We’ve drawn up a quiz based around the number 7 – lucky for some – to celebrate the release of the epic fantasy Seven Princes (UK | US | ANZ) by John R. Fultz.
Find out if the number 7 is lucky for you by taking the quiz below.
There’s something strange about the number 7.
Something mystical. Something downright magical.
Looking back through history, literature, religion, and philosophy, one can see this number coming up again and again – usually with a significant aspect invoking holiness, mystery, power or prosperity.
A few examples:
– In Buddhist mythology the newborn Buddha took seven steps right after he was born, declaring “I alone am the World-Honored One.”
– In Christian mythology the Walls of Jericho fell seven days after seven priests marched around the city seven times with seven trumpets.
– In Islamic mythology there are seven heavens and seven hells. (more…)
Today is a momentous day. It is not only the first day of 2012, but it also marks the beginning of our Seven Days for SEVEN PRINCES feature. To celebrate the release of this fantasy adventure of epic proportions we’re going to be going 7-crazy on all of our Orbit channels for a whole seven days. Look out for the number 7 to find competitions, quizzes, giveaways and behind-the-scenes insights from the author. It’s one hell of a week for one hell of a book.
From author John R. Fultz, this debut fantasy novel wowed us here at Orbit and we’re just itching to bring it to the world. A tale where men and giants walk side-by-side, where ancient necromancers make a bid for power with chilling sorcery, where ordinary men do battle with monstrous creatures.
It’s a breakneck-paced, breathtaking adventure that’s unashamedly enjoyable and impossible to put down. With an entrancing fairy tale feel, this book really made us sit up and take notice – and it also showed us that John has a very exciting future ahead of him.
To see what we’re getting excited about, have an exclusive read of the prologue right here, and keep an eye out for all things 7 . . .
Things are winding down at Orbit HQ for the Holidays and we just want to say, whatever continent (or planet) you’re on, whatever race (human or alien) or creed or religion you are, whatever holidays you celebrate (if any), we can all come together on at least one topic…Where’s our freaking jetpacks?! Here’s to hoping 2012 is finally the year of the commercially available jetpack! Happy Holidays and a great start to a New Year, from everyone at Orbit!
See you in 2012…once you recover from your New Years Eve festivities do remember to check in, because starting January 1st we have a very special week planned…
Thanks to Gregory Titus for providing the Jetpack Santa!
So what’s your book about?
Is there any more difficult question for an author to answer? I know I have a hard time with this one. After spending so much time (often years) crafting a novel, living inside the souls of your characters, building the intricate world in which they live, overseeing the progress of an invented history and chronicling the fictional exploits of your literary “children”, it’s hard to encapsulate all the diverse threads of a novel into a single statement.
Yet the market demands a “hook” or “premise” on which any novel can hang its metaphorical hat. After all, if readers don’t know what to expect, why should they even buy the book? Blind faith? Hardly. Word of mouth? Well, that’s the best advertising you can get . . . but consider the irony. If you as the author don’t come up with a satisfying answer to “What’s your book about?” then your early readers and reviewers are going to do it FOR YOU. They’re going to summarize, encapsulate and foreshorten your Massive Undertaking of Artistic Purity to a description worthy of a sound-byte (or at least a Facebook update). So authors are better-off coming up with their own answer to this big question, rather than leaving it up to somebody else to explain.
All of this begs the question: “What is SEVEN PRINCES about?”
If you look at the cover text, SEVEN PRINCES is about war. “An age of legends. An age of heroes. An age of war.” Now that’s a great tag line. It’s engaging, evocative, and it rings with mythic resonance. Ready for more irony?
Here’s the thing: I never considered this book a “war novel” when I was writing it. Yet war itself is definitely one of the themes that drives the characters and the plot. Some characters want to prevent war—they know the red tragedy and the pointless slaughter that it brings—while others actively seek war to prove themselves, to avenge wrongs, or simply as a means of grabbing power. So the concept of war itself is definitely buried in there. There’s even a conversation at one point between two characters who argue about the essential nature of Man as a war-like being. Is Mankind capable of living in peace—true peace—for long? That’s a question that also lies at the heart of SEVEN PRINCES. So yeah, it’s about war. But it’s also about a lot more . . . (more…)
Our congratulations go to Helen Lowe, author of epic fantasy series THE WALL OF NIGHT, who has been awarded The Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing by the University of Canterbury!
Helen says: “I’m absolutely delighted – not least for the recognition for speculative fiction, and I’m really looking forward to working exclusively on THE WALL OF NIGHT series!”
The Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing was founded by the University in 1979 to promote and provide support for New Zealand’s many talented writers. Helen will hold the residency until July 31 2012; the project she will be working on during the residency is THE WALL OF NIGHT Book Three, DAUGHTER OF BLOOD. She shares the prize with the poet David Eggleton.
Book One, THE HEIR OF NIGHT (UK/ANZ) will be out in Mass Market Paperback on the 19th of January 2012.
To celebrate some of the amazing books Orbit have launched during 2011 (and taking a sneaky peak at 2012) we are having a giveaway – but it’s a giveaway with a difference! We have 5 sets of Advance Reading Copies up for grabs. Obviously they are not so much in advance any more, but they are exclusive, limited editions that money can’t buy – and they are a great sampling of some of Orbit’s biggest and best titles of the year!
That’s five sets of the following titles:
THE FALLEN BLADE by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S. A. Corey
THE DRAGON’S PATH by Daniel Abraham
THE EDINBURGH DEAD by Brian Ruckley
SEVEN PRINCES by John R. Fultz (New! Publishing this Jan. 2012)
The competition is open to the UK and US. Full terms and conditions below. Complete the following form for your chance to win one of the sets! (more…)
And here it is in all its beauty – the cover for the second book in the Assassini trilogy by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. We showed you the new cover for THE FALLEN BLADE (US | UK | ANZ) earlier this week – now here, as promised, is the cover for the sequel THE OUTCAST BLADE, coming from Orbit in trade paperback in May 2012. If you haven’t read THE FALLEN BLADE yet, try the first chapter here. Enjoy!
Hype continues to build for the movie adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic novel Ender’s Game. It’s due for release in 2013 and will be directed by Gavin Hood, whose previous work includes X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This is one of the most highly anticipated book-to-movie adaptations ever – and all over the interwebs fans have been getting excited that this book will finally be reaching the big screen.
Following the news that the role of Ender will be played by Asa Butterfield, star of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, rumours are circulating about who will feature alongside him. The Hollywood Reporter announced recently that True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld is likely to play the role of Petra, and just today we’ve heard the news that Ben Kingsley, known for movies such as Schindler’s List, Shutter Island and Species, is also in talks to star in the movie. Even Harrison Ford has been mentioned as a possible Colonel Hyrum Graff.
We here at Orbit just can’t wait to see how it turns out, and I’m sure Card’s legion of fans can’t either. But who else would you like to see starring in this movie? Personally, I’m intrigued to see who will play Valentine and Peter . . .
In the meantime, look out for our reissue of Ender’s Game the novel (UK / ANZ), released this month in a shiny new package, and with a boy on the cover who looks not too dissimilar to Asa Butterfield coincidentally . . . (we must be psychic)
‘Gritty, grimy, decadent and compelling’ the Sunday Times said of Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s fantasy novel THE FALLEN BLADE. The same can be said for the fabulous new cover art for the UK mass market paperback edition, created by our wonderfully talented in-house designer Emma Graves.
Emma kindly agreed to speak about her creation:
“To redesign the Grimwood series was an exciting and interesting project. We wanted a cover which gave the reader a taste of the gripping setting of this series as well as reflecting the dark and dangerous surroundings and characters. Having visited Venice myself, I knew the challenge was to find images and textures to project this captivating city with its narrow streets and alleys to the reader.
Before deciding what each cover in the series would feature, I set up mood boards of visual ideas, photographs, colours and typefaces inspired by the storylines and the atmosphere of the books.
We wanted the new style to be appealing to both existing Grimwood fans as well as new readers. By choosing sophisticated images and colours, and mixing this with typefaces with a historical feel, the design sits well both within its genre and the larger historical fiction market. The textured frames tie the books together as a series and I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the third book in the set and creating another cover to match the first two.”
Many thanks to Emma, whose cover we feel perfectly encapsulates the brooding atmosphere of Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s alternative Venice!
THE FALLEN BLADE (UK | US | ANZ) will be released in mass market paperback in the UK on 5 April 2012. The second novel in the trilogy, THE OUTCAST BLADE – with a similarly fantastic cover! – will follow in trade format everywhere in May 2012.
