Author Archive

July Events

There are plenty more exciting author events in July!

Tuesday, July 2
Kate Elliott (with E. C. Ambrose) @ the New York Review of Science Fiction, New York, NY, 7 PM

Thursday, July 4
Charles Stross launch event @ Waterstones West End, Edinburgh, UK, 6 PM

Saturday, July 6
James S.A. Corey @ Page One, Albuquerque, NM, 2 PM

Monday, July 8
Kate Elliott @ University Bookstore, Seattle, WA, 7 PM

Tuesday, July 9
Kate Elliott and Lilith Saintcrow @ Powell’s Cedar Hill Crossings, Beaverton, OR, 7 PM

Thursday, July 11 – Sunday, July 14
Michael J. Sullivan will be guest of honor @ ConnectiCon, Hartford, CT
Amanda Downum will be @ ReaderCon, Boston, MA

Wednesday, July 17 – Sunday, July 21
Amanda Carlson, Kate Locke, and Kristen Painter will be at RWA, Atlanta, GA
Daniel Abraham, James S.A. Corey, Mira Grant, and Marlene Perez will be at San Diego Comic-Con, San Diego, CA

A personal statement from Iain Banks

I am officially Very Poorly.

After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, but that – it turns out – is the least of my problems.

I first thought something might be wrong when I developed a sore back in late January, but put this down to the fact I’d started writing at the beginning of the month and so was crouched over a keyboard all day.  When it hadn’t gone away by mid-February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice.  Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March.

I have cancer.  It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.

The bottom line, now, I’m afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I’m expected to live for ‘several months’ and it’s extremely unlikely I’ll live beyond a year.  So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.

As a result, I’ve withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I’ve asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry – but we find ghoulish humour helps).  By the time this goes out we’ll be married and on a short honeymoon.  We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing friends and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us.  Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.

There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available.  However that is still something we’re balancing the pros and cons of, and anyway it is out of the question until my jaundice has further and significantly, reduced.

Lastly, I’d like to add that from my GP onwards, the professionalism of the medics involved – and the speed with which the resources of the NHS in Scotland have been deployed – has been exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive.   We’re all just sorry the outcome hasn’t been more cheerful.

A website is being set up where friends, family and fans can leave messages for me and check on my progress.  It should be up and running during this week and a link to it will be on my official website at friends.banksophilia.com.

Iain Banks

Ken MacLeod… A modern-day George Orwell?

If you could fix the world, with just one pill, how far would you go to force society to swallow?

Imagine a near-future London where advances in medical science have led to the development of a single-dose pill which, taken when pregnant, eradicates many common genetic defects from an unborn baby.

When Hope Morrison refuses to take the pill, is this a private matter of individual choice, or wilful neglect of her unborn child?

intrusion frame

‘This near-future sci-fi novel could almost be a sequel to George Orwell’s 1984 – 2084, perhaps’ Sun

‘A disturbingly real socialist dystopia’ Guardian

‘Thoughtful, plausible and scary’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Excellent’ Daily Mail

‘Intrusion is a finely-tuned, in-your-face argument of a novel… MacLeod will push your buttons – and make you think’ SFX

‘The message is powerful and the warning crystal clear’ SciFi Now

‘MacLeod creates a frighteningly plausible dystopia’ Interzone

‘A twistedly clever, frighteningly plausible dystopian glimpse’ Iain M. Banks

‘A haunting, gripping story of resistance, terror, and an all-consuming state that commits its atrocities with the best of intentions’ Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

‘MacLeod certainly delights in raising questions which creatively discomfort his fellow socialists’ Morning Star

‘It’s all so close to the bone it’s almost painful… Intrusion is a rather frightening vision of the road we are taking with our smoking bans and our obesity epidemics and our CCTVs. Particularly if you’re a woman’ Bookbag.co.uk

Terry Brooks UK signing!

BrooksTerryOrbit is so excited to announce that Terry Brooks will be visiting the UK for the first time in over 5 years!  He will be in London on holiday but has spared an evening to schedule an event at Forbidden Planet – on Wednesday 3rd April at 6pm.  He will be signing copies of the first in his new series, Wards of Faerie (now available in paperback) and his new hardback Bloodfire Quest (out 12th March).  Like our Orbit UK Facebook page for full details and updates.

terry badge

And for all Terry’s UK fans who can’t make it to London, never fear… whether you can attend the signing or not, every person who emails a question for Terry to orbit@littlebrown.co.uk will receive a Bloodfire Quest badge!  We will film his answers so everyone gets to ‘meet’ him.  Plus the top three questions will win a signed and dedicated book.  (UK entrants only).

Join us to celebrate a great year for a legend of the fantasy genre!  2013 is an especially exciting year for Terry as his full Dark Legacy of Shannara series will available, with the last novel in the trilogy, Witch Wraith, publishing this July.

Wards of Faerie: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book One
Wards of Faerie: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book One
Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book Two
Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book Two
Witch Wraith: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book Three
Witch Wraith: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book Three

Iain M. Banks global launch event for The Hydrogen Sonata

Iain Banks

Orbit are excited to announce that Iain M. Banks will be participating in an international Google+ Hangout to celebrate the publication of THE HYDROGEN SONATA.  The event will take place on Thursday 27th September at 6pm BST, and Iain will be hanging out with Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton and a few lucky fans…

For a chance to be part of this amazing panel please post your best questions in the specially created event page and make sure that you have circled +Google Play to find out if you have been successfully shortlisted.  Don’t have a Google+ account but want to take part?  It’s easy, find out here.

For those of you who miss out, never fear, the Hangout will be broadcast, so you will be able to watch the discussion in real time, and your questions may still be asked.

The Hydrogen Sonata UK cover image

And for everyone in the UK, Iain will be touring in October:

Plus, Orbit and SFX are running a competition to interview Iain M. Banks in person!  For full details pick up the current issue of SFX, and to enter submit the ten questions you would ask Iain.

 

Kim Stanley Robinson reads from 2312

“One stands on a pebble next to a star…”

In his stunning novel, 2312 [UK | US | ANZ], Kim Stanley Robinson combines detailed research with a vivid imagination to create the most incredible descriptions of our galaxy 300 years in the future.  While he was in the UK, we filmed him reading from the book at Toppings in Bath (big thank you to Jeanette Weston at Magus Studios).

Here he reads a passage depicting dawn on the planet Mercury… prepare to be entranced.

And for a chance to win a SIGNED hardback of 2312, comment below with your favourite quote from the reading!  (Terms and Conditions apply)

http://youtu.be/kRHOX8mRALE

Iain M. Banks and Kim Stanley Robinson event

Iain Banks

Orbit are SO excited to announce that we are teaming up with Forbidden Planet, in association with the British Library, to present a unique opportunity to hear two giants of SF in conversation about their work.

Saturday 9th June 2012

Doors 3pm for a 3.30pm start, followed by a signing at 5pm

Conference Centre, British Library

Tickets £7.50, concessions £5 – available here

Iain M. Banks is this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Culture.  Kim Stanley Robinson is visiting the UK to promote his new SF novel 2312.  Stay tuned for more tour details!

Kim Stanley Robinson

Forbidden Planet rocket logo

Kitschies nominations competition

Equations of Life by Simon Morden cover - a black and white spiral optical illusion pattern with lime green spineThe Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington cover - featuring a black and white 'Death and the Maiden' motif by Niklaus Manuel with white background and a red title

We are delighted that two Orbit titles have been shortlisted for this year’s Kitschies – awards that celebrate the most ‘progressive, intelligent and entertaining works of genre literature’, run by the excellent Pornokitsch website.

Jesse Bullington’s The Enterprise of Death is a finalist for the Red Tentacle for best novel, and the cover for Simon Morden’s Equations of Life is a finalist for the Inky Tentacle for best cover.  Congratulations to Jesse and our very own designer Lauren Panepinto!

To celebrate we want to give you the opportunity to read these great books and judge for yourselves.  We have 10 copies of each to give away.  Just fill in your details below and we’ll pick the winner in two weeks time, the day before the winners are announced at the SFX Weekender 3 Kitschies Award Ceremony (sponsored by Kraken Rum, making it even more certain to be a great event).

Please read the full terms and conditions.

A very special holiday giveaway

To celebrate some of the amazing books Orbit have launched during 2011 (and taking a sneaky peak at 2012) we are having a giveaway – but it’s a giveaway with a difference!  We have 5 sets of Advance Reading Copies up for grabs.  Obviously they are not so much in advance any more, but they are exclusive, limited editions that money can’t buy – and they are a great sampling of some of Orbit’s biggest and best titles of the year!

picture of the five proofs you could win

That’s five sets of the following titles:

THE FALLEN BLADE by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S. A. Corey
THE DRAGON’S PATH by Daniel Abraham
THE EDINBURGH DEAD by Brian Ruckley
SEVEN PRINCES by John R. Fultz (New! Publishing this Jan. 2012)

The competition is open to the UK and US.  Full terms and conditions below.  Complete the following form for your chance to win one of the sets! (more…)