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For some time now I’ve been running a feature on my website called SF/F Song of the Week. Like a bar which sells books and also serves chocolate, this has the merit of combining several really good things under a single roof. And I’ve invited a number of writer friends and other folk connected with the genre to contribute their choices — as ‘blogjay’ of the week.
The selections have been fabulous, as you’d expect, with such a huge wealth of science fiction and fantasy related songs to choose from. But for my money, the intros have been even better than the music — some of them are love poems to favourite songs, many are rich in autobiographical detail, and all offer insights into the writer’s heart and soul.
I relish Mike Cobley’s account of his experiences at University when selecting Space Station Number 5. Stephen Hunt has written a gorgeous account of his youth as a young geek in love with Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip; before maturing into the very grown up and sophisticated geek that he now is. Mike Carey wrote a joyous piece about Genesis, a band who also dominated my teenage years. Adam Roberts wrote a piece about Gary Numan that made me laugh out loud. Lilith Saintcrow chose a filk song that made me laugh out loud even louder. Read the rest of this entry »
by Philip Palmer •Post a Comment • Categories: Guest Post, Uncategorized • Tags:
- James Long - August 3rd, 2011
Last Saturday dozens of fans descended on London’s Forbidden Planet to meet Tim Lebbon, Nicole Peeler, Simon Morden and Philip Palmer at our Orbit Summer Signing. For an hour the authors chatted with fans, signed books and – in Nicole Peeler’s case – received rather fancy gifts from generous readers.
At the after-show party (it was as glamorous as it sounds, honest) the beer and conversation flowed, and a fine time was had by the authors, editors and bloggers who attended.
Here are some photos of the day – if you missed it, don’t worry: there will a bigger, even better event next year!
So awesome was this haul of books that it had to have two guards protecting it at all times. The copies of EQUATIONS OF LIFE (UK | US | ANZ) were deliberately placed at the front to lure people in with their hypnotic covers. Dastardly, we know.
The fantastic four, bracing themselves for the coming signing. Read the rest of this entry »
by James Long • Post a Comment • Posted in: Orbit UK, Signings and Events, Uncategorized
- The Orbit Team - August 1st, 2011
Two years ago, in the fall of 2009, I received a submission for the book that would eventually become Germline. At the time, it was more a series of linked novellas than a novel, but immediately I knew there was something there. The writing was incredibly raw, utterly riveting, and simply exciting. This was military science fiction– there were super soldiers, futuristic weaponry, powered armor– but not like I’d ever seen it before. The emotional depth to the characters was incredible and their experiences were genuinely harrowing. That first read through reminded me more of accounts from actual soldiers and journalists embedded in the field than the standard action-movie fare. This was The Hurt Locker, and Jarhead, and Restrepo… just with super soldiers, flachette rifles, and powered armor.
Now, Germline is finally here in its finished form. The first of three novels, each telling the story of this future war through the eyes of a different combatant: a journalist on the front lines, a genetically engineered soldier, and a man tasked with hunting down escaped genetics.
Read the rest of this entry »
by The Orbit Team • 1 Comment • Posted in: New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Reviews, Uncategorized
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I love aliens. My belief is that science fiction is a genre which may and should deal with serious themes and complex ideas, but it’s also a form of fiction which is uniquely positioned to celebrate the full gamut of the fantastical and the amazing and the extraordinary.
In other words, unless the SF writer in question has a compellingly good excuse, there should ALWAYS be aliens.
Some aliens are allegorical; they’re a way to explore themes of, er, alienation and identity. Some aliens are just B.E.M.s — aliens of the bug-eyed and monstrous variety, who are only there to be zapped or blown up by a muscular hero. But some aliens are the good guys, who rebuke us with their higher moral code. That can be a little tiresome — my own theory/thesis is that for all its flaws, the human race will not prove to be the MOST evil or pernicious species in the universe. Plus, nobody loves a goody-two-shoes.
It is, I’d argue, pretty much impossible to write a credible alien, unless you ARE one. All a writer can do is hint at a strangeness beyond comprehension; which tends to result in aliens that come across like Buddhist monks, or dysfunctional nerds with no social skills. I know no examples of the former; but most of my friends fall into the latter camp. So, actually, aliens to me aren’t all that strange.
It’s also pretty much impossible to create an ORIGINAL alien. There are only so many permutations of carbon-based life-forms that can be imagined. Two legs, three, four, or many more. Head in the wrong place. Different eyes, more eyes than we’re used to, no eyes at all. The marvels of the insect kingdom have inspired many SF writers; the monsters of the ocean deep are also a great source of inspiration. But frankly, if it’s not a crab or an insect or a squid or a snake or a dog with the head of a jackal, it’s going to be an alien disguised as a human being. Read the rest of this entry »
by Philip Palmer •Post a Comment • Categories: Guest Post, Uncategorized • Tags:
- Kirk Benshoff - July 26th, 2011
The Troupe by Shirley Jackson Award winner Robert Jackson Bennett hits shelves February 2012. When you have an intelligent combination of thriller, horror, and Americana…you end up with a book that stands on its own.
I’m going to write more about the process and how I got to the final design. But since we’re so excited about launching the cover, here it is today!
After the jump see the cover full-size with a teaser…
Read the rest of this entry »
by Kirk Benshoff • Post a Comment • Posted in: Art, Covers, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Uncategorized
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Have you heard the joke about the Hollywood starlet who was so dumb she slept with the writer?
Another favourite of mine is the joke about the writer who died and was offered the option of going to Heaven or to Hell. So he went to Hell, escorted by St Peter, and was shown a room full of writers chained to desks, being beaten and whipped and abused by demons. He didn’t fancy that, so he went to Heaven and was shown a room full of writers in chains, being beaten and whipped and abused etc. The writer, baffled, asked what actually was the difference between the two places? And St Peter said, “In Heaven, the writers all have book deals.”
I love writer jokes because they’re all true; writers are crazy people who only write because they have to.
In the course of my career I’ve met a lot of writers. Almost all of them nice, a couple not so nice. I’ve worked with theatre writers and movie writers, including one Oscar winner (“The British are coming!”), and as a writer myself I’ve written prime time TV cop shows, thrillers, movies (2, as co-writer), and a pretty wide variety of radio plays, as well as writing SF for those nice people in Orbit. [NB the software on this site is programmed to automatically amend the words 'my bloody publishers' to 'those nice people at Orbit' - clever, huh?]
Writers, you’ll be interested to hear, are all the same, no matter what medium they write for. We’re all, in other words, wonderful, warm-hearted, generous, and totally obsessed with the ideas in our own brains. We’re also inclined to carp; Kieran Prendeville once told me that the apposite collective noun is a ‘whinge’ of writers. Read the rest of this entry »
by Philip Palmer •1 Comment • Categories: Guest Post, Uncategorized • Tags:
- Emily Rowland - July 15th, 2011
We’ve got a visual treat for you heading into the weekend: beautiful atmospheric Echo City wallpapers for your device of choice.
The imaginative Lee Gibbons has done the illustration, and Peter Cotton has designed this fantastic dark fantasy cover.
Tim Lebbon posted about Echo City earlier this week, so definitely check it out if you haven’t already.
Wallpaper download links are below. Enjoy!
iPad | iPhone/iPod | NETbook | 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 | 1920 x 1200
by Emily Rowland • Post a Comment • Posted in: Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Uncategorized
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Last Saturday I ran a workshop for a bunch of new and aspiring SF writers on behalf of a great organisation called Spread the Word, at the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. This was the follow up to a previous event last year organised by StW called Guilty Pleasures, which was a panel/workshop day featuring writers of SF, crime, horror and historical romance — ALL IN THE SAME ROOM!
But the brief this time was to explore the potential and craft of SF in a one- day workshop for writers new to or experienced in that genre; and I was pleased to find it was a sell-out.
I began the day by discussing some general concepts of writing that are particularly important for SF — namely worldbuilding and POV. I read a chapter from Hell Ship, featuring Sharrock, his cathary, and his lost village. And I then read a section from The Book of the New Sun, a fantasy novel that’s actually SF (although, since it’s Gene Wolfe, that’s never ENTIRELY clear) and which is a masterly example of how to create a world with a detailed geography, culture, and language all its own.
Words are the key in my view; those magic phrases that feel real, yet evoke strangeness. Wolfe’s genius is to use words like ‘autarch’ and ‘fuligin’ and ‘asimi’ which sound invented, but are in fact real words that have fallen out of use, or are utterly arcane. World building isn’t just about making maps and writing future histories; it’s about the poetry of words that imply as much as they describe. At the other end of the spectrum, a military SF writer like Dan Abnett has to invent words for GUNS; like the PDW (personal defence weapon) and PAPS and hardbeams and M3A pipers and thumpers, all of which feature in his fab new book Embedded. If the jargon is right; the world feels real.
I also talked about Scott Westerfeld’s The Risen Empire, which is the masterclass in how to manipulate POV to create great action sequences. And I talked a bit too about Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl, which creates a stunningly real near-future world in prose so beautiful you could kiss it.
Then I asked a room full of strangers to create an alien for me … Read the rest of this entry »
by Philip Palmer •Post a Comment • Categories: Guest Post, Uncategorized • Tags:
- Rose Tremlett - July 8th, 2011
Orbit UK have gathered together some of our authors with books publishing this June-Aug, and are holding a BIG SUMMER SIGNING!
Come to Forbidden Planet, London on Saturday 30th July, 3-4pm, to meet…
TIM LEBBON, PHILIP PALMER, SIMON MORDEN and NICOLE PEELER
Four brilliant authors, loads of fantastic books and an entire shop worth of other exciting distractions. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?
Full details on the Forbidden Planet events page, here.
by Rose Tremlett • Post a Comment • Posted in: Orbit UK, Signings and Events, Uncategorized
- James Long - July 6th, 2011
THE PRODIGAL MAGE (UK/US), book one of The Fisherman’s Children duology, saw Karen Miller returning to the world of her bestselling debut novel THE INNOCENT MAGE (UK/US), spinning an epic tale of a kingdom threatened by a natural cataclysm, where the only hope of salvation was the forbidden talents of a young man named Rafel.
This absorbing story is concluded in THE RELUCTANT MAGE (UK/US), which sees Rafel’s sister Deenie setting out on a desperate quest to find her brother, missing beyond Barl’s treacherous mountains. Deenie is convinced that only her brother’s magic can heal a fractured land, yet the more she sees of the dark sorceror Morg’s deadly legacy, the more she starts to suspect her brother is somehow involved in the scheme of an evil power that now seems reborn . . .
For a taster of this powerful fantasy, check out this exclusive excerpt.
Here’s what readers have been saying about The Fisherman’s Children:
“A compelling portrait of a blighted world in the company of flawed, fascinating people” SFX
“The Reluctant Mage is one of those rare tales that keep you entertained from beginning to end” SFBOOK.COM
“All the elements that will please fans of fantasy, and above all else it’s the characters that really bring this book to life” FALCATA TIMES
by James Long • Post a Comment • Posted in: New Titles, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Uncategorized
