Archive for Contents

Cover Launch: HEARTLESS by Gail Carriger!

Well, as you can tell from the infrequency of the postings from the Art Dept since the holidays, it’s been craaaaaazy busy here. Our Fall/Winter 2012 covers are due in 3 weeks, and we’re killing ourselves bringing you the coolest artists and designs we can. We also have a couple new features in the pipeline which we’ll be talking more about after the evil 2/18 deadline, so hang with us. Meanwhile, we are going to finish posting the rest of the Spring/Summer 2011 Covers for your viewing pleasure, starting with one of my fave series…

Here you go folks, Heartless, the fourth Alexia Tarabotti/Soulless book by Gair Carriger. I love this series, and I am really digging the covers too – who wouldn’t, when I get to work with such fun material as the photos Steampunk icon Donna Ricci keeps sending me? The photographer this round was Pixie Vision Productions.

I tried to find a good British castle as a stand-in for the pack headquarters, and I think the cool heavy stonework here does the job – I can totally picture Alexia going up and down those steps to visit with the werewolves camped out on the back lawn…and whipping some military discipline into them!

After the jump is a teaser, and I’ve tried to take out as many spoilers as I could, but still, if you haven’t read the previous books (Soulless, Changeless, and Blameless) then BE WARNED, SPOILER ALERT. (more…)

Kate Griffin and Jon Courtenay Grimwood at Forbidden Planet in London and SFX Weekender

 

Kate Griffin and Jon Courtenay Grimwood will both be signing at Forbidden Planet London on Thursday 3rd Feb to launch their new books: The Neon Court and The Fallen Blade.  Shaftesbury Avenue, 6-7pm.

They will also both be at the SFX Weekender in Camber Sands for panels on Saturday 5th Feb. Here’s their schedule:

11am: Main Void – Essential SF, fantasy and horror classics – with Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Joe Abercrombie, David Wingrove, Peter F Hamilton, Adrian Tchaicovsky and Kevin J Anderson.

11.45: Screening Zone – Dual Brittania: creating alternate Englands – with Kate Griffin, China Mieville, Al Ewing and Stephen Baxter.

12.30: Main Void – What’s next for TV vampires?  Pitching a new vampire show – with Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Toby Whithouse and Sarah Pinborough.

(Exact schedule and line-ups all subject to possible change)

THE DRAGON’S PATH: the Prologue

Now up at A Dribble of Ink — the prologue from what we are sure will be one of the major fantasy titles of the year, Daniel Abraham’s THE DRAGON’S PATH. The book itself will be on-sale April 7 but in the meantime, whet your appetite for the rest of this epic, unforgettable narrative. And don’t just take our word for it:

“Daniel Abraham gets better with every book” — George R.R.Martin

“Intricate, elegant, and almost hypnotically told — to call Daniel Abraham an exciting new author is to wildly understate the case” — Connie Willis

“Welcome to Daniel Abraham. If you are meeting him for the first time, I envy you: you are in for a remarkable journey” — Junot Diaz

Cover post: ECHO CITY artwork

We’ve now received the shiny new cover flat for Tim Lebbon’s Echo City from our production department, so there was much excitement on the Orbit bench. It’s always  seems so much more real and nearly-there than when you just print it on regular paper, but here’s the next best thing here on the interweb …

I think Lee Gibbon’s illustration is terrifically atmospheric and designer Peter Cotton has done a great job putting this together for us. It really portrays the desolate feel of a city stranded in a hosile desert, its dwellers believing there is no other life in their world – until a stranger arrives from across the toxic wastes …

Steven Erikson had this to say about this darkly fantastical novel — so look out for it in July if you’re after something to read on the beach. Or maybe not the beach, if you’ve a particularly vivid imagination:

Brilliantly conceived and exquisitely well written by one of the genre’s most original and inventive writers. Tim Lebbon is one of the few fantasy authors whose new works I eagerly antcipate’ Steven Erikson

 

A taste of Venice and The Fallen Blade

Jon Courtenay Grimwood was recently described in the Guardian as making ‘the fusion of genre energy and literary depth his calling card,’ and his latest book certainly fits such a description. If you’ve read his posts this week, you may already suspect this truth: The Fallen Blade is probably unlike anything you would have read before.  This is a novel that simultaneously reclaims the vampire myth, crafts a thrilling political landscape, fits in both romance and brutal violence and portrays a fifteenth century Venice so vividly that you’ll swear you’ve been there (and then!).

So in this trailer for The Fallen Blade, we’re taking you there…

You can read the first chapter here.

Four Orbit titles on io9’s ‘Best of 2010’ list!

We’re delighted to see four Orbit titles on io9’s ’15 Best Speculative Fiction Books of 2010′ list!

The four titles are as follows:

THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi

“One of the strengths of The Windup Girl, other than its intriguing characters, is Bacigalupi’s world building. You can practically taste this future Thailand he’s built…It’s rare to find a writer who can create such well-shaded characters while also building a weird new future world.”

SURFACE DETAIL by Iain M. Banks

“This triumphant return to Banks’ beloved Culture series wasn’t just one of the best books we read this year – it’s also one of the best books in a series full of outstanding tales of far-future astropolitics. A character study and a tale of revolutionary change that shakes multiple civilizations, Surface Detail is a smart, satiric look at what happens to the concept of Hell in a posthuman galaxy.”

FEED by Mira Grant

“The action scenes (crossbows!) and setting were what kept me going all the way to its very emotional end, which I think is a testament to how well-written the characters and setting are…The first in the proposed Newsflesh trilogy, Feed is a thought-provoking and entertaining read that makes me eager to see what Grant will serve in her next novel, BLACKOUT.”

THE BROKEN KINGDOMS by N. K. Jemisin

“Someone has found a way to kill gods, and unless Oree discovers the truth, the gods and this new god-slaying serial killer will tear the city apart between them. It’s the set up for a really great mystery, but Jemisin manages to turn it into a thought-provoking, haunting story…that keeps you turning pages long past your bedtime.”

Plenty of other Orbit books made various ‘best of 2010’ lists – see our earlier post for the full details!

Epic Loot #8: Necromancer Posters!

Update – This giveaway is now closed!

The year is winding down, and so are our Epic Loot Giveaways. To finish it off, we’ve got posters of the first two books of The Necromancer Chronicles by Amanda Downum. Sign up after the jump for a chance to win these two art prints, along with copies of The Drowning City and The Bone Palace. We’ll select the winner on Thursday the 23rd of December. And thanks everyone for reading!

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‘Twas the Night Before the Uprising…

St. Nick by way of the undead… Brought to you by the fabulously talented (and creatively deranged) Seanan McGuire, winner of this year’s Campbell Award, aka Mira Grant, the author of Feed and Deadline, amazing books that you really must read. And if you have already read Feed then you know that, and I know you’re buying like 10 copies to pass along as holiday presents! Enjoy! Below is a link to a jpeg version, suitable for making into ecards, facebook links, wallpapers, etc. and a pdf set up for printing letter-size. ENJOY!

Lo-Res Jpeg •   Hi-Res Jpeg •    PDF

Epic Loot #6: Leviathan Wakes Poster

I have to admit, one of the perks of working in the Art Department is never having to look hard for wonderful things to adorn your walls. I admit I have been printing out an extra copy or two of these Loot prints to decorate my office, and I’m definitely making room for this fabulous Leviathan Wakes art by Daniel Dociu.

Enter for a chance to win this art print on fancy glossy paper by signing up after the jump! We’ll choose one winner on Wednesday, December 22nd.

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