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NYCC Recap: Full House!

I have been to many a convention, and let me tell you, NYCC was packed. Saturday was more crowded than any day of San Diego con this year, and everyone was hungry for books! Luckily Orbit had a lot going on to keep the demanding masses satisfied!

As you can see from the picture to the left of Mira Grant signing copies of Feed, Orbit’s author signings were a hit as usual—we ran out of books in less than a half hour for both Mira Grant and Joe Abercrombie, who was signing copies of Best Served Cold. (more…)

NYCC Recap: Orbit US 3rd Anniversary Party

It’s been a busy week/weekend here at Orbit US, and as we all start to come out of our post-NY Comic-Con exhaustion, we’ll be catching you up on all the excitement. First, let’s all take a moment to say HAPPY 3rd ANNIVERSARY to Orbit US. We had a little party to celebrate while people were in town for NYCC. It was held at the really cool subterranean Cellar Bar at the Bryant Park hotel, which had a seriously urban fantasy vibe going on. The cocktail waitress even had a corset on – and although Orbit was accused of requesting it specifically, I assure you it was a happy coincidence.

Pictures after the jump! (more…)

Busy publication week for Iain M. Banks

Mr Banks has had a busy publication week for Surface Detail – and he’s not going to be relaxing any time soon!  He spent last week being interviewed by all sorts of national and regional press – appropriately including the New Scientist and BBC TV filming him at the Science Museum.

Iain’s first event on the eve of publication at the Round House was a sell out, and he answered the audience’s questions for nearly 2 hours!  Then on Thursday he signed for a great crowd at Forbidden Planet.

If you haven’t managed to attend any of the events so far, Forbidden Planet, Blackwells in London and Foyles all have signed first editions of Surface Detail (though probably not for long!) (more…)

Wallpaper: Version 43 by Philip Palmer!

New Wallpaper time! I know all your assorted screens and devices would love some new art, and I am happy to provide new visuals, this time from Version 43 by Philip Palmer.

I love how this series is shaping up (Red Claw, Version 43, and soon you’ll see the cover launch for Hell Ship), and I think the pulp-retro feel of the covers works for these books – if you’re looking for classic, in your face, action-packed scifi then Philip Palmer is your man.

The creepy-cool image was shot by Eric Westpheling, who I’m sure is still haunted by visions of the doll props taking over his apartment.

Enjoy!

1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 | 1920 x 1200 | iPhone | iPad | PSP

The day’s arrived for The Heir of Night

If you’re in Australia and New Zealand, you’re definitely in the right place to get your hands on some exciting new fantasy as Helen Lowe’s Orbit debut, The Heir of Night, hits bookshelves today in all of its beautifully plotted and blazing red glory!

In case you missed it, the author has explained the world of The Heir of Night for us here, and the blogosphere has already weighed in favourably on this start to a new series:

‘The Heir of Night is a carefully plotted story in a complex world’ – fantasyliterature.com

‘Very promising and fast-paced new epic fantasy.’ – bookloons.com

‘A very rich and complex story with a perfect balance between action and character development that got me hooked from the first page.’ – fictionkingdom.blogspot.com

‘Helen Lowe’s prose flows effortlessly from the first pages to the last page and she uses magic in a good way.’ – risingshadow.net (more…)

New York Comic Con: Joe Abercrombie and Mira Grant

If you’re in the Big Apple for New York Comic Con, be sure to stop by the Orbit booth (#2315) to meet authors Joe Abercrombie and Mira Grant.

Joe (BEST SERVED COLD) will be signing Friday 10/8 from 3-4 PM, and on Saturday 10/9 from 12-1 PM in the Orbit booth.  And, don’t miss the fantasy writer’s panel Friday night from 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm in Room 1A15.  Joining Joe Abercrombie on the panel will be Peter V. Brett (The Warded Man), Jim Butcher (Changes), Naomi Novik (His Majesty’s Dragon) Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings) and Deborah Harkness (A Discovery of Witches) – making this panel full of about as much awesome as the fire department will allow.

FEED fans! Mira Grant (a/k/a Seanan McGuire) will be signing on Saturday 10/9 from 3-4 pm in the Orbit booth. On Saturday night she’ll be on the panel “Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?”  from 7:45 pm – 8:45 pm in Room 1A23. Her fellow panelists will include  Alaya Dawn Johnson (contributor to Zombies Vs. Unicorns), Robin Becker (Brains: A Zombie Memoir), Alan Goldsher (Paul is Undead), and Richard Kadrey (Kill the Dead). Again, not a panel to be missed.

So unless of course while in attendance at NYCC you find yourself a) in the midst of an very, very blood-drenched sword battle, or b) in the midst of a ravenous gaggle of brain-chomping zombies — we’ll see you there!

Steampunk Fun at NYCC

This Fri-Sat-Sun is the New York Comic-Con and there’s a lot of exciting stuff going on at Orbit’s booth (#2315). I’m here to tell you about a really fun art-department project that all you Parasol Protectorate fans and Steampunk experts can be a part of. I am always super impressed by the imagination and care that Gail’s Steampunk fans put into their wardrobe and to celebrate that, we’re going to induct you all into the Parasol Protectorate!

If you are showing off your best Steampunk finery Friday or Saturday, come by the Orbit booth and we’ll be taking pictures of you in your best Victorian action poses. Next week we will be turning those pictures into custom Parasol Protectorate covers of your very own! We’ll be uploading them here on the blog a batch at a time, and we’ll have our blog readers vote on their favorite covers. The winner may even get a prize! (more…)

The exclusive first chapter of Towers of Midnight

The wheel has been turning and now it’s almost time to release Towers of Midnight in hardback, the extraordinary penultimate volume of the Wheel of Time. It will be available from 2nd November, but we want to give you a taste of what is to come …

Click here for an exclusive free extract of chapter one!

And in taking on the mantle of genre grandmaster Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson has done some fantastic Wheel of Time re-reads. For a quick catch up on the previous Wheel of Time books please click here.

So what more can be said than the Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the age that gave it birth comes again. But now, the end draws near. It’s time to roll the dice.