Epic gets new cover, US launch date

Amazon has the US version of Epic listed for release on April 5, 2007. This is a hardback with a new cover which is similar to the Saga cover. The tag line they are using is fines facere mundo.

A promotional book by Conor Kostick and Oisin McGann

This is a double-sided promotional book froom O'Brien that contains portions of both Epic and The Harvest Tide Project by Oisin McGann.

What's inside the package of the German audio version of Epic on CD?

When I originally wrote about the German audio version of Epic I was impressed that it had three voice actors. But in fact there are at least twenty actors performing the different voices. It is quite a large production. Pictured above you can see what comes inside the box. At amazon.de there is already a five star review which picks up on the philosophical quesions that Epic raises:

Are humans by nature violent? How does evil define itself? What does this relate to the MORAL and the ETHICS of humans? Can totalitarian or egalitarian systems help? How do systems of government change with long lasting power? Does one give POWER also voluntarily? EPIC is a modern version of the answer to one of the oldest questions of mankind

[Automatic translation by Google, hand-edited by me, all mistakes are mine]

Marxism and Children's literature

Great poster for an event on Marxism and Children's literature featuring Conor Kostick.

Conor Kostick in China for IBBY awards

As previously discussed Epic was listed on the IBBY Honour List for 2006. Conor was able to attend the awards at the IBBY 2006 Conference in Macau, China. His trip was supported by Culture Ireland and the Irish Arts Council.

Saga launch is close!

Saga's publication seems to be close, and we have a big picture of the new cover. Lady Schrapnell looked for Saga in a bookstore but couldn't find it.

Meanwhile Epic has appeared on a weird site for swapping of advance reader copies. And a review by Nicholas Whyte damns Epic with faint praise.

More German reviews

NDR is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. On 6 June 2006 they broadcast a review of Epic. From the Google translation:

Kostick [is influenced by?] political philosophers such as Machiavelli, Hobbes and Marx, and so this novel is [...] at the same time also an argument [about] different social utopias.

Schmitz junior (a bookshop for children's literature) has a nice picture of the German cover: