Today my Australian publisher contacted me with a surprising request: they want to release a large print version of The Shadow’s Heir for the visually impaired. Naturally, I said yes. If only my great-grandfather was alive to see it (he died before I ever got published, but he’s the only guy I ever met who read large-print books). I don’t know if they’ll change the cover, but I’m willing to bet it’ll be really thick.

And now I have to go to bed, because the long weekend starts tomorrow, and I’m going on holiday to the beach (attention, America: still being under the thumb of the British crown means we get a public holiday on the Queen’s birthday. See, there’s benefits to not becoming an independent nation! Not that we don’t want to be, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet. We’re busy).

Even though I was meant to be somewhere today, this morning I woke up with an odd feeling that I should stay at home. So I did, and not half an hour later, a parcel arrived on my doorstep. And inside were…

The first copies of The Shadow’s Heir!

So today, instead of my usual monday morning volunteer work, I shall be heading to the post office to mail off some of them to friends and, of course, our lucky prize winners! Please do let me know when your copy arrives.

Well, this is it everybody. The time has come. It is now June, and in about four week’s time The Shadow’s Heir, the first installment in The Risen Sun Trilogy, and also the fourth instalment in the series overall, will become available in Australia and New Zealand. The US edition will follow in January 2013.

Therefore, it is now time to honour a tradition of mine, and publish a small collection of “teasers”, or bits of information about the book, to give you an idea of what you’re in for. I’m also now going to show you the cover of the book, which I see has now become available elsewhere on the Internet, but this one will include the back cover with the blurb. The teasers follow. Enjoy!

Teasers

~Two major characters from the first trilogy will die

~But every single surviving character from the first trilogy will reappear at some point in the second trilogy – not necessarily in the first instalment – even if it’s only for a brief came

~Arenadd is present but is not the protagonist any more. The new protagonist is his daughter Laela Redguard, a rough, tough, foul-mouthed half breed

~Saeddryn is also present. She is now Malvern’s High Priestess, and has two adult children – Arddryn and Caedmon

~Two close relationships from the first trilogy have now become estranged and turned bitter

~The Night God is back, but now the North is free she has a new, much more sinister mission in mind for Arenadd to carry out

~The Blood Moon will come again, and therefore it will be time for another human sacrifice.

~During this book, for the first time in the series, the story will leave Cymria as our characters visit both the Islands of Maijan and the great continent of Amoran

~You will also get to see the Emperor of Amoran himself! (He’s bald. That makes him, in fact, the first bald character to appear in the series so far. Thrilling!)

~So far the Night God has made several appearances. This time, another god will be seen. Yes, that’s right: Gryphus the sun god himself makes an appearance in this book. He may be nicer than the Night God – he’s definitely as naked. He is a god of fertility, after all. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he has a huge schlong. A meeting with him is likely to be slightly embarrassing as well as awe-inspiring.

~The Australian editor, among other things, called the ending “heartbreaking”. The American editor called it “perfect”. One of the few people who is not an editor to have read the book said he believes it’s the strongest one in the series so far – even more so than The Dark Griffin, which was his former favourite. For myself, I would say that it’s a horse (or griffin) of a slightly different colour to the others – it’s more about character and intrigue than stirring battles (those come later!), but there’s plenty of tension and some twists and turns that may take you by surprsie. As usual, when writing it I made a deliberate effort to do the opposite of what usually happens in similar books. Hopefully, I succeeded. But in a few weeks, you’ll have the opportunity to judge that for yourself.

Following my usual custom shortly before the release of a new book, I have begun posting prequel stories on my LiveJournal. Here’s the first instalment of the latest one!

I got my notarised passport copy back from Sydney today. Now I just have to mail everything off to the IRS. Joy!

Today I also got a royalty statement from my agent, and I can now tell you that the RRP for the next three books will be $27.26 (yes, they give you royalty information for books that aren’t published yet. It’s a bit weird).

I’ve also recently settled on a date for the launch party for The Shadow’s Heir. It’s Wednesday the 11th of July at the Co-Op Bookshop at the University of Canberra. My good friend Jack Heath will be making the launching speech, and the venue is new. All in all it should be a night to remember!

As before I’ll be posting up the invitations here once they’re ready; you don’t have to be personally invited to come. My launches are open to the public, and the champagne is free!