The SF Site has posted a terrific early review of The Electric Church by Jeff Somers (on sale in September in the US and UK).
“Somers writes with assurance and style. This is fun, cyberpunky noir SF with just the right mix of fatalism and attitude, seasoned with plenty of bullets and black comedy.”
In January 2008, we’re publishing Debatable Space, a debut novel by Philip Palmer. Subtitled ‘a tale of revenge and revolution’, it’s a space opera of extraordinary imagination, a brilliantly plotted revenge novel, and a vividly realised future history.
It is being published by Orbit on both sides of the Atlantic, and is beginning to attract praise from readers — award winning SF writer Jon Courtenay Grimwood describes it as: “well written, fast moving and defiantly weird in places — definitely a new voice worth listening to.”
Philip Palmer’s official website has launched this week. You can learn more about Philip’s life as a soldier of fortune, lover, murder detective, military interrogator, forensic pathologist and captain of a pirate spaceship, follow his blog, and read an extract from Debatable Space.
Robert Buettner, author of Orphanage and Orphan’s Destiny (which Orbit US will reissue along with the new book Orphan’s Journey in April 2008) was interviewed in Steven Euin Cobb’s podcast The Future and You. Click here to hear an interview with Bob about his military science fiction novels starring Jason Wander. Also interviewed on the same show are Battlestar Galactica’s Bodie Olmos (“Hotdog”), and Mike Resnick.
I’m thrilled to announce an updated cover design for the US edition of Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin. We’re publishing her first book in October and we thought this was a fabulous look to start off a new series. We’ll be doing her next two books, Another One Bites the Dust and Biting the Bullet in December 07 and February 08. See the new covers after the jump.
Orbit author Karen Miller, whose novel The Innocent Mage was published by Orbit UK in April and will be published by Orbit US in September, has started a programme of interviews with female speculative fiction writers on her Livejournal — the first in the ‘Fantastic Women’ series is an interview with Glenda Larke, whose book Heart of the Mirage is published by Orbit UK next month.
At her newly redesigned site, Lilith Saintcrow writes about the inspirations for the Dante Valentine series.
Originally she came from several piecemeal sources. I was watching a lot of the first Kill Bill movie and a wonderful Roman Polanski movie based on an Arturo Perez-Reverte novel, The Ninth Gate, not to mention watching a lot of Seven Samurai. (I’m a big Kurosawa fan.) Danny has a katana because, well, what else does a samurai have? Edged metal and honor. She’s my answer to Toshiro Mifune, I guess.
Other cinematic inspirations? Lady Vengeance, Lady Snowblood, and La Femme Nikita.
Looking forward to the publication of Matter by Iain M. Banks next year (from Orbit in both the UK and US) I’ve been surfing the huge and helpful body of websites on the Culture, and happened on this comprehensive Wikipedia entry listing the ships of the Culture. They include the General Contact Unit “Well I Was In The Neighbourhood”, the Offensive Unit “All Through With This Niceness And Negotiation Stuff” and, my favorite, the Demilitarized Rapid Offensive Unit “Resistance Is Character-Forming”.
Wilda Williams at Library Journal reports here on a lunch hosted by Orbit at the ALA (American Library Association) Convention in Washington D.C. recently. It was great to have the chance to talk with so many librarians and journalists about our launch list and publishing strategy, and hear about some of the issues and challenges they face.
And I got to meet Jo Graham, author of Black Ships, for the first time. She’s fantastic. She spoke wonderfully about her debut novel and read the opening pages beautifully. Everybody wanted more — but they’ll have to wait! Also got to see the White House for the first time — but Jo was the highlight of the day for me.
Jeff Somers, author of The Electric Church (Orbit US and UK Sept. 07) has been blogging (reluctantly and hilariously) at Jeffreysomers.com/blather.
Before being ‘compelled’ to blog, Jeff was a long-time zine publisher, running the The Inner Swine since 1995. (The Inner Swine has the kind of cult following that posts videos of dogs eating the latest issue.)
In his latest posts, Jeff writes about the economics of zine publishing, the mixed blessing of telecommuting, and the lengths Orbit goes to encourage our authors to blog.
There’s a terrific interview on Fantasy Book Critic with Mike Carey, whose series of novels featuring freelance exorcist Felix Castor is published by Orbit in the UK: The Devil You Know and Vicious Circle were published to massive acclaim last year, and the third book, Dead Men’s Boots, is due in September. Readers in America can discover just how dark and irresistible Castor’s world is in July, when our sister company Grand Central Publishing releases The Devil You Know in the US.
