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Wheel of Time wallpapers for your phone, tablet or computer

When we first launched our Turn The Wheel of Time Facebook page just over a year ago to celebrate the epic countdown to A MEMORY OF LIGHT (UK | ANZ), this design was our initial look for the images we would use for the page and beyond. We thought we’d share them with you to use as a wallpaper for your device of choice as we near the 8 January 2013 publication of the final book in The Wheel of Time®.

Click on the size that’s best for you below!

Wheel of Time wallpapers

With the date:
iPhone | iPad | Nexus 7 | 1024×768 | 1280×800 | 1920×1200

Without the date:
iPhone | iPad | Nexus 7 | 1024×768 | 1280×800 |1920×1200

An interview with Iain M. Banks & 25 years of Culture!

Today we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Culture series by bestselling author Iain M. Banks! For decades, the Culture series has engaged our imaginations and taken us to new, exotic alien worlds. Check out the interview below to find out more about Iains most recent novel, THE HYDROGEN SONATA (UK | US | AUS) as well his reflections regarding the past and future of the Culture.

But that’s not all…since we can’t very well pass out these delicious Culture cupcakes digitally, there will be a full day of fun and prizes elsewhere on the internet.  Head on over to Twitter for more Culture-related activity by searching for the hashtag #25YearsofCulture.

With the 25th anniversary of the Culture series now upon us (Consider Phlebas was published in 1987), have you come to regard the series as your life’s work? Do you think you’ll ever ‘complete’ the series, or do you still have a long list of ideas that you want to explore?

I suppose the Culture series will form the largest part of my life’s work; it’s unlikely I’ll come up with another over-arching structure on the same scale now.  I’m perfectly happy with that.  I’ll keep writing about the Culture for as long as I still feel there are new things to say, new avenues to explore.  It’s important that I feel able to write SF outside the Culture, but even within it the restrictions are minimal; most of the action in most of the Culture books takes place well outside the Culture itself, and it’s been that way since the beginning, with Phlebas.

I don’t intend ever to complete it; I decided right from the start to resist the temptation to tear it all down at any point, and this has become sort of indicative and symbolic of the nature and demeanour of the Culture itself, now:  it means to resist completion and put off Subliming, so that it can keep on going, sticking around in the Real and trying to do good (as it sees it), for as long as it can, and it’s already envisaging that when it does finally fade away, it’ll be when its going will hardly be noticed, because being something like the Culture – behaving like it – will be pretty much the default state for all galactic civilisations.  (Though, in this, it could, of course, be completely wrong.)

I’ve more than enough material and ideas for another full-on Culture novel, and that has been the case for at least the last decade or so, no matter where I’ve been in the Culture-novel-writing cycle, as new ideas keep on coming along at a slow but steady rate.  At the moment I’m tempted to try something a bit more oblique next time, though I’m also tempted to go with something tighter and more wildly kinetic, too…  Who can say?  We’ll see.

Click to read more.

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RT Book Review’s 2012 Reviewer’s Choice Awards

RT Book Reviews has revealed the full set of nominees for the 2012 Reviewer’s Choice Awards, and a number of Orbit books are among them. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Science Fiction Novel

  • THE HYDROGEN SONATA by Iain. M. Banks (US | UK | ANZ)
  • BLACKOUT by Mira Grant (US | UK | ANZ)

THE HYDROGEN SONATA US cover BLACKOUT cover

Fantasy Novel

  • THE SHADOWED SUN by N.K. Jemisin (US | UK | ANZ)

THE SHADOWED SUN cover

Epic Fantasy Novel

  • SEVEN PRINCES by John R. Fultz (US | UK | ANZ)
  • SHARPS by K.J. Parker (US | UK | ANZ)

SEVEN PRINCES cover SHARPS cover

Urban Fantasy Novel

  • 13 by Kelley Armstrong (UK | ANZ)
  • BLUE-BLOODED VAMP by Jaye Wells (US | UK | ANZ)

THIRTEEN cover BLUE-BLOODED VAMP cover

Urban Fantasy Protagonist

  • TEMPEST’S FURY by Nicole Peeler (US | UK | ANZ)

TEMPEST'S FURY cover TEMPEST'S FURY UK cover

Urban Fantasy Worldbuilding

  • COLD DAYS by Jim Butcher (UK | ANZ)

COLD DAYS cover

RED COUNTRY is a New York Times Bestseller!

RED COUNTRY by Joe Abercrombie is a New York Times bestseller for the week of 12/02/2012, debuting on the hardcover list at number 27!

Congratulations to Joe from all of us at Orbit US!

If you haven’t got your copy yet, you can read a sample right here. Then get thee to a bookstore and make it a Red Thanksgiving!

SPIRIT’S END – The Epic Conclusion to the Eli Monpress Series

 THE SPIRIT WAR by Rachel Aaron  

One of my greatest privileges since coming to work at Orbit has been working on the Eli Monpress series by Rachel Aaron. Following Eli on his fantastic journeys was always hilarious, entertaining, and unexpected. So it is with great pleasure (and a bit of sadness) that we release the final Eli Monpress novel, SPIRIT’S END (US | UK | AUS).

Eli Monpress is clever, he’s determined, and he’s in way over his head.

First rule of thievery: don’t be a hero. When Eli broke the rules and saved the Council Kingdoms, he thought he knew the price, but resuming his place as the Shepherdess’s favorite isn’t as simple as bowing his head. Now that she has her darling back, Benehime is setting in motion a plan that could destroy everything she was created to protect, and even Eli’s charm might not be enough to stop her. But Eli Monpress always has a plan, and with disaster rapidly approaching, he’s pulling in every favor he can think of to make it work, including the grudging help of the Spirit Court’s new Rector, Miranda Lyonette.

But with the world in panic, the demon stirring, and the Lord of Storms back on the hunt, it’s going to take more than luck and charm to pull Eli through this time. He’s going to have to break a few more rules and work with some old enemies if he’s going to survive.

Praise for the Eli Monpress series:

“Fans of Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora(2006) will be thrilled with Eli Monpress.” –Booklist (Starred Review)

“A romp of a lighthearted fantasy starring an absolutely darling rogue.”  — Publishers Weekly

SPIRIT’S END is available in  the US in a stand-alone edition, and in the UK and Australia as the second book in THE REVENGE OF ELI MONPRESS omnibus edition.  

Goodreads Choice Awards: Final Round!

The final round of the Goodreads Choice Awards is now live, and Orbit titles are still well represented on the ballot! Visit goodreads.com to vote for your favorite books of the year.

Best Fantasy: The Traitor Queen by Trudi Canavan (US | UK | ANZ), The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin (US | UK | ANZ), The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks (US | UK | ANZ)

Best Paranormal Fantasy: Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong (UK),Timeless by Gail Carriger (US | UK | ANZ)

Science Fiction: Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey (US | UK | ANZ)

Horror: Blackout by Mira Grant (US | UK | ANZ)

Graphic Novels and Comics: Soulless by Gail Carriger (US | UK | ANZ)

Cover launch: SOFT APOCALYPSE and HITCHERS by Will McIntosh

The science fiction novel Love Minus Eighty, abotu love and loss int he future, based on the award-winning short story Bridesicle from Will McIntoshYou might have noticed a new name starring on the Orbit schedule for next year: the phenomenal talent Will McIntosh.

Why we think he’s exceptional – why we were all desperate for him to join the Orbit list – is that he writes not only ground-breaking science fiction, but also some of the most moving, touching, and simply human stories you’ll ever read. They’ve affected me deeply – and I can’t imagine how anyone could read his novels without being equally entertained and moved.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that Will already has a Hugo Award to his name, as well as nominations for the Nebula, Locus, John W. Campbell and Compton Crook awards.

Next June, Orbit is launching a worldwide release for Will’s novel LOVE MINUS EIGHTY, a spectacular full-length novel based on Will’s Hugo Award-winning short story, BRIDESICLE. It imagines love and loss 100 years into the future, in a world where technology has reached the outer limits of morality and romance. Check out the cool cover above.

Soft Apocalypse, a debut science fiction novel from the Hugo Award-winning author Will McIntoshHowever, we know that it’s a long time to wait till June to see just what kind of stunning fiction this author is producing. So this December, in the UK, Australia and New Zealand we’re releasing ebook editions of two titles previously only released in the US: SOFT APOCALYPSE and HITCHERS. They’ll both be available to buy digitally on 6th December 2012.

SOFT APOCALYPSE, which was nominated for the Locus, John W. Campbell and Compton Crook Awards, is Will’s debut novel. It asks the question: what if the world isn’t destined to end as we always imagined it – in explosive, dramatic fashion – but what if instead, humanity is set to just slowly crumble?

Following Jasper and his nomadic tribe, a group of formerly middle-class Americans, the novel sees a world going from bad to worse – and then worse still. Resources keep getting scarcer, people keep getting poorer, and the fabric of society is slowly disintegrating.

This account of a severe decline is highly intelligent and chillingly realistic. But at the heart of the tale is a very human, touching story about how a normal guy tries to make ends meet and find love in the dangerous new place his world has become.Hitchers, a chilling supernatural thriller novel from the Hugo Award-winning author Will McIntosh

HITCHERS is something rather different, but with an equally engrossing human story at its core. It’s a chilling supernatural thriller in which both horror and dark humour collide.

When an act of terrorism kills hundreds of thousands in Atlanta, USA, Finn Darby is lucky enough to survive the attack. But Finn soon develops a disturbing affliction – when he starts to blurt things out in a strange voice beyond his control. And it seems he’s not the only one experiencing this problem – in fact thousands of people are suffering from the same affliction.

Either all of Atlanta is having a mass psychological breakdown, or else the dead are returning to possess the living . . .

So there are many different ways to enjoy the exceptional writing of Will McIntosh. And don’t forget that Orbit fans worldwide can also get a very quick taster of what Will’s writing with his Orbit Short Fiction title THE PERIMETER. It’s a chilling tale about the planet Clay and the perimeter fence that keeps its strange creatures at bay. One unlucky woman is about to discover just what lives beyond it . . .

Nine Fingered Heroes

Red Country by Joe AbercrombieFiction, and indeed real life, brims over with important folks without the full compliment of digits.  Here’s ten of them.  Alright, nine.

Frodo Baggins

The villain of the Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins, is immortalised by the bards as ‘Frodo of the Nine Fingers.’  The hero of the story, Gollum, is forced to chew off Frodo’s ring finger, nobly sacrificing himself to destroy the One Ring, after Frodo tries to claim it and usher in a new age of darkness over Middle Earth.  It’s a bleak and savage ending but, hey, who gets what they deserve?

Jesse James

The notorious Missouri outlaw is said to have accidently blown off the end of his left middle finger while cleaning his pistol during the American Civil War.  After his murder by Robert Ford, the fact that his body was photographed with the right hand apparently hiding this identifying feature sparked rumours that he was a stand-in, and that James had in fact survived.  He hadn’t.

Davos Seaworth

One of A Song of Ice and Fire’s best loved characters, the so called Onion Knight was once an infamous smuggler, but risked his life to bring food to the besieged Stannis Baratheon.  After the siege was lifted, Stannis knighted Davos as a reward.  Not strictly nine-fingered, but he certainly doesn’t have all ten, as Stannis also ordered the ends of all the fingers on his left hand cut off as punishment for the smuggling.  He now wears the bones in a bag round his neck.  A hard man to please, that Stannis…

Scotty

Original Star Trekker James Doohan lost a middle finger in heroic action during the Normandy landings.  Efforts were made on the show to conceal the injury, including frequent use of a hand-double at the transporter controls, but in his guest appearance in The Next Generation episode, “Relics”, the missing digit was briefly visible.

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The Legend of Eli Monpress: Voice Mail Edition

With the fifth and final book of my Eli Monpress series, SPIRIT’S END (UK | US | AUS)*, coming out November 20, it was high time to crawl out of my coffee splattered writer cave and do some promotion. Seeing as this is the final shebang, though, I knew I wanted to do something different, something spectacular… But then I lost my voice and my lit themed parody video of Carly Rae Jepson’s Call Me Maybe had to be put on indefinite hold. (Sample: “Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but I wrote this series, so read it maybe?”)

The disappointment is crushing,  I know, but as a consolation (and an apology to everyone who just got Call Me Maybe stuck in their heads), I wrote a short piece about what would happen if the Eli gang had voice mail instead. So if you’re a fan, get ready, because this fansevice is all for you! And if you haven’t read the series yet and want in on the joke, you can read the first few chapters of The Legend of Eli Monpress here.

 

      

*SPIRIT’S END is being published in the UK and Australia as an omnibus called THE REVENGE OF ELI MONPRESS which includes THE SPIRIT WAR and SPIRIT’S END.

So, without further ado, please enjoy The Legend of Eli Monpress: Voice Mail Edition!

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