Archive for Contests

New York Book Show 09 Winners!

450_Poster2010The New York Book Show is an annual competition held by the Bookbinders’ Guild of New York, which is a professional publishing organization focusing on design & production of all kinds of trade, academic, and specialty books. It’s one of the few design competitions every year that focuses just on books, and I entered some of our Orbit titles from 2009.

The judging was just completed, and Soulless by Gail Carriger & Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler both won in the mass market paperback cover design category. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the cover designs, especially Donna Ricci, our model for Alexia Tarabotti & mistress of all things Steampunk Fashion, and Sharon Tancredi, the illustrator for Tempest Rising. Go Team!

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Want to Win a Signed, Personalised Hardback Copy of Fall of Thanes by Brian Ruckley?

Of course you do!

To celebrate the release of the much anticipated third title in the Godless World trilogy, Fall of Thanes, Orbit, in conjunction with Brian Ruckley and his hugely popular Winterbirth Facebook page, will be giving away two signed, personalised hardback copies of Fall of Thanes!

The competition will run for two weeks from today and winners will be selected at random on Friday the 8th and Friday the 15th of May.

To be in with a chance of winning simply head over to the Winterbirth Facebook page and become a fan. Every fully signed-up fan of the page will be entered into the draw. Signed up as a Fan already? Then you are already entered!

Brian has very kindly agreed to sign and personalise the books as per the wishes of the lucky winners, and what’s more he will be selecting each winner and posting the prizes with his own fair hands too! (He really does spoil you!)

Employees of Orbit (or its parent companies, Little, Brown and Hachette Livre) are not eligible to win and each entrant can only win once.  And of course, you must be a Facebook member to participate.

So, what are you waiting for? Logon and declare your Brian Ruckley Fandom now!

And for those of you who aren’t lucky enough to win but recognise a fab novel when you see one – Fall of Thanes is in shops this month. [UK/US/AUS]

Forbidden Planet Signing

Thanks again to everyone who came out to see Mike Carey and Kate Griffin at Forbidden Planet last night! It was a fantastic event and special thanks to Danie, Jon and the whole Forbidden Planet team for setting it up. Also, a big ol’ thanks to Gav, Graeme, Liz and Mark, and Simon and Mathew for coming by to say hi!

And for those who didn’t get a chance to attend the signing we’re giving you a chance to win 3 sets of signed copies of Thicker Than Water and A Madness of Angels. All you have to do to enter is email us at orbit@littlebrown.co.uk. Closing date is April 3rd. Good luck!

Two Chances to Win a Walk-On Role in A Memory of Light

Brandon Sanderson, who is completing Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series, is giving fans two chances to win a walk-on role in A Memory of Light and raise money for charity at the same time.

From his website:

I realized that we had something very special in the Wheel of Time book–an opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up. I wrote an email to Harriet, telling her about the charity that Pat had been using for his drive. It’s called Heifer International. Instead of just giving food to the poor, they go into developing countries, give them animals to care for, and teach them how to use the livestock to create a sustainable source of income and food. It’s a fantastic idea, and a worthy charity. I asked Harriet if she’d mind me auctioning off a character in A Memory of Light. She was behind that 100%. As some of you may know, Robert Jordan did something like this once, giving a walk-on part to a fan in one of the books. There are a LOT of people who need to be named in this story, and so why not let a few of those names and descriptions go to real people?

You can get the full details of both chances at his website here.

Win Signed Karen Miller Copies

To celebrate the release of TWO amazing Karen Miller books this month, Hammer of God (US/UK), and, under the name K.E. Mills, The Accidental Sorcerer (US/UK), we’re giving you a chance to win signed copies of Karen’s first four books.

For the next four Mondays, we’re going to be giving away a series of signed books and all you have to do to enter is be a fan on Karen’s Facebook page.

Full details are on the fan page – hope to see you all there soon!

Orbit eBulletin sweepstake – Goodie-Bags up for grabs!

Following an office re-shuffle here at Orbit Towers we’ve unearthed a batch of books that were put aside for a special occasion. December 25th or thereabouts is always pretty special for a variety of reasons, so we thought that we’d take the opportunity to spread a little joy with a seasonal Goodie-Bags Giveaway…

What’s in the bags? What’s in the bags?

A whole heap of good stuff! The number of Goodie-Bags will vary, as will their contents, but they could include some (although not necessarily all) of the following:

  • – Proof (ARC) copies of Matter by Iain M. Banks (and possibly a signed hardback or two)
  • – Proof (ARC) copies of Halting State by Charles Stross
  • – Hardback copies of The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod

…and all sorts of other assorted loot as well.

What do I have to do? What do I have to do?

The sweepstake is open to everyone who is a member of the Orbit UK e-bulletin list as of 5.00 p.m. (UK time) on Monday December 15th. If you’re already a member of the Orbit UK ebulletin list then you don’t have to do a thing; you’ll automatically be entered into the draw, as long as you don’t unsubscribe from the list before the sweepstake closing date.

On the other hand, if you’re not already receiving our regular eBulletins, then you’ll need to visit the ebulletin sign-up page and subscribe to the Orbit UK list to be in with a chance of winning a Goodie-Bag (and do feel free to subscribe to our US and Australian lists at the same time!)

When will I get my Goodie-Bag? Eh? Eh?

Well, if you’re one of the lucky winners, we’ll do our best to get your Goodie-Bag sent out in time for delivery before December 25th, but depending on where you live, your books might arrive a little later…

Standard competition rules apply, Orbit’s decision as to the number and contents of the Goodie-Bags will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into, etc.

J. V. Jones goodie bag up for grabs in online photo contest

A Sword From Red Ice by J.V. Jones, UK paperbackFantasy author J. V. Jones is running a photo-competition via her website and journal to mark the paperback release of A Sword From Red Ice [UK], the latest instalment in her Sword of Shadows saga.

Here’s a bit of the old explanatory from J. V.:

Here it is, the chance to win all sorts of goodies: a complete set of signed J.V. Jones books (seven and counting), artwork, cover flats, collectible (and extremely rare) galley copies, etc. You get the idea: extremely cool prizes will be given.

All you have to do is take a photo of yourself and A Sword From Red Ice. Mug it up for the camera, dress up, dress down, use experimental media, commandeer family and friends, get outside, stay inside, reenact a scene from the book, eat a sandwich, go on location to the bookstore or the woods. Whatever you do: Take a photo. Then send that photo [to J. V. – email address given in her Journal]. We’ll post it on the website, everyone can have their say, and may the best photo win.

Simple as that, folks, but please do visit JVJones.com (where a few early entries have been posted already) for full competition rules and the email address to send your photos to [N.B. Don’t send your photos to us here at Orbit, in case we don’t get a chance to send them on to J. V. before the deadline!]

Ugly is the new Awesome

The Orbit US edition of Orcs is out next week, but the verdict is in on the cover model: UGLY. Which is, of course, exactly what we were going for when we hired the orc on the cover (we interviewed hundreds of orcs before settling on Walter, who had the perfect combination of pathos, anger and ugly.)

Orcs

Walter’s visage has proven too ugly even for some of the genre’s most prominent critics. Jeff VanderMeer (who, let’s be honest, must have seen an awful lot of ugly covers in his years as an SFF critic) eventually decided he had to pretty up the orc.

Jeff writes:

“Just look at what a few randomly applied stars, flowers, smiley-faces, and the like can do to make a cover more humane! In fact, maybe Orbit should even run a “Beautify Your Orcs” contest. I bet readers would get a kick out of that.”

Pretty?

So inspired by Jeff’s suggestion, we’re asking you to beautify Walter. Here’s a link to a jpg image of the cover – Photoshop it, print it out and draw on it, scribble on it in MS Paint – then post the result to your blog or send us a copy of the image. To sweeten the deal we’ll send a copy of Orcs to the first five people to email their image to orbit@hbgusa.com .

Where did Walter come from, you ask? Our orc was sculpted by Nimba Creations, an FX firm that has created effects for films including King Kong, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Nightmare on Elm St.

Every wrinkle, scar, and pore on Walter was done by hand. And there are a lot of lovely details that you don’t see on the final cover – Walter’s slightly beseeching eyes and gloriously awful teeth. You can practically smell his breath just looking at him.

Ugly?