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Tor is to rejacket three-times Arthur C Clarke Award-winning novelist China Miéville to coincide with publication of his latest novel, Embassytown, in hardback.
The new look, on supermatt paper, is being rolled out across eight backlist titles: King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council, Looking for Jake and Other Stories, Un Lun Don, The City & the City and Kraken, as well as the new novel.
All will be published on 6th May as £7.99 paperbacks apart from longer titles Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council, which will be priced at £8.99. The titles will be released simultaneously as e-books. Embassytown will be £17.99.
Editorial director Julie Crisp described the new look as modern, fresh and innovative, and representative of the “duality of the organic and technological” in Miéville’s writing. She added: “It’s the perfect time to refresh his backlist and to reinvent him. He writes a different book each time so we [previously] packaged him differently each time. [This time] we wanted to go for a series style, to turn him into a brand.
“He’s been on the cusp for a long time—the wider market is beginning to realise he’s more than just speculative fiction. I think it’s his year.”
Miéville’s work will be included in the British Library’s Out of this World science fiction exhibition running from 20th May to 25th September. He will deliver a keynote speech at the launch and will appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Newham Bookshop, Forbidden Planet, Topping in Ely, Heffers, Foyles and Mr B’s Emporium of Delights. Press will include a Guardian My Life in Writing feature.
Marketing will include a Guardian Bookstore competition running online and in the monthly newsletter; a competition on The Book Depository’s newsletter; and a dedicated page on the Forbidden Planet website.
Pre-publication activity includes an author video, a downloadable extract on www.chinamieville.co.uk, an extract in the SFX Weekender programme and links on the Tor newsletter and Twitter feed. Lovereading will also run a feature on Miéville.
Tor is additionally running a giveaway of 20 collectable sets of postcards, for which entry is open to booksellers via Twitter @uktor.