There is a new way to receive updates on James S. A. Corey’s publishing activities over on Facebook. Become a fan of the official Facebook fanpage and connect with other fans of the Expanse series. You’ll also gain access to exclusive excerpts from the upcoming novel ABADDON’S GATE!
For those of you who haven’t picked up these books yet, you can read a sample from LEVIATHAN WAKES (UK | US | AUS) here and get hooked on this critically-acclaimed SF series.
Praise for The Expanse series
“It’s been too long since we’ve had a really kickass space opera. Leviathan Wakes is interplanetary adventure the way it ought to be written.” — George R.R. Martin
This is the future the way it was supposed to be.” – The Wall Street Journal on Leviathan Wakes
“A worthy sequel to Leviathan’s Wake. Compelling characters and a plot that combines political intrigue with military sf create a memorable story that begs for film adaptation.” – Library Journal
Last weekend, along with millions of other people I’m sure, I went to see the latest Sam Mendes Bond movie, SKYFALL. I found the film highly entertaining – with some very impressive action scenes, a slickest of slick opening sequence, a surprisingly believable plot (for an action movie I mean…), and a rather irresistible performance from the easy-on-the-eye Daniel Craig.
But I also found it interesting (with my Orbit hat on) that this time, 007 wasn’t having to save the world by disarming a nuclear warhead (think MOONRAKER or THUNDERBALL) or stopping the spread of a deadly virus (think ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE) or prevent an evil communist plot (think CASINO ROYALE and a whole host of other Bonds).
This time, Bond’s role was to combat the destruction looming from the leak of confidential information – by the world’s most sophisticated cyber-terrorist. Highly believable in this age of Wikileaks and hackers being potentially extradited for infiltrating US military systems.
It seems that the disasters befalling the various James Bonds have been evolving through the years – seemingly to keep up with the ways in which our world, our technology and our political and social struggles have been constantly changing. Because it appears that as we progress as a species, the potential pitfalls waiting to bring down Western world and civilisation itself seem to be constantly evolving too – and growing dangerously more numerous by the day. (more…)
It’s not every day that London’s soul goes missing.
Yet this is exactly what happens in Kate Griffin’s superb new urban fantasy novel STRAY SOULS [UK | US | ANZ], out this month in paperback and ebook. The first book in Kate’s new Magicals Anonymous series, STRAY SOULS is set in the same ‘parallel and eldritch capital’ (SFX) as her critically acclaimed Matthew Swift novels.
While the Midnight Mayor himself makes an appearance, it’s very much Sharon Li – barista and shaman – who must take on the responsibility of tracking down London’s elusive soul and preventing the city from sliding towards its inevitable demise. Fortunately she’s got her friends from Magicals Anonymous – a self-help group for people with magical issues – to help her in the hunt.
To celebrate the release of STRAY SOULS, Kate will be appearing this evening at our multi-author signing at London’s Forbidden Planet.
Praise for Kate Griffin:
Shatteringly excellent’ – SCIFI NOW
‘Neverwhere for the digital age’ – SFX
‘Griffin weaves a powerful literary spell that continues to dazzle with its genius and its heart’ – ROB WILL REVIEW
‘You should be reading everything Griffin puts her pen to’ – FANTASY BOOK REVIEW
Kate Griffin can be found online at her website, where she maintains an active blog.
Is it just me, or is science fiction starting to get more of the attention it deserves? It’s great to see that even MTV are getting in on the action – by filming David Brin at WorldCon 2012.
The topic was: why haven’t more species on Earth naturally self-uplifted to full sentience? With dolphins and apes sharing a similar intelligence level, and with parrots, crows, sea lions . . . and even prairie dogs being not too far behind, is there some kind of sentience “glass ceiling” that prevents bright creatures breaking through? And, if so, how did humanity manage to break through it and progress so far?
The questions David Brin is asking are timely. Because a recent discovery suggests that perhaps certain animals have the ability to push their limits further…
Is this an example of a whale trying to reach out to us and meet us halfway? Could this open up possibilities for communication between different species?
And then that raises an even bigger question. Should it now be our duty and obligation to offer other “pre-sapient” species a helping hand? We do, after all, now seem to have the tools of science to be able to do so – as shown by this article on making monkeys smarter using brain implants. Or would that just be the ultimate form of arrogance?
These are among the questions being raised not just in the interview above, but also in David Brin’s classic and award-winning Uplift books, which are soon to be re-released in the omnibus editions UPLIFT (UK | ANZ) and EXILES (UK | ANZ). And he also portrays the beginnings of the uplift process in his latest book: EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ), released as a paperback this November.
This Friday (26 October) SF authors Charles Stross and Michael Cobley, and urban fantasy authors Kate Griffin and Benedict Jacka, will all be signing copies of their latest books at Forbidden Planet in London.
The signing will take place from 6 – 7 pm at Forbidden Planet’s flagship store on Shaftesbury Avenue. We look forward to seeing you there!
And now the news from Alpha Centauri . . . (oh, I’ve waited for so long to utter those words! News. From Alpha Centauri) . . .
After an incredible decade, in which the number of planets known beyond our solar system increased from zero to several thousand, astronomers have detected an Earth-sized world orbiting between the two stars nearest to our system, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Much too hot to sustain life, it nevertheless will help in narrowing down the search space for others. Moreover, now we have a target for the first interstellar probes, which are already under discussion. Indeed, the youngest of you readers may live to see the launch.
Ah, but this raises the perennial question. If planets are more common than we ever thought, then what about life-worlds? And even alien intelligences?
I have been involved in this topic all my life, having grown up in Southern California, the part of human civilization least rooted in the familiar, traditional or . . . perhaps . . . sane. I am best-known today as an author of novels and stories about our many possible-plausible futures, including some that explore a wide range of possible extraterrestrial civilizations. My scientific career, ranging from optics to astrophysics, led to papers about SETI in the 1980s that include what is still the only full review article in the field, compiling all then public theories for what I called The Great Silence, but that is now more widely known as the Fermi Paradox.
The Fermi Paradox refers to a question posed by the great physicist Enrico Fermi in the 1940s, demanding: “If it seems so likely the universe may host other life forms, how come we haven’t seen any signs?” Not just of radio beacons, but of mighty structures that our own descendants might someday build out there in space. Or leakage from chatty commerce between civilizations. Or indeed, any trace that the Earth was visited during the 2 billion years that it was “prime real estate” with an oxygen atmosphere, but nothing higher than slime molds to defend it. (more…)
In 2010, Will McIntosh astonished us with his Hugo Award-winning short story, “Bridesicle,” so we signed him up to write a couple novels for Orbit. But we never lost sight of the fact that McIntosh is a consummate short story writer, and we are thrilled to publish his new one on our Orbit Short Fiction program.
The Perimeter” is set in a human colony on a distant planet; beyond the colony’s borders, strange fauna with sinister agendas lurk. All this creepy tale needs is Rod Serling standing in the foreground, saying “Picture if you will …”
Get acquainted with Orbit author Gail Carriger in the most recent episode of Sword & Laser! Gail joined Veronica and Tom for tea and to talk about her Parasol Protectorate series (starting with SOULLESS [US | UK | ANZ]) and other projects.
Hey everybody! It’s the time of year again when we can release a sneak peak of what we’ve been doing to earn our keep in the Art Department! Here are the finalized covers from Orbit US’s Spring/Summer 2013 so far. We’re still finishing up a few more — including Mur Lafferty’s The Shambling Guide to New York City, Daniel Abraham’s Tyrant’s Law, and Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach — so look for those in the weeks to come. In the month’s ahead we’ll also have detailed posts about the design process behind many of these covers, with interviews with the artists, details about the photo shoots, videos, and more.
We’ve uploaded these new covers to our US Pinterest page , so dive in there to admire the full size images. And keep an eye out for more fun stuff on the Pinterest page in the months to come!
For the second year running, Fantasycon – one of the UK’s biggest genre events – returned to Brighton, so the Orbit UK team descended on the south coast one gloriously sunny late September weekend for some fun, fantasy-fuelled revelry. In other words: panels, signings and catching up with friends and colleagues from the publishing world (the fact that this last activity always seemed to happen in the bar was completely coincidental, we assure you).
There was a sizeable crowd of Orbit authors at Fantasycon this year: Brent Weeks stopped by to conclude his hugely successful UK tour, while Kate Griffin, Benedict Jacka, Francis Knight, Mike Carey and Philip Palmer were all involved in the weekend’s programme. Tim Lebbon took on the responsiblity of Master of Ceremonies, and did a superb job – as did all the volunteers who helped out.
Here are some photos from our Fantasycon 2012!
Mike Carey (far left) and Brent Weeks (centre) take part in the ‘Culture Shock’ panel
Brent being interviewed by Alasdair Stuart, in which he talked in detail about how he got published and his approach to writing
On the Friday Kate Griffin read from her upcoming urban fantasy novel STRAY SOULS [UK | US | ANZ]
Benedict Jacka (second left) and Brent (second right) take part in the ‘Fantasy Fiction: Keeping it Real’ panel
Brent rounded off the Saturday evening with a reading from his New York Times bestseller THE BLINDING KNIFE [UK | US | ANZ]
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