The Geomancer

1/21/10

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Petrodor (A Trial of Blood & Steel)

Petrodor (A Trial of Blood & Steel) © Joel Shepherd
Cover Illustration © David Palumbo
Design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger

Book Two in the quartet, A Trial of Blood & Steel, picks up the story of the brave and independent heroine, Sasha, now living in the port city of Petrodor. Away from the hills of her Lenayin homeland, Sasha is making a new life in the dark alleys and wealthy houses of Petrodor. An influential trading center, Petrodor holds the key to preventing the coming war between Lenayin and the mighty Bacosh. Together with her old mentor Kessligh, Sasha attempts to navigate the political intrigues of the port city and find a way to stop the war. It is the serrin, the beautiful but dangerous people from beyond the Bacosh, who will be the pivotal point in this struggle. How much can Sasha trust her old serrin friend Errollyn? And how much can she trust herself?

19 comments:

  1. I am so looking forward to this novel!

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  2. Thanks! I'm settling in with book three soon myself!

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  3. Clay Griffith6:04 PM

    Like the cover. Like the color choice. Nice.

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  4. The canard that a cover should tell a story about the book or in the book certainly holds here.

    Why is she pulling that man up onto the wall. What are they up to? Where are they going?

    David Palumbo has done a good job with the image. I want to know these answers--even if I haven't (yet) read the first Sasha book!

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  5. Yes, exactly. I was honored to be a guest at IlluXcon and Dave Palumbo was there with the painting. All during the portfolio reviews, I kept sending people to his booth to look at it to see what I meant by a sense of narrative!

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  6. Although 2 is not out yet when can we be expecting no 3 :)

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  7. Six months after two. I'll debut the cover here soon(ish).

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  8. Well, I started this book after thoroughly enjoying the Cassandra series. But I'm having a hard time continuing reading it - I'm about halfway through and so far it hasn't grabbed me. :-(

    But the cover! And petrovar's cover! Fantastic! Can't wait to see Book 3!

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  9. Is he really writing them this fast, or did he have a couple in the can when the first was published?

    I've been thinking about picking up Sasha -- knowing it won't be two years before the next one makes me more likely to do so soon. :)

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  10. They were published in Australia originally, and we followed by enough of a lag that I can bring them out at my preferred six month intervals here.

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  11. And it is a quartet, and he's working on book four now, so you don't have to worry about it not ending.

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  12. Reading up - Ces don't give up!

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  13. Clay Griffith10:54 AM

    I like the thumbnail of the cover on the spine. Do you do that with other book? I can't remember.

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  14. We do that on several books, and we excerpt some element of the art on others. But whatever the technique, we always strive to make our spines eye-catching, as that's the part of the book that will strike most readers first.

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  15. Lou - thanks for the encouragement! I very rarely so totally give up on a book that I don't finish it, so I'll get there!

    Congrats on the noms!

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  16. It's a very complicated world, but once the pieces are all on the board, I love what he does with them.

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  17. I really like the cover. The different shades of blue fit together perfectly.

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  18. Thank you. It is one of my favorite Pyr covers.

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  19. Anonymous12:13 PM

    Just saw this. Nice :)

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