Author Archive

Coming this Spring from Orbit US

An unseasonably warm day here in New York has us looking forward to spring — and our spring list — here at Orbit US HQ. Starting this April, look for the first book in a new trilogy from Karen Miller, the first US publication of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Last Wish, and new books from Jeff Somers, Marie Brennan, Lilith Saintcrow, and more!

Click here for our Spring 2008 list
Click here for our Fall 2007, Winter 2008 list
Visit us at librarything.com/catalog/orbitbooks

Podcasts with Karen Miller and Tim Holman

Karen Miller talked with The Dragon Page Radio about The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage, as well as her upcoming Godspeaker trilogy, which will launch this Spring with Empress. You can listen to the podcast here.

And Orbit Publishing Director Tim Holman had a long ranging interview with Rick Kleffel at the Agony Column podcast. They talk about the launch of Orbit US and the future of genre fiction publishing. If you’re interested in the strategy behind Orbit’s publishing program, or the future of the genre, don’t miss it! Link.

The Escapement Arrives

International Covers for The Escapement

K.J. Parker’s Engineer Trilogy continues to wow the critics. In the Locus review of Evil for Evil (US, UK) and The Escapement (US, UK) Faren Miller says of the trilogy:

“The whole thing is brilliant – disturbingly so, since these fantasies (without a whit of magic) explore the human condition and reveal it all, brain, heart, guts and bowels, with a startling precision.”

And over at Strange Horizons, Farah Mendlesohn has a fascinating review of the trilogy that gets at the heart of what makes these books so compelling:

“The trilogy format of Parker’s work is deceptive: it both does, and doesn’t conform to recognisable fantasy trajectories. Yes, in almost all of the books there is at least one person who rises to power or moves towards the centre of the action; there is always big landscape; there are wars and many nameless people die. But the stories which form the plot are interlocked through future, present and past. Parker writes stories in which individuals become enmeshed in the machine, and in which economics is the god on which all the principals are sacrificed. ”

Read the whole review here.

You can find the first chapter of Devices and Desires here. Book three, The Escapement, is out this month.

Vampires, Snowmen, Vampire Snowmen?

Over at SF World Mark Yon (clearly skeptical about any urban fantasy starring a Vampire) finds a lot to like in Jennifer Rardin’s Once Bitten, Twice Shy:

“This is one that should be read: one for me that stands with my current faves Jim Butcher and Mike Carey.”

Another One Bites the Dust

At Scifichick.com Angela has a review of the next book in the Jaz Parks series, Another One Bites the Dust,

“With more action and tougher bad guys, this sequel doesn’t disappoint.”

And for a chance to win a copy of the first two books in the series (plus what looks like a very tasty chocolate snowman) visit Urbanfantasy.blogspot.com

The Free-willing Brian Ruckley

Brian Ruckley

There’s a fascinating interview with Brian Ruckley over at Grasping for Wind that covers the role of fate in Winterbirth.

“…I (in my infinite wisdom) had a pet theory that there were too many fantasy stories in which prophecies of one kind or another were central drivers of the plot (this was quite a long time ago – there are fewer of them around these days. Prophecies have gone out of fashion a bit.). I figured that every time a prophecy shows up it raises an obvious question about the role of free will in all these imagined worlds, since it at the very least implies an element of inevitability about what’s going on.”

Read more >>

Devices and Desires

desires.gif Devices and Desires is getting terrific reviews for its US launch. The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly said:

“Parker’s intricately plotted and meticulously detailed book, the first in a proposed trilogy, moves as deliberately and precisely as an antique watch.”

Publishers Weekly called it an “exquisite feat of literary engineering.” And in the December issue of Realms of Fantasy Magazine, Paul Witcover says:

“…the first volume of the Engineer Trilogy is an audacious and utterly captivating novel that, like the great Gormenghast books of Mervyn Peake, eschews magic in the creation and elaboration of an intricately detailed fantasy world.”

Read chapter one of the book right here. Book two, Evil for Evil, is out now in the UK, and will be in stateside stores this November.

Raves for Rardin

Once Bitten, Twice Shy is getting great reviews! The The New York Post featured it in their “Required Reading” column, and over at Katie’s Reading, Katie says:

“Before I started reading Once Bitten, Twice Shy I had read several reviews that claimed that this was a good book, a great book even. But in no way was I prepared for how truly wonderful Once Bitten, Twice Shy turned out to be. I loved it, plain and simple as that.”

Curious? Get to know Jaz with this excerpt, and then stop by Jennifer’s blog to meet the author.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy Banner