Author Archive

Karen Miller and N. K. Jemisin – London signing!

Two of our wonderful Orbit authors are over in the UK this week and will be doing a joint signing at Forbidden Planet in London this Saturday 30th October.

Karen Miller , author of The Innocent Mage and the recently released The Reluctant Mage, will be joined by N.K. Jemisin, author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and the soon-to-be-released The Broken Kingdoms.

Pop down to the Forbidden Planet store on Shaftesbury Avenue between 4 – 5pm this Saturday to meet the authors and get your exclusive signed copies!

The Spirit Thief & Exceptional Eyebrow Elevation

Has anyone else noticed that the raised eyebrow has truly become one of the staples of science fiction and fantasy entertainment?

The Spirit Thief (UK/US /ANZ) by Rachel Aaron is out this month – and since its protagonst is a scheming, devious and devastatingly charming rogue, we felt that only the most superb demonstration of singular suspension of the supercilium (yes, that’s ‘eyebrow’ in Latin) would do . . .

By being represented in this way, Eli Monpress is truly joining the ranks of heroes from science fiction and fantasy history who have excelled at exhibiting this particular brand of facial gymnastics. See the following examples for reference:

Exhibit A – Spock (though we must admit, he has a natural advantage over his human counterparts owing to his Vulcan genes)

Exhibit B – Wolverine (the classic ‘Don’t mess with me, even if my hair is a bit silly‘ eyebrow)

Exhibit C – David Tennant as Doctor Who (In fact, no one is allowed to play Doctor Who unless they can display an ability to get some impressive eyebrow height)

And Exhibit D – The Rock (only vaguely fantastical – for The Scorpion King perhaps? – but there was no way we weren’t including this picture) (more…)

Cover Launch: EQUATIONS OF LIFE by Simon Morden

We are exceptionally proud to present the covers for an explosive trilogy of near-future thrillers that will be storming onto the scene next year. Equations of Life, Theories of Flight and Degrees Freedom make up this bold, fast-paced and highly intelligent new series that is a real breath of fresh air. It’s unlike anything else on the market at the moment and we wanted a striking new cover style that would convey that very fact – so here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Simon Morden has impeccable SF credentials, having edited the BSFA’s Focus magazine and served as a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He’s also a bona fide rocket scientist, having degrees in geology and planetary geophysics . . . so we were obviously expecting great things! I’m very glad to say that when we first read his series we were all astonishingly impressed – totally blown away. And since we don’t think you should have to wait for the future, we’ve decided to publish three books in three months – April, May and June 2011.

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A shining example of a science fiction novel…

We’re very proud to announce that Lightborn (UK / ANZ) has arrived in stores in all its shining glory. Tricia Sullivan, a former Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner, has been widely acknowledged as an audacious, original and exceptionally talented author – here are just a few of the quotes she has received:

‘A challenging, disturbing, often compulsive read’ Time Out

‘Tricia Sullivan returns to science fiction not a second too soon . . . I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in a long time’ Guardian

‘Painfully gripping throughout – read it if you dare’ The Times

So if you do dare . . . dip into the world of Lightborn and you shall be greatly rewarded. You’ll find a fantastic premise that revolves around ‘shine’ – a mind-altering technology that has revolutionised the modern world. It’s the ultimate in education, self-improvement and entertainment – beamed directly into the brain of anyone who can meet the asking price. But what happens when that ‘shine’ goes renegade and develops a mind of its own?

With its striking cover, this really has turned out to be a very exciting package – and you can take a sneaky peek at what’s inside by reading a free extract here.

The Runelords Series – Cover Panorama

This month Chaosbound (UK /ANZ) is out – book eight in David Farland’s Runelords series. It’s already had some top-notch reviews, such as: ‘Chaosbound is a profound fantasy that explores deep complex philosophical issues . . . with timely applications for our world’ from Harriet Klausner in SFRevu and ‘Stark, dark and elegiac’ from Publishers Weekly.

You may have heard of this series, and some impressive names raving about it (see below), but have you spotted what’s special about the covers of our UK editions? Designed by the highly talented Paul Young, it just so happens that when you put the covers side by side they form a continuous fantasy landscape . . .

 
You can click here to see the whole panorama.

And as for that praise we were talking about . . . (more…)

Gail Carriger’s British Debut…

We are hereby exceptionally proud to announce that Gail Carriger’s exquisitely charming Parasol Protectorate series has finally found its way to the seat of the empire – the green and pleasant lands of the British Isles. Delivered via dirigible direct into Hyde Park’s airfield, all three titles have arrived just in time to stem the Commonwealth’s desperate need for treacle tart, parasols and lessons in vampire social etiquette.

If you perchance found yourself at Britain’s most glorious festival of steampunk this weekend – the so-called Weekend at the Asylum – then you will undoubtedly be acquainted with Miss Alexia Tarabotti already.

With the gift that she has bestowed upon every privileged guest, she has imparted the vital knowledge of how best to protect the Commonwealth on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. And that’s not to mention her terribly useful tips on which hats are to be avoided this season if one is to protect one’s reputation in polite society. Please do take heed of her sage advice.

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 4)

So it’s come to this . . . Jeff Somers and Philip Palmer arguing over whose character is better with the laaaaadies.

Again, Philip Palmer has resorted to getting a scientific expert involved – a certain Dr Paul Bostock (according to Phil, a ‘Professor in Protagonism and Genre Conflict at the Heinlein University, Colorado’ – this hasn’t yet been verified).

Ladies – judge for yourself.

(And mind the spoilers if you haven’t read Jeff’s previous 3 books yet!)

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 3)

Since we began releasing the footage showing the incendiary events that occured during the filming of a joint promotional video, Jeff Somers has expressed his sheer outrage over the entire episode, and Philip Palmer has published an official ‘apology’ to Jeff here.

Though we are not proud of what has happened, we have decided to continue to release the footage so that the viewing public may come to their own conclusions about the events. In this video, Philip Palmer lists the many, many ways in which his character Version 43 is superior to Avery Cates. Orbit would like to make clear that it does not endorse the behaviour of either author involved in this incident . . .