Author Archive

New Wallpaper: LEVIATHAN WAKES!

The cover art Daniel Dociu did for Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is so cool that we wanted to make it a wallpaper immediately (for our own use!) so why not share, right? I love the movement and action in the piece and I think that it says a lot about what kind of epic space opera reading experience you’re in for with Leviathan Wakes.

Hopefully these wallpapers can tide you over until the release in June 2011! Enjoy the fabulous illustration by Daniel Dociu, type by Kirk Behshoff, wallpaper layouts by Wendy Chan.

Enjoy the art fullsize and all the usual downloadable sizes after the jump… (more…)

The Art Department is multiplying!

As the Creative Director of Orbit US, I am very happy to make some announcements and introductions. And maybe a few explanations, with a small peek behind the curtain at a book publishing art department. SFF readers are pretty opinionated about covers, which is awesome, so I’m guessing you’d like to know a little bit more about how an art dept. is set up.

When Orbit first launched here in the US three years ago, the cover design was handled by the fabulous Art Directors and Designers of the Little Brown Art Department (some of their awesome work can be pointed out in my very first ever Orbit blog post here.) Orbit’s first year in the US went so swimmingly that it jumped out from under the Little Brown umbrella and teamed up with Yen Press to become it’s own division of Hachette Books. It then needed its own art department and I was hired to get that moving. Kirk Behshoff, who you will meet in a minute, had already been handling the cover art for Yen Press while it was a part of Little Brown Young Readers, and thank goodness he came over with Yen or I might have lost my mind those first few weeks. So long story short, the last two years were a lot of wonderful covers mixed with panic and a lot of late nights, because let me tell you, two people for two imprints is a bit of an insane workload. And because of the time crunch, I stuck mostly to Orbit and Kirk stuck mostly to Yen.

But now we are three! As of the beginning of September, we have welcomed Wendy Chan onto the Orbit/Yen team as a Junior Designer. With Wendy’s help we’ve been able to start to mix it up a bit. I did my very first Yen covers (for the High School of the Dead series) and Kirk is handling some Orbit covers—the first of which, Leviathan Wakes, is launching today! Very exciting.

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Parasol Protectorate: FINAL DAY!

Day five and competition is fierce. I love reading all your comments in the posts, so keep it up! This is the last batch of covers, and the winners of each day will have a runoff vote on Monday!

I kind of love the Steampunk-versions-of-characters costumes too. It’s already awesome to be mashing up time periods and technology, but then you throw Green Lantern, Doctor Who, and Star Wars into it, and that’s just doubly awesome… If you havent seen them around the web, there’s some really cool anachronistic and Steampunked worlds here, here, and here. And altho not technically Steampunk, these “premakes” are favorites in the same anachronistic vibe.

And on to today’s covers, after the jump… (more…)

Parasol Protectorate: Day 4!

Just one more batch of covers left after these, and thank heavens, because I am seriously straining for good titles! Keep voting, and keep the comments coming.

Meanwhile, there’s some video from NY Comic Con of our volunteer Steampunk ambassadors giving out Parasol Protectorate buttons (where you can see the back of the “Careless” outfit in all it’s bustled glory) and the packed house at the Steampunk 101 panel, where there seems to have been a spontaneous dance contest for Parasol Protectorate swag. Awesome!

Today’s covers after the jump… (more…)

Parasol Protectorate: Day 3!

Hey everyone, sorry I’m a little late in posting today — you won’t be disappointed when you see all the fab Orbit cover launches we have lined up for the coming weeks. So a bit late but not forgotten, here is Parasol Protectorate: Team 3!

And yes, for the record, I am running short on good words that end in -less. Sooner or later, someone is going to end up with “Sugarless” but I am trying to avoid that kind of thing and just get inspired by the character once the cover is done. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep the streak going for TWO MORE DAYS! Stay tuned!

Team 3 after the jump…

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Parasol Protectorate: More Covers!

Here’s the second “team” of the Parasol Protectorate covers for your judging pleasure. Please do remember, you’re voting on the awesomeness of the Steampunk attire, not on the background or title and especially not photo quality, which was entirely my doing…

Remember, if you miss a day you can definitely still vote for your favorite of each grouping — we’re not going to tally until monday morning, and then we’ll have a second round of voting.

Team #2 after the jump…

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Parasol Protectorate Covers: VOTE NOW!

Ladies and Gentlemen! After a short delay for design magicking, I am excited to present the first team of the new Parasol Protectorate covers! You may remember I was taking pictures of all the fabulous Steampunk costumes at New York Comic Con, and I promised to make them into Parasol Protectorate covers. I think they came out so fantastically, we shall have a CONTEST!

We will be releasing a group a day all this week, and I want you to vote for ONE cover in the comments for each day this week. On Monday we will tally the results and have a second round of the winners of each day, pitted against each other for Steampunk glory! And maybe a prize…I have to see what we’ve got around the office…I’ve got some post-it notes?

Anyway, enjoy today’s 5 covers in full size after the jump! (more…)

Memorial Mandelbrot Wallpapers: Surface Detail

As some sharp mathematical eyes have pointed out, There’s more to the design incorporated in the Surface Detail cover than just a random pattern—it’s a visualization of a Mandelbrot Set. For those of you who have been lucky enough to already read Iain M. Banks’ latest Culture Novel, you’ll know this kind of pattern of infinite intricacy is very important to the story. So important that we called out the pattern more clearly in fancy bonus endpapers in the hardcover edition. (For those of you who haven’t picked up Surface Detail yet, here’s the first chapter.)

The Mandelbrot Set is named for the mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot, who published his studies on mathematical objects like this in “The Fractal Nature of Geometry”,  and for those of us who aren’t up on our mathematical studies, the simple explanation is that Mandelbrot’s research helped predict natural phenomena like jagged coastlines and the formation of clouds. At the age of 85, he passed away this Thursday in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And in his honor I’ve designed up some cover wallpapers, with some bonus Mandelbrot Set action.

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NYCC: Parasol Protectorate Covers Are Coming!

If you were at NYCC this weekend, you may have met some of our Parasol Protectorate ambassadors dressed in their Steampunk and Victorian best and giving out buttons for Gail Carriger’s books. Thank you greatly to Evelyn Kriete (who runs Steampunk Fashion and Jabborwhalky productions), G.D. Falksen (author, blogger, and moderator of the Steampunk 101 panel), Jeni Hellum (who blogs about Multiculturalism in Steampunk), and Joseph Hernandez (of Penny Dreadful Productions). I will point them out when I start uploading the Parasol Protectorate book covers made from the pictures I have of everyone looking fantastic both wandering around NYCC and everyone who came to the Steampunk photo meetup Saturday night.

Now, back to retouching for me! After the jump, some Steampunk links for you to enjoy while waiting for covers to be released and flickr uploads to process… (more…)

NYCC Recap: Full House!

I have been to many a convention, and let me tell you, NYCC was packed. Saturday was more crowded than any day of San Diego con this year, and everyone was hungry for books! Luckily Orbit had a lot going on to keep the demanding masses satisfied!

As you can see from the picture to the left of Mira Grant signing copies of Feed, Orbit’s author signings were a hit as usual—we ran out of books in less than a half hour for both Mira Grant and Joe Abercrombie, who was signing copies of Best Served Cold. (more…)