Archive for Contents

Debatable Space launches this month!

Debatable Space by Philip Palmer

Debatable Space, by debut author Philip Palmer, is available this month from Orbit UK and US and it’s already getting some fantastic praise. SFRevu says:

Seldom have I read anything so relentlessly energetic, inventive and shamelessly ambitious – all highly laudable qualities…This is one of those rare books that holds your focus on every page, and feeds your imagination as it does so…Palmer is a new, fresh, entirely original voice in British science fiction, and one that looks like he will be around, like Lena, for some considerable time.

And Fantasy Book Critic calls it:

One heck of a trip. It’s ambitious, original, a self-contained story, laugh-out-loud funny, gleefully violent, and wildly unpredictable…much more than a typical science fiction novel and I think readers would be making a huge mistake in overlooking Philip Palmer’s excellent debut.

Interested in checking out one of the most exciting new SF novels of 2008? You can check out an extract here or pick up a copy at a bookstore near you later this month!

Calling all MMORGS

Halting State by Charles Stross
Welcome back! As we ring in 2008 it seems a good time to look to the (not-so-far) future with Halting State, Charles Stross’s near-future techno thriller, which is getting some great reviews.

Starbust is calling it a ‘highly effective thanks to some great twists and an entirely convincing paranoid overtone’ and this month’s DeathRay describing it as ‘a surprisingly buoyant thriller about the meat puppets: you and me…his writing is muscled and lively’.

Over in the blogosphere, The Book Swede, who reviewed it earlier last year, says ‘the story and characterisation is typical Stross, that is to say, brilliant’ and SF Reviews.net says:

‘Fans of Stross’s earlier technothrillers — this book reads in many ways like one of his Laundry stories played straight — will go nuts over Halting State. The zeitgeist-savvy incorporation of the gaming world as a central narrative motif is handled to perfection.’

Halting State will be hitting bookshelves later this month. Until then, be sure to check out The Jennifer Morgue, out now, which DeathRay calls ‘a wonderfully entertaining read.’

And on the twelfth day of ChristmaSFF…

“… my android gave to me
Twelve alternate futures
Eleven starships shooting
Ten slayers slaying
Nine LARPers LARPing
Eight lemmings laughing
Seven heroes hunting
Six planets plotting
Five throwing stars
Four entangled qubits
Three diff’rence engines
Two uploaded humans and
A monolith on a dead moon.”

Hope you’ve enjoyed our festive song – erm, now back to the serious business of book publishing . . . Happy celebrations from Orbit.

And on the eleventh day of ChristmaSFF…

“… my android gave to me
Eleven starships shooting
Ten slayers slaying
Nine LARPers LARPing
Eight lemmings laughing
Seven heroes hunting
Six planets plotting
Fiiiiive throooowing staaaars
Four entangled qubits
Three diff’rence engines
Two uploaded humans and
A monoli-ith on a dead mooon.”

Podcasts with Karen Miller and Tim Holman

Karen Miller talked with The Dragon Page Radio about The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage, as well as her upcoming Godspeaker trilogy, which will launch this Spring with Empress. You can listen to the podcast here.

And Orbit Publishing Director Tim Holman had a long ranging interview with Rick Kleffel at the Agony Column podcast. They talk about the launch of Orbit US and the future of genre fiction publishing. If you’re interested in the strategy behind Orbit’s publishing program, or the future of the genre, don’t miss it! Link.

And on the tenth day of ChristmaSFF…

“… my android gave to me
Ten slayers slaying
Nine LARPers LARPing
Eight lemmings laughing
Seven heroes hunting
Six planets plotting
Five throwing stars
Four entangled qubits
Three diff’rence engines
Two uploaded humans and
A monolith on a dead moon.”

And on the ninth day of ChristmaSFF…

“… my android gave to me
Nine LARPers LARPing
Eight lemmings laughing
Seven heroes hunting
Six planets plotting
Five throwing stars
Four entangled qubits
Three diff’rence engines
Two uploaded humans and
A monolith on a dead moon.”

And on the eighth day of ChristmaSFF…

“… my android gave to me
Eight lemmings laughing
Seven heroes hunting
Six planets plotting
Five throwing stars
Four entangled qubits
Three diff’rence engines
Two uploaded humans and
A monolith on a dead moon.”