‘Jemisin’s first novel has a wistful, lyrical tone, and the intrigue – both romantic and political – is skilfully handled. Book one in the Inheritance Trilogy is sensitive, restrained high fantasy.’ - The Guardian, Eric Brown

‘…a story that manages to be both fantastically grand and very personal. Definitely recommended.’ - Waterstone’s Books Quarterly

‘More than the sum of its parts… Jemisin is well worth keeping an eye on.’ - SFX, Guy Haley [also included in the SFX books of 2010 round-up]

‘Extremely well-written, imaginative, emotionally gripping, and featuring a compelling narrator, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is an almost perfect debut… and could end up being one of the best fantasy releases of the year.’ - Fantasy Book Critic, Robert Thompson

‘Convoluted without being dense, Jemisin’s engaging debut grabs readers right from the start… a complex, edge-of-your-seat story with plenty of funny, scary, and bittersweet twists.’ - Publishers Weekly

‘Debut author Jemisin creates a mesmerizingly exotic world where fallen gods serve as slaves to the ruling class and murder and ambition go hand in hand… an engaging heroine and a fresh take on traditional dynastic fantasy make this trilogy opener a delight for the fantasy reader and introduce a strong new voice to the genre.’ – Library Journal

‘A similar blend of inventiveness, irreverence, and sophistication — along with sensuality — brings vivid life to the setting and other characters… The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms definitely leaves me wanting more of this delightful new writer.’ – Locus

‘Wonderfully filled with family secrets, brutal betrayals, a remarkable romance and the mystery of a mother’s love, the book rises above others of its type not only by creating a complex world and mythology, but by populating the former with characters of many different skin colors.  In this reviewer’s opinion, this is the must-read fantasy of the year.’ – Bookpage

‘The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is an impressive debut, which revitalizes the trope of empires whose rulers have gods at their fingertips.  It feels suitably big, and yet incredibly intimate as well.  And we can’t wait to read the other two volumes of the Inheritance Trilogy.’ – io9.com

‘The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is an excellent novel… brilliantly weaves the themes of revenge, patience, justice, love, and power into an original fantasy setting that will hook you until the end, and leave you wanting more… A highly recommended read… one of the most captivating new voices in fantasy. I eagerly await the next novel in the trilogy.’ - Civilian-Reader.blogspot.com

‘I was not prepared for how GOOD this book turned out to be… Damn Near Perfect debut novel that is a great blend of fantasy and romance, religion, mythology, politics, gender and race. The writing is lovely, the plot is superb (with a few surprises) and the characters made a hole in my heart the size of a volcano. The only thing that can fill it now is book 2’ - The Book Smugglers.com [9/10]

‘One of the strongest debuts I’ve read for a while… A confident, mature, powerful, feminist, and entertaining debut in fantasy. And in the running for The Reads Top Five 2010.’ - NextRead.co.uk

‘Author NK Jemisin pulls off an astounding feat in managing to combine fantasy, romance, political intrigue, and superb writing… high recommendation to all.’ - TheBookBag.co.uk

‘This volume should be enjoyed as one of the freshest new fantasy voices we have had for quite some time. (It’s also the first book that’s ever made me miss my stop on the London Underground, so immersed was I!)’ - BookGeeks.co.uk

‘…there does seem to be something for just about every type of fantasy fan in here… all woven together into a vigorous whole and there are plenty of surprises along the way. If you find other fantasies predictable and overlong try this one – it might remind you what you are missing. A treat.’ - MyShelf.com

‘An enthralling read… you wouldn’t have thought that The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was Jemisin’s debut… I’ll definitely be reading the sequel.’ – Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review [9.25/10]

I must say I. LOVE. THESE. COVERS. I love everything about them. I love Steve Stone’s wonderful art work – in particular that fact that he didn’t just pick a generic fantasy boy and girl for the first and last covers but actually made them look like Wynter and Alberon ( Not having read The Rebel Prince, he even went to the trouble of contacting me to ask what Alberon looked like!) Steve’s artwork rocks. Go! Now! Run to his website and check out all the great covers he’s done. I love how designer Peter Cotton has incorporated a vital element of the story into each cover. For example:

The castle from book three

The throne on book one

The funeral pyre on book two

I also love all the little design touches that Peter and Steve follow through on each cover. Like these, the lovely wreathed Ravens that are placed on each spine (I use birds symbolically throughout the trilogy). Touches like this – along with the illustrations under the blurbs: the ghosted ‘Arabic’ script and the framing of each character in foliage – flow from cover to cover, to give a sense of unity and cohesion to the three books.

And finally I love that each cover has its own colour scheme. Somehow the palates seems to perfectly suit the very different stories they illustrate: the cool greens of the first reflect the suppressed emotions of The Poison Throne; the reds and oranges of the second convey the frenzied violence of The Crowded Shadows, and somehow the third palette reminds me of armour and gunmetal – the cold, hard colours of the instruments of war. Wonderful work. Just wonderful. Thank you Peter and Steve!

The Poison Throne

The Crowded Shadows

The Rebel Prince

She has been getting some incredible advance praise in her native Australia:

“…a bold, inventively original world…a sweeping saga that unmistakeably marks her as one of Australia’s best speculative fiction writers.”

―Nexus, Issue 259, Dec 2009

“What a tale! Can’t wait for the next instalment. This is a GREAT book.”

―AurealisXpress, Aug 2009

“With this novel, (Larke) moves into a realm of sheer virtuosity… The plot is engrossing and the characters fascinating.”          

―The West Australian, 31^st Oct 2009

“…a fantasy novel in which everything about the world felt original and so utterly fascinating that even 640 pages didn’t seem enough.”

― Book Thingo, 10^th Sept 2009

Also, THE LAST STORMLORD has been selected in the UK as Waterstone’s SF/F Book of the Month. This is a tremendous accolade and we hope that it will get readers’ attention in Waterstone’s stores throughout the UK.

THE LAST STORMLORD is epic adventure of the first order…check it out for yourself and read the first chapter!

As you guys know, your friendly neighborhood Creative Director has been slaving away at the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 Orbit covers (yes, we work that far in advance) and now that the covers are (mostly) done I’ve started to launch them on the blog for your viewing pleasure, and general online critique. Well, I have a special treat above for devoted Orbit fans, cover design aficionados, and especially admirers of Ms. Alexia Tarabotti, heroine of Soulless. Timed to celebrate this month’s release of Changeless, Alexia Tarabotti’s second adventure, I have a special Making of the Cover Video for the next book, due out in September 2010, Blameless.

Over 6 hours of my onscreen compositing, retouching, color correction, type obsessing, all condensed down to a slim sexy one minute 55 seconds of cover design. Trust me, no one wants to watch it in real-time…and even then I left out the not-as-riveting-onscreen stages of my cover design process, such as reading the manuscript, sifting through Alexia photoshoot outtakes, background photo research, etc. And since this is a series look that has already been established for Soulless and Changeless, there weren’t the usual batches and rounds of versions of different designs that happen with standalone or first-in-a-new-series covers. That would be a weeklong video!

I of course just want to mention and thank everyone who worked on the cover or video: First, our Alexia: Donna Ricci, goth/steampunk supermodel and proprietress of Clockwork Couture, a fabulous place to shop for all kinds of fun steampunk clothing and accessories. (You can even buy many items Alexia has worn on her covers thus far. And an awesome octopus parasol I’ve been coveting.) Also the photographer of the cover, Tiny Dragon Productions. Also I cannot leave out the fabulous Eric Westpheling, whose work you might recall from this Philip Palmer’s Version 43 cover. And of course, thank you to the author, Gail Carriger, for writing such fun stories that we could have so much fun packaging.

I know you guys have been really into the little bit of behind-the-scenes action I was able to sneak in during my first year at Orbit, when I was kind of hanging on by my fingernails and not able to plan ahead so much. So hang on folks, this is only the beginning of a lot more fun art fabulousness on the blog. I hope you enjoy. And now, hopefully, my parents will finally understand just what it is I do all day.

Translated from the original German by the very talented Sally-Ann Spencer, this is the eagerly anticipated sequel to The Dwarves (UK/ US/ ANZ), described by SFRevu as: ‘The kind of solid fantasy that the market thrives upon’, and by The Bookbag as ‘A fabulous addition to the fantasy genre’. Read an extract here!

Photo Credit: Mary GT Webber

I’m delighted to say that Orbit will be the very proud publisher of a brand-new fantasy series by Karen Miller, launching 2012. The series title is the Tarnished Crown, and Karen describes it thus:

A tale of love and hate, treachery and power, the rise and fall of dynasties, and the remaking of a world. The theme of this fantasy saga is contained in its title: nobody is innocent. Every crown is tarnished. Redemption is possible but at a great price.

Karen Miller’s INNOCENT MAGE (US | UK) was one of our launch titles for Orbit in the US, following its publication earlier that year (2007) in the UK. Its sequel, THE AWAKENED MAGE (US | UK), followed hot on its heels, and these two books rapidly became one of the fastest selling new fantasy series of recent years. Karen is a natural storyteller, and a fearless one. Her next novel, EMPRESS (US | UK), introduced Hekat, quite possibly one of the scariest protagonists you will ever encounter.

Karen returned to the “Mage” sequence with THE PRODIGAL MAGE (US | UK), and has just completed the final book, THE RELUCTANT MAGE, which we will be publishing later this year.

And there’s some great news, too, for fans of Karen’s Rogue Agent series (written under the pen name K.E.Mills), which began with THE ACCIDENTAL SORCERER (US | UK). Karen will be writing at least two more books in the series, bringing the total to five.

Orbit will be publishing these books in the US, UK and Australia.

I don’t want to say too much about the new series (because the editor will kill me if I give too much away) but Brent has created a very cool new world, complete with solid characters and a really interesting magic system. If you liked the Night Angel Trilogy, you’ll love this (And if you haven’t read the Night Angel Trilogy, you should be ashamed of yourself, really.)

Here’s a little description:

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Whet your appetite? Torture you a bit? You know the book’s not coming out until August, right? Yep, I’m mean. Anyway, back to design. The art was created by the fabulous Richard Jones, and I think it really captures the general bad-ass tone of Brent Weeks’s stories. Here it is again, BIG:

Again, I don’t want to give too much away about the story, but the really interesting world Brent has created, especially the, say, physics, of this world, really impacted the cover design. And while you know I actually do read all the manuscripts when they come in, and I try to be as accurate as only a artist and fan can be, some books are still harder to truly nail than others. Your friendly neighborhood Creative Director here really had a hard time balancing how much to show, what tone the cover should have, what the color of the cover could be (hint, hint), and still remain true to the story and world inside. We must have gone through a thousand poses, color and lighting treatments, and crops. Debate raged for months over this one, as some of you heard about when a prior version of the cover was unofficially released. What was great was so many people were involved in the development of this cover, and so much feedback was taken into account, that I think we’ve really nailed this cover for a book which we hope will blow you away both inside and out.

(Now, also imagine for me that the cover will have fancy foil bits and fancy cover effects, none of which come across onscreen. Especially for the type. But in general, you get the idea.)

Now we can officially launch this cover here on our lovely blog, as I know all you Orbit fans love me to do. (I know, you’ve been so patient waiting for this one, I appreciate it.) So…what do you think?

Anyway, while my Handler—we’ll call him Jimmy for the purposes of this entry—searches my bathroom for bottles duct-taped to the back of the toilet tank, I’m taking a moment to think about writing, and this leads me to contemplate Ghost Novels. These are not unpublished novels, or novels I wrote for someone else, nor, strictly speaking, novels never written. A Ghost Novel is the novel your finished novel might have been, if you didn’t revise as you go.

I don’t know how other writers work; frankly, writers are an alarming group of people who overestimate their cool factor while underestimating the amount of time anybody, including other writers, wish to spend discussing the craft of writing, so I don’t talk much with the other writers. We stare at each other balefully like Maggie Simpson and the unibrow baby on The Simpsons when we meet in public, and rarely speak. When I’m working on a novel, I often realize at certain points that I’ve taken a wrong turn. It’s difficult to explain the feeling: The work you’ve just done is not bad, per se, it just suddenly doesn’t feel right. Sometimes this goes only a few paragraphs back. Sometimes it goes several chapters, and every now and then in a life-threatening moment of despair the feeling can encompass an entire, nearly-finished novel. What I usually do in these moments is simply delete what I had already written and start over.

So that’s what I ponder: When I select six pages of work and delete it, there’s a Ghost Novel: In some alternate universe split off from that moment, I didn’t delete that portion of the work and go down another route, and thus a different novel gets written. Since I do this fairly often as I write (being an inveterate Pantser), there must be thousands of Ghost Novels out there in the multiverse.

Believe it or not, up until a few years ago I wrote everything on a typewriter, so there were physical leavings of Ghost Novels – most of which I still have, mouldering away in files. In the digital age I don’t keep everything I delete, on the not-unreasonable assumption that no one is ever going to care about the six pages I deleted from chapter 23 or the two-hundred words I deleted from the epilogue. Except me. And not always me, either, believe me. Are any of these Ghost Novels better than my ultimate results? We’ll never know, unless someday someone invents a way to see alternate universes and we find one where I have several Nobel Prizes and busts of me adorn every university and library; woo, you think I drink too much now, if I ever find out my Ghost Novels could have gotten me there I will set world records for literary despair. When I read my Tarot Cards and see my future, I also see a moment of desperation where I owe Orbit one more novel, and I find 500 deleted scenes from various projects, stitch them together into a FrankenNovel, and mail it off, immediately departing for a secret location for my own safety.