BATTLECRY – The Sten Omnibus

We couldn’t let November go by without mentioning Battlecry, the first Sten omnibus, and its awesome cover art by the very talented Paul Young. If you haven’t heard of the Sten series – why not? It’s a fast-paced military SF series from the late, great Chris Bunch and the author, screenwriter and award-winning journalist Allan Cole – and it’s sold over a million copies worldwide. If you like Heinlein and Halo, then hell! – this is for you.

Released this month and featuring the first three books from the series: Sten, Sten 2: The Wolf Worlds and Sten 3: The Court of a Thousand Suns, this is a chunky volume that gives you a whole lotta bang for your buck . . .

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NEW ORBITEERS

We’re very pleased to announce that two new Orbiteers will shortly be joining the editorial team in the UK.

Anne Clarke, currently a commissioning editor at Hodder & Stoughton, will be taking up the role of Editorial Director. She will be working with our editors, overseeing the publishing program, acquiring and editing her own authors, asking us to make cups of tea for her . . . no, forget that last one. Anne will be starting in the New Year.

 Also joining us, on 6th December, will be James Long – our new Editorial Assistant. James may be known to you for his excellent blog, Speculative Horizons. This will be his first job in publishing, and – sorry though we are that Speculative Horizons won’t be continuing – we’re delighted to welcome him on board.

A Book-Lover’s Easy Virtue

I am, I confess it here, a genre slut; I have loved many genres, and though I currently spend most of my days in the fabulous and exotic terrain of science fiction and fantasy fiction, I still occasionally sneak out and enter other genres.

Romance, for instance. I don’t claim to be well-read in the romance genre, but I will admit to having indulged, from time to time, in a passion for passion. The main object of my affection was Maeve Binchy – who writes Irish feel-good sagas about community life with lashings of romantic cliches. And who is also, by the way, one of the greatest storytellers of our age, up there with Stephen King. I’ve also read the Welsh novels of Iris Gower, the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer and the superbly evocative tales of Catherine Cookson, the great mistress of grit-lit plus, well, quite a few others that were dreadful but I enjoyed them anyway.

Crime was once my profession (as a writer and script editor for TV crime dramas) and also my hobby. I love bleak noir, locked room mysteries, nostalgic period detective stories, and modern police procedurals. My favourite crime writers are Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Rex Stout, Carl Hiaasen, Donald E. Westlake AND Richard Stark…and many more. Crime is a great genre; it gives us a chance to wallow in evil and still feel good about ourselves. Nowadays, I haven’t the time to read much new crime fiction (apart from the excellent Stieg Larssons) but evil-wallowing continues to be my favourite pastime, expressed in, ahem, other ways. (more…)

Welcome to Hull Zero Three…

Will you survive the ship?

Greg Bear is one of the most well-known and beloved writers in the genre and I am delighted to announce the publication of his latest novel, HULL ZERO THREE. Set in the darkest, coldest reaches of space, this is the story of one man who wakes up cold, alone, and confused on a starship that seems to be determined to kill him.

For a glimpse into the harrowing life of a resident of Ship, see our video record, carefully reconstructed in machinima for your edification:

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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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The Walking Dead 1.04 With Jesse Petersen

Jesse Petersen is the author of MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES and the forthcoming FLIP THIS ZOMBIE. Like many of us here at Orbit HQ, she’s also a fan of The Walking Dead on AMC. She’ll be offering recaps of each week’s episode here every Monday. This post will contain SPOILERS (also zombies). For previous recaps see 1.01 , 1.02, and 1.03

Hello Zombie Fans! 4th episode and since this season of “The Walking Dead” is short (6 total episodes) we’re rapidly coming to an exciting close. Hang on tight, I think it’s going to be a bumpy ride! So when last we left off Rick reunited with Lori and Carl (and, oh yeah, Shane). Everyone was happy for about ten seconds but then Rick felt bad that he’d left Dixon locked up on the roof, so he got a new band of heroes together and they headed back to Atlanta, only to find out that Dixon cut his own hand off to escape. Ew. But where is he? Oh, and apparently Shane told Lori that Rick was dead (which then inspired her to sleep with him). So she’s annoyed. Now we pick up in The Walking Dead 1.04: Vatos. (more…)

SILVER-TONGUED DEVIL by Jaye Wells (a.k.a. My first Photo Shoot)

Hello all. As some of you may have read in a earlier post, I’m the new junior designer here at Orbit Books/Yen Press. I’ve been immersed in the world of book cover design here and — three months into working for the Orbit art department I’ve already been invited to a photo shoot?! How cool is that? This is my first photo shoot ever if you don’t count that embarrassing yearbook photo that my college made me do… (more…)

Nano advice: Time Travel Edition

I’m back with more advice from the editor’s perspective for all you Nano people out there. So, this time I want us all to hop into the Orbit time machine. We have one of those. It’s how we know the future.

It’s December 1. You wrote like a madman all month long and now you have 50,000 words and a warm glow of satisfaction. You drank all the champagne and ate all the cupcakes and are ready to bask in the relaxing life of being an author.

So, what next?
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What kind of fantasy do you write?

For that matter, what kinds of fantasy do *I* write?

Many of the panels at the World Fantasy Convention this year were about specific categories of fantasy:  for example, Fairytale, Epic, Urban, and Sword and Sorcery.  Naturally all those panels tried to define their particular subgenre, frequently showing that there’s significant disagreement about what constitutes any particular type of fantasy.

During the Sword and Sorcery Panel, Patricia Bray specifically urged attendees to look up The Griffin Mage trilogy and made several flattering comments about it. And it was a packed panel, so many thanks, Patricia!

But I wouldn’t have thought of The Griffin Mage trilogy as Sword and Sorcery.  Later, thinking about what subgenre I’d personally put The Griffin Mage in . . . well, I’m still not sure. Of course the sub-categories of fantasy blend into one another, but here goes an attempt to sort them out: (more…)

Cover Launch: THE EDINBURGH DEAD

Edinburgh Dead CoverThe Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley hits shelves August 2011. This project was exceptionally interesting for me. The book is a historical fantasy that takes place in 1827 Edinburgh, Scotland. It follows an officer of the recently formed city police who is on the trail of undead hounds, emptied graves, brutal murders, and a criminal underclass involved with the darkest of powers.

The photo illustration, by Larry Rostant, is a beautiful and haunting cinematic look into the story. We made the main character front and center with very specific details hinting at the plot without being campy or having to spoon feed the audience. (more…)