Archive for Orbit UK

Orbit Links for July 04 2008

Welcome to our latest round-up of links of interest featuring Orbit authors. We’ve got a bumper selection this week, all new content that we’ve found (or has been sent in to us) over the course of the past week:

If you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)

In Their Own Words: Patricia Briggs on ‘Blood Bound’

Patricia says:

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs UK pbBlood Bound is the second of my series about Mercy Thompson, a coyote-shapeshifter VW mechanic who lives in a world where werewolves and vampires hunt the night. Moon Called, the first book, introduced the werewolves. Blood Bound focuses on the vampires. Mercy owes one of them a favor and it’s time to pay-up – but the cost turns out to be more than either of them expected.

One of the things I most love about urban fantasy is that the monsters can really be monsters. I didn’t want my vampires to be just people with fangs – they had to (forgive the pun) have a bite to them.

Blood Bound – book two of Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series is out now in paperback in the UK.

You can find our more about Patricia and her writing over at her official website, www.patriciabriggs.com.

‘Midnight Never Come’ competition – the winners

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)Midnight on Monday was the cut-off point for entries to our Midnight Never Come prize quiz competition and Tuesday saw a flurry of activity as the overall winner and runners-up were selected (by means of our polyhedral plastic random number generating system) from amongst the fantastic volume of correct entries we received.

Thank you very much indeed to everyone who took part, and we do hope you enjoyed puzzling out the answers. All the winners were contacted earlier this week, so I’m afraid if you haven’t heard from us by now, then your luck wasn’t in… at least, not this time – do keep your eye out for more Orbit competitions in the future.

The overall winner – who will soon be enjoying a $500 spending spree with their book retailer of choice, as well as receiving a signed copy of Marie Brennan‘s Midnight Never Come – is:

Carmen R from Columbus, Georgia

And the ten runners-up, who will be receiving a signed copy of Midnight Never Come, are (in approximate order of distance from Orbit’s London HQ):

– Ian S from Dunstable, Bedfordshire
– Linda R from Mildenhall, Suffolk
– Susie A from Alsager, Cheshire
– Bill T from Huyton, Merseyside
– Brian S from Beverley, East Yorkshire
– Kathleen G from Haddon Heights, New Jersey
– Charlene C from Hymera, Indiana
– Mary W from Chicago, Illinois
– Kristy G from Orem, Utah
– Dawn L from Redwood City, California

Many congratulations to our overall winner and runners-up, and we do hope you all thoroughly enjoy reading Midnight Never Come!

In Their Own Words: Lilith Saintcrow on ‘Night Shift’

Lilith Says:

Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow UK pbI got so, so tired of all those gritty, hard-boiled heroes who were against the police, or who the police didn’t understand and gave them a hard time. It occurred to me that if there were things that went bump in the night, law enforcement would know about it and would welcome help in dealing with it. So why wouldn’t someone who handles exorcisms and demons be an unofficial member of a police department, working closely with the DA’s office on certain cases? It just seemed to make sense.

Of course, Night Shift is one of my stories. So we had to have leather pants, demons, and enough weapons to start your own urban insurrection. But that’s why I love my job so much.

Night Shift – the first part of Lilith Saintcrow’s brand new series of books starring Jill Kismet, demon-hunter extraordinaire – is out now in both the US and UK.

You can find our more about Lilith and her writing over at her official website, www.lilithsaintcrow.com.

In Their Own Words: Charles Stross on ‘Saturn’s Children’

Charles says:

Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross UK hbLike him or loathe him, it’s impossible to ignore the impact Robert A. Heinlein has had on science fiction. 2007 – the year I wrote Saturn’s Children – was the 100th anniversary of his birth. So how better to mark it than by writing the sort of novel that Heinlein might write, if he was alive today and about 43 years younger? (I’m 43. Subtract my age from his, and you get 57 – the age at which he was writing The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, arguably the most solid of his later works.)

Lots of writers seem obsessed with re-writing Heinlein’s 1950s young adult novels, the gateway drug that got them hooked on SF. I decided to look at his later work, at a time when he was trying to tackle bigger and more complex themes, but before his obsessions ran away with him. Which is where Saturn’s Children comes from: it’s an attempt at re-imagining Heinlein, as if he’d lived in the age of the internet and manga, of global warming and greenhouse Venus. It’s also an adventure yarn and a romance and a cautionary tale, and it doesn’t take itself, or its source material, too seriously.

Saturn’s Children, the brand new novel from Charles Stross, is out now in the UK.

You can find our more about Charles’ writing over at his official website, www.antipope.org/charlie/.

Orbit Links for June 27 2008

Welcome to our latest round-up of links of interest featuring Orbit authors that we’ve spotted (or have been sent in to us) this past week:

If you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)

Jennifer Rardin talks to Brian Ruckley

Bloodheir by Brian RuckleyOver at Jennifer Rardin‘s website, she’s posted the latest in her ongoing series of blog-interviews with fellow authors.

In her latest post, Jennifer talks to fellow Orbit author Brian Ruckley – to mark the occasion of the publication of his second novel, Bloodheir [UK/US] – about the villains in his Godless World series, the main themes that run through the books, his world-building techniques, travel preferences… all sorts of things.

Read the full interview at www.jenniferrardin.com.

Read an excerpt from Ken MacLeod’s ‘The Night Sessions’

The Night Sessions UK HardbackAugust 2008 sees the UK publication of Ken MacLeod‘s brand new novel, The Night Sessions.

With a near(-ish) future setting that will definitely appeal to fans of both Ken’s last novel, The Execution Channel and Charles Stross’ recent Orbit title, Halting State, The Night Sessions tells the story of the apparent resurgence of anti-religious terrorism, fifteen years after ‘The Faith Wars’ (or ‘The Oil Wars’, depending on your point of view) and the Second Enlightenment that followed have radically altered the political and philosophical outlook of the world we know.

It’s packed full of Ken MacLeod trademarks: a mystery to unravel; one that’s wrapped in a slant-wise look at where the world might end up if the current tide of religious fundamentalism continues. And all laced with the sort of dry, laconic wit that regular MacLeod fans will know well and new readers will warm to immediately.

We’re publishing in hardback at £18.99, but if you’d like to get an early free sample, head on over to www.fantasybookspot.com, where you’ll find an excerpt from the first chapter: meet Edinburgh-based Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson and his leki-partner. Leki? Read it and see…

Plenty more from Ken MacLeod over at his blog: The Early Days of a Better Nation.

Brian Ruckley Interview Over at A Dribble of Ink

Brian Ruckley is over at A Dribble of Ink talking to Aidan about his new book Bloodheir:

Alright Brian, let’s get the easy question out of the way. Why should readers give a damn about your upcoming release Bloodheir?

Well I imagine those predisposed to give a damn (to whom I am, of course, inordinately grateful) already do so, and don’t need me to tell them why they should. As far as everyone else is concerned … what can I say? Although perfection remains, unsurprisingly, out of reach, I think I’m improving as a writer, bit by little bit. It’s got one or two plot developments that I really don’t believe many reasonable readers will have seen coming (plus, of course, one or two that they probably will…). And it’s got another lovely cover, just like Winterbirth did, so it’ll look grand on your bookshelf. Come to that, it’ll look great anywhere, so even if you’re only in the market for a cool-looking doorstop, it should fit the bill nicely.

Bloodheir (UK/US) is available at all good bookshops now. Check out our Facebook competition for a chance to win a free copy!