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Philip Palmer (who is not as malevolent in person as this photo suggests) stopped in at the Book Swede’s blog to talk about Arthur C. Clarke’s famed observation on magic and technology.

Philip’s debut novel just got a great review at Science Fiction Weekly, which observed:

“Debatable Space is clearly one of the best first novels to appear in the science-fiction field in recent years, and it marks Philip Palmer as a writer to watch for SF readers seeking innovative, cutting-edge space opera…”

You may have noticed the color difference between the US and UK editions. Is it because American readers respond well to orange? Is it because UK readers like their type to match the glow of their spaceship engines? Honestly, we’re not sure – but the inside is excellent whichever version you get.

The shortlist for the 2007 BSFA Awards has recently been announced, and we’re absolutely delighted to see Ken MacLeod’s wonderful The Execution Channel in the running for the Best Novel. 

Fighting has spread across the Middle East and Central Asia to the borders of China. In the US, refugees from climate-change disaster subsist in FEMA camps. Images of official executions circulate on the Internet like al Qaeda videos. State agencies sponsor conspiracy theories as cover-ups. As the troops of the last superpower stand astride the last of the oil, China and Russia aren’t the only states considering their options: certain nations of Old Europe are quietly preparing for the worst.

The war on terror is over. Terror won.

 As with all of Ken MacLeod’s novels, The Execution Channel has garnered great critical acclaim.  The Times calls it ‘Politically engaged, speculative fiction at its finest, with a conclusion that’s absolutely mind-blowing’; noted critic Paul Kincaid, writing for Strange Horizons, says ‘A very good book, perhaps the best Ken MacLeod has written to date . . . an extraordinary novel’; while SFX sums it up as ‘Jaw-droppingly audacious’.

The BSFA Awards will be presented on 22nd March at Orbital, this year’s Eastercon, where a very smartly attired paperback edition will be available for your reading pleasure!

Hmm. . . ‘Orbital’, eh?  Dare we see that as an omen . . . ?

We’ve been getting some great advance reviews for Iain M. Banks’ Matter. In this weekend’s Scotland on Sunday, Stuart Kelly says:

If I said this novel was a searing inquiry into justified warfare and the dangers of imposing your ideas of civilisation, told at a rattling pace with breathtaking set pieces and oodles of wit and charm, I’d hope that you’d continue reading and decide, in a few hundred words’ time, to buy the book…

…It’s exhilarating to see what he can do when he goes full-throttle into the form: to my mind, he’s simply the finest and most consistently challenging writer in that genre.

And over at SFFWorld, Mark Yon is saying:

As with any of Iain’s books to date, in Matter he deals with the material with wit and intelligence, as well as his trademark complexity and violence. It does manage to mix genres with aplomb, and there are some pleasingly jarring cultural moments when aliens intermix…I suspect that, despite its release early in the year, this one will be high on many best-of lists by the end of 2008.

We couldn’t agree more! You can read an excerpt of Matter here.

Iain M. Banks will be reading and signing copies of his new book, Matter, the last week in February. Get your tickets now!

City Books
When: Monday 25 February, 6:30pm
Where: The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove
Tickets: £6, including a complimentary glass of wine
Contact: info@citybookshove.co.uk

Waterstone’s Bristol
When: Tuesday 26 February, 7:00pm
Where: Waterstone’s, 11a Union Galleries, Broadmead, Bristol
Tickets: £3, redeemable against the purchase of a book
Contact: enquiries@bristolgalleries.waterstones.com

Waterstone’s Norwich
When: Wednesday 27 February, 7:00pm
Where: Waterstone’s, Castle St, Norwich
Tickets: £3, redeemable against the purchase of the book
Contact: enquiries@norwich-castlestreet.waterstones.com

Waterstone’s Lincoln High Street
When: Thursday 28 February, 7:00pm
Where: Waterstone’s, 297A High St, Lincoln
Tickets: £3, redeemable against the purchase of the book
Contact: enquiries@lincoln-highstreet.waterstones.com

And so is Charles Stross!

The 2007 SciFiNow awards have been announced in the latest issue. As you might have guessed from the title of this post, Charles Stross and Halting State, his latest novel, have been voted the fan favourites in the Best Author and Best Novel categories. Hurrah!

You can check out all the fantastic things Starburst, DeathRay and The Book Swede are saying about it here and pick it up at bookshops near you this month.

Tad Williams just relaunched his website over at www.tadwilliams.com!

Check it out to read his blog, visit the message board and learn more about his writing, including his latest novel, Shadowplay, which Orbit UK is publishing in paperback this March.

We’re delighted to announce that the UK’s bestselling SFF debut of 2007 was Karen Miller’s The Innocent Mage. It was a great year for new authors, but it was clear from the start that The Innocent Mage was something special. It went straight to the top of the SFF charts when it was first published, and the buzz has continued to build, with a stack of rave reviews, particularly online. All seemed to echo the same sentiment: that Karen Miller was an author with an incredible gift for creating characters that leap off the page — and for telling a story in a way that makes it ridiculously difficult to put the book down (and incredibly difficult to resist The Awakened Mage, the second book in the two-part series, which came out shortly after).

Congratulations from all of us to Karen, a new star of fantasy fiction.

And for all Karen Miller fans out there, three words: Empress, April, amazing.

Congratulations to Sue Guttridge from Dorset and Rob Davies from Massachusetts, our winners in the competition for a free advance copy of Matter (UK | US ) by Iain M. Banks.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Iain M. Banks
Photo (c) John Foley / Opale

It’s only a …er… matter of weeks before Matter arrives in bookstores. The first Culture novel since Look to Windward, Matter is one of the most anticipated science fiction novels coming out this year. We’re thrilled to be publishing it, and thrilled to offer a first look at the stunning prologue.

Click here to read the prologue of Matter, out this February from Orbit in the UK and the US.

Over at Scifi Wire, Kevin J. Anderson talks about the Saga of Seven Suns (along with some of our favorite things):

“The Saga of Seven Suns pulls together everything I love about the genre: alien races, galactic empires, mysterious ruins, incredible creatures, exotic landscapes, giant black robots …”

Read the whole profile here.

The penultimate book, Metal Swarm, is out now — and watch for The Ashes of Worlds this spring.

Brian Ruckley’s fantastic debut novel, Winterbirth, is now on Facebook. Visit the page here to become a fan, read extracts and find out all the latest news about The Godless World series!

Don’t have a Facebook account? You can still get all the latest news and extracts by visiting Brian Ruckley website.

An unseasonably warm day here in New York has us looking forward to spring — and our spring list — here at Orbit US HQ. Starting this April, look for the first book in a new trilogy from Karen Miller, the first US publication of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Last Wish, and new books from Jeff Somers, Marie Brennan, Lilith Saintcrow, and more!

Click here for our Spring 2008 list
Click here for our Fall 2007, Winter 2008 list
Visit us at librarything.com/catalog/orbitbooks

Wonderful news just in that Sean Williams’ Saturn Returns has made the final ballot for the Philip K. Dick Award, presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States.

Sean is quite naturally extremely pleased and reports receiving “a wave of Dick jokes, the likes of which I haven’t seen since High School”.

Many congratulations to Sean and all of the shortlisted authors.

Matter (UK | US ) the new Culture novel by Iain M. Banks, is set to hit shelves in three weeks. Can’t wait? Then send us your name, email, and place of residence in an email with the subject ‘Matter contest’ for a chance to win a free advance copy. One (1) lucky US and one (1)lucky UK winner will get a copy sent directly to them — so be sure to let us know where you’re emailing from! The contest closes at midnight (GMT) on Sunday, January 13th. Good luck!

Orbit UK’s parent company, Little, Brown Book Group, is now on Facebook! You can take a look and become a fan here.

Debatable Space, by debut author Philip Palmer, is available this month from Orbit UK and US and it’s already getting some fantastic praise. SFRevu says:

Seldom have I read anything so relentlessly energetic, inventive and shamelessly ambitious – all highly laudable qualities…This is one of those rare books that holds your focus on every page, and feeds your imagination as it does so…Palmer is a new, fresh, entirely original voice in British science fiction, and one that looks like he will be around, like Lena, for some considerable time.

And Fantasy Book Critic calls it:

One heck of a trip. It’s ambitious, original, a self-contained story, laugh-out-loud funny, gleefully violent, and wildly unpredictable…much more than a typical science fiction novel and I think readers would be making a huge mistake in overlooking Philip Palmer’s excellent debut.

Interested in checking out one of the most exciting new SF novels of 2008? You can check out an extract here or pick up a copy at a bookstore near you later this month!

Welcome back! As we ring in 2008 it seems a good time to look to the (not-so-far) future with Halting State, Charles Stross’s near-future techno thriller, which is getting some great reviews.

Starbust is calling it a ‘highly effective thanks to some great twists and an entirely convincing paranoid overtone’ and this month’s DeathRay describing it as ‘a surprisingly buoyant thriller about the meat puppets: you and me…his writing is muscled and lively’.

Over in the blogosphere, The Book Swede, who reviewed it earlier last year, says ‘the story and characterisation is typical Stross, that is to say, brilliant’ and SF Reviews.net says:

‘Fans of Stross’s earlier technothrillers — this book reads in many ways like one of his Laundry stories played straight — will go nuts over Halting State. The zeitgeist-savvy incorporation of the gaming world as a central narrative motif is handled to perfection.’

Halting State will be hitting bookshelves later this month. Until then, be sure to check out The Jennifer Morgue, out now, which DeathRay calls ‘a wonderfully entertaining read.’