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Felicia Day on LEVIATHAN WAKES

There are a lot of Felicia Day fans here in the Orbit office, so we were excited to see that she loved James S.A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes (US | UK | ANZ). Here’s what she had to say:

I loved this book because in a lot of ways it humanized a BIG SF world in a way that is normally tough. I cared about the characters, I yelled at them a lot, and I enjoyed every minute!

You can read the rest of her review on GoodReads. Look out for book 2, Caliban’s War, in June of 2012!

The Griffin Mage — Now in one Volume!

The Griffin Mage (US | UK | ANZ) by Rachel Neumeier is now out!

It contains the full Griffin Mage Trilogy: Lord of the Changing Wind, Land of the Burning Sands and Law of the Broken Earth.

When I first read the book, I thought her writing style was exactly like Patricia McKillip — and instead of Naomi Novik’s dragons — we have griffins.  And of course, the griffins put me in the mind of another popular series: Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern.

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Press Release: ORBIT SHORT FICTION TO LAUNCH INTERNATIONALLY

Orbit announces the international launch of its digital short fiction publishing program.

Last April, Orbit US launched Orbit Short Fiction, publishing digital editions of original short fiction written by its authors. Starting in 2012 Orbit UK will be joining the initiative. Stories published under the program will be released simultaneously in the US, UK, and other markets in which its ebooks are routinely distributed.

Anne Clarke, Editorial Director, Orbit (UK) said: “The digital short fiction market is clearly gaining momentum, and I’m delighted that we’ll now be able to make our authors’ stories available internationally. The success of the program in the US has been very encouraging, and we’re very much looking forward to working with our authors and colleagues in the US on this next stage in its development.”

Tim Holman, Orbit VP & Publisher (US and UK), said: “From the outset we hoped to expand the Orbit Short Fiction initiative, and we feel that now is the time to do it. Stories will be available far more widely, and through all major ebook retailers, which is good for our authors, for fans, and for the publishing program.”

Orbit (UK) is the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Little, Brown Book Group, a leading trade publisher based in London. Little, Brown Book Group is a division of Hachette UK, the largest book publisher in the UK.

Orbit (US) is the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Hachette Book Group, a leading trade publisher based in New York. HBG publishes under the divisions of Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, and Hachette Digital.

SHADOWHEART by Tad Williams

In case you haven’t spotted it yet, Shadowheart (UK / ANZ) was released this month in paperback. It’s the breathtaking conclusion to Tad Williams’  sweeping epic fantasy, the Shadowmarch series. The finale to this tale sees Barrick Eddon, prince of Southmarch, choosing where his loyalties lie – with the humans, or with the dark Qar race, whose legacy he has promised to safeguard . . . 

It’s a fantastic ending to a knock-out series and, as a massive Tad Williams fan, I must say this is certainly not to be missed. A few other people think so too:

‘Rich in detail and exploding with imagination. Dive in there and lose yourself’ SFX

‘It’s always bittersweet to see a series come to an end; as fans, we are always eager to find out what happens to our heroes and heroines, but, equally, we don’t want them to ever leave our lives . . . Williams convinced me to care utterly for his characters and there’s a hole now in my life where they once lived. Few storytellers can do that. Williams does it with alarming regularity’ A Dribble of Ink

‘Shadowrise and Shadowheart are as good an ending to a fantasy saga as I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading . . .’ Fantasy Book Critic

Read an extract right here. Tad Williams has also been under the Orbit spotlight this month, so if you haven’t tried Tad yet, go here to see just what you’re missing.

Ian Tregillis joins Orbit UK!

I’m very happy to announce that Orbit UK has acquired Bitter Seeds  plus two further novels by the highly talented Ian Tregillis.

Bitter Seeds is an audacious fantasy retelling of the events of World War II – where Nazis create superhumans that can throw fire, see the future and turn invisible, whilst the British warlocks use dark magics to hold back the German invasion. I was totally wowed by the deliciously sinister atmosphere of this novel, with its endlessly imaginative plot twists and awesome superhero-like characters. Ian has a very bright future ahead of him and I’m so glad that we’ve been able to take him on in the UK.

Bitter Seeds was released in the US last year to huge acclaim – here’s what people have said so far:

‘A major talent… I can’t wait to see more’ George R. R. Martin

‘Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank you. Tregillis’s debut has a white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters– an unstoppable Vickers of a novel’ Cory Doctorow
 
‘Tregillis delivers a dynamite first novel in Bitter Seeds’ SFRevu.com
 
‘Bitter Seeds is hands down the best debut of 2010 so far’ Fantasy Book Critic
 
‘The crème de la crème of SFF debuts this year!’ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Look out for Bitter Seeds in December next year! Its sequels The Coldest War and Necessary Evil will be released in February 2013 and April 2013 respectively.

Wallpapers for THEFT OF SWORDS by Michael J. Sullivan

Wallpaper time again, guys and gals, and more epic fantasy for all your fancy devices. This fine art is for THEFT OF SWORDS by Michael J. Sullivan, which is the first book in the Riyria Revelations. The art is by Larry Rostant, and depicts the duo at the heart of the books. I don’t want to give too much away, but these books were so good, we just had to give them the special Orbit 3-in-3-months treatment so you could get the whole epic in your hands right away.

There’s a bit of a difference in the US/UK versions of the cover – we like to do that sometimes just to keep you all on your toes – but the illustration is the same, so both sides of the pond can enjoy. Check out both covers and read an excerpt here.

Here’s all the wallpaper download links…if anyone needs a specific dimension made, let us know!

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

Goodreads Choice Awards – Semifinal Round

The second round of the Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards is still open for votes for two more days!  There are lots of your favourite authors in this round: THE HEROES by Joe Abercrombie, GHOST STORY by Jim Butcher, THE ROGUE by Trudi Canavan, LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S.A. Corey, DEADLINE by Mira Grant,  EAT SLAY LOVE by Jesse Petersen, RULE 34 by Charles Stross, THE MEASURE OF THE MAGIC by Terry Brooks, HOUNDED by Kevin Hearne, HEARTLESS by Gail Carriger, RIVER MARKED by Patricia Briggs, BLOOD RIGHTS by Kristen Painter, SPELLBOUND by Kelley Armstrong and THE FINAL EVOLUTION by Jeff Somers. If you voted in the first round, you need to vote again now to make sure your favourite books get through to the final.

Voting in this round closes on Sunday so get voting now!

Robert Jackson Bennett blogs about authors and audiences

Robert Jackson Bennett is thinking over on his blog today about the obligation an author has to his audience and why originality in art is so important, from Louis C.K. to Tom Waits. Check it out.

[Tom] Waits had a dependable night club schtick well into the 80’s, popular with a decent-sized demographic – a boozy, romantic, down-on-his-luck hipster, a callback to Kerouac and Bukowski. But Waits eventually got sick of it, and wanted to do something new.

When his producer, Bones Howe, heard what Waits wanted to try, he advised against it. He’d lose his audience, he’d lose all his contracts, and most of all, he’d lose Bones himself. But Bones’s reasoning wasn’t that it was bad, but that it wasn’t accessible – he said, “I knew that where [Tom] wanted to go, I couldn’t follow.” Suggesting that no one else could, either.

But Waits, despite the advice of nearly everyone around him, trusted his vision. He did not listen to his producers, or his fanbase, but went out and did his own thing. And what he made was and is wholly original. For a long time, it was impossible to describe a Tom Waits album – it was just that, a Tom Waits album, and there was no other word for it.

Robert’s third book, The Troupe, will be out in February (US | UK | ANZ). You may also remember that he recently won the Shirley Jackson Award and the Sydney J. Bounds Award for his first novel, Mr. Shivers.

Cover launch: The Black Sun’s Daughter series by M.L.N. Hanover


M.L.N. Hanover’s fantastic Black Sun’s Daughter series will be published in the UK for the first time in the New Year, with the first four books in the series coming out monthly from January. If you like Patricia Briggs or Kelley Armstrong or Sherrilyn Kenyon you’re in for a treat with these – I read all four of them in one weekend when I first discovered them.

A great series deserves great covers, so I hope you’ll agree we’ve done them justice. Little, Brown inhouse designer Hannah Clark’s creative interpretation of my loose brief (which boiled down to “it needs to look like urban fantasy but I want it to be new and different”) has led to this wonderfully fresh and original cover style – thanks Hannah!