Archive for July, 2009
- Carleen Peters - July 31st, 2009
Terry says:
The Gypsy Morph is the third book in the new Genesis of Shannara series and pretty much wraps up the time period covered by the first trilogy. Lots is happening. The old world, which is ours some eighty years in the future, is ending. The survivors of multiple catastrophes are facing a firestorm which threatens to wipe out everyone who’s left. A small band of Men, Elves, and other species is making its way to a safehold somewhere in the Pacific NW. Leading them is a boy called Hawk, who was the Gypsy Morph of the Word & Void series. His little band of street kids, called Ghosts, are linked with two Knights of the Word who have allied themselves with the survivors seeking the safehold refuge. But dangers lie in wait along the way, and an army of once-men led by demons are in pursuit. Read the rest of this entry »
by Carleen Peters • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, In Their Own Words, Interviews, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- Alex Lencicki - July 30th, 2009
Joe Abercrombie’s latest is just out, and we have two new endorsements from true geek royalty. Felicia Day, star of The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog tweeted about the book:
OMG indeed!
And over at Time Magazine’s Nerd World Lev Grossman (author of the forthcoming The Magicians ) writes:
Abercrombie writes dark, adult fantasy, by which I mean there’s a lot of stabbing in it, and after people stab each other they sometimes have sex with each other. His tone is morbid and funny and hard-boiled, not wholly dissimilar to that of Iain Banks. … Volumetrically speaking, it’s hard to think of another fantasy novel in which this much blood gets spilled.
[link]
So just in case George R.R. Martin’s endorsement wasn’t enough, you really have no excuse now to miss Joe’s first stand-alone hardcover. [US]
by Alex Lencicki • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, Orbit US, Reviews
- Devi Pillai - July 29th, 2009
Then check out BEST SERVED COLD by Joe Abercrombie – out today in the US.
It’s everything your twisted little heart could ever want. But don’t trust just us — check out this video of Joe talking about the book.
Still not convinced? George R.R. Martin had this to say about Joe’s latest:
Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, could teach even Gully Foyle and Kirth Gersen a few things about revenge. The battles are vivid and visceral, the action brutal, the pace headlong, and Abercrombie piles the betrayals, reversals, and plot twists one atop another to keep us guessing how it will all come out. This is his best book yet. All that’s missing is a map.” — George R.R. Martin
Don’t miss out on the fun, and meet the deadly lady herself: Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins.
by Devi Pillai • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Orbit US
- Lauren Panepinto - July 28th, 2009
Congrats to Sharon Tancredi, the fabulous illustrator of TEMPEST RISING by Nicole Peeler – She is being honored for her work on the cover by inclusion into the prestigious Communication Arts Illustration Annual. It’s in “unpublished” because the book doesn’t come out until November, but the buzz is already building for our new half-selkie heroine, Jane True. Read the rest of this entry »
by Lauren Panepinto • 3 Comments • Posted in: All posts, Art, Covers, Orbit US
- Nicola Pitt - July 28th, 2009
It’s winter down here and most of the Orbit Antipodean’s are in writing hibernation.
Sean Williams , however, stepped out of his cave to accept the Peter McNamara Award for Excellence at The Australian National Convention in Adelaide. The Peter Mac is awarded at the discretion of the convenors for a particular achievement in speculative fiction or related areas. This award may take into account a body of work or achievements over a number of years; it can also be for a work of non-fiction, artwork, electronic or multimedia work, film or TV, or that which brings credit or attention to the speculative fiction genres. The award was originally known as the Convenors’ Award for Excellence and was renamed in 2002 after Peter McNamara (d 2004), publisher, editor and the original Aurealis Awards convenor, shortly after he was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Ian Irvine is working furiously on the first book of his new fantasy trilogy for Orbit, which he will be delivering later this year. The first book of his Well of Echoes quartet, Die Geomantin, is now out in Germany with the others to appear at four-month intervals. And The Destiny of the Dead, the final in Ian’s Song of the Tears trilogy and in his 11-book Three Worlds sequence (for now) has been well received. This from SFX: “Unbelievably, Ian Irvine has managed to increase the pace in this final volume in the Song of the Tears series… For sheer excitement, there’s just no one else like Ian Irvine around at the moment.” Read the rest of this entry »
by Nicola Pitt • 1 Comment • Posted in: All posts, Orbit Australia
- The Orbit Team - July 23rd, 2009
Orbit is pleased to note that this September, you’ll be able to hear as well as read Iain M. Banks’ forthcoming novel TRANSITION. Little, Brown UK announced today that the audio version will be simultaneously released as a free serialized podcast, starting on publication day, September 3.
After the first installment, there will be 23 further 15-minute episodes released on iTunes in the US and UK, every Thursday and Saturday for 12 weeks, until the entire novel is available.
Maja Thomas, vice president of digital publishing for Hachette Livre said “Hachette Digital is very pleased to participate in this collaborative marketing on an author we’re publishing internationally, and to bring Iain Banks to new listeners through iTunes.”
And, what does Mr. Banks have to say? “I had barely caught up with the later half of the Twentieth Century when here I am being ensnarled by gizmology from the Twenty-First. I am left breathless by the pace of technology.”
by The Orbit Team • 3 Comments • Posted in: All posts, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - July 23rd, 2009
We are happy to note that Orbit publisher Tim Holman has launched a new blog, The Publisher Files. His latest post regards the digital market, including USA Today’s decision to begin including Kindle e-book sales in its weekly bestseller lists. He will try, he notes, “to pass on occasional words of publishing wisdom.”
Understatement, we’d call that; fix your bookmarks now.
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: All posts, News, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Alex Lencicki - July 21st, 2009
We asked for your help coming up with the worst title for the most awesomely bad cover ever, and you responded with over 350 entries! There are some truly inspired offerings that didn’t make the cut, but cut we must, and so without further ado we present, in no particular order, the best of the worst.
- The Thing with the Glass Buttock
- Rise of the Fallen, Book Seven, The Pre-Antepenultimate Battle
- A Stain Upon The Vastness
- Across a Trembling Sea the Cyborg Fairies Dance
- An Old Dragon, A Dead Witch, and a Fat Guy: The Third Book of Stories that Go Nowhere.
Click here to vote for your favorite using our woefully unscientific poll.
Read the rest of this entry »
by Alex Lencicki • 10 Comments • Posted in: All posts, Art, Orbit US
- Alex Lencicki - July 21st, 2009
In a literary feud certain to divide the genre, Joe Abercrombie, author of Best Served Cold (US) and Brent Weeks, author of the Night Angel Trilogy (US|UK|AUS) , have thrown down the gauntlets, stomped their boots threateningly, and now meet in the gladiatorial arena of Babel Clash.
Their first disagreement involves blogging, naturally.
Says Brent: “J.R.R. didn’t blog; George R. R. does. William Shakespeare didn’t; Joe Abercrombie does. Need I say more?”
Responds Joe: “J.R.R. would definitely have blogged had he had the technology available, but he was totally a console guy, played way too much Halo, and wouldn’t allow a PC in his home. Shakespeare? Have you read the sonnets? Obviously primitive blogs. Some of them he even printed out from his Sinclair ZX80, they have some of the original silvery whorls of printer tape in a glass case in the foyer of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. FACT.”
Be sure to tune in over the next two weeks as these two new stars of fantasy put the CLASH in Babel Clash.
by Alex Lencicki • 2 Comments • Posted in: All posts, Interviews, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Devi Pillai - July 20th, 2009
George R. R. Martin weighs in:
Joe Abercrombie’s BEST SERVED COLD is a bloody and relentless epic of vengeance and obsession in the grand tradition, a kind of splatterpunk sword ‘n sorcery COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, Dumas by way of Moorcock. His cast features tyrants and torturers, a pair of poisoners, a serial killer, a treacherous drunk, a red-handed warrior and a blood-soaked mercenary captain. And those are the good guys. Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, could teach even Gully Foyle and Kirth Gersen a few things about revenge. The battles are vivid and visceral, the action brutal, the pace headlong, and Abercrombie piles the betrayals, reversals, and plot twists one atop another to keep us guessing how it will all come out. This is his best book yet. All that’s missing is a map.
by Devi Pillai • 3 Comments • Posted in: Orbit US
