Yes, we have another update for you all! You lucky people.
I thought I’d get this one out as my plate is rather full at the moment and have some magic to produce (currently accepting advice from all Wizards, Mages, Witches, Sorcerers and Enchanters).
We announced an upcoming title this month, which was very exciting indeed! The Books of Earthsea are quite rightly a cornerstone of fantasy and helped cement Ursula K. Le Guin’s legacy as a groundbreaking writer within SFF. We have committed to the first three books currently and have had several questions regarding “Tehanu” and “The Other Wind” and whether we will publish those in future? The answer is we would love to if all goes well on the first three, so they are definitely not off limits! If you lovely people buy the first three then it gives us a better chance to publish the rest!
As far as shipping goes, the Lettered “Legend” copies have left the bindery now, which is great news and concludes Legend for us! Next up is The Fall of Hyperion which I’ve been advised will ship next month as progress is well underway.
Other than that I’ve been thinking about prints. We have yet to put up for sale the signed and limited prints for Hyperion, BTAH, and Legend. So we’ll have to put that right! As Hyperion had two endpapers instead of a dustjacket, would people want to choose between the two? I’m thinking 35x of each image (Shrike and Consul on piano?). Feedback welcome!
Dragonsteel Nexus is fast approaching, and I’ll be sending out a separate note in the next couple of weeks as to what we’re up to while we’re there! We’ll definitely have a booth with examples of our books and might even bring some of the prototypes with us.
Otherwise, book updates!
The Fall of Hyperion
Verrrrrry close to shipping! In fact here are a few pictures the lovely Fio took on his recent trip to Ludlow Bookbinders, so you can see how things are progressing.
I visited myself earlier this week to discuss a few bits and get updates on our projects which was very useful. On the latest update it looks like the Deluxe will be ready for shipping mid-November which is great news. The Lettered however will be later than this due to some delays and a backup of work at the bindery, which we apologise profusely for! We will delay the rights holder period on Endymion for Lettered owners until the book is in their hands.
It was also incredibly exciting holding the advanced finished copies of The Fall of Hyperion and they look great next to Hyperion on the shelf! Definitely makes me more excited to reveal Endymion now.
Oh and we might as well release the full endpaper art piece done by Jaime Jones as it’s leaked above!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The printing is nearly complete now, both the offset colour printing and two-colour letterpress overprinting! It’s been a huge task to pull this one together and it’s very close to heading to the bindery for the final stage. Marcelo and Gary Gianni did a wonderful job on the interiors and the art, and it is beautiful inside!
This is binding after The Fall of Hyperion is out the door! This is a big one too, the first book we released 250 Deluxe and 750 Standards for and we also pushed each tier to the absolute limit with materials and finishing. With that in mind I would estimate a Q1 2026 shipping date, and I’ll hopefully be able to be more accurate before the end of the year.
Last Argument of Kings
Coming on nicely indeed! We’ve had the sheets in from Nomad Letterpress and they’re going to be checked and then start the folding process. This means it should be ready for binding in the next few weeks.
This one is scheduled for binding in Q1 next year, but with things a little backed up it might more realistically ship Q2 2026, we shall see!
Greg Manchess has handed in all the artwork and it’s absolutely brilliant, and in oils no less! It’s been great to work with a legend like Greg on a project like this with Joe Abercrombie. He really captures the movement and feeling of the book and I can’t wait for you all to see them all! We’ve already shared two and will share a couple more as we get closer to shipping.
The Martian
This one is next up at Hand & Eye Letterpress for Curious King! The layouts are finalised and with the printers for imposition and platemaking. It should hit the press at the end of the year or early 2026, which means it should be with the bindery in Q1 next year. It’s hard to give an accurate estimate of shipping at the moment, but it should be around Summer 2026.
The art was handed in some time ago and we’re very excited about getting the dustjackets printed for this one as we absolutely love the art by Yuxing Zhang (Eason Art). This will be released as a print next year too as we work through the cover print releases!
Assassin's Apprentice
We’re motoring on with AA which is great news! The interiors are finished and with the platemaker for letterpress printing at Nomad Letterpress. This looks like it will start printing before the end of the year and be ready early next year for binding!
The Lettered boxes are well underway at the moment with the lid and spine designs being assembled as we speak ready for the outer box. This is the only external element we need to bind this release, and hope to have it out Summer next year. Again, we will know more as time goes on!
