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Why do YOU love Jim Butcher?

If you’re a Jim Butcher fan, have we got some exciting news … Check out this page and you can win his ENTIRE Dresden Files series so far, including new books when they’re out next Spring, by telling us exactly why you think the Dresden Files series is so great. So, whether you’re a Butcher newbie or a seasoned pro fan, this is a great opportunity to win the whole series re-clothed in their fabulous new-look covers.

This competition is only for UK readers for shipping-related reasons, but there will be three lucky winners and the prize will also include books by authors Trent Jamieson and Kate Griffin as we think you’ll love them too. And if you just feel like telling us why the Dresden Files are greater than awesome, even if you aren’t eligible to win, we’d still love to hear from you!

Cover Launch: THE DRAGON’S PATH by Daniel Abraham

I’m very excited to launch a cover I’ve been noodling with (yes, “noodling” is an acceptable design term) for a while now. Sometimes you get the elements of a cover set and you just keep working on it and working on it and playing with the elements, swapping stuff in and out, polishing it all in photoshop, etc. until you get the right balance. The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham is an epic fantasy in every sense of the term, and I wanted the cover to feel, you know, EPIC. A sense of history, the ominous threat of storms – and armies – growing on the horizon.

The cool thing about the world of The Dragon’s Path is that the titular dragons are part of the ancient past of the current civilization — without giving too much away, I’d say it’s kind of like imagining that the Roman Emperors had been dragons, and so much history has passed that all that is left is artifacts (like, say, a sword), myths, and folklore that some people believe and others doubt. And of course now, there is an ominous threat of history perhaps not being quite as dead and buried as was hoped.
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Epic Loot 3: The Castings Trilogy

It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away  over the next few weeks.  So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win. Check out today’s loot after the jump!
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Triple Honors for HULL ZERO THREE

Greg Bear’s HULL ZERO THREE is the talk of the web this morning.

First off, Paul DiFilippo at The Speculator at the Barnes & Noble Review, discussing the types of science fiction represented in 2010, selects HULL as exemplary of Hardcore SF, noting that “Greg Bear is one contemporary master of the old ways, and in Hull Zero Three he gives the generation starship theme—crystallized beautifully by Robert Heinlein in 1941’s ‘Universe’—a vigorous makeover.”

At NPR.org, Glen Weldon picks HULL as one of 2010’s Most Transporting Books, noting that “Bear is a pro who knows his way around a starship’s bulkhead and keeps the narrative taut and suspenseful. Importantly, he leavens his hero’s grim steel-and-space ordeal with flashes of lyrical language and imagery.”

And last but far from least, iTunes/iBooks has chosen HULL as one of its Best Science Fiction & Fantasy titles of the year.

Congratulations Greg! And if you haven’t yet read HULL ZERO THREE (or given it as a Holiday gift), well…

Epic Loot 2: Feed and Deadline Posters

It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away  over the next few weeks.  So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win.

Epic Loot 2: Win Poster-Size Prints of FEED and DEADLINE!

I have been very pleased to hear how much people have been loving the covers for Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire)’s Feed and Deadline. A few people have even asked for posters, how flattering. So today’s Epic Loot is a fancy art print of both covers, to adorn your bedroom, bathroom, secret lab, etc. printed on super glossy art paper. Totally suitable for framing…and thank you to Art Director Kirk Benshoff for modeling them...
UPDATE! This contest is now closed.

If You Meet the Writer On the Road, Say: Keep Writing

Robert Jackson Bennett, who came onto the scene at the start of 2010 with his critically acclaimed debut MR. SHIVERS, and whose next novel THE COMPANY MAN will be published by Orbit in April 2011, has written a guest post at Inkpunks where he addresses every writer’s Greatest Unknown; what they can — and can’t — do in the face of that mystery; and how to accept the existence of that mystery and do the one thing doable: keep writing.

The performance of a book, that figure so desperately desired by so many terrified authors, is a constant moving target. It’s not unlike space travel: you are moving, and your target is moving, and by the time you’ve figured out where your target is then the distance between you has changed hugely.

Go read.

A Deathly Sort of Summer

Managing Death comes out in a few weeks, and it’s the perfect escape from a cold winter. I’ve never known an icy Christmas season, in Australia things are reversed, and heat is the order of the day.

As we head towards Christmas in Brisbane things start to heat up, the air shimmers with heat and humidity as though the sky itself is sweating. Dark clouds build on the horizon in the afternoon and tremendous storms strike the city, cooling everything down, but only briefly. (more…)

Holiday Studies: A Comparison of Elves

Here at Orbit, we are dedicated to the scientific method, always tempered with a healthy dose of sarcastic humor. We are powered by geeks, after all. Thus we will be taking a hard look at the many ways the Holiday Season and SFF overlap, and serving up our findings in lovely visual form for your end-of-year enjoyment. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks… and be sure to keep checking back over the next few weeks to enter our Epic Loot giveaways – the first one is here!

Castings Trilogy

Now for the first time, we’ve collected the books in Pamela Freeman’s Castings Trilogy: Blood Ties, Deep Water, and Full Circle in one volume!  Her follow up to the Castings Trilogy, Ash and Ember, will be published by Orbit in May 2011.

Here is a bit about the omnibus to whet your appetite!

A thousand years ago, the Eleven Domains were invaded and the original inhabitants were driven onto the road as Travelers, belonging nowhere, welcomed by no one.

Now the Domains are governed with an iron fist by the Warlords, but there are wilder elements in the landscape that cannot be controlled and that may prove the Warlords’ undoing. Some are spirits of place – of water and air and fire and earth. Some are greater than these. And some are human. (more…)

N.K. Jemisin Acquisition

I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve acquired the Dreamblood series from N.K. Jemisin.  It will be a two-book series that we’re tentatively titling REAPER and CONQUEROR and publishing in consecutive months in July and August of 2012.

A bit about the story:

In the city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law.  Along its ancient stone streets, where time is marked by the river’s floods, there is no crime or violence.  Within the city’s colored shadows, priests of the dream-goddess harvest the wild power of the sleeping mind as magic, using it to heal, soothe… and kill.

But when corruption blooms at the heart of Gujaareh’s great temple, Ehiru — most famous of the city’s Gatherers — cannot defeat it alone.  With the aid of his cold-eyed apprentice and a beautiful foreign spy, he must thwart a conspiracy whose roots lie in his own past. And to prevent the unleashing of deadly forbidden magic, he must somehow defeat a Gatherer’s most terrifying nemesis:  the Reaper.

N.K. Jemisin is the author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kindoms and the upcoming, Kingdom of Gods (releasing in October 2011).

She’s over at Babel Clash (with Gail Carriger) today and tonight she’ll be on Hour of the Wolf at 1:30 a.m. WBAI 99.5 FM for NYCers, or listen online!