This isn’t September? It’s not even close to September…
Yes, this update is rather tardy I’m afraid to say as we released The Obelisk Gate right at the end of the month which kept us rather busy!
Which brings me on to what September was largely about, The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin. The Broken Earth trilogy was the second series I signed up after The First Law and TFS was the second book I released and shipped, so it’s been wonderful to release the next book. It has definitely been a long time coming for Broken Earth collectors, so thank you for your patience!
Whilst TOG was the main focus of the month (there are still a few Standards left on the website too) lots has been happening here!
We shipped Standard and Deluxe Editions of “Legend” too and should have the Lettered out the door soon, with first copies leaving the bindery later this week. It has been great to see the response to the copies of Legend out in the wild, it was a fun book to publish!
It’s been a hectic month after the summer period as expected and we have lots of titles at different stages of the publishing process as we head into the final quarter of the year. All working titles are lovingly updated below so feel free to skip to the gory details.
Somebody mentioned recently that we haven’t released a new title/series that we’re working on for a while. And they’re right! It was May when I last announced Mythago Wood! If you don’t count sequels like Endymion or Best Served Cold then there’s just been the one this year so far. With that in mind, I think I’ll announce a new project that’s been underway for nearly 2 years at some point this month. It’s also likely to be the next release eligible for Publishers Rights too, which is exciting.
I’m also attending Dragonsteel this year, so lots and lots to get through. Onwards!
Dragonsteel Nexus 2025
I’m going! How exciting as I haven’t been to any of these kind of conventions before, and they do sound brilliant. It’s not something I made a real effort to go to before, as often I don’t have any stock to sell. Why go if I can’t sell something? Well, I’m going because Curious King needs to be there right?
I’ve had a few people asking me what our plan is for the convention, what are we doing for it? Good question! I’m working on having some exclusive stuff that can be purchased on the day. I’ll also bring a boatload of our books so people can see first-hand some of the different tiers of our releases (no eating crisps before you handle them please!).
I will do a separate post about Dragonsteel Nexus and what we’re doing in November. I should be able to share what curiosities we have for sale at the convention then and our rough plan.
Legend
Just the Lettered to ship now following a delay at the bindery. These will be going out over the next 10 days for those expecting one. It’s been a pleasure to work on this incredible title for a “Legend” like David Gemmell and the response from collectors has been great to read.
We don’t have any current plans to publish another Gemmell novel at the moment, but I’d love to do another in the future. There are lots of great Gemmell books/series to choose from too!
The Fall of Hyperion
Next out the door for Curious King! We’re midway through binding at Ludlow’s Bookbinders on both the Deluxe and the Lettered Edition. The bookblocks are ready and currently in the case-making phase. Slipcases and Solanders are under construction too, so we’re really hoping to get this shipped early November and will monitor progress with the bindery over the next few weeks.
Hyperion has been one of the most loved releases we’ve done, and I can’t wait for owners to add in The Fall of Hyperion on the shelf next to it – they look great together. So, not long now guys!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
We’re nearing the end of printing I’m pleased to say! Hand & Eye Press have been working on this one and are more than halfway through the letterpress overprinting. Gomer Press produced the colour vignettes with four colour offset printing onto the pages prior to H&E’s work.
Gary Gianni was the artist on this project and has done an incredible job all the way through the book. Coming in under 300 pages, this is one of the most illustrated releases we have published, and it really brings the story alive.
Limitation pages are now signed by both Gary and Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod on the BBC radio/TV series!) and enroute to the bindery as we speak! All the printed material should be with the bindery by the end of the month for binding. Depending on how on schedule the bindery are (it’s busy out there!) I’d expect this one to ship early next year. This was our first release at 750 Standard’s and 250 Deluxe’s and I really pushed the specs on each tier (just to make their lives more difficult of course!).
Last Argument of Kings
I’m pleased to say LAOK has now finished printing at Nomad Letterpress! The second colour is on now to all 50 odd chapter/title pages (ouch!) and is being picked up by the bindery for the next stage.
Greg Manchess has now handed in all colour artwork for LAOK, which is incredible to see. There’s going to be at least one gatefold image tipped in as well as the other interior pieces and we’ll be including the map too.
When will this one be ready? This will most likely follow Hitchhiker’s at the bindery as they are unable to do them concurrently. This puts it Q1/Q2 2026 realistically, but if anything changes and it comes forward then I’ll share that on the monthly update.
The Martian
Not long now – this one is being printed by Hand & Eye Press in London and is the next CK project they’ll be doing. This should be early next year based upon current schedule, with binding to follow immediately.
The art by Yuxing Zhang is all in, the limitation pages are signed by both Andy Weir and Yuxing. So once the printing is done, there’s nothing to hold up binding. Summer 2026 for shipping I would say.
Assassin's Apprentice
Platemaking is underway for this one, which means printing should be able to start at the end of this year. We’re using Nomad Letterpress on this one, and the interiors look really nice. Two colours on this one, but it’s going to be expensive to print the remaining two novels as they increase significantly in size and how many second colour pages need printing.
Lixin Yin completed the artwork some time ago, so we’ll be proofing the colours soon and offset print the interiors ready for binding. We’re also starting the artwork for Royal Assassin very soon with Lixin which is really exciting.
The Lettered Edition boxes are under construction at the moment and the 6-layer design in the lid should be ready in the next month or so for assembly. We’re also about to finalise the designs for the book 2 and 3 boxes to ensure they al fit well together.
Our plan is shipping will be in Summer 2026 and then pre-order on Royal Assassin! Again, it is early in the process, and will update on a monthly basis here.
The Obelisk Gate
It’s out, revealed and pre-ordered! The lovingly named “Sapphire Edition” due to the deep blue we’ve used across the prototypes is nearly completely sold out, just a few Standard Editions available now.
John Anthony di Giovanni has done an incredible dustjacket for the release and is contributing all art again for this release. We loved his work on The Fifth Season, and we held out to ensure he could unify the whole trilogy.
When the full series is done, we’re confident it will have some of the most “shelf appeal” of our productions. The first two already look great and when I get some more time, I’ll take some more pictures of both books together at each tier to tide you over until they’re ready (one below!).
We’re nearly ready for platemaking and this one will also be printed by Nomad Letterpress as they printed the first book. Expect this Fall 2026.
Endymion
Up next! This is shaping up to be one of our coolest releases and kicks off the final two books brilliantly. As most readers of the cantos will know, the four books are roughly split into two storylines (but one overarching story). We have a new artist for the final two books, the incredible “Thomas Elliot”.
Thomas is an unbelievable artist and had some very big shoes to fill after Jaime Jones’ incredible work on the first two. Thomas is also producing B&W illustrations in ink and will be painting the colours as Jaime did. Thomas liaised with Jaime in the early stages of the project to help bring some flow from the first books to the final two but still brings his own style and view of Simmons universe. I’m working with Zach Harney on the art direction and we’re both really excited by the work Thomas has been producing!
We’re planning to pre-order on this in November, ideally mid-way through the month. The prototypes are under production at the moment and should look great when finished. We don’t want to pre-order on this release until all copies of The Fall of Hyperion are out the door, so we’ll be monitoring that progress closely.
Just to give you an idea of how good Thomas Elliot’s work has been on the interiors so far, have look at these two pieces.
