Harper Voyager Books

Friday Fun--punk rock turtle

It's been even more insane here than usual (and that's without looking at the larger world), but since it's Friday afternoon...

Courtesy of the Daily Mail via the always-fabulous Boing Boing, a very alien-seeming punk-rock turtle:

Moving universes

Both cool and a little disturving--a new article on Space.com reveals that something's playing with the universe...

"Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon 'dark flow.'"

More info is here.

Happy Friday

We're officially done with this week (thank you!).  But before we head out, I thought we'd celebrate the major success of Neal Stephenson's ANATHEM (#1 New York Times bestseller!!!) by giving the first 25 people who email us at [email protected] a free ANATHEM t-shirt and copy of the limited edition soundtrack.  Just send your name and mailing address to [email protected]and we'll let you know if you're getting the prize!  (please excuse the photos....I'm using an iPhone and poor lighting!)

 

More on Helen Lowe's THORNSPELL

So, again: We are not the lucky publishers of Helen Lowe's YA debut THORNSPELL (now available in stores).  But we WILL be the publishers of Helen's adult fantasy series, WALL OF NIGHT, which will begin appearing in 2010.

While we wait for WALL OF NIGHT, Helen's out promoting THORNSPELL in her native New Zealand, and on the thankfully global internet.  Click through here for an interview with Tim Jones about getting a US agent, getting published, and a bit of a sneak preview of WALL (plus plenty about THORNSPELL, natch).  Click through here for an interview about writing fantasy and sf, writing schedules, and the writers that inspire Helen.  And click through here for a radio interview that is only about THORNSPELL, not WALL at all, but is well worth your time nonetheless (things that come up: Shrek, movie deals, and the dearth of fairy tales centered around princes, plus you can hear Helen's Kiwi accent, PLUS she reads an excerpt).

Close Encounters

Thanks to the almost 800 people who voted in our cover contest for Katherine Allred's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, coming April 2009! Check out our newest cover!

 

New Anathem Widget

Check out our new video widget for ANATHEM.  Lots of cool extras here for any Neal Stephenson fan.

ANATHEM out today

At long last, Neal Stephenson's new novel, ANATHEM, is out!

Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Neal kicks off his author tour for ANATHEM in San Francisco tonight--total tour details are here.

And you can read the first couple of chapters of ANATHEM here.

ADVANCE READERS correction

The correct address to email for your chance to read an advance copy of either DREAMING AGAIN, edited by Jack Dann, or Tony Richards's new novel DARK RAIN is eosbooks(at)harpercollins.com.

Total brain freeze--my apologies!

-- Diana

ADVANCE READERS WANTED: DARK RAIN by Tony Richards

The witches of Salem were real...

DARK RAIN by Tony Richards

Raine's Landing, Massachusetts, can't be located on any map. On the surface it appears an ordinary New England small town, but anyone who stumbles in wants to leave immediately . . . and once gone, they forget they were ever there. Real magic pervades this village of shadows, practiced by powerful adepts descended from the original Salem witches. But a curse has made it impossible for any resident to step beyond the town line. Those born here must die here as well.

We're looking for advance readers to read and review DARK RAIN, so e-mail us at eosbooks(at)harpercollins.com for your chance at a review copy.

-- Diana 

FREE E-BOOK: ODALISQUE by Fiona McIntosh

Our free e-book for September and October is:

ODALISQUE, Fiona McIntosh

Set in the famed harem of an exotic palace and infused with forbidden love, treachery, betrayal and possession, here is the first novel in a sweeping new epic fantasy trilogy from the author of the Quickening trilogy.

Captured by slave traders, Lazar fought his way to freedom and the coveted position of Spur of Percheron, charged with protecting his adopted city from enemies on both sides of its walls. For years, he has led a charmed life. Confidant of the Zar, he can have any woman and enjoys privileges granted to a small few. But now his protector, Zar Joreb, has died, and the winds of change are blowing . . .

More info on the book is here.

To download your copy, click here.  (As always, you do not need to register or give any credit card information.