Archive for Fiction

New Short Fiction: THE HEIST by Will McIntosh

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Orbit signed up Will McIntosh for the terrifically imaginative novels LOVE MINUS EIGHTY (US | UK | AUS)and DEFENDERS (coming in 2014), but we never forgot that he is a supremely talented short story writer with an amazing range. In fact both novels began as short stories that were so rich and brimming with ideas that they begged to be expanded. The same could be said of any of his shorter work.

In THE HEIST (US | UK)  the Hugo Award-winning author uses an uncanny Las Vegas caper to talk about friendship, regret, and the human desire for just a little bit more time. It’s funny, sweet, heartfelt, and wholly original.

Also, if you liked “THE HEIST don’t miss McIntosh’s other short story in the Orbit Short Fiction program, THE PERIMETER (US | UK)

ENDER’S GAME – get your hands on the film edition

The time is almost upon us.

The film version of ENDER’S GAME – one of the most popular and critically acclaimed science fiction novels ever written – will be out in the UK on 25th October .

To celebrate, we’re very pleased to present the final cover for our Orbit film tie-in edition – available from 3rd October.

Starring Harrison Ford as Colonel Hyrum Graff, Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham and Asa Butterfield as the child prodigy Ender himself, we have very high hopes for this movie. The trailer looks spectacular – check out the latest extended version if you haven’t seen it yet.

You can also keep up to date with news on the film on the Ender’s Game Facebook page.

And if you haven’t read the worldwide bestselling, award-winning book behind this film yet, read a free extract to find out what you’re missing.

 

Announcing an extraordinary release for 2014: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

We’re delighted to reveal the cover for a truly exceptional book that we’ll be releasing worldwide next year – one unlike anything you have ever read before, and set to be one of our biggest launches in 2014. And it starts with an ending.

Book cover for the First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Harry August is on his deathbed. Again.

No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.

Until now.

As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. ‘I nearly missed you, Doctor August,’ she says. ‘I need to send a message. It has come down from child to adult, child to adult, passed back through generations from a thousand years forward in time. The message is that the world is ending, and we cannot prevent it. So now it’s up to you.’

This is the extraordinary journey of one unforgettable character – a story of friendship and betrayal, loyalty and redemption, love and loneliness and the inevitable march of time.

Claire North is a pseudonym for an acclaimed British author who has previously published several novels. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is released worldwide on 8th April next year.

Cover reveal: THE PATH TO POWER by Karen Miller

The book cover for Karen Miller's PATH TO POWER, book 1 of a powerful epic fantasy series, The Tarnished CrownWe’re proud to present the cover for the start of a breathtaking new epic fantasy series which will be launched internationally in 2014.

THE PATH TO POWER is the majestic opening to The Tarnished Crown Quintet – a major new series from Karen Miller, the bestselling author of THE INNOCENT MAGE (UK | US).

It is a powerful epic set against a tapestry of political intrigue, supernatural skulduggery, plague and war.

Much awaits those who will follow the path to power. Royal houses will rise and fall. Trading empires will be destroyed and reborn. Friends will become enemies, and enemies friends. All of this will come to pass, and the only certainty is that nothing will remain as it once was.

Brace yourselves to discover THE PATH TO POWER in July 2014.

Cover Launch! NIGHT BROKEN, the New Mercy Thompson novel

The book cover for Night Broken, the eighth Mercy Thompson urban fantasy novel by New York Times bestselling author Patricia BriggsWe’re delighted to present the beautiful new cover for NIGHT BROKEN, the stunning eighth novel in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series. It’s released as a hardback on 4th March next year, and urban fantasy fans are in for a treat! Check out what lies in store . . .

An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam won’t turn away a person in need, but with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right.

Soon, Mercy learns that Christy has the farthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and will anything to get him, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

On top of this, there’s an even more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man – in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies pile up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her world apart.

The book cover for Aralorn: Masques and Wolfsbane, a fantasy novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy novels Patricia BriggsIf you’re new to Patricia Briggs, you can get hold of other books in the Mercy Thompson series right now – they begin with MOON CALLED (UK |ANZ). And if you’ve already devoured both this and Patricia Briggs’ other urban fantasy series Alpha and Omega, there’s something new you can try too: check out ARALORN (UK | ANZ), the tale of a noble, shapeshifter and spy . . .

New Short Fiction: CHARMED, I’M SURE

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Available now!

Last year, I received a submission for a novel that I just couldn’t let go of.  It hit all my urban fantasy notes, plus it had a male hero!  It also had a great hook — and it didn’t hurt that it reminded me of my love for both Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne.

The concept is this:  What if there was more than one Prince Charming? What if there was a whole line of Charmings’ going back far into history — each one with a mission to rid the world of evil. But what happens when the last one is turned…and he becomes what he hunts?

So with this in mind, I set out to publish CHARMING (out in September), but Elliot James didn’t stop there. He also wrote a series of stories that will introduce us to the character in the coming months. The first, CHARMED, I’M SURE, is out today!

To tell you a tiny bit about the story:
When Tom Morris encounters a naked man walking along the interstate with no memory of how he got there, the smart thing to do is drive away. The only problem is, Tom Morris has secrets of his own. Like the fact that he comes from a long line of witch finders, monster slayers, and enchantment breakers, or that his real name is Charming. John Charming.

We’ll have one story a month starting with this one. DON’T GO CHASING WATERFALLS will be out in September to coincide with CHARMING (the novel) and PUSHING LUCK will be published in October.

And did I mention that Kevin Hearne was kind enough to give CHARMING a quote?

“Loved it! CHARMING is a giant gift basket of mythology and lore delivered by a brilliant new voice in urban fantasy. Elliott James tells stories that are action-packed, often amusing, and always entertaining.”
— Kevin Hearne, author of HOUNDED

I’m very excited about this debut author and if you get a chance, dip into one of the short stories, or even better, pre-order CHARMING! It’s totally worth it!!!

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New Newsflesh Fiction: HOW GREEN THIS LAND, HOW BLUE THIS SEA

How Green This LandThe Newsflesh trilogy was, by and large, the story of a post-zombie America. The apocalypse had come, we had survived and even thrived in our own weird way, and now it was time to follow first a Presidential campaign and now the backlash from same as it unfolded. There were hints throughout the books of the way the Rising had treated and continued to treat other countries–London was still standing, large swaths of Canada had been abandoned, almost the entire Indian sub-continent was currently considered “lost”–but the nature of the story I was telling in those books meant that we were somewhat geographically constrained. Meanwhile, the entire world was dealing with the Kellis-Amberlee virus, and the resulting “whoops we accidentally raised the dead” issues that came with it.

Now, for what looks like a total subject change:

I love venomous snakes. I think they’re beautiful, fascinating, and worthy of study. Which naturally means that I love Australia, a continent which contains more venomous snakes than anybody really needs (even me). Visiting Australia in 2010 was the culmination of a life-long dream, and I immediately (as is my wont) started contemplating how Australia would deal with the Rising. Probably like everybody else, I decided: running, screaming, dying, and gunfire. Not necessarily a story that needed to be told.

Ah, but how would they deal with things after the Rising? From that question came HOW GREEN THIS LAND, HOW BLUE THIS SEA (US | UK) which I literally described as “animal husbandry in Australia, with zombies” whenever anyone asked me what it was going to be about. That was, of course, the simple answer. It’s about perception versus reality; safety versus freedom; what constitutes an acceptable risk; what lines have to be drawn between humanity and the natural world; and zombie kangaroos. The zombie kangaroos are, of course, key.

If you haven’t read the Newsflesh books, you probably shouldn’t read HOW GREEN THIS LAND, HOW BLUE THIS SEA. Unlike the previous two novellas set in this universe (COUNTDOWN [US | UK] and “SAN DIEGO 2014: THE LAST STAND OF THE CALIFORNIA BROWNCOATS [US | UK]), this isn’t about what came before the series: it’s about one of the things that came after, and while not every character who made it through the trilogy alive shows up “onscreen,” most of them are mentioned at least in passing. You most definitely can read it anyway–nobody’s going to stop you, least of all me–but I think you might be happier if you read the books first.

If you have read the Newsflesh books, this is your opportunity to follow Mahir Gowda into a part of the post-zombie world that you haven’t seen before, and watch him try to deal with it without just turning around and going back to bed.

I like it quite a lot. I hope that you will, too.

…

HOW GREEN THIS LAND, HOW BLUE THIS SEA is available now in the US and on July 17th in the UK.

 

Introducing Guns into Fantasy Worlds

Fade to Black, book one of the Rojan Dizon fantasy book series by Francis Knight - in a post talking about the introduction of guns to fantasy worldsFrancis Knight’s novel FADE TO BLACK (UK|US|ANZ) and the just released BEFORE THE FALL (UK|US|ANZ) are set in Mahala – a towering, vertically-built fantasy city. It’s a place that has long relied on magic, but is fast becoming mechanised – and now the first prototype guns are appearing. Francis Knight discusses below just what the introduction of arms can do to a world – fantasy or otherwise . . .

Whenever a significant discovery or invention appears, everything changes. Not always in foreseen ways either. I don’t suppose Edison or Babbage ever thought that their discoveries/inventions would mean that you’d be here today, reading this on a PC or pad. Did Edison consider that electricity would be used to carry out death sentences? Would Babbage have continued if he’d known the end result would be Rule 34?

Unforeseen consequences abound in history. If I invent this, it will make life easier for everyone! Only then, a war, or a revolution or plague, people being people, or even just a lack of imagination on the part of the inventor means that it all turns out rather differently.

The same thing goes for guns. Yes, many fantasy worlds use just swords/siege engines/whatever. But what happens to warfare when guns are added to the mix? Are they what people expect? Possibly not. The inventor of the Gatling gun noted that more died in war of infection and disease than gunfire. In 1877, Gatling wrote: “It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine – a gun – which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease would be greatly diminished.” And of course, that worked wonderfully. (more…)

BLOODFIRE QUEST – Terry Brooks answers your questions

Bloodfire Quest, the second epic fantasy novel in Terry Brooks's Dark Legacy of Shannara series following Wards of FaerieToday we release the paperback of BLOODFIRE QUEST (UK|ANZ) – book two in Terry Brooks’s Dark Legacy of Shannara series following WARDS OF FAERIE (UK|ANZ). It’s a new epic fantasy set in the author’s core Shannara world, and it’s been knocking people’s socks off:

‘Explodes from the first page…the action doesn’t stop until the novel’s cliffhanger ending…Intense and exhilarating…Brooks is one of the best fantasy writers in the business’ ASSOCIATED PRESS

‘[Brooks] brings his distinct talent, giving a true grandeur to clashes involving terrifying creatures and powerful magic’ KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘A thrill ride that will leave readers wanting more…This volume, paired with the first, might be just the right place to introduce new readers to this fine writer’ BOOKLIST

The third book, WITCH WRAITH (UK|ANZ), is released very soon on 16th July.

Back in April, Terry did a very rare signing in the UK for the hardback release of BLOODFIRE QUEST. The queues at Forbidden Planet were phenomenal, and the signing went on for hours! See some pics of the event here.

For those who were unable to make it, we asked readers to send in their questions for this fantasy legend from afar. Now, we release Terry’s answers in the video below:

ps. Is it just me or is Terry awesome? No – the signs say it’s not just me . . .

The Future of Social Media in SF

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh for fans of Black MirrorIt’s incredible when we look at how much Facebook, Twitter – and yes even the humble and now bizarrely relaunched MySpace – have changed our world and the way we interact within it, all in no more than a decade. It’s easy to see why some of the best science fiction has recently focused on the future of social media and technology in the hands of individuals, rather than governments or militant groups.

This year has seen the release of Google Glass – one of the most sci-fi-feeling inventions ever – which is a wearable computer intended to ‘free data’ from your desktop, and bring it right in front of your eyes.

Google Glass could be considered the first step toward what Will McIntosh calls a ‘system’ in his debut novel LOVE MINUS EIGHTY (UK | US | AUS).

Systems are lightweight and near-invisible personal kits that envelop your entire body, allowing you to overlay your world with virtual reality. This virtual overlay has become such a part of individuals’ daily life that the characters in LOVE MINUS EIGHTY (or the ones wealthy enough to afford them, anyway) feel stunted and naked without it.

These systems give users the ability to open a floating virtual screen anywhere in front of them and talk ‘face-to-face’ with multiple people at one time, to mute other people’s conversations on the street, to access personal information about anyone they pass in the street.

It’s possible to build your number of ‘followers’ in the near future too – but this no longer just means your fans will see everything you post in your stream. People can now genuinely ‘follow’ you around, with floating virtual screens that can wink open at any moment, anywhere, to hover around you as you go about your daily business, watching your life actions in real-time. You can follow others in the same way – if you care enough about what they’re up to. And if someone manages to gain enough followers, that’s when the advertising credits start to roll in . . .

The way Will McIntosh chillingly blends concepts from reality TV and social media highlights certain truths about how interact with one another: that the actions we take online are performed for an audience, and that our tendency toward voyeurism is increasing. As social media develops further and increases its prevalence in our lives, so too the implications of these changes will leach outward in speculative fiction.

In science fiction today, gone are the adorable sentient toasters of Red Dwarf, replaced with figures representing something much more sinister . . . Think of the chilling episode “Be Right Back” from Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror  – where after a loved one’s death, reincarnation is possible by uploading their online persona into a disturbingly realistic organic robot. This reality really isn’t far away, given that tech such as Liveson exists now to look after your social afterlife – a service whose slogan is ‘when your heart stops beating, you’ll keep tweeting’. It makes Will McIntosh’s musings about social media and reanimation after death feel chillingly real . . .

With the mind-blowing advances in technology and the explosion in the amount of time we spend on the internet in recent years, it’s not so much of a stretch to assume this complete integration of our on and offline lives could happen well before LOVE MINUS EIGHTY predicted in 2103.

Read more about where social media is taking us in LOVE MINUS EIGHTY.