With sinister echoes of 1984 and Brave New World, this original novel features a near-future city where medical science invents a single-dose pill for eradicating many common genetic defects . . .
Read a sample
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’. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re in the US or the UK, here are some of the places you can see Orbit authors in February, from bookstore signings to conventions.
February 2-4th: SFX Weekender
This convention in Prestatyn Sands, North Wales, will play host to several Orbit authors. Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Benedict Jacka, Michael Cobley, and Ken MacLeod will all be on panels and signing books (full schedule) — and we will have exclusive early copies of MacLeod’s Intrusion and Jacka’s Fated available. Plus, our own Anne Clarke will appear on the “How to Get Published” panel on Friday evening.
Saturday, February 4th
Gail Z. Martin at B&N Carolina Place Mall, Pineville, NC, 1 PM.
Mira Grant (with Stephen Blackmoore) at Borderlands Books, San Francisco, CA, 3 PM.
Friday, February 10th
Gail Z. Martin at B&N Morrison Place, Charlotte, NC.
Saturday, February 11th Gail Z. Martin at Books-a-Million Concord Mills, Concord, NC.
Wednesday, February 15th
N.K. Jemisin (with Livia Llewellyn) at KGB Fantastic Fiction, New York, NY, 7 PM.
February 17-19: SheVaCon
Gail Z. Martin will be at this science fiction convention in Roanoke, VA.
Thursday, February 23rd
Kate Griffin & Benedict Jacka signing advance copies of their new books (both being published in March) at Forbidden Planet, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, 6pm
February 24-26th: MystiCon Gail Z. Martin will be at this SFF and horror convention in Roanoke, VA — including a launch party for The Dread in the con suite at 7 PM on Friday.
Saturday, February 25th
Gail Carriger as keynote speaker at the inaugural Passion & Prose Conference, Long Beach, CA.
Walter Jon Williams at Page One Bookstore, Albuquerque, NM, 7 PM.
Sunday, February 26th Gail Carriger at SF in SF, San Francisco, CA, 1 PM.
Gail Carriger at Borderlands Books, San Francisco, CA, 6 PM.
Monday, February 27th
Robert Jackson Bennett at Book People, Austin, TX, 7 PM.
Wednesday, February 29th Yes, it’s a leap year! Gail Carriger will be kicking off her tour for Timeless at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hill Crossing, Beaverton, OR, 7 PM.
SEEDS OF EARTH, the first book in Michael Cobley’s space opera trilogy Humanity’s Fire, was first published in the UK in March 2009. Since then, the series described by Iain M. Banks as “Proper, galaxy-spanning space opera” has kept readers glued to its pages and eager to read more. Given the outstanding quality of Michael Cobley’s science fiction and its major success so far in the UK, Orbit is thrilled to announce a worldwide deal for a new book by this bestselling author. Orbit have acquired World English rights from agent John Parker at the Zeno Agency for a new standalone novel by Michael Cobley, set in the Humanity’s Fire universe.
The new book, WARCAGE, is a high-action space adventure currently scheduled for worldwide hardback release in autumn 2013. Ahead of that publication, all three existing books in the Humanity’s Fire series will be published by Orbit US, who are releasing SEEDS OF EARTH in the US in October, ORPHANED WORLDS in November and THE ASCENDANT STARS in December 2012. Anne Clarke, Editorial Director for Orbit UK, says:
We’re all delighted with the continuing success of Michael Cobley’s superb Humanity’s Fire series, and we’re very excited about WARCAGE and looking forward to sharing it with Mike’s fans next year. Michael Cobley is becoming an increasingly important name in science fiction, so we’re extremely happy that our colleagues in the US will be on this adventure with us too.”
There has been plenty of wow-ing (a technical term we use round these parts) about this glorious visual for Michael Cobley’s next book – The Ascendant Stars. Illustrator Steve Stone and designer Peter Cotton have done us proud with this one and the content is no less exciting I promise you!
This is the culmination of an SF trilogy packed with invention and adventure and you can check out extracts from Seeds of Earth (book 1, UK | ANZ) and The Orphaned Worlds(book 2, UK | ANZ) with more to come in due course on book 3, published in November. Can’t wait. If you can’t wait either, keep an eye on Mike’s website too for hints, tips and updates.
Mike has had his shiny new website just long enough to move in and add a little content, so without any further ado …
CLICK HERE (for exploding space ships, politics and scientifical things that catch the Cobley eye).
The Orphaned Worlds (bk2, UK|ANZ) will be out in mass market paperback in the Spring next year, then a few months afterwards bk3, The Ascendent Stars, will complete the trilogy. So to keep you going, get an Orphaned Worlds screen saver HERE and a free extract of Seeds of Earth(bk1, UK|ANZ) HERE. Get both, don’t be shy!
And saving the best until last, you can watch the illustrious Mike Cobley in action as he answers Orbit’s probing questions below.
For our Orbit UK fans, we have a fresh new wallpaper taken from the cover of The Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley, the sequel to Seeds of Earth. (You can read more about the book and Michael Cobley here.) I am loving the series illustrations being done by an Orbit favorite Steve Stone and I can’t wait to see the art plastered on all your assorted screens and digital devices. I’ve tried to cover all the standard display aspect ratios and devices (and yes, even the new iPad), but let me know if I’ve missed any important ones.
Enjoy the wallpapers, and don’t forget to pick up The Seeds of Earth and The Orphaned Worlds, both available now!
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 Worldsis 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!
C is for Cobley. Michael Cobley‘sSeeds of Earth, the opening volume of his Humanity’s Fire series, was published last year to great acclaim and a very gratifying response from the reading public, whose voracious demands sent it back for multiple reprints.
The mass market paperback is now unveiled for your reading pleasure – and a pleasure it is, indeed. The great Iain M. Banks thought well of it, calling Seeds of Earth:
‘Proper galaxy-spanning Space Opera with lots of weird aliens, secret ancient technologies and mysterious hyperweapons – a worthy addition to the genre’
Volume two, The Orphaned Worlds, will be published in trade paperback in April, giving you ample opportunity to addict yourself to this wonderful new series.
We were delighted to see not just one, but two fabulous Orbit books in the Guardian’s stylish Saturday supplement. The Gadgets Fiends piece presented us with a photograph of the bookshelf of the future, dripping with must-have gadgets, alcohol extraction devices (ahem, fancy bottleopeners) and e-items of various sorts. And although the futuristic bookshelf was rather short on books, we spotted Mike Cobley’s trailblazing Seeds of Earth at no.5 on the legend and Philip Palmer’s explosive Red Claw (UK | US) was a shelf or so below at position 8. Please see the image below for what our future holds …
… after a selected couple of quotes for those books:
For Seeds of Earth:
‘Proper galaxy-spanning Space Opera . . . a worthy addition to the genre’ Iain M. Banks
‘A tightly plotted, action packed epic that leaves you wanting more’ SciFi Now
For Red Claw:
‘Red Claw is that rare treat, an intelligent action adventure replete with intellectual rigour, human insight and superb storytelling’ – Guardian
‘Philip Palmer has crafted a novel that is brimming with promise… a refreshing and alternative read’ – SciFi Now
Click on the image for a larger and slightly more readable version:
- - February 7th, 2012
