If you fancy neat wallpapers, my French publisher has put up the one for the French edition of Servant of the Underworld:

Available in 1024 x 768, 1280 x 768 and 1920 x 1200 here (scroll down, it’s under “Fantasy”, at the very bottom of the category)

And you can check out the wallpapers for their other neat covers, too!

(yes, yes, I will stop displaying the awesome cover at some point… Trust me. If only because my publisher is going to run out of ideas on how to display it in new forms…)

By the way, I’m giving away five copies of Harbinger of the Storm via goodreads–if you happen to be interested, you can hop on over there and check it out. It’s open worldwide.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Harbinger of the Storm

by Aliette de Bodard

Giveaway ends May 15, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I think I’m in love…

(more info here, including the French jacket copy. The artist is Larry Rostant, who did a number of other awesome things, and will also be doing the covers for the rest of the trilogy)

-Behold, the final draft of Master of the House of Darts has been delivered to the Angry Robot overlords. Which should leave me time to catch up on a number of things I owed people (blog posts…), and to start work on the Xuya novella. Which in turn involves reading Dream of Red Mansions again. Cool.
–Servant of the Underworld has been longlisted for a British Fantasy award, which is making me all tingly. And, what’s more, I see lots of familiar names in that list, including Patrick Samphire, Stephanie Burgis (twice!), Lauren Beukes, Dave Gullen, Chaz Brenchley/Daniel Fox, Martin Owton, Rosanne Rabi­nowitz, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Adam Christopher, Beth Bernobich… Many thanks to my nominator(s).
-I have tandoori chicken, naan, and I am running water for a bath. With bubbles.

-Reviews of Harbinger of the Storm by Antony at SFbook.com and by Josh Vogt at Examiner.com. And one of Servant of the Underworld by Hannah Mariska at Fantasy Faction
-Also, if you feel like voting for Servant of the Underworld in the BSC Book Tournament, by all means go ahead 🙂 (it’s set against Ian McDonald’s superlative The Dervish House, though…)

Look at what I have!

Yes, it’s the French version of Servant of the Underworld, which I have two weeks to reread and annotate. So far, it reads wonderfully if a little weirdly (in the “did I write this?” vein). Had a lovely chat with the editorly folks yesterday; and the artist is apparently starting work on a series of three new covers for the French version–which will be Aztec portraits. Shiny!

Check out the new Salon Futura, in which Cheryl Morgan, Mike Carey, Jon Courtenay Grimwood and I talk about crossovers between crime and speculative fiction. On my end, I found the discussion and breadth of knowledge fascinating–thanks to Cheryl for thinking of me, and to Mike and Jon for being such awesome people.
(there were some technical glitches which resulted in much swearing at BT, but nothing that should spoil your enjoyment of the show).

The rest of the issue is equally intriguing, with looks at new crime/spec fic merges, interviews with Ian McDonald and C.E Murphy, and lots of other appetising features.

Meanwhile, I shall go back to my stir-fried beef with onions (lots of onions leftover after a rather disastrous buy, had to do something with them…)

Since it’s up on the website, I can now announce that I’ll be a guest at the Imaginales convention, which will run 26-29th May 2011. Set in Epinal, a beautiful town in the East of France, Imaginales is the big French fantasy convention (the other spec-fic con is Utopiales in November, which is more geared towards SF). Among the overseas guests this year are Peter V. Brett, Trudi Cavanan, Brandon Sanderson, N.K. Jemisin, Robin Hobb, Stephen Baxter, and Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman (there are also plenty of well-known French authors whose names will be less familiar to most readers of this blog–check the guest list if you’re so minded).

The French translation of Servant of the Underworld should be around as well, since it’s released on May 27th. It will be titled D’Obsidienne et de Sang, tome 1 des Chroniques Aztèques (“Of Obsidian and Blood, book 1 of the Aztec chronicles). And lookie, lookie, you can preorder it on amazon!

The first draft of Master of the House of Darts is complete (well, almost. I need to fill in a number of gaping holes. But I made it to the end, and the plot basically holds together). Now for a round of edits before uploading it to my crit group.

*phew*

I’d be off for a liedown, but it’s party night.

-Ove Jansson aka Cybermage:

Aliette de Bodard has done it again. Harbinger of the Storm is an action packed Aztec mystery opera with magic, interventions from the gods and more twists and turns than the first book. (…) The story is self contained and can be enjoyed standalone, but you will not want to miss out on the first. I wish it was 2012 already even if the world is going under while I read the final Obsidian and Blood.

–Violin in a Void:

[Acatl] leads us into an increasingly dark and bloody tangle of mythology and political intrigue that is not merely a worthy successor to Servant of the Underworld, but a tighter, pacier and altogether more exciting read. (…)It’s a complex but intriguing story, and I for one am thoroughly satisfied with this sequel. According to De Bodard’s blog the final book in the Obsidian and Blood trilogy will be titled The Master of the House of Darts, and its due for release in November 2011. If De Bodard continues to build on what she’s done so far, it’s going to be epic.

–Publishers Weekly (starred review):

Political intrigue and rivalry among a complex pantheon of divinities drive this well-paced murder mystery set at the height of the Aztec Empire in the late 15th century.(…) De Bodard incorporates historical fact with great ease and manages the rare feat of explaining complex culture and political system without lecturing or boring the reader.

Er, wow? PW starred review is certainly most intimidating, and I’m very glad a lot of people seem to think HoS is a better book than its predecessor. I’d be going for a liedown if I wasn’t %%% busy…