an open forum at John Scalzi’s blog, here.

Hi everyone! I’m Daisy, a book lover and blogger (my blog). I recently won a contest from Harper Voyager for the first two books in the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima and when they asked if I might be interested in reviewing them as a guest blogger I said YES! Because, really, I’m such a fangirl for this series!

In these books we follow Raisa, the princess heir of the Fells, and Han, a reformed thief. And I’m not giving anything away, but you’ll be surprised at how these two storylines come together. And you will love it. I know I did!

The point of view switches between Raisa and Han and they are both wonderful! I LOVED how Raisa is not a spoiled little princess, but maybe slightly naïve about everything going on outside the palace. But you would be too if the only time you’d been in the city was when there was a parade in your honor! I loved that she’s intelligent and really wants to make a difference. She does have the whole superficial crush thing down, but well, she’s only 15 and she doesn’t think of her crush instantly being her soulmate, so I was good with this.
Han is a little on the dangerous side. And mysterious! He has had cuffs on his wrists ever since he was a baby and they grow along with him (MAGIC CUFFS). He doesn’t know why and up until the very end of this first book in the series, we don’t either. I LOVED it!

 I LOVED the world building and all the different characters! And I loved to hate the ‘bad guys’ which is always a bonus! Oh, and I was secretly gleeful when their evil plans failed! *enter evil laugh of my own*

Sometimes a series can suffer from ‘second book syndrome’, but The Exiled Queen absolutely did not! It has just as much going on as the first book and further explores the world and the characters and doesn’t just act as a filler to get to the action!

I think this series is one of the best YA fantasy series I have ever read and I’ve been lucky enough to already read the third book, The Gray Wolf Throne and let me tell you it’s excellent as well! This series will grab you and not let go, be warned: you will be sucked into this world and will not remember to do trivial things, such as eating/drinking/sleeping!

http://www.cindachima.com/

Buy Demon King

Buy Exiled Queen

Pre-order Gray Wolf Throne