It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away over the next few weeks. So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win.
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We are pleased to announce that Orbit titles are once again plentifully represented in this year’s Best Of lists, including those at Amazon, Publishers Weekly, Financial Times, the Times of London, NPR and more.
Congratulations to all of our recognized authors as we look forward to having Orbit books appear on even more lists in 2011! This year’s full rundown appears after the jump.
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I’m very excited to launch a cover I’ve been noodling with (yes, “noodling” is an acceptable design term) for a while now. Sometimes you get the elements of a cover set and you just keep working on it and working on it and playing with the elements, swapping stuff in and out, polishing it all in photoshop, etc. until you get the right balance. The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham is an epic fantasy in every sense of the term, and I wanted the cover to feel, you know, EPIC. A sense of history, the ominous threat of storms – and armies – growing on the horizon.
The cool thing about the world of The Dragon’s Path is that the titular dragons are part of the ancient past of the current civilization — without giving too much away, I’d say it’s kind of like imagining that the Roman Emperors had been dragons, and so much history has passed that all that is left is artifacts (like, say, a sword), myths, and folklore that some people believe and others doubt. And of course now, there is an ominous threat of history perhaps not being quite as dead and buried as was hoped.
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It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away over the next few weeks. So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win. Check out today’s loot after the jump!
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Greg Bear’s HULL ZERO THREE is the talk of the web this morning.
First off, Paul DiFilippo at The Speculator at the Barnes & Noble Review, discussing the types of science fiction represented in 2010, selects HULL as exemplary of Hardcore SF, noting that “Greg Bear is one contemporary master of the old ways, and in Hull Zero Three he gives the generation starship theme—crystallized beautifully by Robert Heinlein in 1941’s ‘Universe’—a vigorous makeover.”
At NPR.org, Glen Weldon picks HULL as one of 2010’s Most Transporting Books, noting that “Bear is a pro who knows his way around a starship’s bulkhead and keeps the narrative taut and suspenseful. Importantly, he leavens his hero’s grim steel-and-space ordeal with flashes of lyrical language and imagery.”
And last but far from least, iTunes/iBooks has chosen HULL as one of its Best Science Fiction & Fantasy titles of the year.
Congratulations Greg! And if you haven’t yet read HULL ZERO THREE (or given it as a Holiday gift), well…
It’s that time of the year — good cheer, decorations, warm fires, and of course: Loot! We’ve traveled deep into the Orbit HQ dungeon and returned with a chest of magnificent offerings that we’ll be giving away over the next few weeks. So check back here (or follow us on twitter or facebook) for updates, and chances to win.
Epic Loot 2: Win Poster-Size Prints of FEED and DEADLINE!
I have been very pleased to hear how much people have been loving the covers for Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire)’s Feed and Deadline. A few people have even asked for posters, how flattering. So today’s Epic Loot is a fancy art print of both covers, to adorn your bedroom, bathroom, secret lab, etc. printed on super glossy art paper. Totally suitable for framing…and thank you to Art Director Kirk Benshoff for modeling them...
UPDATE! This contest is now closed.
Robert Jackson Bennett, who came onto the scene at the start of 2010 with his critically acclaimed debut MR. SHIVERS, and whose next novel THE COMPANY MAN will be published by Orbit in April 2011, has written a guest post at Inkpunks where he addresses every writer’s Greatest Unknown; what they can — and can’t — do in the face of that mystery; and how to accept the existence of that mystery and do the one thing doable: keep writing.
The performance of a book, that figure so desperately desired by so many terrified authors, is a constant moving target. It’s not unlike space travel: you are moving, and your target is moving, and by the time you’ve figured out where your target is then the distance between you has changed hugely.
Managing Death comes out in a few weeks, and it’s the perfect escape from a cold winter. I’ve never known an icy Christmas season, in Australia things are reversed, and heat is the order of the day.
As we head towards Christmas in Brisbane things start to heat up, the air shimmers with heat and humidity as though the sky itself is sweating. Dark clouds build on the horizon in the afternoon and tremendous storms strike the city, cooling everything down, but only briefly. (more…)
Here at Orbit, we are dedicated to the scientific method, always tempered with a healthy dose of sarcastic humor. We are powered by geeks, after all. Thus we will be taking a hard look at the many ways the Holiday Season and SFF overlap, and serving up our findings in lovely visual form for your end-of-year enjoyment. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks… and be sure to keep checking back over the next few weeks to enter our Epic Loot giveaways – the first one is here!
Now for the first time, we’ve collected the books in Pamela Freeman’s Castings Trilogy: Blood Ties, Deep Water, and Full Circle in one volume! Her follow up to the Castings Trilogy, Ash and Ember, will be published by Orbit in May 2011.
Here is a bit about the omnibus to whet your appetite!
A thousand years ago, the Eleven Domains were invaded and the original inhabitants were driven onto the road as Travelers, belonging nowhere, welcomed by no one.
Now the Domains are governed with an iron fist by the Warlords, but there are wilder elements in the landscape that cannot be controlled and that may prove the Warlords’ undoing. Some are spirits of place – of water and air and fire and earth. Some are greater than these. And some are human. (more…)
