A Video Review for End of Empires!

[Toby Frost]

I got a really nice Youtube review! This came pretty much out of nowhere, so it was a very good thing to find yesterday evening.

 

[HareBrain]

That must give a nice warm glow!

EoE is the one with the gift shop line, yes? One of the funniest things I've ever read. I think it's also my favourite book in the series.

 

[Toby Frost]

It's extremely flattering, not just that someone would like it but that they'd spend 9 minutes explaining that on a video!

Yes, that's the one. I'm glad that joke worked - it's one of my favourites too. There's something about being on a wild frontier full of strange creatures and mad people that really appeals to me.

 

[Mouse]

Amazing.

 

[Rodders]

Nice review, well deserved. Makes me want to re-read the series.

The reviewer made a good point about the cover and they are good. Do you get any say in the cover choice or design, Toby?

 

[Toby Frost]

Sorry, @Rodders , I never answered your question! I did get a certain amount of say in the covers, especially at the start when nobody had any idea what they might look like. I can't really draw, so I would supply stick-pictures of where the characters would go and lists of clothing etc that they might carry. There was also some discussion of style. It was always agreed that they'd have a retro, over-the-top quality, but it was the publisher's idea to make them rather like the Flashman covers in style. We tried to get the same artist, but he was ill and the chap who did the covers, Angelo Rinaldi, was quite closely linked to him. I've been very fortunate with covers.

One rather odd aspect was that chunks of the covers are drawn from "life". Wrath of the Lemming Men has a fairground in the background ("Funfare for the Common Man") that looks just like a funfare on the Australian coast (Sydney, I think). There were some odd moments of looking through the faces of models to see who would end up as Smith, Carveth and Rhianna. I don't know which toads, warthogs and upturned crabs were involved in Suruk's face.