Words of praise in the latest Aurealis magazine for two of Orbit’s top Australian scribes, Sean Williams and Marianne de Pierres:

Sean has produced some good work in the past; he’s had the opportunity to flex his writing muscles in a wide variety of projects. In Saturn Returns, I felt a new assuredness, a strength of voice that was compellingly entertaining and thought-provoking. Saturn Returns is Sean’s best yet — go out and buy it.

Dark Space is an exciting adventure with plenty going on to keep you turning the pages. The story is primed to enter uncharted territory at the end of Book One. Marianne has a knack for creating compelling characters in complex realities — the Parish Plessis novels showed us that — so this is one to watch as it develops through the next two volumes.”

A shout out to former Aurealis editor, now reviewer, Keith Stevenson for his insightful reviews, which will appear in full in issue #38.

Keith also had some nice things to say about Orbit’s new global presence, so it would be rude — rude, I say! — not to repeat some of that niceness here:

The enthusiasm comes from what’s happening in the Australian market lately. This could be another false dawn — we’ve been through so many — but with the arrival of Hachette Livre and its much respected imprint Orbit into the local arena there is a level of energy and enthusiasm that I haven’t seen for a long while in Australian genre publishing . . . And so to another Orbit SF release (see what I mean: the release of two Australian science fiction books in as many months is unheard of in recent years).

Thanks, Keith. I hope we can continue to excite SF readers in Australia — and all around the world — for years to come!