Posts Tagged ‘Adrian Selby’

Coming Soon: THE WINTER ROAD by Adrian Selby

We’re delighted to share the cover for Adrian Selby’s forthcoming novel, THE WINTER ROAD (US | UK | ANZ). A gritty and epic adventure for fans of Mark Lawrence, Andrzej Sapkowski and Joe Abercrombie, The Winter Road is a fantasy novel which remembers that battles leave all kinds of scars.

The greatest empire of them all began with a road.

The Circle – a thousand miles of perilous forests and warring clans. No one has ever tamed such treacherous territory before, but ex-soldier Teyr Amondsen, veteran of a hundred battles, is determined to try.

With a merchant caravan protected by a crew of skilled mercenaries, Amondsen embarks on a dangerous mission to forge a road across the untamed wilderness that was once her home. But a warlord rises in the wilds of the Circle, uniting its clans and terrorising its people. Teyr’s battles may not be over yet . . .

All roads lead back to war.

Design by Lauren Panepinto
Illustration by Jaime Jones

‘CONTEMPORARY AND AS GRIMDARK AS IT COMES’: Announcing New Books from Adrian Selby

We were thrilled last year to publish Adrian Selby’s fantasy debut SNAKEWOOD, which has received rave reviews for its razor-sharp action scenes, original worldbuilding and gripping plot. If you’ve not yet read this wonderfully gritty tale about a band of twenty mercenaries who are being assassinated one by one by an unknown enemy, then never fear: the paperback is out this week!

That’s not all – we’re delighted to announce that Orbit have acquired two new books from Adrian and his agent Jamie Cowen, both fantasy adventures set in the same world as SNAKEWOOD. Adrian took twenty years to write his debut tale of twenty mercenaries, but we won’t have to wait that long again – the second book will be out in 2018. We’re counting down the days already.

Adrian can be found online at his website and on Twitter.

Praise for SNAKEWOOD:

‘Contemporary and as grimdark as it comes’ British Fantasy Society

‘Perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie’ RT Book Reviews

‘Absolutely fascinating and incredibly original’ Sense of Wonder

‘Relish the well-choreographed action scenes in this debut fantasy’ Library Journal

‘Wears its grimdark on its sleeve … a thrilling tale of adventure, betrayal, triumph and loss’ Interzone

‘A lot to enjoy, especially if you are a fan of dark, gritty, old-soldier stories’ Fantasy Faction

‘Demonstrates the command of style, character, plotting, and world building of a seasoned author’ Booklist

‘A fantasy novel that remembers that battles leave all kinds of scars’ B&N Science Fiction and Fantasy blog

‘I give it nothing but the highest recommendation’ Grimdark magazine

Meet the Author of SNAKEWOOD: Adrian Selby

We interviewed Adrian Selby, debut author of SNAKEWOOD (UK|US|ANZ), an epic fantasy of mystery, betrayal and bloody revenge publishing this month via Orbit.

Can you give us your best elevator pitch for SNAKEWOOD?
Fifteen years after the legendary mercenary crew Kailen’s Twenty disbanded, they’re being killed off one by one.  Told through a ‘found footage’ collection of journals and interviews, SNAKEWOOD is a record of their glory, their demise and the final days of those left alive as they desperately try to evade a lethal and relentless assassin.

When did you first know you were going to write this particular book?
1989. Back then it was the desire to tell a story of two old soldiers, buddies all their lives, crumbling apart from a life of war, with only each other to rely on as an enemy from their past came after them.  All these years later it became a more layered narrative, an exploration of how they and their old mercenary crew fell apart, a glimpse also of their glory years and the story also of the assassin hunting them down.

Faded glory and absent comrades are a great theme in the book – what is it about the ‘old soldier’ motif that’s so attractive to you as a writer?
It’s many things all bound up.  They’re more vulnerable.  This particular crew of soldiers were so badass in their prime, winning every purse, that it wouldn’t have been that interesting to focus on them back then.  But having saved each other’s lives so often, there are debts of honour that will now make them take risks for each other.  There is an ennui that pervades our middle age, when the people that made us who we are drift slowly away, leaving us only the joy of having known them, something we treasure and, in Gant and Shale’s case, honour enough to act on when these old friends are dying, and in so honouring perhaps do one good thing before their own time is up.

SNAKEWOOD was a fantasy twenty years in the making: can you tell us a bit about the path to publication?
I finally got my head together and researched and wrote the novel over a ten year span, a growing family edging its progress to the corners of my days.  I finished the first draft in February 2013, and started querying literary agents in May.  Jamie Cowen, of the Ampersand Agency, expressed an interest in reading the full manuscript in December 2013 and offered to represent me the following month.  He helped me get the manuscript into shape for a pitch to publishers and in the summer of 2014 approached Orbit, who appeared to quite like it! Now the editing’s done and the first hardbacks have just arrived from the printers, the culmination of all those years of work and a wonderful collaboration with the brilliant Jamie and everyone at Orbit.

inspirationWho inspires you as a writer?
I have favourite writers, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Annie Proulx, and many others who write exquisite prose in the service of magnificent and moving stories.  While I’m a sucker for a great page turner, and I’m looking at you Tim Powers, I am also inspired by those writers who deliver hugely original and/or well realised worlds, from the master, Tolkien, to the strange and vivid worlds of John Crowley, Jeff Vandermeer, Robert Holdstock, Brian Aldiss, Jack Vance and Hannu Rajaniemi.  Then there are the writers who deliver on all three, such as David Mitchell and China Miéville.

SNAKEWOOD would definitely fall into that category of ‘strange and vivid worlds’, with its varied poisons and ‘fightbrews’ (potions taken by soldiers to enhance their fighting skill) made from ingredients found naturally in their world. No other fantasy writer has explored this in quite the same way – how did this change the story you were writing?
It is in the story’s DNA, as all magic systems must be.  The power of the One Ring in Middle-earth moves every living thing in it like the tides as it journeys south with Frodo.  In my own world of Sarun, the magic is in the plant life; it is widespread, capable of being harnessed by anyone who can figure out the recipes with which to make effective magic of it.  Such power is inevitably held with those who know and own the recipes, and can thus control the rest, not unlike the control of literacy in the dark to middle ages.  The political order of the world is shaped by the knowledge of ‘plant’ and the race to innovate and learn new recipes.  Such things therefore govern trade, conspiracies, conquests and alliances.

Clearly Quentin Tarantino would have to direct any adaptation of SNAKEWOOD – a dark and gritty tale of assassins, soldiers and mercenaries on the run – but who would be your dream cast?
This was rather harder than I first thought! I see Javier Bardem as Gant, because I’ve seen him be a complete badass and yet he has a sensitive, expressive quality, softly spoken, perfect for an old mercenary that holds a strong love for old friends.  Shale, his lifelong buddy and in a way his rock is more Russell Crowe, all Gladiator – calm, ruthless and more stony in demeanour.  Karen Gillan would be a great Galathia, a vengeful young princess estranged from her throne.  She could easily bring out Galathia’s intelligence and rage.  Kailen, the genius former leader of Kailen’s Twenty, has to be Gabriel Byrne.  He can transfix you with those eyes, he has a great presence, commanding authority, but can give the impression of being able to crush you with his eloquence or slit your throat just as easily!

Adrian Selby, author of the groundbreaking fantasy epic SNAKEWOODADRIAN SELBY studied creative writing at university before embarking on a career in video game production. He is a Tolkien fanatic and an online gaming addict, and lives with his wife and family on the south coast of England. His debut novel Snakewood is an epic and inventive fantasy about a company of mercenaries and the assassin trying to destroy them. You can find Adrian on Twitter, tweeting as @adrianlselby.

Announcing SNAKEWOOD, a Fantasy Twenty Years in the Making

adrian selby -- cr selfSNAKEWOOD tells the story of the Twenty, a band of mercenaries being hunted down one-by-one by an unknown killer. We’re so excited to have acquired this debut epic fantasy tale from British author Adrian Selby, coming in 2016 – almost twenty years after he first put pen to paper! Which, if you think about it, is one year for every dead mercenary. Or is it? Who’s killing them anyway, and why? You’ll have to wait until early next year to find out . . .

Adrian says: “SNAKEWOOD is set in a world where magic is in the plant-life, concoctions of which, known as ‘fightbrews’, radically transform the capabilities and appearance of warriors at a terrible cost. In conceiving of this all those years ago, I knew the story I wanted to tell was focused on these soldiers and the price they pay for their brews and their sins. I can’t describe how delighted I am to have my debut published by Orbit.  Their passion and their support for SNAKEWOOD make me very excited about sharing the world that’s been in my head for twenty odd years with this other world I live in the rest of the time.”

And no, you won’t have to wait twenty years for the next one!