Orbital editions
Last week, I noted that Orbit will be re-releasing all of Iain M. Banks' novels with a unified, minimalist series of covers, and mused a bit on the nature of this trend in cover design.
As it turns out, Orbit wasn't done: it announced that it'll be releasing a special edition of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, which turns 10 years old this month. Also in the pipeline? A special edition of Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey, the second and third installments of The Expanse series.
I'll have a bit more to say about that milestone for Ancillary Justice (and Leckie's latest novel, Translation State), but it's cool to see Orbit honoring the book with a nice edition for the occasion, and it should make for a good opportunity to pick up the book if you haven't yet.
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According to Orbit, the book will feature a new cover (from the excellent John Harris), illustrated end-papers, a foil-stamped case, and a new introduction from Leckie. The edition will be released on November 28th, just in time for the holiday shopping season. It'll retail for $40. The product page has some additional images as well.
Orbit did something similar a couple of years ago with James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes: a new edition with an updated cover, introduction and endpapers. I'd been wondering if they'd continue with additional editions of the series, given that Caliban's War came out in 2012 and Abbadon's Gate arrived in 2013.
Come December, it looks like we'll be getting new editions of each: Orbit is giving them special collector's edition treatment, both of which will hit stores on December 12th. Like Leviathan Wakes, they'll get new covers, introductions, endpapers and stained edges. Both will also retail for $40. You can see some additional images for both books over on Orbit's website.
I really dug the look for Leviathan Wakes and for Ancillary Justice: while I'm partial to the original covers by Daniel Dociu and John Harris – they played no small part in my picking up the book in the first place – I think this is a good look for the Expanse series, and this new edition of Ancillary Justice retains that evocative look and feel that the original had. I'll have to make room on my bookshelf for all of them.