Archive for Orbit UK

The Drowning City — Amanda Downum

Symir: The Drowning City. Home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.

Amanda Downum’s fantasy adventure debut is out this week in both the US and the UK. Set in the dark alleyways of a port city on the edge of a corrupt empire, Isyllt Iskaldur must find and finance the rumored revolutionaries on behalf of her country. A necromancer and a spy, she must find a way to complete her mission, topple the palaces of Symir, and prove herself to the crown. But in a land where even the dead are plotting, she will be lucky to escape with her own life intact.

“THE DROWNING CITY is a compelling fantasy in a richly imagined setting dripping with visceral detail, building to a conclusion at once unexpected, appropriate and moving.”
— Jacqueline Carey

“If you read only one first novel this year, read this one. I promise it’s good.”
— Elizabeth Bear

“Lush, evocative. Amanda Downum creates a richly realized, refreshingly Eastern world full of charms and spirits, espionage and intrigue and the wars of great powers fought by proxy.”
— Brent Weeks

“Amanda Downum may just be a force to be reckoned with.”
—fantasyliterature.com

“[A] complex and striking debut”
— Publisher’s Weekly

YOU SUCK!!!

No, we’re not just throwing out random insults at our readers for the hell of it . . . this is actually the title of the new laugh-out-loud vamp-themed book from Christopher Moore, which Publishers Weekly have aptly described as:

‘[A] cheerfully perverse, gut-busting tale’

and Booklist as: 

‘[A] hilarious mockery of the pursuit of the appetites’.

In this rambunctious tale, Tommy, a naïve and eternally lusty 19-year old from Incontinence, Indiana, is rather peeved to find out that his hot vampire girlfriend Jody has turned him into a bloodsucking fiend too.

If he admits it, there are some pretty cool things about being a vampire – like eternal youth, super-strength and enhanced senses, and hey – even his zits have cleared up! It’s just the fact of being dead which is a bit of a bummer, along with the fact that anything except blood makes him projectile vomit, and that he passes out every day at sunrise, making trips to the mall rather difficult.

So Tommy and his girlfriend set out to find a minion to run errands for them and generally be their slave-around-the-house. And who better than the angsty goth teenager they meet at the local drugstore? Meanwhile, Tommy and Jody have other more important things to worry about, like fleeing from Tommy’s former turkey-bowling pals who have turned on him, and the fact that the centuries-old vampire who bit Jody in the first place has decided he wants her back.

If you fancy a nibble too, check out an extract of You Suck (UK/ANZ) here.

THE PRODIGAL MAGE by Karen Miller

Karen Miller’s THE INNOCENT MAGE, which we published in 2007, has been one of the most successful fantasy debuts of recent years, and continues to feature prominently in the fantasy bestseller charts. THE INNOCENT MAGE was followed by a sequel, THE AWAKENED MAGE, and then the Godspeaker Trilogy (EMPRESS, THE RIVEN KINGDOM, and HAMMER OF GOD), as well as the first two books in the Rogue Agent series (THE ACCIDENTAL SORCERER and WITCHES, INC.) written under the pen name K.E. Mills. As well as Star Wars novel, WILD SPACE. She’s also written five books by Patrick Rothfuss and completed the Song of Ice and Fire. Okay, maybe not.

But we are definitely delighted, thrilled, and pleased as punch to be releasing this week Karen’s new book, THE PRODIGAL MAGE, in the US and UK. It marks a return to the world of THE INNOCENT MAGE – with some familiar characters and some new – and the start of a new 2-book story arc that will conclude with THE RELUCTANT MAGE. We’ve given Karen permission to take an afternoon off to celebrate her hardcover debut, on the strict understanding that she makes up the time later in the week.

The Most Awesomely Bad SFF Cover in the Universe!

The votes are in and we have a winner! We’re pleased to present to you the title for your worst cover ever.

(drumroll please)

Across a Trembling Sea the Cyborg Fairies Dance

It was an incredibly tight race, with Rise of the Fallen, Book Seven, The Pre-Antepenultimate Battle in second place, but in the end the Cyborg Faries put down the Fallen.

So there you have it. Our fearless art director is warming up her Photoshop as we speak, but before she can start we need two more key cover elements: the author name and the reading line.

Author names are straightforward enough (if you’re having problems, heed Dr. Ronald Chevalier’s advice).

The reading line is a more delicate matter — for that we need the top-line description of the book that will inform everything. The best reading line will give the reader a hint about what to expect in the book – even if that hint is wholly inaccurate.

Suggestions below.

Karen Miller on Sanity

For the next two weeks Karen Miller will be guest-posting at the Babel Clash blog. She starts her visit with an answer to the age-old question: are writers sane?

Writers – like actors — have a kink in the brain. It’s a kink that means we are at the same time deeply and intimately involved in the process of being human while standing outside that process watching it happen. It means that we can never truly be at one with our own lives because we can’t ever totally lose ourselves in the unconscious moment. A part of us is always conscious, always watching, analysing, pulling the moment apart so we can put it back together again as fiction.

You can join the conversation here.

Terry Brooks Times Two!

Last month was the paperback publication of the concluding volume of Terry Brooks’ fantastic Genesis of Shannara series. You can read the first chapter of the concluding volume, The Gypsy Morph, here.

But the post title says Terry Brooks x 2 and that’s what we have for you! We thought the ending of one series would be the perfect time to give you all a sneak peek of the next. A Princess of Landover is coming out this September and (as you might’ve guessed from the title!) it’s a return to the world of Landover. If you’ve never read a Landover book before, A Princess of Landover is the perfect place to start. It’s got all the great storytelling and excitement you’d expect from Terry Brooks and, of course, we have an extract for you here.