Orbit Australia are publishing the following titles from October to November 2009 (click on the title in the list or scroll down the screen for more information on a particular book, or use Ctrl+F in your browser to check for titles by your favourite author).
- Cursor’s Fury – Jim Butcher (October 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- Captain’s Fury – Jim Butcher (October 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- Child of a Dead God – Barb and J.C. Hendee (October 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- The Gathering Storm – Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (October 2009, $35.00 TPB)
- The Summoning – Kelley Armstrong (November 2009, $19.99.99 Pb)
- Living With the Dead – Kelley Armstrong (November 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- You Suck – Christopher Moore (November 2009, $22.99 Pb)
- The Company – K.J. Parker (November 2009, $22.99 Pb)
- Red Claw – Phillip Palmer (Novber 2009, $22.99 Hb)
- Frostbitten – Kelley Armstrong (November 2009, $34.99 Hb)
- Mirror Space – Marianne de Pierres (November 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- The Naming of the Beast – Mike Carey (December 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- Body Count – Shaun Hutson (December 2009, $19.99 Pb)
- The Wyrmling Horde – David Farland (December 2009, $22.99 Pb)
- Last Rites – Shaun Hutson (December 2009, $55.00 Hb)
- The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin (December 2009, $29.99 Hb)
- Legend – David Gemmell (December 2009, $22.99 Pb)
Cursor’s Fury
By Jim Butcher
October 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497464| Fantasy | Paperback
Power-hungry Kalare has rebelled against Alera’s aging First Lord, Gaius Sextus. Ill-equipped to face this attack, Gaius must seek support – even from the combative High Lord of Aquitaine. Kalare has also seized valuable hostages that could mean the difference between victory and failure. And Amara, the First Lord’s Cursor, has been tasked with their rescue. She has earned this trust but are her allies as worthy – or does the Lady Aquitaine see the time as ripe for betrayal?
Treachery is rife elsewhere, as young Tavi of Calderon will find. Posted away from the war, Tavi joins a legion anyway, under an assumed name. Then Kalare does the unthinkable – uniting with the brutish Canim. When treason wipes out the army’s command structure, Tavi finds himself leading an inexperienced legion against the might of the Canim horde – the very last resort of a war-torn realm.
Author Info: www.jim-butcher.com
Living with the Dead
By Kelley Armstrong
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841493961| Urban Fantasy | Paperback
Robyn Peltier has always lived a normal life. So when her boss is murdered and she is named prime suspect, she is way out of her depth. As the bodies pile up only her friend Hope, and Hope’s somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl, are on her side.
Hope, meanwhile, has a few secrets of her own. Namely that she is half-demon, and her ‘spooky’ boyfriend is actually a werewolf. Hope also knows that Robyn has accidentally stumbled into a bloody supernatural turf war. And the only way she can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she’s safer knowing nothing about . . .
Author Info: www.kelleyarmstrong.com
Captain’s Fury
By Jim Butcher
October 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497471| Fantasy | Paperback
Tavi of Calderon, now captain of his own Legion, has been fighting a bitter war for two years. Then he discovers the invading Canim warriors are harbingers of a far greater threat. The Canim are being hunted in their turn by a savage race that forced them from their homeland – and which has pursued them to the Aleran borders. With options fast running out, Tavi proposes an alliance with the Canim.
But the Senate’s new military commander wishes only to wipe out the Canim ‘scourge’, and would also kill Aleran slaves that have sought freedom with these aggressors.
Tavi must reconcile Aleran and Canim, slavemaster and slave, Citizen and Proletarian, if an alliance is to be forced. And he must lead his Legion in defiance of the law, against both friend and enemy – before the greatest army of all launches its assault.
Author Info:www.jim-butcher.com
Child of a Dead God
By Barb and J.C. Hendee
October 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497310| Fantasy | Paperback
For years, Magiere and Leesil have sought a long-forgotten artefact, even though its purpose has been shrouded in mystery. All Magiere knows is that she must keep the orb from her murderous half-brother Welstiel, one of the deadly so-called Noble Dead. And now, dreams of a castle locked in ice lead her south – on a journey that has become nothing less than an obsession.
Among Magiere’s protectors are two elven assassins-turned-guardians who must fight their distrust of this sister of the dead. Forces more powerful than they are also rallying around Magiere, arming her for conflict. But finding the orb may be just the start of the dangers that await.
Author Info: www.nobledead.com
You Suck
By Christopher Moore
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841498096| Comic Fantasy | Paperback
Being undead sucks. Literally.
Just ask C. Thomas Flood. Waking up after a fantastic night unlike anything he’s ever experienced, he discovers that his girlfriend, Jody, is a vampire. And surprise! Now he’s one, too. For some couples, the whole biting-and-blood thing would have been a deal breaker. But Tommy and Jody are in love, and they vow to work through their issues.
But word has it that the vampire who initially nibbled on Jody wasn’t supposed to be recruiting. Even worse, Tommy’s erstwhile turkey-bowling pals are out to get him, at the urging of a blue-dyed Las Vegas call girl named (duh) Blue.
And that really sucks.
Author Info:www.chrismoore.com
The Company
By K.J. Parker
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841495101| Fantasy | Paperback
Hoping for a better life, five war veterans colonize an abandoned island. They take with them everything they could possibly need – food, clothes, tools, weapons, even wives. The colonists feel sure that their friendship will keep them together. But an unanticipated discovery shatters their dream and replaces it with a very different one. Only then do they begin to realize that they’ve brought with them rather more than they bargained for. For one of them, it seems, has been hiding a terrible secret from the rest of the company. And when the truth begins to emerge, it soon becomes clear that the war is far from over.
With masterful storytelling, irresistible wit and extraordinary insight into human nature, K. J. Parker is widely acknowledged as one of the most original and exciting fantasy writers of modern times. The Company, K. J. Parker’s first stand-alone novel, is a tour de force from an author who is changing the face of the fantasy genre.
Author Info: www.kjparker.net
The Naming of the Beasts
By Mike Carey
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841496559| Urban Fantasy Noir | Paperback
They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, but if you ask Castor he’ll tell you there’s quite a bit of arrogance and reckless stupidity lining the streets as well. And he should know. There’s only so many times you can play both sides against the middle and get away with it. Now, the inevitable moment of crisis has arrived and it’s left Castor with blood on his hands. Well, not his hands, you understand; it’s always someone else who pays the bill: friends, acquaintances, bystanders.
So Castor drowns his guilt in cheap whisky, while an innocent woman lies dead and her daughter comatose, his few remaining friends fear for their lives and there’s a demon loose on the streets. But not just any demon – this one rides shotgun on his best friend’s soul and can’t be expelled without killing him.
Looks like Felix Castor’s got some tough choices to make, because expel the demon he must or all Hell will break loose. Literally . . .
Author Info: www.mikecarey.net
October 2009
The Gathering Storm
By Robert Jordan with Brandon Sanderson
October 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841491653| Fantasy | Hardback
The final volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, was partially written by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor – his wife, Harriet McDougal – to complete the final book. The scope and size of the volume was such that it could not be contained in a single book, and so The Gathering Storm is the first of three novels that will cover the outline left by Robert Jordan, chronicling Tarmon Gai’don and Rand al’Thor’s final confrontation with the Dark One. This short sequence will complete the struggle against the Shadow, bringing to a close a journey begun almost twenty years ago and marking the conclusion of the Wheel of Time, the preeminent fantasy epic of our era.
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.
Author Info: www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan
Body Count
By Shaun Hutson
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841494371| Horror | Paperback
The figure in the mask stumbles bleeding through the streets, his pursuers closing in. They also wear masks, but they don’t stumble. They stalk. They carry machetes, clubs and knives. And they know how to use them . . .
Who is kidnapping seemingly random victims and then slaughtering them in an elaborate game of cat and mouse? And why are these murders being streamed over the internet? Watching the horror unfold at New Scotland Yard is Detective Inspector Joe Chapman who searches for clues, hints – anything that might tell him where and when this savage hunt is happening. He’d give anything to know.
But DI Chapman is about to learn that you should be careful what you wish for. Very soon, he will be closer to the blood-letting than he could have imagined. Forced to fight for his life and the life of someone he holds dear, the only way out looks to be to rack up the biggest body count. But even that might not be enough.
Author Info: www.shaunhutson.com
Legend
By David Gemmell
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841498584| Fantasy | Paperback
The Legend
Druss, Captain of the Axe: the stories of his life were told everywhere. Instead of the wealth and fame he could have claimed, he had chosen a mountain lair, high in the lonely country bordering on the clouds. There the grizzled old warrior kept company with snow leopards and awaited his old enemy death.
The Fortress
Mighty Dros Delnoch, protected by six outer walls, the only route by which an army could pass through the mountains. It was the stronghold of the Drenai empire. And now it was the last battleground, for all else had fallen before the Nadir hordes.
And hope rested on the skills of that one old man…
Red Claw
By Phillip Palmer
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841496245| Science Fiction | Paperback
Professor Richard Helms heads up a tight-knit band of scientists and soldiers sent to explore New Amazon, a lush but savage planet seemingly determined to attack them at every turn. When they are done cataloguing every detail of this vast, unfamiliar ecosystem, they will burn it to the ground and make it fit for human habitation.
But when the team falls under attack, Helms and his followers are forced to flee into the depths of the jungle. Here, old enemies and petty rivalries surface as they struggle to survive. They soon end up fighting for their lives – against the planet they are exploring, the robots designed to protect them and, most of all, against each other. For the countdown into madness is ticking.
Palmer burns a new path for science fiction in this gripping, dark tale of man’s place in the universe.
Author Info: www.philippalmer.net
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The Wrymling Horde
By David Farland
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841495668| Fantasy | Paperback
The monstrous wyrmlings are growing in strength. These creatures have learnt to endow themselves with powers stolen from others, and their capacity for evil is still growing. The people of Mystarria were thrust into the land of the wyrmlings following the merging of two shadow realms, just some among many parallel lands, so now these creatures have millions of victims from which to draw power.
The only one who can mend the broken lands – the talented flameweaver Fallion – has fallen into the hands of the wyrmling horde. Now Fallion’s allies must prepare to breach the impenetrable wrymling fortress to rescue him. And unless they can prevent the wyrmlings from gathering more power, these creatures may bring all the shadow worlds under their control.
It’s not just worlds that are at stake, but eternities.
Author Info: www.runelords.com
Frostbitten
By Kelley Armstrong
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497761|Urban Fantasy | Hardback
The Alaskan wilderness is a harsh landscape in the best of conditions, but with a pack of rogue werewolves on the loose, it’s downright deadly.
Elena Michaels, the American Werewolf Pack’s chief enforcer, knows all too well the havoc “mutts” can wreak. When the Pack learns of a series of gruesome maulings and murders outside of Anchorage, Elena and her partner Clay travel to Alaska in the dead of winter, expecting to hunt down a pack of dangerous werewolves. But, trapped in a savage, frozen realm, it is their own untamed nature – and their werewolf heritage – they have to confront . . .
A gripping thriller with a magical twist, Frostbitten is a brilliant new novel from an international bestseller and a writer at the very top of her game.
Author Info:www.kelleyarmstrong.com
Last Rites
By Shaun Hutson
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497655| Horror | Hardback
Almost beaten to death by a gang of violent teenagers, schoolmaster Peter Mason wants nothing more than to escape the simmering violence of London, his broken marriage and the memories of his daughter’s death. The perfect chance comes in the form of a position at a prestigious boarding school in the heart of the Buckinghamshire countryside. But the past is always lurking in the background. Not just his own past but that of the school and its former staff.
Mason becomes obsessed with discovering what became of his predecessor. The man’s mysterious disappearance remains unexplained, leaving a chilling legacy behind. Mason finds that there are strange events occurring at the school – violent and sinister events that have happened before and will, if he cannot stop them, happen again . . .
Author Info:www.shaunhutson.com
November 2009
Mirror Space
By Marianne de Pierres
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497600| Science Fiction | Paperback
Araldis is still under occupation by hostile forces, and with the Orion League of Sentient Species seemingly unable – or unwilling – to help, Mira Fedor is forced to turn to the mercenary captain, Rast Randall, if she is to save her planet.
But while Rast’s contacts may be free of political constraints, what they lack in red tape they more than make up for in ruthlessness. As some of their hidden strategies are revealed, others become even more opaque. Why have the philosophers of Scolar been targetted? How far does the Extropist influence extend into Orion space?
From Lasper Farr, the Stain War veteran and ruler of the junk planet Edo, to the Sole initiates at Belle Monde to Rast herself, everyone is pursuing their own agenda. But are they really separate goals?
Author Info: www.mariannedepierres.com
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart
By Jessie Bullington
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497839| Fantasy | Paperback
In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority eke out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days.
Hegel and Manfried Grossbart could give a toss. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt. The grave-robbing twins know enough about crusading to realise that if one is to make a living from the dead, what better destination than the fabled tomb-cities of Egypt?
But the Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy . . .
Metal Gear Solid: Book 2: Sons of Liberty
By Raymond Benson
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497365|Science Fiction/Game Tie-in | Paperback
In a torrential downpour, former FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake stands on the George Washington Bridge – ready to launch himself to the deck of the U.S.S. Discovery as it passes below. Inside Discovery is a new generation of Metal Gear. But in the next hour, Snake’s world explodes.
Two years later, a young, unproven agent codenamed Raiden must penetrate the mystery of what went so insanely wrong that night. In a labyrinthine superstructure in New York harbour known as the Big Shell, enemies, allies, secret agents, and double dealers converge. Russian commandos, a cyber Vamp, a long-legged, leather-clad, rifle-bearing beauty named Fortune, a deformed, finely manicured bomber called Fatman, and a mysterious Mister X. Somewhere in the maze, as well, is the President himself – his biometrics coded to a bomb that can take out Manhattan, his loyalties unknown. Now, the rookie Raiden is fighting his way to one discovery after another, including the rebirth of Solid Snake himself and a nightmare organization with a history, a plan, and a terrifying superweapon hidden in plain sight.
The Left Hand of Darkness
By Ursula K. Le Guin
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841496061| Science Fiction | Hardback
Genly Ai is a diplomat of sorts, sent to observe the inhabitants of the snowbound planet of Winter. But the isolated, androgynous people are suspicious of this strange, single-gendered visitor. Tucked away in a remote corner of the universe, they have no knowledge of space travel or of life beyond their own world. So, bringing news of a vast coalition of planets they are invited to join, he is met with fear, mistrust and disbelief.
But also something more. For Genly Ai, who sees himself as a bringer of the truth, it is a bittersweet irony that he will discover truths about himself and, in the snow-shrouded strangeness of Winter, find both love and tragedy . . .
First published in the year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, The Left Hand of Darkness is a classic of science fiction and a masterpiece of modern literature.
Author Info:
Wings of Wrath
By Ceilia Friedman
November 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841495330| Fantasy | Large Paperback
In a world where the price of magic is life itself, a group of seemingly immortal sorcerers appears to have cheated the system. But only one man knows the true origin of their power, or understands the true cost.
Now Kamala – born to poverty and abuse, the first woman to claim a Magister’s power – will seek her rightful place among these mages, and lay siege to their secrets. The monk Salvator will claim his father’s throne, and test his faith against a legendary darkness. The beautiful Siderea Aminestas, consort to Magisters, will be offered the thing she desires most – at the cost of her human soul. And an ancient Evil thought long-destroyed begins to stir anew, corrupting kings, shattering alliances and ultimately threatening to unweave the very fabric of human civilisation.
A mystical bloodline was cultivated to withstand this darkness, and its power must be wakened. But this will demand sacrifice of its warriors – and corruption is rife.
Author Info:www.csfriedman.com
December 2009
Beyond the Wall of Time
By Russell Kirkpatrick
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841496719| Fantasy | Paperback
The wall of time has fallen, leaving the Gods free to indulge their hunger for violence. Few know of their escape into mortal lands – and these few struggle against the control of the malevolent mage Husk and with their own problems.
Queen Stella, still in hiding, must make a deal with the Undying Man. His word is suspect, buther options are limited. Fisherman Noetos seeks revenge for the deaths of his loved ones, not yet realising the enemy is closer than even he can imagine. And the unconventional cosmographer Lenares is the only one with the power to prevent the Gods destroying the world – if she can get someone to believe her.
The queen, fisherman and cosmographer must travel to Andratan to confront Husk. But whether they can break free of his hold on them, and defeat the Gods, is another matter entirely.
Author Info: www.russellkirkpatrick.com
Full Circle
By Pamela Freeman
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841497037| Fantasy | Paperback
Saker has devoted himself to dark enchantments and desires nothing but vengeance. And vengeance he has in abundance. His ghost army is slaughtering those of the new blood, fuelled by an ancient wrong. But while Saker had thought revenge would be simple, he’s now plagued by voices foreshadowing a calamity beyond his comprehension.
Ash and Bramble raise the warrior spirit of Acton, mighty in life and powerful in death. Only he can stop Saker’s rampage. But is Acton, Lord of War, murderer or saviour? And why would he help strangers protect a world he’s never known?
Bramble has been marked as Saker’s nemesis, but will be challenged by deeper powers than Saker can command – as well as by her own feelings for Acton. As the living fight the dead, strange forces will shape an uncertain future from pain and suffering.
Author Info: www.castingstrilogy.com
My Dead Body
By Charlie Hutson
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841496825| Urban Fantasy Noir | Paperback
As the concluding volume of this highly acclaimed series opens, Joe has spent a year splashing around in the city’s sewer system, protecting the perimeters of the ground on which his love, Evie, now lives.
Above ground, Manhattan’s Vampyre clans have at last abandoned any claims on civility and have finally sprung fully for each others’ throats. But as Vampyre civil war rages, Joe is tracked down by an old acquaintance and pulled back to the surface. At last, the many questions that have driven him will be put to rest – and the many friends and foes who have defined his world will either be put in the ground or will claw their way to survival.
The carefully maintained peace is forgotten. When the stakes are this high, there can be no neutrality – only winners and losers. But when the blood stops flowing, what side will Joe Pitt be on?
Author Info: www.pulpnoir.com
Princeps’ Fury
By Jim Butcher
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841498522| Fantasy | Paperback
After bitter fighting, Tavi of Calderon has eventually forged an alliance with Alera’s oldest foes, the savage Canim, and he must escort them on their long sea-voyage home. This will strain their fragile accord – but the worst is yet to come.
The inhuman Vord have spent the last three years laying waste to the Canim homeland, making it a desolate place indeed. Then the Alerans become stranded there, cut off from their ships. The Canim alliance will be tested as they enter the killing fields together, depending on each other’s strengths if they both are to survive.
For a thousand years, Alera and her furies have withstood every enemy, and survived every foe. The thousand years are over.
Author Info:www.jim-butcher.com
The Destiny of the Dead
By Ian Irvine
December 2009 | ISBN: 978-1841494739| Fantasy | Paperback
Nish and his remaining allies are trapped on the Range of Ruin, surrounded by the relentless army of his father, the God-Emperor. And Nish’s choices seem limited: a humiliating surrender, or a suicidal fight to the death. Yet Nish must fight, and win, as he’s needed to counter an unprecedented threat facing the whole of Santhenar.
The danger is Stilkeen, a shape-shifting being, who has erupted from the void consumed by a need for retribution. Its chthonic power was stolen in ages past – and Stilkeen wants it back. But the chthonic fire Stilkeen sensed has now escaped to run wild through Santhenar’s Antarctic territories. Even if Nish defeats his father, there may be no way to stop the fire, or Stilkeen, before everything is consumed.
Author Info:www.ian-irvine.com