Category: Extracts
- Anna Gregson - May 21st, 2009
The Grand Conjunction (UK/AUZ), Sean William’s fantastic conclusion to the Astropolis series, is out this month and the reviewers have been saying some great things about it. Gary at Conceptscifi.com thinks that:
‘The Grand Conjunction is an absolute winner and a joy to read.’
And Liviu at Fantasy Book Critic says:
‘The novel succeeds grandly indeed. Highly, highly recommended.’
This is certainly a book on a ‘grand’ scale. Readers can expect more of the awe-inspiringly mind-boggling concepts that make Sean Williams’ space opera so exceptional. Read the rest of this entry »
by Anna Gregson • 2 Comments • Posted in: All posts, Commentary, Extracts, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Reviews
- Alex Lencicki - April 17th, 2009
Over at Grasping for the Wind John has posted a new extract from Kate Griffin’s A Madness of Angels. In this extract, Matthew Swift battles a very big — and very dangerous — litterbug. And if you haven’t yet, make sure to check out the trailer for the book.
by Alex Lencicki • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Extracts, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - April 13th, 2009
So, how did you spend your Saturday evening? I spent mine at LX 2009, the 60th Eastercon, watching multiple World Fantasy Award-winning author, Tim Powers, present Ken MacLeod with a well-deserved BSFA Award for Best Novel for his latest book, The Night Sessions. A gripping hybrid of SF thriller and police procedural, The Night Sessions is set in the future of The Second Enlightenment, where religion has finally been crushed and removed from political life:
A priest is dead. Picking through the rubble of the demolished Edinburgh tenement, Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson discovers that the explosion wasn’t an accident. When a bishop is assassinated soon afterwards, it becomes clear that a targeted campaign of killings is underway. No one has seen anything like this since the Faith Wars.
After the Middle East wars and the rising sea levels – after Armageddon and the Flood – came the Great Rejection. The first Enlightenment separated church from state. The Second Enlightenment has separated religion from politics. In this enlightened age there’s no religious persecution, but believers are a marginal and mistrusted minority. And now someone is killing them. But who? And – perhaps more importantly – why?
The more his team learns, the more the suspicion grows that they may have stumbled upon a conspiracy way outside their remit. Nobody believes them, but if Ferguson and his people fail, there will be many more killings – and disaster on a literally biblical scale . . .
It’s a terrific book with a mystery to unravel and a future world to explore, told with the characteristic dry wit and insight that makes Ken MacLeod one of British science fiction’s most consistently interesting and acclaimed voices. But don’t take my word for it – you can read an extract of The Night Sessions, here, and if that whets your appetite, you’ll be delighted to learn that it’s out now in paperback from all good booksellers. Or you could always buy it in hardback if you wish – it is an award-winning novel, after all!
Congratulations, Ken, from all at Orbit!
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Awards, Conventions, Extracts, Interviews, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - February 26th, 2009
To get you in the mood for the next eagerly-awaited instalment of the Dresden Files, we thought we’d pass on a few sample chapters of Turn Coat, out in hardback in April.
In this latest outing for Harry Dresden, professional wizard, Harry is placed in the unlikely position of helping his long-time nemesis Morgan. This is a man with “hard, steady eyes, and all the comforting, reassuring charm of a dental drill” and all he wants is for Harry to clear his name and save his life. But one false step could spell disaster for Chicago’s leading freelance wizard-for-hire. Needless to say, this is action-packed, completely un-put-downable and contains all the hallmarks of a top-notch urban-fantasy noir.
The summer sun was busy broiling the asphalt from Chicago’s streets, the agony in my head had kept me horizontal for half a day, and some idiot was pounding on my apartment door.
I answered it and Morgan, half his face covered in blood, gasped, “The Wardens are coming. Hide me. Please.”
His eyes rolled back into his skull and he collapsed.
Oh.
Super.
Up until that moment, I’d been labouring under the misapprehension that the splitting pain in my skull would be the worst thing to happen to me today.
I’d been completely wrong.
Read the full extract here.
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: Extracts, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - January 27th, 2009
Some exciting news for all you Prince of Nothing fans! A full chapter one extract of R. Scott Bakker’s The Judging Eye is now available to read:
The tracks between whim and brutality are many and inscrutable in Men, and though they often seem to cut across the impassable terrain of reason, in truth, it is reason that paves their way. Ever do Men argue from want to need and from need to fortuitous warrant. Ever do they think their cause the just cause. Like cats chasing sunlight thrown from a mirror, they never tire of their own delusions.
At the behest of their Holy Aspect-Emperor, the priests of the Thousand Temples harangued their congregations, and the Judges of the Ministrate scoured the land, seeking out and destroying all those who would either dispute the Truth or choose avarice over the mortal demands of the darkness to come. Everyone, whether caste-slave or caste-noble, was taught the Great Chain of Missions, how the words and works of each made possible the words and works of the other. They learned how Men, all Men, warred all the time, whether tilling fields or loving their kin. All lives, no matter how humble, were links that either fortified the Great Chain or impaired it, leading to the First Ring, the link from which the world itself hung: the Holy War against the apocalyptic designs of the Consult …
Or as it came to be called, the Great Ordeal.
Read the full chapter here >
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, Extracts, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - September 4th, 2008
This month we’re publishing the mass-market (regular sized) paperback of Charles Stross‘s near-future novel of crime and computer gaming, Halting State.
A whole bunch of reviewers rather enjoyed it when it first came out last year in the US and we think BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow summed it up pretty darn well in his review:
“Charlie Stross’s latest novel Halting State starts out as a hilarious post-cyberpunk police procedural, turns into a gripping post-cyberpunk technothriller, and escalates into a Big Ideas book about the future of economics, virtual worlds, the nation state and policing, while managing to crack a string of geeky in-jokes, play off a heaping helping of gripping action scenes, and telling a pretty good love story.”
But don’t just take Cory’s word for it (or ours)… you can sample the opening section of the story for yourself, courtesy of this extract from Halting State that we’ve posted elsewhere on the site.
And please feel free to leave your own mini-review of the book (or a link to your review elsewhere) in the comments, below, if you’ve already discovered the joy of Halting State for yourself and want to shout it to the world. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Extracts, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - August 19th, 2008
Charlie Huston, author of the Joe Pitt series, is over at Fantasy Book Critic talking to Rob about his upcoming book, Every Last Drop, published by Orbit in March 0’09:
Q: To begin with, for someone who has never read a Charlie Huston novel, how would you describe your writing style and where would you recommend they start?
Charlie: I think my prose is very direct. There’s a writer’s voice, and I have a style that’s meant to keep things moving, but the stories are delivered without much in the way of decoration. Dark, violent and profane are all apt adjectives…
You can read the full interview here or an excerpt from Every Last Drop over at Charlie’s blog.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, Extracts, Interviews, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - June 27th, 2008
August 2008 sees the UK publication of Ken MacLeod‘s brand new novel, The Night Sessions.
With a near(-ish) future setting that will definitely appeal to fans of both Ken’s last novel, The Execution Channel and Charles Stross’ recent Orbit title, Halting State, The Night Sessions tells the story of the apparent resurgence of anti-religious terrorism, fifteen years after ‘The Faith Wars’ (or ‘The Oil Wars’, depending on your point of view) and the Second Enlightenment that followed have radically altered the political and philosophical outlook of the world we know.
It’s packed full of Ken MacLeod trademarks: a mystery to unravel; one that’s wrapped in a slant-wise look at where the world might end up if the current tide of religious fundamentalism continues. And all laced with the sort of dry, laconic wit that regular MacLeod fans will know well and new readers will warm to immediately.
We’re publishing in hardback at £18.99, but if you’d like to get an early free sample, head on over to www.fantasybookspot.com, where you’ll find an excerpt from the first chapter: meet Edinburgh-based Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson and his leki-partner. Leki? Read it and see…
Plenty more from Ken MacLeod over at his blog: The Early Days of a Better Nation.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Extracts, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - June 25th, 2008
Charles Stross’ upcoming Saturn’s Children makes i09.com’s list of the Twelve Books You Should Read at the Beach This Summer. Though we say why limit yourself to the beach? It’s just as good on the train to and from the office!
Saturn’s Children is available from all good bookshops this July. You can read an advance excerpt here now.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, Extracts, News, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - June 3rd, 2008
Aidan over at A Dribble of Ink has flagged the first chapter of Terry Brooks’ The Gypsy Morph, available this September from Orbit. You can see the full post here or head straight over to Terry’s site here.
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Contents, Extracts, New Titles, Orbit UK
