Archive for Contents

Cover launch! SHIFTING SHADOWS by Patricia Briggs

The book cover for SHIFTING SHADOWS, a collection of short stories based in the world of Mercy Thompson, mechanice , shapeshifter and fighter, by Patricia Briggs We’re very happy to unveil our cover for an exciting new book coming from Patricia Briggs on 2nd September 2014! It’s called SHIFTING SHADOWS (UK | ANZ), and it’s a collection of fantastic short stories set in the world of Mercy Thompson.

Patricia Briggs is a number one New York Times bestseller and one of the most popular urban fantasy authors writing today. This anthology revolves around her much-loved character Mercy Thompson – mechanic, shapeshifter and fighter – and the people she calls friends. It includes numerous brand-new stories which you won’t have seen anywhere else.

Mercy fans – this is a must! And for anyone who hasn’t read Patricia Briggs yet, this might be a good time to check out why Kelley Armstrong calls the Mercy Thompson series ‘the best new urban fantasy series I’ve read in years’.

From the Editor: Why I love Hugo Award-nominated PARASITE

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There are few books that unsettle me like a Mira Grant novel, but no other books give me the chills as much while also drawing me in with raw humanity. In PARASITE you’re taken to a world where the inexorable march of corporate progress and medical advancement has designed a cure for the ailments that haunt all of us. Oh, and this miracle cure is tapeworms surgically implanted into our digestive system. But this remedy is revealing itself to have hidden and profound side effects.

In the era of “too big to fail” and the devastating effects we’re having on our environment it’s not difficult for me to imagine massive companies having devastating results, consequences we are all complicit in, but the author’s intelligence, in-depth research, and uncanny ability to raise suspense make the nightmare of this book all too believable.

But what makes the horror fully real is the main character Sal. In Sal I found the perfect protagonist to draw me into this world and behind the curtain of SymboGen, the corporation claiming to be our savior. Waking up from an accident Sal has to learn to start all over again. Walking, speaking, and everything else is new to her. She is a child, but not a child, and her raw innocence made me fully share in the same sense of defenselessness she feels as she learns the dark secrets of the world and finds monsters everywhere. Reading Parasite terrifyingly brought me back to the days when I looked for creatures under the bed, but this story shows that monsters are within us and all around.

PARASITE is currently available for $1.99 in the US and £1.99 in the UK for a limited time. Read an excerpt here.

The High Druid’s Blade & Shannara Family Tree

This week sees the release of THE HIGH DRUID’S BLADE (UK | ANZ), a brand new stand-alone novel by Terry Brooks, set in the Legendary world of Shannara.

This exciting epic fantasy adventure tells the tale of Paxon Leah, a descendant of the royals and warriors who once waged war with magical weapons. But to Paxon, those days of legend are long gone now, and he leads a quiet life – until extraordinary circumstances will rewrite his destiny . . .

To celebrate the release, we’ve designed the beautiful Shannara family tree below (click to enlarge it!) showing the Ohmsford and Leah family lineage. It really demonstrates the richness of the Shannara world. But the great thing about the new book THE HIGH DRUID’S BLADE is that it’s a stand-alone novel, so a great place to discover this world for the first time. You can read an extract here.

Readers in the UK now have the chance to win a beautiful A2 poster of this family tree.Check out our competition on the Orbit UK Facebook Page.

Ohmsford and Leah family tree

Click to see the full size

TOWER LORD – the Return of British Fantasy’s Rising Star

At last. The event that thousands of you have scribbled in your diaries (or typed with equal fervour into your digital calendars) is finally here: the publication of Anthony Ryan’s TOWER LORD.

Rewind to September 28th, 2012. FantasyCon, Brighton. A gloriously hot day where the town’s population were doing what British people do when the weather’s nice: flock to the beach, use disposable BBQs that don’t really work, and get sunburned.

Anne Clarke – then Editorial Director of Orbit UK – and I snuck out of a launch party (not our own party, I should add) to discuss a book that we’d just received on submission.

‘Is it good?’ Anne asked me.

‘I’ve only read about 100 pages,’ I replied, blinking against the sparkling of the sun on the sea. ‘But yeah, it’s good. In fact, I think it’s really good.’ (I think I might have actually looked around in a conspirational manner as I said this. In my defence, most of the great and good of London genre publishing were only just out of earshot.)

“Well,’ Anne replied with a knowing nod. You ought to read the rest. Quickly.’

So I did. The following day I read for seven hours straight until I finished the book. It took about the same amount of time afterwards to comprehend just how fantastic it was. We bought the book that same week in a hard-fought auction and published it the following spring.

That novel was Anthony Ryan’s BLOOD SONG (UK | ANZ), which went on to receive universal acclaim and become the UK’s bestselling epic fantasy debut in 2013.

Blood-SongI’ve written before about why I love this book so much (crisp prose, visceral action sequences and a suitably conflicted hero, in case you can’t be bothered clicking the link). I was delighted to see that tens of thousands of readers loved BLOOD SONG for exactly the same reasons I did. Even Amazon felt the same way, making BLOOD SONG their favourite SFF book of 2013.

But once the dust has settled, you’re left pondering the inevitable question: how will the next book measure up? After all, the road to publishing hell is paved with ‘difficult’ second novels.

The answer, I’m pleased to say, is that TOWER LORD is an even better book than its illustrious predecessor.

I won’t say much more, save that TOWER LORD retains all of the best elements of BLOOD SONG (the exciting action scenes, the razor-sharp intrigue and the wonderful characterisation) as well as broadening the scope and raising the stakes even higher. We meet some fascinating new characters (including, I should add, some excellent female protagonists) and get to explore some thrilling new places. And then there’s the jaw-dropping revelations about – ah, but I’ve said too much already.

If you loved BLOOD SONG, you’ll love TOWER LORD. If you haven’t read BLOOD SONG, then I suggest you read it immediately (unless you’re operating heavy machinery). And if you didn’t like BLOOD SONG, well . . . I’m afraid you’ll feel a bit lonely, as there’s not many of you.

TOWER LORD is out now in hardback, ebook and audio.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the book:

‘It’s always the way with great men, they can’t see the knives of those who live in their shadow.’

The Lightbringer Read-Along begins today!

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One of the hardest the things about being a fan is the waiting, especially when it’s something you really, really, really want.

Well, Brent Weeks fans, you have less than two months of waiting until the big release of THE BROKEN EYE, but those two months don’t have to be completely maddening.  Join us on Goodreads for a Lightbringer Read-Along! This month we’ll be reading and discussing THE BLACK PRISM followed by THE BLINDING KNIFE in August.

In other news, Brent Weeks announced THE BROKEN EYE Book Tour on his blog yesterday! Mark your calendars and don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook or Goodreads!

Locus Awards winners announced

The winners of the 2014 Locus Awards have been announced, and we’re thrilled to see two Orbit authors among them!

Congratulations to James S.A. Corey for winning the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, for ABADDON’S GATE (US | UK | ANZ); to Ann Leckie for winning the Locus Award for Best First Novel, for ANCILLARY JUSTICE (US | UK | ANZ); and to all the rest of the winners!

You can see the full list of winners here.

Corey_AbaddonsGate_TP Leckie_AncillaryJustice_TP

You interviewed Kevin Hearne

To celebrate the release of the seventh book in the Iron Druid chronicles, SHATTERED (UK | ANZ), we asked you to come up with your best questions for author Kevin Hearne (or Oberon). We had some absolutely fantastic responses, and Kevin has answered a selection of the best below.

Q. How did you get interested in Druids and how have you collected your information of how Atticus understands his magic?

KH: I got interested in Druids because I’m a tree hugger. The modern-day Druids, of course, are revivalists who are basing their ceremonies on nineteenth-century guesswork. The ancient Druids never wrote anything down except for things like property boundaries on stones marked with Ogham. Atticus’s magic system, therefore, is almost entirely my fabrication. His abilities are suggested by legends, however: multiple accounts speak of shape-shifting, divination, and even of teleportation (which I presented as a shifting between planes). There are also accounts of weather manipulation, which Atticus has used in a small way in the first two books. I unified those legendary Druidic abilities under the system of binding.

Q. Which super villain do you think Atticus would have a tough time defeating?

KH: Going to go a bit obscure on you: Cyclone, an old opponent of Spider-Man’s that I always found to be quite scary as a kid. He controls the wind in a hundred-foot radius around his body and can pluck the very air out of your lungs, preventing you from taking another breath. He can also create tornado-force whirlwinds about himself, which he can use defensively (any strike with Fragarach would be deflected) or offensively, lifting Atticus off the ground and cutting him off from the earth. I’m sure there are other super villains who could also succeed but that’s the first one that came to mind.

Q. What is Atticus’ favourite pop culture tshirt?

KH: He has one that says WHAT THE FRAK in really large letters and then, in a much smaller font underneath, “happened in Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica?” Because it was a mess.

Q. How is it that a Druid who has had so much grief from the Fae, came to name his dog after Shakespeare’s King of the Fairies?

KH: Atticus thinks of it as wry jest. He knows very well that the Fae are actually ruled by women – Brighid, the Morrigan, etc. – and Oberon & Titania were merely Shakespeare’s creations.

Q. Does Oberon have an accent when he ‘talks’?

KH: Great question! He has the standard Western American accent – in other words, not anything southern or northeastern – mixed with the slightly manic tone of an excited, hungry, and horny hound. Atticus adopted him when he had been living in America for a while and of course Oberon’s pop culture diet in the States included plenty of American movies and TV.

PROMISE OF BLOOD wins the Morningstar Award!

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Last week we attended the David Gemmell Awards ceremony – now in its sixth year – and were thrilled to see PROMISE OF BLOOD by Brian McClellan win the Morningstar category for best debut novel.

EMPEROR OF THORNS by Mark Lawrence won the Legend award for best novel, while the artwork for the same book – created by Jason Chan –  won the Ravenheart category for best cover art.

Many congratulations to Brian and his fellow winners, and also to all the other authors and designers who were shortlisted.

Brian’s new novel, THE CRIMSON CAMPAIGN (UK | US | ANZ)  is out now in hardback, ebook and audio. The third and final novel in the Powder Mage trilogy, THE AUTUMN REPUBLIC, will be published in February 2015.

Praise for PROMISE OF BLOOD:

‘Just plain awesome . . . Innovative magic, quick-paced plot, interesting world. I had a blast’ – Brandon Sanderson

‘An historically influenced fantastical romp filled with machismo, intrigue and magic’ – SciFiNow

‘Promise of Blood is the best debut I’ve read in ages’ – Peter V. Brett

‘A French Revolution with wizards; McClellan’s debut packs some serious heat’ – Kirkus Reviews

‘Tense action, memorable characters, rising stakes . . . Brian McClellan is the real thing’ – Brent Weeks

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Read a deleted scene from The Girl With all the Gifts

If you’re one of the thousands of readers who have read and loved this year’s most original and heartbreaking thriller, THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS, then you already know what a special girl Melanie is. But what you read wasn’t the whole story.

We have a secret extra scene, set after the events of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS, to share with you. To read it, all you have to do is share Melanie’s story with your friends via the social network of your choice and you’ll receive the chapter absolutely free. Click the ‘Pay with a Tweet’ button below to get started.

You already know Melanie’s secret.

Now it’s time to share her gift.

 

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey   Carey_GWATG_HC_revs

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M.R. Carey is out now in paperback in the UK and Australia and in hardcover in the US. E-book and audio editions are available in all countries.

Five Things I Learned Co-Writing Prequels to Ender’s Game

If you were to ask me to list my five favorite novels of all time, I’d probably give a slightly different answer every year. I’m always discovering something new and glorious that blows my mind and leaves me in a giddy state of wonder. But one book that will never leave that list is Ender’s Game. In fact, it’s currently perched there at the number one spot, and I doubt anything will ever unseat it.

I’m not alone in this. For millions of readers, reading Ender’s Game was a transformative experience. It taught us that characters in a book don’t have to feel like characters in a book. They can feel like real, genuine friends.

That was my experience, anyway. Ender and Valentine and Bean and Dink. It’s like I knew these kids and felt a connection to them. Our hearts were knit together, as the saying goes.

So when Orson Scott Card invited me to join him in writing prequel novels to Ender’s Game, I was a little gun shy. I worried that fans would be expecting another Ender’s Game and that if our novels didn’t transform them and wow them as much as the original, they’d crinkle their noses and hate me for life.

Remember when George Lucas announced that he was going to make The Phantom Menace? I went fanboy bonkers. Another Star Wars movie? Glory hallelujah! I couldn’t believe it. I’m going to sit in a theater again and have an experience just like I had watching the originals.

And then the movie came out and it was, um, less than what I had hoped.

Is this the curse of all prequels, I wondered.

Scott Card put my mind at ease reminding me that we weren’t writing Ender’s Game. That isn’t the goal. This is something different.

So I dived in, and learned quite a bit along the way . . . (more…)