Author Archive

Epic Loot 2: Feed and Deadline Posters

It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away  over the next few weeks.  So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win.

Epic Loot 2: Win Poster-Size Prints of FEED and DEADLINE!

I have been very pleased to hear how much people have been loving the covers for Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire)’s Feed and Deadline. A few people have even asked for posters, how flattering. So today’s Epic Loot is a fancy art print of both covers, to adorn your bedroom, bathroom, secret lab, etc. printed on super glossy art paper. Totally suitable for framing…and thank you to Art Director Kirk Benshoff for modeling them...
UPDATE! This contest is now closed.

Holiday Studies: A Comparison of Elves

Here at Orbit, we are dedicated to the scientific method, always tempered with a healthy dose of sarcastic humor. We are powered by geeks, after all. Thus we will be taking a hard look at the many ways the Holiday Season and SFF overlap, and serving up our findings in lovely visual form for your end-of-year enjoyment. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks… and be sure to keep checking back over the next few weeks to enter our Epic Loot giveaways – the first one is here!

Vote Now at All Things Urban Fantasy

Every year the blog All Things Urban Fantasy has Cover Art Awards and there’s a gaggle of Orbit Books nominated. Please go vote! It’s a simple survey form, and every cover is shown in the category, so it’s actually a fun review whether you want to cast your vote or not. Voting closes on December 29th.

BLAMELESS by Gail Carriger is up for “Best Paranormal Steampunk Cover”

THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR by Kate Griffin is up for “Best Male with Animal Cover”

And last but not least, my favorite category….

MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES by Jesse Petersen and TRACKING THE TEMPEST by Nicole Peeler are up for “Most Unique Cover”…tough choice!

So go vote already!

Note: There is not a “Best Title” category, but Saltwater Vampires would definitely win.

Cover Launch: EAT, SLAY, LOVE by Jesse Petersen

Ok, definitely winner for my favorite title this year is Eat, Slay, Love by Jesse Petersen, the third book in the Zombie Therapy series. These books are incredibly fun, and I think the covers do a good job of showing it. When I was designing the first two books, Married With Zombies and Flip This Zombie, I was definitely going for a bit of a spoof of self-help books rolled up in a Shaun of the Dead kind of aesthetic, while punking on chick lit a bit. The genius of this one tho, is all in the title. Come on, you can’t not laugh, just a little…

In other zombie-related news, Married With Zombies is up for a “Most Unique Cover” award at All Things Urban Fantasy’s 2010 Cover Awards. And Jesse Petersen has been doing great recaps of The Walking Dead on AMC every Monday after the show Sunday nights.

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Cover Launch: DEADLINE by Mira Grant

Look, I try not to play favorites in the Orbit-verse, but inside of this mild-mannered Creative Director is an excitable uber-geek fangirl, and I can’t help but have a few favorite series here to read as a fan, and I get really really excited when I know the manuscript is in-house for me to read and start working on the cover. This is also a lot of pressure in any series, because especially in the case that you think you did a good job on a cover to Book 1, you certainly want to keep the awesomeness going for Book 2…
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And the Winner Is…

And the winner is…….Bountiless! The contest really did come down to the wire between Bountiless and Breathless, but in the end, Boba Fett took the prize. And speaking of prize, we were SO impressed with the quality of the contestants, and the feverish commenting, that we decided to award the winner with a $100 gift certificate to Clockwork Couture, helmed by none other than expert panelist and Alexia model, Donna Ricci.

Mr. Fett, please contact me at lauren (dot) panepinto (at) hbgusa (dot) com and we’ll work out the details on the prize.

Of course, ’tis true that Boba Fett is a bit of a tough fit for the world of the Parasol Protectorate, but I think it can work if you think of it like this: If you forget that this is a reimagining of Boba Fett, and just take the costume fresh and just on Steampunk merit, it is absolutely a fine piece of craftsmanship and design. And a hell of a lot of manpower. And I think there is definitely room in the Parasol Protectorate for a helmeted bounty hunter.

And, you know, besides that, it’s freaking Boba Fett in Steampunk. That’s awesome.

You can find out more about the mysterious Mr. Fett at his facebook page. I hear he is available for parties!

Truth be told, all of our finalists — and really all of the contestants — embodied the best aspect of Steampunk: they had fun. I love Steampunk and other “retrofuturism” because you really can bring so much of yourself to it, and look awesome doing it. Your own background, look, culture, your own nerdy obsessions. And it takes chutzpah to dress up on a day not related to Halloween, even for a convention where a whole lot of other people are dressed up too. I applaud the entire Parasol Protectorate Class of 2010. And get working on your costumes again for next year!

Cover Launch: Mystery Cover Revealed!

Hey remember this picture? Way back in August I was working on a photo shoot with photographer Laura Hanifin for a cover, and I had to share a picture of one of the crazy props we were using that day. Yes, it was a real live—well, actually, dead—octopus, which Laura had dyed with food coloring in a ziplock bag in her fridge. Yes, I am the one holding it, and yes, it was really really slimy.

I got a lot of questions about it, especially after I made the shot my facebook profile pic, but I just couldn’t tell you guys what the images were for until we were ready to launch the cover, just in case it didn’t work out. But luckily it worked out even better than we had hoped, and launch day is finally here, and I actually have not one but two covers to show you. The shoot went so well that we’ve already used photos on two covers, and we’ve still got more good images left. I’m hoping that will make it up to Laura that her apartment stunk like dead fish for at least a month afterwards. (Sorry!)

A few people DID guess that the octopus was standing in for some kind of intergalactic space creature, and I can finally say that you are correct…and the mind that thought up that creature is none other than Philip Palmer, author of Debatable Space, Red Claw, Version 43, and now…Hell Ship! (more…)

Parasol Protectorate: “Alexia” weighs in

photo by Jeffery Scott

Parasol Protectorate fans, I have a special treat for you today. I have the face of Alexia Tarabotti herself, Donna Ricci, here to give some critiques and comments on the Parasol Protectorate cover finalists. We’ve talked about Donna’s role in the covers before, but I love talking about what a great team-up these covers have been. Donna is the proprietress of Clockwork Couture, which, in my opinion, has the best selection of Steampunk clothing and accessories on the web. She’s also a professional model, a writer on Steampunk fashion, and a champion of beasts great and small. I can’t think of a more fitting person to be our Alexia. And as an extra treat, I’m going to post the images below that became our Parasol Protectorate covers, before and after I did all the photoshop magic to them. You’ll see Donna needs very little retouching!

Before I hand it over, however, I just want to update you guys. We’re going to leave voting open over the whole weekend, and I’ll be tallying votes sometime Monday (after my first coffee, at least) and announcing the winner. N0w remember guys, one vote per email address please…that means you, mom-of-Doubtless! haha.

Ok, here’s the original images of Donna, next to the cover images of without the text, as a bit of a cover “evolution” shot:

original photo by Derek Caballero, background image from Getty Images

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Parasol Protectorate Covers: Experts Weigh In

Ay-leen's photo by Anna Fischer

The competition is fierce and the comments are flying over at the finalist round for the Parasol Protectorate cover contest, and I thought it would be fun to have some “Steampunk Experts” give us some professional opinions of the finalists ensembles and posing. First up is the Ay-leen the Peacemaker, mistress of the fabulous blog Beyond Victoriana, who also contributes to other blogs and projects on retro-futurism. Beyond Victoriana focuses on multiculturalism in Steampunk and retro-futurism, and just won a Last Drink Bird Head Award.

I really enjoy reading Ay-leen’s essays because it’s good to remember that although there is a huge Victorian Age element to Steampunk, that does not mean that it has to be solely Victorian England. I’m really into the idea that a lot of the fun of retro-futurism is that you can really make it personal in style, and that can include your own family and cultural heritage. For example, check out the costume in the Careless cover below, which kind of has an awesome eastern/turkish element to it.

Anyway, enough about what I think…on to Ayleen’s comments…

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Parasol Protectorate: FINAL ROUND!

Voting is now open for the finals of the Parasol Protectorate cover contest! The competition was fierce, and after 5 rounds of intense voting, here are your finalists. You’ll have all this week to vote. On Monday I will again tally the votes and name the winner and new Team Captain for the Parasol Protectorate Class of 2010…or is that 1910?

You might notice there are 6 finalists, and that’s because there was a bit of suspicious voting in Round One. So let me make the rules clear once more. Only vote once. I can see your email addresses so if there are two votes coming from the same account (that aren’t an obvious computer error) then all the votes from that account will be disqualified. To vote, please state clearly in the comments which cover (by title) you are voting for. DON’T say “#3” and don’t say you’re stuck between Sugarless and Hairless, because neither will count as a vote. DO feel free to applaud, praise, or heckle other finalists in the comments as well. DO feel free to vote for yourself. And most of all DO remember that you are voting on the person’s costume and pose. And poise. Not the title, cover layout, or background, which were all entirely my doing.

Over the next few days I will have some Steampunk and fashion experts weighing in on the finalists, so stay tuned! The finalist covers are after the jump…

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