Pyr-o-mania: You're Going to Love Eva Forge

Pyr-o-mania: You're Going to Love Eva Forge

Pyr is walking on dangerous ice. And you really shouldn't mix hot and cold like that.

In the above link, Lou Anders has announced that they picked up .the second book in Tim Akers debut steampunk/noir trilogy a new Tim Akers steampunk/noir book entitled The Horns of Ruin. Steamnoir? Noirpunk? Anyway, Akers' has another fantasy series going starting with Heart of Veridon which is being published later this year. By Solaris.

Now I have nothing against Solaris or Pyr. Business is business and if Pyr thinks that Akers going to be a big enough draw then good for Tim and good for Pyr. I'll admit the book sounds intriguing.


What has me worried is my bibliophilia. When books series change publishers they do one or more of the following.

1. Change cover sizes (HC to TPB, PB to HC, etc)
2. Change cover artist
3. Change cover layout (fonts,positions,etc.)

When this happens, the bibliophile in me loathes to line up two disparate books on the shelf. Try to get a matching set of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Doesn't exist. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files went to HC around Book 7 and the cover art changed dramatically. I'm still not sure what to do with myself.

So Pyr has purchased the 2nd book in the series, the 1st of which is being released in mass-market paperback. The majority of Pyr titles are released in trade paperback format (which I prefer to MMPB). So chances are that we will have a situation.

Something similar happened before with David Louis Edelman's Jump 225 series. I believe Solaris put out the 1st edition of Infoquake and then Pyr took over with the 2nd Book, MultiReal. I know there was a cover change and maybe a format change but I believe Pyr actually put out a reissue of the 1st book with a spine close enough to the 2nd book that they could line up on a shelf together.

I've spoken with Lou Anders in the past and I believe he as much of a bibliophilic cover-junkie as I am. If Pyr covers are any indicator, then he is. If that's true Pyr might manage to republish the Heart of Veridon in a matching format. Or at least something that won't make me cringe every time I look at the shelf.

Heart of Veridon will be released September 29th, 2009.

UPDATE: Lou Anders was kind enough to stop by and explain that the books are in different series so there will be no bibliophilic anxiety after all. I misread his post and combined it with some information from Amazon.com regarding Heart of Veridon being the first book in a trilogy. Most of this post makes no sense now but I am glad the Pyr has vowed not to hijack authors mid-series.

Congrats to Tim!