Category: News
- Darren Nash - April 1st, 2010
Orbit is delighted, excited and not a little proud to announce the development of the world’s first 100% biodegradable ebook. As you all know (Bob), the problem with the current crop of ebooks is that the electrons that make up the work have a carbon cost. Certainly, the environmental impact of ebooks is much lower than for traditional publishing, but it is a finite and measurable amount.
An electron, yesterday
Not anymore! Orbit’s proprietary new ‘Brigadoon’ e-formatting allows for a 100% carbon-free reading experience. By exposing the ebook file to a short burst of Cherenkov Radiation upon delivery, the electrons composing the file actually decay into lower-energy electrons and tachyons after the first reading. The new, low-powered electrons return to the environment at a net carbon cost of practically zero, while the tachyons, as is their nature, travel backwards in time to replace the ebook file that has just disappeared during the decay of the electrons that formed it.
To explain in layman’s terms: the electrons return to the environment and the ebook effectively travels backwards in time, reinventing itself before each reading causes it to cease to exist. With reference to Clarke’s Third Law, we hope you’ll forgive us a triumphant ‘Hey, presto!’
All of Orbit’s April titles will be available in Brigadoon as well as epub format from all good replicators.
by Darren Nash • 3 Comments • Posted in: All posts, Commentary, Fiction, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Rose Tremlett - March 15th, 2010
Event dates are confirmed for Kelley Armstrong’s UK visit:
Tuesday 23rd March – Forbidden Planet, London
Wednesday 24th March – Waterstone’s Deansgate, Manchester
Friday 26th March – World Horror Con, Brighton
As a special treat, paperback copies of the beautifully re-jacketed Frostbitten will be exclusively available to buy two months in advance at the bookshop signings!
by Rose Tremlett • Post a Comment • Posted in: News, Orbit UK, Signings and Events
- Darren Nash - January 24th, 2010
Fantastic news just in: The Magician’s Apprentice (AUS / UK / US) has won the 2010 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel!
Many congratulations to Trudi – and, indeed, to all of the shortlisted authors in what was a very strong field.
Click on the image above to read an extract.
by Darren Nash • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Awards, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Anna Gregson - January 22nd, 2010
Fantastic news: Sony have optioned the movie rights to Jeff Somers’ Avery Cates novels. A very wise move in our opinion, as there’s no doubt that these books would make the most awesomely full-throttle, kick-ass movies ever.
Read all about it here, and if you haven’t been lucky enough to experience the explosive, pedal-to-the-metal action-fests that are the Avery Cates novels yet, check out the third instalment, The Eternal Prison (UK/US/ANZ), released in February in the UK and Austalia, and already available in US. And while you’re at it, why not take a peek at our very attractive reissues of The Electric Church (UK/US/ANZ) and The Digital Plague (UK/US/ANZ).
by Anna Gregson • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Commentary, Miscellany, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Bella Pagan - January 22nd, 2010
To follow on from Darren’s post, Michael Cobley has started his year with a bit of a roar. The mass market of Seeds of Earth was out yesterday. Then book two of this trilogy, The Orphaned Worlds is out in April (see the amazing cover, right) and Michael’s not slowing down any time soon …
He has a short story, Black Fragmentia, out in the latest edition of PS Publishing’s Postscripts Quarterly (PS 20/21). Then The Maker’s Mark (set in the Seeds of Earth universe) is to appear in Newcon Press’s Conflicts short story anthology, due out in February/March 2010. March will also see Michael at Glasgow’s Aye Write festival as one of their featured authors. Amongst other things, he’ll be participating in a panel entitled ‘The Early Days of a Better Future’, along with other genre authors Ken Macleod, Richard Morgan, Hal Duncan and Debbie Miller. Then, in April, Michael will be at this year’s annual SF/F Eastercon convention where he’ll be chairing a couple of panels.
And lastly, as a treat for his fans, Michael is running a little competition to give away copies of the Seeds of Earth mass market edn. On ruminating his test question, Michael says he swung ‘between absurdly easy (how many letters are there in Greg’s surname and can you chew gum and walk at the same time?) or arcanely obscure (what is the Irish Gaelic translation of the 5th word on the 9th line on page 156?)’ but ultimately he went for something inbetween, and see here for more details. The deadline is 28th Jan … unless he changes it.
Looks like Michael has a busy Spring season ahead, and we’ll be keeping an eye on his rather stellar trajectory. Go Mike!
by Bella Pagan • 1 Comment • Posted in: New Titles, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- Darren Nash - January 22nd, 2010
And D is for The Deed of Paksenarrion, an omnibus edition of Elizabeth Moon‘s much loved fantasy series. Comprising The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold, this massive tome is a wonderful read in its own right but also serves to whet the appetite for Elizabeth’s first new fantasy in almost two decades. Oath of Fealty will be published in March, but meanwhile, you can discover for yourself what prompted praise like this:
‘Engrossing’ Anne McCaffrey
‘A superlative fantasy trilogy’ Booklist
‘Elves, dark sorcery, and high chivalry … thrilling’ blogcritics.org
and you can read an extract from The Deed of Paksenarrion here.
by Darren Nash • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- Darren Nash - January 15th, 2010
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.
by Darren Nash • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Deals and Deliveries, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- The Orbit Team - November 23rd, 2009
The Orbit team in London are looking for a new recruit! We want to employ an ambitious, talented marketer to work on marketing campaigns for Orbit UK books and on the digital marketing of titles published by Orbit’s parent company, Little, Brown Book Group.
The right person will be a big science fiction and fantasy fan, will have a marketing or book trade background, a track record for producing innovative and impactful online content, and will have strong technical skills (ideally including accessible XHTML / CSS / WordPress).
If you think this person could be you, and you’re excited by the possibility of working in London for the UK’s market-leading SFF publisher, then please apply in writing with a full CV, covering letter and current salary details to ann.woodhall@littlebrown.co.uk.
Alternatively, hard copies can be sent to:
Ann Woodhall,
HR Director,
Little, Brown Book Group,
100 Victoria Embankment,
London EC4Y 0DY
The closing date for applications is 13th December
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: All posts, News, Orbit UK
- Bella Pagan - October 23rd, 2009
Sci-Fi-London are putting on a fascinating programme of events this weekend at their own special brand of Oktoberfest. And Philip Palmer will be adding to its fascinating-ness, as he is taking part in their keynote debate A Space of Waste tonight, along with other notable genre authors and experts.
The debate promises to be lively and will take the form of a panel discussion on whether science fiction authors are wasting their time writing about interplanetary travel, space colonisation and the spread of mankind across the universe (…certainly not, we bridle in indignation!) given everything science has taught us about the realities, possibilities and costs of doing so. They will discuss whether science fiction should be more concerned with what’s happening right here and now on Earth such climate change, global pandemics and population growth or is space-based science fiction always going to be relevant just because people love good stories.
As recently reported here, Philip Palmer’s fabulous Red Claw is out this month, so the subject will be particularly close to his heart right now!
by Bella Pagan • Post a Comment • Posted in: New Titles, News, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Lauren Panepinto - October 9th, 2009
Sorry folks, I know I’ve been a little absent from the new-and-improved-now-with-author-posts orbit blog, but, as you might surmise from the photo to the left, I was off getting hitched. Not only that, but I had been feverishly working for months on the covers for the new Spring/Summer 2010 season, finished almost every one, had a huge Sales meeting here at Orbit HQ, and then ran off and got married in a supremely geek-flavored way. Among other geeky touches, Han and Leia over there were the cake toppers, and I made all the wedding party enter the reception to the opening theme to Star Wars.
Just wanted to let you loyal readers know, Orbit HQ is staffed with geeks at literally every level.
Now let the cover posts commence! (And yes, work on the WORST COVER EVER continues…)
by Lauren Panepinto • 4 Comments • Posted in: Art, Covers, Miscellany, News, Orbit US
