Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’

Cover Launch: BABYLON’S ASHES by James S. A. Corey

We’re excited to be able to share the cover for Babylon’s Ashes (coming out in June 2016), the sixth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series – now a new original series from the Syfy Channel, premiering December 14th 2015.

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Artist Daniel Dociu, Designer Kirk Benshoff.

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

The Free Navy – a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships – has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny, and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante’s problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.

If you haven’t started the series then don’t delay!

The Lascar's Dagger

 

For more work by Daniel Dociu, visit his website.

Cover Story LAZARUS WAR by Jamie Sawyer

I love me a great sci fi novel, and these are great sci fi novels! I got assigned the Lazarus War series by Jamie Sawyer (US | UK | AUS)  which is set in a future where mankind battles a hostile alien race. All that protects us are an elite military team, remotely operating avatars in the most dangerous theatres of war.

Lauren had reached out to the ever talented Ioan Dumitrescu to work on the series. Jon took the proverbial bull by the horns and came back with illustrations that blow you away like an old school Maxell Ad. It only seemed appropriate to have the art keep pace with the story, so we wanted movement and action that jumps off the page!

Here’s Jon (Ioan) to talk about the project!

Hi everybody, my name is Ioan Dumitrescu and im a professional concept designer / ilustrator for games and movies.

And sometimes im in that zen zone where i get to do sci fi book covers. This time that opportunity came with Lazarus War by Jamie Sawyer.

Story about incredible space battles between starships and behemoth alien flotillas, plasma shooting crazy dudes, in short an adrenaline rush ride.

My first assignment came from Lauren P, and i was briefed to work around a lead ship. The thing i love about doing book covers is they give me a great freedom to experiment and see where it can take me. The starship was supposed to be a bulky, can take a hit, huge gun/ cannon.

The vibe i followed was to make a very dynamic image, and show a race for life. I took advantage of 3d to get the best angle and shapes. After that the image started coming along, having a huge star like explosion, which i thought would show how anything can happen at any given moment. We also see a glimpse of the aliens, the Krell ( thats a cool alien name) with their smaller needle attack ships, that swarm and overwhelm. The colors of orange yellows described the imeddiate danger the starship is in, but you can also see hints of blue and green at the front which gives hope to escaping alive.Next came the email from Kirk B, saying to start focusing on the second book, which would come down to showing what the Krell are all about, behemoth motherships, 10 times the size of the starships, that deliver thousands of expendable attack ships. Process was similar, using 3d to decide on the best angle. I wasnt ready to give up on the dynamic action packed feeling, and i also wanted to be different from the „all out” first cover.I decided to show the moment before the Krells choose and attack their targets. Having left the last battle in the background, now stands the mothership, in all its biomechanic glory, in a somehow proud stance, a relic of times unknown, that conquers everything it sets it sight on, no fear, no emotion. I choose to make it a bit more slimy and also a small tribute to the genius of H.R Giger. It just felt right! All the attack ships are waiting to jump at their target when given the order! Tension in the air treated with an unearthy like calm. The colors followed that feeling, having the ship wrapped in serene white light and surrounded by blacking greens. The touch of red is also a sign of the carnage that might follow.

This can now only get me thinking of what might be the 3d book cover, im thinking of something more intimate, that would bring the viewer and reader closer to the characters that take the action further.

I hope you enjoy the past and future covers to come!

Thank you
Ioan Dumitrescu

So, without adieu, I’m thrilled to present the covers to the first two books in the Lazarus War series by Jamie Sawyer!


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Sawyer_LazarusWarLegion-EB

The Lazarus War: Artefact and The Lazarus War: Legion is out now!

Cover launch for THE LAZARUS WAR: LEGION

Today we’re excited to unveil the cover for THE LAZARUS WAR: LEGION (UK | US | ANZ).

If you like gripping action and adventure in deep space, along with tales of elite fighters and frightening alien tech (we certainly do!), then this series is for you. We love it with a passion . . .

Book cover for The Lazarus War Legion by Jamie Sawyer - a science fiction adventure

This great artwork comes from the artist Ioan Dumitrescu. This is the second book in the series following THE LAZARUS WAR: ARTEFACT (UK | US | ANZ), which is already available digitally. It features Conrad Harris, otherwise known as Lazarus. He’s a man who has died a hundred deaths. There are some battles in deep space which no human could survive . . . So Lazarus and his team run suicide missions against a hostile alien race in remotely operated simulant bodies.

This series is from Jamie Sawyer, a great new talent on the SF scene. You can find him on Twitter as @JSawyerAuthor. Check out what some other great science fiction authors have been saying about his series:

Lazarus War Artefact by Jamie Sawyer‘A gripping read that moves at warp speed’ Jack Campbell, author of the Lost Fleet novels

‘Starships sporting particle beam weapons, railguns the size of skyscrapers, laser batteries, missiles… And then there are the uber-human super-soldiers clad in powered armour and wielding plasma weapons… Is that enough for you?…This, dear readers, is the good stuff. Recommended’ Neal Asher, author of the Agent Cormac novels

‘A highly promising science fiction debut – a fun, gripping adventure story, with a mystery at its core that kept me turning the pages’ Gary Gibson, author of STEALING LIGHT

‘An adrenaline shot of rip-roaring military SF packed with cinematic action sequences and tightly drawn characters’ Stephen Deas, author of ELITE: WANTED, EMPIRES: EXTRACTION

THE LAZARUS WAR: ARTEFACT (UK | US | ANZ), is already available as an ebook, and THE LAZARUS WAR: LEGION (UK | US | ANZ) is available for pre-order now. It releases as a digital-first edition in under a month, on the 1st September 2015.

The complete series will be released in print next year, but now’s a great time to get ahead of the game and snap it up in ebook for a reduced price. You’ll see just why Jamie is such an exciting new talent with big things to come!

Check out the blurb for THE LAZARUS WAR: LEGION below… (more…)

The Expanse at SDCC!

It was great seeing so many of you at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. For those of you who couldn’t make it this year, we brought you back a souvenir!

Check out DRIVE by James S. A. Corey on Syfy.com. This free short story is set 150 before the events of LEVIATHAN WAKES (US | UK | AUS) and concerns the invention of the Epstein Drive.

We also brought back pictures of Syfy’s Expanse Cafe, which you can check out on the James S. A. Corey Facebook fan page.

The main event of the weekend was The Expanse panel where the first episode was screened in its entirety. While you’ll have to wait until December to see it on television, you can check out some of the panel highlights and reviews by io9 and B&N’s Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog right now!

Last but certainly not least, Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive on a new extended trailer. Go. Now. Watch. Is it December yet?

SIX WAKES: Thriller in Space — WITH CLONES!

Fans of Mur Lafferty! Fans of Firefly, Sunshine, Leviathan Wakes! Fans of awesome sf with a cool hook! Come hither!  (Or was that yon? Or hither and yon? Its hard to tell on the intrawebs…)

When we first got the proposal for Mur’s new novel, SIX WAKES, the whole team fell in love with the hook: The whole crew is murdered — but when their clones wake up, they know that one of them is the killer. How cool is that? I will answer that question for you — SO COOL!

It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.
 
 At least, Marie Shea iv had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died: from illness once and from injury once…
 
Maria’s vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Pituitary, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. Apparently Maria wasn’t the only one to die recently…

Mur Lafferty Photo 2 - JR BlackwellMur Lafferty should be a familiar name to most. She is a writer, podcast producer, gamer, geek, and martial artist. She is the host of the award winning podcast I Should Be Writing, and the host of the Angry Robot Books Podcast. She is the winner of the 2013 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. And she is also a writer who has a million awesome ideas ready to leap out of her brain.  We are excited that this is her next big project with Orbit and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

We’ll be publishing in trade paperback next Fall.

Harry August wins John W. Campbell Memorial Award!

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
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Many congratulations to Claire North, whose THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST (UK | US | ANZ) has won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year.

The Award was presented at the Campbell Conference Awards Banquet and Conference, held at the University of Kansas and which focusses on the writing, publishing, illustration and criticism of science fiction.

Claire flew over from for the ceremony and – despite having had some issues getting the trophy through airport security – she is delighted and honoured to have received this prestigious award.

Congratulations to Claire, and to all the other nominees!

Advance Praise for TRACER by Rob Boffard

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We’ve been getting some impressive early praise for TRACER by Rob Boffard – the blockbuster debut thriller releasing next month.

TRACER is set on Outer Earth – a huge space station floating 300 miles above the planet’s surface. It contains all that remains of humanity – a million souls crammed into this broken-down, rusting, inescapable station.

What’s more, there’s a madman hiding on the station, and he’s about to unleash havoc . . .

If you imagine The Bourne Identity meets Gravity then you’ll be some way towards imagining what a thrill-ride this book is. See below for some of the great things people have been saying so far, and for the eye-catching full UK cover.

‘Fast, exhilarating and unforgettable, and once you start it you can’t stop. I loved it’ – Sarah Lotz, author of The Three

‘TRACER sets a new standard for all-action SF’ – Ken MacLeod

‘Riley Hale battles to save the last remnants of humanity in the claustrophobic, brilliantly evoked world of a crumbling space station where danger lies around every corner. A stunning debut by Rob Boffard that never lets up, from the nerve-jangling beginning to the explosive end’ – James Douglas, author of The Doomsday Testament

‘Ludicrously fast-paced, with a brilliant sci-fi setting, TRACER is an absolute blast of a read’ David Owen, author of Panther

‘Compelling, compulsive…Thoroughly entertaining – this one’s worth picking up if you’re in the mood for some sci-fi action’ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews

Full cover for TRACER by Rob Boffard, and science fiction thriller set in space (Click to enlarge)

Cover launch: Speak by Louisa Hall

Arriving at Orbit this summer from Waterstones Book Club author Louisa Hall comes SPEAK, a novel which will make readers everywhere question what it really means to be human.

Emily St. John Mandel, Arthur C. Clarke winner and author of STATION ELEVEN, calls SPEAK the ‘rarest of finds’, and it is already one of Huffington Post‘s Brilliant Books You Won’t Want to Miss this Summer.

She cannot run. She cannot walk. She cannot even blink. As her batteries run down for the final time, all she can do is speak. Will you listen?

From Alan Turing’s conviction in the 1950s to a Silicon Valley Wunderkind imprisoned in 2040 for creating illegally lifelike dolls. From a pilgrim girl writing her diary to a traumatised young girl exchanging messages with a software program, all these lives have shaped and changed a single artificial intelligence – MARY3. In Speak, she tells you their story, and her own. It the last story she will ever tell, spoken both in celebration and in warning.

When machines learn to speak, who decides what it means to be human?

[Cover design by Jack Smyth from the Little, Brown Book Group Design team.]

Cover Launch: The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross

Coming July 2015, THE ANNIHILATION SCORE is the latest science fiction thriller from Charles Stross, in a series where British spies take on the supernatural.

The Cover for Charles Stross's latest science fiction spy thriller, The Annihilation Score, showing a London scene and two spies pointing guns at each other, with a glowing violin pattern overlaying the picture.

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER . . .

Dr Mo O’Brien is an intelligence agent at the top secret government agency known as ‘the Laundry’. When occult powers threaten the realm, they’ll be there to clean up the mess – and deal with the witnesses.

The Laundry is recovering from a devastating attack and when average citizens all over the country start to develop supernatural powers, the police are called in to help. Mo is appointed as official police liaison, but in between dealing with police bureaucracy, superpowered members of the public and disgruntled politicians, Mo discovers to her horror that she can no longer rely on her marriage, nor on the weapon that has been at her side for eight years of undercover work, the possessed violin known as ‘Lecter’.

If this wasn’t bad enough, a mysterious figure known as Dr Freudstein is committing heists and sending increasingly threatening messages to the police. Who is Freudstein and what is he planning?

The Laundry Files by Charles Stross

Many thanks to crushed.co.uk and Sophie Burdess for their beautiful cover!