Posts Tagged ‘Jon Courtenay Grimwood’

Cover Launch: THE EXILED BLADE by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s Assassini trilogy – described by the Sunday Times as “Gritty, grimy, decadent and compelling” – is a dark vision of a Venice in peril, and the rise of a young man cursed with amnesia and a taste for human blood. This epic tale began with THE FALLEN BLADE [UK | US | ANZ] and continued in THE OUTCAST BLADE [UK | US | ANZ]. 

The third and final instalment, THE EXILED BLADE, will be published in April 2013. For now, here’s the finished cover – courtesy of our talented designer Emma Graves – in all its grandeur.

If you’ve not yet delved into the depths of Grimwood’s dark, dangerous Venice, you can read a sample chapter from THE FALLEN BLADE here.

                                              

Grimwood’s Venice: Love and War in the ‘City of Sex and Death’

This week saw Orbit UK’s publication of Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s second Assassini book, THE OUTCAST BLADE [UK | US | ANZ], sequel to THE FALLEN BLADE [UK | US | ANZ] which was released last year. The critics loved Book 1:

‘Brings 15th Century Venice to luminous life . . . the writing is elegant, the dialogue razor sharp’ – SciFiNow

‘A novel you can gorge yourself on . . . substance as well as style’ – Salon Futura

‘A twisted, Machiavellian, complicated and ornate book about survival and the terrible lengths people will go to for power. It may dress itself in the trappings of an angel-faced vampire assassin, but readers expecting Brent Weeks will be stunned to find Tim Powers instead. And even that is unfair – political, compelling, dark and urbane, this is a unique and stylish book that belongs wholly to Mr Grimwood.’ – Pornokitsch

Why do readers and reviewers love this series so much? And what makes vampires so appealing – even though the word ‘vampire’ is never mentioned in the Assassini books? What made Jon set his historical trilogy in Venice? For an insight into the workings of Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s intricate mind, we thought we’d share with you the interview which appears in the paperback edition of THE FALLEN BLADE, which we think addresses those questions better than we ever could! Read on for the full interview. (more…)

A Dark Historical Fantasy: THE FALLEN BLADE by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Cover for The Fallen Blade, a hooded figure on a bridgeJon Courtenay Grimwood is a familiar name to SF fans; the author of ten previous novels, he’s been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke award twice and the British Science Fiction Association award no less than seven times, winning twice.

For his eleventh novel, Jon decided to strike out in a fresh direction and write a historical fantasy novel. And where better to set the story than in the endlessly fascinating city of Venice?

As Jon himself explains: ‘It’s a cliché to say Venice is the city of sex and death but it is. Venice is dying and has been dying for over a thousand years. It’s layered with history, one era on top of another. And it’s made with pillars and windows and statues stolen from other cities the Venetians looted. To write Venice I just had to open my eyes and carry a notebook.’

The result of Jon’s three trips to Venice, hours spent pouring over dusty old maps and many months of writing, is THE FALLEN BLADE (UK | US | ANZ): a dark, gritty tale of passion and politics in 15th-century Venice – a powerful city with powerful enemies.

Duke Marco has the throne, but his ruthless aunt and uncle rule in his stead, scheming against their enemies and each other. The pawn at the heart of their struggle is the duke’s young cousin, Lady Giulietta. When she is abducted by Mamluk pirates, it is an outrage that will trigger war.

As the German emperor and Mamluk sultan gather their forces against the city, Venice is heading for a battle it will surely lose. Its only hope lies in a mysterious boy possessed of inhuman strength and speed – and a past wrapped in mystery.

Praise for THE FALLEN BLADE:

Gritty, grimy, decadent and compelling” – SUNDAY TIMES

“His Venice is a dangerous place of dank, cut-throat malevolence, peopled by leap-off-the-page characters . . . a page-turning read” – GUARDIAN

“Dark and majestic” – FINANCIAL TIMES

“Grimwood creates a fascinating world and involving characters – most importantly, he makes us want to read the next two volumes of the trilogy” – INDEPENDENT

“The writing is elegant, the dialogue is sharp, the characters economically but well drawn, the action unrelenting” – SCI-FI NOW

THE FALLEN BLADE is out now in mass market paperback in the UK and ANZ, and in trade format in the US. The second novel in the Assassini trilogy, THE OUTCAST BLADE, will be published in May.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood can be found online at his website, as well as on Twitter.

March Events

On either side of the pond, there are plenty of places to run into Orbit authors in March.

Thursday, March 1
Gail Carriger at Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA, 7 PM

March 2-4
Kristen Painter at Fantasy on the Bayou, New Orleans, LA
Mira Grant at Consonance, San Francisco, CA

Friday, March 2
Gail Carriger at Murder by the Book, Houston, TX, 6:30 PM

Saturday, March 3
Gail Carriger at Book People, Austin, TX, 7 PM

Thursday, March 8
Jon Courtenay Grimwood at A Gothic Evening at Blackwell’s, Blackwell’s Charing Cross, London

Saturday, March 10
A. Lee Martinez at B&N at North East Mall, Hurst, TX, 2 PM

Wednesday, March 14
Amanda Downum at Dragon’s Lair Comics, Austin, TX, 6 PM

Saturday, March 17
Robert Jackson Bennett at Murder by the Book, Houston, TX, 1 PM

Wednesday, March 21
Ken MacLeod at Pulp Fiction Books, Edinburgh

Thursday, March 22
Amanda Downum at Pandemonium Books, Cambridge, MA, 7 PM

March 23-25
Mira Grant at AggieCon, Austin, TX

March 30
Gail Z. Martin at Books-a-Million Carolina Mall, Concord, NC

March 30-April 1
Mira Grant at Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle, WA

SFX Weekender 2012

The stormtroopers wasted no time in commandeering the decks . . .

After last year’s shenanigans at the SFX Weekender, we couldn’t wait to do it all over again. Excitement levels were therefore approaching unstable levels last Friday, as the Orbit UK team – along with THE FALLEN BLADE author Jon Courtenay Grimwood and FATED author Benedict Jacka – caught a train to Prestatyn, to attend the third SFX Weekender. The convention – run by top British science fiction magazine SFX – has quickly become one of the most anticipated events in British SFF, and this year was again well-attended by authors, editors, scriptwriters and journalists, as well as TV stars of shows such as Red Dwarf, Torchwood and Doctor Who – not to mention hundreds of happy fans and cosplayers!

Orbit's Anne Clarke on the publishing panel

After settling into our chalets (an upgrade on last year, as they had double-glazing!) we watched our very own Anne Clarke on the How To Get Published panel and enjoyed the Kitschies Awards presented by Pornokitsch’s Anne Perry and Jared Shurin. Later, we met up with INTRUSION author Ken MacLeod and SEEDS OF EARTH author Michael Cobley, and headed to a party thrown by our friends at Tor UK.

On the Saturday, once we’d recovered from our cake and alcohol intake from the previous night, we really got stuck in to the panels and signings. Mike, Ken and Benedict all signed books for fans at the Forbidden Planet booth, and took part in some pretty packed panel discussions! Benedict debated genre definitions with other urban fantasy authors on the What is Urban Fantasy? panel, Mike asked whether literature is the only place still flying the flag for space opera, and Ken MacLeod discussed apocalyptic fiction on the We’re All Doomed! panel, making interesting points about the class aspects of survivalist fiction and the ‘cosy catastrophe’. (more…)

Locus’s 2011 Recommended Reading List

Locus published their 2011 Recommended Reading List today, and you’ll see a lot of Orbit authors among their choices:

  • Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Deadline, Mira Grant (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Rule 34, Charles Stross (UK | ANZ)
  • The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie (US)
  • The Dragon’s Path, Daniel Abraham (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Heartless, Gail Carriger (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Fallen Blade, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Hammer, K.J. Parker (US | UK | ANZ)

And, in case you missed them the first time around, keep reading for a round-up of other Best of 2011 lists!

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World Con bloggery and more

It’s been a while since I posted on the Orbit blog. Running three separate websites of my own has kinda sapped my blogging energies. However, Aussie Con 4 is just around the corner, and down here we’re very excited to be getting the opportunity to meet visiting Orbit-ites Charlie Stross, Kate Elliot, Mira Grant, Gail Carriger, Helen Lowe, and of course Kim Stanley Robinson.

So … I’m delighted to say that Mira Grant has guest blogged at my main site on pseudonyms and things. Charlie Stross has promised me a post when he’s finished eating “yesterday’s stone cold vomit” (*Facebook reference on edits). And I’m about to email Gail, Kate and Helen (fell free to beat me to it gals!) in the hope that they’ll also drop by and say hello.

And while you’re floating around my blog enjoying Mira Grant’s post, you can back track to Jon Courtenay Grimwood ruminating articulately about repeating yourself in your writing.

Stay shiny, y’all.

Marianne de Pierres

Cover Launch: THE FALLEN BLADE

This lovely Monday we have an awesome cover for a book I really enjoyed reading and working on, The Fallen Blade, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. The fabulous Larry Rostant provided the very atmospheric imagery, and I had obvious fun playing with the type. With both the image and the type, we wanted to clearly evoke renaissance Venice, but portray the strong main character and dark adventure of the story.

The Fallen Blade is the best of both worlds: an alternative historic fiction set in a renaissance Venice at the height of her power, populated by supernatural creatures and backstabbing political intrigue, AND a fast-moving fantasy adventure tale of vampires, werewolves, assassins, and pirates. Jon Courtenay Grimwood does such a fantastic job of describing Venice that you feel a really strong sense of geography and atmosphere. I was just in Venice in January and I was really impressed with how true the historical and geographical details felt, and it makes following the characters and story weaved around this framework all the more immediate. I can’t wait to see where the story is going to go in the next book.

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