Covers Unveiled for Kraken by China Mieville and Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton

Kraken by China Mieville is looking very good.  The cover is so simple yet evocative.  Kraken is a standalone with a very Lovecraftian twist.  Really can't wait for this one to come out next June. 

 Deep in the research wing of the Natural History Museum is a prize specimen, something that comes along much less often than once in a lifetime: a perfect, and perfectly preserved, giant squid. But what does it mean when the creature suddenly and impossibly disappears?

For curator Billy Harrow it's the start of a headlong pitch into a London of warring cults, surreal magic, apostates and assassins. It might just be that the creature he's been preserving is more than a biological rarity: there are those who are sure it's a god.

A god that someone is hoping will end the world.

UPDATE: James over at Speculative Horizons tipped me off to the UK cover for Kraken, which is very cool as well.

Newton's Nights of Villjamur has been gaining strong accolades in the UK.  We finally get a crack at it in June stateside.  The cover when compared to the UK is a bit ho-hum and nowhere near as interesting as what Tor UK did.  The art is also a bit bright for what is supposedly a very dark read.  I'm still eagerly awaiting its release and follow-up City of Ruin though.

Political intrigue and dark violence converge in a superb new action series of enthralling fantasy. An ice age strikes a chain of islands, and thousands come to seek sanctuary at the gates of Villjamur: a city of ancient spires and bridges, a place where banshees wail the deceased, cultists use forgotten technology for their own gain and where, further out, the dead have been seen walking across the tundra.  When the Emperor commits suicide, his elder daughter, Rika, is brought home to lead the Jamur Empire, but the sinister Chancellor plans to get rid of her and claim the throne for himself. Meanwhile a senior investigator in the city inquisition must solve the high-profile and savage murder of a city politician, whilst battling evils within his own life, and a handsome and serial womanizer manipulates his way into the imperial residence with a hidden agenda. When reports are received that tens of thousands of citizens are dying in a bizarre genocide on the northern islands of the Empire, members of the elite Night Guard are sent to investigate. It seems that, in this land under a red sun, the long winter is bringing more than just snow.

You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | The City & The City by China Mieville
Covers Unveiled for The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
LOOKING FORWARD |  Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi, & Steampunk Coming in 2010