Dante Valentine — now in one volume!

I recently came across the original cover letter from Lili’s agent in 2004. That’s when I still had @twbg as part of my email!!  I remember looking at this letter — on letterhead, back before all manuscripts were emailed – and putting a note on it for my Editorial Director at the time. I remember I drew little stars on it (What? I was an Assistant Editor! I thought that’s what you did when you wanted to buy something!)  and I wrote something to the effect of “I love this. Give it to me!” Hm. Perhaps not in those exact words… but that was the gist.

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Butcher is back, and this time it’s… ghostly

Out now in paperback
Available in August

We recently asked Jim Butcher fans to tell us why they loved reading The Dresden Files as part of a competition to win a load of great books, and we were innundated (in the best possible way!) with positive feedback.

We knew there was a lot of love out there for Jim Butcher and the world of Harry Dresden P.I., and his fans have definitely delivered. We’ve shared some of the responses below. Congratulations to Kieran who was randomly selected as the winner of our nineteen-book prize!

We also heard from all of you that the end of Changes – which is out in paperback this month – left most people at the edge of their seats for the next book, so when the first trickles of text from Jim Butcher’s upcoming book Ghost Story came in this week, we wanted to get it up for you as soon as we could.  You can now read chapter one of Ghost Story here (note: you should probably read Changes first if you haven’t already). (more…)

You should be reading Kate Griffin.

I don’t have as much time for reading as I used to, these days. Day jobs and deadlines aren’t exactly conducive to being well-read, even though the folks at Orbit keep me nicely supplied whenever I do my periodic “Hi guys how’s the kids here’s a manuscript by the way any new books OK don’t mind if I do mooch a few” visits to their HQ in midtown. But despite my disconnection from the new/hot/now book scene, there are a few books and series for which I will stop, drop everything, and read myself blind. One such series is Kate Griffin’s Matthew Swift novels, of which the third, The Neon Court, is out now.

Whenever I try to browbeat others into reading these books, I’ve been using “the Dresden Files if written by Neil Gaiman” as my pitch — but frankly that’s doing a disservice to the Dresden Files, Gaiman, and Griffin all at once. The setup is similar to that of the Dresden books on the surface: each book chronicles the adventures of a much put-upon modern magician just trying to go about his life in an urban setting. The urban setting in this case is London rather than Chicago, and the magician in question is not a wizard, but an urban sorcerer. There are wizards too in Griffin’s world, note — and warlocks, and prophets, and the kinds of magic users who can’t be described because they don’t fit neatly into any recognizable paradigm. But amid this wildly diverse set of magically-gifted (and sometimes -cursed) people, urban sorcerers stand out because their power comes, to put it simply, from their love of city life. Urban sorcerers can’t sit still during rush hour. They feel its surge and ebb in their blood, far more powerfully than any natural rhythms. They talk to pigeons, weave spells out of the fine print on subway tickets, read portents in graffiti. And though their ancestors include druids and shamans and all the natural magic users made famous by history and fantasy, these days they become powerless in the green boondocks beyond a city’s exurbs. The life they need, to thrive, is of a grittier, wilder sort. (more…)

Give in to your GREEN-EYED DEMON . . .

Now unleashed in all territories: a big whopping Green-Eyed Demon (UK/ US/ ANZ). No need to get jealous – you can now get your hands on your very own copy of the latest addictively-compulsive instalment in the Sabina Kane series. Jaye Wells is bringing us more from the eternally feisty vamp-mage Sabina Kane, more from the sexy badass mage Adam Lazarus, more from the fiendishly ridiculous cat-demon Giguhl – AND more of her trademark ‘faboulous snarkiness’ – as Book Chick City puts it . . .

Jaye Wells: ultimate Queen of Snark – we salute you!

The clock is ticking for Sabina Kane. With her sister taken by mysterious captors, the Dark Races on the brink of war and a sinister order manipulating everyone behind the scenes, she’s really got her work cut out.

Using information provided by an unlikely ally, Sabina and her trusty sidekicks – the sexy mage Adam Lazarus and Giguhl, the Mischief demon – head to New Orleans to begin the hunt for her sister. Once there, they must contend with belligerent werewolves, magic-wielding vampires and, perhaps most frightening of all, humans.

But before Sabina can save those she cares about, she’s got to save herself from the ghosts of her former life. Because the past is haunting her. Literally.

If you want a sneaky peek at what’s in store for you, you can read a juicy little extract here.

I heart the apocalypse

A world-changing catastrophe is a favourite authorial device. It is – almost, but not quite – older than dirt. Whether or not you subscribe to the historical accuracy of Noah’s flood or the Epic of Gilgamesh is a moot literary point – trashing everything in sight makes a fantastic setting for a story.

Pandemics slay billions, massive asteroids slam into the Earth, god-like aliens render our puny weapons obsolete at the stroke of a heat ray, mutually assured destruction lives up to its name: the common factor in most apocalyptic-themed stories is that the protagonists are rendered powerless in the face of overwhelming, impersonal force.

And that’s the problem with turning the apocalyptic into good fiction: the survival of the main characters is more or less a matter of chance. Narrowly avoiding death, repeatedly, while an excellent idea for the people involved, can get increasingly ludicrous for the reader. That the person you’re following survives is, more or less, down to luck. Certainly, there might be some things they can do to shift the odds in their favour – but you can hear the creaking gears of the deus ex machina in the background. (more…)

A Few Favorite Fantasy Dragons

When I was a child, storybook dragons in our town library were harmless, misunderstood creatures who certainly never flamed someone to death or ate maidens.  They epitomized the kind of softened, vaguely amused, condescending approach to myths and legends that Tolkein repudiated.

Hence, for a renewed understanding of just how terrible a beast the old legends intended to depict, Smaug in The Hobbit.  Smaug is a traditional wicked and greedy dragon with a hoard, who reacts to theft with violence.  He has razed whole towns; he is the scourge of his region when he’s not lounging on his pile of gold.  He’s not a joke; he’s not cuddly; he’s not generous or kind.

Yevaud, in Le Guin’s “The Rule of Names,” a story in LeGuin’s collection The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, is nothing like Smaug.  He seems, in fact, entirely harmless and not dragonlike at all.  But in this story, even the mildest, most peaceful, modest, and shy person can be pushed too far.

Yet another very different dragon: Mayland Long in MacAvoy’s Tea With The Black Dragon, the first Chinese dragon, I’d seen in fantasy fiction, although he appears as an urbane and very knowledgeable gentleman.  Can dragons retire?  Or only Chinese dragons?  (more…)

Orbit acquires three new Charles Stross novels

I’m delighted to announce our acquisition of three wonderful new books by the award-winning Charles Stross, and there’s been a big buzz of excitement at Orbit HQ over this new deal. I’ve loved Charles Stross’s books for years and always enjoy his wit, his storytelling wizardry and his playful familiarity with the cutting edge of technology. The new novels are The Apocalypse Codex, Neptune’s Brood and The Lambda Functionary and span the full range of Stross’s work – from Lovecraftian horror to space opera to near-future crime. And we’ll be publishing these in the UK/ANZ from Summer 2012.

Here’s just a snapshot of the great things that have been said about Charles Stross’s work:

As keenly observant of our emergent society as it is of our emergent technologies …one extremely smart species of fun” William Gibson
“Not only edgy and smart but grounded in human concerns” Wired
“Stretches the limits of narrative to make us see how wonderful ideas can be”
Time Out
“Stross is an author who anyone interested in SF should read and relish” SFX
“The cutting edge of modern science fiction” SFSite.com

Tricia Sullivan’s Lightborn on Arthur C. Clarke award shortlist

We’re delighted to see Tricia Sullivan’s novel Lightborn make the shortlist for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke award – one of the UK’s most prestigious awards for SF literature. Everyone at Orbit extends  their congratulations to Tricia, and to all of the other finalists.

It’s a finely balanced shortlist this year, with no publisher having more than one book on the list. There’s already been plenty of enthusiastic debate on twitter, with readers discussing the merits of the various novels. It seems the list sprung one or two surprises – needless to say, no one won the competition on the Torque Control blog for guessing the shortlist. That’s how hard it is to predict!

Here’s the shortlist in full:

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (Angry Robot)
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Walker Books)
Generosity by Richard Powers (Atlantic Books)
Declare by Tim Powers (Corvus)
Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan (Orbit)

The winner – picked by a panel of judges – will be announced at SciFi London on 27 April 2011. Naturally, the Orbit UK team will be in attendance and suitably glammed up for the occasion (though on our best behaviour, promise).

The Heir of Night – today’s UK release

Up until a week ago, I was really looking forward to the UK release of The Heir of Night (The Wall of Night, Book One) today and was busy making plans around how to best celebrate on my blog. But I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and just over one week ago we were hit by a massive and destructive earthquake. Although fortunate enough to survive, and very well off compared to many, it does not seem like the right time for the usual release day celebrations.

The road to publication—from the original idea, through giving effect to it on paper, the production process and finally printing and distribution—is a long one and release day is the obvious time to celebrate your book finally getting to the shelves and the public, and party up. But release day also gives you the opportunity simply to hold the book in your hands and enjoy the tangible sense of completion that gives you, even if there is no opportunity for fanfare.

And I do love this UK edition of the book: the starkness of the black-on-red colour scheme and the way the cover image captures both the strength and vulnerability of the central character of Malian, the Heir of Night. Most of all though, holding The Heir of Night in the context of the last week’s terrible events has made me reflect on the story being told inside the dramatic cover. The Heir of Night is epic fantasy, and in this case, an epic that speculates on both the grand sweep of events and their catastrophic consequences for the individuals and societies caught up in them. Love and hate, fear and courage, struggle, friendship and people choosing to support or undermine each other—this may be epic fantasy, but it is also absolutely the stuff of real life as it has played out in Christchurch over the past week.

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Unveiling THE HEIR OF NIGHT

It’s almost time for us to release (tomorrow, in fact …) the truly wonderful epic adventure that is The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe. We’ve had fantastic advance praise for this book and can’t wait to see it on both real and virtual shelves in the UK. But to see for yourself, have a read of this dramatic and also free (!) extract.

Helen will be visiting our blog tomorrow and over the next couple of weeks, and here are just a few of the great things that have been said about the book so far:

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

‘It’s a well-told tale … an enjoyable read’ SFX

‘Appealing characters and a richly detailed world’ Library Journal