It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away over the next few weeks. So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win.
Epic Loot 1: Win The Griffin Mage Trilogy!
Amanda Downum’s debut novel, The Drowning City, came out last fall to stellar reviews. The blend of investigation, intrigue, and magic– all in a distinctly exotic fantasy setting really set it apart from the field and got people’s attention.
“THE DROWNING CITY is a compelling fantasy in a richly imagined setting dripping with visceral detail, building to a conclusion at once unexpected, appropriate and moving.” — Jacqueline Carey
“Like the worlds she imagines, the words of Amanda Downum are lyrical, persuasive, and evocative. If you read only one first novel this year, read this one. I promise it’s good.” — Elizabeth Bear
“Lush, evocative. Amanda Downum creates a richly realized, refreshingly Eastern world full of charms and spirits, espionage and intrigue and the wars of great powers fought by proxy.” — Brent Weeks
“Downum effectively combines action, magic, police procedure and political intrigue in this complex and striking debut.” — Publishers Weekly
Now, Amanda has outdone herself with the stunning sequel The Bone Palace. Isyllt Iskaldur returns home and must investigate a royal conspiracy. (more…)
We are very excited to announce that the print edition of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi hits retailers in the UK today, fabulously garbed in it’s wonderful cover as seen in this spiral of windup-ness here …
We released the book in ebook form prior to the print edition, so those of you teched up with e-devices might already have had the pleasure, but it was very exciting to see the print edition enter the office still cold from the warehouse. Not sure what kind of preservation method they use on them there. You can get a FREE EXTRACT here, and in case this multiple award-winning book needs further introduction, here are just some of the highlights below:
Time Magazine named The Windup Girl as one of its ten best novels of the year
The book has also won five of 2010’s major international SF awards: the Hugo (as covered in the Guardian here), Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award
‘Bacigalupi is a worthy successor to William Gibson: this is cyberpunk without computers’ Time Magazine
‘Not since William Gibson’s pioneering cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer (1984), has a first novel excited science fiction readers as much’ The Washington Post
‘Heart-thudding action sequences, sordid sex, and enough technical speculation for two lesser novels’ Cory Doctorow
‘One of the finest SF novels of the year’ Publishers Weekly
‘It’s ridiculous how good this book is’ Techland
In the wake of her earlier novel, THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, being selected as one of the top five sf/f novels of 2010 by Publishers Weekly and by Amazon as one of the top ten best sf/f novels for this year as well, praise for N.K. Jemisin’s newest novel, THE BROKEN KINGDOMS is now spreading across the web.
Today Charlie Jane Anders at io9.com calls it “a thought-provoking, haunting story” and observes that when it comes to narrative “the key is just to tell a great, exciting, engaging story that keeps you turning pages long past your bedtime. And Jemisin has definitely done that here.”
And, meanwhile, at Explorations, the Barnes & Noble Book Club sf/f blog, Paul Goat Allen wraps his review by noting that “those readers who are drawn to storylines featuring strong, heroic female characters – looking for a beautifully written and highly intelligent series should make it a point to seek out and read [THE BROKEN KINGDOMS and THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS]. These will be some of the very best fantasy novels you’ll read this year.”
We couldn’t agree more!
Every year the blog All Things Urban Fantasy has Cover Art Awards and there’s a gaggle of Orbit Books nominated. Please go vote! It’s a simple survey form, and every cover is shown in the category, so it’s actually a fun review whether you want to cast your vote or not. Voting closes on December 29th.
BLAMELESS by Gail Carriger is up for “Best Paranormal Steampunk Cover”
THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR by Kate Griffin is up for “Best Male with Animal Cover”
And last but not least, my favorite category….
MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES by Jesse Petersen and TRACKING THE TEMPEST by Nicole Peeler are up for “Most Unique Cover”…tough choice!
So go vote already!
Note: There is not a “Best Title” category, but Saltwater Vampires would definitely win.
Ok, definitely winner for my favorite title this year is Eat, Slay, Love by Jesse Petersen, the third book in the Zombie Therapy series. These books are incredibly fun, and I think the covers do a good job of showing it. When I was designing the first two books, Married With Zombies and Flip This Zombie, I was definitely going for a bit of a spoof of self-help books rolled up in a Shaun of the Dead kind of aesthetic, while punking on chick lit a bit. The genius of this one tho, is all in the title. Come on, you can’t not laugh, just a little…
In other zombie-related news, Married With Zombies is up for a “Most Unique Cover” award at All Things Urban Fantasy’s 2010 Cover Awards. And Jesse Petersen has been doing great recaps of The Walking Dead on AMC every Monday after the show Sunday nights.
We couldn’t let November go by without mentioning Battlecry, the first Sten omnibus, and its awesome cover art by the very talented Paul Young. If you haven’t heard of the Sten series – why not? It’s a fast-paced military SF series from the late, great Chris Bunch and the author, screenwriter and award-winning journalist Allan Cole – and it’s sold over a million copies worldwide. If you like Heinlein and Halo, then hell! – this is for you.
Released this month and featuring the first three books from the series: Sten, Sten 2: The Wolf Worlds and Sten 3: The Court of a Thousand Suns, this is a chunky volume that gives you a whole lotta bang for your buck . . .
We’re very pleased to announce that two new Orbiteers will shortly be joining the editorial team in the UK.
Anne Clarke, currently a commissioning editor at Hodder & Stoughton, will be taking up the role of Editorial Director. She will be working with our editors, overseeing the publishing program, acquiring and editing her own authors, asking us to make cups of tea for her . . . no, forget that last one. Anne will be starting in the New Year.
Also joining us, on 6th December, will be James Long – our new Editorial Assistant. James may be known to you for his excellent blog, Speculative Horizons. This will be his first job in publishing, and – sorry though we are that Speculative Horizons won’t be continuing – we’re delighted to welcome him on board.
Will you survive the ship?
Greg Bear is one of the most well-known and beloved writers in the genre and I am delighted to announce the publication of his latest novel, HULL ZERO THREE. Set in the darkest, coldest reaches of space, this is the story of one man who wakes up cold, alone, and confused on a starship that seems to be determined to kill him.
For a glimpse into the harrowing life of a resident of Ship, see our video record, carefully reconstructed in machinima for your edification:
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Look, I try not to play favorites in the Orbit-verse, but inside of this mild-mannered Creative Director is an excitable uber-geek fangirl, and I can’t help but have a few favorite series here to read as a fan, and I get really really excited when I know the manuscript is in-house for me to read and start working on the cover. This is also a lot of pressure in any series, because especially in the case that you think you did a good job on a cover to Book 1, you certainly want to keep the awesomeness going for Book 2…
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