Author Archive

Somers vs. Palmer – When Authors Collide (Part 1)

Here on Planet Orbit we generally think there’s a pretty good community spirit – both in the office and amongst all our authors out there. But sometimes – just sometimes – those good times go bad. 

Believing Jeff Somers and Philip Palmer to both be “team players” and decent, honourable gentlemen, we thought it might be a good idea to ask them to discuss and compare, in a series of videos, and in a sensible and controlled manner, their newest science fiction titles and their protagonists. But APPARENTLY that wasn’t possible. We’re still going to post the footage – if only to be an example to you all.

Here’s how it all began . . .

There’s a tempest rising in the UK . . .

OK – we admit it. The UK and Australian readers have been getting a raw deal, having to wait for Nicole Peeler‘s sweet, sassy and sexy urban fantasy series to float their way, whilst the US readers have been bathing in its glory for a few months. But now the wait is over, and Tempest Rising (UK US | ANZ) and Tracking the Tempest (UK | USANZ) have finally washed up on our shores all at once. Featuring the naughty scrumpet Jane True as our half-selkie heroine – think of it as Sookie Stackhouse meets Splash!

Nicole was over in the UK recently and, in what’s becoming a bit of an Orbit UK habit, we took her aside to cross-examine her about her series and the Urban Fantasy genre. She is an assistant professor of literature, so she should know her stuff after all!  Take a look at the video below (and excuse my sniggering at points in the background – this lady cracks me up!)

You can read an extract of Tempest Rising here.

Waking the Witch – out now!

Calling all Kelley fans! It’s official: Waking the Witch (UK | ANZ) has arrived in a bookshop near you and it’s looking fantabulously gorgeous. It’s the brand new title in the Women of the Otherworld series from international bestseller Kelley Armstrong, and it’s the first hardback to be whipped out with Kelley’s striking new cover style.

During the author’s recent tour to the UK we managed to steal her away from her hectic schedule, corner her in a tiny, tiny room with a camera and throw some questions her way. We think she did exceptionally well considering the circumstances . . . Take a peek here for comments on her series and Urban Fantasy in general (after all, she was one of the ladies responsible for starting the whole genre off in the first place!):

And here’s a sneaky preview of Waking the Witch to tide you over until the book is safely in your hands . . .

The Terminal State – the readers speak out

Out this month is the gun-blazing, throat-slitting, hover-riding, brain-augmenting THE TERMINAL STATE (UK/ US/ ANZ), the fourth book in Jeff Somers’ near-future thriller series, the Avery Cates sequence.

To celebrate its release, you might remember that Jeff Somers ran a competition to give his readers the chance to act out the roles of their favourite characters, by providing voiceovers for several videos based on the book. Jeff obviously managed to get people’s creative juices flowing, and received some highly inspired entries. The winners have now been chosen and they are the following: 

Canny Orel – read by Ben Linford

Wa Belling – read by Tyrel Devlin from Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

The Poet – read by Jeffrey Lamar from Chandler, Arizona

Mara – read by Patty Blount from Framingville, New York

The videos, with readers’ voices added, are now up on the site right here: www.theterminalstate.com (roll over the images to find the hidden footage).

If you haven’t checked out the Avery Cates novels and want to find out why SFX has called them ‘brash, brutal, [and] brilliant’, and the Guardian ‘an exhilarating example of powerful and entertaining storytelling’ then you can read an extract from the first book here.

What would you put in your apocalypse pack?

The year is 2014.  A virus has been released that is turning the majority of the population into rabid, flesh-eating monsters. NOT COOL. You’re being forced to flee your home and can only take three things with you . . . tough call, but what would you pack?

To celebrate the fact that Feed (UK/US/AUS) is now out in the UK, we asked the author Mira Grant for her top three zombie-apocalpyse essentials. Every gal’s gotta have ’em! They are the following:

1) My house earthquake kit. Yes, it’s cheating a little, but if I have an apocalypse, I’m going to grab my pre-packed backpack full of water purification tablets, protein bars, multi-vitamins, first aid supplies, and knives.  That’s what an earthquake kit is for.

2) A folding stock pump shotgun. Simple, effective, commonly used by law enforcement agencies, which will make ammunition easy to find once the initial looting of the Wal-Marts and gun shops has otherwise exhausted the supply.

3) My easily irritated, extremely clingy Siamese cat. Not even a zombie is going to function very well when hit with a face full of pissed-off clawing white thing with a score to settle.  And trust me, you make her go outside, she’s got a score to settle with you.

(more…)

Griffin spotted in Trafalgar Square!

The griffins have landed in the UK! Here’s one of the majestic beasts caught on camera causing havoc in London just today. With the arrival of these ferocious creatures of fire, it may be that half of the city will turn to desert by this evening . . .

We’re wondering if you’ve spotted any griffins in your local vicinity? Send your reports and photos to orbit@littlebrown.co.uk and we’ll reward the five most vigilant (and creative) people with copies of the first two books in the Griffin Mage series: Lord of the Changing Winds (UK/US/AUS) and Land of Burning Sands (UK/ US/ AUS). They’re released this month and next month in the UK, and are already available in the US.

The author, Rachel Neumeier – a long-term griffin observer and specialist – may be able to offer some helpful advice for dealing with any griffin nuisances in your local area. You can read Rachel’s account of what happens when griffins and humans clash on the SFX website. And for further information on the author, see her brand new website, launched just last week: www.rachelneumeier.com

Lend your voice to the cast of the Avery Cates series

Ever think you know exactly how a character in a novel should sound? Think you could put on a good performance of playing that character yourself?

Well Jeff Somers has set up a competition in which you have the chance to do just that. For the official website of his next novel, The Terminal State (UK/ US), Jeff is creating four mini video clips to represent four different characters from his series. He’s already provided some superb images to depict the nature of each character, and mini excerpts from the book have been supplied as scripts.

All that’s missing is you – the reading public – to put on your best acting voices and provide voiceovers for the videos. Whichever voice clip that Jeff feels best represents each character will be used on the final site. Visit this site to hear some examples that Jeff has provided himself, such as the one below. There, you’ll also find more information on how you can get creative and start sending in your own voiceover submissions. 

 

New titles from Kelley Armstrong

Following Kelley Armstrong’s very successful trip to the UK, during which she had fans from as far as Germany queuing up to meet her, we thought we’d remind you just how busy she’s been on the writing front.

Last month saw the release of The Reckoning (UK /ANZ), the third book in Kelley’s Darkest Powers young adult series. This is definitely one to look out for, considering that the second book in this series was a No. 1 New York Times children’s bestseller, and that Charlaine Harris claimed about the series that ‘there’s never a slow moment in their journey or a false line in Armstrong’s writing’. (more…)

When is a dwarf not a dwarf? When he’s a garden gnome…

Read on for a great piece from the talented Sally-Ann Spencer on her experience of translating The Dwarves (UK/ US/ ANZ) and The War of the Dwarves (UK/ US / ANZ) from the original German:

Turning German ‘Zwerge’ into English-speaking dwarves isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. For one thing, the English word ‘dwarf’ has two possible plurals: ‘dwarfs’ and ‘dwarves’. Which should be used for the translation? The dwarves of Girdlegard bear a certain resemblance to their counterparts in Middle Earth, so I went with the version popularized by Tolkien. But hang on a minute, (more…)