Archive for October, 2007

A Very Jaz Parks Halloween

Happy Halloween from everyone here at Orbit! In honor of this most scary holiday, Jennifer Rardin, author of Once Bitten, Twice Shy (US / UK ) and the upcoming Another One Bites the Dust, has written us a Jaz Parks treat!

Taking Out the Trash: A Jaz Parks Mini-Mission

The demon appeared just as the president’s psychics had predicted, clattering from the furnace of the deserted glass blowing studio. He saw us immediately, targeting him with the only weapon that would vanquish him. A bazooka whose charges were packed mainly with shredded law books. Apparently to this devil, justice was a killer.

“Wait!” he squeaked. “Avarice! Apartheid! What the hell is the word!” He banged his knobby knuckles against his forehead so hard they left red marks.

Vayl and I traded puzzled looks as he screamed, “I’m not the one you want! Please!” He went to his knees, probably staining his white pants. Since it was Halloween, it made sense that he wore a sailor suit. And people might actually buy that his bulbous nose and square, yellow teeth were part of a mask—if he survived the night. It was our job to see he didn’t.
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Review Round-Up

Another One Bites the DustAnother great review for Jennifer Rardin, as LoveVampires is calling Another One Bites the Dust:

Fast-paced, exciting and entertaining . . . recommended reading. It has mystery, spies, mad villains, romance, humour and vampires. Really, what’s not to like?

In other kick-ass vampire news, check out the interview they did with Charlie Huston, whose latest novel, No Dominion, is described by The Gravel Pit as:

[A] blast. It offers the same gritty noir-style with the brutal pace as did Already Dead . . . Bring on the third Joe Pitt!

And over at The Book Swede, there’s a wonderful review of Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price:

The ideas on which Abraham has built this series are original and thought-provoking . . . he is surely one of the brightest stars to come into the genre for quite a while.

Finally, Gav’s Blog gives Dead Men’s Boots an impressive five stars, saying:

Carey is a master plotter. His plots are focused and well planned though with enough clues that you mentally kick yourself when you start to see the connections . . . It’s a great read. You can’t help yourself from wanting to know how deep in shit Castor can go before he drowns.

Devices and Desires

desires.gif Devices and Desires is getting terrific reviews for its US launch. The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly said:

“Parker’s intricately plotted and meticulously detailed book, the first in a proposed trilogy, moves as deliberately and precisely as an antique watch.”

Publishers Weekly called it an “exquisite feat of literary engineering.” And in the December issue of Realms of Fantasy Magazine, Paul Witcover says:

“…the first volume of the Engineer Trilogy is an audacious and utterly captivating novel that, like the great Gormenghast books of Mervyn Peake, eschews magic in the creation and elaboration of an intricately detailed fantasy world.”

Read chapter one of the book right here. Book two, Evil for Evil, is out now in the UK, and will be in stateside stores this November.

Pushing the Boundaries

The Long PriceThere are some great reviews coming in for Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price. Starburst says of it:

In this enjoyable, intelligent, original fantasy series, plot springs with tragic inevitability from character and there are no heroes and villains but only often flawed but eminently understandable human beings

SFX go further in their review:

Far from being a bog-standard tale of swords and sorcery, Daniel Abraham has served up a compelling, emotionally brutal and edgy fantasy that’s genuinely worthy of comparison with genre heavyweights like George R.R. Martin . . . [pushes] way beyond the genre’s comfortable boundaries, into bold and unsettling new territory.

The Wheel of Time

We’ve received a number of queries from fans asking if there is any news regarding the final volume of The Wheel of Time, which Robert Jordan was writing when he sadly passed away last month. At this stage, there is no news. As soon as we have news, we will announce it here.

Raves for Rardin

Once Bitten, Twice Shy is getting great reviews! The The New York Post featured it in their “Required Reading” column, and over at Katie’s Reading, Katie says:

“Before I started reading Once Bitten, Twice Shy I had read several reviews that claimed that this was a good book, a great book even. But in no way was I prepared for how truly wonderful Once Bitten, Twice Shy turned out to be. I loved it, plain and simple as that.”

Curious? Get to know Jaz with this excerpt, and then stop by Jennifer’s blog to meet the author.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy Banner

Mike Carey Event

Orbit UK author Mike Carey will be doing a talk and signing on Thursday 25 October. It’s at at the Rutherford Theatre, 76 Portland Place, W1B 1NT, from 7.00pm. Tickets are £7 (£5 for concessions), and are available by contacting events.london@blackwell.co.uk, calling 0845 456 9876 or dropping into the Blackwells bookshop at 100 Charing Cross Road.

There’s also a competition to win tickets and signed copies of Mike’s new book, Dead Men’s Boots, on the SFX website.

Update: unfortunately, this event has been cancelled by the organisers.