Above is the cover for Anthony Ryan’s next novel, the first in a new epic fantasy series — Draconis Memoria (that’s a very fantasy/heavy metal series title…). I quite like it — there’s a similarity to the recently-unveiled cover for Tom Lloyd’s next novel, but only in general positioning of Big Beastie and Puny Human…

I still haven’t read Anthony Ryan’s debut fantasy trilogy, The Raven’s Shadow, for some reason. Maybe I should get on that? Anyway, here’s the synopsis for The Waking Fire:

For decades the lands of the Ironship Syndicate have been defended by the ‘blood blessed’ – men and women able to channel the powers contained in the potent blood of wild drakes. Elite spies and assassins, their loyalty has established the Syndicate’s position as the greatest power in the known world.

Yet now a crisis looms. The drake bloodlines are weakening, and war with the Corvantine Empire seems inevitable. The Syndicate’s only hope of survival lies with the myth of a legendary drake, whose powerful blood might just turn the tide of the war – if it even exists.

The task of hunting down this fabled creature falls to Claydon Torcreek, a petty thief and unregistered blood blessed. He’s handled many valuable things in his time (most of them illegal) but nothing as priceless as his nation’s future.

The Waking Fire is due to be published by Orbit Books in July 2016.