Archive for Orbit France

THE HEIR OF NIGHT on Gemmell Awards Shortlist – Vote Now!

The cover for Helen Lowe's Gemmell Awards shortlisted Heir of NightWe’re all so pleased to announce that Helen Lowe’s THE HEIR OF NIGHT has been shortlisted for a David Gemmell Award! Our biggest congratulations to Helen, and we’re keeping everything crossed for the final awards announcement on 15th June, even though it’s pretty hard to type on the blog with crossed fingers!

If you liked THE HEIR OF NIGHT then please do go and vote for Helen at the Gemmell Awards website. It’s as easy as just one click! There’s no need to sign up, although if you’d like to be a Gemmell Awards member then you can get a free account and become part of the discussion.

There are five books on the shortlist, and voting closes on 31st May 2012, 12 Noon GMT. 

Gail Carriger’s UK Tour report & final competition entries

What a splendid time we’ve had here in the UK with the admirable Gail Carriger, author of The Parasol Protectorate novels.

Our booksellers’ evening last Wednesday at the gorgeous Drink, Shop, Do was a glory to behold. See Gail’s report of the event here.

The steampunk event at Waterstones Nottingham last Friday was also a storming success, with around a hundred people in attendance – many attired in full costume – to pay tribute to the honourable Gail and fellow steampunk fashion icon Jema Hewitt. See below for some of the wonderfully impressive regalia displayed on the night:

Steampunk event at Waterstones Nottingham for Gail Carriger, author of the steampunk urban fantasy romance series The Parasol Protectorate
Gail Carriger and Jema Hewitt (top left hand corner) as well as a whole host of other wonderful costumes at the steampunk event at Waterstones Nottingham

And whilst all this was happening in the UK, fans from across the world were sending us fabulous parasol photos for our very special teapot competition. See the final entries below (and earlier entries here and here), and tune back in this Friday 20th for the announcement of the winners!

Maria Diana Broughton's photo of the darling Ane Victoria and Eirin for the Gail Carriger competition
Maria Diana Broughton's photo of the darling Ane Victoria and Eirin
 
Kirsten's entry for the Gail Carriger competition
The beautifully coy Kirsten

 

Elizabeth Dixon's entry for the Gail Carriger competition
The delightfully daring Elizabeth Dixon
  
Jaymee's entry for the Gail Carriger competition
The just divine Jaymee
 
Katelynn Hickman's entry for the Gail Carriger competition
The heavenly Katelynn Hickman
 
 
Terry Kroenung's entry for the Gail Carriger competition
Terry Kroenung's capturing of a feisty low-kick

 

And don’t forget that Gail is now off to swan around the rest of the European continent. See her tour details here!

More Gail Carriger parasol competition entries . . .

We invite you to be so kind as to look below for some more entries to our competition to celebrate Gail Carriger‘s UK tour. What these lovely beauties are all hoping to win is a beautiful teapot or one of two tea strainers, which Gail signed for us when she graced the UK office with her presence on Wednesday. Be sure to send in your entry by 5pm UK time today to be in with a chance of winning. More entries and winners will be posted next week!

And don’t forget that tonight there will be a Steampunk Extravaganza held in Gail’s honour at the Waterstones in Nottingham. It looks like it’s turning out to be quite a party indeed . . .

Jennifer Arnold's submission for the Gail Carriger UK tour competition
The alluring Jennifer Arnold

 

Valerie Hernandez's submission for the Gail Carriger UK tour competition
The heroic Valerie Hernandez

 

Rebecca Campbell's submission for the Gail Carriger UK tour competition
The charming Rebecca Campbell

 

Sarah E. Miller's  submission for the Gail Carriger UK tour competition
The mystical Sarah E. Miller

 

Janet Smith's submission for the Gail Carriger UK tour competition
The surperb Janet Smith and handsome hubby

 

Epic Fantasy Interview Swap – Helen Lowe interviews Ian Irvine

April’s such a great month for epic fantasy fans, with the release of both Ian Irvine’s VENGEANCE and Helen Lowe’s THE GATHERING OF THE LOST! We wanted to celebrate by doing something a bit different on the blog –  and we thought: ‘Who better to interview a fantasy author than another fantasy author?’

This is the first part of that interview, in which Helen interviews Ian about his new series The Tainted Realm. Look out for the second part, when Ian interviews Helen, this time next week!

Click through to hear all about Ian’s pet hates in fantasy, how his background as a marine scientist affects his writing, and also just what’s wrong with magic in Harry Potter…

This image shows both the cover of Vengeance and the cover of The Gathering of the Lost (more…)

A Day With Nico

One of the best fantasy books around - The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron (an omnibus of The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater)Author’s Note: If you haven’t read my books yet, you should totally try the new omnibus. For one, the price is fantastic, but also, the omnibus contains the first three Eli books, ending with The Spirit Eater. You can try the first few chapters of The Spirit Thief for free on my site.  And if you’ve already finished the first three, I’ve got a big chunk of the fourth book, The Spirit War, up on my site just for you, complete with more Nico!  There are, of course, spoilers for the first three, so read at your own peril.

One of the things I love as a writer is when people send me messages talking about their favorite characters. Eli is, of course, very popular (Eli: of course. Rachel: Shut up). Josef and Miranda are also up there, as is Slorn. But what never ceases to amaze me is how many people write to say how much they love Nico.

For those of you who haven’t read my books, Nico is the only girl in the Eli thief trio. She’s also a demonseed who is excessively dangerous and who has had a very hard life. She came in with Josef, my serious swordsman, and sticks by him though everything, an aspect which has always delighted me. Eli might be the leader, but Josef is the glue that holds the Monpress thieves together. Ahhh, group dynamics. Anyway, I’m always a bit surprised how many people really seem to like Nico. Not because she’s not worth liking, but because in the whole series, she was the hardest character for me to write. (more…)

The Legend of Eli Monpress

The whimsical fantasy tale The Legend of Eli Monpress containing The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater, perfect for fans of K. E. Mills' Rogue Agent series and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora Released in February is The Legend of Eli Monpress ( US | UK | ANZ) – Rachel Aaron‘s fantasy tale of the incorrigible thief who plans to pull of the greatest heist in history . . . If you’re a fan of K. E. Mills’ Rogue Agent series or Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora then this is likely right up your street. You can sample the delights of an extract right here.

This edition contains the three titles The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion and The Spirit Eater – all in one handy volume and topped off with this gorgeous packaging from Sam Weber (see this great post here showing him at work in his studio on these very illustrations).

Take a minute to stop by Rachel Aaron’s attractive new site, where’s she’s posted some very interesting tidbits recently, such as this fantastic book trailer put together by our friends at Orbit France for the très sophistiquée French version of The Legend of Eli Monpress. Also, check out this extremely creative pictorial review for The Spirit Thief, part one of the Legend. Good effort!

Read on for the blurb and some great reviews: (more…)

Cover Launch: SILVER-TONGUED DEVIL (Sabina Kane #4) by Jaye Wells

Having a long series of books (aka more than a trilogy) is a lot of fun, because over time, just as the reader does, you get a better feel for the character, and it definitely comes out in the cover art. Craig White has been really hitting his stride with Sabina Kane, I feel like each cover has more and more personality. The great photo shoots by Shirley Green with Toni Busker as our model certainly help. Toni is a veteran of many geek projects, and she is super fun to work with as she is always game for climbing about and playing with all kinds of weapons…Actually you may recognize her as a mermaid in the recent Pirates of the Caribbean #4. If that’s not geek cred for a cover model, I don’t know what is.

So, back to the cover at hand – as you can see, Sabina is back and prowling in NYC, and after the jump you can get a little teaser, along with the covers in order…

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The Heir of Night – today’s UK release

Up until a week ago, I was really looking forward to the UK release of The Heir of Night (The Wall of Night, Book One) today and was busy making plans around how to best celebrate on my blog. But I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and just over one week ago we were hit by a massive and destructive earthquake. Although fortunate enough to survive, and very well off compared to many, it does not seem like the right time for the usual release day celebrations.

The road to publication—from the original idea, through giving effect to it on paper, the production process and finally printing and distribution—is a long one and release day is the obvious time to celebrate your book finally getting to the shelves and the public, and party up. But release day also gives you the opportunity simply to hold the book in your hands and enjoy the tangible sense of completion that gives you, even if there is no opportunity for fanfare.

And I do love this UK edition of the book: the starkness of the black-on-red colour scheme and the way the cover image captures both the strength and vulnerability of the central character of Malian, the Heir of Night. Most of all though, holding The Heir of Night in the context of the last week’s terrible events has made me reflect on the story being told inside the dramatic cover. The Heir of Night is epic fantasy, and in this case, an epic that speculates on both the grand sweep of events and their catastrophic consequences for the individuals and societies caught up in them. Love and hate, fear and courage, struggle, friendship and people choosing to support or undermine each other—this may be epic fantasy, but it is also absolutely the stuff of real life as it has played out in Christchurch over the past week.

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Celine Kiernan and the Moorehawke posts

The Crowded Shadows (UK | US), book two in Celine Kiernan’s Moorehawke trilogy, is officially out in the UK today ( following the US date) and there’s a free extract here. Then in October we’ll release The Rebel Prince (UK | US) in both the UK and US, so the author has a packed few months coming up. But despite this, Celine has kindly said she’ll visit our blog over the next few weeks to say a few words about her work, writing fantasy, wolves and other things not necessarily beginning with ‘w’. Her first post was an insight into illustration, Celine being a classical character animator by trade.

Celine told us that a few years ago she had a shoebox filled with the usual myriad rejection slips that all writers collect. Holding down two jobs with two children, she would secretly write at night. But much hard work later she’s now the proud owner of a finished trilogy with some very shiny covers! She’s also accumulated two nominations for the Irish Book awards and a raft of great reviews for The Poison Throne (UK | US), book 1 of the trilogy:

  • ‘Marvellous, vivid writing, and storytelling at its absolute best . . . I was utterly engrossed’ Roddy Doyle
  • ‘Atmospheric, complex, and intense …  this epic starts strong and doesn’t falter one iota’ Publishers Weekly (starred review)
  • ‘All the ingredients of an international bestseller: political skulduggery, passion, violence, loyalty and betrayal’ Irish Independent
  • ‘Told with great assurance … this is an exciting, fast-paced story’ SFX
  • ‘Kiernan will stun you with her debut … sure to captivate’ Romantic Times
  • ‘A complex and original story… Kiernan has created a world that fascinates’ Bookgeeks.co.uk

So, with further books hitting shelves internationally over the next few months, we’ll look forward to hearing more from the the author over the next few weeks. Watch this space!