The New Trudicanavan.com!
Trudi Canavan has just relaunched her website! Pop over and have a look, and read an excerpt from her upcoming book, The Ambassador’s Mission!
Archive for Orbit UK
Announcing Orbit Short Fiction
We just sent out a press release announcing a digital short fiction publishing program from Orbit (US). We’re aiming to launch in the fall with short fiction from some of your favorite authors. You can read the press release here . If you’d like to get updates about digital fiction from Orbit, sign up to our mailing list below!
The Black Prism – First Look
Brent Weeks’ new novel, The Black Prism, is set to come out in August this year, but you can get an early look at the first three chapters right here.
Cover Launch: LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF SAUSAGES
Sorry folks, I know monday is usually cover launch day, but things are a little hectic in the Art Dept. and this week wednesday is cover launch day. But never fear, I have a cover all ready for next monday too!)
Tom Holt is a funny guy. Orbit UK has been publishing him for a long time and I was thrilled to get to redesign his look with his US launch of Blonde Bombshell in June. I can’t wait to start applying the new look to the backlist titles waiting to roll out. But first we have another new book, one which wins for my favorite title of all time* Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages.
Tom Holt is all about funny, absurdist scifi/fantasy, and when I read my first Tom Holt book I was pleasantly surprised how like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett it felt. and that’s high praise from me. I really like the humorous scifi/fantasy subgenre, and I think we’ve been packaging it well here at Orbit with the A. Lee Martinez books especially, and I’m really happy to add these books to the list.
I love a chance to hand-draw a cover, because most of the time everything happens solely on the computer. I especially enjoy hand-drawing type. I’ll have to try to work it in to more covers, even if it’s not as purposely rough-style like these covers. (more…)
Changeless becomes a New York Times Bestseller!
Changeless by Gail Carriger just hit the New York Times best seller list at #20!
Congratulations to Gail!
Whoo hoo!! We’re over the moon over here and hope you share in our excitement! I need to go find a football team so I can practice chest bumping!
You can check out the first chapter here or check out the video on how we made the cover for the upcoming Blameless here.
When is a dwarf not a dwarf? When he’s a garden gnome…
Read on for a great piece from the talented Sally-Ann Spencer on her experience of translating The Dwarves (UK/ US/ ANZ) and The War of the Dwarves (UK/ US / ANZ) from the original German:
Turning German ‘Zwerge’ into English-speaking dwarves isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. For one thing, the English word ‘dwarf’ has two possible plurals: ‘dwarfs’ and ‘dwarves’. Which should be used for the translation? The dwarves of Girdlegard bear a certain resemblance to their counterparts in Middle Earth, so I went with the version popularized by Tolkien. But hang on a minute, (more…)
New Wallpaper Day: The Orphaned Worlds
For our Orbit UK fans, we have a fresh new wallpaper taken from the cover of The Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley, the sequel to Seeds of Earth. (You can read more about the book and Michael Cobley here.) I am loving the series illustrations being done by an Orbit favorite Steve Stone and I can’t wait to see the art plastered on all your assorted screens and digital devices. I’ve tried to cover all the standard display aspect ratios and devices (and yes, even the new iPad), but let me know if I’ve missed any important ones.
Enjoy the wallpapers, and don’t forget to pick up The Seeds of Earth and The Orphaned Worlds, both available now!
1024 x 768 |1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 | 1920 x 1200 | iPhone | iPad | PSP
Hugos and Legends and Campbells, oh my!
We’re thrilled to see a number of our authors on award ballots and shortlists this year. We’ve done a brief round-up of our authors who are up for awards and Charlie Stross has been nominated twice! Could this be the year we finally HUGO STROSS? Here’s hoping!
A hearty congratulations to all of our authors who are up for these awards!
Best Novella
- Charlie Stross for “Palimpsest” [UK]
Best Novellette
- Charlie Stross again for “Overtime” [UK]
Best Short Story
- N.K. Jemisin for “Non-zero Probabilities” [US/UK]
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
- Gail Carriger [US/UK]
- Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant) [US/UK]
David Gemmell Legend Award
- Joe Abercrombie for Best Served Cold [US]
- Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson for The Gathering Storm [UK]
The Morningstar Award for Best Newcomer
- Jesse Bullington for The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart [US/UK]
- Amanda Downum for The Drowning City [US/UK]
Mage In Black!
Sabina Kane is back in this kick-ass follow up to Red-Headed Stepchild!
Half-vampire and half-mage, Sabina Kane has never quite fit in. Now on the run from the vampire side of the family, she’s finally going to meet her twin sister she never knew about — and a family that might not have her best interests at heart.
From Kat Richardson who called the first novel, “Brassy, sassy, and hip!” to Charlaine Harris who called it “Fast-paced and fun,” Jaye Wells is one of the hottest urban fantasy writers out there today! Despite the lack of red hair — Angelina Jolie in the upcoming movie, Salt, reminds me of Sabina Kane.
You can find chapter one right here.
Check her out in bookstores everywhere!
Environmentally-sound Ebooks!
Orbit is delighted, excited and not a little proud to announce the development of the world’s first 100% biodegradable ebook. As you all know (Bob), the problem with the current crop of ebooks is that the electrons that make up the work have a carbon cost. Certainly, the environmental impact of ebooks is much lower than for traditional publishing, but it is a finite and measurable amount.
Not anymore! Orbit’s proprietary new ‘Brigadoon’ e-formatting allows for a 100% carbon-free reading experience. By exposing the ebook file to a short burst of Cherenkov Radiation upon delivery, the electrons composing the file actually decay into lower-energy electrons and tachyons after the first reading. The new, low-powered electrons return to the environment at a net carbon cost of practically zero, while the tachyons, as is their nature, travel backwards in time to replace the ebook file that has just disappeared during the decay of the electrons that formed it.
To explain in layman’s terms: the electrons return to the environment and the ebook effectively travels backwards in time, reinventing itself before each reading causes it to cease to exist. With reference to Clarke’s Third Law, we hope you’ll forgive us a triumphant ‘Hey, presto!’
All of Orbit’s April titles will be available in Brigadoon as well as epub format from all good replicators.