Another month, another update from us at Curious King and we’ve never been so busy! Many titles, at many stages of the publishing process and endless plates to spin. The big news is that Hyperion is binding at the moment which is incredibly exciting, and we have Fall of Hyperion on the horizon.
Aside from long days bringing the books to fruition, we’ve had several other things keeping us busy. The new website isn’t far from release now. It’s taken longer than we’d envisioned but it’s still moving forward. The plan is to release it in two phases, the first with the new design and pages, and the second phase will follow with the members area. We’re hoping to have phase one out next month with phase 2 to follow for October hopefully in time for the release of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as we test out the back end. Once the second phase is live, this should make rights transfers and address changes much easier for owners, and free up a lot of my time to work on the books. We’ll keep everyone informed via the newsletter and our social channels.
We have recently started a new Twitter/X account too! There are lots of collectors/authors/artists on the platform and we really want to engage with more fans and book collectors. So if you’re on there and want to give us a follow then please do, using @CuriousKing_ (https://x.com/CURIOUSKING_) !
I also took another trip down to good people at The Broken Binding which was fantastic as expected. We will be testing out their shipping set up on Before They are Hanged “Standard Editions” to see how it goes. If all goes well, then we’ll be using them for future Standards at the very least and potentially Deluxe as well. The Lettered (and potentially Deluxe) will still be handled by Ludlow to ensure the most care is taken as these are our most expensive editions.
Not only that, I’m working on a new project which is in the early stages at the moment. I can’t reveal too much, but for those who read/love Manga will want to stay tuned…
Anyway, your books, what’s happening with them, and where are they? Read on!
Hyperion
It’s binding!!!!!!!! The interiors look fantastic and the two colour letterpress printing has come out beautifully on these. Whilst there was a significant delay on printing due to platemaking, we’re pleased with the amazing work Nomad Letterpress has done (as usual!).
The first copies of the Deluxe should be shipping mid September with the remaining copies shipped in the following weeks. I’m hoping all copies will be out the door in October so thank you for your patience on this one.
As a little treat here are a couple of the interior B&W images Jaime Jones completed embedded within the text. Absolutely phenomenal work from Jaime and we’re pleased with his progress on Fall of Hyperion.
We are also doing a Hyperion related giveaway next week! It isn’t a book, it might actually be better (for some anyway). We’ll be holding the giveaway on both our Instagram and our twitter/X account, so you’ll need to have an account on either of these platforms to enter. Full details to be released on Monday September 2nd.
For those not on our facebook/instagram, here is an image of the new leather we’re using on the Deluxe Edition. We changed the leather so we could get a better imprint of the Labyrnth Design and we’re very happy with it! Have we made any extra tweaks to these editions? You bet we have, small but worthwhile.
Not long now!
Before They are Hanged
It’s printing! Right now! The plates came in just in time for the end of Hyperion so Nomad Letterpress could move straight onto it. This is a fairly big book with 480ish pages and over 50 runs of the second colour, so we’re hoping it will be finished by the end of October ready for binding.
Hopefully this makes it out for Xmas and with Ludlow streamlining their process in a couple of areas it may well do. Otherwise expect this one in January, barring any major issues with the printing process.
We have released a few of Vance Kovacs amazing art over on our Instagram, but for those that aren’t on the platform here are a couple of them!
This is a fairly big book as far as the print job goes. There are 480 pages, and around 50 second colour pages to print, so Nomad have their work cut out. Paper is also on the way to Nomad and once the printing is done, this will also go straight into binding! Feel like we’re on a roll here.
Planning to get this one out before Christmas, but again, too early to tell with any genuine accuracy.
Legend
Our work on David Gemmell’s iconic fantasy “Legend” is coming together very nicely as we’ve received both Stella and Mark Lawrence’s contributions to the book, and these have been laid out in the text. We have also received the incredible Justin Sweet’s B&W artwork which I have to say has absolutely blown me away! Justin has really stepped it up with the interior illustrations and Stella went as far to say “Dave would have loved these” which is high praise indeed – such a shame he never got to see them.
As I’m in a good mood, here are a couple of my favourites:
I have nearly finished laying the images within the text, a couple need tweaks to fit properly, but it’s shaping up nicely and will be ready for platemaking next week. We are having this letterpress printed by Phil Abel at Hand & Eye press and he is geared up to print this in October currently as he has been delayed on his current project.
As soon as this has been printed, this will go straight into binding. With the current delay on printing, I’d expect this Spring 2025. It will most certainly be worth the wait!
Fall of Hyperion
We are very close to the release and pre-order of the second instalment of the Cantos. The prototypes are nearly finished, though a slight delay on the Lettered as Freya at Paperwilds has unfortunately done some damage to her leg. We’re wishing her a speedy recovery!
We’ve gone with the Crystal Monolith for Fall of Hyperion as it fits in nicely with the story, so you’ll see this across both editions. As mentioned previously there is no Roman Numeral on this or any of the following books in the cantos.
There is a chance that not everyone will have received their copy of Hyperion before the pre-order which is rather frustrating. We submitted the interiors for printing last November and the platemaker unfortunately caused a very significant delay in getting this to Nomad Letterpress. This should have been printed months ago, so I can only apologise to everyone for the delay on this, it isn’t how it was supposed to work out and I feel awful about it.
I’ll make sure to share images of the finished copies of Hyperion as soon as I have them, and some will likely receive theirs before the pre-order.
The magnificent Jaime Jones is well on with the interior B&W’s and we’ll have a digital prelim of the hero image for the release while he then gets on with the final oil paintings.
We’re looking at Q3 2025 for shipping of Fall of Hyperion and will of course keep everyone updated on a monthly basis!
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
We are well on with Hitchhikers and will hopefully have prototypes ready in the next month or so which is very exciting. Gary Gianni is doing masterful work on this, and the layout designed by Marcelo Anciano looks better with each update I receive! Nearly all of the interior B&W illustrations are done now, and a good portion of the colours.
What’s that I hear? Can you see some of the art? Yes. Yes you can. Here are a couple of Gary’s B&W’s, I’m completely in love with the style we’ve gone for with the art:
