Inside Jacket

Galleycat just informed me that in the near future we may see a board game based around Chaucer’s Middle English classic The Canterbury Tales. The idea has raised $27,000 from 500 different backers on the website Kickstarter which allows people to attract investors for creative projects.

“In the game The Road to Canterbury, players each play a pardoner just like Chaucer’s. As you travel the road on pilgrimage to Canterbury, you sell indulgences delivering pilgrims from the eternal penalties brought on by the Seven Deadly Sins. But to succeed as a pardoner, you will need to do more than just sell forged pardons for quick cash. To keep your services in demand, you will actually need to lead these pilgrims into temptation yourself! Perhaps some phony relics might help? There is one big catch. The Seven Deadly Sins live up to their name: each sin that a pilgrim commits brings Death one step nearer, and a dead pilgrim pays no pardoners!”

Original Sin, the sequel to Personal Demons, releases next Tuesday (July 5th)! To celebrate, we’re giving away ten copies of Original Sin. Comment below on this post and tell us whether you’re a member of Team Luc or Team Gabe to be entered for the chance to win.

If you are forced to choose, do you pick Heaven…

…or Hell

New to the series?  Find out more about Personal Demons.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or D.C. to enter. Promotion begins July 1, 2011 at 10 a.m. ET. and ends July 8, 2011, 12:00 p.m. ET. Void in Puerto Rico and wherever prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Filed under: Sweepstakes

What to read, what to read? Perusing bookshelves for the next thing to take on is tons of fun, but really daunting. So many books. That cover is really cool, but the story sounds kinda lame. That cover is awful, but you've heard great things about that book. Let me make things easy for you. Read these books: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai and The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan.

I don't typically read the werewolf/vampire books, but a trusted friend recommended this one to me, so I had to listen. I now have to step off my high and mighty "I don't read werewolf/vampire books" pedestal because not only have I read one, I also loved it. Since I'm not a reader of this genre, it's tough for me to say that this isn't your typical werewolf book, but I'm gonna say it. This isn't your typical werewolf book. It's about Jake Marlowe, the last remaining werewolf to be taken out by the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena. But after already being alive a couple hundred years, Jake just doesn't care anymore. He's the existential werewolf. What more could he possibly live for? Well, there's always something to live for, right? It's not long before Jake finds his reason. The same friend who recommended this book also gave the best description: It's like Le Carre wrote a werewolf novel. That's spot on. Even if werewolf books aren't your "thing," you should give this one a shot.

What's the deal with this one? Ok, so. Lucy Hull is a children's librarian in a small Missouri town. She loves books, but hate the restraints put on her by conservative co-workers and parents. She leads the story time, but can't read or recommend anything too "controversial." You know, like Harry Potter. Fortunately, she and 10-year-old book devourer, Ian, have figured out ways to get him the literary contraband without his fundamentalist Christian parents finding out. But that's not the basis of the story. Things really get rolling when Ian dupes Lucy into kidnapping him. Is she saving him from harmful parents or using the kidnapping as an excuse to break free from her confining life? This book is an homage to books. Many of the chapters are written in the styles of some of our favorite books, from Pat the Bunny to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. It's a fun read, so perfect when you need a break from an existential werewolf.

–Lindsey

P.S.–click the book covers for more info on these books or to order a copy.

Tor/Forge Books Announces Digital Download Initiative

Author Voices to debut at RWA and San Diego Comic-Con featuring co-promotions with Tor.com and Heroes and Heartbreakers

New York, NY – Thursday, June 23, 2011 – Tor/Forge Books is pleased to announce Tor/Forge Author Voices Digital Downloads, a three-volume digital initiative whereby consumers will download exclusive content via company social networking sites, website and newsletter. Said content will be available via mobile as well as online at us.macmillan.com and Tor.com. The exclusives will be promoted at conferences this summer beginning with Romance Writers of America (RWA) next week and San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in July.

Tor/Forge Author Voices Vol #1 will release at RWA via a QR code at the Tor table and will take fans to a landing page allowing them to download roughly 400 pages in a pdf or epub file. Excerpts from upcoming books by Tor/Forge and an original short story by RITA nominated Deborah Coonts, (Lucky Stiff, Forge 2011) will be some of the content available in the volume. The landing page will also have a newsletter signup and information about the Tor panel at the show as well as a reminder to visit HeroesandHeartbreakers.com, the Macmillan owned community website for romance readers. The file will become available for download on all ebook retailer sites on July 5^th.

Tor/Forge Author Voices Vol #2 will debut at San Diego Comic-Con, July 20^th-24^th and will feature author excerpts and chapter previews with special attention to gaming properties. Tor/Forge and Tor.com will partner with a joint landing page on Tor.com where the file will be available for download. Tor.com will also offer a variety of sweepstakes including a tablet. On the Tuesday after the con, July 26^th, the file will become available on all ebook retailer sites.

Macmillan’s Digital Marketing department will take advantage of the Comic-Con promotions to test run a mobile campaign which will feature a keyword whereby the public can text a number to receive a link to the landing page, though it will also be available via QR code. Tor/Forge plans on promoting this effort via posters, postcards and other promotional items in the Tor Booth (#2707, 2709).

“Mobile, in combination with traditional marketing channels, is a great way to reach a new audience and establish an immediate connection with fans. We are testing four different mobile channels at once during San Diego Comic-Con with two great partners, Link.me and Zoove. If the Comic-Con campaign proves successful, we plan to integrate mobile marketing channels into more of our traditional marketing efforts moving forward,” says Michael Harbolt, VP, Digital Markets.

Tor/Forge Author Voices Vol 3 is currently in production and will offer similar content to promote at New York Comic-Con in October. Included in this volume will be an ad with links to all the publisher’s online assets and other Tor/Forge digital marketing initiatives. The company hopes to design the ads for the individual imprints in the future and are looking into creating a similar campaign for their YA and children’s imprints, Starscape and Tor Teen.

About Tor and Forge Books

Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, is a New York-based publisher of hardcover and softcover books, founded in 1980 and committed (although not limited) to arguably the largest and most diverse line of science fiction and fantasy ever produced by a single English-language publisher. Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, is also the home of award-winning Forge Books, founded in 1993 and committed (although not limited) to thrillers, mysteries, historical fiction and general fiction. Forge includes books by bestselling and critically acclaimed authors such as Douglas Preston, Eric Lustbader, W. Bruce Cameron and Former Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen. Together, the imprints garnered 20 New York Times bestsellers in 2010.

Filed under: Press Release

Well. According to one of our booksellers, you can now buy a book bound in human skin if you have a spare nine grand and a penchant for macabre things.

Not sure what else I can say about this, besides….GAAAAAAHHHH!!! *shudder shudder willies heebie-jeebies*

And remember, human skin is not the only unusual bookbinding out there.