Acquisition Announcement: T. Kingfisher’s Saint of Steel series and SWORDHEART
Orbit UK is so thrilled to have acquired 5 books from two-time Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher. This includes the previously self-published cult hit Saint of Steel series that begins with Paladin’s Grace and standalone cosy romantasy Swordheart.
The books are utterly refreshing fantasy: by turns cosy and heart-warming but with a darker edge, appealing to romantasy readers as well as fans of classic fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons.
Helen Breitwieser at Cornerstone Literary Agency sold UK and Commonwealth rights in five of T. Kingfisher’s books to Nadia Saward, Commissioning Editor at Orbit. The ebooks of Paladin’s Grace, Paladin’s Strength, Paladin’s Hope and Swordheart are on sale now from Orbit, with Paladin’s Faith publishing in early December. Orbit will be redesigning the covers and will be releasing paperbacks of all five books in Spring 2025.
Acquiring editor Nadia Saward said: ‘T. Kingfisher has always had a lifelong, devoted fan in me; I’ve read the Saint of Steel books more times than I can count. T. Kingfisher has the rare ability to write characters that I would willingly walk across coals for and create peculiar and utterly memorable fantasy worlds. We’re so excited to be working on these amazing books in the UK.’
Author T. Kingfisher said: ‘Seeing a weird little series I mostly wrote at my kitchen table go global is both wonderful and surreal. I’m delighted to work with Orbit UK on bringing these books to a wider audience!’
About the author: T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name author Ursula Vernon uses when writing for adults. In another life, she writes children’s books and weird comics. As Kingfisher, she has won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Dragon Awards. When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies. You can follow T. Kingfisher on X @UrsulaV