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Get an extract of Pamela Freeman’s FULL CIRCLE, HERE

As Darren said in his round-up, the fantastic final volume of Pamela Freeman’s beautifully written Castings Trilogy is now here.  Full Circle (UK I ANZ I US) is a tremendous read, set in a troubled land of warlords and outcasts where the echoes of past atrocities taint the present. The Eleven Domains were forged in blood a thousand years ago and old wounds have been reopened as a ghost army marches to avenge ancient wrongs. But don’t just take our word for it, read a free extract HERE and check out just some of the praise we’ve had, below.

Plus, we have our fingers crossed for Pamela this weekend, as her illustrated children’s book Victor’s Challenge is on the shortlist for its category at the prestigious Australian Aurealis Awards.

PRAISE FOR THE CASTINGS TRILOGY

  • ‘Lots of great ideas … A very effective fantasy debut’
    — BookGeeks.co.uk
  • ‘Sometimes, a jewel rises to the top … I loved reading Blood Ties’
    — Grasping for the Wind
  • ‘Freeman shies away from simplistic morality, building elegantly well-rounded characters’
    — Publishers Weekly
  • ‘A rich and magical world where insurgency is definitely brewing’
    — Romantic Times
  • ‘Blood Ties has the feel of Ursula le Guin’s fantasy novels … a wonderfully satisfying series’
    — Aurealis Xpress
  • ‘An impressively different fantasy novel’
    — Sydney Morning Herald
  • ‘There is nothing predictable about Freeman’s storytelling … I was completely hooked’
    — Good Reading Magazine

And see Blood Ties (bk 1, UK I ANZ I US) and Deep Water (bk 2, UK I ANZ I US) here too:

 

Mr. Shivers is here!

Robert Jackson Bennett’s stunning debut novel is finally here!

Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review and said that Mr. Shivers “read[s] like a collaboration between Stephen King and John Steinbeck… Bennett makes dark fantasy feel like gritty realism, achieving a rare laconic eloquence that will captivate horror readers hungry for new voices.”

Not to be outdone, Library Journal also gave it a starred review saying: “Readers who liked Neil Gaiman’s American Gods will find similar themes here, while the setting and bleak inevitability invoke a more readable Cormac McCarthy. Compelling and truly horrifying, this debut novel is highly recommended for all”

Amazon picked for their Best Books of the Month saying: “Sprinkled with hobo folklore, Bennett’s supernatural dust storm of a debut offers a killer premise and may remind readers of vintage Stephen King.”

And The Guardian in the UK weighed in with another stellar review: “Mr Shivers is a startling début, a deft amalgam of thriller, cerebral horror and American gothic, written with a stark and artful simplicity that complements the examination of struggling humanity pushed to its limits”

Find out more at www.mistershivers.com.

Let them eat (Orbit) cake!

Here at Orbit we work very hard to publish the most exciting Science Fiction and Fantasy for the widest possible readership, remaining committed to publishing writers we believe to be exceptional in the best possible way. But did you know we take our food just as seriously?

Recently, as a thank you to our Sales team for supporting us so enthusiastically throughout the year, we put our baking mitts on to produce this tasty Orbit-themed cake.

And for a certain editor’s birthday not so long ago we produced this sugary treat . . . based on the axe awarded to the authors shortlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy.

We’d love to see any SFF-themed cakes that you’ve come up with, or perhaps you have an idea about what theme you’d like to see in cake form? Robocake anyone? Dark Lord’s dessert? Elvish eccles? We’ll see what the Orbit catering team can come up with, and if our creation is up to scratch it may just appear on the site in a few weeks time!

An Extract from Charlie Huston’s My Dead Body

In case you hadn’t noticed, vampires are very much the In Thing at the moment, pretty comfortably dominating the worlds of literature, television and movies. Yes, indeed – with a twinkle in the eye and a disturbingly pointy smile, the debonair bloodsuckers are doing very nicely, thank you.

With one exception: Joe Pitt. Joe’s not doing so well, as it happens. (more…)

Nun With A Gun!

Well, if that headline doesn’t get your attention, nothing will.

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that Orbit has agreed a three-book World Rights deal with Simon Morden for three superb future noir thrillers.  Simon has been the editor of the BSFA’s writers’ magazine Focus, a judge for the Arthur C Clarke Award and is a bona fide rocket scientist, having degrees in geology and planetary geophysics – not many SF writers have held a chunk of Mars in their hands!  He is also the author of the acclaimed YA novel The Lost Art. Let me assure you, though, that there’s nothing ‘Y’ about these books – they’re all ‘A’!

Equations of Life, Theories of Flight and Degrees of Freedom are set in the Metrozone – a dystopian future London – and feature protagonist Samuel Petrovitch: a Russian émigré with a smart mouth, a dodgy heart and a dodgier past. He’s brilliant, friendless, cocky and – even in a world where the No. 1 rule is ‘don’t get involved’ – stands out as a selfish, miserable b*****d.

The books are fast-paced, wise-cracking, action-packed romps through the overcrowded, decaying urban jungle of a not-so-distant future, featuring – amongst many other ingredients – exiled yakuza, Russian gangsters, gang warfare, virtual reality and a two-metre-tall warrior-nun packing an unfeasibly large automatic pistol. If these books don’t get your adrenaline pumping, you don’t have any!

We’ll publish in the UK, Commonwealth and US in the second quarter of next year – clear a space in your reading schedule.

Cover Launch – The Map of All Things

My lords, ladies and gentlemen . . .

At this midpoint of the first month of the first year of the second decade of the twenty-first century, I declare 2010 to be the International Year of the Sea Serpent. 

And in celebration of said august occasion, I bid you all behold: The Map of All Things!

The Map of All Things

Very nice, isn’t it?  We certainly think so, and so does international bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson, who described it as ‘absolutely breathtaking’. 

Coming soon: a sneak preview of the fantastic new cover style for The Edge of the World mass market paperback . . .

Available now, your extract of Ian Irvine’s THE DESTINY OF THE DEAD

Ian Irvine has been impressing with his latest mighty trilogy, as you can see from SFX’s review for The Destiny of the Dead, the fabulous conclusion to The Song of the Tears books:

‘Thanks to Irvine’s light prose and insane sense of entertainment the story fairly flies off the page … Even the ending doesn’t let up — the series of dastardly twists leave you frazzled and you’re grateful for the warm fuzzy feeling on the last page. For sheer excitement there’s just no one else like Irvine around at the moment’

But Ian Irvine is no stranger to great reviews, as these comments on previous books show:
‘ Epic, non-stop action adventure’ — Starburst
‘An intense story … a worldbuilding labour of love with some truly original touches’ — Locus
‘A page-turner of the highest order … Irvine can now consider himself comfortably ranked next to the works of Robert Jordan and David Eddings. Formidable’ — SFX

And to find out what all the fuss is about, click HERE for your Destiny of the Dead extract.

      

Get your extract of Jim Butcher’s PRINCEPS’ FURY here

So now that we all have a bit more time in our diaries to do things that don’t revolve around eating, buying presents and fitting in drinks with everyone you’ve ever known into a two week period, how about a spot of reading???

And to start you off, please click HERE for an extract for Princeps’ Fury (UK I ANZ), the fifth instalment of the Codex Alera, Jim Butcher’s powerful Romanesque fantasy. Praise for the series has been tremendous, and here are a couple more quotes for Princeps’ Fury to tempt you further:

The rousing fifth instalment of Butcher’s military fantasy cycle finds the land of Alera recovering from Lord Kalaruss’ rebellion, an invasion by the wolven Canim and a bloody slave revolt … No less powerful than his intense battle scenes, Butchers vivid characterizations, based on ancient Roman Republican ideals, range from duty-honor-country austerity in battle to brilliant peacemaking’
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Once again, Jim Butcher has created a masterpiece of high fantasy. The many battlefronts create an atmosphere of adventure that will sweep you up in the excitement that is Codex Alera’
SFSite.com

The last book, First Lord’s Fury (UK I ANZ) will be out in May this year so you won’t have long to wait for the next one!

Books are for Life, Not Just for Christmas

As we settle in to the New Year, and start looking ahead to some of the fantastic books 2010 is sure to bring us, it behooves us to remember that all of the books cramming the shelves before 25th December are still available. Owing to a warehouse move, our January titles won’t be published until the 21st of the month, so while we wait for the extraordinary array of new releases and exciting new editions of existing favourites, let us remind you of the wonderful titles we published in December 2009.  

In alphabetical order (for who would dare choose among them?!), Orbit’s December stars were:  

Jim Butcher, with Princeps’ Fury, the fifth volume of his bestselling Roman-influenced fantasy, The Codex Alera. (UK / ANZ)
After bitter fighting, Tavi of Calderon has eventually forged an alliance with Alera’s oldest foes, the savage Canim, and he must escort them on their long sea-voyage home. This will strain their fragile accord – but the worst is yet to come . . .  


‘Absorbing fantasy…an abundance of convincing detail’ Publishers Weekly  


Full Circle, the final volume of Pamela Freeman’s wonderful Castings Trilogy. (UK / ANZ / US)
Saker has devoted himself to dark enchantments and desires nothing but vengeance. And vengeance he has in abundance. His ghost army is slaughtering those of the new blood, fuelled by an ancient wrong. But while Saker had thought revenge would be simple, he’s now plagued by voices foreshadowing a calamity beyond his comprehension . . .  

‘An impressively different fantasy novel’ Sydney Morning Herald
 
  
The conclusion to Charlie Huston’s acclaimed Joe Pitt sequence, My Dead Body. (UK / ANZ)
Manhattan’s Vampyre clans have at last abandoned any claims on civility and have finally sprung fully for each others’ throats. The carefully maintained peace is forgotten. When the stakes are this high, there can be no neutrality – only winners and losers. But when the blood stops flowing, what side will Joe Pitt be on . . . ?  

‘One of the most remarkable prose stylists to emerge from the noir tradition in this century’ Stephen King

 
Ian Irvine’s triumphant conclusion to the climactic Song of the Tears trilogy, Destiny of the Dead. (UK)
Nish and his remaining allies are trapped on the Range of Ruin, surrounded by the relentless army of his father, the God-Emperor. And Nish’s choices seem limited: a humiliating surrender, or a suicidal fight to the death . . .   

 

‘For sheer excitement, there’s just no-one else like Irvine around at the moment’ SFX

  
And finally, Beyond the Wall of Time, the shattering conclusion to Russell Kirkpatrick’s majestic second trilogy, The Broken Man. (UK /US)
The wall of time has fallen, leaving the Gods free to indulge their hunger for violence. Few know of their escape into mortal lands – and these few struggle against the control of the malevolent mage Husk and with their own problems.  

 
‘Not since Tolkien have I been so awed’ Trudi Canavan
  

 A fine way to see out the year, we’re sure you’ll agree. Stay tuned for some first chapter extracts.