Archive for Orbit UK

Epic Fantasy Interview Swap – Helen Lowe interviews Ian Irvine

April’s such a great month for epic fantasy fans, with the release of both Ian Irvine’s VENGEANCE and Helen Lowe’s THE GATHERING OF THE LOST! We wanted to celebrate by doing something a bit different on the blog –  and we thought: ‘Who better to interview a fantasy author than another fantasy author?’

This is the first part of that interview, in which Helen interviews Ian about his new series The Tainted Realm. Look out for the second part, when Ian interviews Helen, this time next week!

Click through to hear all about Ian’s pet hates in fantasy, how his background as a marine scientist affects his writing, and also just what’s wrong with magic in Harry Potter…

This image shows both the cover of Vengeance and the cover of The Gathering of the Lost (more…)

Hugo Nominations Announced

The nominations for the Hugo Award, one of science fiction and fantasy’s biggest, were announced this weekend. Congratulations to all the nominees! We’re especially pleased to note the following Orbit books on the shortlist.

For the Hugo Award for Best Novel:

LEVIATHAN WAKES
James S.A. Corey
(US | UK | AUS)

DEADLINE
Mira Grant
(US | UK | AUS)

 For the Hugo Award for Best Novella:

COUNTDOWN
Mira Grant
Originally published on orbitshortfiction.com

Along with the Hugos, the nominees for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer were announced, and this year’s list  includes Mur Lafferty – whose novel THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY  will be coming out from Orbit in 2013.

The Hugo Awards will be presented during Worldcon in Chicago, IL, this fall.

Wargame!!

Nothing beats a military SF battle!  The hiss of  plasma beams bouncing off body armour.  Computer targeted bullets that hunt their enemy.  And robots that can fight wars.   For many decades, science fiction writers within the space opera and military SF genres have revelled in such wild fantastical extrapolations.

However, when I was writing my first SF novel DEBATABLE SPACE,  I was very struck by the fact that in modern wars then being fought (this was at the height of the Iraq war) such supposed science fictional technology had become  a matter of fact.  We’ve seen smart missiles turning corners and unmanned drones hovering above enemy forces, and peasant guerrillas brandishing surface to air rocket-launchers that fire missiles with computer tracking technology.  The war of the future is with us today;  and my Doppelganger Robots are no more than a minor extrapolation of what is taking place already.

And more recently, I’ve been researching this area from the opposite direction, while writing a three part radio drama for the BBC about contemporary military wargames.  I went to the Defence Academy in the South of England, where soldiers are trained in simulated warfare using computer joysticks and even computers with steering wheels (like Wii games…!)  I tried my hand at the flight simulator, and crashed the darn aeroplane with worrying swiftness (hey, I’m a writer, not a warrior!) And I learned about the army bases with simulation tanks where you can experience flying an Apache helicopter in the midst of combat, with no risk of being killed.

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Orbit signs up two new novels and three novellas by Mira Grant!

Following the rampant success of Mira Grant’s zombie novels FEED (US | UK | ANZ) and DEADLINE (US | UK | ANZ), and after the forthcoming BLACKOUT (US | UK | ANZ), Orbit will publish three novellas in the Newsflesh world:  Countdown (already released in the US and soon-to-be-published in the UK), San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, and How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea. As inventive, fast-paced, and dare-I-say charming as the novels, these shorter works provide a more global view of the Rising.

And the centerpiece of the deal is a duology of completely new novels: science fiction thrillers titled PARASITOLOGY and SYMBIOGENESIS, drawing on the author’s abiding fascination with subjects medical, biological, parasitological, and beyond. We are delighted that Mira Grant (alter-ego of bestselling author Seanan McGuire) will be launching a new series with Orbit. It promises to be cool, creepy, and incredibly fun.

Follow along on Facebook for more news about the Newsflesh Trilogy and forthcoming novellas.

VENGEANCE is ours!

Vengeance by Ian IrvineInternationally bestselling author Ian Irvine kicked off a new series this April with VENGEANCE (US | UK | AUS), a gritty adventure for the discerning epic fantasy reader. Tali is a slave in a subterranean world governed by fear and violence. She has never seen the light of day. Rix is a young Lord of Hightspall who lives in the light but is tormented by dark, apocalyptic visions. A shocking act of violence from the past connects this unlikely pair, who must unite to stand against a powerful foe.

This is epic fantasy at its best: Irvine’s world is lovingly built, and full of action, intrigue, and depth. And deadly shapeshifting beasts! We hope you’ll share our enthusiasm for a writer “comfortably ranked next to … Robert Jordan and David Eddings and, more appropriately, the mighty Anne McCaffrey” (SFX).

Read an excerpt from VENGEANCE

Orbit acquires towering new fantasy FADE TO BLACK by Francis Knight

I’m delighted to say we’ve acquired World Rights in a fabulous new fantasy series from British author Francis Knight (@Knight_Francis). Orbit will be publishing the 3-book series internationally, with book 1, Fade To Black, being released in February 2013.

This highly original fantasy novel really captured our imagination. It’s set in the ‘vertical’ fantasy city of Mahala – a city built up in layers, not across, where streets are built upon streets and buildings balance precariously upon buildings. A city that the Ministry rules from its lofty perch at the sunlit summit, and where the forsaken lurk in the shadowy depths of the Pit.

Thrown into the middle of this entrancingly dark and atmospheric setting is the bounty hunter Rojan. Everyone knows he’s a rogue, a womaniser, a shirker of all responsibility. But what they don’t know is that he’s also a pain-mage: someone able to draw magic from his own and other people’s pain. Rojan’s not keen on using this magic (not least because it’s outlawed), but when his niece is abducted, Rojan may be forced to unleash his powers . . .

Look out for more info on this exciting new series soon – and if you’re attending Eastercon this weekend, keep an eye out for Francis! She’ll be appearing on the following panels on Sunday 8th April:

You got your robot elf sex in my SF – 3pm, Commonwealth

The Future of Ebooks – 5pm, Royal A + C

New Epic Fantasy – THE GATHERING OF THE LOST – Out Today!

The cover for Helen Lowe's fantasy novel Gathering of the Lost

THE GATHERING OF THE LOST comes out today! 

It’s the second installment in Helen Lowe’s epic fantasy series The Wall of Night, and it’s out now in ebook and print.

 You can read the first chapter here on orbitbooks.net.

It’s the day you’ve been waiting for ever since finishing THE HEIR OF NIGHT (UK|ANZ) – and if you haven’t read that yet, what’s stopping you? There are no excuses for not reading this fantastic series, that Robin Hobb called: ‘A richly told tale of strange magic, dark treachery and conflicting loyalties, set in a well-realised world.’

To celebrate the release, Helen’s got lots of giveaways on her website today – you could win signed books, signed posters and even have a character named after you in the next book, DAUGHTOR OF BLOOD!

THE GATHERING OF THE LOST (UK|ANZ)

SHE WILL NOT STAND ALONE

Five years after the Darkswarm assault on her stronghold home, Malian of Night remains missing, believed dead in the wilds of Jaransor.

But not all accept her death and now her enemies are on the hunt. Suspicion falls on the heralds Terathan and Jehane, who find themselves caught in a web of intrigue and murder during the Ijiri Festival of Masks. They flee bearing word of a death on the wall – and a call to duty and honour that Malian must answer or be foresworn . . .

April Events

Going to the RT Booklovers Convention? If so, you’ll run into some Orbit authors: Nicole Peeler, Kristen Painter, and Jaye Wells will be there, as well as new Orbit authors Amanda Carlson (whose Full Blooded [US | UK ] will be out in September) and Kate Locke (whose God Save the Queen [US | UK | ANZ] hits stores in August)! It runs April 11-15th in Rosemont, IL.

Speaking of conventions, you’ll find Nicole Peeler at Malice Domestic, and Jaye Wells at the North Texas Writers Conference. Both run April 27-29th.

Also, Gail Carriger will be touring across Europe this month! Her UK tour runs from April 8-14th, and then she’ll hit Stockholm, Budapest, and Barcelona. More details available at Gail’s website.

Sunday 8th April: EasterCon, Heathrow ~ panels: Meet the new king (same as the old king) ~ 11am, Room 12 | You got your robot elf sex in my SF ~ 3pm, Commonwealth | Multicultural steampunk ~ 9pm, Room 38

Monday 9th April: Foyles, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, 6.30pm ~ In association with Pornokitsch, a steampunk soirée with special guests at Foyles bookshop in Central London.

Friday 13th April: Steampunk Night at Waterstones, Nottingham ~ To commence at 6.30pm with Pimm’s & cake for a 7pm start. Special guest Jema Hewitt (author of Steampunk Emporium) and friends will be frequenting the event in full costume.

And finally, in the UK, EasterCon is this weekend, 6th to 9th April, at Heathrow, with Guest of Honour Tricia Sullivan; and Alt.Fiction is the following weekend, 14th and 15th April, in Leicester, with special guest Ken MacLeod.

Read an excerpt from THE KING’S BLOOD

When an act of harrowing betrayal threatens to set the cities afire, all certainties are called into question. The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. 

The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham

THE KING’S BLOOD (US | UK | ANZ) is the next chapter in The Dagger and Coin series.  Read an excerpt from this thrilling fantasy by Daniel Abraham.

“With a deft and light hand, Abraham questions and explores the fantasy-world assumptions that most authors take for granted, telling an enjoyable and genuinely innovative adventure story along the way” — Publishers Weekly, starred review. If you haven’t read THE DRAGON’S PATH (US | UK | ANZ) now is a great time to start.

“The apostate, called Kitap rol Keshmet among other things, stood in the soft city rain, the taint in his blood pressing at him, goading him, but being ignored. Fear and dread welled up in his throat.

In any of the cities and villages of the Keshet or Borja or Put, the temple would have been the central fact of the community, a point of pride and honor, and the axis about which all life turned. In the vast glory of Camnipol, it was only another of a thousand such structures, awe-​inspiring in its scope, beauty, and grandeur, and rendered unremarkable by its company.

The city was the heart of Imperial Antea as Imperial Antea was the heart of Firstblood power in the world, but Camnipol was older than the kingdom it ruled. Every age had left its mark here, every generation growing on the ruins of the old until the earth below the dark-​cobbled streets was not soil, but the wreckage of what had come before. It was a city of black and gold, of wealth and desperate poverty. Its walls rose around it like a boast of invulnerability, and its noble quarters displayed great mansions and towers and temples casually, as if the grandeur was trivial, normal, and mundane. Had Camnipol been a knight, he would have worn black-​enameled armor and a cloak of fine-​worked wool. Had it been a woman, she would have been too handsome to look away from and too intimidating to speak with. Instead, it was a city, and it was Camnipol.”

Click to read more