Juno Books is cancelling its previously announced publication of Touching Silver by Jamie Craig. The sequel to last December’s Chasing Silver was scheduled to be published this June, but Juno “could not persuade the chain stores to stock it.” Publisher Paula Guran suspects that “corporate belt-tightening and reduction of titles have something to do with this.”
Jamie Craig is a pseudonym for the writing team of Pepper Espinoza and Vivien Dean. And while they don’t know what the future will bring for the “Silver” series, they will surely have updates on their web site.
In more positive news, Juno is releasing Chris Howard’s Seaborn as an ebook on 20 June, preceding the paper publication, because “the author is just so wonderfully geeky, it seemed appropriate.” What Juno calls geeky might also be called multi-talented. And in this world of too many books, doing all you can to stand out when you’re a new author may be a requirement. But Howard may be taking matters a little too far. As evidence of his geekiness (or his many forms of artistic endeavor), Guran tells of Howard’s blog and the book’s web site (well, those are standard fare). But he’s also got three versions of his audio reading of the first chapter (mp3, m4a, and wma), three video book trailers on YouTube (here, here, and here), original art here and here, an essay about underwater acoustics discussing how mermaids might hear, and the playlist of what he listened to while writing the book. If that’s not enough, he’s also posted the timeline that follows the book from acceptance through publication, and a clock counting down the time until the book is published.
Oh, and the book itself? Juno has a sneak peak available here, and Howard describes it thus:
There is a world deep in the Atlantic, a kingdom that has endured thousands of years without anyone on the surface—in the modern world—knowing it exists.
Kassandra is the Seaborn king’s granddaughter—the one he wished he’d killed when he’d had the chance. She comes from the sea, but she has spent her whole life in exile on the surface, struggling to control frightening powers she barely understands. But the young woman is powerful. Kassandra has already defeated the king’s warriors once. Now she’s ready to declare war on her murderous grandfather.
Corina Lairsey is a California college student who has just freed herself from a controlling relationship when she finds herself in another. Only this time, Aleximor, an ancient Seaborn sorcerer, is literally inside her head, and wearing her body. Corina must strive for control of her self, fighting against time as Aleximor trades pieces of her life away in exchange for power over the path between the worlds of the living and the dead.