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Author Tweets

If you’ve ever wondered what’s going on in an author’s head, you can get a sense of it by following them on twitter. Here, Jeff Somers waxes eloquent on technology.

See more author tweets after the jump, and click any of them to follow on twitter yourself!
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Deals and Deliveries: Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series – plus cover art news!

On the subject of the talented Jim Butcher, we’ve just acquired the last two books in his traditional fantasy series.

The Codex Alera sequence is set in a colourful Roman-esque world, where Alerans fight against the aggressive races that inhabit this world and against each other, helped by their unique bonds with elemental creatures of fire, water, earth and air. It’s a brutal land at times, the action being set against a background of ambition and power as the First Lord of Alera grows old and lacks an heir. Noble houses manoeuvre to place their people in influential positions, and a war of succession looms on the horizon.

Princep’s Fury (book 5) will appear in the UK in December 2009 and First Lord’s Fury (book 6) will be out in May 2010.

And as a reminder, the first four books will appear in Orbit from May this year. There’s plenty of drama to come and click here for more on book one, plus see the fantastic cover art here!

Furies of Calderon - Codex Alera bk1Academ's Fury - Codex Alera bk2
Cursor's Fury - Codex Alera bk3Captain's Fury - Codex Alera bk4

The Magician’s Apprentice – Trudi Canavan’s Australian Event Details

The Magician's Apprentice

The Magician’s Apprentice is Trudi Canavan‘s latest novel, and is a prequel to her bestselling Black Magician Trilogy. Trudi is visiting both Canberra and Sydney next week for book signings, so be sure you don’t miss out on meeting Australia’s highest selling speculative fiction author!

CANBERRA
Tuesday 3 March
5.00 – 6.00 p.m.
Gaslight Books
Unit 10, 83 Wollongong Street
Fyshwick ACT 2609

SYDNEY
Thursday 5 March
5.30 p.m.
Gaslight Books
143 York Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Please contact the bookstores for more information on these signings and don’t forget to check with them before you travel, in case of last-minute alterations.

More Dresden Files by Jim Butcher – Turn Coat extract

To get you in the mood for the next eagerly-awaited instalment of the Dresden Files, we thought we’d pass on a few sample chapters of Turn Coat, out in hardback in April.

In this latest outing for Harry Dresden, professional wizard, Harry is placed in the unlikely position of helping his long-time nemesis Morgan. This is a man with “hard, steady eyes, and all the comforting, reassuring charm of a dental drill” and all he wants is for Harry to clear his name and save his life. But one false step could spell disaster for Chicago’s leading freelance wizard-for-hire. Needless to say, this is action-packed, completely un-put-downable and contains all the hallmarks of a top-notch urban-fantasy noir.

The summer sun was busy broiling the asphalt from Chicago’s streets, the agony in my head had kept me horizontal for half a day, and some idiot was pounding on my apartment door.

I answered it and Morgan, half his face covered in blood, gasped, “The Wardens are coming. Hide me. Please.”

His eyes rolled back into his skull and he collapsed.

Oh.

Super.

Up until that moment, I’d been labouring under the misapprehension that the splitting pain in my skull would be the worst thing to happen to me today.

I’d been completely wrong.

Read the full extract here.

Deals and Deliveries: new Runelords novels by David Farland

The Sum of All MenWe have just bought two new books in David Farland’s fabulously imaginative Runelords series, which began with The Sum of all Men. Berserker (Runelords book eight) and Runelords book nine continue the story of a world that was torn into damaged shadows of itself in ages past, creating a multitude of worlds all corrupted by darkness. Fallion, a powerful flameweaver, is trying to banish evils from his world by uniting these broken pieces. But the healing goes badly wrong. Instead of a harmonious binding of many lands, only two worlds are merged, with the greatest ills of each vying for supremacy. Now monstrous beasts known as wyrmlings haunt the nightmares of men.

We plan to publish Berserker in September 2010, and you can catch up on all previous Runelords books by clicking here.

Orbit UK schedule update: April 2009

We’ve updated the Orbit UK Schedule page with details of our forthcoming titles for April 2009. The following Orbit books will be available from all good bookstores – high street and online alike – round about April 2nd:

  • A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin – Matthew Swift… murdered, resurrected, angry. A sorceror in life and now… something more? A tale of London’s seedy magical under-belly; one that’s sure to appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman, China Miéville or Mike Carey’s brand of dark, urban fantasy noir.
  • Turn Coat by Jim Butcher – In the latest instalment of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Harry Dresden is in trouble up to his neck as an old adversary turns to him for help: to clear his name and to save his life. But one false step could spell disaster for Chicago’s leading freelance wizard-for-hire.
  • The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod – A priest is murdered in Edinburgh: is this the first sign of a religious rebellion that’s about to sweep a world still trying to forget the dark days of The Faith Wars? A thought-provoking, near-future thriller from the author of The Execution Channel.
  • Bloodheir by Brian Ruckley – The war between the Black Road and the True Blood clans is escalating as invading forces sweep down from the far north. But darker powers are growing and gaining influence in the second instalment of Brian Ruckley’s debut fantasy saga, The Godless World.
  • Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells – Brand new urban fantasy from debut author Jaye Wells. In a world where being of mixed-blood is a major liability, Sabina doesn’t really fit in. And being an assassin – the only profession fit for an outcast – doesn’t help matters. But she’s never brought her work home. Until now …

You can also see a preview of Orbit UK’s March 2009 titles, or you can check out our UK publishing schedule for February to April 2009.

New York Comicon!

Orbit will be at New York Comicon this weekend at booth #1921. Stop by and have a gander at some of our upcoming titles. And keep an eye out for Jeff Somers, who will be speaking, twittering, video-ing, and signing copies of The Electric Church and The Digital Plague.

Friday 2/6, 3pm: Jeff Somers signing at the Orbit booth. (Jeff explains: “Swing by and I’ll sign anything you want, even body parts. Well, most body parts.”)

Saturday 2/7, 1:30pm: Sci-Fi, Supernatural and Fantasy Authors Round Table, followed by a book signing and giveaway with Jeff Somers in the Autograph area.