Orbit is pleased to announce that it has acquired rights to publish the Riyria Revelations series by self-published author Michael J. Sullivan. Orbit will be publishing the complete series in three volumes in consecutive months in Fall/Winter 2011-2012. The first volume, Theft of Swords, will be published in November 2011; the second volume, Rise of Empire, in December 2011, and the final volume, Heir of Novron, in January 2012.
Michael J. Sullivan has already self-published the series in ebook and print-on-demand editions, and each volume has been prominent on the ebook fantasy bestseller charts.
Senior Editor Devi Pillai says: “This is the kind of fabulous new adventure fantasy that readers of Terry Brooks and Brent Weeks can fall in love with. Michael really delivers a great story that keeps to the idea of great epic fantasy while taking on fantasy clichés and having fun with the idea of two thieves caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I read the first book – and I was hooked.”
Michael J. Sullivan says: “”I couldn’t be happier to have The Riyria Revelations released by Orbit. Of all the fantasy imprints, they have shown an unsurpassed eye for quality and I’m both excited and humbled to be included in a select group of authors as talented as Brent Weeks, Gail Carriger, and so many others.”
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Michael J. Sullivan has lived in Vermont, North Carolina, and Virginia. He worked as a commercial artist and illustrator, founding his own advertising agency in 1996, which he closed in 2005 to pursue writing full-time. He currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife and three children.
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I am incredibly happy about this! 😀 I’ve always said that The Riyria Revelations deserves a bigger readership, and now that Orbit has picked up the series, it will damned well get that readership! 🙂 The series kicked off with a bang and has grown in strength, complexity and sheer readability with every following title; it’s fun, serious when it needs to be, doesn’t suffer from info-dumps and world-building-itus, and can stand tall with every other major Epic Fantasy series out there. The fact that Orbit will be bringing it to the wider world is soooo damned awesome! For our neck of the woods, it means that the books will also finally be available in South Africa! As a bookseller I absolutely cannot wait to get all my customers hooked on this series! 🙂
Massive congratulations to Michael and Robin – all their hard work has paid off ! 🙂 It’ll be interesting to see whether Larry Rostant incorporates Michael’s illustrations for these Orbit-releases (Michael did the cover artwork for each and every novel, if you didn’t know that), and I can happily wait to read the series-finale, Percepliquis. 🙂
I first saw the news over at Fantasy Book Critic (thanks to Liviu), and then checked out the news over at Orbit before reading the announcement-posts on Michael’s and Robin’s blogs. 🙂
CONGRATS!
Be EPIC!
P.S. Haven’t heard of the series yet? Check out my reviews so far to get a taste of what you can expect:
The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha (making up Orbit’s first volume – Theft of Swords),
Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm (making up Orbit’s second volume – Rise of Empire),
and still to be reviewed: Wintertide and Percepliquis (making up Orbit’s third volume – Heir of Novron)