Archive for News

Acquisition Announcement: The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft

Orbit is thrilled to announce the acquisition of a brand new series from author Josiah Bancroft, the brilliant mind behind Senlin Ascends and The Books of Babel, the phenomenon fantasy series described as “future classics” (Los Angeles Times).

The Hexologists introduces us to a new world and the dynamic duo of Hexologists Iz and Warren Wilby: two private investigators who solve magical problems with magical solutions. While their usual quests are never more alarming than the occasional incubi infestation or mournful ghost haunting, their latest mission has given them an impossible task: save the king himself.

While you eagerly await the arrival of this newest arcane mystery series, you can find out more about Josiah Bancroft at his website thebooksofbabel.com.

For an early peek at Iz and Warren’s first adventure, read on!

Iz and Warren Wilby are quite accustomed to helping desperate clients with the bugbears of city life. Aided by hexes and a bag of charmed relics, the Wilbies have recovered children abducted by chimney-wraiths, removed infestations of barb-nosed incubi, and ventured into the Gray Plains of the Unmade to soothe a troubled ghost. Well-acquainted with the weird, the Hexologists never shy away from a challenging case.

But when they are approached by the royal secretary and told the king pleads to be baked into a cake—going so far as to wedge himself inside a lit oven—the Wilbies soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery that could very well see the nation turned on its head. Their effort to expose a royal secret buried under forty years of lies brings them nose to nose with a violent antiroyalist gang, avaricious ghouls, alchemists who draw their power from a hell-like dimension, and a bookish dragon who only occasionally eats people.

Armed with a love toughened by adversity and a stick of chalk that can conjure light from the darkness, hope from the hopeless, Iz and Warren Wilby are ready for whatever springs from the alleys, graves, and shadows next.

 

Orbit US editor Bradley Englert acquired World English rights to the books from Ian Drury of Sheil Land Associates. Orbit UK editor Emily Byron has secured UK rights.

The Book of Gothel is now available for pre-order!

We are so thrilled to announce that Mary McMyne’s beautiful, gothic debut is available for pre-order now from your favorite retailer (US | UK)! With witchy, romantic vibes and a rich, historical setting, The Book of Gothel is an exquisite re-imagining of Rapunzel, as told by the story’s oft-maligned villain.

Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

Acquisition Announcement: Hannah Whitten’s THE FOXGLOVE KING

Hannah Whitten’s debut novel FOR THE WOLF was a smash hit, instantly launching her onto the New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller lists. Her fans adore her lush writing, dark magic, smoldering love interests and indomitable heroines. And Orbit is thrilled to announce that we’ve just signed up a brand new series with her. This new epic fantasy trilogy, starting with THE FOXGLOVE KING, is a glittering, gothic tale of a young woman from the streets who suddenly finds herself swept up into a world of courtly intrigue, forbidden romance, and the dangerous death magic of Mortem. Get ready!!

When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.

Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.

Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.

But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.

 

If you haven’t checked out FOR THE WOLF yet, what are you waiting for?! Grab a copy today: US | UK

Acquisition Announcement: THE STARS UNDYING by Emery Robin

In the first year of the Thirty-Third Dynasty, when He came to the planet where I was born and made of it a wasteland for glory’s sake, my ten-times-great grandfather’s king and lover Alekso Undying built on the ruins of the gods who had lived before Him Alectelo, the City of Endless Pearl, the Bride of Szayet, the Star of the Swordbelt Arm, the Ever-Living God’s Empty Grave.

He caught fever and filled that grave, ten months later. You can’t believe in names.

 

Clear your schedules—THE STARS UNDYING is about to be your new obsession.

Orbit is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Emery Robin’s stunning space opera debut and its sequel, which recasts the fates of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony among the stars. Perfect for fans of Ancillary Justice and A Memory Called Empire, this is space opera by way of Madeline Miller—timeless, epic, and completely enthralling.

Set in a world of sunken cities and sweeping starscapes, THE STARS UNDYING tells the story of Altragracia Patramata, a usurped princess and prophet determined to reclaim her throne at any cost. But when her path collides with that of ambitious commander Matheus Ceilha (and his beautiful but volatile lieutenant, Anita), she’s quickly torn between an alliance that fast becomes more than political and the wishes of the god—or machine—that whispers in her ear. To save her world, and herself, she’ll have to become a queen as history has never seen before—even if it breaks an empire.

We can’t wait to bring you THE STARS UNDYING next year—in the meantime, please join us in welcoming Emery Robin to Orbit! Follow along for updates on Twitter at @emwrobin.

 

Angeline Rodriguez acquired World English rights at auction from Isabel Kaufman at Fox Literary. Orbit UK editor Jenni Hill has secured UK rights.

Acquisition Announcement: SOME DESPERATE GLORY by Emily Tesh

Orbit UK is  delighted to announce the acquisition of  World Fantasy Award-Winning author Emily Tesh’s highly anticipated debut novel, SOME DESPERATE GLORY. A thrillingly told queer space opera full of complex characters and boundless imagination. By turns epic and intimate, it’s coming-of-age story about what empires and systems of war do to the young soldiers in their care. It’s about overcoming indoctrination and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you.

Read on for a taste of what’s in store:

Kyr lives in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, training for the day she can avenge the destruction of planet Earth at the hands of the all-powerful, reality-shifting weapon known as the Wisdom. She trusts and even loves Command, but when they assign the wrong missions – her beloved brother Magnus to a useless suicide and her to bear sons until she dies trying – she knows she has to take humanity’s revenge into her own hands.

But she soon learns that not everything she’s been raised to believe is true and the Wisdom is far more complex and dangerous than she could ever have imagined.

 

Emily Tesh, a two-time Astounding Award finalist, is the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Greenhollow Duology. She grew up in London and studied Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by a Master’s degree in Humanities at the University of Chicago. She now lives in Hertfordshire, where she passes her time teaching Latin and Ancient Greek to schoolchildren who have done nothing to deserve it. She has a husband and a cat. Neither of them knows any Latin yet, but it is not for lack of trying.

We can’t wait to share Some Desperate Glory with you next year! In the meantime, please join us in welcoming Emily to Orbit. You can find her on Instagram and at emilytesh.net.

Acquisition Announcement: THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY by Megan Bannen

Get ready for your guaranteed most delightful read of 2022! Orbit is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Megan Bannen’s  adult debut, THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY. Princess Bride meets You’ve Got Mail in this enchantingly quirky, completely refreshing fantasy with a rom-com-worthy premise, perfect for readers of The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Invisible Library. Set in a world equally full of magic and demigods as it is donuts and small-town drama, this utterly unique fantasy is sure to sweep you off your feet.

Hart Ralston is a demigod and a marshal, tasked with patrolling the wasteland of Tanria. The realm the exiled old gods once called home is now a forsaken place where humans with no better options or no better sense come seeking adventure or spoils, but more often end up as drudges: reanimated corpses inhabited by the souls of those who’ve died in Tanria before. Hart tells himself that his job is simple: neutralize the drudges with a quick zap to the appendix and deliver them back to polite society at the nearest undertaker’s, leaving the whys and hows of the drudge problem for men without the complexities of a god in their family tree. But working alone, Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder exactly those questions he’d most like to avoid.

Too much time alone is the opposite of Mercy Birdsall’s problem. Since her father’s decline, she’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son undertakers afloat in small-town Eternity—despite definitely not being a son, and in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart Ralston, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest. The work’s not the problem—Mercy’s good at it, better than any other Birdsall—but keeping all her family’s plates spinning singlehandedly, forever, isn’t how Mercy envisioned her future.

After yet another run-in with the sharp-tongued Mercy, Hart considers she might have a point about his utter loneliness being a bit of a liability. In a moment of sentimentality, he pens a letter addressed simply to “A Friend,” and entrusts it to a nimkilim, an anthropomorphic animal messenger with an uncanny connection to the gods, (and in Hart’s case, a bit of a drinking problem). Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.

If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most–Mercy. As the two unlikely pen pals grow closer, the truth about Hart’s parentage and the nature of the drudges creeps in. And suddenly their old animosity seems so small in comparison to what they might be able to do: end the drudges forever. But at what cost?

Be prepared for THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY to be your absolute favorite beach read of summer 2022, and in the meantime give a warm welcome to author Megan Bannen on Twitter @MeganBannen, Instagram @meganbannen, or her website https://www.meganbannen.com/! See you in Eternity!

Acquisition Announcement: THE BOOK OF GOTHEL by Mary McMyne

Everyone knows the story of Rapunzel—a young girl stolen away by an evil witch and forced to live in a tower. But do you know the real story? Do you know the story of the witch? We are thrilled to announce that Orbit’s sister imprint, Redhook, has acquired Mary McMyne’s lush, historical fantasy debut, THE BOOK OF GOTHEL.

For fans of Circe, Wicked, and Spinning Silver, THE BOOK OF GOTHEL is a tale filled with witchcraft and magic, crumbling towers, dark woods and evil princes, otherworldly secrets and forgotten tales. It’s a story about mothers and daughters, and the lengths we will go to for love. Beautifully rendered and rich in historical detail, this fractured fairytale spins the familiar story of Rapunzel on its head by centering its villain—Haelwise, the witch of the tower of Gothel. And we can’t wait for this captivating debut to sweep you off your feet!

…

Haelewise has always lived under the shadow of her mother, Hedda—a woman who will do anything to keep her daughter protected. For with her strange black eyes and even stranger fainting spells, Haelewise is shunned by her village, and her only solace lies in the stories her mother tells of child-stealing witches, of princes in wolf-skins, of an ancient tower cloaked in mist, where women will find shelter if they are brave enough to seek it.

But when her mother dies, Haelewise is left unmoored. With nothing left for her in her village, she sets out to find the tower of legend—a place called Gothel, where Haelewise meets a wise woman willing to take her under her wing.

But Haelewise is not the only woman to seek refuge at Gothel. It’s also a haven for a girl named Rika, who carries with her a secret the Church strives to keep hidden. A secret that just might explain why Haelewise keeps hearing her mother’s voice.

…

We can’t wait to share THE BOOK OF GOTHEL with you next year! And, in the meantime, please join us in welcoming Mary to Orbit/Redhook. You can find her on Twitter @MaryMcMyne and at her website.

Orbit US senior editor Brit Hvide acquired World English rights from Sam Farkas at Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Orbit UK editor Emily Byron has secured UK rights.

Acquisition Announcement: THE MAGICIAN’S DAUGHTER by H. G. Parry

Redhook is thrilled to announce the acquisition of H. G. Parry’s charming new historical fantasy novel, THE MAGICIAN’S DAUGHTER. Perfect for fans of Alix E. Harrow and Naomi Novik, The Magician’s Daughter follows a young woman raised on an isolated island who discovers things aren’t as they seem as she ventures into early 1900s England to help return magic to the world. Do you want to know more? I bet you do!

You can read more about the book below, and while you wait for it to arrive at your nearest bookstore in fall 2022, follow Hannah on Twitter @hg_parry and check out her previous novels, THE UNLIKELY ESCAPE OF URIAH HEEP (US | UK)  and The Shadow Histories duology!

 

It is 1912, and for the last seventy years magic has all but disappeared from the world. Yet magic is all Biddy has ever known.

Orphaned in a shipwreck as a baby, Biddy grew up on Hy-Brasil, a legendary island off the coast of Ireland hidden by magic and glimpsed by rare travelers who return with stories of wild black rabbits and a lone magician in a castle. To Biddy, the island is her home, a place of ancient trees and sea-salt air and mysteries, and the magician, Rowan, is her guardian. She loves both, but as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she is stifled by her solitude and frustrated by Rowan’s refusal to let her leave. He himself leaves almost every night, transforming into a raven and flying to the mainland, and never tells her where or why he goes.

One night, Rowan fails to come home from his mysterious travels. When Biddy ventures into his nightmares to rescue him, she learns not only where he goes every night, but the terrible things that happened in the last days of magic that caused Rowan to flee to Hy-Brasil. Rowan has powerful enemies who threaten the safety of the island. Biddy’s determination to protect her home and her guardian takes her away from the safety of the island, to the poorhouses of Whitechapel, a secret castle beneath London streets, the ruins of an ancient civilization, and finally to a desperate chance to restore lost magic. But the closer she comes to answers, the more she comes to question everything she has ever believed about Rowan, her origins, and the cost of bringing magic back into the world.

Orbit US editor Nivia Evans acquired World English rights from Hannah Bowman at Liza Dawson Associates.

An update regarding THE CULTURE: NOTES AND DRAWINGS by Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod

We are pleased to share an exciting publication update with everyone who has been looking forward to the release of The Culture: Notes and Drawings by Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod.

As fans of Iain M. Banks’ vastly popular Culture series will be aware, Iain painstakingly designed every element of the Culture’s universe long before the novels were first published. From ships to weapons, language to nomenclature, flora to fauna, the whole of the Culture existed in the form of intricate sketches, notes, tables and charts, many years ahead of its appearance in fiction.

This archival material provides a fascinating insight into Iain’s extraordinary mind. It was originally due to be published as a single volume, accompanied by text from the award-winning Ken MacLeod, who was a close friend of Iain’s. However, to ensure that Iain’s exceptionally detailed drawings can be appreciated in their original format and scale, we are delighted to announce that the material will now be published as two separate editions.

The first release will be a beautiful, full-colour, large-format landscape artbook called The Culture: The Drawings, which will present Iain’s drawings exactly as he intended them to be seen.

Following this, we will publish a Culture companion book that celebrates the world of the Culture through Iain’s own writing. With accompanying text from Ken MacLeod, it will include an extensive selection of Iain’s notes, tables and charts relating to the Culture universe, as well as extracts from the novels.

Given these changes in our publication plans, we are now cancelling the single edition entitled The Culture: Notes and Drawings that was scheduled for 14th October 2021. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who had pre-ordered this single edition, and we’ll soon be announcing the release dates for the two new publications mentioned above, so please follow @orbitbooks on Twitter for updates.

Acquisition Announcement: WILD AND WICKED THINGS by Francesca May

Something gothic this way comes! We’re delighted to announce Orbit’s sister imprint, Redhook, has acquired Francesca May’s lush historical fantasy debut, WILD AND WICKED THINGS.

Set in an atmospheric reimagining of 1920s England, Wild and Wicked Things follows a young woman’s journey into a glittering world filled with illicit magic, romance, blood debts, and murder. Perfect for readers of Mexican Gothic and The Year of the Witching, this enthralling debut will entice you into a world of dark witchcraft and folklore.

…

On Crow Island, people whispered, real magic lurked just below the surface, but Annie Mason never expected her enigmatic new neighbor to be a witch. When she witnesses a confrontation between her best friend Bea and the infamous Emmeline Delacroix at one of Emmeline’s extravagantly illicit parties, she is drawn into a glittering, haunted world. A world where magic can buy what money can not; a world where the consequence of a forbidden blood bargain might be death.

…

We can’t wait to share WILD AND WICKED THINGS with you next year! And, in the meantime, please join us in welcoming Francesca to Orbit/Redhook. You can find her on Twitter @franwritesstuff and at https://franwritesstuff.com/.

Orbit US senior editor Nivia Evans acquired World English rights from Diana Beaumont at Marjacq. Orbit UK editor Emily Byron has secured UK rights.