December 5, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Zoran Zivkovic's 'Seven Touches of Music' Wins Design Award
Aio Publishing Takes Top Design Honors for a Second Consecutive Year

Charleston , SC – Aio Publishing Company’s book design for its hardcover edition of World Fantasy Award-winning Zoran Zivkovic’s mosaic novel Seven Touches of Music took top honors in its category at the 55 th Annual Chicago Book Clinic Book and Media Show on November 9th.

The design won the Award of Excellence in the General Trade Category. The Book and Media Show honors excellence in the planning, supervision, and execution of the physical and visual aspects of publishing in all genres across fourteen U.S. states. The General Trade Category heads the list of thirteen award categories.

Prior to winning the award, the author and publisher both won kudos from reviewers and readers. “The finished version of Seven Touches of Music is a masterpiece of understated style and elegance... the whole product oozes quality," wrote science fiction and fantasy reviewer Cheryl Morgan of Emerald City in a review of the novel. "This book, Aio is saying, is not just a collection of stories; it is a work of art." Editor Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column wrote, "Aio has managed to create a package every bit as striking as the writer's work, no small feat when it comes to a writer as distinguished and talented as Zivkovic."

Book printer McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., which prints more than 6,000 titles per year and manufactured Seven Touches of Music as well as Ian R. MacLeod's novel The Summer Isles, which took top honors in the general trade category at the 2005 Chicago Book Clinic Book and Media Show, nominated the book for the award.

The design was produced in-house by Aio publisher Tiffany Jonas and art director Patrick Jonas. It was the company’s second book design. Incorporating a supple European-styled, premium-grade Skivertex cover in a deep charcoal color custom-mixed for this cover, foil embossing in black and green, and ridged black end sheets as well as black-edged interior paper, the novel was produced using animal-friendly materials and recycled, acid-neutral paper.

"Cheryl Morgan has it exactly right—here at Aio we strive to present fine works of speculative fiction to readers in designs befitting the high quality of the stories themselves," said Tiffany Jonas. "We're enormously gratified to think we may have succeeded with Zoran's novel. It was very a tall order indeed to develop a design that would do justice to his very innovative work."

"Zoran has been called one of the world's greatest living fantastists," agrees Patrick Jonas. "He's often compared with the masters of not only speculative fiction but literary fiction and fiction as a whole: Stanislew Lem, Italo Calvino, Franz Kafka. To be considered to have framed his work in a design worthy of it is a tremendous compliment."

Seven Touches of Music is the first in a three-book series bringing Zoran's work to a wider readership in the United States, where his books had not previously been widely available. Mosaic novels Impossible Encounters and Steps Through the Mist will round out this particular selection. The design of the two books will be similar to that of Seven Touches of Music to allow for a closely matched set for Zivkovic collectors and readers.

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About The Chicago Book Clinic The Chicago Book Clinic was founded in 1936 to encourage excellence in publishing by providing a platform for educational, social and professional interaction of its members. Its members are professionals in book and media publishing, printing, editorial, design, and all business aspects of the publishing industry. For more information, see www.chicagobookclinic.org or call (773) 561-4150.

About Aio Publishing Co., LLC Aio Publishing Company was founded in January 2004 in Charleston, South Carolina. Dedicated to broadening speculative fiction bookshelves by adding works of a literary and sociological strain, the company seeks to publish complex, satisfying fiction in a high quality format encompassing visually striking covers, quality paper, graceful typesetting, and innovative design. Its flagship novel, a limited edition of World Fantasy Award winner Ian R. MacLeod’s The Summer Isles was followed by novel Nocturne by first novelist Jus Neuce in 2005, and 2006 saw the publication of Canadian author/artist Dana Copithorne's debut novel The Steam Magnate and World Fantasy Award-winning author Zoran Zivkovic’s mosaic novel Seven Touches of Music. For details about the company and its books, see www.aiopublishing.com.

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For more information, contact:

Tiffany Jonas, Publisher
Aio Publishing Company, LLC
P.O. Box 30788
Charleston , SC 29417
trjonas@aiopublishing.com
877.756.5429
843.225.3698 fax