- Anna Gregson - July 5th, 2011
Here in the UK, Nicole Peeler’s Jane True series has got a brand new look – and I’m very excited to now be able to unveil it.
Presenting the first 4 covers for the series, designed by the talented illustrator Mark Swan:
Tempest Rising and Tracking the Tempest will be re-released in this brand new style this coming August. Then hot on their heels, Tempest’s Legacy will be released in September, followed by Eye of the Tempest in October. So Nicole Peeler will truly be making a splash in the UK this summer!
And if you haven’t discovered The Jane True series yet, here’s what people have been saying about it:
‘Peeler packs a hell of a punch with writing that is bold, bawdy, and bright, and breaks the usual paranormal boundaries with sensitivity and style to burn. I can’t wait for the next one!’ Kat Richardson
‘A new star is rising in the urban fantasy world. With her Jane True character, Peeler launches a first-person series that’s an exciting journey of self-discovery and murder mystery . . . A notable debut’ Romantic Times
‘A fascinating, fast-paced sexy storm of a book’ Rachel Caine
‘Peeler’s Jane True series is one that readers will want to see through to the end’ Impact
Look below for the covers in their full glory:
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by Anna Gregson • 3 Comments • Posted in: Covers, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- James Long - July 4th, 2011
This week sees the release of ECHO CITY, an atmospheric dark fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Tim Lebbon. Described by Steven Erikson as “brilliantly conceived and exquisitely well written” ECHO CITY explores the consequences of a stranger’s arrival in a society where the outside world is no more than a myth.
Echo City lies at the heart of a poisonous desert. It is a place ruled by tradition, where history has been forgotten and the secrets of the past are little more than echoes beneath the dusty streets. The inhabitants of this labyrinthine metropolis know but one truth: they are alone in the world. No life exists beyond their walls.
So when a stranger from beyond the desert arrives, everything they’ve believed in is suddenly proven false. As centuries of tradition and stasis come to an end, different political groups prepare to fight a war for the future of their city.
Yet soon they will face a far greater threat. For unknown to them, an ancient force is awakening in the darkness below Echo City . . . and soon it will reach the surface.
ECHO CITY has already received considerable praise from both print and online media.
“Lebbon fuses high fantasy with his trademark gut-churning horror to produce a fascinating examination of calamitous change after a period of stasis” – GUARDIAN
“Lebbon’s prose is a pleasure, and so too his seamless hybridisation of horror and dark fantasy – were there to be another novel set in the same world, I’d gladly go back for a second helping” – SPECULATIVE SCOTSMAN
“Echo City is a gloriously atmospheric piece that pulls you right into the various Cantons and leaves you on the wall of the city, staring out across the desert and wondering what lies beyond the horizon . . . An engrossing story” - GRAEME’S FANTASY BOOK REVIEW
For a taster of what is one of the fantasy releases of 2011, check out this exclusive extract.
by James Long • Post a Comment • Posted in: New Titles, Orbit UK, Uncategorized
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Bearers of the Black Staff begins a new chapter in the pre-history of the Shannara world - now revealed to be our own at a time in the distant future. I got started on this with the Genesis of Shannara trilogy which chronicled the destruction of civilization in the Old World and the efforts of a handful of survivors to escape what would prove to be an even greater cataclysm. Having gotten past that, we now pick up on their descendants some five hundred years later and find – I am sure, to no one’s great surprise – that things haven’t yet been resolved and that survival of those who remain is not yet assured.
What’s both interesting and difficult is that having written the Shannara books early on, I now have to find ways to make this current series dovetail into all the stories we already know while at the same time making everything seem new and interesting and revealing secrets that to this point I haven’t. For example, how did the various Races come to be? How did the magic evolve? We have Knights of the Word in the pre-history, so what happened to them? Did they end up becoming the Druids in the Shannara world of the future? Read the rest of this entry »
by Terry Brooks •1 Comment • Categories: Guest Post, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK • Tags: Terry Brooks
- Anna Gregson - July 1st, 2011
Out now worldwide is the explosive conclusion to the Avery Cates series, The Final Evolution (UK / US/ ANZ).
I just can’t express enough how much I’ve loved the post-apocalyptic, action-noir thrill ride that is the Avery Cates series. But I can try…
*Ahem*. In alphabetical order:
It’s attitude-drenched, balls-to-the-wall, cybernetic, ducking-and-diving, electric-monk-thumping, filthy-mouthing, gung-ho, hell-bent, intelligent, jugular-grabbing, killa-kool, lily-liver-kicking , mind-blowingly-apocalypting, nasty-ass, octane-fast, punks-en-masse, quick-witted, right-fisted, slidin’-slammin’, twisting-turning, unrelentingly-unforgiving, voraciously-violent, world-class-wrecking-balling, YEAH!, zip-zoomingly-zeighteisty.
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by Anna Gregson • Post a Comment • Posted in: New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
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Unless you’re very old or very ill, you probably expect to live to see the near future. The “near” future is a terrifying period: it’s that part of the future when I’ll still be around, and readers like you can poke fun at me for my predictive failures. (Not that SF is actually *about* predicting the future, but lots of people seem to think it is, and the fun-poking proceeds on that basis.) It’s also that part of the future that’s hardest to second-guess, because we’re so close to it.
Who, five years ago, would have predicted that we’d have had a global banking crisis, a wave of democratic revolutions in the Middle East, a black President of the United States, and three nuclear meltdowns in Japan? It sounds like the back story for a bad technothriller. On the other hand, I don’t see a technothriller author as being likely to predict a 1970s fashion revival, vinyl 45s making a come-back, or Apple being the #1 smartphone manufacturer. (In 2006, Apple didn’t have a phone. They made computers and mp3 players.) So, to a first approximation: the shape of the future is made up both of big pieces (political upheavals, natural disasters) and ephemera (steampunk and smartphones).
But that’s what the future looks like. What is it made of?
William Gibson famously observed that the future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed. The flip side of that observation is that the near future is just like the present, with added nuggets of weirdness embedded in it. About 90% of the near future (10-20 years out) *is* here today: the buildings, the cars, the clothing. Read the rest of this entry »
by Charles Stross •10 Comments • Categories: Guest Post • Tags:
