Michael Cobley’s shiny new website and video

Mike has had his shiny new website just long enough to move in and add a little content, so without any further ado …

CLICK HERE (for exploding space ships, politics and scientifical things that catch the Cobley eye).

The Orphaned Worlds (bk2, UK|ANZ) will be out in mass market paperback in the Spring next year, then a few months afterwards bk3,  The Ascendent Stars, will complete the trilogy. So to keep you going, get an Orphaned Worlds screen saver HERE and a free extract of Seeds of Earth (bk1, UK|ANZ) HERE. Get both, don’t be shy!

And saving the best until last, you can watch the illustrious Mike Cobley in action as he answers Orbit’s probing questions below.

THE HEIR OF NIGHT by Helen Lowe – cover launch

I am very excited to have such a fine cover to show off for our wonderful new fantasy The Heir of Night (ANZ | UK), book 1 in The Wall of Night sequence by Helen Lowe. To reference Orbit’s new survey of cover art, there are no unicorns or dragons here, but instead see a seriously on-trend sword, and some  fashion-forward, dark (and meaningful) mist. But the main thing is that it’s gorgeous, richly atmospheric and stand-out to go with the fast-paced breathtakingly good content inside.

The Heir of Night is Helen Lowe’s adult fantasy debut, and we enter a world where the violence of an age-old war casts a long shadow. There we meet Malian who, although she’s being trained to rule, is unprepared for the savagery of her people’s ancient enemy as they attack in the darkest part of the Night.

Helen may be new to adult fiction, but she’s already received critical acclaim for her previous YA novel Thornspell. Last year this won New Zealand’s prestigious Sir Julius Vogel award for Best Novel, Young Adult. Helen won the Vogel award for Best New Talent in the same year, so we are delighted she’s turned her hand to adult fantasy, and you can find a free advance extract for The Heir of Night HERE. The book will be out in Australia and New Zealand in Oct 2010 — and if you are going to WorldCon in September look out for Helen as she’ll be doing some panels and a pre-publication reading. UK readers will have to wait a little longer for the book until  March 2011. But rest assured, it’ll be so worth the wait!

Helen’s been hugely busy in the run up to WorldCon as she’s also preparing for New Zealand’s Christchurch Writers Festival and on top of that she’s just done a pre-AussieCon guest post on Marianne de Pierres’ blog.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Robin Hobb, which perfectly encapsulates this wonderful adventure:

The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe is a richly told tale of strange magic, dark treachery and conflicting loyalties, set in a well realised world’ Robin Hobb

The Chart of Fantasy Art, 2009

The Chart of Fantasy Art

Every year we ask our summer intern to do a survey of cover art elements for the top fantasy novels published in the previous year. This year, our wonderful intern Jennifer looked at covers from 2009, and compared them against 2008’s findings. Over the next few days we’ll be releasing a number of charts that show what she found. After the jump, some initial observations on the data. And join us in the comments to talk about the trends.
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There’s a tempest rising in the UK . . .

OK – we admit it. The UK and Australian readers have been getting a raw deal, having to wait for Nicole Peeler‘s sweet, sassy and sexy urban fantasy series to float their way, whilst the US readers have been bathing in its glory for a few months. But now the wait is over, and Tempest Rising (UK | US | ANZ) and Tracking the Tempest (UK | US | ANZ) have finally washed up on our shores all at once. Featuring the naughty scrumpet Jane True as our half-selkie heroine – think of it as Sookie Stackhouse meets Splash!

Nicole was over in the UK recently and, in what’s becoming a bit of an Orbit UK habit, we took her aside to cross-examine her about her series and the Urban Fantasy genre. She is an assistant professor of literature, so she should know her stuff after all!  Take a look at the video below (and excuse my sniggering at points in the background – this lady cracks me up!)

You can read an extract of Tempest Rising here.

Married with Zombies, website launch!

Jesse Petersen’s Married with Zombies will be arriving in bookstores soon (US), and she’s just launched an awesome new blog over at www.jessepetersen.net.

Go on  over to get valuable information that just might save you during a zombie apocalypse, including: “The Top Ten Most Valuable Items in a Zombie Apocalypse”, “The Top Ten Movie Titles that Should Have Been Zombie Movie Titles,  chapter one of Married With Zombies, character bios from from the series, and a quiz that will scientifically show (*) how likely it is that your relationship will survive the zombie apocalypse.

(*) no actual science… but still.

Waking the Witch – out now!

Calling all Kelley fans! It’s official: Waking the Witch (UK | ANZ) has arrived in a bookshop near you and it’s looking fantabulously gorgeous. It’s the brand new title in the Women of the Otherworld series from international bestseller Kelley Armstrong, and it’s the first hardback to be whipped out with Kelley’s striking new cover style.

During the author’s recent tour to the UK we managed to steal her away from her hectic schedule, corner her in a tiny, tiny room with a camera and throw some questions her way. We think she did exceptionally well considering the circumstances . . . Take a peek here for comments on her series and Urban Fantasy in general (after all, she was one of the ladies responsible for starting the whole genre off in the first place!):

And here’s a sneaky preview of Waking the Witch to tide you over until the book is safely in your hands . . .