Archive for Orbit US

Cover Launch: LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF SAUSAGES

Sorry folks, I know monday is usually cover launch day, but things are a little hectic in the Art Dept. and  this week wednesday is cover launch day. But never fear, I have a cover all ready for next monday too!)

Tom Holt is a funny guy. Orbit UK has been publishing him for a long time and I was thrilled to get to redesign his look with his US launch of Blonde Bombshell in June. I can’t wait to start applying the new look to the backlist titles waiting to roll out. But first we have another new book, one which wins for my favorite title of all time* Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages.

Tom Holt is all about funny, absurdist scifi/fantasy, and when I read my first Tom Holt book I was pleasantly surprised how like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett it felt. and that’s high praise from me. I really like the humorous scifi/fantasy subgenre, and I think we’ve been packaging it well here at Orbit with the A. Lee Martinez books especially, and I’m really happy to add these books to the list.

I love a chance to hand-draw a cover, because most of the time everything happens solely on the computer. I especially enjoy hand-drawing type. I’ll have to try to work it in to more covers, even if it’s not as purposely rough-style like these covers. (more…)

Changeless becomes a New York Times Bestseller!

Changeless by Gail Carriger just hit the New York Times best seller list at #20!

Congratulations to Gail!

Whoo hoo!! We’re over the moon over here and hope you share in our excitement! I need to go find a football team so I can practice chest bumping!

You can check out the first chapter here or check out the video on how we made the cover for the upcoming Blameless here.

When is a dwarf not a dwarf? When he’s a garden gnome…

Read on for a great piece from the talented Sally-Ann Spencer on her experience of translating The Dwarves (UK/ US/ ANZ) and The War of the Dwarves (UK/ US / ANZ) from the original German:

Turning German ‘Zwerge’ into English-speaking dwarves isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. For one thing, the English word ‘dwarf’ has two possible plurals: ‘dwarfs’ and ‘dwarves’. Which should be used for the translation? The dwarves of Girdlegard bear a certain resemblance to their counterparts in Middle Earth, so I went with the version popularized by Tolkien. But hang on a minute, (more…)

New Wallpaper Day: The Gaslight Dogs

Here’s a gorgeous wallpaper made from the cover art of The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee, out now. (You can read the cover launch here) The illustration was done by the fantastic Sam Weber, and I’m really thrilled to be able to offer it to you in a whole slew of formats. I tried to cover all the standard aspect ratios/devices (including a hot new iPad version for us disciples of St. Jobs) so let me know if I left an important one out.

And of course, go get a copy of The Gaslight Dogs! To me it felt like a little bit steampunk, a little bit Golden Compass, and a little bit old western, with a great story arc. I can’t wait for more from Karin Lowachee.

Enjoy!

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

Hugos and Legends and Campbells, oh my!

We’re thrilled to see a number of our authors on award ballots and shortlists this year. We’ve done a brief round-up of our authors who are up for awards and Charlie Stross has been nominated twice! Could this be the year we finally HUGO STROSS? Here’s hoping!

A hearty congratulations to all of our authors who are up for these awards!

Hugo Awards

Best Novella

  • Charlie Stross for “Palimpsest” [UK]

Best Novellette

  • Charlie Stross again for “Overtime” [UK]

Best Short Story

  • N.K. Jemisin for “Non-zero Probabilities” [US/UK]

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

  • Gail Carriger [US/UK]
  • Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant) [US/UK]

David Gemmell Award Shortlist

David Gemmell Legend Award

  • Joe Abercrombie for Best Served Cold [US]
  • Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson for The Gathering Storm [UK]

The Morningstar Award for Best Newcomer

  • Jesse Bullington for The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart [US/UK]
  • Amanda Downum for The Drowning City [US/UK]

Cover Launch: BITTEN IN TWO

Tough, sexy, dangerous, and a little bit crazy – that’s Jaz Parks. And Jennifer Rardin’s 7th book in the Jaz Parks series, Bitten in Two, has as much adventure and bad attitude as can fit in an urban fantasy book. For some reason I’ve noticed Jaz taking on a bit of a Joan Jett sneer in my head when I read these books – and that’s all good for me. If you haven’t started reading this series yet, I suggest picking up the first 3 at least all at once – you’ll tear through them wanting to know what happens to Jaz, her vampire boss Vayl, and her ragtag team of techno-geeks, CIA operatives, and one centuries-old prophetess. If you have been reading along with this series, then trust me, this one doesn’t disappoint. (more…)

Mage In Black!

Sabina Kane is back in this kick-ass follow up to Red-Headed Stepchild!

Half-vampire and half-mage,  Sabina Kane has never quite fit in.  Now on the run from the vampire side of the family, she’s finally going to meet her twin sister she never knew about — and a family that might not have her best interests at heart.

From Kat Richardson who called the first novel, “Brassy, sassy, and hip!” to Charlaine Harris who called it “Fast-paced and fun,” Jaye Wells is one of the hottest urban fantasy writers out there today!  Despite the lack of red hair — Angelina Jolie in the upcoming movie, Salt, reminds me of Sabina Kane.

You can find chapter one right here.

Check her out in bookstores everywhere!

Werewolves, and Vampires, and Dirigibles, oh my!

Gail Carriger is back with another tale of the trials and tribulations of Alexia Tarabotti.  Now, I can’t give too much away about Changeless. Suffice to say that there are trips to Scotland, assassination attempts, tea — and even crumpets. And perhaps…even Blameless coming to you in September 2010!

My favorite description of Alexia comes straight to you from io9: “Great worldbuilding and delicious rapier wit that recalls Austen and P.G. Wodehouse.”  Yes!  I love it — a combination of Jane Austen, a few vampires and werewolves and Alexia — and you have the perfect tea party.

And if you haven’t had a chance yet, do check out the video of the making of Blameless!

Environmentally-sound Ebooks!

Orbit is delighted, excited and not a little proud to announce the development of the world’s first 100% biodegradable ebook. As you all know (Bob), the problem with the current crop of ebooks is that the electrons that make up the work have a carbon cost. Certainly, the environmental impact of ebooks is much lower than for traditional publishing, but it is a finite and measurable amount.

Electron
An electron, yesterday

Not anymore!  Orbit’s proprietary new ‘Brigadoon’ e-formatting allows for a 100% carbon-free reading experience. By exposing the ebook file to a short burst of Cherenkov Radiation upon delivery, the electrons composing the file actually decay into lower-energy electrons and tachyons after the first reading. The new, low-powered electrons return to the environment at a net carbon cost of practically zero, while the tachyons, as is their nature, travel backwards in time to replace the ebook file that has just disappeared during the decay of the electrons that formed it.

To explain in layman’s terms: the electrons return to the environment and the ebook effectively travels backwards in time, reinventing itself before each reading causes it to cease to exist. With reference to Clarke’s Third Law, we hope you’ll forgive us a triumphant ‘Hey, presto!’

All of Orbit’s April titles will be available in Brigadoon as well as epub format from all good replicators.

Brighton Shock – notes on the World Horror Convention 2010

Last weekend I attended the fabulous World Horror Convention in Brighton, a celebration of horror fiction from the Victorian age to the present, and the first time this event has been held outside North America.

Horror is a fascinating area and, as with SF and fantasy fiction, the definition seems interestingly fluid and has the capacity to evolve in new and exciting ways with each new generation of writers. We have the legacy of 19th century gothic horror (Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe and Bram Stoker). This was followed by Lovecraftian horror, and more recently we have seen contemporary horror wordsmiths such as Stephen King, James Herbert and Ramsey Campbell.

One of the highlights of the convention was watching Neil Gaiman interview grand master of modern horror James Herbert (while I sat next to the agent who discovered him). Neil Gaiman appeared unannounced as a surprise guest interviewer, and it was as if Elvis had entered the building as news of his arrival rippled tantalisingly through the convention … James Herbert focused on his epic career and on his underprivileged East End origins which inspired him to write. It’s interesting to think how the supernatural thriller/disaster fiction of the 1970s and 80s, turbulent decades of wealth and deprivation lived under the shadow of the bomb, might differ to what is being produced today.

We now have an explosion of new vampire fiction, as Kelley Armstrong discussed with other (more…)