- Devi Pillai - May 16th, 2012
Blood. Passion. Service…
FORBIDDEN BLOOD by Kristen Painter is available now from the Orbit Short Fiction program!
The comarré were created for only one reason – to give blood – and whatever else their vampire patron requires. But one comarré will risk all – including her life – to win her freedom.
Meet Maris – in the prequel to Kristen Painter’s gothic vampire series, which began with BLOOD RIGHTS (US | UK | AUS).
Purchase FORBIDDEN BLOOD for only $2.99
by Devi Pillai • Post a Comment • Categories: Fiction, Orbit US • Tags: Blood Rights, Forbidden Blood, Kristen Painter, Orbit Short Fiction, The House of Comarre, vampires
- Jenni Hill - May 16th, 2012
Fantasy author Helen Lowe will join Robin Hobb in an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Reddit today, Wednesday 16th May, at 8pm CST.
The chat will be found on Reddit’s Fantasy forum, r/Fantasy, at http://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/.
Don’t forget that Helen, with her epic fantasy novel THE HEIR OF NIGHT, is one of five authors shortlisted for the David Gemmell Morning Star Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer and that you can still get your votes in here until 12 Noon GMT 31st May.
Orbit authors N. K. Jemisin and Brent Weeks have also taken part in Reddit AMAs recently, and it looks like they had a great time of it!
by Jenni Hill • Post a Comment • Categories: Events, Interviews, Orbit Australia, Orbit France, Orbit UK, Uncategorized • Tags: AMA, Brent Weeks, fantasy, Helen Lowe, N. K. Jemisin, r/Fantasy, reddit, robin hobb, The Wall Of Night
- Anna Gregson - May 16th, 2012
At the end of last year, we here at Orbit received a very exciting treat in our inboxes . . . a new manuscript from the critically acclaimed David Brin.
Author of the classic UPLIFT series, EARTH and THE POSTMAN (made into a major motion picture), he’s widely lauded not just for writing thrillingly addictive science fiction, but also for his track record for accurately predicting the future within his novels.
It’s been ten years since the release of David’s last book, so the arrival of the manuscript for EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ) really was quite an event. And it’s no exaggeration to say that this could well be his pièce de resistance.
It’s an edge-of-your-seat novel of the near-future, where discovery of an alien artefact throws the world into chaos. The absolute compelling nature of this book, and the sheer breadth and brilliance of the ideas expressed within it made me want to find out more about David’s thought processes behind it (beyond the usual questions I’d ask as part of our author/editor relationship!). Read on for an insight into what lead to its creation . . .
David Brin - photo by Cheryl Brigham
AG: Despite your incredible success as a writer, you’ve mentioned elsewhere that being an author wasn’t your first career of choice. Tell us more?
DB: Writing was the first truly verifiable, repeatable and effective form of magic. Picture how it must have impressed ancient people to look at marks – on papyrus or clay – and know they conveyed the words of scribes and kings long dead. Knowledge, wisdom and art could finally accumulate, and death was robbed some of its sting. Writing still is magical. To create strings of black squiggles that millions of others can skillfully de-code with just their eyes – into emotions and thoughts, or the struggles of believable characters.
Still, every culture had storytellers. I was drawn toward a much newer kind of profession, that only gained real momentum the last few generations. Science. A shared endeavor to find out what is true, despite our preconceptions. Wow, that too is amazing! And I managed to contribute a few new bits of knowledge.
Still, when a chance came along to combine the two? Who wouldn’t grab such an opportunity?
AG: It’s been almost a decade since the release of your last novel. Have scientific developments over the last 10 years forced you at all to reassess the vision of the future you’ve held in previous books?
DB: Well of course. But remember, good science fiction isn’t about any static view. It should offer thought experiments about change. How it transforms real societies and realistic characters. Change has been the one, great constant of modernity and its rate is accelerating. Many of our social and political squabbles spiral around this one fact. A lot of folks don’t like the staccato pace of disruptions and new ideas, even good ones.
But if we don’t poke ahead, peering into the fog, how will we ever find our way? Read the rest of this entry »
by Anna Gregson • Post a Comment • Categories: Commentary, Ebooks, Fiction, Interviews, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK • Tags: David Brin, Existence, Google Glasses, science fiction, Technology, The Postman, Uplift
- Jenni Hill - May 15th, 2012
Big congratulations from the Orbit team to Pamela Freeman, whose epic fantasy novel EMBER AND ASH won the Aurealis Award for the best fantasy novel of the year! The awards were announced in Sydney last Saturday.
The Aurealis Awards represent the best of Australian fantasy, science fiction and horror across thirteen different categories. Trudi Canavan and Trent Jamieson have both been previous winners of the awards.
EMBER AND ASH (UK | US | ANZ) is available as an Orbit ebook or paperback.
Two peoples have been fighting over the same land for a thousand years. Invaders crushed the original inhabitants, and ancient powers have reluctantly given way to newer magics. But Ember was to change all this with a wedding to bind these warring people together – until her future goes up in flames.
Ember’s husband-to-be is murdered by a vengeful elemental god, who sees peace as a breach of faith. Set on retribution, she enlists the help of Ash, son of a seer. Together they will pit themselves against elementals of fire and ice in a last attempt to end the conflicts that have scarred their past.
They must look to the present, as old furies are waking to violence and are eager to reclaim their people.
by Jenni Hill • Post a Comment • Categories: Awards, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US • Tags: Aurealis Awards, Ember and Ash, fantasy, Pamela Freeman
- James Long - May 14th, 2012
Trudi Canavan’s Traitor Spy trilogy – so far comprising the Sunday Times bestsellers THE AMBASSADOR’S MISSION [UK | US | ANZ] and THE ROGUE [UK | US | ANZ] - will finally be completed in August, with the release of THE TRAITOR QUEEN.
We’ll reveal a little more about this thrilling conclusion to the trilogy closer to the time, along with an excerpt, but for the time being here’s the final front cover – courtesy of our wonderful designer Peter Cotton and the talented illustrator Steve Stone.
If you’ve not yet joined the legions of fans that have been captivated by the Traitor Spy books, now’s the perfect time to start as both THE AMBASSADOR’S MISSION (sample) and THE ROGUE (sample) are available in paperback.
Trudi Canavan can be found online at both her website and on twitter.
by James Long • Post a Comment • Categories: Art, Covers, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US • Tags: Cover launch, Trudi Canavan
- Kirk Benshoff - May 10th, 2012
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson is coming out at the end of May around the globe (US | UK | AUS). Last week I posted some wallpapers, and this week I want to explain some of the thinking that went into the design of the book jacket.
The goal was to create a cover that would signal a big book about space, but we also wanted something that reinforced the timelessness of the storytelling by bringing in mythic symbolism. The cover isn’t a literal snapshot of anything in the book — it’s a collection of symbols that evoke the story.
I don’t want to give away too many of the book’s secrets (some of which are hinted at in the design) but I will explain why there’s a rooster and a sickle silhouetted against the tree.
The two main characters in 2312 are from Mercury and Saturn. You probably remember that in Roman mythology Mercury (like Hermes) wore winged sandals and bore a caduceus. He was also often accompanied by a rooster (representing the new day.) Saturn — the god of agriculture, justice and strength – held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. So these two symbols represent two of the key locations in the book. 
There’s also a very simple visual story in the design. As you roll the book over from the front, to the spine, and to the back, you’ll notice the sun going down on each image.
You’ll also notice that the rooster isn’t on the back cover. Why? There are a few possible interpretations for this. But there’s also a straightforward scientific explanation in keeping with the rigorous logic of the book. Why isn’t the rooster on the back cover?
… It’s nighttime. The rooster has gone to sleep. ;-)
So that’s a bit of background on the design thinking that went into the cover. You can enlarge the cover below to see the sun setting effect.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
This was a really fun project and one (as I always do) I feel lucky to be a part of.
by Kirk Benshoff • Post a Comment • Categories: Art, Covers, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US • Tags: 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction, space opera
author post
Ancient History
Why am I writing a brand new epic fantasy series when my long-suffering readers are constantly asking for the next episode in the Three Worlds saga?
I’ve spent two-thirds of my writing life on that 11-book sequence, and by the time I finished the last book, The Destiny of the Dead, in 2008, I was creatively exhausted. I didn’t want to grind out another series, full of reluctance and angst, and let my readers down with a story that wasn’t good enough. When I do write the next episode – the one that finally tells what fate befell Karan and Llian after The Way Between the Worlds – I want to be white-hot with enthusiasm.
Also, at the end of each big fantasy series I like to write something completely different, so as to freshen and rejuvenate my writing.
Inspirations
Three years ago I began The Tainted Realm, a new epic fantasy series set in an entirely new fantasy world. Or at least, a small part of a new world. Most of the world is covered in ice and it’s steadily closing around the last place where people still survive, the island of Hightspall, which is still ice free because it’s so incredibly volcanic. Though the eruptions have been catastrophic in the distant past, and they’re getting worse …
Hightspall, once home to the peace-loving Cythians, was brutally colonised two thousand years ago. The colonists were led by a band of Herovians, a supremacist race whose ancient sourcebook, the Immortal Text, told them that the land was theirs by right. The Herovians did their best to exterminate the Cythians and their culture, and thought they had … Read the rest of this entry »
by Ian Irvine •2 Comments • Posted in: Guest Post
- Laura Fitzgerald - May 9th, 2012
In just a few short weeks BLUE-BLOODED VAMP (US | UK | AUS), the fifth and final volume of the Sabina Kane series, will be released!
Sabina and friends set off for Italy hunting for the means to defeat Cain, the father of all vampires and the man who murdered her family. Revenge may finally be within reach unless Cain finds her first. It all comes to a head in this dramatic series conclusion.
Check out this excerpt from BLUE-BLOODED VAMP or start the series from the beginning with RED-HEADED STEPCHILD (US | UK | AUS).
The St. Charles streetcar lumbered its way toward the Garden District like a mourner in a funeral procession. The rocking motion should have soothed me, but I was pretty sure I was beyond ever relaxing again.
Adam sat next me. His warm hand on my leg helped dispel some of the chill. He wore his trademark brown duster and heavy boots. The goatee and muscled frame added to his general air of menace, but the mage’s real danger lay in his ability to wield magical weapons.
In addition to being my partner, he was also my . . . boyfriend? No, too high school. Lover? Ugh. Consort? Meh.
I guess when it came down to it, he was just my mancy, plain and simple. And his presence had become as critical to my equilibrium as gravity or blood.
Read More
by Laura Fitzgerald • Post a Comment • Categories: Extracts, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US • Tags: Blue-Blooded Vamp, Jaye Wells, Red-Headed Stepchild, Sabina Kaine, urban fantasy, vampires
- Tim Holman - May 8th, 2012
A very nice review in the May edition of Locus ends: “2312 is as flat-out a celebration of the possibilities of SF as I’ve seen in years … it’s a catalog of wonders.” It reminded me of the opening sentence of the novel:
“The sun is always just about to rise.”
What a great first sentence, for a novel in any genre, but particularly one concerned – from start to finish – with possibilities.
More early praise for this remarkable novel:
From SF writer Iain M. Banks:
Intellectually engaged and intensely humane in a way SF rarely is, exuberantly speculative in a way only the best SF can be, this is the work of a writer at or approaching the top of his game.
From thriller writer Robert Crais:
Robinson (Galileo’s Dream) delivers a challenging, compelling masterpiece of science fiction…Robinson’s extraordinary completeness of vision results in a magnificently realized, meticulously detailed future in which social and biological changes keep pace with technological developments.
From Publishers Weekly (starred review):
Robinson’s extraordinary completeness of vision results in a magnificently realized, meticulously detailed future in which social and biological changes keep pace with technological developments.
The book will be available at the end of May (US | UK | AUS) and you can read the entire prologue here.
by Tim Holman • Post a Comment • Categories: Extracts, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US • Tags: 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction
author post
I create and write a lot of non-human characters, and when I call them all “people” I’m not being politically correct. Whether the character’s an extra-terrestrial, a non-human animal, or an artificial intelligence, he, she, or it has to resonate with readers or players enough for them to understand what’s happening and why. The audience needs points of common reference: all of us do, and the novel is a form that’s very much about the human condition, even if some or all of those humans aren’t human at all. All storytelling – written, spoken, drawn, played — is about producing a feeling in the audience, regardless of the medium.
A creature that’s genuinely alien would by definition be so far outside our understanding that we’d struggle to find any common points. It’s perfectly possible to write a book about the completely impenetrable mystery of an alien life-form, but then the story becomes about the people observing it, not the aliens themselves. We might like to think we’re very different from other animals on our own planet, but we’re not, and the more that biologists have put aside our cultural biases about humans being unique, the more they’ve found we all have in common — communication, emotion, and even mathematical skill.
So novels are about people, using human reactions as a benchmark for the audience, even if the non-humans view the world very differently. What matters is their internal logic — why they see the world as they do — and the points where they mesh with or clash with us. I approach non-human characters exactly the same was as I do human ones, starting with their environment and, for want of a better word, biology. What kind of creature would live in this world? What would it need to do to thrive? What would its needs and fears be? I have to be able to get inside every character’s head and see the world as they see it, because that’s what my stories are – every character’s thought processes and experiences, seen through their own eyes, not through mine. As in real life, characters see the same situation in very different and often conflicting ways, and aliens and other non-humans are one of the richest ways of observing this.
I’ve created an alien species, the Wess’har, whose evolutionary survival strategy was cooperation rather than competition, but it didn’t make them remotely friendly to humans. I’m currently writing an AI character who has no corporeal form but is constantly looking for analogues in his own systems to reach a better understanding of the humans he works with. In another series, I have non-humans who are actually very human indeed, in that their worst excesses are in fact mirrors of our own that the humans in the story don’t even recognise. Read the rest of this entry »
by Karen Traviss •Post a Comment • Posted in: Guest Post, Orbit UK
Blood. Passion. Service…
