Archive for Contents

New Acquisition: THE WOLF’S CALL by Anthony Ryan

Anthony Ryan is returning to the world of international bestseller BLOOD SONG with his new book! 

We’re thrilled to announce that the next book from international bestselling author Anthony Ryan is called THE WOLF’S CALL and, even more excitingly, it will return to the world of his bestselling and critically-acclaimed Raven’s Shadow trilogy (which comprised BLOOD SONG, TOWER LORD and QUEEN OF FIRE).

THE WOLF’S CALL, book one of the Raven’s Blade duology, will begin an epic new adventure for fan-favourite Vaelin Al Sorna, as he travels to the far-flung realms of the Merchant Kings and learns of a grave new threat to the Unified Realm. Needless to say, THE WOLF’S CALL will feature more of the razor-sharp action, deadly politics and memorable characters that made the Raven’s Shadow trilogy a worldwide sensation, and is sure to delight new readers and existing fans alike.

We will publish THE WOLF’S CALL in summer 2019.

About Anthony Ryan

Anthony Ryan is the author of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy and the recently-completed Draconis Memoria series. His books have sold more than a million English-language copies worldwide. Follow him on Twitter @writer_anthony and at his website.

Praise for Anthony Ryan

‘A master storyteller’ Mark Lawrence

‘A major new talent’ Buzzfeed

‘Fabulous . . . Sure to be another fantasy classic’ Huffington Post UK

‘The new world Ryan has created for his dragon adventure is a joy to visualise’ SciFiNow 

‘Excellent epic fantasy’ Bookbag

2018 World Fantasy Award Finalists

The 2018 World Fantasy Award finalists have been announced, and we’re excited to report that JADE CITY by Fonda Lee (US | UK | ANZ) is one of the nominees for Best Novel!

The World Fantasy Award is nominated by members of the World Fantasy Convention, and by a panel of judges. Winners will be announced at the World Fantasy Convention in Baltimore, MD this November. Congratulations to Fonda Lee and the rest of the nominees! You can view the full list of awards and nominations on the World Fantasy Convention website.

Cover Launch: STORM CURSED by Patricia Briggs

Exciting news for fans of Patricia Briggs: everyone’s favourite kick-ass shapeshifter, Mercy Thompson, will be back in action early next year!  In STORM CURSED, Mercy must face a deadly enemy to defend all she loves . . . we are thrilled to reveal the stunning cover below.

Storm Cursed

Cover portrait: www.sorted.tv
Cover design: Ellen Rockell – LBBG

 

Read on for a taste of what’s in store for Mercy in the next thrilling installment of the number one bestselling series:

 

My name is Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman, and I am a car mechanic.

And a coyote shapeshifter . . . And the mate of the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack.

Even so, none of that would have gotten me into trouble if, a few months ago, I hadn’t stood upon a bridge and taken responsibility for the safety of the citizens who lived in our territory. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. It should have only involved hunting down killer goblins, zombie goats, and an occasional troll. Instead, our home was viewed as neutral ground, a place where humans would feel safe to come and treat with the fae.

The reality is that nothing and no one is safe. As generals and politicians face off with the Gray Lords of the fae, a storm is coming and her name is Death.

But we are pack, and we have given our word. We will die to keep it.

Cover Launch: THE LAST ASTRONAUT by David Wellington

Science fiction often explores the vast expanse of space, generation ships, and galactic dogfights. But, what if we simply gave up on navigating the stars?

The Last Astronaut by David Wellington is a thrilling, near-future science fiction novel that explores a future where manned missions to space have become a thing of the past. Except now, an unknown object has arrived in our solar system.

For ex-astronaut Sally Jensen, this means executing a mission into space that no one could possibly be prepared for. We thought we no longer needed her . . .

Design by Lauren Panepinto; Images by Arcangel

Sally Jensen, the last astronaut to travel beyond our orbit, must build, train, and lead her team on the first mission to make first contact with an alien object. 

It entered our solar system, slowed down off the rings of Saturn, and began a steady approach towards Earth.

Having forsaken manned missions the space programs of the world scramble to meet the visitor by enlisting forcefully-retired NASA legend Sally Jansen, the only person with the first-hand knowledge and operational experience capable of meeting this new visitor and finding out its purpose.

With no time to spare she must plan and execute a mission from scratch and lead a crew with no experience farther than mankind has ever travelled to make contact.

But each passing day brings it closer to home.

THE LAST ASTRONAUT launches in May 2019.

Cover Launch: SPLINTERED SUNS by Michael Cobley

Here at Orbit we love an action-packed, galaxy-spanning space opera, and Michael Cobley’s new Humanity’s Fire novel, SPLINTERED SUNS (UK|US|ANZ), ticks all the boxes! With a spaceship crewed by rogues and scoundrels, this latest offering from the author of Seeds of Earth is perfect for fans of Star Wars, Firefly or Farscape  Feast your eyes on the recently revealed cover below:

 

Splintered SunsIllustration by Steve Stone. Design by Charlotte Stroomer.

 

Splintered Suns will hit the shops in December. Read on for a taste of what’s in store:

For Pyke and his crew it should have been just another heist. Travel to a backwater desert planet, break into a museum, steal a tracking device then use it to find a ship buried in the planet’s vast and trackless sandy wastes.
Except that the museum vault is a bio-engineered chamber, and the tracking device is sought after by another gang of treasure hunters led by an old adversary of Pyke’s, the devious Raven Kaligara. Also, the ship is a quarter of a million years old and about two kilometres long and somewhere aboard it is the Essavyr Key, a relic to unlock all the treasures and technologies of a lost civilisation . . .

New Acquisition: THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E. Harrow

Alix E. Harrow cr Sam WilliamsonDoors are special things in fantasy. You open a wardrobe or a cupboard or a gate and it can lead to the most wonderful place: one of enchantment, adventure, and most of all, escape. So it’s no wonder I’m so excited I’m practically in orbit about announcing the acquisition of Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel.

Mesmerizing and affecting, THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY follows a young woman’s search for her missing father, her place in the world, and the mystery behind an unexpected door.

Here’s a quick teaser of what you can expect:

When I was seven, I found a door. I suspect I should capitalize that word, so you understand I’m not talking about your garden or common variety door that leads reliably to a white-tiled kitchen or a bedroom closet.

When I was seven, I found a Door. There–look how tall and proud the word stands on the page now, the belly of that D like a black archway leading into white nothing. When you see that word, I imagine a little prickle of familiarity makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You don’t know a thing about me; you can’t see me sitting at this yellowwood desk, the salt-sweet breeze riffling these pages like a reader looking for her bookmark. You can’t see the scars that twist and knot across my skin. You don’t even know my name (it’s January Scaller; so now I suppose you do know a little something about me and I’ve ruined my point).

But you know what it means when you see the word Door. Maybe you’ve even seen one for yourself, standing half-ajar and rotted in an old church, or oiled and shining in a brick wall. Maybe, if you’re one of those fanciful persons who find their feet running towards unexpected places, you’ve even walked through one and found yourself in a very unexpected place indeed.

Or maybe you’ve never so much as glimpsed a Door in your life. There aren’t as many of them as there used to be.

But you still know about Doors, don’t you? Because there are ten thousand stories about ten thousand Doors, and we know them as well as we know our names. They lead to Faerie, to Valhalla, Atlantis and Lemuria, Heaven and Hell, to all the directions a compass could never take you, to elsewhere. My father–who is a true scholar and not just a young lady with an ink pen and a series of things she has to say–puts it much better: “If we address stories as archaeological sites, and dust through their layers with meticulous care, we find at some level there is always a doorway. A dividing point between here and there, us and them, mundane and magical. It is at the moments when the doors open, when things flow between the worlds, that stories happen.”

THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY will be on shelves Fall 2019, but in the meantime please join us in welcoming Alix! You can find her on Twitter at @AlixEHarrow.
 

 

BFA shortlist announced

The 2018 British Fantasy Awards shortlist has been announced by the BFS. Congratulations to RJ Barker, M. R. Carey and Anna Smith Spark, who are all nominated! And an honourable mention to another Orbit author, Tade Thompson, who is nominated in the Best Novella category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The full shortlist is below:

Best Newcomer (the Sydney J Bounds Award)

· RJ Barker, for Age of Assassins (Orbit)
· SA Chakraborty, for The City of Brass (HarperVoyager)
· Ed McDonald, for Blackwing (Orion)
· Jeanette Ng, for Under the Pendulum Sun (Angry Robot)
· Anna Smith Spark, for The Court of Broken Knives (HarperVoyager) [Orbit in the US]

 

Best Magazine / Periodical

· Black Static, ed. Andy Cox (TTA Press)
· Gingernuts of Horror, ed. Jim Mcleod
· Grimdark Magazine, ed. Adrian Collins
· Interzone, ed. Andy Cox (TTA Press)
· Shoreline of Infinity, ed. Noel Chidwick

 

Best Non-Fiction

· Gender Identity and Sexuality in Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. FT Barbini (Luna Press)
· Gingernuts of Horror, ed. Jim Mcleod
· Luminescent Threads, ed. Alexandra Pierce & Mimi Mondal (12th Planet Press)
· No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, by Ursula K Le Guin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
· Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of 70s and 80s Horror Fiction, by Grady Hendrix (Quirk)
· Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, by Maura McHugh (Electric Dreamhouse Press)

 

Best Comic / Graphic Novel

· Bitch Planet Vol 2: President Bitch, by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Taki Soma & Valentine de Landro (Image)
· Grim & Bold, by Joshua Cornah (Kristell Ink)
· Monstress, Vol. 2, by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda (Image)
· Tomorrow, by Jack Lothian & Garry Mac (BHP Comics)
· The Wicked + The Divine Vol 5: Imperial Phase Part 1, by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie (Image)

 

Best Independent Press

· 404 Ink
· Fox Spirit
· Grimbold Books
· Newcon Press
· Salt Publishing
· Unsung Stories

 

Best Audio

· Anansi Boys (by Neil Gaiman, adapted by Dirk Maggs for Radio 4)
· Brave New Words podcast (Ed Fortune and Starburst Magazine)
· Breaking the Glass Slipper podcast (Lucy Hounsom, Charlotte Bond & Megan Leigh)
· Ivory Towers (by Richard H Brooks, directed by Karim Kronfli for 11th Hour Audio Productions)
· PseudoPod podcast (Alasdair Stuart and Escape Artists)
· Tea & Jeopardy podcast (Emma & Peter Newman)

 

Best Artist

· Ben Baldwin
· Jeffrey Alan Love
· Victo Ngai
· Daniele Sera
· Sophie E Tallis
· Sana Takeda

 

Best Anthology

· 2084, ed. George Sandison (Unsung Stories)
· Dark Satanic Mills: Great British Horror Book 2, ed. Steve Shaw (Black Shuck Books)
· Imposter Syndrome, ed. James Everington & Dan Howarth (Dark Minds Press)
· New Fears, ed. Mark Morris (Titan Books)
· Pacific Monsters, ed. Margret Helgadottir (Fox Spirit)

 

Best Collection

· Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury)
· Strange Weather, by Joe Hill (Gollancz)
· Tanith by Choice, by Tanith Lee (Newcon Press)
· Tender: Stories, by Sofia Samatar (Small Beer Press)
· You Will Grow Into Them, by Malcolm Devlin (Unsung Stories)

 

Best Film / Television Production

· Black Mirror, Series 4, by Charlie Brooker (Netflix)
· Get Out, by Jordan Peele (Universal Pictures)
· The Good Place, Season 1, by Michael Schur (Netflix)
· Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by Rian Johnson (Lucasfilm)
· Stranger Things, Season 2, by Matt & Ross Duffer (Netflix)
· Twin Peaks: the Return, by Mark Frost & David Lynch (Sky Atlantic)
· Wonder Woman, by Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg & Jason Fuchs (Warner Bros.)

 

Best Novella

· Brother’s Ruin, by Emma Newman (Tor.com)
· Cottingley, by Alison Littlewood (Newcon Press)
· The Murders of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson (Tor.com)
· Naming the Bones, by Laura Mauro (Dark Minds Press)
· Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages (Tor.com)
· A Pocketful of Crows, by Joanne Harris (Gollancz)

 

Best Short Fiction

· The Anniversary, by Ruth EJ Booth (in Black Static #61) (TTA Press)
· Four Abstracts, by Nina Allan (in New Fears) (Titan Books)
· Illumination, by Joanne Hall (in Book of Dragons) (Kristell Ink)
· The Little Gift, by Stephen Volk (PS Publishing)
· Looking for Laika, by Laura Mauro (in Interzone #273) (TTA Press)
· Shepherd’s Business, by Stephen Gallagher (in New Fears) (Titan Books)

 

Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award)

· Behind Her Eyes, by Sarah Pinborough (Harper Collins)
· The Boy on the Bridge, by MR Carey (Orbit)
· The Changeling, by Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau)
· The Crow Garden, by Alison Littlewood (Jo Fletcher Books)
· Relics, by Tim Lebbon (Titan Books)

 

Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award)

· Age of Assassins, by RJ Barker (Orbit)
· The Court of Broken Knives, by Anna Smith Spark (HarperVoyager) [Orbit in the US]
· The Ninth Rain, by Jen Williams (Headline)
· Under the Pendulum Sun, by Jeanette Ng (Angry Robot)

 

 

 

Cover Launch: SOULKEEPER by David Dalglish

Magic and monsters. Heroes and vindictive gods. Dragons, fairies, enormous, murderous wolf-spiders, and everything in between. At Orbit, we love big, epic, monster-filled fantasy novels, and David Dalglish’s Soulkeeper has them all. Check out the cover by Samuel Araya for this brand new series and get excited to meet the Soulkeeper in both the US and the UK in January 2019!

 

When magic returns to the world, one man must lay aside his words of peace and take up the sword to defend humanity in the first book of this bold new trilogy by USA Today Bestselling author David Dalglish.

Devin Eveson is a Soulkeeper, traveling through remote villages as a preacher and healer. But when a mysterious black water washes over the world, the veil is torn, flooding the land with ancient magic and forgotten races: fire that dances as if alive, corpses that walk, and creatures that can manipulate time itself. And not all the creatures that have re-awakened remember humanity fondly.

As the land grows more dangerous and more chaotic, Soulkeepers are turning up dead, their bodies transformed into macabre works of art. Devin must set aside his words of peace and accept his new role: slayer of monsters and protector of the human race.

Illustration by Samuel Araya. Design by Lauren Panepinto.

Cover Launch: THE RISING by Mira Grant

Mira Grant’s Newsflesh Trilogy has been called “a whip-smart thriller overflowing with sharp ideas and social commentary” (Kirkus), “astonishing,” (The New York Times), and “gripping, thrilling, and brutal,” (Publishers Weekly). If you’ve ever been curious about this landmark series, have we got great news for you! We’re thrilled to reveal the cover for The Rising: The Complete Newsflesh Trilogy.

The Rising by Mira Grant

Design by Lisa Marie Pompillio; Art by Arcangel

“Alive or dead, the truth won’t rest. My name is Georgia Mason, and I am begging you. Rise up while you can.”

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives — the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

The Rising includes Feed (US | UK), Deadline (US | UK), and Blackout (US | UK) and publishes February 19, 2019. 

 

Cover Launch: THE TRIUMPH OF THE DWARVES by Markus Heitz

The Dwarves are back! Orbit has acquired three new books in Markus Heitz’s internationally bestselling fantasy series The Dwarves. Even better news, THE TRIUMPH OF THE DWARVES is available now in ebook and the paperback edition releases August 7, 2018.

Cover illustration by Bob Lea.

International bestselling fantasy author Markus Heitz returns to his best-loved series.

After decades of occupation by the älfar, the dark elves have been defeated and peace has finally been declared.

But the nations still distrust each other, and when a child is found in the Grey Mountains who speaks the language of the älfar, the dwarves believe this little girl heralds a new threat. And they will be right – just not in the way they thought.

Under the orders of Ireheart, now High King of the dwarves, a small delegation is sent to search for Tungdil Goldhand, the true High King, who many believe dead. Against all odds, Tungdil has survived his mission to the terrifying realm of Phondrasôn. But is he truly the legendary hero of the dwarves, or an impostor at the heart of a deeper conspiracy?

And does he realise that the fiends from Phondrasôn themselves aren’t far behind . . . ?

The action never lets up in this next exciting story in the saga of the dwarves!

And don’t miss the previous entries in the saga of the Dwarves: