Games

The fifth volume in the Chung Kuo series, The Art of War , is out on 1 March. Unlike the previous volumes, I haven't received an ARC so I'll have to pick it up the old-fashioned way at some point. Here is the Larry Rostant cover art for the sixth volume in the series, An Inch of Ashes : Corvus's new catalogue confirms that there will only be three Chung Kuo novels published this year rather than the previously-suggested four. An Inch of Ashes will be out on 4 July, followed by The Broken Wheel on 7 November. The good news is that apparently Corvus has reached a deal with Barnes and Nobel in the United States, with the UK versions of the novels being released in the USA via their shops. With no news on a US-specific publisher picking up the series, this should be of interest to American readers. The books are also available via Amazon, with the e-editions also accessible from the USA (though not always on release).

2201. Chung Kuo, the world-girdling city ruled by the Seven T'angs, is caught in a struggle between two ideologies. The T'angs favour stability and stasis. The House, the bureaucratic body that rules City Europe in the T'angs' name, advocates change and progress, exemplified in their construction of a generation starship. The Seven are now faced with the choice of allowing their Empire of Ice to be swept away by progress or by launching a pre-emptive strike to win back control of the situation...but risk triggering a civil war. Ice and Fire is the fourth volume in the 'new' version of the Chung Kuo series, picking up shortly after the events of The Middle Kingdom . As well as being a continuation of that novel (understandably, as Ice and Fire was originally published in 1988 as part of the original Middle Kingdom ), it also contains a number of self-contained character and story arcs standing against the epic events unfolding from previously. If Ice and Fire ...

2196. For more than a century, the Earth has been under the rule of Chung Kuo, a world-spanning civilisation founded by a Chinese warlord using advanced technology. That warlord was later deposed by the T'ang, seven senior rulers who feared his insanity. The T'ang now rule a strictly hierarchical world at peace, but one where the powers of the privileged few are built on a pyramid of oppression and strictly-enforced order. With thirty-six billion people packed into the vast, continent-spanning cities of 'ice' (a nanotech-based material with super-strong properties), the dangers of chaos are all too apparent. But there is growing discontent in Chung Kuo. Wealthy industrialists and ambitious scientists want change and growth to prevent stagnation. The enforcers of order will not stand for this. When the Minister of the Edict, whose job it is to prevent any drastic change to the order of things, is assassinated, it becomes clear that a war is coming. The War of Two Directi...

I've previously revealed some of the cover art for the forthcoming volumes of the 'remastered' Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. The full cover art for Books 3 and 4 - The Middle Kingdom and Ice and Fire - has now been unveiled : In addition, a tiny thumbnail of the cover art for Book 5, The Art of War , has appeared on the Corvus website: The current release schedule for the series is: Book 3: The Middle Kingdom - 18 October 2012 Book 4: Ice and Fire - 1 December 2012 Book 5: The Art of War - 1 March 2013 Book 6: An Inch of Ashes - 1 July 2013 There will be twenty books in the series altogether, already written by David Wingrove and to be published by the end of 2015. The first two books, Son of Heaven and Daylight on Iron Mountain , are already available.

The cover art for Ice and Fire , the fourth book in the revamped, twenty-volume Chung Kuo series, has appeared online . As with the first three books, the cover art is by Larry Rostant. And with the title (and a slightly different image; it is unclear which is the final version at the moment): The third volume in the series, The Middle Kingdom , is currently scheduled for release (after a slight delay) on 1 October 2012. Ice and Fire will follow on 1 December. The fifth book, The Art of War , has also been provisionally scheduled for 1 March 2013.

First up, a better look at Larry Rostant's cover art for the third Chung Kuo book, The Middle Kingdom , due on 1 August 2012: And with the cover lettering in place: Meanwhile, the UK cover art for Railsea , China Mieville's new novel, due on 24 May: