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Orbit/Yen Seeks Junior Designer

Instead of this week’s scheduled cover post (and it’s a good one, as those of you who were at BEA this weekend and got a sneak peak can attest) I have for you some very exciting news. We are looking to hire one fabulously talented junior designer to join our art department. You will be answering directly to yours truly, and working on both Orbit books and Yen Press titles. (A double bonus for all you manga fans out there.) Orbit and Yen have both been taking on fabulous projects, and we need the help giving everything the art attention it deserves. It’s a great entry-level opportunity for someone with the proper design experience and who has interest in our debates over spaceship design, breeds of mythological creatures, and dissecting manga pages. (more…)

Griffins!

Land of the Burning SandsAt Orbit, we love to try something new… and in this case, the something new was Griffins. We are publishing Lord of the Changing Winds and Land of the Burning Sands in May and June.

When I first read Rachel, I was instantly transported to my favorite book as a child, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip.  I thought Rachel’s story of the relationship between griffins and mortals in a world where magic and science coincide was too amazing to pass up.  So of course, I bought the whole series – just so I could read it in one go!

They are both out now so you can grab them at your nearest bookstore – and the final book in the trilogy, Law of the Broken Earth, will be out this December.  So all three books out in six months.

Trudi Canavan booksigning – Melbourne

Trudi Canavan’s debut series, Black Magician Trilogy, made her an international success, and all three volumes of her Age of the Five trilogy were Sunday Times bestsellers in the UK. Trudi Canavan lives in Melbourne, Australia, and her latest novel, The Ambassador’s Mission, is the compelling first volume in the sequel to the bestselling Black Magician Trilogy.

BOOK SIGNING: Saturday 5 June, 12-1:30pm

RICHMOND – VICTORIA GARDENS

Shop F11 Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre

Cnr Burnley & Victoria Streets Richmond  3121  AUSTRALIA

Phone: 03 9421 8817

Cover Launch: DEEP STATE

Cyberpunk is not really my cup of tea, so I was surprised when I got into This is Not a Game as much as much as I did. It’s all about connectivity, and how fast information and communication flies around the world now. There was of course also a cool thriller plotline along with it. Deep State is the next book by Walter Jon Williams, and picks up with the heroine & story of This is Not a Game. If you like William Gibson and Snow Crash-era Neal Stephenson, then you should check out these books. (more…)

Cover Launch: LIGHTBORN

Tricia Sullivan is the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author of an impressive body of work, including Maul, Double Vision and Sound Mind.  Here’s just a sample of the praise that has been heaped upon her work:

‘A challenging, disturbing, often compulsive read’ Time Out

‘Tricia Sullivan returns to science fiction not a second too soon . . . I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in a long time’ Guardian

‘Painfully gripping throughout – read it if you dare’ The Times

‘Maul confirms an increasingly badly-kept secret – Sullivan is one of the best and most ambitious SF writers around’ Dreamwatch

‘Intelligent, sensitive and engrossing . . . You’ll be thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading’  SFX

‘Tricia Sullivan is why I refuse to give up on science fiction’ Pat Cadigan, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author

 
I think it’s clear from the above that Tricia is almost universally regarded as an audacious and original voice in modern science fiction. And what better way to signal that to the reader than with an audacious and original cover. Ladies and gentlemen (and other forms of life – we’re not speciesist at Orbit!), we give you Lightborn:

Lightborn is a revolutionary new technology that has transformed the modern world.

Better known as ‘shine’, it is the ultimate in education, self-improvement and entertainment – beamed directly into the mind of anyone who can meet the asking price.

But what do you do if the shine in question has a mind of its own . . . ?

 

Lightborn will be published in October. Design by Nathan Burton Design. Art direction by Duncan Spilling – LBBG.

Cover Launch: THE HAMMER

K.J. Parker’s critically acclaimed Engineer trilogy featured  three great covers by Keith Hayes. Since then, Parker has been writing  stand-alone novels, and any one of them is a great place to jump in without any series-long commitment. Of course, I’m sure you’ll be back at the bookstore buying the Engineer books as soon as you finish any of these books, but you can start slow if you don’t believe me…

The Company was really an ensemble story, so we wanted to show the characters on the cover, but for The Folding Knife and The Hammer, I really wanted to continue the “artifact” look of The Engineer Trilogy.

(more…)

Two Orbit Nominations for the Moby Awards

Hundreds of entries have been submitted for the first annual Moby Awards for Book Trailers, a contest to select both the best and the worst of the past year’s book trailers sponsored by MobyLives.

We’re very pleased to note that in the category of Best Low Budget/Indie Book Trailer, Jeff Somer’s trailer for his novel THE ELECTRIC CHURCH (US/UK) is one of the select; and that in the category of Best Big Budget/Big House Book Trailer, the
trailer put together by Orbit Creative Director Lauren Panepinto for Gail Carriger’s BLAMELESS is a strong contender (we’re also happy to point out that though categorized as Big, the budget for the latter was extremely reasonable indeed).

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony in New York on Thursday, May 20.

Blondesweeper

Blonde BombshellTom Holt’s Blonde Bombshell (UK | US | ANZ) – the intergalactic comedy about blonde bombshell Lucy Pavlov – blasted into UK bookstores last week, with US and Australia hot on their heels for a June/July publication.

To celebrate, we’ve created a game based on the Windows95 classic, Minesweeper, or Blondesweeper in this case.

We’ll also be giving away a collection of Tom Holt‘s books to the person with the highest score, so be sure to make the most of the game’s Twitter sharing function and tweet your high score @orbitbooks!  The high score winner will be announced on the US pub date of June 10.

Good luck!