With sinister echoes of 1984 and Brave New World, this original novel features a near-future city where medical science invents a single-dose pill for eradicating many common genetic defects . . .
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Michael Sullivan was an internet sensation when his first novel, The Crown Conspiracy, first came out. He self-published the first five books of the series in ebook and print-on-demand. When I first read The Crown Conspiracy, I fell in love with Royce and Hadrian. I thought their adventure — and their bro-mance — was absolutely perfect. Michael writes great characters and his pacing is spot on. So I was excited at the opportunity to publish all six books in the series in two-book omnibuses starting this month.
We’re starting with Theft of Swords [US | UK | ANZ] this month and I guarantee that once you read this you’ll be begging for more. So it’s only appropriate that the other two books in the series, Rise of Empire [US | UK | ANZ] and Heir of Novron [US | UK | ANZ] follow soon after in December and January.
A bit about Theft of Swords:
Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles–until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.
Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires in order to keep a secret too terrible for the world to know?
And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.
Last month, I posted a piece on my own blog highlighting some of the real people and places from history that show up in The Edinburgh Dead, including a dastardly graverobber called Merry Andrew and houses of ill-repute called the Holy, Happy and Just Lands (the Scots had a rather dry and ironic sense of humour even then).
But shortly after posting it, I realised I’d left out arguably the most interesting fragment of historical truth lurking in the whole novel. Annoying in one way – because when I first started thinking of doing that post I made a mental note to be sure to include that particular snippet, and then … didn’t, obviously. D’oh! – but fortunate in another, because on reflection it’s worth more discussion than I would have given it over there, and probably deserves a post of its own here at the happy home of Orbit on t’Web.
So: here comes the tale of Mathew Clydesdale, his gruesome fate and what it has to do with the very beginning of the whole science fiction genre we know and love today. Never heard of him? I’m not surprised; neither had I, until I began researching The Edinburgh Dead. But trust me: it probably won’t take you long to realise how he connects to the origins of science fiction. Read the rest of this entry »
“The genre can go many, many more places than it has gone,” said Jemisin. “Fantasy’s job is kind of to look back, just as science fiction’s job is to look forward. But fantasy doesn’t always just have to look back to one spot, or to one time. There’s so much rich, fascinating, interesting, really cool history that we haven’t touched in the genre: countries whose mythology is elaborate and fascinating, cultures whose stories we just haven’t even tried to retell.”
Read the rest of the article at Salon.com. While you’re at it, don’t forget to read Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (US | UK | ANZ) – or, if you’ve already done that, The Kingdom of Gods (US | UK | ANZ), which just last month concluded the acclaimed Inheritance Trilogy.
Iain M. Banks is someone who knows a thing or two about science fiction, so when he labelled Michael Cobley’s SEEDS OF EARTH (UK | ANZ) as ‘Proper galaxy-spanning space opera’, you just knew something special had begun. Two years on, tens of thousands of fans have been enthralled by Cobley’s war-torn universe where the human race battles ancient alien civilisations just for the right to survive, an epic tale continued in THE ORPHANED WORLDS (UK | ANZ).
Now, in THE ASCENDANT STARS (UK | ANZ) - the explosive final book in the Humanity’s Fire trilogy – the fate of the human race will be decided. Ancient forces are awakening. Battle fleets are converging. Sentients and machines will lock horns in a devastating battle where there are only two outcomes: survival or the sterile dusts of space.
Praise for the Humanity’s Fire trilogy:
A convincing portrayal of political machinations and the plight of individuals caught up in events beyond their comprehension’ – GUARDIAN
‘A great hunky juggernaut of a Space Opera novel . . . that should be greeted with enthusiasm by fans of Peter F. Hamilton and Iain M. Banks’ – SFFWORLD
‘A really good, enjoyable and compelling book, written with verve and more than a little humour’ – BOOKGEEKS
‘There is a lot of depth to be found in Michael Cobley’s richly imagined universe, the characters beg deeper exploration, and the series as a whole possesses tremendous potential . . . Highly recommended’ – FANTASY BOOK CRITIC
‘This is really a fine piece of work and could, when it’s all finished, be up there with the aforementioned Tolkien or Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series as one of the all-time greats’ – SF CROWSNEST
‘Another author that is being added to my buy-on-release list and one that is a breath of fresh air into the genre with an intriguing, complicated and a well executed story. Highly recommended’ – WALKER OF WORLDS
Michael Cobley can be found online at www.michaelcobley.com. A video Q&A with Michael about the Humanity’s Fire series can be found here.
Kristen Painter’s House of Comarré series continues this month with FLESH AND BLOOD. Book 3, BAD BLOOD, will be available in December. You can keep up with Kristen at the official Facebook page.
One of the questions I get asked most often is where the idea for the comarré came from, these hybrid humans bred to be blood slaves for the vampire nobility. Usually I say that I’ve carried the idea of Chrysabelle around in my head since college, which is true, but that was just a blurred image of a woman in a slinky white dress dipped low enough to reveal a gold tattoo on the small of her back. It wasn’t the comarré, exactly. More like the seed that grew into Chrysabelle. Read the rest of this entry »
The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and go . . .
As we celebrate the October paperback publication of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, the penultimate volume of one of the greatest fantasy series of all time, the Wheel revolves towards its final chapter – A MEMORY OF LIGHT – in November 2012.
Join The Wheel of Time in its revolution and read the series in time for the final book. 13 books. 13 months.
To win an exclusive Wheel of Time cotton bag, be one of the first 500people to ‘like’ our Turn The Wheel of Time Facebook page and complete the entry form. We’ll be doing lots of promotion throughout the year on this page, like breaking WoT news and exclusive content, so it’ll be a very exciting countdown to Robert Jordan’s legendary series. (Please note that this page is not available for US and Canada Wheel of Time fans as we don’t have the legal right to publish or promote in those markets).
A big thanks goes to the band Blind Guardian for letting us use their majestic Wheel of Time song for our trailer.
After a sweltering FantasyCon in Brighton last weekend, I was delighted to collect the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer on behalf of Robert Jackson Bennett for his wonderful novel Mr Shivers (US | UK | ANZ). The judges commented he ‘created an atmospheric tale, reminiscent of the best of Block and King, skilfully evoking the ambience of the Great Depression, while demonstrating compelling storytelling’. Quite right! Congratulations, Robert – your statuette is in the post, but meanwhile here’s a picture of it looking rather lovely next to the winning book:
On the shortlist for the same award was another fabulous Orbit author, N.K. Jemisin, for her debut The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (US | UK | ANZ). It’s widely available (as is Mr Shivers) so grab a copy now if you haven’t read it yet. Jemisin’s new book The Kingdom of Gods (US | UK | ANZ)hit the bookshops in the UK, Australia and New Zealand on 6 October and is out in the US next month.
“Impressive height or exceptional length of a limb is not the be all and end all of a creature. What I say is: the taller you are, the more likely you are to get hit!”
—Boïndil “Ireheart”, Doubleblade of the Secondling Clan of the Swinging Axes.
“Now and then you hear malicious remarks about dwarves. They are said to be of inferior build, to be cranky, to have a weird sense of humor; it is told that they only drink beer that is as black as night and are not able to appreciate music unless a hundred voices are bellowing in unison. But I say: only when you have been a guest in their majestic halls, as once I was, should you have the right to pronounce on these rumors and confirm them all to be true. Let us not laugh at them as if they were lovable children with long beards, but, on the contrary, let us praise the magnificent way they have preserved all of us from total destruction. More than once.”
—Excerpts from the ten-volume work My Life and Uniquely Heroic Exploits—the Memoirs of the Incredible Rodario.
The Revenge of the Dwarves (UK / US / ANZ) is out now in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and is released next month in the US. Join the adventure – read the start of their tale right here.
For me it’s always about the big and the little, even before reading John Crowley’s amazing novel Little Big. As a kid nothing excited me more than thinking about how vast the universe was, and how small the world was, and how small my home town was within it, but that it was still part of this universe that included massive gas giants, black holes (who isn’t thrilled by those monsters) and super novas. I always had trouble fitting that into my mind (I still do) I positively ached with the excitement of it, but I had so much trouble expressing that, letting it out until I started writing.
It was writing that helped me contain the big and the little. And made me understand that one doesn’t really have much meaning without the other. Read the rest of this entry »
As we’ve had such a fine crop of reviews for Philip Palmer’s rumbustious tale, we thought it was only fair to share. Click on the following links for more on Hell Ship’s swashbuckling story (UK | ANZ | US ) plus here’s a free extract and reviews follow below … the Sun review is just hilarious in itself!
No one writes SF quite like Palmer… Hell Ship is a freewheeling extravaganza replete with a hundred varieties of alien, vast spacecraft, exotic worlds… aficionados of bizarre space opera will be amazed and delighted” GUARDIAN
“The triumphs and tragedies of this novel are told in the style of ancient legend. But there is also a sense of irrepressible fun … This is epic science fiction with a twinkle in its eye” SUN
“I really do recommend Palmer’s work – he’s an unflinching and relentlessly ballsy writer” SFREVU.COM
“Great storytelling … a joy to read. Great stuff from Philip which proves why he’s fast becoming my favourite science fiction author” FALCATA TIMES WEBSITE
“Palmer’s imagination knows no bounds … readable and enjoyable” THEBOOKBAG.CO.UK
“I knew I would love it after reading just a couple of pages … You will be treated to an entertaining tale of heroics, tragedy and selfless sacrifice all written with a gleam in the eye” IWILLREADBOOKS.COM
- - November 15th, 2011
Kristen Painter’s House of Comarré series continues this month with FLESH AND BLOOD. Book 3, BAD BLOOD, will be available in December. You can keep up with Kristen at the 
