Category: Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - October 13th, 2008
On the subject of Unmarked Graves, Shaun says:
The only reason to write a book is to entertain. I’ve believed that for twenty five years and I still do. However, if you can frighten the hell out of readers while you’re entertaining them then that’s even better. Unmarked Graves is designed to do both. I also wanted to do a book that, in these days of political correctness gone mad, challenged people’s views of something as contentious as race relations and racism. I wanted to mix this up with what looks like a traditional horror and crime story and then, as I always do, give it a twist. All of it done at the usual breakneck pace that’s become something of a trade mark for me. I loved the old Hammer films of the 60′s so this is a kind of homage to them but with a modern day angle.
Anyone who’s read my other books will know what to expect. Anyone who’s never read one will be faced with the kind of book they’ve never encountered before. It isn’t cosy. It isn’t predictable. It may offend you. It might even disgust you. It will frighten you. But the only guarantee I make is that it will entertain you.
And about Body Count, Shaun says:
I get sick of the kind of clichéd characters who populate horror and fantasy novels so I always try to write about real people with real problems. Something that’ll be identifiable to the readers. Body Count contains people like this. All coping with their own trials and tribulations but caught up in something beyond their control. The violence was also included so graphically because I find violence repulsive and the only way to illustrate this is to show it in detail. If anyone finds the violence or sex offensive then that’s unfortunate but ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away. This is a novel about hate and fury and it’s also, quite possibly, the most violent thing I’ve written for ten years.
It’s fast paced, disturbing and it covers issues that are very close to my heart. That’s one of the reasons I wrote it. I always think that something close to the writer make for a better book. It gives you the chance to play out your own worst fears and nightmares from the safety of your armchair. It’s just that, with my books, the nightmares tend to start after you’ve finished reading them…
Shaun Hutson’s brand new novel of terror and suspense, Body Count, is out now from Orbit in the UK. The Orbit paperback edition of his previous novel, Unmarked Graves is likewise available in the UK from all good bookstores and online retailers.
Find out everything you ever wanted to know about Shaun Hutson at his official website, www.shaunhutson.com.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - October 10th, 2008
Welcome once again to our weekly Orbit Author links round-up.
- Marie Brennan offers an insight into the full-time writerly life.
- Suvudu.com hails Terry Brooks – best known for his truly epic Shannara saga – as an overlooked star of the extremely popular urban fantasy sub-genre.
- A quick one from the archives: Mike Carey‘s first Orbit novel, The Devil You Know is reviewed over at Urban Fantasy Land.
- Charlie Huston talks to Blood of the Muse and Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review about his latest Joe Pitt novel, Every Last Drop, which we’ll be publishing in the UK in March next year.
- IO9.com editor Annalee Newitz reviews Ken MacLeod’s The Night Sessions, asking Do Protestant Terrorist Robots Have Souls? in the process.
- Over at Civilian Reader, reviewer Emma Newrick has very good things indeed to say about The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller.
- Meanwhile, Karen Miller reports on an excellent time had by all at Conflux last weekend.
- Over at ConceptSciFi.com, blogger Gary Reynolds has posted his review of Debatable Space by Philip Palmer.
- Lilith Saintcrow hasposted the final part of her online serial novel, Selene, so you can now read the whole book, absolutely free.
- Halting State by Charles Stross has been reviewed by Vicky Williamson for socialistreview.org.uk.
- Orbit debutant Brent Weeks, who has been enjoying a fair amount of online buzz recently (see our Way of Shadows review round-up), has also been interviewed over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.
As always, if you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - October 10th, 2008
We’ve just published The Way of Shadows, the first part of brand new fantasy series The Night Angel Trilogy by debut author Brent Weeks, in the US, the UK and Australia.
The story of street urchin Azoth’s apprenticeship to Durzo Blint, the most highly-skilled and widely-feared contract killer of the age, has already been generating some significant online buzz. Here are a few examples of the coverage we’ve seen so far:
From Grasping For The Wind:
“What Brent Weeks has done is fill his story with very human, very flawed characters. Each and every one has motivations that stem from their own involvement in law-breaking dealings. Even the most righteous of characters turns out to have made mistakes. That type of characterization makes this story very unlike traditional epic fantasies, adding a depth of character those stories often lack.”
From Civilian Reader:
“Weeks has created a vivid new world full of political intrigue, individual struggle, a dark and gritty complexity, and superb characters … Solid, extremely well written, and deftly plotted, The Way Of Shadows is a promising debut from a talented new voice in urban fantasy fiction.”
From fantasybookreviewer.blogspot.com:
“Overall, I was more than pleasantly surprised by this book. I actually loved it. The characters, the plot, and the quick pacing really worked for me. About halfway through the book I thought I would name it my debut novel of the year, but after finishing the book, I’m not sure if that claim is enough. The Way of Shadows is definitely in my top 5 novels of the year, and might even hold the top spot.”
From fantasyscifibookreview.blogspot.com:
“What you get … is a suspenseful, quick-reading action adventure. You have assassins, mad kings, crime lords, prostitutes and nobles all taking on major roles. You see Azoth’s development from a desperate child on the street to an accomplished killer. You see Durzo fight his need to connect to other human beings while being convinced that he’s better off alone. And even after almost 700 pages, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book.”
If you’d like to check out the very start of the series for yourself, you can read the first chapter of The Way of Shadows here on the Orbit website.
And don’t forget that once you’ve discovered The Way of Shadows and found yourself eager for more, you won’t have too long to wait for the next instalment: we’re publishing part two, Shadow’s Edge, in November and the conclusion of the series, Beyond the Shadows, in December. All three volumes will be available in the US, the UK and Australia.
Plus, visit Brent Weeks’ homepage at www.brentweeks.com to find out more about the author.
by The Orbit Team • 5 Comments • Posted in: Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - October 8th, 2008
Orbit UK is delighted to announce the following acquisitions from urban fantasy writer Patricia Briggs:
3x NEW MERCY THOMPSON BOOKS
We have acquired a further three fabulously sharp urban fantasy books for the UK featuring the ingenious Mercy Thompson: mechanic by trade, coyote shapeshifter by nature. We plan to publish yearly from February 2010, but don’t forget that we’ve recently published the first three compulsive adventures – Moon Called, Blood Bound and Iron Kissed – with the next book in the series, Bone Crossed due for publication in February 2009.
3x ALPHA AND OMEGA BOOKS
We’ve also acquired the first three books in a great new Briggs spin-off series, set in the same world as the above but featuring independent alpha werewolf Charles and unusually gifted omega werewolf Anna. Cry Wolf is the first book in the seres and will be published in August 2009, with book two planned for November 2009 and book three due in August 2010.
by The Orbit Team • 2 Comments • Posted in: Deals and Deliveries, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - October 8th, 2008
We’re delighted to be able to pass on a couple of items of film-related news from two of our urban fantasy authors: Patricia Briggs and Marianne de Pierres.
Firstly – as detailed in full in a press release posted over at PublishersWeekly.com – Patricia Briggs’ agent has sold option rights for the Mercy Thompson series (Moon Called, Blood Bound and Iron Kissed) to Mike Newell’s production company 50 Cannon Entertainment [IMDB] who are also behind a forthcoming adaptation of Terry Brooks’ The Elfstones of Shannara [IMDB].
Patricia is understandably delighted by the news, saying on her website: “Now, Hollywood options far more works than they ever make into movies, so there’s no guarantee that an actual movie will ever be made, but it’s still pretty exciting news. If we ever do hear that they’re going ahead with production we promise to pass the news on (just as soon as we quit squeeing and dancing around like crazy people!).”
Our second item of news is that Marianne de Pierres (author of the Parrish Plessis and Sentients of Orion series) and Lynne Jamneck’s SF movie script Stalking Daylight has been optioned by production company Enchanter, as per this press release on Marianne’s site.
Here’s what the release has to say about the concept: “Stalking Daylight tells the story of Dresher, a bright young gaming talent who is faced with some tough choices when her father contracts neuro-transmitter disease. The Earth has changed, and those inhabitants who worship technology are at odds with those who choose to live without it. Dresher must venture into Luddite territory to find the medication that her father needs to survive. But the cure comes at a terrible price.”
We’ll bring you more information on these two projects as we get to hear of it.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Deals and Deliveries, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - October 7th, 2008
Master of the dark, Shaun Hutson, has two books out this month, the paperback release of Unmarked Graves and the new hardback release, Body Count.
Shaun was kind enough to answer some questions for us in anticipation of the books’ release:
Did the idea for Unmarked Graves come to you fully realised or did you have one particular starting point from which it grew?
It came from one idea and I expanded it. Every book I’ve ever written has come about like that. I think Unmarked Graves went through more changes than any novel I’ve ever written. The ideas I originally wanted to explore ended up disappearing in successive re-writes but the racism thing was there from the beginning.
How does it compare to your other novels?
For what it’s worth, I like to try and do something different in each novel and it contained an idea and themes I hadn’t tackled before. I’d never done voodoo before so it was something new for me. I don’t like to keep recycling the same idea over and over again in a different guise. That’s cheating your readers and I’d never do that.
You can read the rest of the interview in the back of Unmarked Graves, out this month!
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, Interviews, New Titles, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - October 6th, 2008
Pamela says:
Deep Water was intriguing to write because I got to play around with time and with people’s expectations. Many of the aspects of the past presented as ‘true’ in Deep Water were different in reality; playing with that, and developing minor characters, such as Leof, was very satisfying.
I hope Deep Water is a better book than Blood Ties: faster paced, more complex, even more emotionally engaging. But I was careful not to let the plot overwhelm everything – I am bored by fantasy novels where you don’t learn any more about the world or the enchantments of that world once the set up is completed in the first book.
So there are surprises and revelations about the world of the Domains and the powers which inhabit it. And of course the story introduces a major new character: Acton.
Deep Water – out now from Orbit in the UK and will be published in mid-November by Orbit in the US – is part two of the Castings trilogy and the sequel to Pamela Freeman‘s first novel for Orbit, Blood Ties [UK | US]
You can find out more about Pamela’s fantasy writing for adults at the Castings Trilogy website and more about her writing for younger readers at her homepage, www.pamelafreemanbooks.com.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - October 6th, 2008
David says:
Sometimes as an author, you feel impressed to write something in response to what others are doing. As I was brainstorming one day, I looked at some fantasy novels on the shelves and I felt rather despairing: most of them had nothing wondrous or wonderful in them. All that they offered seemed to be wars in a medieval setting.
So I decided to write a book where something major happened: two completely different fantasy worlds get slammed together. People die. Continents sink, and a frightening new world order grows out of the mix.
To tell the truth, I was afraid to do it. I wasn’t sure what my editors or my audience would think. But the review from both the critics and my fans have been fantastic! In fact, once email I received today was from a fan in England who said, “I loved every page of it. I couldn’t put it down. I had to find out what happened next, and by the time that I did, I had to find out what happened next again!”
Worldbinder, book six in David Farland‘s Runelords saga, is out now from Orbit in the UK. The first volume in the series is The Sum of All Men – new readers should start here…
You can find out more about David Farland and the world of the Runelords at www.runelords.com.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - October 3rd, 2008
Plenty of Orbit author-related online activity to tell you about this week, so without further ado:
- Kelley Armstrong is writing a new ‘Otherworld’ story for the mini-anthology A Fantasy Medley, which was recently announced by US indie press Subterranean.
- Blogger Liz thoroughly enjoyed Marie Brennan‘s Midnight Never Come and says so over at myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com.
- Robert Buettner has been interviewed for the Fandomania Podcast.
- Michael Cobley is pleased as punch with the Steve Stone artwork we’re putting on his new novel The Seeds of Earth when we publish next March.
- Jennifer Fallon has been reading some odd stuff in the name of “food-based research” – readers with a delicate constitution may want to look away now…
- David Farland will be teaching two writing workshops in Saint George, Utah next April.
- Jo Graham presents an introduction to her next novel, Hand of Isis, which will be published in the US and UK by Orbit in March 2009.
- Charlie Huston presents The Book of All Future Names, part the VIIth.
- And speaking of Charlie Huston: reviewer Paul Stotts was greatly impressed with Every Last Drop (due from Orbit UK in Feb 2009), whilst Matt Staggs presents an enthusiastic overview of the Joe Pitt series to-date.
- Empire Online presents its essential guide to Twilight, The Movie, which is of course based on Stephenie Meyer’s debut novel.
- Karen Miller offers writing advice on the topic of finding the moments.
- Over at BookGeeks.co.uk, reviewer Simon Appleby says good things about K.J. Parker‘s new novel, The Company.
- Jennifer Rardin has posted parts I – III of When Vayl Met Jaz. Coming next week: When Jaz Met Vayl.
- Lilith Saintcrow offers some sage advice on the subject of how to get an agent.
- Jeff Somers muses on including modern technology in fiction and thereby running the risk that it subsequently loses its modernity.
- Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is running an email sweepstake to win one of four copies of The Way of Shadows, part one of the brand new Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks.
As always, if you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - October 3rd, 2008
The Orbit UK Schedule page has just been updated with details of the three great new titles that we’ll be publishing in the first week of December 2008:
- The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore – Chaos ensues as the none-too-bright Archangel Raziel attempts to make a young boy’s Christmas wish come true.
- Dark Heart by Russell Kirkpatrick – The second part of the Husk trilogy sees continents torn apart by cataclysm and war.
- Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks – the concluding volume of the Night Angel trilogy, from a new author who’s set to take the fantasy genre by storm.
Click the titles to read the trailer text over at the UK schedule page. Don’t forget, they’ll all be available from early December from all good bookstores and online retailers.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: New Titles, Orbit UK
