Hello Voyager fans!
One of the most exciting elements of publishing (I believe) is seeing the covers come to life. I hope you feel the same. So here’s a peak at From the Deep of the Dark by Stephen Hunt.
Check out Stephen’s blog to see what he has to say: http://stephenhunt.net/?p=918
@westerosorg asked: Shift in cover art for SF/F, from more illustrative towards more abstract/graphic, seems more pronounced in UK than US. Why?
Thanks for your question @westerosorg! I can’t really speak for the US or even the UK market as a whole, but I’ll try to give some insight into cover design from the Voyager/HarperCollins art department team perspective.
The great thing about the fantasy genre is that the fantasy market is actually very evenly spread across genders and age groups. The challenge is then that our book covers have to work for an extremely varied audience. We also have to be extra careful not to alienate any potential readers as external market research has shown us that sometimes more traditional-looking, illustrative fantasy covers are off-putting for newcomers to the genre. There’s a whole website dedicated to ridiculous fantasy covers — and while hopefully we are doing better nowadays there is still a negative perception towards fantasy books (‘trashy’, ‘weird’, ‘dated’ come to mind) that we have to push back against. Basically, more graphic, elegant covers are hopefully appealling to our extremely loyal genre fanbase as well as to new readers who perhaps wouldn’t expect to enjoy a ‘fantasy’ novel — and changing the perception of the genre as a whole.
Stephen Hunt has worked as a writer, editor and publisher for a number of magazines and national newspaper groups in the UK. He is also the founder of www.SFcrowsnest.com, one of the oldest and most popular fan-run science fiction and fantasy websites. Born in Canada, the author divides his time between the UK, North America and Spain. His interests include computer programming, the graphic arts and collecting comics. One day he hopes to have a library large enough to house all of his books.
Want to learn more about Stephen Hunt?
Visit Stephen’s official website
Visit SFcrowsnest
List of Stephen’s books
Out Now from Stephen Hunt:
Secrets of the Fire Sea (February 2010)
A secret grave enough to kill for…
The isolated island of Jago is the only home Hannah Conquest has ever known. But her carefree existence comes to an abrupt halt when her guardian, Archbishop Alice Grey, is brutally murdered.
Someone desperately wants to suppress a secret kept by the archbishop, and if the attempts on Hannah’s own life are any indication, the killer believes that Alice passed the knowledge of it onto her ward before her head was separated from her neck.
Meanwhile, a deadly power struggle is brewing on Jago. And as Hannah digs deeper into the mystery Alice left behind, assisted by two rather different detectives, she must race to unravel a chain of ancient riddles in order to save not just her own life, but her island home itself…
(Preorder Now for July 2011)
The Arthur C Clarke Awards… scandal, beer suppage and science fiction
By Stephen Hunt
Ah, the Arthur C Clarke Awards. Truly, the Oscars of the science fiction literary community, for what other event holds its ceremony in such luxurious and glamorous surroundings… the Apollo Cinema and the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival? What other event attracts such a distinguished selection of the great and the good to hear about all that is noble and page turning in our genre?
We wanted to share some photos of the Voyager team at this week’s London Book Fair, celebrating our anniversary….
From the top….
The Voyager trailer
Voyager Editorial Director Emma Coode, Graeme Neil from the Bookseller, Voyager publicist Alice Moss and Peter V. Brett (prizes for spotting Conn Iggulden)
The lovely HarperCollins Legal and Rights team, Lucy, Sarah, Caroline and Georgina
Peter V. Brett and one of the HC team
Drum roll please… at last we can unveil our rather splendid trailer to celebrate 15 years of Voyager publishing.
We hope it was worth the wait. For everyone that leaves a comment on the blog or on YouTube between now and the 10th May, we will enter you into a draw to win a copy of each of the published books from the trailer.
The David Gemmell Legend Award was founded last year to recognize the best in fantasy fiction. The prize is entirely voted for by the public online, and polling is now open to select the 2010 shortlist. Voyager has 5 titles longlisted:
Rides a Dread Legion by Raymond E. Feist – Read an extract
The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb – Read an extract
The Rise of the Iron Moon by Stephen Hunt – More info
The Silver Mage by Katharine Kerr – Read an extract
Tyrant’s Blood by Fiona McIntosh – Read an extract
To vote for your favourite nominee, head to www.gemmellaward.com, click on ‘LEGEND’ on the top navigation bar, then click on ‘VOTE!’ and select from the list. The poll closes on 31st March.
Happy voting!
Our authors have brought you some wonderful worlds to escape into this year, from favourite destinations, such as Midkemia and the Rain Wilds, to virgin territories like Thesia and The Devona Set; so many in fact, that it would be impossible – ok, annoying – to list them all for you in one newsletter. So here’s just a taste of the adventures Voyager fans enjoyed – or have yet to enjoy – from the year 2009…
Welcome to the Voyager blog – full of news, reviews, and opinion pieces on all of your favourite Voyager authors. We publish a wide range of authors across the genre, from classic science fiction authors to giants of fantasy, as well as a range of bright new stars.
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