Archive for Orbit US

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages

It’s at last time to release Tom Holt’s Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages (UK | USA | ANZ) into the wilds of the bookosphere. And this  imaginative comedy is pure Tom Holt magic — a tale of our world but not as we know it, featuring pigs and parallel worlds. And look no further than this free extract and handy plot outline  to find out more:

Polly, an average, completely ordinary property lawyer, is convinced she’s losing her mind. Someone keeps drinking her coffee. And talking to her clients. And doing her job. And when she goes to the dry cleaner’s to pick up her dress for the party, it’s not there. Not the dress – the dry cleaner’s. And then there are the chickens who think they are people. Something strange is definitely going on – and it’s going to take more than a magical ring to sort it out.

Tom Holt’s previous books have scored highly when it comes to praise, being called: ‘Clever, funny, tirelessly inventive (Christopher Moore), ‘Dazzling’ (Time Out) and ‘Uniquely twisted’ (Guardian). And here are some reviews in already for the latest book itself:

A great mix of the fantastical and the funny … another great satirical offering from Tom Holt that entertains thoroughly while effortlessly moving between the silly and the smart”
Bookgeeks.co.uk

“Crazy, absurd, complex and hilarious … His writing is in the same mould as that of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde”
TheBookBag.co.uk

“I loved this book … prepare to have a wild ride that doesn’t always make sense, has lots of twists and turns and craziness but is good, clean, mind-bending fun”
LifeWithBooks.com

Surely not Steven Seagal: Near-Future Sci Fi Movies Almost as Good as The Avery Cates Novels

You know, when the Telegraph called my Avery Cates novels “an action movie in print,” my immediate reaction was, of course, anger and suspicion. What kind of action movie did they mean? Jean-Claude Van Damme? Dolph Lundgren? Surely not . . . Steven Seagal?!?!? Bastards. I would have my revenge, I thought.

Then someone forced me to drink several cups of strong black coffee, put me in a warm bath, stroked my hair for a few minutes, and suggested perhaps they meant to reference good action movies. Something from the Bruce Willis oeuvre, perhaps. Or some classic Steve McQueen. I mean, if you’re trying to say that my books are like Steve McQueen jumping the fence on his motorcycle in The Great Escape, well, okay then. Tantrum regretted.

What’s interesting about living in the modern world is that we’re a bunch of people who have never lived without films, for the most part. You can no longer really write a novel without having movie conventions and styles in your head. I have no idea how people imagined things before movies. Even if you somehow avoid imagining things as movie scenes in your head as you write, your readers will no doubt do that heavy lifting for you, friend. You can’t win. All you can do is try to imagine a really good movie version of your story as you write. As opposed to, say, something by Uwe Boll. I know at least that for every line of the THE FINAL EVOLUTION I wrote, something like this was happening in my head:

The Avery Cates novels are set in an unspecified future (more…)

Discover the Map of All Things . . .

Kevin J. Anderson’s TERRA INCOGNITA fantasy series began in 2010 with the release of THE EDGE OF THE WORLD – “a classic adventure story” (Total Sci-Fi Online) – that introduced the seafaring countries of Tierra and Uraba, whose fragile truce is shattered by a tragic accident, casting the world once more into the fires of war.

THE MAP OF ALL THINGS continues this epic story of  politics, warfare and daring adventure upon storm-wracked, serpent-infested seas. For a map has been discovered that reveals the location of the Key to Creation – a weapon that could change the course of the war . . . and the fate of the world.

With the third book in the series, THE KEY TO CREATION, due for release in trade paperback next month, now is the perfect time to dive in to Kevin J. Anderson’s TERRA INCOGNITA.

Here’s what the critics have had to say about THE MAP OF ALL THINGS:

“For a book full of fantastical events, The Map of All Things is scarily true to life in its depiction of religious fanaticism and the ruthlessness and futility of war. Such attitudes ground the novel, making it all the more effective at absorbing us into a world both brutal and beautiful” – Total Sci-Fi Online (8/10 rating)

“The Map of all Things has everything you want from a fantasy epic – intrigue, land and sea battles, assassinations and assassination attempts, discoveries, magic, strange creatures – as well as sense of wonder that is usually associated more with space opera, but the author managed to transpose that in the “swords and sails” context superbly” – Fantasy Book Critic (A+ rating)

“If you like your fantasy sweeping and epic, with a smattering of giant sea monsters, this is the ideal book for you” – The Bookbag

“The prose is sharp, the descriptiveness ideal and the characters really leap off the page to make them a cast that you just can’t wait to adventure with” – Falcata Times

Jaz Parks Finale

I am always sad when a series comes to a close. Doubly so with this one, as I had worked with Jennifer since 2006, when we first acquired the Jaz Parks series, to 2010, when she passed away.  Jennifer was one of the nicest authors to work with — and with a fabulous sense of humor to boot. Her humor, her sense of adventure, and her charm all came across in the Jaz Parks novels.

And with Jaz’s final mission to hell closing out the series in DEADLIEST BITE, I’m sad to let go. But readers will now have the chance to read and enjoy the books — as I have. We also have short fiction stories set in the Jaz Parks world that are available here.

A brief description of the final book:

I have two choices. Carve Brude’s name into Hell’s bile-encrusted gates. Or lose my soul.

After an assassination attempt on Vayl, I find myself pulled into a tangled web that takes the gang to Romania. So how will I save a ghost, rescue a demon, and cheat the Great Taker out of a soul he’s slavering for while defeating my nastiest foe yet so that Vayl can, at last, cherish a few precious years with his sons? With careful planning, major violence, and one (hopefully) final trip to Hell.

Wallpapers: CHASING THE MOON by A. Lee Martinez

Here’s another great wallpaper for all your fancy devices, this time for A. Lee Martinez’s CHASING THE MOON, out now in Hardcover.

Will Staehle has been doing fantastic covers for the A. Lee Martinez books. They’re not a series, and the designs all strongly stand alone, but Will’s quirky sensibility sets a tone across all the books that really works for Martinez’s voice. If you haven’t read any yet, you can jump in anywhere…but I think Divine Misfortune is my personal fave. (And it’s a great cover.)

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

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

Cover Launch: Kristen Painter’s HOUSE OF COMARRÉ

I am so excited to finally be launching the first three books of Kristen Painter’s House of Comarré series. You saw Blood Rights back in April, and I gave you a sneak peak of the covers for Flesh and Blood and Bad Blood, but we’ve been fine-tuning them for a while, and here they finally are, in all their gothic glory!

As you may know from old posts, I love tattoos, have quite a few, and have a soft spot for tattoos that are creatively worked into fantasy stories (props to Jacqueline Carey and the Kushiel books, of course), and I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say the gold ornament on our cover heroine is not just a pretty design…Kristen Painter  has really created a very inventive world with the kind of interesting visual details that get a designer like me very happy. I hope that shows in the covers!

Nekro, the illustrator of these gorgeous covers, has really outdone himself here. These covers are amazing and I can’t wait to hear what you guys think…after the jump, you can see them full-size and get some teasers for the House of Comarré series…

(more…)

Why London is the perfect setting for post-apocalyptic fiction

Welcome to the Metrozone. To give it its full name, the London Metrozone. Twenty-five million people, set behind a wall of concrete and wire a hundred miles long, reinforced by automatic guns and watchtowers. It has the economy of a prosperous industrialised nation, its citizens come from every corner of the planet and it’s the last city in England.

Things look the same, but different: the Houses of Parliament – disused but safe from flooding behind a massive dam. Marylebone station lies dormant: no more trains to the Midlands, because the Midlands are an irradiated wasteland. Buckingham Palace is still at the end of the Mall, but it’s flagless. Regent’s Park is now home to thousands of refugees in their converted shipping-container houses. England, as a country, has ceased to exist. The only part of it remaining is the Metrozone.

What happened? Armageddon. But the brief, world-changing years of nuclear terrorism are a fading memory. The city remains.

So why pick on London? I mean, what’s it ever done to me? Do I take perverse delight in trashing my capital city, threatening it with flood, fire, war and disease, wrecking the national monuments and destroying millennia of history?

Yes. But that’s not reason enough. Okay, setting a series of novels in a post-apocalyptic London is an obvious choice, simply because it’s the biggest and most well known city on these islands. It has iconic buildings and internationally recognisable landmarks, in a way that Coventry, Aberystwyth or Motherwell don’t. St. Paul’s, the Gherkin, Battersea power station, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge: all are instantly recognisable from thousands of books and hundreds of films by people who live half a world away and will never see London for real. (more…)

New (Eyebending) Wallpaper for Simon Morden’s Trilogy

I know it’s been a little while since we’ve done a fun wallpaper in the house (It was a great wallpaper too – Leviathan Wakes, if you didn’t download it you totally should!). So, I have written before about how much I love how the covers for the Simon Morden books came out, and have taken the opportunity to do a poster, a video, and now…wallpapers! Just in time for the third book to hit shelves. So make sure you go pick up Equations of Life, Theories of Flight, and Degrees of Freedom…

Available for screens of all sizes, now you can carry a mind-warping piece of the Metrozone with you everywhere! I even finally figured out how to make the ipad version work with the vertical/horizontal twist. As usual, if I missed a specific screen size you’d like, leave a comment and I’ll format it for you!

1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 | 1920 x 1200 | iPhone | iPad | Netbook (1024×600)

Perfect Shadow is out now!

Brent Weeks’ new novella, Perfect Shadow is out now in ebook and digital audio editions! It’s an exciting look back at his New York Times Bestselling Night Angel Trilogy and it focuses on the “birth” of Durzo Blint, the man who taught Kylar everything he knows about being a Night Angel. At about 17,000 words it’s a great entrance into the Night Angel trilogy for new readers — and if you’re a fan? You’ll be blown away the action, the adventure … and the danger.

“I got a bit of prophecy,” the old assassin said. “Not enough to be useful, you know. Just glimpses. My wife dead, things like that to keep me up late at night. I had this vision that I was going to be killed by forty men, all at once. But now that you’re here, I see they’re all you. Durzo Blint.”

Durzo Blint? Gaelan had never even heard the name.

***
Gaelan Starfire is a farmer, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He’s also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he’s worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he’s become a hero, his very names passing into legend: Acaelus Thorne, Yric the Black, Hrothan Steelbender, Tal Drakkan, Rebus Nimble.

But when Gaelan must take a job hunting down the world’s finest assassins for the beautiful courtesan-and-crimelord Gwinvere Kirena, what he finds may destroy everything he’s ever believed in.