Archive for Orbit US

Press Release: ORBIT SHORT FICTION TO LAUNCH INTERNATIONALLY

Orbit announces the international launch of its digital short fiction publishing program.

Last April, Orbit US launched Orbit Short Fiction, publishing digital editions of original short fiction written by its authors. Starting in 2012 Orbit UK will be joining the initiative. Stories published under the program will be released simultaneously in the US, UK, and other markets in which its ebooks are routinely distributed.

Anne Clarke, Editorial Director, Orbit (UK) said: “The digital short fiction market is clearly gaining momentum, and I’m delighted that we’ll now be able to make our authors’ stories available internationally. The success of the program in the US has been very encouraging, and we’re very much looking forward to working with our authors and colleagues in the US on this next stage in its development.”

Tim Holman, Orbit VP & Publisher (US and UK), said: “From the outset we hoped to expand the Orbit Short Fiction initiative, and we feel that now is the time to do it. Stories will be available far more widely, and through all major ebook retailers, which is good for our authors, for fans, and for the publishing program.”

Orbit (UK) is the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Little, Brown Book Group, a leading trade publisher based in London. Little, Brown Book Group is a division of Hachette UK, the largest book publisher in the UK.

Orbit (US) is the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Hachette Book Group, a leading trade publisher based in New York. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, and Hachette Digital.

Wallpapers for THEFT OF SWORDS by Michael J. Sullivan

Wallpaper time again, guys and gals, and more epic fantasy for all your fancy devices. This fine art is for THEFT OF SWORDS by Michael J. Sullivan, which is the first book in the Riyria Revelations. The art is by Larry Rostant, and depicts the duo at the heart of the books. I don’t want to give too much away, but these books were so good, we just had to give them the special Orbit 3-in-3-months treatment so you could get the whole epic in your hands right away.

There’s a bit of a difference in the US/UK versions of the cover – we like to do that sometimes just to keep you all on your toes – but the illustration is the same, so both sides of the pond can enjoy. Check out both covers and read an excerpt here.

Here’s all the wallpaper download links…if anyone needs a specific dimension made, let us know!

1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 |1920 x 1200 | iPhone | iPad

Goodreads Choice Awards – Semifinal Round

The second round of the Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards is still open for votes for two more days!  There are lots of your favourite authors in this round: THE HEROES by Joe Abercrombie, GHOST STORY by Jim Butcher, THE ROGUE by Trudi Canavan, LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S.A. Corey, DEADLINE by Mira Grant,  EAT SLAY LOVE by Jesse Petersen, RULE 34 by Charles Stross, THE MEASURE OF THE MAGIC by Terry Brooks, HOUNDED by Kevin Hearne, HEARTLESS by Gail Carriger, RIVER MARKED by Patricia Briggs, BLOOD RIGHTS by Kristen Painter, SPELLBOUND by Kelley Armstrong and THE FINAL EVOLUTION by Jeff Somers. If you voted in the first round, you need to vote again now to make sure your favourite books get through to the final.

Voting in this round closes on Sunday so get voting now!

Robert Jackson Bennett blogs about authors and audiences

Robert Jackson Bennett is thinking over on his blog today about the obligation an author has to his audience and why originality in art is so important, from Louis C.K. to Tom Waits. Check it out.

[Tom] Waits had a dependable night club schtick well into the 80’s, popular with a decent-sized demographic – a boozy, romantic, down-on-his-luck hipster, a callback to Kerouac and Bukowski. But Waits eventually got sick of it, and wanted to do something new.

When his producer, Bones Howe, heard what Waits wanted to try, he advised against it. He’d lose his audience, he’d lose all his contracts, and most of all, he’d lose Bones himself. But Bones’s reasoning wasn’t that it was bad, but that it wasn’t accessible – he said, “I knew that where [Tom] wanted to go, I couldn’t follow.” Suggesting that no one else could, either.

But Waits, despite the advice of nearly everyone around him, trusted his vision. He did not listen to his producers, or his fanbase, but went out and did his own thing. And what he made was and is wholly original. For a long time, it was impossible to describe a Tom Waits album – it was just that, a Tom Waits album, and there was no other word for it.

Robert’s third book, The Troupe, will be out in February (US | UK | ANZ). You may also remember that he recently won the Shirley Jackson Award and the Sydney J. Bounds Award for his first novel, Mr. Shivers.

Bro-mance is never out of style!

US jacket
UK and ANZ jacket

 Michael Sullivan was an internet sensation when his first novel, The Crown Conspiracy, first came out. He self-published the first five books of the series in ebook and print-on-demand. When I first read The Crown Conspiracy, I fell in love with Royce and Hadrian. I thought their adventure — and their bro-mance — was absolutely perfect. Michael writes great characters and his pacing is spot on. So I was excited at the opportunity to publish all six books in the series in two-book omnibuses starting this month.

We’re starting with Theft of Swords [US | UK | ANZ] this month and I guarantee that once you read this you’ll be begging for more. So it’s only appropriate that the other two books in the series, Rise of Empire [US | UK | ANZ] and Heir of Novron [US | UK | ANZ] follow soon after in December and January.

A bit about Theft of Swords:

Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles–until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.

Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires in order to keep a secret too terrible for the world to know?

And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

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The Horrible, Horrible Roots of the Science Fiction Genre

Last month, I posted a piece on my own blog highlighting some of the real people and places from history that show up in The Edinburgh Dead, including a dastardly graverobber called Merry Andrew and houses of ill-repute called the Holy, Happy and Just Lands (the Scots had a rather dry and ironic sense of humour even then).

But shortly after posting it, I realised I’d left out arguably the most interesting fragment of historical truth lurking in the whole novel.  Annoying in one way – because when I first started thinking of doing that post I made a mental note to be sure to include that particular snippet, and then … didn’t, obviously.  D’oh! – but fortunate in another, because on reflection it’s worth more discussion than I would have given it over there, and probably deserves a post of its own here at the happy home of Orbit on t’Web.

So: here comes the tale of Mathew Clydesdale, his gruesome fate and what it has to do with the very beginning of the whole science fiction genre we know and love today.  Never heard of him?  I’m not surprised; neither had I, until I began researching The Edinburgh Dead.  But trust me: it probably won’t take you long to realise how he connects to the origins of science fiction. (more…)

Jill Kismet comes to a close…

There is nothing that makes me sadder than finishing a series. In some ways, it’s yeah, finally — a conclusion! And in others,  its harder because you’ve grown up with that character for so many years.  I’ve published Lili for almost a decade and I have to say, that editing Hell and Back (her Dante Valentine series) was hard because I kept tearing up — but that was nothing compared to Angel Town.

For those of you who read the books — you’ll know that Heaven’s Spite finished with a bang. (SPOILER AHEAD! GO OVER WITH MOUSE TO READ!)

<Beginning of Spoiler>Lili doesn’t just kill her  heroine — she throws her into HELL!! Angel Town opens at the gates of Hell and you can read the first chapter here.  <End of Spoiler>

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N.K. Jemisin in “If Tolkien Were Black”

Laura Miller interviewed N.K. Jemisin for her article “If Tolkien Were Black,” up today at Salon:

“The genre can go many, many more places than it has gone,” said Jemisin. “Fantasy’s job is kind of to look back, just as science fiction’s job is to look forward. But fantasy doesn’t always just have to look back to one spot, or to one time. There’s so much rich, fascinating, interesting, really cool history that we haven’t touched in the genre: countries whose mythology is elaborate and fascinating, cultures whose stories we just haven’t even tried to retell.”

Read the rest of the article at Salon.com. While you’re at it, don’t forget to read Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (US | UK | ANZ) – or, if you’ve already done that, The Kingdom of Gods (US | UK | ANZ), which just last month concluded the acclaimed Inheritance Trilogy.

Goodreads Choice Awards

The Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards are open for voting!   The first round includes THE HEROES by Joe Abercrombie, GHOST STORY by Jim Butcher, THE ROGUE by Trudi Canavan, LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S.A. Corey, DEADLINE by Mira Grant,  EAT SLAY LOVE by Jesse Petersen, and RULE 34 by Charlie Stross.

And if your favorite didn’t make the list, don’t worry! You can still write in nominees — so visit goodreads and vote already!