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New Urban Fantasy Debut: TEMPEST RISING!

Another great urban fantasy debut!

Peeler_Tempest Rising (MM)

TEMPEST RISING is the story of Jane True, outcast, night swimmer, and half-selkie. It’s a fabulous world full of characters straight out of myth, from rock gnomes that bag groceries to a sea pony named Trill. What made this one really stand out for me was the fact that Jane True  didn’t live in big urban city, but in a small town off the coast of Maine.  The big attraction there? The Old Sow, a whirlpool that once in a while throws out something interesting. Like a dead body.  Which is how Jane True discovers — and is dragged into—a world of supernaturals that she didn’t even know existed in her small and sleepy town.

Peeler_Tracking Tempest (MM)

Coincidentally, the author, Nicole Peeler, works in Shreveport – and her writing did remind me of a certain waitress from that part of the county.

Nicole has a bunch of links on her website, including a post she did for John Scalzi’s The Big Idea Blog, excerpts from the book, and, of course, the obligatory photos of cats enjoying the book.

Check it out this week in bookstores everywhere. Oh, and I should also tell you that #2, Tracking the Tempest, will be out next July for your reading pleasure.

Cover Launch: STEALING FIRE

Graham_Stealing Fire (TP)Stealing Fire is another great historical fantasy novel from Jo Graham and another beautiful painting from John Jude Palencar.

Black Ships and Hand of Isis were some of the first books I read from Orbit when I joined the team here, and they’re books I still press into people’s hands when they come to visit the office. They’re really well-written books in the vein of Mists of Avalon and I can’t give higher praise than that, people. The books are not quite a series in that you can read them in any order, and they don’t follow each other chronologically. However they are tied together by the characters and I won’t say more than that because I don’t want to give it away. (more…)

Double Cover Launch: GRIFFIN MAGE TRILOGY

Neumeier_Lord Changing Winds (MM) Neumeier_Land Burning Sands (MM)Today, lucky readers, I have not one but TWO covers to launch: Lord of the Changing Winds and The Land of Burning Sands by Rachel Neumeier, Books I & II of the Griffin Mage Trilogy. I am launching them together because they are releasing back to back in May and June 2010, and the final book will be out in December 2010. (We know you guys love it when we do a quick publishing schedule so you can get the whole epic, right? We’re geeks too, we know waiting for book 2 is the worst.)

Anyway, back to the books. The author has a fresh take on griffins, much more raw, and dangerous than the traditional fantasy griffins — and I wanted that to show through in the covers. These griffins are animal creatures first, and I think that’s never been explored before, so I have focused on those details of the griffins, and then just added touches of the story – in the first book you can just see the reflection of Kes in the griffin’s eye, and then in the second book you can see the role the desert will play. (more…)

Bite Marks is out!

And just in time for Halloween….

Rardin_Bite Marks (TP)

I’m very excited to tell you that Bite Marks is out today! Yeah! This is Jaz Park’s newest adventure. And this time, she’s in a bit deeper than before with gnomes trying to bring down NASA and a demon bent on dragging a friend’s soul to hell.  But to top it off, she’s also hearing voices in her head – and they’re not all hers.

It’s a wild ride. I hope you’re as excited as I am to check this book out in the bookstores. And I’m over the moon because the next book just delivered into my greedy wittle hands! Which you’ll be seeing next fall…

And be sure to check out Jennifer’s post on “The Ick Factor.”

The Day After Tomorrow

One of the things that intrigues me as a writer is the question: “And then what happened?”

That’s one reason why I’m so excited to be writing The Fallen Kings Cycle for Orbit, carrying my characters and world from The Chronicles of the Necromancer into all-new adventures. It gives me the chance to ask, and answer, my favorite question and to share that answer with readers.
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Cover Launch: THE UNIT

OR-001 Unit cover artThe Unit by Terry DeHart has a pretty straightforward concept: it’s about a family fighting to survive the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. It’s a very violent, gritty book, and it reads like an action movie, so we wanted to give the cover a very cinematic look. The “Unit” of the title is a bit of a play on words, as it’s a family unit that must turn itself into a military unit in order to survive. I could go on about the “nuclear” family having to face “nuclear” holocaust but then you’d all groan and go read someone else’s blog post here. (sorry, couldn’t resist)

The cover is a collaboration between the fabulous designer Chad Roberts and myself. He really gets all the credit for establishing the look and typography, but the original had more graphic, as opposed to photographic, figures of the family. After the final manuscript came in we realized the book was a little more gritty than the graphic look communicated, so yours truly took the template for the characters Chad had designed and found more realistic images we could then backlight and do fancy photoshop magic on to make them look like they were totally all standing together in front of a big fireball waiting to spring into action. (A.K.A. “Designer Magic”)

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What Happens This Week? What Happened Last?

This week please look forward to a debut post by new Orbit author Gail Z. Martin on the eternal question of “And Then What Happened?” as well as new missives from A.Lee Rodriguez, ongoing updates by Robert Jackson Bennett on those strange doings in his neighborhood, and as much new Orbit info as we can bring you.

And in case you had your eye elsewhere last week, here’s our weekly roundup:

A. Lee Martinez, author of MONSTER on — monsters;

Robert Jackson Bennett, author of the forthcoming MR.SHIVERS (January), on what happens when the doors of perception open up a little too close to home;

Orbit Creative Director Lauren Panepinto presented the covers of THE GASLIGHT DOGS and FEED for your delectation;

Philip Palmer, author of RED CLAW (whose debut was noted at Sci-Fi London) made a strong case for why today and not yesterday is the Golden Age of Science Fiction;

And Nicole Peeler (TEMPEST RISING) gave you five reasons selkies are hotter than vampires. Her commenters wasted no time, contributing to the discussion.

Philip Palmer at Sci-Fi-London’s Oktoberfest tonight …

Sci-Fi-London are putting on a fascinating programme of events this weekend at their own special brand of Oktoberfest. And Philip Palmer will be adding to its fascinating-ness, as he is taking part in their keynote debate A Space of Waste tonight, along with other notable genre authors and experts.

The debate promises to be lively and will take the form of a panel discussion on whether science fiction authors are wasting their time writing about interplanetary travel, space colonisation and the spread of mankind across the universe (…certainly not, we bridle in indignation!) given everything science has taught us about the realities, possibilities and costs of doing so. They will discuss whether science fiction should be more concerned with what’s happening right here and now on Earth such climate change, global pandemics and population growth or is space-based science fiction always going to be relevant just because people love good stories.

As recently reported here, Philip Palmer’s fabulous Red Claw is out this month, so the subject will be particularly close to his heart right now!