Dark Wraith of Shannara

Dark Wraith of Shannara, Terry Brooks’ brand new graphic novel and Orbit’s first foray into the genre, has been getting some great reviews:

‘Kept me entertained …This is one piece of fan service that Shannara fans won’t want to miss’ – A Dribble of Ink

‘A great way of attracting newcomers to Fantasy (and Terry’s work), of persuading some readers to look at a graphic novel for the first time and also keeping the Brooks’ faithful happy. Sounds difficult, but I think it manages it’ – Mark Yon, SFFWorld

‘A good read to get stuck into with a cast of characters that veterans of the series will instantly recognise but who also serve as a good introductory point for the casual reader. . .Fans of Terry Brooks will love this to pieces!’ – Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review

Interested in picking up a copy for yourself? It’s available at all good booksellers now. And you can check out some of Edwin David’s fantastic art below (click on images to enlarge).

Shannara 3 Shannara 6 small Shannara 13 small

Karen Miller Interviewed

Karen Miller, the bestselling author of The Innocent Mage, talks about Empress, her writing and kitty litter over at The Book Swede:

Could you tell us a little about Empress? (I like to be original in my opening questions)…

Well, Empress is the first book in the Godspeaker trilogy (my first trilogy, yikes!). Actually, I tend to think of my stories in acts, like plays, so it’s Act 1 in a 3 act play.

It’s the story of a young girl from an exceedingly harsh background, who discovers the power that lies within her and rises to greatness against enormous odds. It’s the story of a young man, who’s also been touched by power and greatness. It’s about his relationship with her, and her relationship with the god they worship … which isn’t at all a kind or benevolent deity.

Read the rest of the interview here.

2010 and All That

Further to Bella’s post, below, on the 2008 Eastercon, I thought it worth mentioning that Eastercon returns to the Radisson Edwardian at Heathrow (amusingly nicknamed the “Radisson Non-Euclidean” by convention wags), in two years time. Even more exciting for us at Orbit Towers is that the convention committee have shown the great good taste to invite Mike Carey as one of their Guests of Honour.

First Charles Stross, now Mike Carey – they can hold Eastercons at Heathrow every year, as far as we’re concerned!

Dead Men's Boots

The Devil You KnowVicious Circle

Eastercon Action

Back refreshed after some post-Easter holiday, I thought I’d give a little round-up of the weekend’s Eastercon excitements. These didn’t include the weather (a most distracting hail storm during Darren’s Very Important Panel), or getting lost in the hotel’s Shining-esque corridors and missing breakfast, so I’ll spare you that.

So, over the Easter weekend, two key highlights in the science fiction calendar took place. One of these was Orbital, the British national science fiction convention (otherwise known as Eastercon), We were very excited as our Ken MacLeod was on not one, but two shortlists for BSFA awards, up for both best novel with The Execution Channel and best short fiction with Lighting Out, in the anthology disLOCATIONS from Newcon Press. Many congratulations to Ken for winning in the short fiction category, and to Gollancz’s Ian McDonald, who took away the best novel award for the much-admired Brasyl.

I also have to make special mention of Charles Stross, who was guest of honour at Orbital, alongside Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, and China Mieville. Charlie wasn’t just guest of honour but, in an astonishing tribute to the genre, had actually managed to clone himself in order to take part in a myriad of panel discussions. Amongst others, I attended Writing the Near Future, on why it might be harder to predict 50 years in the future than 500. Charlie was as fascinating as ever, and managed to pause briefly for breath before his next panel on the Appeal of Lovecraft. His clones were no doubt equally knowledgeable in an in-depth discussion of Accelerando, and in a panel on how to be a full time novelist to name just a few. On the other side of the fence, Orbit’s Darren Nash told a packed room (yep, people were actually standing at the back) what an editor Actually Does. I found this particularly pertinent, and obviously made copious notes(!). The panel was split between editors of novels and short fiction, so covered some interesting differences in how the two forms might be edited.

But the Eastercon activities didn’t end there … the other highlight of the weekend was Swancon on the other side of the globe – the annual West Australian Science Fiction Convention and forum for the Ditmar awards. We are delighted to say that Sean Williams picked up yet another well-deserved Ditmar for best novel, for the fabulous Saturn Returns. Australia’s Dark Fiction zine HorrorScope has the full listings. Ken MacLeod also attended the convention as a guest of honour so, although much in demand, had to miss out on the British event. Sure, it would have been great to travel to Australia to help Ken and Sean out, but the Orbital invites came through first … Maybe next time!

More Coverage

Following up on the post below, the cover debate continues here, here, here and elsewhere. I left a comment at Lou Ander’s blog that explains a bit more on our approach to cover design.

One thing to add: a few people have expressed the view that for a publisher the most important thing about a cover is that it appeals to buyers (those people in the book industry who determine whether or not–and in what quantity–a book gets on to the shelves). For us, that’s not true. Of course, it’s a great advantage if a buyer loves a cover we’ve come up with; and it makes things more challenging if they don’t. However, we–and I’m talking only about Orbit here, to be absolutely clear–have one thought in our mind when we’re thinking about covers: how to make it as effective as possible for the widest possible readership. And by “effective”, I mean visually exciting, distinctive, and appropriate to the book’s content and style.

Of course, we listen to buyers, we talk to buyers, we take buyers’ feedback very seriously, and we’ll sometimes change a cover as a result. But we don’t ask ourselves: what kind of cover would the buyers like? We ask ourselves: what kind of cover would potential readers like?

Another aspect of this issue that’s sometimes overlooked is what the author thinks of their cover. Some authors are more interested in their covers than others–some prefer to leave it to their publisher, others have very strong views on what they would like. Either way, I’m often struck by how revealing an author’s reaction to seeing a visual representation of their work can be. In my experience, authors themselves can be great judges of whether a cover works or not. One author reaction to seeing her cover for the first time summed it up for me when she said: “That’s exactly what my book looks like!” For her, the cover had captured something exciting and important about the book and made it instantly recognizable. If a cover doesn’t achieve this–at least to some degree–I think it’s unlikely to be a particularly effective cover.

I guess it all comes back to what one considers to be an effective cover.