Category: New Titles
- The Orbit Team - August 1st, 2011
This is to launch the wonderful, fiery and dramatic cover for Cold Fire (US | UK | ANZ), book two in Kate Elliott’s new Spirit Walker series. This was illustrated by Larry Rostant and designed by Peter Cotton and I think they’ve created a fabulously atmospheric cover.
To me, this gives off hints of magic and danger in an age of adventure, where a young girl must choose her path. It’s certainly exciting stuff and this fantasy adventure is published by Orbit internationally next month, so not long to wait now! And if you want to quickly get up to speed on the series, Cold Magic (book one, US | UK | ANZ) is published in mass market this month. Elizabeth Moon found it ‘a definite hands-down great read’ and FantasyBookCritic ‘utterly loved it’.
And here’s a little more on the story of Cold Fire itself:
Trapped within a maze of blood, treachery and magic …
Cat and her cousin Bee are key players in a drama of dragons and politics. Warring factions want to use or destroy their growing powers, and they’re closing in. The Cold Mages are conspiring to take them prisoner and the warlord Camjiata thinks it’s their destiny to help him conquer Europa – whether they want to or not. And the man Cat was forced to marry is back, as arrogant and annoyingly handsome as ever. Worse still, as Hallows Night approaches, powers hidden deep within the spirit world are rising. Cat must seek allies against these threats, for if she makes the wrong choices, she’ll lose everything. Only one thing is certain. When Hallows’ Night comes the Wild Hunt will ride – and it feeds on mortal blood.”
by The Orbit Team • 3 Comments • Posted in: Covers, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - August 1st, 2011
We are absolutely delighted to pass on that Ghost Story was in the Sunday Times bestsellers chart yesterday! The book 100% deserves this and it is an unalloyed treat, huge congratulations to Jim Butcher for writing such a fabulous book.
And I know Jim likes to keep us guessing, but his plot twists in this are epic …
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: New Titles, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- The Orbit Team - July 28th, 2011
We’ve been counting the days until we can unleash Jim Butcher’s Ghost Story (UK | ANZ) onto the world – and publication day is at last upon us. And you can catch the first four chapters here before you rush out, waving your arms around, to get the new book!
We also have some great GIVEAWAYS, in the shape of five signed hardback cover proofs and five A3 print-outs of front cover artwork. Full terms/conditions plus pictures of the great stuff itself are here and to enter just fill in the small form below this post and click submit. And it’s for UK residents only! Lastly, if you didn’t catch the great mini interview with Jim Butcher on Harry Dresden, plus rereads of the entire series, these are here.
Early reviews have been rightfully amazing too, and we couldn’t agree more …
The Dresden Files defines all odds by getting better and better … If you love Urban Fantasy drop everything to catch up now. There is no other UF series that comes close”
GavReads.co.uk
“Ghost Story is a wonderful addition to the Dresden Files series … one of the most consistently well-written urban fantasy series in existence”
LoveVampires.com
“This stunning, exciting series entry with its heart-stopping action will shock and thrill”
Library Journal
‘Fans will be gratified … plot twists and high-stakes combat with an assortment of supernatural beings”
Publishers Weekly
cforms contact form by delicious:days
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: Art, Contests, Covers, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Reviews
- The Orbit Team - July 26th, 2011
Tom Holt’s comic fantasy Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages (UK | US | ANZ) was published recently and has delighted reviewers already. With some trepidation, we asked Tom the classic author interview question: where the heckers does he get his ideas from?
“One disadvantage I suffer from is that I don’t lead a funny life. Hilarious things don’t happen to me, which means I have to make it all up. Whoever arranges these things sees to it that somebody else gets all the good material – the wrong suitcase picked off the airport carousel, the hilarious mistaken-identity incident, all that – while I’m left with days that go something like –
7.00am: wake up
7.15am: drive to smallholding; feed pigs; feed chickens; feed pigs; feed cows; cut firewood
10.30am – 3.30pm: sit in front of computer trying to think of funny stuff
3.35pm as 7.15am
8.00am – 2.00pm as 10.30am
And so on, day after day (except in winter, when it’s still as dark as a bag at 7am), with never a hint of a free joke or a spontaneously-occurring outbreak of hilarity that I can pick up, shove under my coat, take home and effortlessly convert into marketable prose. The only break in the routine comes when I have to dispose of the body of the latest person foolish enough to tell me about some comic incident in their own life, with the recommendation (usually the last thing they ever say) that I ought to put it in one of my books. Read the rest of this entry »
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: Fiction, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - July 25th, 2011
We are enormously excited that Ghost Story is out THIS THURSDAY and we hope a lot of you are too!!!
To start launch week on a real high note and to keep you going for just a few days longer, we asked Jim Butcher himself a few questions about his biggest creation…
Did you always know Harry’s grizzly fate (thinking of his ghostly nature by Ghost Story) or do his adventures evolve for you organically as you write?
Oh, I knew from the get-go that I was going to kill him at some point — and then make him solve his own murder. That’s just how the universe seems to treat the poor guy. : ) There are some story events that are fixed in my mind — mostly the large-scale stuff, such as the war with the Red Court, the rise of the Fomor, and the oncoming events of the story’s endgame. The fluid organic things tend to be very personal matters — Dresden’s friends, his family, and especially his romantic relationships.
Do you sometimes find yourself slipping into the Harry Dresden character when say at the supermarket? What would he buy?!
Nah, I’m not Harry Dresden and not much like him, except maybe when he’s screwing up somehow. : ) Getting into character is something that happens after several minutes at the keyboard, and it doesn’t really intrude on the rest of my life.
Dresden buys bachelor chow — things you can prepare by popping in the oven for a few minutes, or maybe by boiling a little water — and which are not too expensive. He’s never really had an expansive budget. : )
Who is your favourite minor character and why?
Butters, I think. He was supposed to be a one-off character when I first designed him, a kind of wacky ME that provided a little color and humor while I was dishing out some grisly details about a murder. But I liked the guy so much, I had to give him a job, and now he’s become part of the regular cast. Butters is such a contrast of clueless and spooky-smart, and while he’s never going to be a studly hero, he’s never going to leave a friend in the lurch, either. I just like the guy.
What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked about the Dresden Files series?
“How do I get in touch with the real White Council?”
Followed closely by a statement: “I’m from the real White Council, and we aren’t pleased with what you’re doing.”
Finally, could you give us one little-known fact about Harry and his world?
Harry loves horses! He doesn’t get to ride much anymore, but when he was living with Ebenezar on his farm in the Ozarks, they went riding all the time. Granted, given his size, it might be fair to say that horses don’t like him nearly as much as he likes them, but I wouldn’t want to be presumptuous about the opinions of Equine-Americans.
Thanks Jim!
Jim Butcher’s all-new Dresden Files novel is out this week (27th July). If you haven’t already met Harry Dresden, check out our quick rereads to the rest of the series below:
STORM FRONT
FOOL MOON
GRAVE PERIL
SUMMER KNIGHT
DEATH MASKS
BLOOD RITES
DEAD BEAT
PROVEN GUILTY
WHITE NIGHT
SMALL FAVOUR
TURN COAT
CHANGES
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: Fiction, Interviews, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- James Long - July 21st, 2011
THE KEY TO CREATION has now been released in trade paperback, completing Kevin J. Anderson’s TERRA INCOGNITA trilogy – which in Kevin’s own words is “A complex and sprawling tale of sailing ships and sea monsters, intrepid explorers voyaging to uncharted lands, and a religious war that has thrown two continents against each other.”
If that doesn’t sound extremely cool, we don’t know what does. If you’re itching for some exciting swords-and-sails action, then rejoice because the first two books in the trilogy – THE EDGE OF THE WORLD and THE MAP OF ALL THINGS - are readily available in mass market paperback. So if you like your sea monsters, quite frankly you’ve got no excuse.
To mark the completion of the TERRA INCOGNITA trilogy, we asked cover artist Lee Gibbons a few questions about the wonderful illustrations he came up with for the books.
Can you tell us a little about the way you approached illustrating the TERRA INCOGNITA series? Were there any particular influences that you drew upon?
When I was first commissioned to produce these illustrations, Peter Cotton the designer had already decided on the layout he wanted: two elements separated by the type. It was always planned to have a scene at the bottom of the page and a close up of a piece of shiny navigational equipment at the top, linked by the map in the background.
Two things I had to bear in mind from the brief were that this had to appeal to both the UK and US markets and also to downplay the fantasy elements in the maritime scene, instead emphasising exploration and adventure. To this end, I drew on the influence of Victorian maritime paintings, which I have always had a soft spot for.
By the time we arrived at book two things had got a bit free and easy as regards the fantasy content! I was keen to have the map background continue across the three covers, but have to admit that with the type in place you would be hard pressed to notice that on the final printed covers. Read the rest of this entry »
by James Long • Post a Comment • Posted in: Interviews, New Titles, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Devi Pillai - July 15th, 2011
Over at Orbit Short Fiction, we have a new short story from Jennifer Rardin. It is a standalone — and it’s completely different from the Jaz Parks novels.
What do you do when you’re in college and can’t think of anything better to do with your time? Make a deal with a voodoo queen, of course! And so starts the journey of Paul and Brady in PAUL AND BRADY GET HOODOO WITH THE VOODOO.
You can find the rest of Jennifer’s short fiction here, or you can start by reading the first novel in the Jaz Parks series, Once Bitten, Twice Shy.
by Devi Pillai • Post a Comment • Posted in: New Titles, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - July 11th, 2011
Hell Ship by Philip Palmer (UK | US | ANZ) is now unleashed, unabashed, unstoppable and available for reading! And it 
is in truth a rollercoaster ride featuring adventure at its most adventurous. Look no further than the info below and this free extract to see what we mean:
The Hell Ship hurtles through space. Inside the ship are thousands of slaves, each the last of their race. The Hell Ship and its infernal crew destroyed their homes, slaughtered their families and imprisoned them forever. But one champion refuses to succumb. Sharrock, reduced from hero to captive in one blow, has sworn vengeance. Although Sai-as, head of the alien slave horde, will ruthlessly enforce the status quo. But help is close. Jak has followed the Ship for years and their battles have left Jak broken, a mind in a starship’s body, focussed only on destroying the Ship. Together, can hunter and slave end this interstellar nightmare?
Philip has been kind enough to put up a ‘moodboard‘ of what has influenced his writing journey (a.k.a. time spent exploring space) and will be unveiling further creativity on this site and his blog over the next few weeks. You can also meet the man in person at Orbit’s upcoming London Summer signing on 30th July, so please come along and say hello! Read the rest of this entry »
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Fiction, New Titles, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Signings and Events
author post
One of the hoariest of science fictional archetypes is the idea of the artificial intelligence — be it the tin man robot servant, or the murderous artificial brain in a box that is HAL 9000. And it’s not hard to see the attraction of AI to the jobbing SF writer. It’s a wonderful tool for exploring ideas about the nature of identity. It’s a great adversary or threat (‘War Games’, ‘The Forbin Project’), it’s a cheap stand-in for alien intelligences — it is the Other of the mind.
The only trouble is, it doesn’t make sense.
Not only is SF as a field full of assumed impossibilities (time machines, faster than light space travel, extraterrestrial intelligences): it’s also crammed with clichés that are superficially plausible but which don’t hang together when you look at them too closely. Take flying cars, for example: yes, we’d all love to have one — right up until we pause to consider what happens when the neighbour’s 16 year old son goes joy riding to impress his girlfriend. Not only is flying fuel-intensive, it’s difficult, and the failure mode is extremely unforgiving. Which is why we don’t have flying cars. (We have flying buses instead, but that’s another matter.) Food pills out-lived their welcome: I think they were an idea that only made sense in the gastronomic wasteland of post-war austerity English cuisine. I submit that AI is a similar pipe dream. Read the rest of this entry »
by Charles Stross •17 Comments • Categories: Guest Post, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK • Tags: Charles Stross
- The Orbit Team - July 7th, 2011
I feel like announcing this with some kind of roar or perhaps a drum roll as I’ve been waiting for this for so long and today is actually LAUNCH DAY! But as we’re open plan and I’m highly unmusical I’ll let this do the job …
Charles Stross’s Rule 34 (UK | ANZ) is many amazing things. It’s a fast-paced Edinburgh-based crime novel set a few years into the future. It also displays lashings of Charles Stross’s wry humour and I enjoyed more than a few winces and chuckle-out-loud moments. Another aspect I really enjoyed was Stross’s extrapolation of our current technology, where our usual gadgets have been moved on a step or three. The BBC’s Click technology programme covered augmented reality just last month, but in Rule 34 it’s a useful, fully-fledged reality.
But perhaps most importantly, I found myself completely caught up in the colourful characters (a detective inspector, a young scalleywag called Anwar and a master criminal showing signs of psychosis known as the Toymaker). There’s not the space here to revel in the bizarre crimes DI Liz Kavanaugh has to investigate (domestic appliances in unlikely places …), or talk about the highly suspicious Eastern European bread-mix young Anwar is peddling. But you can sample for yourselves by reading this plot summary or by enjoying chapter one here. Read the rest of this entry »
by The Orbit Team • Post a Comment • Posted in: Extracts, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Reviews
This is to launch the wonderful, fiery and dramatic cover for Cold Fire (US | UK | ANZ), book two in Kate Elliott’s new Spirit Walker series. This was illustrated by Larry Rostant and designed by Peter Cotton and I think they’ve created a fabulously atmospheric cover.
