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Rat-a-tat-tat!

Another big award has come and gone, and I’d like to congratulate all the Orbit authors who won or were nominated. It’s great for them because, while being an author is a fabulous line of work, it can also be discouraging. Unless one is in the awards sphere, or one manages to claw his or her way onto one of the increasingly elusive lists, it’s hard to know if you’re really reaching anyone.

Which is why social media rocks. In my new university’s MFA in popular fiction, I’m teaching a course on building author platforms, and we’re talking a lot about social media. One of the things we’ve brought up peripherally is how rewarding it is to interact with fans of our books.

This weekend, I received some lovely letters and messages on Twitter and Facebook. It’s almost impossible for me to express how much these interactions mean for authors like me. I feel very disconnected, sometimes, from my life as a writer. So to see that people are not only reading my books, but really connecting with the issues they contain and really connecting with my characters means the world to me. (more…)

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 4)

So it’s come to this . . . Jeff Somers and Philip Palmer arguing over whose character is better with the laaaaadies.

Again, Philip Palmer has resorted to getting a scientific expert involved – a certain Dr Paul Bostock (according to Phil, a ‘Professor in Protagonism and Genre Conflict at the Heinlein University, Colorado’ – this hasn’t yet been verified).

Ladies – judge for yourself.

(And mind the spoilers if you haven’t read Jeff’s previous 3 books yet!)

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 3)

Since we began releasing the footage showing the incendiary events that occured during the filming of a joint promotional video, Jeff Somers has expressed his sheer outrage over the entire episode, and Philip Palmer has published an official ‘apology’ to Jeff here.

Though we are not proud of what has happened, we have decided to continue to release the footage so that the viewing public may come to their own conclusions about the events. In this video, Philip Palmer lists the many, many ways in which his character Version 43 is superior to Avery Cates. Orbit would like to make clear that it does not endorse the behaviour of either author involved in this incident . . .

Congratulations to Mira Grant and Charles Stross!

On the weekend Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. It was awarded to her for the novel ‘FEED’ at Aussiecon’s Hugo Awards ceremony last Sunday in Melbourne. Charles Stross added another Hugo Award to his collection, winning the Best Novella category for ‘Palimpsest’.

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 1)

Here on Planet Orbit we generally think there’s a pretty good community spirit – both in the office and amongst all our authors out there. But sometimes – just sometimes – those good times go bad. 

Believing Jeff Somers and Philip Palmer to both be “team players” and decent, honourable gentlemen, we thought it might be a good idea to ask them to discuss and compare, in a series of videos, and in a sensible and controlled manner, their newest science fiction titles and their protagonists. But APPARENTLY that wasn’t possible. We’re still going to post the footage – if only to be an example to you all.

Here’s how it all began . . .

Kate Elliott is Back!

I was 13 years old when I first fell head over heels in love with Kate Elliot’s Jaran.  I still remember sitting on the floor of my local library one minute, and being transported to another world the next.  Over the years, I’ve gone back and read the series again and I still love it as much today as I did then.  So it is an absolute privilege and a pleasure for me to welcome Kate Elliott to the Orbit list on both sides of the Atlantic now. (more…)

Grab Your Zombie Today!

Phew! September is a busy month — fighting off Zombies, preventing the zombie Apocalypse, you know, the usual.  But not to worry.  To prep you for the uprising we give you MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES by Jesse Petersen. Yes, run out and buy it now in stores! Before you get eaten!

But in case you’d like to read a bit, we do have a extract for those excited to read. Or you can go ahead and be a fan now. But Jesse also has a contest running on her blog, she’s also running around at the Borders Babel Clash with Mira Grant (Feed).  Once you get hooked, the next book, FLIP THIS ZOMBIE will be out in January 2011!

The book is about two unlikely heroes — a couple on the verge of divorce.  On their way to marriage counseling, they notice a few odd things: a missing guard, a lack of cars on the freeway, and their counselor ripping out the throat of her previous client.

Now it’s up to David and Sarah to work together, save their marriage — and survive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Celine Kiernan and the Moorehawke posts

The Crowded Shadows (UK | US), book two in Celine Kiernan’s Moorehawke trilogy, is officially out in the UK today ( following the US date) and there’s a free extract here. Then in October we’ll release The Rebel Prince (UK | US) in both the UK and US, so the author has a packed few months coming up. But despite this, Celine has kindly said she’ll visit our blog over the next few weeks to say a few words about her work, writing fantasy, wolves and other things not necessarily beginning with ‘w’. Her first post was an insight into illustration, Celine being a classical character animator by trade.

Celine told us that a few years ago she had a shoebox filled with the usual myriad rejection slips that all writers collect. Holding down two jobs with two children, she would secretly write at night. But much hard work later she’s now the proud owner of a finished trilogy with some very shiny covers! She’s also accumulated two nominations for the Irish Book awards and a raft of great reviews for The Poison Throne (UK | US), book 1 of the trilogy:

  • ‘Marvellous, vivid writing, and storytelling at its absolute best . . . I was utterly engrossed’ Roddy Doyle
  • ‘Atmospheric, complex, and intense …  this epic starts strong and doesn’t falter one iota’ Publishers Weekly (starred review)
  • ‘All the ingredients of an international bestseller: political skulduggery, passion, violence, loyalty and betrayal’ Irish Independent
  • ‘Told with great assurance … this is an exciting, fast-paced story’ SFX
  • ‘Kiernan will stun you with her debut … sure to captivate’ Romantic Times
  • ‘A complex and original story… Kiernan has created a world that fascinates’ Bookgeeks.co.uk

So, with further books hitting shelves internationally over the next few months, we’ll look forward to hearing more from the the author over the next few weeks. Watch this space!