Every year we ask our summer intern to do a survey of cover art elements for the top US fantasy novels published in the previous year. You can find more of our findings on the Chart of Fantasy Art, the Changing Fashion of Urban Fantasy Heroines, and Color Trends in Dragons. Today we look at book titles — both what the titles say AND how they look. (more…)
THE BLACK PRISM is out worldwide in less than a week, but we’ve got some early reviews coming in that we just had to share.
Over at Fantasy Book Critic Liviu writes:
And over at Grasping for the Wind, John Ottinger writes:
Brent Weeks will be touring the US starting on the 25th (full tour schedule here) but he’s been doing a pre-release video tour online. Today he stopped by Janicu’s Book Blog to talk about his love of Magic (the Gathering!) and how many books we can expect in The Lightbringer Series. Next week he’ll be at thebooksmugglers.com – so stay tuned!
Glenda Larke, author of the superlative Stormlord series, answers some questions posed by Galaxy Bookshop based in Sydney. See what she has to say for herself here!
Every year we ask our summer intern to do a survey of cover art elements for the top US fantasy novels published in the previous year. You can find more of our findings on the Chart of Fantasy Art, and the Changing Fashion of Urban Fantasy Heroines. Today: Dragons. (more…)
Wings of Wrath (UK | ANZ) by Celia Friedman is out this month in the UK in mass market paperback (and out soon in October for ANZ). So what better time to tell you a bit about it and give out a free extract HERE. Wings of Wrath is book 2 in the darkly fantastical Magister trilogy and the good news is that it’s every bit as good as book 1, Feast of Souls (UK | ANZ). I’m a particular fan of these covers too, I think their simplicity appeals to me (or perhaps it’s the bright shiny colours!). So, here’s a bit more on the book:
In a world where the price of magic is life itself, a group of seemingly immortal sorcerers appear to have cheated the system. And now Kamala has breached their secrets, she seeks to join their ranks as the first female Magister. But they would rather see her dead, forcing her to flee to the frozen north. There Kamala will find an evil far greater than a sorcerer’s enmity, and will hear a dire prediction of a future war.”
Tad Williams once said ‘If you haven’t read her work you need to do something about that right now’ — I’d agree with that, plus here are a few of the great reviews we’ve had for the series:
“It’s potent stuff … Friedman is an excellent writer” SFX
“Imaginative, deftly plotted fantasy” Publishers Weekly
“Powerful, intricate plotting and gripping characters distinguish a book in which ethical dilemmas are essential and engrossing” Booklist
“Typically superb writing style, dark content and well-drawn characters” FantasyBook Critic
“An excellent new fantasy trilogy … highly recommended” NethSpace
Mike has had his shiny new website just long enough to move in and add a little content, so without any further ado …
CLICK HERE (for exploding space ships, politics and scientifical things that catch the Cobley eye).
The Orphaned Worlds (bk2, UK|ANZ) will be out in mass market paperback in the Spring next year, then a few months afterwards bk3, The Ascendent Stars, will complete the trilogy. So to keep you going, get an Orphaned Worlds screen saver HERE and a free extract of Seeds of Earth (bk1, UK|ANZ) HERE. Get both, don’t be shy!
And saving the best until last, you can watch the illustrious Mike Cobley in action as he answers Orbit’s probing questions below.
Every year we ask our summer intern to do a survey of cover art elements for the top US fantasy novels published in the previous year. This year we looked at covers from 2009, and compared them against 2008′s findings. (more…)
I am very excited to have such a fine cover to show off for our wonderful new fantasy The Heir of Night (ANZ | UK), book 1 in The Wall of Night sequence by Helen Lowe. To reference Orbit’s new survey of cover art, there are no unicorns or dragons here, but instead see a seriously on-trend sword, and some fashion-forward, dark (and meaningful) mist. But the main thing is that it’s gorgeous, richly atmospheric and stand-out to go with the fast-paced breathtakingly good content inside.
The Heir of Night is Helen Lowe’s adult fantasy debut, and we enter a world where the violence of an age-old war casts a long shadow. There we meet Malian who, although she’s being trained to rule, is unprepared for the savagery of her people’s ancient enemy as they attack in the darkest part of the Night.
Helen may be new to adult fiction, but she’s already received critical acclaim for her previous YA novel Thornspell. Last year this won New Zealand’s prestigious Sir Julius Vogel award for Best Novel, Young Adult. Helen won the Vogel award for Best New Talent in the same year, so we are delighted she’s turned her hand to adult fantasy, and you can find a free advance extract for The Heir of Night HERE. The book will be out in Australia and New Zealand in Oct 2010 — and if you are going to WorldCon in September look out for Helen as she’ll be doing some panels and a pre-publication reading. UK readers will have to wait a little longer for the book until March 2011. But rest assured, it’ll be so worth the wait!
Helen’s been hugely busy in the run up to WorldCon as she’s also preparing for New Zealand’s Christchurch Writers Festival and on top of that she’s just done a pre-AussieCon guest post on Marianne de Pierres’ blog.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Robin Hobb, which perfectly encapsulates this wonderful adventure:
The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe is a richly told tale of strange magic, dark treachery and conflicting loyalties, set in a well realised world’ Robin Hobb
Every year we ask our summer intern to do a survey of cover art elements for the top fantasy novels published in the previous year. This year, our wonderful intern Jennifer looked at covers from 2009, and compared them against 2008’s findings. Over the next few days we’ll be releasing a number of charts that show what she found. After the jump, some initial observations on the data. And join us in the comments to talk about the trends.
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OK – we admit it. The UK and Australian readers have been getting a raw deal, having to wait for Nicole Peeler‘s sweet, sassy and sexy urban fantasy series to float their way, whilst the US readers have been bathing in its glory for a few months. But now the wait is over, and Tempest Rising (UK | US | ANZ) and Tracking the Tempest (UK | US | ANZ) have finally washed up on our shores all at once. Featuring the naughty scrumpet Jane True as our half-selkie heroine – think of it as Sookie Stackhouse meets Splash!
Nicole was over in the UK recently and, in what’s becoming a bit of an Orbit UK habit, we took her aside to cross-examine her about her series and the Urban Fantasy genre. She is an assistant professor of literature, so she should know her stuff after all! Take a look at the video below (and excuse my sniggering at points in the background – this lady cracks me up!)
You can read an extract of Tempest Rising here.
