Orbit Books

The Killing Moon

The Killing MoonN. K. Jemisin

The mesmerising first book of the Dreamblood duology from this critically acclaimed and Locus award-winning author is out now.
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2312

2312 Kim Stanley Robinson

A remarkable new science fiction novel from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author, Kim Stanley Robinson.
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N.K. Jemisin in “If Tolkien Were Black”

- - November 9th, 2011

Laura Miller interviewed N.K. Jemisin for her article “If Tolkien Were Black,” up today at Salon:

“The genre can go many, many more places than it has gone,” said Jemisin. “Fantasy’s job is kind of to look back, just as science fiction’s job is to look forward. But fantasy doesn’t always just have to look back to one spot, or to one time. There’s so much rich, fascinating, interesting, really cool history that we haven’t touched in the genre: countries whose mythology is elaborate and fascinating, cultures whose stories we just haven’t even tried to retell.”

Read the rest of the article at Salon.com. While you’re at it, don’t forget to read Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (US | UK | ANZ) – or, if you’ve already done that, The Kingdom of Gods (US | UK | ANZ), which just last month concluded the acclaimed Inheritance Trilogy.

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THE ASCENDANT STARS – out now!

- - November 4th, 2011

Iain M. Banks is someone who knows a thing or two about science fiction, so when he labelled Michael Cobley’s SEEDS OF EARTH (UK | ANZ) as ‘Proper galaxy-spanning space opera’, you just knew something special had begun. Two years on, tens of thousands of fans have been enthralled by Cobley’s war-torn universe where the human race battles ancient alien civilisations just for the right to survive, an epic tale continued in THE ORPHANED WORLDS (UK | ANZ).

Now, in THE ASCENDANT STARS (UK | ANZ) - the explosive final book in the Humanity’s Fire trilogy – the fate of the human race will be decided. Ancient forces are awakening. Battle fleets are converging. Sentients and machines will lock horns in a devastating battle where there are only two outcomes: survival or the sterile dusts of space.

Praise for the Humanity’s Fire trilogy:

A convincing portrayal of political machinations and the plight of individuals caught up in events beyond their comprehension’ – GUARDIAN

‘A great hunky juggernaut of a Space Opera novel . . . that should be greeted with enthusiasm by fans of Peter F. Hamilton and Iain M. Banks’ – SFFWORLD

‘A really good, enjoyable and compelling book, written with verve and more than a little humour’ – BOOKGEEKS

‘There is a lot of depth to be found in Michael Cobley’s richly imagined universe, the characters beg deeper exploration, and the series as a whole possesses tremendous potential . . . Highly recommended’ – FANTASY BOOK CRITIC

‘This is really a fine piece of work and could, when it’s all finished, be up there with the aforementioned Tolkien or Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series as one of the all-time greats’ – SF CROWSNEST

‘Another author that is being added to my buy-on-release list and one that is a breath of fresh air into the genre with an intriguing, complicated and a well executed story. Highly recommended’ – WALKER OF WORLDS

Michael Cobley can be found online at www.michaelcobley.com. A video Q&A with Michael about the Humanity’s Fire series can be found here.

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Goodreads Choice Awards

- - November 3rd, 2011

The Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards are open for voting!   The first round includes THE HEROES by Joe Abercrombie, GHOST STORY by Jim Butcher, THE ROGUE by Trudi Canavan, LEVIATHAN WAKES by James S.A. Corey, DEADLINE by Mira Grant,  EAT SLAY LOVE by Jesse Petersen, and RULE 34 by Charlie Stross.

And if your favorite didn’t make the list, don’t worry! You can still write in nominees — so visit goodreads and vote already!

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author post

The Birth of the Comarré

by - November 2nd, 2011

Kristen Painter’s House of Comarré series continues this month with FLESH AND BLOOD. Book 3, BAD BLOOD, will be available in December. You can keep up with Kristen at the official Facebook page.

One of the questions I get asked most often is where the idea for the comarré came from, these hybrid humans bred to be blood slaves for the vampire nobility. Usually I say that I’ve carried the idea of Chrysabelle around in my head since college, which is true, but that was just a blurred image of a woman in a slinky white dress dipped low enough to reveal a gold tattoo on the small of her back. It wasn’t the comarré, exactly. More like the seed that grew into Chrysabelle. Read the rest of this entry »

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Annabel Lee, AFTER THE RISING by Mira Grant

- - October 31st, 2011

Mira Grant, author of Feed, Deadline, and the upcoming Blackout has once again left a lovely present in my inbox—a poetic present! Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee, I give to you: Annabel Lee, After the Rising! And if you missed ‘Twas the Night Before the Uprising last december, check it out.

Download as:  Lo-res Jpeg    Hi-Res Jpeg   Printable PDF

 

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author post

Interview with Uri

by - October 26th, 2011

In honor of my Days of the Dead blog tour, I’d like to introduce you to one of my vayash moru (vampire) characters from the Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings series.  Vayash moru play an important part in my books, aiding–and sometimes opposing–Tris Drayke and Jonmarc Vahanian.

Here, I’d like to introduce you to Lord Uri,  a member of the Blood Council.  In life, he was a thief and a card sharp, and in death his ethics have been questioned even by others on the Blood Council.  He is not overly fond of mortals, especially not Jonmarc Vahanian, with whom he has repeatedly sparred verbally. 

Q:  What has immortality taught you?

A:  Mortals never learn.  This creates great opportunity for those who do.

Q: You have repeatedly shown disdain for Jonmarc Vahanian, yet in the end, you have grudgingly chosen to side with him rather than against him.  Why?

A:  Jonmarc Vahanian annoys me.  I knew his kind quite well when I was mortal.  And while he made a lot of money for me when I bet on hi back when he was a Nargi fight slave, I find him arrogant in his abilities. But I have to admit, he is good at fighting.  And after last year’s vayash moru insurrection, I find myself owing him–a damnable situation.

Q:  Like most of the Blood Council, you chose to ally with the mortals of the Winter Kingdoms against the Temnottan invaders.  Why?

A:  In this, the living and the undead have common cause.  Temnotta will not be a kind master if the northern forces prevail.  I endured far too much of that kind of oppression in Nargi to serve another such master.  Once again, to my great annoyance, I find Jonmarc Vahanian and I to be on the same side.

Q:  What is your biggest disappointment about immortality?

A:  That despite superior strength and speed, my kind still fall prey so easily to those who would destroy us.

Please check out my Days of the Dead online blog tour—there are lots of other free downloads, drawings for free books, excerpts, interviews and fun—details are at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com

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Wallpapers for THE HEROES by JOE ABERCROMBIE

- - October 25th, 2011

I loved working on these epic covers of badassery (technical term) with Gene Mollica & Michael Frost…so now that The Heroes is out, it’s totally time for wallpapers! I think these covers are set to volume 11, just like Joe Abercrombie’s writing, so if you like gritty, brutal, real-life epic fantasy with fabulous characters and a helping of political backstabbing, then you really should pick up The Heroes, out now in Trade Paperback.

Here’s all the wallpaper download links…if anyone needs a specific dimension made, let us know!

1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 |1920 x 1200 | iPhone | iPad

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author post

Form, Structure and Scouting

by - October 25th, 2011

“What I love about this,” the director said, “is the form of the piece.”

I locked my expression into ‘polite neutral’ and tried nodding and smiling.  We were in a scout hut in Kew, rehearsing a play that I’d written for a reading in a few weeks time, and the director was twiddling a pencil between his fingers in the manner of a repressed creative genius just waiting to strike that rogue comma with the sharpened point of HP.

“I love the way the form and the structure both reflect the cascading nature of the language and narrative as it builds out of control from the prime inciting incident to the moment of character curve completion.”

I kept on smiling.  This was, I felt, the most polite thing I could do under the circumstances.  I feel I should add that the director on this particular literary project was nothing if not brilliant.  A damn good director, a very good bloke and a man I would happily write for again.  But, and this was a bit of a sticking point for me, he also knew damn more about writing than I did.

This is not the same as being able to write – he confesses that he can’t write for toffee – but on the other hand, he’d had a lot more training in the area by which he was able to discover this truth.  Whereas I have always just… muddled by.  Working with him was, therefore, something of a painful reminder of a constant truth… that sometimes being a good writer, is not the same as being a good author.

Talking about your literary works is, I personally think, one of the hardest things a writer has to do.  There are a lot of problems stacked against you, of which the first and usually most deadly, is personal bias.  As the writer, I naturally know, as no one else can, that my epic, 700 page-long tome – ‘What I Did That Tuesday Afternoon When I Had Gastroenteritis’ – is nothing short of a scintillating work of literary genius.  My heart, my soul, and quite possibly other bodily fluids, judging by the title, have been poured into this, along with a great deal of time and a lot of earnest thought.  When, therefore, my editor turns round and suggests that it’s a light-hearted romp beside sold alongside ”Funny Jokes For Farting Fathers’, a certain blindness overwhelms my otherwise calm literary judgment.  Under these circumstances, answering questions coherently about ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ and why it and it’s puce-coloured cover are sat in the Silly Section of the bookshop, and even the most thoughtful of authors struggle to see through their own bias to a clear and sensible reply. Read the rest of this entry »

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Gail Z. Martin’s Days of the Dead Blog Tour

- - October 24th, 2011

Gail Z. Martin is hosting her annual Days of the Dead blog tour, and she’s kicking it off with  giveaways, special interviews, downloadable treats and news.  She’s also sharing four different excerpts from her upcoming book, THE DREAD, which is now available for pre-order.  Here’s excerpt #1 of four—enjoy!

If you’re new to The Fallen Kings Cycle you can dive in with THE SWORN, which is out now. Enter below for a chance to win a copy — we’ll pick three winners on Friday!

  1. (valid email required)
 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

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Press release: Orbit UK has recruited commissioning editor Jenni Hill

- - October 17th, 2011

Orbit, the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, is delighted to announce that Jenni Hill will be joining the Orbit UK team as Commissioning Editor on 31 October 2011, reporting to Editorial Director Anne Clarke. Hill joins Orbit from Solaris Books, where she has worked with a variety of science fiction, fantasy and horror authors such as James Lovegrove, Gail Z. Martin and Emily Gee.

Anne Clarke says: “We are delighted to have found such an enthusiastic, energetic and deeply knowledgeable editor to join our team. I think Jenni will bring a lot to the role and we’re all looking forward to welcoming her aboard at the end of this month.”

Jenni Hill says: “My time at Solaris has been a fantastic experience, and though I’m sad to say goodbye to them, I couldn’t resist the opportunity offered by the Orbit editorial team. They already have a brilliant list of authors and I’m looking forward to finding some new talent, too. I can’t wait to get started!”

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