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As we wind down for the holidays in the New York office we wanted to wish all the readers, reviewers, booksellers and authors who are part of our Orbit a very happy holiday. We’ll see you in the new year!

Odyssey 2010 - the next-but-one reincarnation of the annual Eastercon British National Science Fiction Convention - have announced that two of their Guests of Honour will be Orbit authors Iain M. Banks and Mike Carey.

It’s far too early for detailed programming, but as well as the traditional GoH interviews, Iain and Mike are bound to be involved in a number of panels, discussions and general bar-talk during the four-day convention, which in 2010 will return to the London Heathrow Radisson Edwardian; scene of this year’s Orbital 2008 event.

Other Guests of Honour announced for Eastercon 2010 include British SF authors Alastair Reynolds and Liz Williams, along with Artist Guest of Honour Carlos Ezquerra, and Fan Guests of Honour Jon and Fran Dowd (all Guest of Honour appearances are subject to work and other commitments).

For more information, see www.Odyssey2010.org.

Just a quick reminder that the public ballot to decide the finalists of the inaugural David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy opens on December 26th.

Following a recently announced change to the voting system, the five most popular fantasy titles of 2008 - as decided by the voters - will then be put forward to a second round of public voting in April 2009 (as opposed to the original panel of judges) for final consideration, with the winner announced on Friday 19th June 2009.

The final long-list of eligible nominated titles - including entries from Orbit authors Brian Ruckley, K.J. Parker, Brent Weeks, Kate Elliott, Jennifer Fallon, Karen Miller and Russell Kirkpatrick - has been made available via the DGLA website as a pdf download and an online voting form will be available from Thursday, with an additional incentive to participate early: the fist 100 voters will receive a limited edition DGLA wristband.

Visit www.gemmellaward.com for more information on the award, or to discuss the nominated titles. And don’t forget to vote, from December 26th onwards!

If there’s one thing I love about the holidays it’s that it really brings out the creativity in a lot of people. Suddenly everyone around you is getting the itch to bake something, knit something, or make something. Maybe it has to do with the winter and being cold and wanting to stay indoors, and maybe it has to do with gift-giving inspiring people, but even if your holiday creativity only extends to tree-trimming and present-wrapping, it’s a chance to get festive. This is obviously true of readers, and especially librarians, as you can see from the photos below. So if you haven’t gotten around to getting that tree yet, but you’ve got a bunch of books overflowing your shelves (and really, who reading this blog doesn’t have a few paperbacks stuck in every cabinet or closet in their home), then go ahead and build a booktree!

Now let’s see those photos of an all-Orbit book tree flood in! Special prize for a Orbit book-menorah!

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Hello and welcome to the last Orbit Links round-up of 2008. Lots to tell you about this week, so - with but a brief segue to wish all our readers a happy, healthy and utterly book-filled holiday season - here we go:

See you in 2009!

If you point your browser towards the publishing schedules section of the site, you’ll find we’ve posted a complete list of Orbit UK’s 2008 publications.

2008 has been another fantastic year for Orbit UK. In the past 12 months we’ve published a total of 80 books by no fewer than 43 different authors, including: Brent Weeks, Brian Ruckley, Celia Friedman, Charles Stross, Charlie Huston, Christopher Moore, David Farland, Drew Karpyshyn, Elizabeth Moon, Fiona MacIntosh, Glenda Larke, Iain M. Banks, Ian Irvine, J. V. Jones, Jacqueline Carey, Jeff Somers, Jennifer Fallon, Jennifer Rardin, Jim Butcher, Jo Graham, K. J. Parker, Karen Miller, Karen Traviss, Kate Elliott, Kelley Armstrong, Ken MacLeod, Laurell K Hamilton, Lilith Saintcrow, Marianne de Pierres, Marie Brennan, Pamela Freeman, Patricia Briggs, Philip Palmer, Raymond Benson, Robert Buettner, Russell Kirkpatrick, Sean Williams, Shaun Hutson, Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, Tom Holt and Trudi Canavan.

By our reckoning we’ve published 23 science fiction titles (including 4 sf tie-in novelisations), 35 fantasy or comic fantasy titles and 22 horror or urban fantasy titles. We also published 7 UK debuts, by Brent Weeks, Jo Graham, Marie Brennan, Pamela Freeman, Patricia Briggs, Philip Palmer and Robert Buettner.

So, head on over to that full 2008 publication list and double-check to see if there are any gaps in your to-be-read list that need filling! It’s not too late to add a few titles to your Christmas wish-list, or to buy a few last-minute presents for friends and loved ones. Or why not just treat yourself to some holiday reading matter (go on… you know you want to!)

I’m delighted to say that we’ve bought ASH AND EMBER by the talented (and lovely!) Pamela Freeman. This atmospheric stand-alone adventure will feature ancient gods of lake, fire and river, and their clash with newer spirits. The people of the Twelve Domains will be caught in an escalating conflict governed by blood, belief and family loyalties shaped over ages past.

The new novel will be set in the same beautifully-crafted world of Pamela’s previous trilogy, which started with BLOOD TIES, but we will follow new protagonists. Plus the action will be set some time in the future of the Castings books. ASH AND EMBER is currently scheduled for publication in October 2010, so don’t forget - but we will remind you!

I’m very pleased to confirm that we will be publishing two stand-alone follow ups to the forthcoming THIS IS NOT A GAME from Walter Jon Williams! The first of the pair, tentatively titled DEEP STATE, follows our game producer heroine from THIS IS NOT A GAME, Dagmar as she finds new ways to push the boundaries of games and politics, facing off against terrorists and spies in a dangerous contest of governments. Williams’s prescient, chilling vision of our future finds ever broader and more exciting horizons for the crowd’s place in the world. The next book in the series will continue to explore Dagmar’s strange, exciting world and find new speculative heights for Walter’s imagination.

Welcome, one and all, to the penultimate Orbit Authors links list of 2008. There’ll be one more next week and then the Orbit Team will be taking a break for a couple of weeks, to relax and enjoy the holiday season. Don’t forget, if you spot anything Orbit-related you can send a link in to us and we’ll name-check your blog or website when we mention it in a future round-up.

Calling all Iain [M] Banks fans: we’ve just relaunched the Iain [M] Banks fan forum over at www.iainbanksforum.net.

It’s open for registration to former forum members and anyone new who’d like to hang out and talk about the many and varied works of Iain Banks (or Iain M Banks). Do head on over and open an account.

Please do be aware, though: new accounts have to be moderated by the Forum Admin - that’s me! - which means they’ll generally be approved during UK office hours (although I’ll be checking in at weekends as well, time permitting).

This new site replaces the old and largely defunct fan forum, which had been closed to new members for some time and is due to be discontinued at some point in the near future. For those who like to know these things, the new forum is running on Jelsoft’s vBulletin system, which includes all the forum features you’d expect to see on a modern bulletin board: everything from custom avatars and user-titles to user-generated polls.

If you have any questions about the new forum, then please feel free to send a PM (private message) to the Forum Admin account, or to one of the forum’s two volunteer moderators, ‘edash’ or ‘rac’.

Hope to see you there!

So, I’ll admit that I’ve been a slacker about putting up new deals and deliveries. MOSTLY because I’ve been busy. Busy taking vacation!!! I mean, um, editing. . . But November was a blur as I was sweating away in India, so so much has accumulated since September that I thought I would take the easy road and post them all at once!!!
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Hello everybody, I’ve just started as the Creative Director of the newly-created Orbit and Yen Press Art Department in the US. Prior to this, Orbit’s covers have been handled by the fabulous Little Brown Art Department, and they did a great job. However, now that Orbit is technically a separate division from Little Brown (and growing in leaps and bounds), it’s time for Orbit to have its very own dedicated art team. I thought it would be a nice introduction to my personal and professional taste to review a few of my favorite Orbit covers so far. It’s only been a little over a year of publishing in the US, but Orbit has already been pushing the envelope in their cover designs. This is very exciting for me as a book designer, but also as a fan. I’ve been a sci-fi/fantasy reader all my life, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t know a lot of the genre’s covers were more of a punchline than a selling point. In the last ten years, not only has the genre stepped both feet into popular culture with the influx of genre-influenced movies & TV shows, but the public at large has become much more design-aware. I think that means there’s a world of room to have covers that are recognizable to traditional genre readers and be attractive, well-designed, visually exciting covers. That said, let’s get started!

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Russell says:

A boy goes on a journey. This theme, or variations on it, has long dominated epic fantasy offerings. However, the Broken Man Trilogy, of which Dark Heart is the second volume, features as its main character a man who never leaves the building. Like a spider, he sits and waits for his prey to come to him.

Chief among his prey is a character I’ve had more email about than any other: Lenares the cosmographer. Readers love her quirkiness and the way she thinks and behaves, so different to standard fantasy characters. I was excited the day I thought of her, and I remain excited by what she’s becoming. Her gradual realisation of the web of danger ahead of her, and the ways she chooses to deal with it, earn this book its title. Dark Heart is, well, the darkest novel I’ve written.

Before the story is over each character has to answer the question: how many wrongs am I prepared to entertain in order to do what’s right? The various answers drive the book along at an ever-increasing pace; and as for the ending … ‘cruel’ is a fair description.

‘Middle’ novels of fantasy trilogies are supposed to be difficult to write. This one fair flew on to the screen. I’m delighted by Dark Heart and I’m sure you will be too.

Dark Heart by Russell Kirkpatrick is, as Russell says, the second part of the Broken Man Trilogy and is out now from Orbit in the UK and US. The first part of the trilogy is entitled Path of Revenge [UK | USA] and the conclusion, Beyond the Wall of Time is due for publication next year.

Find out more about Russell Kirkpatrick and his published work to date, over at www.russellkirkpatrick.com.

Many congratulations to three of our Australian authors whose novels have been named on the shortlists for the 2008 Aurealis Awards - recognising the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers - as follows:

• Chaos Space by Marianne de Pierres for Best Science Fiction Novel
• Earth Ascendant by Sean Williams for Best Science Fiction Novel
• The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller for Best Fantasy Novel

Sean Williams has also been shortlisted in three other categories: Best Collection (for Magic Dirt: The Best of Sean Williams from Ticonderoga Publications), Best Young Adult Novel (for The Changeling from Angus & Robertson) and Best Children’s 8-12 Years (for The Changeling sequel volume Dust Devils).

The Winners will be announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony in Brisbane on Saturday the 24th January 2009. For more information on the 13th annual awards, visit www.aurealisawards.com.

Welcome to our weekly round-up of Orbit Author links. Without any further ado:

Brent says:

Beyond the Shadows finishes the Night Angel Trilogy with a bang. There are revelations in this book that are going to send readers back to the beginning of the trilogy to read it all over again. Kylar comes into the fullness not just of his power, but of his identity, his purpose.

It’s a story of sacrifice and redemption, of the good and evil in each of us, of people who love each other so much they’ll give everything, of friends who will stand and be counted. It’s a story of looming catastrophe, and always - always - hard choices. There’s armies and war and magic and political brinkmanship. The stakes couldn’t be higher. It’s a story of friends who have to choose between loyalty and duty.

I’d love to be more specific, but when one’s strength is surprises, it behoves one not to drop spoilers…

Shadow’s Edge (UK | US | AUS) is out now and you can find it at all good high street and online booksellers.

Book one in the Night Angel Trilogy, The Way of Shadows, and book two, Shadow’s Edge are also available now. Check out our first chapter extract from the very beginning of the series and see what Brent had to say about The Way of Shadows and Shadow’s Edge in his previous In Their Own Words pieces for us.

Following an office re-shuffle here at Orbit Towers we’ve unearthed a batch of books that were put aside for a special occasion. December 25th or thereabouts is always pretty special for a variety of reasons, so we thought that we’d take the opportunity to spread a little joy with a seasonal Goodie-Bags Giveaway…

What’s in the bags? What’s in the bags?

A whole heap of good stuff! The number of Goodie-Bags will vary, as will their contents, but they could include some (although not necessarily all) of the following:

• - Proof (ARC) copies of Matter by Iain M. Banks (and possibly a signed hardback or two)
• - Proof (ARC) copies of Halting State by Charles Stross
• - Hardback copies of The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod

…and all sorts of other assorted loot as well.

What do I have to do? What do I have to do?

The sweepstake is open to everyone who is a member of the Orbit UK e-bulletin list as of 5.00 p.m. (UK time) on Monday December 15th. If you’re already a member of the Orbit UK ebulletin list then you don’t have to do a thing; you’ll automatically be entered into the draw, as long as you don’t unsubscribe from the list before the sweepstake closing date.

On the other hand, if you’re not already receiving our regular eBulletins, then you’ll need to visit the ebulletin sign-up page and subscribe to the Orbit UK list to be in with a chance of winning a Goodie-Bag (and do feel free to subscribe to our US and Australian lists at the same time!)

When will I get my Goodie-Bag? Eh? Eh?

Well, if you’re one of the lucky winners, we’ll do our best to get your Goodie-Bag sent out in time for delivery before December 25th, but depending on where you live, your books might arrive a little later…

Standard competition rules apply, Orbit’s decision as to the number and contents of the Goodie-Bags will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into, etc.

The Orbit UK Schedule page has been updated with details of the great new Orbit titles we’ll be bringing you in February 2009. The following Orbit books will be available from all good bookstores - high street and online alike - as of February 5th:

• The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan - This brand new, stand-alone novel (perfect for readers new to the series as well as established fans) is a prequel to the Black Magician Trilogy, set hundreds of years before the action in The Black Magician.
• Matter by Iain M Banks - The paperback edition of the latest Culture novel, from the UK’s number-one bestselling science fiction author.
• Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong - A collection of four novellas set in the ‘Otherworld’ milieu, which tell the story of Clay Danvers, a very powerful – and very singular – werewolf.
• Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs - In the fourth book in the urban fantasy series about VW mechanic and shape-shifter Mercedes Thompson, our heroine prepares to defend her pack against the hostile queen of the local vampire seethe.
• Small Favour by Jim Butcher - The latest book in the best-selling Dresden Files series sees our hero Harry land in trouble again, as the Queen of the Winter Court calls in the first of two ’small’ favours…

Linus Torvalds (Linux anyone?) weighs in on Brent Weeks’ Night Angel Trilogy:

“Kudos to a new writer for a good debut trilogy, but also extra kudos for releasing a trilogy all at once and having a clean ending and not leaving things hanging just for the future.”