That would be the suite party at the just-held World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, hosted by the always snazzily dressed Gail Carriger, in honor of her debut novel SOULLESS.
The soiree featured delectable delicacies, luscious libations, oscillating octopi, parasols aplenty, a bevy of neo-Victorian beauties, as well as numerous delightful dandies — and all immortalized in glossy color photos by photographer Britt Hart.
Stealing Fire is another great historical fantasy novel from Jo Graham and another beautiful painting from John Jude Palencar.
Black Ships and Hand of Isis were some of the first books I read from Orbit when I joined the team here, and they’re books I still press into people’s hands when they come to visit the office. They’re really well-written books in the vein of Mists of Avalon and I can’t give higher praise than that, people. The books are not quite a series in that you can read them in any order, and they don’t follow each other chronologically. However they are tied together by the characters and I won’t say more than that because I don’t want to give it away. (more…)
Today, lucky readers, I have not one but TWO covers to launch: Lord of the Changing Winds and The Land of Burning Sands by Rachel Neumeier, Books I & II of the Griffin Mage Trilogy. I am launching them together because they are releasing back to back in May and June 2010, and the final book will be out in December 2010. (We know you guys love it when we do a quick publishing schedule so you can get the whole epic, right? We’re geeks too, we know waiting for book 2 is the worst.)
Anyway, back to the books. The author has a fresh take on griffins, much more raw, and dangerous than the traditional fantasy griffins — and I wanted that to show through in the covers. These griffins are animal creatures first, and I think that’s never been explored before, so I have focused on those details of the griffins, and then just added touches of the story – in the first book you can just see the reflection of Kes in the griffin’s eye, and then in the second book you can see the role the desert will play. (more…)
One of the things that intrigues me as a writer is the question: “And then what happened?”
That’s one reason why I’m so excited to be writing The Fallen Kings Cycle for Orbit, carrying my characters and world from The Chronicles of the Necromancer into all-new adventures. It gives me the chance to ask, and answer, my favorite question and to share that answer with readers.
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Nicole Peeler, author of TEMPEST RISING, knows the differences and the similarities between Modernist Literature (which she teaches) and Urban Fantasy (which she writes) and is very happy to tell you why the impulses behind both aren’t quite so different as you might think.
And, Nicole is more than happy to defend her big idea.
The Unit by Terry DeHart has a pretty straightforward concept: it’s about a family fighting to survive the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. It’s a very violent, gritty book, and it reads like an action movie, so we wanted to give the cover a very cinematic look. The “Unit” of the title is a bit of a play on words, as it’s a family unit that must turn itself into a military unit in order to survive. I could go on about the “nuclear” family having to face “nuclear” holocaust but then you’d all groan and go read someone else’s blog post here. (sorry, couldn’t resist)
The cover is a collaboration between the fabulous designer Chad Roberts and myself. He really gets all the credit for establishing the look and typography, but the original had more graphic, as opposed to photographic, figures of the family. After the final manuscript came in we realized the book was a little more gritty than the graphic look communicated, so yours truly took the template for the characters Chad had designed and found more realistic images we could then backlight and do fancy photoshop magic on to make them look like they were totally all standing together in front of a big fireball waiting to spring into action. (A.K.A. “Designer Magic”)
Gail Z. Martin kicks off her annual Days of the Dead International Blog Tour this week! You can find her tour stops here.
Gail is writing a new series for Orbit that is set in the same world as the Chronicles of the Necromancer, so we caught up with her to find out what readers can expect next… (more…)
This week please look forward to a debut post by new Orbit author Gail Z. Martin on the eternal question of “And Then What Happened?” as well as new missives from A.Lee Rodriguez, ongoing updates by Robert Jackson Bennett on those strange doings in his neighborhood, and as much new Orbit info as we can bring you.
And in case you had your eye elsewhere last week, here’s our weekly roundup:
A. Lee Martinez, author of MONSTER on — monsters;
Robert Jackson Bennett, author of the forthcoming MR.SHIVERS (January), on what happens when the doors of perception open up a little too close to home;
Orbit Creative Director Lauren Panepinto presented the covers of THE GASLIGHT DOGS and FEED for your delectation;
Philip Palmer, author of RED CLAW (whose debut was noted at Sci-Fi London) made a strong case for why today and not yesterday is the Golden Age of Science Fiction;
And Nicole Peeler (TEMPEST RISING) gave you five reasons selkies are hotter than vampires. Her commenters wasted no time, contributing to the discussion.
Sci-Fi-London are putting on a fascinating programme of events this weekend at their own special brand of Oktoberfest. And Philip Palmer will be adding to its fascinating-ness, as he is taking part in their keynote debate A Space of Waste tonight, along with other notable genre authors and experts.
The debate promises to be lively and will take the form of a panel discussion on whether science fiction authors are wasting their time writing about interplanetary travel, space colonisation and the spread of mankind across the universe (…certainly not, we bridle in indignation!) given everything science has taught us about the realities, possibilities and costs of doing so. They will discuss whether science fiction should be more concerned with what’s happening right here and now on Earth such climate change, global pandemics and population growth or is space-based science fiction always going to be relevant just because people love good stories.
As recently reported here, Philip Palmer’s fabulous Red Claw is out this month, so the subject will be particularly close to his heart right now!
When I came home today I found an old stove and a few pieces of electronic equipment I didn’t recognize sitting in front of the side gate to Dan’s back yard. I got out of the car and looked over the fence and saw him working away beside the shed. He seemed to be pulling up power cables. I called to him and asked if he’d made those adjustments he’d been meaning to, and he stopped and looked at me and called, “No, no.”
I asked if maybe the equipment he’d found would help. He said he didn’t think so. I asked why, and he stopped, thought, and then waved me over and started to open the shed. As I walked over, he said he thought this had all gone well beyond simple hardware or software adjustments. I asked what he meant by that. He didn’t answer and we entered. (more…)
