Posts Tagged ‘Ian Tregillis’

BITTER SEEDS: Blood magic, sociopaths and “good people doing bad things”

The World War II alternate history fantasy novel Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregellis, where the Nazis have superhumans and the British use dark magicsIan Tregillis’s debut fantasy novel BITTER SEEDS (UK | ANZ) is a sinister reimagining of World War II events. In this supernatural alternate history, British forces use dark magics to hold back an invading army of Nazi superhumans. Orbit’s James Long put some questions to Ian on where he got his ideas from . . .

The premise of Bitter Seeds – Nazi super soldiers versus occult powers conjured up by British Warlocks – is unusual, to say the least! What was the original inspiration behind the story?

A number of years ago, around 2002 or 2003, I read a magazine article about a little-known Allied secret project during the Second World War called Project Habakkuk. Habakkuk was conceived during the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, when German wolf packs were destroying Allied shipping convoys. The idea – and this is one of those wonderful places where truth is so much stranger than fiction – was to build ships out of ice. It sounds mad but it’s actually a rather clever idea! Alas, for various reasons the project never made it past the prototype stage (Maybe because it is just a little bit mad.)

But I couldn’t get that image out of my head, of vast bergships plying the North Atlantic and changing the course of the war. So I began to wonder how the Axis might have responded if Habakkuk had been a success. A few days later, as I was driving to work, the answer hit me out of the blue: obviously, Ian, the Germans would have sent a pyrokinetic spy to sabotage the shipyards . . .

The ice ship never made it into Bitter Seeds, but the pyrokinetic SS agent did. (more…)

Cover launch: BITTER SEEDS by Ian Tregillis

In July we’re extremely excited to be publishing Ian Tregillis’s acclaimed debut novel Bitter Seeds – a sinister reimagining of the Second World War in which scientifically-enhanced German superhumans clash with chilling sorcery. Or, as Cory Doctorow puts it, “Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank you.”

We’ll talk a little more about this brilliant book nearer the time of release; for now, here’s the front cover in all its gritty military glory, courtesy of our designer Sean Garrehy (who as always has done a superb job).

Ian Tregillis joins Orbit UK!

I’m very happy to announce that Orbit UK has acquired Bitter Seeds  plus two further novels by the highly talented Ian Tregillis.

Bitter Seeds is an audacious fantasy retelling of the events of World War II – where Nazis create superhumans that can throw fire, see the future and turn invisible, whilst the British warlocks use dark magics to hold back the German invasion. I was totally wowed by the deliciously sinister atmosphere of this novel, with its endlessly imaginative plot twists and awesome superhero-like characters. Ian has a very bright future ahead of him and I’m so glad that we’ve been able to take him on in the UK.

Bitter Seeds was released in the US last year to huge acclaim – here’s what people have said so far:

‘A major talent… I can’t wait to see more’ George R. R. Martin

‘Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank you. Tregillis’s debut has a white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters– an unstoppable Vickers of a novel’ Cory Doctorow
 
‘Tregillis delivers a dynamite first novel in Bitter Seeds’ SFRevu.com
 
‘Bitter Seeds is hands down the best debut of 2010 so far’ Fantasy Book Critic
 
‘The crème de la crème of SFF debuts this year!’ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Look out for Bitter Seeds in December next year! Its sequels The Coldest War and Necessary Evil will be released in February 2013 and April 2013 respectively.