Hi everyone,
and the very best of the season to you all. As many of you will know, copies of the hardback of Midland have been mailed out in the last week or two, and so if you pledged for a copy you should have received yours by now. If you haven't, do check your account to double check your address and follow up with Unbound if there has been a problem.
The books look absolutely fantastic; Unbound has done an exceptional job on the design and production of Midland; I really couldn't be happier. The cover really captures the atmosphere of the novel, and looks beautiful to boot. It's an amazing feeling to finally have the story that I started back in January 2006 printed and bound and out in the world.
It's been an epic gestation - longer even than The Book of Ash, which I had to put on pause to write 52 Ways to Magic America - and Habitus, which took me seven years. I guess it's about quality, not quantity ;-). Still, I do hope that I get the next book done in less than a decade...
A couple of supporters have already read Midland - big props to Ali M. and Heide D. for being first off the mark. Ali grew up in Warwickshire and Heide still lives there, so they can vouch for the local detail. Heide said she really enjoyed the book and Ali has left a great review on Goodreads, which you can check out here. If you're reading Midland at the moment, please do leave a review when you're done - Goodreads reviews will really help with sales when the paperback comes out in the new year.
The official publication date for that is January 24th, at which point the paperback (and digital edition) should be available in bookshops and via Amazon etc. To celebrate, we'll be holding the Midland launch party on either Friday 25th January (or possibly Saturday 26th, but most likely the Friday - we're just finalising the venue at the moment).
Those of you who kindly pledged for tickets to the party, please mark those dates in your calendars; I'll be back in touch as soon as we've got the details confirmed.