In honour of the sizzling new urban fantasy, FULL BLOODED (UK | US | ANZ) by Amanda Carlson – out this September – we’ve put together a fun Friday quiz for you. If you, just like Jessica McClain, are new to being a werewolf and to the supernatural world, you might need just a few handy tips on how to read the signs when dating a shifter . . .
For more steamy supernatural action, check out FULL BLOODED (UK | US | ANZ) by Amanda Carlson, out in September (you can already read the action-packed opening chapter online here). If you think you just can’t wait for it to come out, the fantastic prequel novella BLOODED, is already available.
This year’s hottest new urban fantasy will be released this September, and excitement is already building on the interwebs! It’s from debut author Amanda Carlson, and is called FULL BLOODED (UK | US | ANZ), book one of the Jessica McClain novels.
Jessica’s the only female in an all-male werewolf race – and unlucky for her, it seems her very existence might spell out the doom of the werewolf race. It certainly ain’t easy being a girl sometimes . . .
Shown above are the shiny, shiny covers for FULL BLOODED and HOT BLOODED (out next April). They should give you a glimpse of the sexy excitement and adventure in store.
But if you just can’t wait until September to read book 1, don’t forget that you can get your hands on a piece of shifter Jessica McClain already! There is a novella available called BLOODED which gives an insight into her world, and it in fact acts as a great prequel to FULL BLOODED. (more…)
I’m delighted to be able to unveil the cover for a very exciting new title to be released in October this year: ARALORN (UK | ANZ).
It’s an omnibus edition of two fantasy titles that are yet to be released in the UK: Masques and Wolfsbane, from the fan favourite (and New York Times bestselling) Patricia Briggs.
Masques was in fact the first full-length novel that Patricia wrote, but since then it’s been revised and updated. It features the wonderfully unconventional heroine Aralorn, a girl who flees her noble birthright and the expectations piled upon her to become a mercenary and shapeshifting spy.
Patricia Briggs recently revisited the series with Wolfsbane, and so we decided to collect these two novels in ARALORN. With these stories, the author expertly turns her hand to a setting which is a little more historical/high fantasy than urban fantasy – but fans of the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega novels will undoubtedly also love this book.
ARALORN shows off Patricia at her best – with characters that are so intriguing that you’ll never want to say goodbye to them. The relationship between Aralorn and her mysterious companion Wolf, for example, is so deliciously intense that you’ll definitely want to see it through to the end.
Look out for ARALORN (UK | ANZ) this October. And you can find the blurb and a larger version of the cover below. (more…)
Jaye Wells is something of an expert on the undead. After writing five sexy paranormal fantasy novels featuring the kickass Sabina Kane, she knows all the major players in the vampire underworld. Collected here a five interviews with some of the biggest names in the bloodletting business.
To find out more about Jaye, the books, and her upcoming events and promotions – visit her website.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this series will go down as one of the best paranormal fantasy sagas of all time and Sabina Kane will be remembered as one of paranormal fantasy’s most iconic heroines. ” – Paul Goat Allen, BN.com.
Hey Ladies and Gentlemen, fans of all things Steampunk and Vampiric and Victoriana: for your device’s pleasure we have made you some fantastic God Save The Queen wallpapers! Please plaster across all your screens and enjoy at your leisure. We have also started making facebook timeline headers for your social media adornment!
For more info on the making of the cover, please stay tuned for a behind the scenes video of the photoshoot coming soon!
You’d think I’d be happy (and quite busy enough) worrying over the Orbit bookcovers, but I’m one of those designers that wants to try her hand at everything. Websites, branding, invites, and now, apps! I love working with Orbit because I really do get a chance to be there for the beginning of a project and say “hey, I can totally design an author app” and they believe me! Of course, then I need to go back to my desk and figure out how to actually do it, but that’s the fun part. And let me tell you, I had a hell of a lot of fun with this one.
It certainly wasn’t cool enough to have an author app that was just about books and excerpts (which, of course, are awesome, and included), we wanted to make a cool functional app that the fans of The Parasol Protectorate series (and any steampunk fans, really) would love and use everyday. So after brainstorming a lot of ideas, we came up with the idea of doing a super intricate interactive clock app that has the functionality of the standard apple clock, but is way way cooler. A Steampunk clock app.
As you can see in the screenshots below, we’ve got 3 clock skins: A Mechanical Clock with cool brass cogs and gears (and rotating cephalopods), a Steam-Powered Clock run by octopus power, and (my personal fave) a Tea Time Clock with drag-able teabags and spoons that develop your custom cup of tea, while letting you set a Tea Timer!
Nicole Peeler‘s Tempest Fury (UK | US | ANZ) is out now. It’s book five in her Jane True series (which starts with Tempest Rising – UK | US | ANZ) and to celebrate, here’s a guest post from Nicole on the inspiration for the series . . .
For me, it was a no brainer to make my protagonist, Jane, a selkie. Although it’s a relatively obscure mythology to some, and I only learned of it as a teenager, it’s the perfect inspiration for fiction.
For those of you who don’t know the selkie mythos, I blogged about it ages ago, with the help of a story from the Heritage of Orkney site. Basically, all the stories of selkie maidens are similar: man finds (or steals) a random seal skin left on the beach, woman shows up that night and they marry, many babies are born. Years pass, until the day one of the children finds the skin, and gives it to mom. Despite her love for her human family, the lure of the sea and her sea husband are stronger, and off she goes.
US cover
Sometimes she takes her children with her, and sometimes she doesn’t.
As a teenager, so many aspects of this myth affected me: the idea of a woman who could be trapped so easily; the idea of a person torn between two worlds; the idea of having something so important that other loves are swept aside for that one thing. But it was the children that really struck my fancy. What about the ones taken to sea? Did they miss their human life? Even more intriguing, however, were the ones left behind. What happened to them, cut off as they were from the magic that was half their heritage?
The resonance of the selkie mythology stuck with me. So when it came to write my own story, and my first thought was to write an anti-heroine, my next thought was almost instantaneous – “and she can be half-selkie.” It was like my intellectual curiosity had come full circle – I’d always wondered what happened to those children, and now I got to explore the possibilities in my own writing. And that opportunity for exploration is what I try to bring to my fiction – I’m curious about the world I’ve created, and I try to convey that curiosity to my readers.
So if you’re an aspiring writer, try to do something similar. Write what you love, what you’re interested in, what’s always made you think. You’ll find so much passion for your subject, at the same time you get to scratch an intellectual itch. And everyone enjoys a good scratch.
Everyone’s favourite Probability Mage, Alex Verus, returns in September with the publication of TAKEN [UK | ANZ] – his most dangerous adventure yet. A wonderful buzz has been building around this series, which began in March with FATED [UK | ANZ] and continued last month with CURSED [UK | ANZ]. Perfect for fans of Jim Butcher and Ben Aaronovitch, TAKEN will cement Benedict Jacka’s status as a rising star of urban fantasy.
Here’s the cover, courtesy of our talented designers Nick Castle and Sian Wilson.
TAKEN is out in paperback and ebook on 6 September 2012.
God Save the Queen (US | UK | AUS) is about vampires, goblins, werewolves, humans and in-betweens. It’s about politics, power and loyalty, with a healthy dose of sex and blood tossed in for good measure. It’s set in a world where the Victorian Era never ended, and the Black Death ironically created an immortal aristocracy.
It also never would have been written without tea and Duran Duran.
When I was but a babe in the wilds of rural Nova Scotia, the first hot drink I remember having was not hot chocolate, but tea. Tea, it was understood, fixed everything, complimented all food groups, and had magical properties. We brewed it by the bag if we had to, but the norm was to toss a handful of leaves into a pot, add hot water and spend the rest of the day picking the bloody things out of your teeth. My mother read tea leaves. In fact, she was quite well known for it. She said the leaves in the bottom of my cup told her I was going to be a writer (she also told me they said I’d meet John Taylor, but more on him later). People came from all over to have her read their leaves. Some of them came back every freaking week, eager to hear what she saw in the bottom of their cup.
I wondered if perhaps she should buy stock in Red Rose.
My mum passed away a year and a half ago. She never did buy stock in Red Rose tea, but she passed on her knowledge of the leaves, and when I have a cuppa, I almost always think of her. I also think of her whenever I see Victorian clutter, pink Christmas tree ornaments, big hats and Grisly Adams (don’t ask). Anyway, tea remains an important part of my life and my career. I feel I must also acknowledge Mum’s love of the supernatural as well, because this apple certainly didn’t fall far when it comes to things that lurk in the shadows. My mother also made up bedtime stories for me, and sometimes we’d plot them together.
TEMPEST’S FURY(US | UK | AUS) is the perfect name for this awesome new novel by Nicole Peeler. Jane True comes into her own as the champion and it has the trademark quirkiness, humor and the zaniness that only Nicole can bring to urban fantasy. People have been comparing her for years to Charlaine Harris and with her newest covers, I think she’s too fabulous to miss.
Jane’s not happy. She’s been packed off to England to fight in a war when she’d much rather be snogging Anyan. Unfortunately, Jane’s enemies have been busy stirring up some major trouble — the kind that attracts a lot of attention. In other words, they’re not making it easy for Jane to get any alone time with the barghest, or to indulge in her penchant for stinky cheese.
Praying she can pull off a Joan of Arc without the whole martyrdom thing, Jane must lead Alfar and halflings alike in a desperate battle to combat an ancient evil. Catapulted into the role of Most Unlikely Hero Ever, Jane also has to fight her own insecurities as well as the doubts of those who don’t think she can live up to her new role as Champion.
Along the way, Jane learns that some heroes are born. Some are made. And some are bribed with promises of food and sex.
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