Archive for Orbit US

Gail Carriger’s British Debut…

We are hereby exceptionally proud to announce that Gail Carriger’s exquisitely charming Parasol Protectorate series has finally found its way to the seat of the empire – the green and pleasant lands of the British Isles. Delivered via dirigible direct into Hyde Park’s airfield, all three titles have arrived just in time to stem the Commonwealth’s desperate need for treacle tart, parasols and lessons in vampire social etiquette.

If you perchance found yourself at Britain’s most glorious festival of steampunk this weekend – the so-called Weekend at the Asylum – then you will undoubtedly be acquainted with Miss Alexia Tarabotti already.

With the gift that she has bestowed upon every privileged guest, she has imparted the vital knowledge of how best to protect the Commonwealth on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. And that’s not to mention her terribly useful tips on which hats are to be avoided this season if one is to protect one’s reputation in polite society. Please do take heed of her sage advice.

Two New York Times Bestsellers!

This week we had two New York Times bestsellers!

Gail Carriger hit the New York Times mass market paperback list at #20 for Blameless!

Brent Weeks’ The Black Prism is on the hardcover list for his second week at #29.

Congratulations to both Gail and Brent!

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Another big award has come and gone, and I’d like to congratulate all the Orbit authors who won or were nominated. It’s great for them because, while being an author is a fabulous line of work, it can also be discouraging. Unless one is in the awards sphere, or one manages to claw his or her way onto one of the increasingly elusive lists, it’s hard to know if you’re really reaching anyone.

Which is why social media rocks. In my new university’s MFA in popular fiction, I’m teaching a course on building author platforms, and we’re talking a lot about social media. One of the things we’ve brought up peripherally is how rewarding it is to interact with fans of our books.

This weekend, I received some lovely letters and messages on Twitter and Facebook. It’s almost impossible for me to express how much these interactions mean for authors like me. I feel very disconnected, sometimes, from my life as a writer. So to see that people are not only reading my books, but really connecting with the issues they contain and really connecting with my characters means the world to me. (more…)

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 4)

So it’s come to this . . . Jeff Somers and Philip Palmer arguing over whose character is better with the laaaaadies.

Again, Philip Palmer has resorted to getting a scientific expert involved – a certain Dr Paul Bostock (according to Phil, a ‘Professor in Protagonism and Genre Conflict at the Heinlein University, Colorado’ – this hasn’t yet been verified).

Ladies – judge for yourself.

(And mind the spoilers if you haven’t read Jeff’s previous 3 books yet!)

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 3)

Since we began releasing the footage showing the incendiary events that occured during the filming of a joint promotional video, Jeff Somers has expressed his sheer outrage over the entire episode, and Philip Palmer has published an official ‘apology’ to Jeff here.

Though we are not proud of what has happened, we have decided to continue to release the footage so that the viewing public may come to their own conclusions about the events. In this video, Philip Palmer lists the many, many ways in which his character Version 43 is superior to Avery Cates. Orbit would like to make clear that it does not endorse the behaviour of either author involved in this incident . . .

Congratulations to Mira Grant and Charles Stross!

On the weekend Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. It was awarded to her for the novel ‘FEED’ at Aussiecon’s Hugo Awards ceremony last Sunday in Melbourne. Charles Stross added another Hugo Award to his collection, winning the Best Novella category for ‘Palimpsest’.

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 1)

Here on Planet Orbit we generally think there’s a pretty good community spirit – both in the office and amongst all our authors out there. But sometimes – just sometimes – those good times go bad. 

Believing Jeff Somers and Philip Palmer to both be “team players” and decent, honourable gentlemen, we thought it might be a good idea to ask them to discuss and compare, in a series of videos, and in a sensible and controlled manner, their newest science fiction titles and their protagonists. But APPARENTLY that wasn’t possible. We’re still going to post the footage – if only to be an example to you all.

Here’s how it all began . . .

Kate Elliott is Back!

I was 13 years old when I first fell head over heels in love with Kate Elliot’s Jaran.  I still remember sitting on the floor of my local library one minute, and being transported to another world the next.  Over the years, I’ve gone back and read the series again and I still love it as much today as I did then.  So it is an absolute privilege and a pleasure for me to welcome Kate Elliott to the Orbit list on both sides of the Atlantic now. (more…)