Archive for Orbit UK

Double Execution

The Execution ChannelYour intarwebs would have to be broken for you not to know that the shortlist for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award has just been announced.  Shortlists are inevitably the source of much discussion and usually some controversy, and this year’s Clarke Award shortlist is no exception. There has been much written already about whether some books have been unjustly omitted and others undeservedly included. We, of course, couldn’t possibly comment. One thing we can comment on, though, is the completely uncontroversial shortlisting of Ken MacLeod‘s excellent The Execution Channel (also shortlisted for this year’s BSFA Award for Best Novel – don’t forget to vote!).

Many congratulations to Ken on The Execution Channel‘s double shortlisting.  Ken’s previous book, Learning the World, was in the running for the BSFA, Clarke and Hugo Awards, in 2006. We at Orbit have our collective fingers crossed that he goes one better this year and walks away with a trophy!

Meet Charlie Huston’s Evil Twin

Half the Blood of BrooklynVia Charlie Huston‘s excellent website comes news that Charlie has been interviewed in Second Life – or, more correctly, his avatar has been interviewed on the Second Life Cable Network, SLCN.TV. As the man himself says:

“Carlos Suave is a Latin R&B Producer, the owner of a West Hollywood lounge, and a Promoter Extraordinaire, and, if you catch him on the right night, he will admit he knows a guy who can get you a little maryjane, comprende? Also, he writes bloody thrillers and horror novels. Trust us: This ese es loco!”

This will all make sense if you go here and here. Your third destination should probably be your local book shop to pick up a copy of Half the Blood of Brooklyn, published by Orbit in the UK just last month.

Time for Matter

In this week’s Time magazine, Lev Grossman reviews Matter:

The Culture novels (there are eight of them) are about the challenges of a world in which thinking beings must deal with one another across vertiginous gulfs of cultural and technological difference–a world, in other words, both completely different from and identical to our own.

And in an interview at the NerdWorld blog he asks Banks if the Culture is a utopian society, and if he’d live there if given the chance:

Good grief yes, to both! What’s not to like? …Well, unless you’re actually a fascist or a power junkie or sincerely believe that money rather than happiness is what really matters in life.

You can read the complete interview here.

Another Rave Review for Matter

There’s a terrific review of Matter over at the Onion’s A.V. Club.

“Kings, princes, evil viziers, treachery, and court intrigue share the stage with galactic civilizations, manufactured hollow worlds, interstellar spies, and terminal technologies in Matter, the triumphant new novel in Iain M. Banks’ loosely connected Culture series.”

Read the whole review here, and be sure to check out the lively discussion in the comments.

Iain M. Banks: Website News and Book Reviews

bankswebsitescreengrab-copy.jpgThe official Iain (M.) Banks website has been re-launched at www.iain-banks.net. Check it out for all the news and reviews, along with some very interesting contests coming up…

Meanwhile, in an interview at io9.com Banks reveals the hidden Thunderbirds influence that runs through the Culture novels:

“Thunderbirds gave me a love of big explosions I’ve yet to shake off. It’s kind of ingrained by now. Almost the first thing I think of when I’ve come up with an idea for a Really Big Artifact is how you could blow the living bijeesus out of it…”

And in the i09 review of Matter, Annalee Newitz sums up her thoughts on the book in the headline: “Iain M. Banks’ New Novel Kicks Ass on a Galactic Scale.”

While at BookPage Gavin Grant writes:

Matter is Banks in top form. His characters—whether human, alien or drone—are spiky, opinionated, diverse, occasionally short-sighted and tragically believable

Matter is available from Orbit in the US and the UK.

Ditmar Shortlist

More award news, with the shortlist for the 2008 Ditmars being announced over the weekend, and we’re delighted to see Sean Williams’ Saturn Returns and Marianne de Pierres’ Dark Space on the shortlist for best novel. Sean and Marianne were also both shortlisted for the Aurealis Award, and we’ve got our fingers crossed that one of them will win this time. Or perhaps both – is a tie too much to ask for?

Awarded since 1969 in recognition of outstanding achievement in Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror, the Ditmar is one of the premier awards for Australian speculative fiction. Previous winners of the Ditmar for Best Novel include Garth Nix, Peter Carey, George Turner, Victor Kelleher, Greg Egan and – on no fewer than five occasions – Sean Williams.

The Ditmars will be presented at Swancon, the 47th Australian National Science Fiction Convention, to be held over the Easter weekend.  Guests of Honour include Orbit’s very own Ken MacLeod and Glenda Larke. Ken’s The Execution Channel is, of course, on the shortlist for this year’s BSFA Award for Best Novel (also to be presented over Easter), and Glenda’s Song of the Shiver Barrens was shortlisted for last year’s Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

On the whole, we’re rather pleased with the way 2008’s shortlists are developing.

Mike Carey Yatters (Doesn’t Everyone?)

Dead Men's Boots Iain Emsley has posted a very interesting interview with Mike Carey over at Yatterings.  It was largely conducted at last year’s Fantasycon, and covers Mike’s work on the Crossing Midnight and Lucifer comics and, of course, his masterful series of Felix Castor novels: The Devil You Know, Vicious Circle and Dead Men’s Boots. At the risk of annoying Castorphiles the length and breadth of the country, I can also reveal that Mike has delivered  the fourth Castor novel, Thicker Than Water, and that it is a magnificent addition to the canon. You’ll have to be patient until January next year for that, I’m afraid, but don’t look at it as waiting – look at it as the perfect opportunity to re-read the first three books.