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Today’s the day Orbit UK is releasing the cover art for COLD WELCOME so here it is. If you want to see it in a larger format, it’s over at the Universes blog.
The Universes post has both this cover and the US cover in a larger format, plus my amateurish “concept” sketch in crayon, that looks nothing like either of them. For a good reason. I’m not a professional artist <G>.
Comment by Jonathan Schor — January 20, 2017 @ 9:14 am
Much better than the US one even if the content is the most important part.
Cold Welcome – so Ky has the sniffles.
Jonathan up in New Hampshire
Comment by elizabeth — January 20, 2017 @ 9:27 am
You and your sense of humor… Just you wait…
Comment by Miguel — January 16, 2019 @ 1:22 pm
Dear Ms. Moon,
Happy New Year and many thanks for the gift of all your wonderful novels.
I have a question regarding the world of Paksenarrion.
Fox company is supposed to have 3 cohorts of 104 men each. However in your books Jandelir Arcolin plans to have three cohorts in Aarenis – and I assume one more cohort garrisoning his fief in the North according to his Tsaian charter?
So by the end of the Paladin’s Legacy series, is it correct to say that Fox company has 4 cohorts of 104?
Sincere regards,
Miguel A. Garcia
Comment by elizabeth — January 17, 2019 @ 11:42 am
Miguel: The northern stronghold depends on the training cadre and the recruits (and thus runs short every early spring when the recruits leave for the south, and before new recruits arrive…but that’s late-snow-and-mud-season, and nobody wages war then in this agricultural society: food supplies are low for everyone.) Recruiters are supposed to bring in a surplus over cohort strength, because there’s always a loss to injury, unsuitability, and so forth. The goal is to have enough graduate recruits the following spring to cover the losses in the main Company the previous field season. The training cadre includes permanent staff of the stronghold (all active in rotation or veterans) and the local militia (veterans in Duke’s East and West who can be called out in an emergency.) Back before the first Paks book (in book time) Kieri had this agreement with Mikeli’s father and then with Mikeli’s mother when she was regent for him (and the Regency Council thereafter.) Everyone “knew” that the 100+ cohort in the north was made up of trainees, perhaps 20 regulars stationed there constantly, and a militia from the local towns, but since the militia (which might number 50-70 if needed) were all veterans with multi-year combat experience, the Council figured they were as good as the active duty, and Kieri could go make more money in Aarenis and thus pay more taxes. But Kieri always had a few enemies, esp. Verrakai, and the year Kieri took all the veterans south too, to finish off Siniava, Verrakai used that as proof he’d broken–or at least severely bent–his agreement with the crown. And talked others on the Council into “reining in this reckless and rash behavior of leaving our northern border unprotected.” Those who’d resented Kieri’s fast rise from minor merc captain to duke with a large domain voted that way, and Kieri was bound not to “run off and play in Aarenis” for a year. Which cost him a lot in maintenance and pay, and caused the shortages in the north that Arcolin started with.
Cohorts are considered full fighting strength with 100, but start every season overstrength…when the numbers drop much below 100, they’re less effective. In the nearest equivalent in our history to the setup in these books (13th c.), mercenary companies varies in size by specialty (the “engineering” companies that built war machines like trebuchets and catapults and siege towers were on the smaller end, infantry large.) Three hundred (roughly) was not uncommon, and the Roman legacy of military organization in Europe often broke them into units of about 100, with smaller units inside that. There are practical reasons why a 300-500 person force “works” in this kind of warfare, and is more manageable for a single commander and small staff than a 1000+ force. Romans had extraordinary organization and discipline that their inheritors lacked and did not really develop in Europe after the Roman Empire disintegrated until the 18th and 19th centuries.
At any rate, Kieri had been sending three cohorts to Aarenis for years when Sheepfarmer’s Daughter starts, and continued through her time in Fox Company, with the addition of the veterans in the third campaign year, bringing his total force that year to near or at 400. Arcolin also wants to send three to the south, and assures the Royal Council (since Mikeli is now king) that he will not strip the north of veterans again. With the “old’ Verrakai out of the picture, and Dorrin having disappeared into the south on her quest (as far as the north knows), the Council is no longer eager to argue. Also, as his gnome princedom grows in population, he will have a levy of gnome soldiers to serve as protection on the northwest, and because of the deal he cuts with the horse nomads, they become additional help with the northern border. The Pargunese king to the east will never be chummy with Tsaia, but once the Pargunese aren’t being stirred up by the Webmistress, they’re merely gruff and stubborn, not actively dangerous, for several lifetimes. So Arcolin has the same deal Kieri had: you can take your cohorts south, and even keep them there, as long as nothing goes badly wrong in the north and you leave enough soldiers there to protect our borders.