Archive for Orbit US

The Last Wish

Pop over to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist for a chance to win a copy of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Last Wish.

The Last Wish introduces The Witcher, one of the best loved heroes of fantasy in Europe, and recently the star of the hit PC video game from Atari. You can check out the trailer for the game here, and some gameplay animation here (rated mature). There’s an enhanced edition of the game set for release this summer. The Witcher is currently PC only, so console players will have to wait (or talk their significant others into a video card upgrade… hmmm.)

Geralt was also the object of some gentle ribbing at Penny Arcade. Having read the book that inspired the game, we can assure you that yes, he is indeed the Witchest.

The Last Wish will be available from Orbit in the US in May.

Black Ships and Archetypes

Black ShipsOver at her livejournal Jo Graham discusses the “Warrior Princess” archetype in fantasy, and explains how she aimed to make Gull – the priestess in Black Ships – distinct from it.

“I think it’s important that our stories talk about the full range of human experience. Throughout human history important and interesting things have been done by people of both genders, playing a variety of gender roles. Our popular fiction chooses to focus on a few. Why not talk about Ruling Queens? About Sacred Whores, as Jacqueline Carey does in Kushiel’s Dart? About the neglected male archetypes of The Priest and The Psychopomp?”


You can read the whole post here.

Black Ships is out now in the US, and is forthcoming in the UK. Click here to read an excerpt.

The Orcs are Coming!

Stan Nicholls’ ORCS is one of the most entertaining fantasy books of recent years. The idea is simple: take fantasy’s ultimate bad guys (the orcs); add a teaspoon of compassion, followed by a great big dollop of aggression. Sit back and enjoy the fun. ORCS has already been a huge bestseller, with worldwide sales rapidly approaching a million copies. Orbit will be unleashing them for the first time in the US this September. And do we love this cover? We certainly do.

Grrrrrr....

Urban Fantasy Come True

This week, 11 of the Top 20 Fantasy bestsellers in the US are urban fantasy titles, including the Top 3. Most people are aware of the growth of urban fantasy over recent years, but I wonder how many are aware of the degree to which it now dominates the fantasy bestseller lists? This week’s chart shouldn’t be a surprise, either. Looking back over the fantasy bestseller charts of recent years, there’s a clear trend:

2004: 1 urban fantasy title in the Top 20.
2005: 4 urban fantasy titles.
2006: 5 urban fantasy titles.
2007: 7 urban fantasy titles.

Without any doubt, urban fantasy has changed the face of SF and Fantasy publishing in the US over recent years and there’s no sign that it won’t continue to do so.

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.

Kevin J. Anderson Interview

Fantasy Book Critic has posted an in-depth and engrossing interview with bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson. The interview covers a host of topics, including Kevin’s many collaborative efforts, as well as information about The Ashes of Worlds, the epic conclusion to his Saga of Seven Suns series.

The Ashes of Worlds will be published in the US in July 2008, following the mass market publication of Metal Swarm (book 6 in the series) in June 2008.