Archive for Contents

Sony options Jeff Somers!

Fantastic news: Sony have optioned the movie rights to Jeff Somers’ Avery Cates novels. A very wise move in our opinion, as there’s no doubt that these books would make the most awesomely full-throttle, kick-ass movies ever.

Read all about it here, and if you haven’t been lucky enough to experience the explosive, pedal-to-the-metal action-fests that are the Avery Cates novels yet, check out the third instalment, The Eternal Prison (UK/US/ANZ), released in February in the UK and Austalia, and already available in US. And while you’re at it, why not take a peek at our very attractive reissues of The Electric Church (UK/US/ANZ) and The Digital Plague (UK/US/ANZ).

Mike Cobley’s SF news frenzy

To follow on from Darren’s post, Michael Cobley has started his year with a bit of a roar. The mass market of Seeds of Earth was out yesterday. Then book two of this trilogy, The Orphaned Worlds is out in April (see the amazing cover, right) and Michael’s not slowing down any time soon …

He has a short story, Black Fragmentia, out in the latest edition of PS Publishing’s Postscripts Quarterly (PS 20/21). Then The Maker’s Mark (set in the Seeds of Earth universe) is to appear in Newcon Press’s Conflicts short story anthology, due out in February/March 2010. March will also see Michael at  Glasgow’s Aye Write festival as one of their featured authors. Amongst other things, he’ll be participating in a panel entitled ‘The Early Days of a Better Future’, along with other genre authors Ken Macleod, Richard Morgan, Hal Duncan and Debbie Miller. Then, in April, Michael will be at this year’s annual SF/F Eastercon convention where he’ll be chairing a couple of panels.

And lastly, as a treat for his fans, Michael is running a little competition to give away copies of the Seeds of Earth mass market edn. On ruminating his test question, Michael says he swung ‘between absurdly easy (how many letters are there in Greg’s surname and can you chew gum and walk at the same time?) or arcanely obscure (what is the Irish Gaelic translation of the 5th word on the 9th line on page 156?)’ but ultimately he went for something inbetween, and see here for more details. The deadline is 28th Jan … unless he changes it.

Looks like Michael has a busy Spring season ahead, and we’ll be keeping an eye on his rather stellar trajectory. Go Mike!

D is for The Deed of Paksenarrion

And D is for The Deed of Paksenarrion, an omnibus edition of Elizabeth Moon‘s much loved fantasy series. Comprising The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold, this massive tome is a wonderful read in its own right but also serves to whet the appetite for Elizabeth’s first new fantasy in almost two decades. Oath of Fealty will be published in March, but meanwhile, you can discover for yourself what prompted praise like this:

‘Engrossing’ Anne McCaffrey 

‘A superlative fantasy trilogy’ Booklist

‘Elves, dark sorcery, and high chivalry … thrilling’ blogcritics.org 

and you can read an extract from The Deed of Paksenarrion here.

C is for Cobley

C is for Cobley. Michael Cobley‘s Seeds of Earth, the opening volume of his Humanity’s Fire series, was published last year to great acclaim and a very gratifying response from the reading public, whose voracious demands sent it back for multiple reprints.
The mass market paperback is now unveiled for your reading pleasure – and a pleasure it is, indeed. The great Iain M. Banks thought well of it, calling Seeds of Earth:

‘Proper galaxy-spanning Space Opera with lots of weird aliens, secret ancient technologies and mysterious hyperweapons – a worthy addition to the genre’

Volume two, The Orphaned Worlds, will be published in trade paperback in April, giving you ample opportunity to addict yourself to this wonderful new series. 

You can read an extract from Seeds of Earth here.

B is also for Bennett

Mr Shivers B is also for Bennett. Robert Jackson Bennett, whose remarkable debut, Mr Shivers, is published this month in the UK, US and Australia. Robert’s US editor, DongWon, has waxed lyrical about Mr Shivers in this post, and has summed up the excitement perfectly. Go read it (the post and the book).

‘Mr Shivers is a startling début, a deft amalgam of thriller, cerebral horror and American gothic’ Guardian

You can read an extract here.

B is for Bakker

B is for Bakker, the author of the groundbreaking Prince of Nothing trilogy, who now returns to the world of Earwa with the first book of The Aspect-Emperor, The Judging Eye.

For readers who haven’t heard the buzz, no less an authority than Steven Erikson says:

‘Exquisitely intelligent and beautifully written . . . this is fantasy with muscle and brains, rife with intrigue and admirable depth of character, set in a world laden with history and detail. Take note, one and all, something remarkable has begun here . . .‘

You can read an extract from The Judging Eye here.

Fans of rich, robust fantasy rejoice! R. Scott Bakker is back.

A is for Abraham

It seems appropriate to begin the New Year with an ABC (for those of us who celebrated the Yule so . . . enthusiastically, that they’ve managed to mislay, for the moment, the neurons that deal with such matters). And so, in the finest traditions of children’s television, these are Orbit UK’s new releases for January . . .

A is for Abraham, whose Long Price Quartet has garnered extraordinary praise from the great and good of the literary world – not least, this fulsome endorsement from Junot Diaz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Literature:

‘Daniel Abraham is one of the reasons the fantasy genre continues to haunt my dreams. Abraham is fiercely talented, disturbingly human, breathtakingly original and even on his bad days kicks all sorts of literary ass . . . If you are meeting him for the first time I envy you: you are in for a remarkable journey.’

Orbit is delighted to be publishing Daniel Abraham‘s Long Price novels – A Shadow in Summer, A Betrayal in Winter, An Autumn War & The Price of Spring – in two omnibus editions: Shadow and Betrayal & Seasons of War. You can read extract from Book One here.

Get an extract of Pamela Freeman’s FULL CIRCLE, HERE

As Darren said in his round-up, the fantastic final volume of Pamela Freeman’s beautifully written Castings Trilogy is now here.  Full Circle (UK I ANZ I US) is a tremendous read, set in a troubled land of warlords and outcasts where the echoes of past atrocities taint the present. The Eleven Domains were forged in blood a thousand years ago and old wounds have been reopened as a ghost army marches to avenge ancient wrongs. But don’t just take our word for it, read a free extract HERE and check out just some of the praise we’ve had, below.

Plus, we have our fingers crossed for Pamela this weekend, as her illustrated children’s book Victor’s Challenge is on the shortlist for its category at the prestigious Australian Aurealis Awards.

PRAISE FOR THE CASTINGS TRILOGY

  • ‘Lots of great ideas … A very effective fantasy debut’
    — BookGeeks.co.uk
  • ‘Sometimes, a jewel rises to the top … I loved reading Blood Ties’
    — Grasping for the Wind
  • ‘Freeman shies away from simplistic morality, building elegantly well-rounded characters’
    — Publishers Weekly
  • ‘A rich and magical world where insurgency is definitely brewing’
    — Romantic Times
  • ‘Blood Ties has the feel of Ursula le Guin’s fantasy novels … a wonderfully satisfying series’
    — Aurealis Xpress
  • ‘An impressively different fantasy novel’
    — Sydney Morning Herald
  • ‘There is nothing predictable about Freeman’s storytelling … I was completely hooked’
    — Good Reading Magazine

And see Blood Ties (bk 1, UK I ANZ I US) and Deep Water (bk 2, UK I ANZ I US) here too:

 

Let them eat (Orbit) cake!

Here at Orbit we work very hard to publish the most exciting Science Fiction and Fantasy for the widest possible readership, remaining committed to publishing writers we believe to be exceptional in the best possible way. But did you know we take our food just as seriously?

Recently, as a thank you to our Sales team for supporting us so enthusiastically throughout the year, we put our baking mitts on to produce this tasty Orbit-themed cake.

And for a certain editor’s birthday not so long ago we produced this sugary treat . . . based on the axe awarded to the authors shortlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy.

We’d love to see any SFF-themed cakes that you’ve come up with, or perhaps you have an idea about what theme you’d like to see in cake form? Robocake anyone? Dark Lord’s dessert? Elvish eccles? We’ll see what the Orbit catering team can come up with, and if our creation is up to scratch it may just appear on the site in a few weeks time!

An Extract from Charlie Huston’s My Dead Body

In case you hadn’t noticed, vampires are very much the In Thing at the moment, pretty comfortably dominating the worlds of literature, television and movies. Yes, indeed – with a twinkle in the eye and a disturbingly pointy smile, the debonair bloodsuckers are doing very nicely, thank you.

With one exception: Joe Pitt. Joe’s not doing so well, as it happens. (more…)