Cover Unveiled for The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham

Daniel Abraham's The Dagger and the Coin has become one of the most solid Fantasy series over the last 2 years and the covers so far while being quite nice in a traditional yet modern sort of way have so far gone the weapon route for art, but this time for the third book, The Tyrant's Law, Orbit is treating us to some flaming monsters! Magic has been part of the books though not the focus, but stakes certainly seem to be rising in that area. Here's the blurb, but those who are behind in the series may just want to keep it to gazing at the cover:

The great war cannot be stopped.

The tyrant Geder Palliako begins a conquest aimed at bringing peace to the world, though his resources are stretched too thin. When things go poorly, he finds a convenient target among the thirteen races and sparks a genocide.

Clara Kalliam, freed by having fallen from grace, remakes herself as a "loyal traitor" and starts building an underground resistance movement that seeks to undermine Geder through those closest to him.

Cithrin bel Sarcour is apprenticing in a city that's taken over by Antea, and uses her status as Geder's one-time lover to cover up an underground railroad smuggling refugees to safety.

And Marcus Wester and Master Kit race against time and Geder Palliako's soldiers in an attempt to awaken a force that could change the fate of the world.

The Tyrant's War will be out in May and like the first two books will be an immediate get for me. Also, Abraham along with his co-conspirator Ty Frank will also be writing a Han Solo POV novel in the Star Wars universe under their James S.A. Corey name though no release date has been announced. This also reminds me I have to get to Caliban's War soon. Maybe it will be my Thanksgiving vacation treat...

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A Few New Orbit Covers

Orbit's Spring/Summer releases have been making their way out in the Internet ether and many are looking quite good.  Some of these covers are not completely final, but should be close to the end product.

2313 is Kim Stanley Robinson's first book since Galileo's Dream and is the start of him working with Orbit.  Originally 2312 was slated to be released in February, but got pushed back to May.

The year is 2313. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity’s only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.

The first event takes place on Mercury, on the city of Terminator, itself a miracle of engineering on an unprecedented scale. It is an unexpected death, but one that might have been foreseen. For Swan Er Hong, it is an event that will change her life. Swan was once a woman who designed worlds. Now she will be led into a plot to destroy them.

Caliban's War is the sequel to Leviathan Wakes, which was quite the start to a series so I'm eager to see where Franck and Abraham take it from here. The second book in the Expanse series should be out June 2012.

We are not alone.

The alien protomolecule is clear evidence of an intelligence beyond human reckoning. No one knows what exactly is being built on Venus, but whatever it is, it is vast, powerful, and terrifying.

When a creature of unknown origin and seemingly impossible physiology attacks soldiers on Ganymede, the fragile balance of power in the Solar System shatters. Now, the race is on to discover if the protomolecule has escaped Venus, or if someone is building an army of super-soldiers.

Jim Holden is the center of it all. In spite of everything, he’s still the best man for the job to find out what happened on Ganymede. Either way, the protomolecule is loose and Holden must find a way to stop it before war engulfs the entire system.

The King's Blood is Abraham's next Epic Fantasy following in the footsteps of The Dragon's Path, which I just loved this year and proves there is plenty more to explore in the genre.  The Dagger and the Coin series continues in May.

War casts its shadow over the lands that the dragons once ruled. Only the courage of a young woman with the mind of a gambler and loyalty to no one stands between hope and universal darkness.

The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. And quietly, almost beneath the notice of anyone, an old, broken-hearted warrior and an apostate priest will begin a terrible journey with an impossible goal: destroy a Goddess before she eats the world.

Orbit has plenty more and is still pushing out plenty of omnibuses as they have The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks and King Maker, King Breaker by Karen Miller planned for next year.

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Cover Unveiled for The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

The Dragon's Path could be Daniel Abraham's breakout best-seller. Even given how much Abraham's Long Price series is loved and has been praised it has never realized the sales his original publisher wanted. But Orbit has picked up the ball for The Dagger and the Coin series, which is supposed to be a more traditional style Epic Fantasy. The cover most definitely fits the mold of Epic Fantasy covers and is much brighter than the cover that leaked out a few months back. It also adds a lot more depth than the earlier cover, but I'm not sure about the shadow horse figure which I didn't care for on Richard K. Morgan's The Steel Remains as well. The Dragon's Path is one of my most anticipated novels for 2011. Lauren Panepinto from Orbit had this to say:

The cool thing about the world of The Dragon’s Path is that the titular dragons are part of the ancient past of the current civilization — without giving too much away, I’d say it’s kind of like imagining that the Roman Emperors had been dragons, and so much history has passed that all that is left is artifacts (like, say, a sword), myths, and folklore that some people believe and others doubt. And of course now, there is an ominous threat of history perhaps not being quite as dead and buried as was hoped.

And here is the official blurb to whet your appetites:

Summer is the season of war in the Free Cities.

Marcus wants to get out before the fighting starts. His hero days are behind him and simple caravan duty is better than getting pressed into service by the local gentry. Even a small war can get you killed. But a captain needs men to lead — and his have been summarily arrested and recruited for their swords.

Cithrin has a job to do — move the wealth of a nation across a war zone. An orphan raised by the bank, she is their last hope of keeping the bank’s wealth out of the hands of the invaders. But she’s just a girl and knows little of caravans, war, and danger. She knows money and she knows secrets, but will that be enough to save her in the coming months?

Geder, the only son of a noble house is more interested in philosophy than swordplay. He is a poor excuse for a soldier and little more than a pawn in these games of war. But not even he knows what he will become of the fires of battle. Hero or villain? Small men have achieved greater things and Geder is no small man.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. What should have been a small summer spat between gentlemen is spiraling out of control. Dark forces are at work, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon’s Path — the path of war.

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