ESCAPE VELOCITY cover + preorders

And a new release date!

Here it is, folks! I’m so proud to share with you all the cover for my next novel, Escape Velocity.

In case you missed it, the exclusive cover reveal and interview went up yesterday at Stone Soup, an excellent newsletter and community hosted by one of my favorite authors, Sarah Gailey. Thank you, Gailey! Go check it out here (and subscribe to Stone Soup while you’re at it!)

Truly I’ve been blessed by the powers that be, because this cover encapsulates everything I love about the book. I mean, just look at it:

Many thanks to the team at Erewhon/Kensington, especially cover designer Samira Iravani and cover artist Sam Chivers! They really understood the elements that made the story compelling and brought those to the fore. I couldn’t be more pleased. Authors generally have little involvement or input in their books’ cover designs, and I’ve been really lucky to work with a team that was happy to include me in the process.

So just to dig in a little bit, what do we have here? We have an astronaut, a smoldering cocktail on a serving tray, and some casino chips…without saying too much, I’d say this gives off the perfect vibe for what’s going on in the book thematically, if not exactly literally. You might also notice that the lapel has the Philippine flag, a detail that made my heart leap when I first saw it.

We also have some sort of vessel reflected on our astronaut’s helmet, and as you might guess, that is the Space Habitat Altaire, where our story unfolds. Fun fact—I worked with the team on the space station’s design, and it’s so cool to see my vision come to life in this way, and to feature on the cover, no less. (One of these days I’ll share with you some of the concept artwork for the Altaire, once I get permission from my publisher.)

Seeing this cover and sharing it with you now is making me all the more excited for the day that Escape Velocity hits the shelves. I hope you’re as excited as I am.

On that note, we have a new publication date: May 21, 2024. Not that big of a move from the original date, and not too long from now, to be honest. The year just flew for me, and I can’t believe summer’s almost over!

Preorders are now available from all your favorite retailers, though I do encourage everyone to purchase a copy from your local independent bookshop, if you’re able to:

As always, thanks so much for spending some time with me, and I hope to have more to share with you all soon. Till then,

Victor