Archive for Contests

Parasol Protectorate Covers: VOTE NOW!

Ladies and Gentlemen! After a short delay for design magicking, I am excited to present the first team of the new Parasol Protectorate covers! You may remember I was taking pictures of all the fabulous Steampunk costumes at New York Comic Con, and I promised to make them into Parasol Protectorate covers. I think they came out so fantastically, we shall have a CONTEST!

We will be releasing a group a day all this week, and I want you to vote for ONE cover in the comments for each day this week. On Monday we will tally the results and have a second round of the winners of each day, pitted against each other for Steampunk glory! And maybe a prize…I have to see what we’ve got around the office…I’ve got some post-it notes?

Anyway, enjoy today’s 5 covers in full size after the jump! (more…)

NYCC: Parasol Protectorate Covers Are Coming!

If you were at NYCC this weekend, you may have met some of our Parasol Protectorate ambassadors dressed in their Steampunk and Victorian best and giving out buttons for Gail Carriger’s books. Thank you greatly to Evelyn Kriete (who runs Steampunk Fashion and Jabborwhalky productions), G.D. Falksen (author, blogger, and moderator of the Steampunk 101 panel), Jeni Hellum (who blogs about Multiculturalism in Steampunk), and Joseph Hernandez (of Penny Dreadful Productions). I will point them out when I start uploading the Parasol Protectorate book covers made from the pictures I have of everyone looking fantastic both wandering around NYCC and everyone who came to the Steampunk photo meetup Saturday night.

Now, back to retouching for me! After the jump, some Steampunk links for you to enjoy while waiting for covers to be released and flickr uploads to process… (more…)

Steampunk Fun at NYCC

This Fri-Sat-Sun is the New York Comic-Con and there’s a lot of exciting stuff going on at Orbit’s booth (#2315). I’m here to tell you about a really fun art-department project that all you Parasol Protectorate fans and Steampunk experts can be a part of. I am always super impressed by the imagination and care that Gail’s Steampunk fans put into their wardrobe and to celebrate that, we’re going to induct you all into the Parasol Protectorate!

If you are showing off your best Steampunk finery Friday or Saturday, come by the Orbit booth and we’ll be taking pictures of you in your best Victorian action poses. Next week we will be turning those pictures into custom Parasol Protectorate covers of your very own! We’ll be uploading them here on the blog a batch at a time, and we’ll have our blog readers vote on their favorite covers. The winner may even get a prize! (more…)

Hoboglyphs Win Prizes!

Mr Shivers, the critically acclaimed horror debut from Robert Jackson Bennett, is released in paperback today. Chronicling one man’s journey through the Depression blighted Texan Dustbowl in search of the mysterious, scarred vagrant who murdered his daughter, the book is a must read for fans of old school horror, literary dystopia or anyone looking for something to knock their socks off this autumn. To celebrate the paperback release of Mr Shivers we have 10 copies of the book to giveaway. (more…)

Moorehawke illustration giveaway

Celine Kiernan is not only a talented author but also a gifted animator and illustrator — and she has done the most incredible illustration of her main protagonist Wynter Moorehawke for us. We have six super-limited edition prints, on cream canvas, to give away to readers. Email orbit@littlebrown.co.uk with your name and address to enter the draw, and get a chance to win this really incredible original artwork!

And if you have any interesting pictures of The Crowded Shadows (UK | US) in the wild to share with us (for example, at your local bookstore or courtesy of your own PhotoShop mash-up parlour) they would be gratefully received at the same email as above.

If you haven’t seen her post, Celine’s description of how she approaches illustrating is fascinating. And the animation of this Wynter drawing taking shape before your eyes in seconds is just amazing. And to see it again, click HERE.

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.

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. 

 

Let them eat (Orbit) cake!

Here at Orbit we work very hard to publish the most exciting Science Fiction and Fantasy for the widest possible readership, remaining committed to publishing writers we believe to be exceptional in the best possible way. But did you know we take our food just as seriously?

Recently, as a thank you to our Sales team for supporting us so enthusiastically throughout the year, we put our baking mitts on to produce this tasty Orbit-themed cake.

And for a certain editor’s birthday not so long ago we produced this sugary treat . . . based on the axe awarded to the authors shortlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy.

We’d love to see any SFF-themed cakes that you’ve come up with, or perhaps you have an idea about what theme you’d like to see in cake form? Robocake anyone? Dark Lord’s dessert? Elvish eccles? We’ll see what the Orbit catering team can come up with, and if our creation is up to scratch it may just appear on the site in a few weeks time!