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Kate Griffin and Benedict Jacka signing at Forbidden Planet London this Thursday!

There is a hidden, magical London that is all around, yet often remains unseen . . . and for good reason, since it’s a dangerous place. This Thursday, Forbidden Planet are celebrating this other London, by hosting a signing session with urban fantasists Kate Griffin and Benedict Jacka. The signing will take place at Forbidden Planet’s London store on Shaftesbury Avenue from 6 – 7 pm.

Minority Council cover - a man's sillouette with electrical sparksKate Griffin will be signing her new novel THE MINORITY COUNCIL (UK | US | ANZ), the fourth book in her urban fantasy series featuring resurrected sorcerer Matthew Swift.

Matthew Swift, the Midnight Mayor, is in charge. He hopes. And London is having some issues. The new drug on the market is fairy dust and it turns humans into walking drug labs. Teenage vandals are being hunted by a mystical creature and ordinary criminals are dying by magical means. If Swift is going to save London from a rising tide of blood, he will have to learn – and fast – what it really means to be Midnight Mayor.

Kate has swiftly (bad pun fully intended) built a dedicated fanbase with her tales of a hidden London forged from urban myths, legends and magic. The critical acclaim has been equally impressive: 

NEVERWHERE for the digital age . . . The best novelists transcend genre and Griffin’s excellent Matthew Swift sequence, which tells of an eldritch and fantastical London, proves this point” SFX

“Few can claim to share the same level of creativity and individual style as Griffin” SCIFI NOW

Fated Cover - red text, with shadows of London monumentsBenedict Jacka will be a new name to many of you, but it won’t stay that way for long. Fresh from his panel appearance at the SFX Weekender, he will be signing copies of FATED – a debut novel that reveals him to be a major new talent in urban fantasy, and a book perfect for fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON.

Camden, North London. A tangled, mangled junction of train lines, roads and waterways. Where minor celebrities hang out with minor criminals and where tourists and moody teenagers mingle. In the heart of Camden, where rail meets road meets leyline, you might find the Arcana Emporium, run by one Alex Verus. He won’t sell you a wand or mix you a potion, but if you know what you’re looking for, he might just be able to help. That’s if he’s not too busy avoiding his would-be apprentice, foiling the Dark, outwitting the Light and investigating a mysterious relic that has just turned up at the British Museum.

Sunday Times bestselling author, Jim Butcher, is already a dedicated fan:

Harry Dresden would like Alex Verus tremendously – and be a little nervous around him. I just added Benedict Jacka to my must-read list. FATED is an excellent novel, a gorgeously realized world with a uniquely powerful, vulnerable protagonist. Books this good remind me why I got into the storytelling business in the first place”

FATED (UK | ANZ) will be followed by CURSED (June 2012) and TAKEN (September 2012). Be sure to get in on the ground floor of what promises to be the next huge urban fantasy series.

Both Kate Griffin and Benedict Jacka can be found online; Kate’s website is here, and Benedict’s smart new web presence is here.

Book Trailer: The Sworn & The Dread by Gail Z. Martin

New from Orbit this month is THE DREAD, the thrilling conclusion to the Fallen Kings Cycle by Gail Z. Martin. Watch the trailer for THE SWORN and THE DREAD below.  Both are available in stores now!

To find out more visit Gail’s website for information on the Fallen Kings Cycle and other books by Gail.  Or connect with other fans of the series on Facebook and enter for the chance to win one of several fabulous prizes.

New Short Fiction: Spirit’s Oath is out!

Rachel Aaron’s Spirit’s Oath is releasing today! It’s a novella set in the world of Eli Monpress. But instead of focusing on our loveable rogue — we are shifting to the Spirit Court and more specifically, the story of how Gin and Miranda met.

Four years before the events of The Spirit Thief, Miranda Lyonette was a young apprentice Spiritualist on the cusp of a promising career. But on the eve of her return from bonding a wind spirit, a night that should have been a celebration, she finds instead that her father has come to take her home. Now, Miranda must choose between her duty to her family and her future at the Spirit Court. But while she’s trying to make her parents see reason and avoid an arranged marriage to a man she can’t stand, she stumbled across the one one spirit who needs her more than any other, a caged ghosthound who doesn’t want her help. To save him, Miranda will have to earn the dog’s trust, but what she gets in return is a friendship deeper than anything she expected.

Check it out here! And if you’re curious about Eli, read the first chapter of The Legend of Eli Monpress ( US | UK | ANZ) here.

New author to the list!

Photo by JR Blackwell

We are more than excited to announce a new novel by Mur Lafferty to the Orbit list! Her announcement is here. We plan to publish THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY worldwide in Spring/Summer 2013.

SFX Weekender 2012

The stormtroopers wasted no time in commandeering the decks . . .

After last year’s shenanigans at the SFX Weekender, we couldn’t wait to do it all over again. Excitement levels were therefore approaching unstable levels last Friday, as the Orbit UK team – along with THE FALLEN BLADE author Jon Courtenay Grimwood and FATED author Benedict Jacka – caught a train to Prestatyn, to attend the third SFX Weekender. The convention – run by top British science fiction magazine SFX – has quickly become one of the most anticipated events in British SFF, and this year was again well-attended by authors, editors, scriptwriters and journalists, as well as TV stars of shows such as Red Dwarf, Torchwood and Doctor Who – not to mention hundreds of happy fans and cosplayers!

Orbit's Anne Clarke on the publishing panel

After settling into our chalets (an upgrade on last year, as they had double-glazing!) we watched our very own Anne Clarke on the How To Get Published panel and enjoyed the Kitschies Awards presented by Pornokitsch’s Anne Perry and Jared Shurin. Later, we met up with INTRUSION author Ken MacLeod and SEEDS OF EARTH author Michael Cobley, and headed to a party thrown by our friends at Tor UK.

On the Saturday, once we’d recovered from our cake and alcohol intake from the previous night, we really got stuck in to the panels and signings. Mike, Ken and Benedict all signed books for fans at the Forbidden Planet booth, and took part in some pretty packed panel discussions! Benedict debated genre definitions with other urban fantasy authors on the What is Urban Fantasy? panel, Mike asked whether literature is the only place still flying the flag for space opera, and Ken MacLeod discussed apocalyptic fiction on the We’re All Doomed! panel, making interesting points about the class aspects of survivalist fiction and the ‘cosy catastrophe’. (more…)

THE DREAD – Dark magics, swordmanship and sorcery

The Dread, the second fantasy title by Gail Z Martin in the Fallen Kings cycle, set int he same world as the Summoner seriesOut now is The Dread (US | UK | ANZ), the second and final part in Gail Z. Martin‘s Fallen Kings Cycle. This compelling epic fantasy series began with The Sworn ( US | UK | ANZ) and is set in the same world as her highly regarded Chronicles of the Necromancer series, and I’m very happy to say this has turned out to be a magnificent finale to the whole story arc. If you haven’t tried any of Gail’s books yet – don’t worry, you can jump right in at The Sworn without having read any of the Necromancer series. And here’s why it’s worth giving it a go:

Gail’s a master at weaving together a world together intricately and spectacularly – and you simply cannot resist being awed by the strong sense of atmosphere she creates . . .  In the dark, medieval-gothic world of the Fallen Kings Cycle, necromancers wield deathly powers of magic, ghosts toy with the living, and vampires, werewolves and demons roam the land.  See some of the fantastic reviews this series has earned so far:

‘Top notch, engrossing fantasy’ SFRevu.com

‘Those who enjoy the large-scale fantasy of George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan should enjoy this’ Library Journal

‘I found myself caught up in the story and the characters almost from the first page …very enjoyable’ Bookgeeks.co.uk

‘Very well-written and intricately plotted . . .  I can’t wait for the second book in the cycle, The Dread’ Civilian Reader

You can also read a sample extract right here. (more…)

February Events

If you’re in the US or the UK, here are some of the places you can see Orbit authors in February, from bookstore signings to conventions.

February 2-4th: SFX Weekender
This convention in Prestatyn Sands, North Wales, will play host to several Orbit authors. Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Benedict Jacka, Michael Cobley, and Ken MacLeod will all be on panels and signing books (full schedule) — and we will have exclusive early copies of MacLeod’s Intrusion and Jacka’s Fated available.  Plus, our own Anne Clarke will appear on the “How to Get Published” panel on Friday evening.

Saturday, February 4th
Gail Z. Martin at B&N Carolina Place Mall, Pineville, NC, 1 PM.
Mira Grant (with Stephen Blackmoore) at Borderlands Books, San Francisco, CA, 3 PM.

Friday, February 10th
Gail Z. Martin at B&N Morrison Place, Charlotte, NC.

Saturday, February 11th
Gail Z. Martin at Books-a-Million Concord Mills, Concord, NC.

Wednesday, February 15th
N.K. Jemisin (with Livia Llewellyn) at KGB Fantastic Fiction, New York, NY, 7 PM.

February 17-19: SheVaCon
Gail Z. Martin will be at this science fiction convention in Roanoke, VA.

Thursday, February 23rd
Kate Griffin & Benedict Jacka signing advance copies of their new books (both being published in March) at Forbidden Planet, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, 6pm

February 24-26th: MystiCon
Gail Z. Martin will be at this SFF and horror convention in Roanoke, VA — including a launch party for The Dread in the con suite at 7 PM on Friday.

Saturday, February 25th
Gail Carriger as keynote speaker at the inaugural Passion & Prose Conference, Long Beach, CA.
Walter Jon Williams at Page One Bookstore, Albuquerque, NM, 7 PM.

Sunday, February 26th
Gail Carriger at SF in SF, San Francisco, CA, 1 PM.
Gail Carriger at Borderlands Books, San Francisco, CA, 6 PM.

Monday, February 27th
Robert Jackson Bennett at Book People, Austin, TX, 7 PM.

Wednesday, February 29th
Yes, it’s a leap year! Gail Carriger will be kicking off her tour for Timeless at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hill Crossing, Beaverton, OR, 7 PM.

The Legend of Eli Monpress

The whimsical fantasy tale The Legend of Eli Monpress containing The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater, perfect for fans of K. E. Mills' Rogue Agent series and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora Released in February is The Legend of Eli Monpress ( US | UK | ANZ) – Rachel Aaron‘s fantasy tale of the incorrigible thief who plans to pull of the greatest heist in history . . . If you’re a fan of K. E. Mills’ Rogue Agent series or Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora then this is likely right up your street. You can sample the delights of an extract right here.

This edition contains the three titles The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater – all in one handy volume and topped off with this gorgeous packaging from Sam Weber (see this great post here showing him at work in his studio on these very illustrations).

Take a minute to stop by Rachel Aaron’s attractive new site, where’s she’s posted some very interesting tidbits recently, such as this fantastic book trailer put together by our friends at Orbit France for the très sophistiquée French version of The Legend of Eli Monpress. Also, check out this extremely creative pictorial review for The Spirit Thief, part one of the Legend. Good effort!

Read on for the blurb and some great reviews: (more…)