Archive for All posts

In Their Own Words: Brent Weeks on THE WAY OF SHADOWS

Brent says:

The Way of ShadowsThe Way of Shadows is going to appeal to readers who love big fantasy stories but get bored the fifth time an author describes a six-course meal or the twenty slashes on a noblewoman’s dress. This story flies. There’s murder, betrayal, magic, and lots of ass-kicking.

But to be honest, a lot of authors can offer that. I think what’s going to keep readers coming back is the deep, surprising characters. Everyone has secrets. Everyone runs into hard choices, and not everyone makes the right choice. Heck, not everyone makes it, period. Cenaria is a city infamous for crime and brutality. It’s the kind of place that makes legendary assassins, so expect some tough stuff – but out of that, expect characters who are very human in how they’ve been touched by or participated in the darkness around them. Expect people looking for redemption and hope. Unusual for an assassin story? Definitely. Do I pull it off? I hope people check it out and judge for themselves.

The Way of Shadows (UK | US | AUS) is out now and you can find it at all good high street and online booksellers. Get an advance taste by reading an extract here.

We’re publishing the next two books, Shadow’s Edge and Beyond the Shadows, in the next two months so keep your eyes peeled for some more ITOW from Brent Weeks very soon . . .

Deals and Deliveries: Marjorie M. Liu acquisition

We are very excited to report that we’ve bought three sharp new urban fantasies by the talented Marjorie M. Liu. These feature an enticingly different slant on the supernatural and we’re starting off in Spring 2010 with The Iron Hunt …

During the day, Maxine’s tattoos are her armour and she is invincible. At night they peel from her skin to take on forms of their own, leaving her human and vulnerable and revealing themselves to be demons sleeping beneath her skin. But these demons are the best friends and bodyguards a woman could have. And Maxine needs bodyguards. She is the last in a line of woman with power in their blood, trained to keep the world safe from malignant beings who would do us harm. But ten thousand years after its creation, the prison dimension that kept the worst of these from us is failing, and all the Wardens save Maxine are dead. She must bear the burden of her bloodline and join the last wild hunt against the enemy.

So, watch this space for more information.

The Company in SFX

The CompanyK.J. Parker‘s fantastic new novel, The Company (UK/US) is out now and getting some great reviews. One of our favourites has been in this month’s SFX, on newsstands tomorrow, which describes it as:

‘Tightly written and hugely satisfying, it’s the equivalent of a four-course banquet packed into one book, and takes a long look at the kind of characters who populate your typical blood-and-thunder swordplay epic, unearthing some uncomfortable truths as a result.’

‘…A dark, bleak and fiercely intelligent portrait of the human condition, and the way that some soldiers never truly stop fighting their wars’

and

‘…Well-crafted, powerful and downright unmissable’

We couldn’t agree more.

Orbit Links for October 17th 2008

Welcome once again to our weekly round-up of links to various bits of Orbit Author-related online activity that we’ve spotted over the course of the past week:

As always, if you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)

Stan Nicholls on the David Gemmell Legend Award

If you’ve been reading the major blogs and genre fiction news sites recently then you’ve surely heard about the launch earlier this year of The David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy.

Here at Orbit we’re delighted that David Gemmell’s memory – and his truly massive contribution to the development of fantasy fiction before his tragic and untimely death in 2006 – is being honoured by the launch of this new award, which, in the words of the introduction on the award website “will be given to a work written in the ‘spirit’ of the late, great David Gemmell, a true Master of Heroic Fantasy.”

Stan Nicholls (author of Orcs, which we published recently in the US) is a member of the initial steering committee that came together to establish the award. So we thought he’d be an ideal person to tell us how the award came about, and how its unique processes and mechanism will hopefully result in a genuine, all-round winner of the very highest quality being named when the first award is presented, next June.

(more…)

Tad Williams announces Otherland MMORPG

Otherland by Tad Williams - UK paperbackTad Williams has officially announced that his massive and magnificent Otherland series is being developed as a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG).

In Tad’s words:

It’s being made by RealU in Singapore, published by dtp entertainment, and it’s a major project. The entire Singapore studio is devoted solely to the game, and they’re approaching eighty employees. More importantly, though, they’re doing a beautiful, fascinating job, not just duplicating or doing a pastiche of the books, but trying to take what is original and interesting in the work and opening it out into an entirely new realm, the MMORPG. Into the virtual world, that is, and what could be more appropriate for Otherland?

You can read the announcement in detail on Tad’s blog at www.tadwilliams.com and see him talk about the project in a video interview at www.mmorpg.com.

It sounds, from the interview in particular, as though Otherland the MMORPG will be a highly original take on the online roleplaying concept, one that puts the key element of interactive story-telling right at the heart of the gaming experience. Pre-order those virtual-reality goggles now…

Iain Banks Q and A III now online

The one and only Iain [M] Banks has been delving into the e-postbag once more, to answer another selection of questions from fans and readers, over at his official website, www.iain-banks.net.

Topics discussed in this session include the killing of characters, happy endings, Walking on Glass, the existence (or otherwise) of godlike beings, the potential (or otherwise) for the development of a technological singularity, The Wasp Factory and living in the UK (rather than The Culture…)

You can also catch up with his two previous Q and A sessions, which were posted back in July and August.

In Their Own Words: Kelley Armstrong on PERSONAL DEMON

Kelley says:

Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong - UK paperbackThis is book eight in my Otherworld series and, with it, I decided to shake things up. So far, the series has been moving along nicely as I explore different corners of it. Now it’s time for action. Time for changes. Time to jumpstart the Cortez Cabal plot thread I’ve been playing with since book three, Dime Store Magic.

Lucas Cortez is one of the narrators of Personal Demon, and the Cabal story is his. But the star of the book is half-demon Hope Adams, a character I created for a novella (Chaotic in Dates from Hell) Hope is my most ‘human’ supernatural protagonist, and my most conflicted. She’s joined here by Karl Marsten – the ‘bad guy I couldn’t kill’ from Bitten. I won’t say I’ve redeemed Karl, but here he gets a chance to tell his side of the story.

The paperback edition of Kelley Armstrong‘s Personal Demon is published by Orbit in the UK and is available now from all good bookstores and online retailers. Kelley’s brand new Otherworld novel, Living With the Dead will be published by Orbit in hardback early next month, so keep an eye out for another ITOW piece from Kelley in a few weeks’ time.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Kelley’s official website at www.kelleyarmstrong.com for tonnes of background information on her Otherworld series, including a number of serialised novellas and short stories set in the same world that haven’t been published elsewhere… just yet.

In Their Own Words: Shaun Hutson on UNMARKED GRAVES and BODY COUNT

On the subject of Unmarked Graves, Shaun says:

Unmarked Graves by Shaun Hutson - UK paperbackThe only reason to write a book is to entertain. I’ve believed that for twenty five years and I still do. However, if you can frighten the hell out of readers while you’re entertaining them then that’s even better. Unmarked Graves is designed to do both. I also wanted to do a book that, in these days of political correctness gone mad, challenged people’s views of something as contentious as race relations and racism. I wanted to mix this up with what looks like a traditional horror and crime story and then, as I always do, give it a twist. All of it done at the usual breakneck pace that’s become something of a trade mark for me. I loved the old Hammer films of the 60’s so this is a kind of homage to them but with a modern day angle.

Anyone who’s read my other books will know what to expect. Anyone who’s never read one will be faced with the kind of book they’ve never encountered before. It isn’t cosy. It isn’t predictable. It may offend you. It might even disgust you. It will frighten you. But the only guarantee I make is that it will entertain you.

And about Body Count, Shaun says:

Body Count by Shaun Hutson, UK paperbackI get sick of the kind of clichéd characters who populate horror and fantasy novels so I always try to write about real people with real problems. Something that’ll be identifiable to the readers. Body Count contains people like this. All coping with their own trials and tribulations but caught up in something beyond their control. The violence was also included so graphically because I find violence repulsive and the only way to illustrate this is to show it in detail. If anyone finds the violence or sex offensive then that’s unfortunate but ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away. This is a novel about hate and fury and it’s also, quite possibly, the most violent thing I’ve written for ten years.

It’s fast paced, disturbing and it covers issues that are very close to my heart. That’s one of the reasons I wrote it. I always think that something close to the writer make for a better book. It gives you the chance to play out your own worst fears and nightmares from the safety of your armchair. It’s just that, with my books, the nightmares tend to start after you’ve finished reading them…

Shaun Hutson’s brand new novel of terror and suspense, Body Count, is out now from Orbit in the UK. The Orbit paperback edition of his previous novel, Unmarked Graves is likewise available in the UK from all good bookstores and online retailers.

Find out everything you ever wanted to know about Shaun Hutson at his official website, www.shaunhutson.com.

Orbit Links for October 10th 2008

Welcome once again to our weekly Orbit Author links round-up.

As always, if you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)