Archive for Orbit US

Cover Launch: GREEN-EYED DEMON

Sabina Kane is back in a new urban fantasy, and this time she’s going to the Big Easy. (But you knew that by the ornamental ironwork balcony behind her, right?) Half mage/ half vampire and all kick-ass, I think this cover continues Craig White‘s great illustrations for the series. I’ve already read all three Sabina Kane books (aren’t you jealous?) and I have to say, if you liked Red-Headed Stepchild then definitely stick around for Mage in Black and Green-Eyed Demon, they just get better.

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Just because…

I’ve been thinking quite a bit this week about conspiracy theories.

But I guess you already knew that, huh?

Come on, tell the truth here. You, I’m talking to you!

Maybe you’ve been trawling through my emails, hmm, yeah? Find anything juicy?

Or perhaps you keep an automatic log of all my Google entries. So every time I type ‘conspiracy’ or ‘evil empire’ or ‘oppressive surveillance culture’, a little light goes on in a computer somewhere and my name is flagged up as a potential trouble-maker.

Just because (more…)

Cover Launch: TEMPEST’S LEGACY

Are you reading the Jane True series yet? Because you really should be. Nicole Peeler is one of my favorite Orbit authors and Tempest Rising was such a great debut novel from a great new voice in urban fantasy. And I know I’ve said it before, but I think the covers Sharon Tancredi has been illustrating are just perfect for this series. Quirky, unique, cool in a slightly odd way…just like Jane True.

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Writing a Post-feminist Character

Writers have weird quirks. Invoking the muse often involves peculiar rituals — sitting at a coffee shop with precisely the right ambiance, playing precisely the right soundtrack at precisely the right volume (or surrounding oneself with utter silence), using only a no. 1 pencil on college-ruled paper*; I hear all kinds. I’ve also noticed that most of us writerly-types are particular about language to the point of pedantry, understandably. Me? I’ve got a whole list of words I love and hate. There’s no logic to most of them. I love “pearlescent”, hate “eldritch”. The latter is probably the result of too much Lovecraft. No idea where the former comes from. (more…)

Cover Launches Begin Anew: ZOMBIES!!!

Cover design for the Fall 2010 – Winter 2011 is progressing feverishly, but I have an early launch for you guys. Well, actually, editor Devi kind of already leaked the first Zombie Therapy book by Jesse Petersen, but here I have the first TWO covers in the series for you to feast your eyes on! (Get it, “feast”? I know, Groan. Sorry.)

As usual I read a bunch of the first book before I started designing, and Married With Zombies is hilarious. Think Shaun of the Dead for zombie humor, plus a really good snarky madcap romantic comedy. I’m not a big chick lit/romantic comedy gal myself, and I still thought the story was great fun and very fast moving – both in adventure and sarcastic comebacks. So don’t let the pink scare you away, trust me. (more…)

A Romantic Comedy…. with BRAAAAINS!

I have the distinct pleasure of introducing a brand new author to the list, Jesse Petersen.  Orbit US has bought three books — the first of which, MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES, we will be publishing in mass market in September 2010.

The book is about two unlikely heroes — a couple on the verge of divorce.  On their way to marriage counseling, they notice a few odd things: a missing guard, a lack of cars on the freeway, and their counselor ripping out the throat of her previous client.

Now it’s up to David and Sarah to work together, save their marriage — and survive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. (more…)

The Digital Plague in One Minute(ish)

It’s time for the next instalment in Jeff Somers’ ingeniously speedy recap of the Avery Cates series so far. Presenting: ‘The Digital Plague in One Minute’. OK, so as pointed out on the previous video, maybe it’s just a little longer than a minute, but I guess Jeff figured that ‘The Digital Plague in One Minute and Forty-Two Seconds’ isn’t nearly as catchy . . .

***SPOILER ALERT!***


 

Disclaimer: As Jeff’s publisher we cannot *quite* back up the veracity of his final statement…

The Engineer trilogy reissues — get your free extracts here

As well as some tempting frontlist books, January also brings Orbit UK some very handsome reissues of K. J. Parker’s Engineer trilogy. And free extracts are available here for all three books: Devices and Desires (click here for extract), Evil for Evil (extract here) and The Escapement (extract here).  The reissues will also be available via Orbit Australia from March. It’s great to see this trilogy getting a new lease of life as it’s received so much critical acclaim since its first publication. SFX deservedly called it ‘One of the finest fantasy trilogies of recent years,’ and I’ll leave you with a quote from Locus to further whet the appetite:

‘I was hooked from the very first scene … The whole thing is brilliant – disturbingly so, since these fantasies (without a whit of magic) explore the human condition and reveal it all, brain, heart, guns and bowels, with a starting precision. Parker gets back to basics, the things that drive the oldest tales: love and war, hope and betrayal’