Archive for Contents

Curled Up with Marie Brennan’s ‘Midnight Never Come’

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)There’s a new review of Midnight Never Come [UK / US], Marie Brennan‘s new novel of Elizabethan intrigue and fae power-politics, over at Curled Up With a Good Book.

Reviewer Mervi Hamalainen was particularly taken by the variety and depth of the often chillingly cruel fae characters in the novel:

“Midnight Never Come returns the fairies to their roots: terrifying, alien, yet captivating at the same time. Queen Invidiana is cold and cruel, and every English fae is scrambling desperately to stay on her good side. The mortal pets of the fae who have been changed by their stay among the fairies are sad and frightening figures not allowed to even keep their own names.”

Read the full review over at www.curledup.com.

Jeff Somers, Rescued by Nerds

rescue me, nerd!The new blog (with the awesome name) Rescued By Nerds interviewed Jeff Somers about the star of his novels, Avery Cates:

I’ve created a character who kills people, who physically assaults people when annoyed, who has stepped over the bodies of friends in order to save himself—albeit, perhaps, regretfully. Then I went ahead and made him kind of fun and charming. It feels good on some primitive level to then smack Avery in the head with a lead pipe. It feels like the Literary Lead Pipe of Justice.

Visit the nerds for the full interview.

There’s also a new messageboard for any citizens of Old New York who aren’t feeling like themselves lately. You can find that here (at least until the SSF takes it down).

Press Release: Orbit announces plans to expand in the US and UK

Following its successful launch in the US in 2007, and a record year for the imprint in the UK, Orbit announces its intention to expand both lists. In the US, Orbit is going to double the size of the list over the next 3 years, taking its title output to 70-80 titles per year by 2011. In the UK, where Orbit is already the biggest SFF imprint, it will increase the size of the list by approximately 10% each year over the next three years. (more…)

Win a signed copy of Pamela Freeman’s ‘Blood Ties’

Blood Ties by Pamela FreemanWe’ve teamed up with Chris, The Book Swede for this one: another incredibly simple-to-enter email sweepstake, with a copy of Blood Ties [UK / US] – the first part of Pamela Freeman’s Castings Trilogy – up for grabs by one lucky winner.

The book is out now in the US but won’t be be published next month in the UK. So if you’re a UK reader then this is a great chance to get your hands on an early copy… signed by the author, no less! And the Book Swede has also reviewed the novel, concluding: “Blood Ties is an excellent book, fun, clever, and well written, with distinctive characterisations, and I will definitely be looking forward to the next book in the series!”

Full entry terms and conditions are available over on the Book Swede’s blog. Good luck!

‘Midnight Never Come’: four-star SFX review

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)The UK’s biggest sci-fi magazine, SFX, has posted a four-star review of Midnight Never Come [UK / US], the new novel by Marie Brennan, out now from Orbit UK, and published next month by Orbit US.

The book, which is set towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, impressed reviewer Eddie Robson with its mix of an authentic Elizabethan atmopshere and darker, fae elements: “…firmly rooted in real history, set in a convincingly-constructed Elizabethan England, but with a secret faerie court existing beneath London. Its ruler, Invidiana, is a cruel capricious sort, whose subjects live in dread of her schemes and whims.”

Eddie also enjoyed Midnight Never Come‘s highly-intriguing plot: “…refreshingly for this genre, [it’s] a political thriller, with conspiracies, spies and shady machinations … The novel starts slowly, concentrating first on world-building and putting pieces on the board, but it keeps you hooked until the plot really kicks in.”

Midnight Never Come is out now in the UK and will be published next month in the US. To read the full review, pick up a copy of the June 2008 edition of SFX Magazine.

Where Do All Those Villains Come From?

Karen Miller - Empress (UK)Anyone who’s read EMPRESS – or any of the early reviews of the novel – will know that it’s a book with a very unsympathetic central character (and that there aren’t a lot of hugs to go around at the end.)

Over at Grasping for the Wind, John Ottinger talks to Karen about how the book upends the expectations of epic fantasy:

GFTW: Although Hekat is a sympathetic character at the beginning of the novel, we have come to dislike her very much by the end. How were you able to write a character that rather than having an upward spiral toward a “happily ever after” instead moved on a downward spiral filled with selfishness and hate?”


Read Karen’s responses here.

You can read the first chapter of EMPRESS here.

Brian Ruckley talks to Mania.com

Bloodheir by Brian RuckleyThere’s a new interview with Orbit’s own Brian Ruckley online over at Mania.com.

Pat Ferrara asks Brian about how he got started as a fantasy writer, his major inspirations, the influence of Scotland on the lands of the Godless World, what fans can expect from the soon-to-be-published sequel, Bloodheir [UK / US] and where Brian will be turning his writerly attention to, once his debut series is finished.

They’ve also posted a great review of Winterbirth [UK / US] which says things like: “…the author’s ability to balance meticulously calculated plot with heart-pounding action is second to none. Winterbirth steadily gains momentum as it unloads backstory, building to a climactic ending…”

Read the full review at www.mania.com as well.

Tom Holt Talks Time Travel

Tom Holt’s latest work of comic genius, The Better Mousetrap, is out today and to mark the occasion, Tom was kind enough to write a piece for our blog. Hope you all enjoy and be sure to look out for The Better Mousetrap, in stores now!

Suppose, just suppose, you actually could travel faster than light –

There would be problems, of course. For one thing, you wouldn’t be able to see where you’re going, which means you’d run an unacceptably high risk of bumping into something solid, like an asteroid, or unpleasantly warm, like a star. For another, you’d arrive before you left, with the inevitable result that, no matter how meticulous you might be about planning your journey, you’d always arrive at your destination to find that you’d left the tickets or the hotel reservations at home. And, of course, there’d be all the aggravation with your luggage. It’s bad enough travelling sublight and finding that your spongebag and nightwear have wound up on a different tectonic plate. Factor in a fourth dimension, and the possibilities are as infinite as the multiverse itself.

But just suppose. Time travel; piece of cake. When do you want to go today?

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