Publishing this Week

This is a tidbit of news that I found interesting due to the fact that it is in my genre of fantasy fiction. Knopf is set to publish Christopher Paolini’s Eragon’s "Guide to Alagaësia". It is gaged toward young readers and it is a tie to to his Inheritance cycle of books, which so far is up to four books in the series (consisting of Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr). The fourth book has yet to be published, but is in the works. It's publication date has yet to be announced.

The guide will be released on November 3 2009, and will be simultaneously published in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand, was developed in conjunction with Britain’s Templar Publishing. They are hoping that the book we sell as a companion to his other books in the series due to it will contain landscapes, and inhabitants of Alagaësia. The Inheritance cycle of books has sold over 22 million copies world wide and the first was made into a movie by 20th Century Fox that was released in December of 2006 and The cast included Edward Speleers in the title role, Jeremy Irons, Garrett Hedlund, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich, Djimon Hounsou, Joss Stone, and the voice of Rachel Weisz as Saphira the dragon.


"Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia will take readers deeper into the captivating world Christopher created, offering a visual perspective of the novels that millions of readers across the world have come to love," said Knopf publishing director Nancy Hinkel in announcing the book on May 20th at a press release.

For more information on the author and his work go to his web site at http://www.alagaesia.com/ .

Now for my question if you have read the books, or listened to them on audio book do you foresee this as a purchase for yourself or someone else? Also what other series do you wish had this type of a compaion? I have the Anne Rice companion books and they contain a wealth of information, and it makes me very tempted to see the author's vision in print. Also if J.K. Rowling was to publish a companion of this type would you be interested? I would be.