When I was about two or three chapters into Land of the Burning Sands, I sent a note to my agent to ask, facetiously, whether she could provide a role for the leading female character to play besides merely serving as the love interest in the story. If I didn’t come up with something important for that character to do, I said, I’d write her out of the book entirely.
As I recall, Caitlin said she had great faith in me. Very comforting! (more…)
Here’s another instalment of my Bookcast from the Great Wall of China, where I continue discussing The Iron Hunt, book one of the Hunter Kiss series (plus click here for an extract!).
Here’s a fancy new wallpaper from the Orbit UK team and illustrator Lee Gibbons, for the second book in Kevin J. Anderson’s Terra Incognita series: The Map of All Things. These books are great epic fantasy from one of our best known authors, and you should check them out. If you don’t believe me, let the sea monster convince you!
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Cyberpunk is not really my cup of tea, so I was surprised when I got into This is Not a Game as much as much as I did. It’s all about connectivity, and how fast information and communication flies around the world now. There was of course also a cool thriller plotline along with it. Deep State is the next book by Walter Jon Williams, and picks up with the heroine & story of This is Not a Game. If you like William Gibson and Snow Crash-era Neal Stephenson, then you should check out these books. (more…)
Orbit author Brian Ruckley, whose FALL OF THANES (US/UK/ANZ) is now available, has a new improved website, and looks forward to his fans (and readers who haven’t yet encountered his books, and so haven’t yet had the chance to become fans) finding him at www.brianruckley.com. Be sure to update your RSS feeds!
I’m thrilled beyond belief that Orbit has asked me to finish Jane True’s story with books four, five, and six. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I call my next three books: four, five, and six. For, while using the word “tempest” seemed like a GREAT idea at the time, I have run out of “tempest” titles. I know something will occur to me or to one of the dozens of people I have working on this problem, but in the meantime I’m having fun playing with the most inappropriate titles possible. Here’s a short list of the top five worst titles I’ve come up with (so far):
5) Tempest Somethingorother
4) The (Significantly Less Shakespearean) Tempest
3) The Urban Fantasy Series Formerly Known As Tempest
2) Tempestuous Liaisons
1) Tempest Bledsoe
Can y’all do even worse?
Tricia Sullivan is the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author of an impressive body of work, including Maul, Double Vision and Sound Mind. Here’s just a sample of the praise that has been heaped upon her work:
‘A challenging, disturbing, often compulsive read’ Time Out
‘Tricia Sullivan returns to science fiction not a second too soon . . . I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in a long time’ Guardian
‘Painfully gripping throughout – read it if you dare’ The Times
‘Maul confirms an increasingly badly-kept secret – Sullivan is one of the best and most ambitious SF writers around’ Dreamwatch
‘Intelligent, sensitive and engrossing . . . You’ll be thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading’ SFX
‘Tricia Sullivan is why I refuse to give up on science fiction’ Pat Cadigan, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author
I think it’s clear from the above that Tricia is almost universally regarded as an audacious and original voice in modern science fiction. And what better way to signal that to the reader than with an audacious and original cover. Ladies and gentlemen (and other forms of life – we’re not speciesist at Orbit!), we give you Lightborn:
Lightborn is a revolutionary new technology that has transformed the modern world.
Better known as ‘shine’, it is the ultimate in education, self-improvement and entertainment – beamed directly into the mind of anyone who can meet the asking price.
But what do you do if the shine in question has a mind of its own . . . ?
K.J. Parker’s critically acclaimed Engineer trilogy featured three great covers by Keith Hayes. Since then, Parker has been writing stand-alone novels, and any one of them is a great place to jump in without any series-long commitment. Of course, I’m sure you’ll be back at the bookstore buying the Engineer books as soon as you finish any of these books, but you can start slow if you don’t believe me…
The Company was really an ensemble story, so we wanted to show the characters on the cover, but for The Folding Knife and The Hammer, I really wanted to continue the “artifact” look of The Engineer Trilogy.
Hundreds of entries have been submitted for the first annual Moby Awards for Book Trailers, a contest to select both the best and the worst of the past year’s book trailers sponsored by MobyLives.
We’re very pleased to note that in the category of Best Low Budget/Indie Book Trailer, Jeff Somer’s trailer for his novel THE ELECTRIC CHURCH (US/UK) is one of the select; and that in the category of Best Big Budget/Big House Book Trailer, the
trailer put together by Orbit Creative Director Lauren Panepinto for Gail Carriger’s BLAMELESS is a strong contender (we’re also happy to point out that though categorized as Big, the budget for the latter was extremely reasonable indeed).
The winners will be announced at the award ceremony in New York on Thursday, May 20.
The previous posts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Tuesday, September 19, 2000.
11:00PM
I saw the Northern Lights!
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I have to addendum this “last” entry. I hadn’t written much about it in my paper journal because it was late, I had to be up early the next morning for work, and I ended up gushing over email to my family and friends [which was lost]. To this day I still starkly remember how I ran out of my apartment to a rocky rise behind the building so I could get as close to the sky as possible. I was in my pajamas, boots, and a parka, but didn’t feel the chill at all. In some way that single new discovery encapsulates so much of what I feel when I think of my experience there—maybe because the Lights are such an indelible image of the North as well. (more…)
