BOOK Southern Africa

Gesels oor die Keurboslaanreeks by Woordfees

by Chris on 01 Mar 2010   |   

Op Woensdag 3 Maart gesels Irma du Plessis met Corina van der Spoel oor die Keurboslaanreeks en die relevansie daarvan in 2010.

Dit beloof om ‘n baie interessante gesprek te wees:

• Datum: Woensdag, 03 Maart 2010
• Tyd: 10:00 VM
• Plek: Erfurthuis, Ryneveldstraat 37
  Stellenbosch | Kaart
• Gassprekers: Irma du Plessis, Corina van der Spoel

Boekbesonderhede: die laaste boek in die reeks

• Ongenooide gaste op Keurboslaan deur Theunis Krogh
  Boektuisblad
  EAN: 9780798150248
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How to Write: Tips from SA Partridge

by Damaria Senne on 26 Feb 2010   |   

Inspired by the Guardian’s recent article bringing together “how to write” tips from prominent authors, ReadSA and BOOK SA introduce a similar series a bit closer to home. Watch out for top tips from stars in the SA Lit firmament!

Sally-Ann Partridge is the author of The Goblet Club, which won the MER Youth Prize in 2008, and Fuse. Her third novel is forthcoming from Human & Rousseau, an imprint of the NB group.

SA Partridge’s tips:

* * * * *

1. The hardest part of writing a novel is finishing it, but once you reach the end there is no greater feeling of accomplishment.

2. That said, put the finished manuscript away and forget about it. Go back with a fresh perspective and begin your second draft.

4. Avoid cliche.

5. Don’t try and re-write a book that’s already been written. It was already perfect the first time. Come up with your own, unique idea.

6. Read as much as you can. Reading increases your vocabulary and is the best source of inspiration, especially the classics.

7. There is no right and wrong way. Practice makes perfect.

8. Don’t write for money. If you don’t write for love, it’s not worth doing. If you want to write for a living, move to America and join James Patterson’s writing staff.

9. Having a cat is a almost definitely a prerequisite.

10. Luck does happen.

* * * * *

• Click here for more in this series

Book details

• The Goblet Club by SA Partridge
  EAN: 9780798148788
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• Fuse by SA Partridge
  EAN: 9780798150873
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Andy Peterson's Daniel Fox and the Jester's Legacy Now Out in New Edition

by Tracey on 17 Feb 2010   |   

Although aimed at younger readers, I, too, found this to be an imaginative, compelling, and quick read. Sixteen-year-old author, Andy Petersen, has created an interesting spin on death and the afterlife, keeping you turning the pages… Conspiracies, betrayals and adventure abound, and each page left me eager to read on in an effort to discover the truth.”
– Vanessa Finaughty, Cape Times

Enter the Underworld

“Today, as you all know, is the day that you will be inducted into the house of Lower Lords.”

In Daniel Fox and the Jester’s Legacy Daniel Fox woke up one Monday morning at home in New York City and thought it would be a day like any other. Little did he know that it was the day he would die.

After a day witnessing the murder of an old man and being kidnapped from the Museum of Ancient History, Daniel Fox ends up in a waiting room, the waiting room that leads to the capital of the underworld, the great and most noble city of Arison.

Gradually the world of Arison is revealed to Daniel, the classification by number and rule by the Elite Lower Lords. He seems to have a special role to play, but why? And can he do what it takes?

Join Daniel Fox on this non-stop adventure through worlds where things are not always quite as simple as they seem.

About the author

Andy Petersen was born in Chicago in 1992 and lives in Johannesburg with his parents and two sisters. He has always enjoyed writing, and at the age of seven wrote his first short novel.

In 2009, Andy was honoured by the Mail and Guardian as one of the 300 Young South Africans You Have to Take to Lunch; which acknowledges the achievements and invaluable contributions made by young South Africans and their power of positive influence in our society.

Book details

• Daniel Fox and the Jester’s Legacy by Andy Peterson
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  EAN: 9780143026310
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Edyth Bulbring Presents Pops and the Nearly Dead

by Tracey on 11 Feb 2010   |   

A rollicking fun read, out now from Penguin!

When I told my two best friends that I’d be spending three months with my grandfather at a retirement village in Port Elizabeth, they said there was no ways I’d survive the boredom. Not in a million years.

Themba said it sounded worse than being sentenced to life in a monastery without his stash of naughty mags.

And Buster said that even James Bond couldn’t have survived this kind of torture – and we all know what happened to his goolies in Casino Royale.

x a trillion

But Themba and Buster didn’t know anything about my crazy grandfather Pops – who isn’t boring at all – or the weird stuff that was going to happen to him.

And they hadn’t met Regina Versagel – a girl who may or may not wear black knickers.

In fact, looking back, the only thing that Themba and Buster did get right was that surviving three months at Nelson Mandela Gardens with Pops and a bunch of nearly dead people was going to be a whole lot harder than I could ever have imagined . . .

About the author

Edyth Bulbring is the author of two children’s novels: The Summer of Toffie and Grummer (Oxford University Press 2008) and Cornelia Button and the Globe of Gamagion (Jacana 2008). She has also published a young adult novel entitled The Club (Jonathan Ball 2008). Edyth is a former journalist and lives in Johannesburg.

Book details

• Pops and the Nearly Dead by Edyth Bulbring
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  EAN: 9780143026501
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2010's Reading Race Champion Leafs Through 158 Books

by Jani on 09 Feb 2010   |   

Natasha Kruger is the winner of the 2010 SA Reading Race, held earlier this year in Johannesburg. The young lady managed to work her way through 158 books in 10 months, learning English along the way. The Reading Race, now in its 15th year is designed to draw children to libraries and to foster a reading culture.

Read this special report from the London Book Fair’s Lucy Holland-Smith:

This year’s winner of the Johannesburg “Reading Race” managed to get through 158 books in
just ten months, it has been revealed

The annual event, which takes place at the Rhodes Park Library in the eastern part of the South African city and is now in its 15th year, is designed to encourage children to read more, according to Johannesburg’s official website.

While the eventual winner notched up an impressive 158 books, a total of 16 children were acknowledged for their efforts.

Edith Khuzwayo, a librarian at the Rhodes Park facility, said that while the library undoubtedly benefitted from the publicity brought by the race, the primary aim of the event was indisputably to highlight the joys of reading.

• Read the complete article at LBF home

Photo courtesy Joburg.org.za

Nuut van Theunis Krogh: Misverstand op Keurboslaan

by Chris on 09 Feb 2010   |   

In Misverstand op Keurboslaan kry ons Riek en sy vriende op pad lughawe toe om vir Josef, wat terugkeer van Engeland, te gaan oplaai. Hulle loop hulle egter vas in ’n avontuur. Hulle red twee Britse vlieëniers van ’n oproerige skare. Riek besluit om die twee mans tydelik op hulle plaas in Swaziland weg te steek. Josef daag met ’n vreemde meisie aan sy sy op en kondig aan dat hy kastig aan haar verloof is.

Oor die outeur

Theunis Krogh, pseudoniem van Stella Blakemore, is een van die mees geliefde jeugboekskrywers in Afrikaans. Haar Maasdorp en Keurboslaan reekse het ’n belangrike bydrae gelewer tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde en het vir baie jare jongmense lus en lief gemaak vir lees.

Boekbesonderhede

• Misverstand op Keurboslaan deur Theunis Krog
  Boektuisblad
  EAN: 9780798150224
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Maskew Miller Longman Youth Novel Competition Update: Workshop Dates Released

by Ben - Editor on 08 Feb 2010   |   

Alert! Maskew Miller Longman, sponsor of an annual, multi-language literature competition – which is in the area of youth novels this year – has just announced the dates of the writing workshops that will accompany this year’s awards process.

From the press release:

To help aspirant writers with the submission of their youth novel, Maskew Miller Longman will be hosting writer’s workshops across various provinces in South Africa. Rachelle Greeff, well-known author of various short story anthologies, novels and children’s stories will facilitate the workshops and provide guidance and useful tips on how to write interesting and engaging novels for South Africa’s youth. Rachelle regularly conducts writing courses and is also the book editor for Rapport.

To qualify to attend one of these workshops, you simply need to send a brief motivation letter and one page CV, to Bernice Snyman @ Fax (021) 531 0716 or e-mail: Bernice.Snyman@mml.co.za. Remember to indicate which workshop you would like to attend and please include your contact details.

Workshops will be limited to 25 delegates.

Dates for the workshops are as follows:

Polokwane 23 February 2010

Johannesburg 24 February 2010

Durban 25 February 2010

Cape Town 26 February 2010

Entries for the awards are being accepted in all eleven official languages, and the prizes per language are R10 000 for first place and R5 000 for the runner-up. Deadline for submission is 30 April 2010.

• Click here for the MML competition criteria and rules

Von Meck se Vaselinetjie is hartroerend, as boek én toneelstuk

by Chris on 01 Feb 2010   |   

Anoeschka von Meck se jeugboek, Vaselinetjie, is al herhaaldelik uit klaskamers gesteel, want dié voorgeskrewe boek beeld die verskiklike realiteit van baie tieners se lewens uit.

Von Meck het Saterdag in gesprek met Kabous Meiring by die Suidoosterfees gesê dat die hartseer omstandighede in die kinderhuis in haar boek op haar werklike ervaring as “kinderhuistannie” gegrond is.

“Ek moes die boek skryf om vir myself closure te gee. Ek kon ‘n bietjie afstand skep tussen my en dié kinders deur hulle op ‘n bladsy te plaas.”

In die Engelse weergawe van die boek, My name is Vaselinetjie, wat pas verskyn het, is daar ‘n naskrif oor wat van die kinders geword het. Baie van die meisies is nou prostitute of selfs dood.

Dit is omdat die boek ‘n mens so roer dat Henry Mylne ingestem het om die regie van ‘n toneelstuk oor Vaselinetjie te behartig. Die toneelstuk is die afgelope week by die Suidoosterfees opgevoer.

In die gesprek met Meiring het Mylne gesê die tiener toneelspelers in die stuk moes leer om met hul harte die rolle te vertolk. As hulle net hul intelek vir die spel gebruik het, sou hulle nie die gehoor oortuig het nie. “Elke mens het ‘n dark side. Hulle moes daarheen gaan om die karakters te word.”

Dean Smith (16), een van die akteurs, het verduidelik: “Ek moes al die emosionele goed wat al met my gebeur het, saamvat en op een moment uitstoot”.

Maar Mylne meen ook ‘n mens kan nie net vir ‘n gehoor drama gee nie. Komedie is nodig. “Daarom is Vaselinetjie so ‘n goeie toneelstuk, want Anoeschka se boek is ook deurspek van humor. Die een oomblik lag jy en die volgende oomblik huil jy.”

Die manier waarop haar boek in ‘n toneelstuk omskep is, is vir Von Meck ‘n groot komplement. Dit verleen ‘n nuwe dimensie aan haar werk met tonele wat sy nooit aan kon dink nie, gepaste musiek en beligting.

Boekbesonderhede

• Vaselinetjie deur Anoeschka von Meck
  Boektuisblad
  EAN: 9780624039815
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• My Name is Vaselinetjie by Anoeschka von Meck
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  EAN: 9780624046585
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Anoeschka von Meck se Vaselientjie 'n verhoogstuk by Suidoosterfees

by Chris on 21 Jan 2010   |   

Regisseur Henry Mylne (van 7de Laan) is hard besig om ‘n span akteurs gereed te maak om Anoeschka von Meck se boek, Vaselientjie, eersdaags by die Suidoosterfees op die planke te bring. Mariana Malan het namens Beeld ‘n repetisie bygewoon en so bietjie met Mylne gesels oor die boek en die verhoogstuk. Vaselientjie sal vanaf Donderdag 28 Januarie by die Kunstekaap-teater te siene wees.

Anoeschka von Meck se boek,Vaselinetjie, kry eersdaags op die verhoog gestalte wanneer dit op die Suidoosterfees en die KKNK opgevoer word. Mariana Malan het by die repetisies vir die stuk gaan inloer.

Vaselinetjie is nie ’n tienerdrama nie, maar ’n drama met ’n rolverdeling wat hoofsaaklik uit tieners bestaan.

Die regisseur Henry Mylne (ook regisseur van 7de Laan) beklemtoon hierdie feit by herhaling. “Ek het die jong akteurs van die begin gewaarsku dat ek hulle soos professionele akteurs gaan hanteer. Ek het hulle gewaarsku dat ek ’n slawedrywer is en net met die beste tevrede sou wees.

• Lees die volledige artikel in Beeld
• Hoogtepunte by vanjaar se Suidoosterfees (insluiting Vaselientjie se datums en tye)

Boekbesonderhede

• Vaselinetjie deur Anoeschka von Meck
  Boektuisblad
  EAN: 9780624039815
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Book details

• My Name is Vaselinetjie by Anoeschka von Meck
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  EAN: 9780624046585
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Under Cover Operations: Examining Zoo City's Artwork

by Mandy J Watson on 15 Jan 2010   |   

A special report by Mandy J Watson

Book covers are a serious business. Their primary purpose is to catch the book browser’s eye; at their best, they are a combination of amazing art and design that complements the author’s text and intentions beautifully, while forming a visual identity for the reader that is immediately noticeable but which also makes a lasting impression. This is especially true in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres and their sub genres, whose stories are often so visual and otherworldly that it’s almost impossible not to create gripping, mesmerising cover artwork.

Unfortunately, at their worst, covers are used as tools to manipulate shoppers in the most disingenuous way, based on biases and bigotries about what people will purchase and what the market likes, which become self-fulfilling, self-sustaining prophecies. This has been a(n often quiet) battle for decades, with authors usually having very little, if any, say in the presentation of the visual identity of their work, and it once again came to the fore last year when Australian young-adult fiction author Justine Larbalestier’s novel Liar was published in the US. It was published initially by Allen & Unwin in Australia with a cover that the author feels is “very true to the book” (she didn’t want a girl’s face on the cover so as not to influence readers’ perceptions of the character, and you’ll soon see why) and then by Bloomsbury in the US.

I won’t go in depth into the story – you can read about it here and here – but suffice to say that the main character is a black woman named Micah who is a compulsive liar trying desperately to mend her ways and finding it incredibly difficult to do so. Bloomsbury, in its infinite wisdom, decided to put a white woman on the cover to represent the main character, because (to put it bluntly, and these are my paraphrasing words, not hers) covers with black women on them don’t sell and whitewashing is not an uncommon practice. There’s nothing much else I need to say about that – bar the racist ideologies at work that don’t require explanation (they come from more than just publishers and their marketing departments and can also permeate book shops), the decision completely compromised the integrity of the author’s work, which is about a woman who lies, and created confusion for the readership that had bought the book with the US cover. Was the cover presenting an extra layer to the story that therefore requires a different interpretation of the text?

It was therefore quite refreshing to see that in the artwork of Lauren Beukes‘ new book, Zoo City (to be published by Angry Robot and Jacana later this year) we have the main character, a black South African woman, front and centre representing the story inside and drawing you in to wanting to grab the book and read it immediately. (To any South Africans looking at it it subtly shouts “South Africa” in ways that are comfortable and meaningful to us, from the architecture in the background to the sassy expression on Zinzi’s face.) Not only that, but the international buzz building on the Internet was about nothing but how amazing the artwork is. No outrage, no surprise, no shock – just acceptance and congratulations all around.

I suspected that the process whereby the cover came into being was probably not typical of the publishing industry (it’s Lauren Beukes, after all!) – or, perhaps I should say – not typical of the more entrenched, outdated ideologies that still permeate and poison the industry – and was curious to hear the opinions of those involved, as well as find out how the Zoo City cover came about, because I’m a huge cover-art fan and have been known to buy multiple copies of the same book just because the art is different.

The replies I received were so insightful and warm that rather than chop them up and try to weave them together I’m going to reproduce them pretty much verbatim. First, Lauren had this to say about the process of the Zoo City cover design and on the choice of cover artist, John Picacio, when I asked her how it came about:

“I met John at WorldCon. Actually, maybe “met” is the wrong word. More like “pounced on”, “accosted” even. Marc dragged me along to a session on cover art which turned out to be riveting and I was blown away by John’s work. (On the scale of blown away, we’re talking hurricane rather than leaf blower.) I ran into him a few hours later at the launch party for Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel The Wind-Up Girl and we ended up hanging out with a bunch of other interesting people.

When Marc and I were discussing potential cover artists, I suggested John and he leapt at the idea. Luckily, John did too.

But I don’t think it would have happened without that initial connection at WorldCon.

I’ve been extraordinarily lucky. Publishing three different books with three different publishers, every single one has allowed me input on the cover and the choice of cover artist. I don’t think that’s usual by any means.”

I then asked Lauren as to whether John had been briefed as to what either Lauren was hoping for, or Angry Robot was expecting, for the cover. Her response:

“It’s interesting because I’ve gone into every cover meeting with very specific ideas about what I think would work and what I’d ideally like it to look like and every time the illustrator has countered with something better than I could have imagined, that’s completely different to what I’d imagined and yet more true to the book. There’s probably a good reason I’m a writer not an artist.

It was true of working with Joey Hi-Fi on previous covers and with John on Zoo City.

John was amazingly open to suggestions and ideas on the specific looks of the characters and I sent him tons of reference pictures, of Hillbrow, of photos of people I felt matched the look and style of the people in my head. It was very important to all of us that it was distinctively South African.”

Zoo City’s cover artist, John Picacio, is an award-winning illustrator, artist, and designer from the US who has produced cover art for some of the most famous science fiction authors in the world. He has also, of course, worked with, and has experience of, many of the most high-profile publishing companies. I was very curious to hear about his experience designing this cover (some of which is highlighted here on his blog, and includes an “initial thumbnail doodle” for those interested in a visual representation of the progression of the process). I was also curious as to his general impressions of the book-publishing industry and publisher interference in cover design related to “marketing” bigotries that are often non sensical to the rest of us:

“Generally, authors don’t have much direct input into the making of their covers (at least that’s the case with most American and UK publishers I’ve worked with). It’s usually a relationship between the illustrator or designer, and the company’s art director that makes the cover happen. It’s generally a fairly closed loop that involves significant input from editorial, sales, and marketing departments. Angry Robot is the UK-based publisher of Zoo City and this was a different experience from the norm. They gave Lauren significant input into the cover’s making. She was copied into all emails between myself and Marc Gascoigne, Angry Robot’s publishing director. That said, I give them both a LOT of credit for handing me the job, having their say, and then letting me dream in their sandbox with the intent of giving them something special. They didn’t interfere with me one bit. With my art, I always like to take the client somewhere they might not necessarily be able to go by themselves, and that has just as much to do with vision as it does technique. Lauren and Marc were extremely receptive and supportive.

We were all keenly aware of the recent failings of some publishers toward accurate race depiction on genre covers. That said, we didn’t make a big deal about it in our discussions. Our mission was to be true to the spirit of Zoo City, its story, and its people. The main character, Zinzi, is a strong black female protagonist, and Lauren was very clear about the character she wanted to convey. She emailed me lots of photos of South African people. Lauren gave this kind of specific guidance regardless of race, whether it be the white Marabou, or the black maltese[1]. I think it was important to her to be true to South Africa, its people, and her own characters. I drew a collage of Johannesburg architecture in the background of Zoo City because Hillbrow is the setting and it’s vital to the character of the book itself.

Give Angry Robot a lot of credit. They’re publishing this cover and this book because they believe it’s a fabulous story, well told. I hope the book sells extremely well and I think it’ll be a big hit with lovers of quirky, well-written genre fiction. If it does sell well, it’ll be because of Lauren’s talent and the great story, not the race issue. And if so, then hopefully others will take note and expand their vision a bit.”

Marc Gascoigne, Angry Robot’s publishing director, expressed similar sentiments:

“The recent fuss in the US over Justine Larbalestier’s Liar – in brief, a book about a plain black girl was initially packaged with a very pretty blonde white girl on the cover, until public complaints persuaded the publiser to rethink – bears heavy in everyone’s mind. It’s hard not to take another look at one’s own policies and attitudes in the light of that one.

But for us at Angry Robot, well we’re of that new generation, in the UK at least, for whom race is just one of a great many identifying characteristics. In our multicultural society, most of us have grown up with friends from a wide variety of cultures, and there are plenty of other reasons to like or dislike people!

The old ‘black people on covers don’t sell’ adage is certainly bandied around a lot. But so is ‘books by women don’t sell in the SF world’ and that didn’t affect Lauren’s previous book Moxyland at all. (One can think of a swathe of other female SF authors to back this up too.) I think in genre books like science fiction and urban fantasy there are slightly different criteria from that which apply to pile-em-high bestsellers and the like. We’re already selling to fans of a genre that embraces male and female writers, and has male and female readers.

Furthermore, for Angry Robot’s particular end of genre publishing, namely the post-YA generation who’ve grown up on Harry Potter and X-Box and who are looking for new thrills from their fiction, once again this younger audience seems more integrated and comfortable with a variety of cultures being represented.

I should mention, too, that this is our second book with a person of African heritage on the cover. Maurice Broaddus‘ King Maker: The Knights Of Breton Court Book One [ cover details ], a powerful fantasy thriller that reworks the King Arthur myth cycle through the eyes of an inner city American drug gang, also proudly bears its defiantly African-American hero on its cover. Perhaps that one was easier – if it was a movie, Denzel or Will would be playing King, and nobody black or white would pause in lining up at the box office. Zoo City is a different sort of book, less kick-ass, stronger on investigation and the fantastical.

In general terms, publishers only know that everything about a book’s package helps sell a book to someone. But it’s not an exact science. It could be an arresting image, the title, the price, the quote on the front from someone the customer really likes. Within the SF field, it is as helpful to Lauren that we’ve used a recognisable, award-wnning artist in John Picacio and a good cover quote, and that this book is coming off the back of our acclaimed edition of Moxyland. We believe this cover suits the book very well, and is right for the new readership we’re attracting, a readership who want to read stories about a cool black South African girl and her symbiotically linked sloth, who finds lost things.”

Lauren’s take on publisher’s strange decisions that foster antiquated bigoted ideologies and therefore self-perpetuating prophecies about “what sells”:

“It’s kinda pathetic. I worked at a major woman’s magazine many years ago and, at the time, they were bemoaning how black covers just don’t work. But they were featuring Alek Wek, who is incredibly beautiful in a very distinctive way that wasn’t in line with their young, pretty, fashiony style. They wouldn’t put Tilda Swinton on the cover and then freak out that white girls didn’t sell. It felt like not just a self-fulfilling prophecy, but self sabotage. I’m happy to say the magazine’s come a long way since then and now fairly regularly features black women on the cover (we’re not gonna get into the ideas of skinny conventional beauty here). But I suspect book publishing may be falling into the same trap.

Obviously a cover has to work commercially, but it also has to be true to the integrity of the story. A friend was bitching recently about a Star Wars book he was reading where the two characters featured on the cover locked in a dramatic lightsabre duel never even met in the actual story. The Liar debacle was embarrassing and outrageous.”

I also asked Lauren about her main character, a black South African woman, and whether these sorts of issues entered her mind in terms of the content of the book when she was writing it or if it was very much a case of “this is the story, this is the character for the story, and these potential societal bigotries are ridiculous and I won’t let them influence my work”:

“Both. I’m absolutely aware of being a white South African writing a black protagonist. I didn’t get trussed up in knots about it, or let it affect the story, but I did work at making Zinzi true to herself and her background. It had to be her in this story – this couldn’t have happened to someone else.”

Jacana, which owns the local rights to Zoo City, is still working on the cover for its edition of the book and has not yet approved the final artwork and design, therefore I couldn’t obtain an official comment about Zoo City’s cover from the company. It could be that it chooses to use the Angry Robot version or it could be that it chooses something else, based on its perceptions of what may be more marketable in South Africa – we will have to wait and see, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens. Either is quite likely, although if it ends up being different artwork you can bet that I will have questions, but this practise is not unusual. The international release of Lauren’s previous novel, Moxyland, had a completely different cover from the local Jacana release, though by the same cover artist, because the international publishers, also Angry Robot, had a different perspective to the local publishers on what the cover should convey. I asked Marc Gascoigne about this, and these were his thoughts:

“Ultimately, the reason we went with a new cover was because our market in the UK really responds to something a little tougher and ’street’ and although Moxy is a cute gimmick he is very peripheral to the story – he turns up in one short chapter. There’s a danger that you pick out something from a book that doesn’t represent the rest of the book so well. The pink and yellow was too soft for what we saw as a tougher story. Hence our final cover design – a mix of Banksy graffiti and Trainspotting packaging, which on the finished book has a fluorescent finish that you can see at 50 metres. The artwork was done for us by Moxy’s original designer Joey Hi-Fi so we maintained continuity there.”

Some interesting perspectives regarding an art form and marketing genre that is often overlooked – except when it’s controversial – in favour of the words inside, even though cover art is a crucial component of the business of book publishing and, most notably in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres, a well-regarded, highly respected practise with many illustrators who are as famous for their work as the authors for whom they provide art.

As mentioned, the Zoo City editions (from both Jacana and Angry Robot) will be available later this year and I’ll leave the final words on that to Lauren:

“It’s amazing and maybe a little bit intimidating to have John frikking Picacio doing the cover art. I’m working on edits at the moment and the thought that runs through my head is “just make sure it lives up to John’s cover’.”

[1] Lauren clarified this for me, as I haven’t read the book, of course: “Those particular characters sometimes define themselves by their animals. It reads ‘Marabou & Maltese’ on their business card (under that it reads, ‘Procurements’), so this is referring not to the species of the animal, but rather the skin colour of their owners – the white chick with the Marabou Stork and the black guy with the chiskop and the fluffy dog.”

Book details

• Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
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  EAN: 9781770095670
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• Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
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  EAN: 9780007323890
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• Liar by Justine Larbalestier
  EAN: 9781599903057
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• King Maker: The Knights Of Breton Court Book One by Maurice Broaddus
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  EAN: 9780007343317
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