Archive for Contents

A History of the Reality of the History of the Grossbarts: Part 1

Bullington_Sad Tale Bros. Grossbart (TP)I first encountered Hegel and Manfried Grossbart as a child in an old book my parents picked up at a garage sale—Trevor Caleb Walker’s Enter the Nexus, Black Monolith. Not realizing what a rare find this century-old edition was, my parents gave me the glorified chapbook, thinking that Walker’s thrashing, inept verse was intended as limericks for children, a bit like the copy of Wilhelm Busch’s Max and Moritz that I so adored. At that age I did not even realize Walker was intending poetry and thought it was simply a bizarrely written series of short stories about graverobbing brothers being unkind to man, woman, and beast. I certainly did not appreciate the volume’s value, and so it went the way of so many old horror comics and paperbacks—worn out and abandoned after a few summers, and entirely forgotten by the time University beckoned. (more…)

Cover Launch: BLONDE BOMBSHELL

Holt_Blonde Bombshell (TP)Don’t tell me you haven’t read Tom Holt yet! You love Douglas Adams, read Terry Pratchett, dabble in some A. Lee Martinez, but you haven’t discovered Tom Holt? Well, now is your chance. A huge favorite in the UK, Tom Holt has an impressive backlist of that kind of really funny, smart, and absurdist humor that we all met with the Hitchhiker’s series (way back in what, high school?) and need a pretty steady fix of. I admit I had never been introduced to his books before, but Orbit UK has been publishing him for a long time, and he’s developed quite an underground fan base in the US, who subsist on a diet of imports. This release will be not only the US launch of Tom Holt but also the start of a new cover look for the UK.

Blonde Bombshell is a great jumping-on point if you’ve never read Mr. Holt, and if you’re already a fan, you’ll be excited to hear that it’s Tom’s first book that is more of a humorous science fiction, (rather than humorous fantasy) novel. Here’s a description: (more…)

Marianne de Pierres: ‘Space opera supreme’

That’s how the Sydney Morning Herald has described Marianne De Pierres’ phenomenal Sentients of Orion series. Out this week is the fantastic third instalment of the series, Mirror Space (UK/ AUS), and readers are in for a treat.

We continue to follow Mira Fedor, a young baroness with the ability to pilot sentient spaceships, in her attempt to liberate her home planet Araldis from hostile forces. As the Orion League of Sentient Species seems unable or unwilling to help, she’s forced to enlist the help of ruthless mercenary captain Rast Randall. But Rast’s contacts may have their own, more sinister agenda in mind . . .

With previous books in the series being lauded as:  ‘Brilliant in all sense of the word’ (Sean Williams),  and ‘A beautifully plotted, full-on action ride with gorgeous twists’(Aurealis), we suggest you take the advice that Hub Magazine gave about the series:

‘Readers who hunger for perceptive, intelligent and unflinching literary science fiction should seek this book out as soon as possible’

You can read an extract here.

The Greatest Suite Party Ever: A Series of Vignettes

That would be the suite party at the just-held World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, hosted by the always snazzily dressed Gail Carriger, in honor of her debut novel SOULLESS.

The soiree featured delectable delicacies, luscious libations, oscillating octopi, parasols aplenty, a bevy of neo-Victorian beauties, as well as numerous delightful dandies — and all immortalized in glossy color photos by photographer Britt Hart.

Treacle tart, anyone?

World Fantasy 2009: A Different Perspective

Devi, my esteemed colleague and likely better in every respect, is a battle-scarred veteran of many a convention. Going into this past weekend she had strategies and plans for survival (and apparently a whole list of mad inventions for future years). I, on the other hand, was an impressionable innocent wandering blindly into the crossfire. I’ve been at Orbit a little over a year and didn’t make it out to Denver last year. I’d bopped around the NYCC a little bit and BEA but those are more trade-shows and I’d somehow avoided all the intense networking and partying they surrounds them. I’d always been interested in going just as a fan, but between work and money and all the other little excuses had never ventured afield to that most scary of SFF meet-ups. I was, as embarrassed as I was to admit it, a convention virgin. (more…)

What I learned at World Fantasy. . .

SoullessSomeone asked me recently how many conventions I had been to. And sadly the answer to that is so many that I have no idea.  I’ve been to at least one a year for the past few years and probably as many as three a year in some cases.  What I love about them is the great sense of energy—talking to authors (which I have much to comment on later) and catching up with people you haven’t seen in months and especially the people you’ve yet to meet. I think this year was more fun than other years for a host of reasons. First, I had not one, but two parties that I was invited to. YEAH ME!!!  Beat that! Um. Well, one of them was the Orbit party we hosted, so I guess I can’t, in good conscience count that. And the other was my author Gail Carriger’s launch party for Soulless and I guess I had to be invited – being her editor and all. . . But on to the news from WFC!  (more…)

Cover Launch: STEALING FIRE

Graham_Stealing Fire (TP)Stealing Fire is another great historical fantasy novel from Jo Graham and another beautiful painting from John Jude Palencar.

Black Ships and Hand of Isis were some of the first books I read from Orbit when I joined the team here, and they’re books I still press into people’s hands when they come to visit the office. They’re really well-written books in the vein of Mists of Avalon and I can’t give higher praise than that, people. The books are not quite a series in that you can read them in any order, and they don’t follow each other chronologically. However they are tied together by the characters and I won’t say more than that because I don’t want to give it away. (more…)

Random Lovable Things

I love it when aliens with giant veiny foreheads come down to tell us how inferior we are and how they’re going to blast us into dust because of their superiority.

I love it when someone spontaneously evolves into a future being with a giant veiny forehead, and then proceeds to threaten humanity with his awesome future intellect.

I love atomic brains from outer space.  Y’know the kind I’m talking about.  They’ve grown beyond the need for a body and just float around, causing all sorts of cosmic mischief.

I love radiation.  Radiation is always sure to be fun.  If it doesn’t kill you, then maybe you’ll get superpowers!  Isn’t that swell?
(more…)

Double Cover Launch: GRIFFIN MAGE TRILOGY

Neumeier_Lord Changing Winds (MM) Neumeier_Land Burning Sands (MM)Today, lucky readers, I have not one but TWO covers to launch: Lord of the Changing Winds and The Land of Burning Sands by Rachel Neumeier, Books I & II of the Griffin Mage Trilogy. I am launching them together because they are releasing back to back in May and June 2010, and the final book will be out in December 2010. (We know you guys love it when we do a quick publishing schedule so you can get the whole epic, right? We’re geeks too, we know waiting for book 2 is the worst.)

Anyway, back to the books. The author has a fresh take on griffins, much more raw, and dangerous than the traditional fantasy griffins — and I wanted that to show through in the covers. These griffins are animal creatures first, and I think that’s never been explored before, so I have focused on those details of the griffins, and then just added touches of the story – in the first book you can just see the reflection of Kes in the griffin’s eye, and then in the second book you can see the role the desert will play. (more…)

Bite Marks is out!

And just in time for Halloween….

Rardin_Bite Marks (TP)

I’m very excited to tell you that Bite Marks is out today! Yeah! This is Jaz Park’s newest adventure. And this time, she’s in a bit deeper than before with gnomes trying to bring down NASA and a demon bent on dragging a friend’s soul to hell.  But to top it off, she’s also hearing voices in her head – and they’re not all hers.

It’s a wild ride. I hope you’re as excited as I am to check this book out in the bookstores. And I’m over the moon because the next book just delivered into my greedy wittle hands! Which you’ll be seeing next fall…

And be sure to check out Jennifer’s post on “The Ick Factor.”