Archive for Ebooks

BITTER SEEDS – a classified report

C L A S S I F I E DThe briliant debut novel BITTER SEEDS from Ian Tregillis - a supernatural alternate history of World War II where British Warlocks combat Nazi superhumans   I N F O R M A T I O N

YEAR: 1939.                 PROJECT: Milkweed

Raybould Marsh and other members of British Intelligence recently seized a damaged reel of film from enemy territory.

It appears to show German troops walking through walls, bursting into flames and hurling tanks into the air from afar.

This film, along with other classified reports, confirms our worst fears: that a Nazi scientist has been endowing German troops with unnatural, unstoppable powers.

British Intelligence may be forced to resort to our own dark methods to hold the impending invasion at bay.

– – – End of report – – –

Bitter Seeds (UK | ANZ), the phenomenal debut novel from Ian Tregillis, is released today. Read an extract here.

A major talent . . . I can’t wait to see more’ George R. R. Martin 

Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank  you . . . A white-knuckle plot, beautiful  descriptions, and complex  characters Cory Doctorow

Remarkable . . . A confident and thrilling debutSFX Magazine

Just superb Fantasy Book Critic

‘Tregillis delivers a dynamite first novel in Bitter Seeds’ SFRevu

Nothing short of an awesome read as far as I’m concerned’ Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review

‘Easily one of the most impressive debut works I’ve read Bookworm Blues

Look inside the art for the Gail Carriger iPhone App!

You’d think I’d be happy (and quite busy enough) worrying over the Orbit bookcovers, but I’m one of those designers that wants to try her hand at everything. Websites, branding, invites, and now, apps! I love working with Orbit because I really do get a chance to be there for the beginning of a project and say “hey, I can totally design an author app” and they believe me! Of course, then I need to go back to my desk and figure out how to actually do it, but that’s the fun part. And let me tell you, I had a hell of a lot of fun with this one.

It certainly wasn’t cool enough to have an author app that was just about books and excerpts (which, of course, are awesome, and included), we wanted to make a cool functional app that the fans of The Parasol Protectorate series (and any steampunk fans, really) would love and use everyday. So after brainstorming a lot of ideas, we came up with the idea of doing a super intricate interactive clock app that has the functionality of the standard apple clock, but is way way cooler. A Steampunk clock app.

As you can see in the screenshots below, we’ve got 3 clock skins: A Mechanical Clock with cool brass cogs and gears (and rotating cephalopods), a  Steam-Powered Clock run by octopus power, and (my personal fave) a Tea Time Clock with drag-able teabags and spoons that develop your custom cup of tea, while letting you set a Tea Timer!

It’s free to and live now in the apple store, so go download and enjoy now!

 

How to become a superhero

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillia, an alternative history of World War II featuring superhuman Nazis and British WarlocksHow does one create a superhero? Movies such as The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man make it look straightforward, if not exactly easy. Hollywood would have us believe superpowers aren’t all that unusual. Perhaps I’m a skeptic, but I sometimes wonder if the difficulties in become superhuman aren’t underestimated just a bit.

After all, you can’t plan for a freak accident. You can’t plan on being bitten by a special arachnid, as was Spider-Man. You can’t plan to accidentally survive a massive dose of gamma radiation, like the Hulk. You can’t plan to be born of Asgard, like Thor. Most of us will never have the opportunity to volunteer for an experimental super-soldier program, as did Captain America.

But what about the self-made superheroes? Those who deliberately transcend their limitations, using technology and (frankly) vast piles of money? Well, as much as I’d like to become Iron Man, I’m not a supergenius billionaire industrialist with massive technological resources at my disposal. What about Batman? I’m out of luck there, too, because I’m not a reclusive borderline-sociopath multi-millionaire with the peak physical conditioning of a dozen Olympic athletes combined. It’s safe to say these paths are closed off to most people.

So what to do if you’re cash-strapped but can’t rely upon serendipity to do the hard work? (more…)

First contact with alien life . . . how will the world react?

David Brin's new science fiction novel EXISTENCE, about first contact with alien lifeDavid Brins upcoming science fiction novel EXISTENCE (UK |ANZ) centres around the discovery of an alien artifact floating high in Earth’s Orbit. It also boldly suggests that our continued existence was never a given. So we wanted to ask, what could First Contact mean for mankind? Are we on a tipping point? Read on for a collection of short excerpts from the book – and see this instance of First Contact from multiple angles . . .

In all of human history, only a few cultures ever managed to guide themselves across such a transition after making contact with superior outsiders, without first passing through long generations of intimidation and victimhood. Or tearing themselves apart . . .

 THE MOMENT OF DISCOVERY

Gerald Livingstone is a galactic garbage trawler, clearing up the residue of mankind’s now long-forgotten forays into the galaxy. The strangely alien artifact he stumbles across calls to him subliminally . . .

Could this really be a messenger from some alien civilization?

Bare fingertips hovered over the translucent surface, causing ripples to flow, as if preparing to meet him at the point of contact. Whatever lay within . . . it somehow knew. It sensed the nearness of living flesh.

What if it really is alien? And dangerous?

He couldn’t help suddenly imagining the oblong ovoid — gripped between his thighs — as something out of science fiction. A cuckoo’s egg. Perhaps a Trojan Horse. “Contamination” could work both ways. Might it be a terrible mistake to touch the thing? (more…)

Assassins, dreamworlds and a plague of nightmares: welcome to THE SHADOWED SUN

The fantasy novel THE SHADOWED SUN by the multilple-award winning N. K Jemisin - featuring assassins, dreamworlds and a plague of nightmaresThere are books that come along that I don’t just thoroughly enjoy, but that I feel intensely, overwhelmingly privileged to work on. THE SHADOWED SUN is one of those novels.

I don’t need to tell everyone what a stunning high fantasy writer N. K. Jemisin is. Her talents are already widely acknowledged, given that her debut novel THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS (UK | USANZ) was nominated for pretty much every fantasy award out there.

But even so, I underestimated just how utterly captivated I would be by THE KILLING MOON (UK | US | ANZ) and THE SHADOWED SUN (UK | US | ANZ ), books 1 and 2 in the Dreamblood duology. I didn’t think anything could top the Inheritance novels, but if it’s possible I was even more intoxicated. I09 seemed to agree when they said:

The Dreamblood duology is sure to cement Jemisin’s place as one of the most exciting and innovative new fantasy authors of recent years.

There’s something beautifully poetic about a little girl’s dreams becoming a plague upon a city.

Both novels in the Dreamblood duology are based around a religion of dreaming. It’s a dual world, where the realm of dreams is as real a place as the realm of waking. Where a soul that wonders in the dreamworld can find peace or be lost to ever-lasting torment.

In the city of Gujaareh, the priests of the dream goddess are able to harness the magic of the sleeping mind. These priests are both revered and feared, as they can use this gathered magic to either to heal . . . or kill those judged corrupt. And they move silently across the rooftops of the city at night to administer the chosen judgements. (more…)

How will the world end? Some thoughts from 2050 . . .

Existence, a new novel of our future from the award-winning science fiction author David Brin, author of the Uplift novels, EARTH, and THE POSTMANIn the year 2050, will we still be fretting over the end of the world? A dark bit of quasi-fictional non-fiction . . . and some between-chapter excerpts from the upcoming science fiction novel EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ).

A Myriad Paths of Entropy

Does the universe hate us? How many pitfalls lie ahead, waiting to shred our conceited molecule-clusters back into unthinking dust? Shall we count them? Today, our means of self-destruction seem myriad – though we at Pandora’s Cornucopia will try to list them all! So adjust your AI-ware, your im-VR-sive wraparounds, your omnivision eyeptics and dive right in.

At one level, none of this is new. Men and women always felt besieged. By monsters prowling the darkness. By their oppressive rulers, or violent neighbors, or capricious gods. Yet, didn’t they most often blame themselves? Bad times were viewed as punishment, brought on by wrong behavior. By unwise belief.

We modern folk snort at the superstitions of our ancestors. We know they could never really wreck the world, but we can! Zeus or Moloch could not match the destructive power of a nuclear missile exchange, or a dusting of plague bacilli, or some ecological travesty, or ruinous mismanagement of the intricate aiconomy.

Oh, we’re mighty. But are we so different from our forebears? (more…)

David Brin on EXISTENCE, Google’s Project Glass and the transformative power of science fiction

Cover for the near-future science fiction novel EXISTENCE by David Brin, author of the Uplift novels - with a limited-edition 3D coverAt the end of last year, we here at Orbit received a very exciting treat in our inboxes . . . a new manuscript from the critically acclaimed David Brin.

Author of the classic UPLIFT series, EARTH and THE POSTMAN (made into a major motion picture), he’s widely lauded not just for writing thrillingly addictive science fiction, but also for his track record for accurately predicting the future within his novels.

It’s been ten years since the release of David’s last book, so the arrival of the manuscript for EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ) really was quite an event. And it’s no exaggeration to say that this could well be his pièce de resistance.

It’s an edge-of-your-seat novel of the near-future, where discovery of an alien artefact throws the world into chaos. The absolute compelling nature of this book, and the sheer breadth and brilliance of the ideas expressed within it made me want to find out more about David’s thought processes behind it (beyond the usual questions I’d ask as part of our author/editor relationship!). Read on for an insight into what lead to its creation . . .

David Brin, author of the near-future science fiction novel EXISTENCE - credit Cheryl Brigham
David Brin - photo by Cheryl Brigham

AG: Despite your incredible success as a writer, you’ve mentioned elsewhere that being an author wasn’t your first career of choice. Tell us more?

DB: Writing was the first truly verifiable, repeatable and effective form of magic. Picture how it must have impressed ancient people to look at marks – on papyrus or clay – and know they conveyed the words of scribes and kings long dead. Knowledge, wisdom and art could finally accumulate, and death was robbed some of its sting. Writing still is magical. To create strings of black squiggles that millions of others can skillfully de-code with just their eyes – into emotions and thoughts, or the struggles of believable characters.

Still, every culture had storytellers. I was drawn toward a much newer kind of profession, that only gained real momentum the last few generations. Science. A shared endeavor to find out what is true, despite our preconceptions.  Wow, that too is amazing! And I managed to contribute a few new bits of knowledge.

Still, when a chance came along to combine the two? Who wouldn’t grab such an opportunity?

AG: It’s been almost a decade since the release of your last novel. Have scientific developments over the last 10 years forced you at all to reassess the vision of the future you’ve held in previous books?

DB: Well of course. But remember, good science fiction isn’t about any static view. It should offer thought experiments about change.  How it transforms real societies and realistic characters.  Change has been the one, great constant of modernity and its rate is accelerating.  Many of our social and political squabbles spiral around this one fact. A lot of folks don’t like the staccato pace of disruptions and new ideas, even good ones. 

But if we don’t poke ahead, peering into the fog, how will we ever find our way?  (more…)

Epic fantasy fans rejoice – more Terry Brooks ebooks now available!

The classic epic fantasy title The Sword of Shannara by bestselling author Terry Brooks - now available as an ebook
The Sword of Shannara - ebook now available

Great news for all Terry Brooks and fantasy fans! We had previously already released a whole host of Terry Brooks titles as ebooks . . . but this week Orbit UK has released even more, meaning that all of the books listed below are now available to download for your digital pleasure.

And we’re sure that many people will be interested to hear that featuring among their ranks is Terry’s classic The Sword of Shannara (UK | ANZ) – this year celebrating its 35th anniversary of publication.

Devices at the ready! Feast your eyes on the list of digital delights that are available below . . .

(more…)