The Launch of China Miéville's New Covers (plus giveaway!)

A couple of weeks ago a truly wonderful invitation popped into my inbox - the opportunity to go to Tor HQ and see the launch of China Miéville's repackaged backlist and his latest novel Embassytown (in all good bookstores May 2011!) So this evening I headed to London and enjoyed a hospitable time, with a reading, lots of photo ops, delicious cake and a bag full of books to bring home.

I think by now you've all seen the new covers - here they are on some exclusive postcards:

Check out this fabulous display of Embassytown ARCs:

Scrummy cake!

China enjoying said cake!

Here, again, are the books repackaged - I don't know about you, but I plan to rebuy all the novels to get them matching on my shelf!:

And I even nervously asked China for a picture with him - which is more than can be said of every other occasion I've met him *grins*:

All in all, it was just a great evening. I'd like to thank Julie, Chloe and the rest of the Tor team for my invite! It was also fab meeting up with various industry/blogging types. While they were all in the same room and to put them absolutely on the spot, I asked a number of them which of the new covers they preferred.

• Del of Dark Fiction Magazine fame likes The City and The City
• James - new Editorial Assistant extraordinaire - prefers Kraken
• Den of DECONSTRUCTED comics gave a shout out to King Rat
• Anne and Jared of Pornokitsch liked King Rat and Un Lun Dun respectively

I even dared to ask Julie Crisp (Perdido Street Station) and China himself (Iron Council) - although he did want me to make clear that his answer would likely change on an hourly basis!

What is quite clear - and probably very gratifying to the Tor team behind the design - is that these new covers were incredibly well received by all present.

Would love to hear which of the covers are your favourite!

And you, my dear readers, are in for a rare treat. I have a signed copy of Embassytown for giveaway, along with a set of the postcards with the beautiful artwork of all nine books. To be in with a chance, send an email to magemanda AT gmail DOT com with EMBASSYTOWN as the subject line. Include your mailing address to which the prize should be sent. I will open this up worldwide because I'm feeling generous after such a lovely evening *grin* This competition will run until next Tuesday, at which point I will announce the winner.

Good luck!

Oh, and I'm 30 pages into Embassytown so far and can say it is utterly unique and breathtaking with the craftsmanship of the writing up to this point. I reckon you'll be wanting to read this book!