Posts Tagged ‘Claire North’

Two Orbit Authors on BSFA Shortlist

Congratulations to two Orbit authors who have had their titles shortlisted for this year’s BSFA Awards!

Claire North’s THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST (UK | US | ANZ) and Ann Leckie’s ANCILLARY SWORD (UK | US | ANZ) have both been nominated in the Best Novel category.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North and Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie - both nominated for the BSFA Award 2014

You can see the full list of nominees here.

Voting will now be opened to BSFA members and attending members of Eastercon. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the 66th Eastercon, aka Dysprosium, taking place from 3-6 April 2015.

TOUCH – the new thriller from the author of HARRY AUGUST

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live another person’s life?

Claire North has, and we’re very excited to now present the cover for TOUCH (UK | US | ANZ) – her electrifying new thriller with a protagonist who can jump from one body to another, just with a touch.

Claire is the author of THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST (UK | US | ANZ), one of the bestselling genre books of the year which was picked for all three of the Richard and Judy Book Club, the Waterstones Book Club and the BBC Radio 2 Book Club in the same year – a feat which is almost unprecedented.

The novel has impressed people across the board, from Peter F. Hamilton:

“Claire North’s sophisticated writing and astute plotting have made this my book of the year”

To M. R. Carey:

‘Astonishing . . . Bold, magical and masterful’

To Judy Finnigan:

‘Utterly readable, utterly believable and compelling . . . one of the fiction highlights of the decade’

Her new novel TOUCH, dare I say it, may impress them even more.

It’s coming in February 2015 and is available for pre-order now. Catch it while you can . . .

Goodreads Choice Awards: the Semi-Finals

The semi-final round of voting for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards is now open until 15 November, and we have ever more titles in this round than in the opening round! Get your votes in for your favourite fantasy, science fiction and horror books of 2014.

 

Fantasy – VOTE NOW

THE BROKEN EYE by Brent Weeks (UK | US |AUS)

SKIN GAME by Jim Butcher (UK | AUS)

NIGHT BROKEN by Patricia Briggs (UK | AUS)

SHATTERED by Kevin Hearne (UK | AUS)

TOWER LORD by Anthony Ryan (UK | AUS)

THE BROKEN EYE by Brent Weeks   SKIN GAME by Jim Butcher   NIGHT BROKEN   SHATTERED, the seventh Iron Druid book from Kevin Hearne, an urban fantasy series starting with Hounded   Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan

 

Science Fiction – VOTE NOW

CIBOLA BURN by James S. A. Corey (UK | US |AUS)

ANCILLARY SWORD by Ann Leckie (UK | US |AUS)

THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST by Claire North (UK | US |AUS)

HEAVEN’S QUEEN by Rachel Bach (UK | US |AUS)

EARTH AWAKENS by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (UK | AUS)

Corey_CibolaBurn_HC   Leckie_AncillarySword_TPB   The cover for The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, a Richard and Judy Book Club 2014 pick   HEAVEN'S QUEEN by Rachel Bach   Earth Awakens, book three of The First Formic War series by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston - a prequel series to Ender's Game

 

Horror – VOTE NOW

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M. R. Carey (UK | US |AUS)

THE RHESUS CHART by Charles Stross (UK | AUS)

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey   THE RHESUS CHART by Charles Stross

 

Goodreads Choice Awards: The Opening Round

The initial round of voting for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards is open! Below are the selection of Orbit titles that we’re really proud to see have made the list.

Fantasy – VOTE NOW

THE BROKEN EYE by Brent Weeks (UK | US |AUS)

SKIN GAME by Jim Butcher (UK | AUS)

NIGHT BROKEN by Patricia Briggs (UK | AUS)

THE BROKEN EYE by Brent Weeks   SKIN GAME by Jim Butcher   NIGHT BROKEN

 

Science Fiction – VOTE NOW

CIBOLA BURN by James S. A. Corey (UK | US |AUS)

ANCILLARY SWORD by Ann Leckie (UK | US |AUS)

THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST by Claire North (UK | US |AUS)

HEAVEN’S QUEEN by Rachel Bach (UK | US |AUS)

Corey_CibolaBurn_HC   Leckie_AncillarySword_TPB   The cover for The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, a Richard and Judy Book Club 2014 pick   HEAVEN'S QUEEN by Rachel Bach

 

Horror – VOTE NOW

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M. R. Carey (UK | US |AUS)

THE RHESUS CHART by Charles Stross (UK | AUS)

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey   THE RHESUS CHART by Charles Stross

 

If your favourite Orbit title of 2014 isn’t listed, you can also still enter a write-in vote for it at the bottom of each genre page.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is a Waterstones Book Club Pick

It is with absolutely joy that Orbit is now able to announce that THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST  by Claire North has been selected as part of the Waterstones Book Club for Autumn.

This makes it the only book in 2014 to be selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club, the Richard and Judy Book Club and the Waterstones Book Club: an incredible achievement and well deserved by the brilliant Claire North.

To help spread the word about this brilliant story, team Harry August took to the streets of London to ask a question: if you could go back with what you know now and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be? We had some fantastic responses from a whole range of readers, backpackers, and even two magicians, whose imaginations have been captured by Harry’s unique life and this amazing book.

You can join the thousands of readers who have already loved Harry’s story by leaving your past self a piece of advice on the Harry August website: harryaugust.net

THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST is a Richard and Judy pick!

Today we release the UK paperback edition of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, and we have some very exciting news to announce with it . . .

Harry August has been picked as a Richard and Judy Book Club title for 2014! This is a hugely important promotion in the UK, and we couldn’t be more delighted for the author Claire North (aka Catherine Webb). She’s an incredible talent and the novel is simply exceptional.

Given the fact that the novel was already chosen as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick in April, this is turning out to be a fantastic year for Harry!

If you haven’t read this story yet – one of friendship and betrayal, love and loneliness, loyalty and redemption and the inevitable march of time – then don’t you think it’s about time?

And if you have already met Harry, why not join in the chat on Twitter using the hashtag #HarryAugust

‘From first line to beautiful denouement, Claire North’s The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is a gripping read’ Guardian

‘Fantastic’ Simon Mayo, BBC Radio 2

‘A masterful literary thriller’ – io9

‘One of the fiction highlights of the decade’ – Judy Finnigan, Richard and Judy Book Club

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August on BBC Radio 2 Book Club

In case you missed it this week, the novel The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (UK/US/ANZ) was featured on the BBC Radio 2 Book Club with Simon Mayo. You can listen back to the interview for a few more days here (it starts at around 01:06:00).

Within the show, the identity of the pseudonym Claire North was revealed as our very own Catherine Webb, aka Kate Griffin. See a lovely picture of Catherine with Simon Mayo below.

catweb

We were delighted to hear all of the phone-in comments about how much people had enjoyed the book, and it was even described as “Kate Atkinson crossed with Terry Pratchett” – not bad comparisons there!

If you want to read something rather powerful today (in addition to the book itself), head over to www.harryaugust.net and see all the advice people have left to their past selves, inspired by this amazing novel.

You can also listen to the first chapter on Soundcloud below.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August & Advice To My Past Self

The extraordinary novel The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (UK | US | ANZ) launches today, published by Orbit in the UK and Redhook in the US.

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.

Here the author Claire North tells us what advice she would give to her past self, in case she got the chance to live her life all over again . . .

***

Your teachers and elders are not always right.  Age does not necessarily bring wisdom, and if you feel uncertain about yourself, someone else’s certainty does not make them right.  If anything, the more certain the other person is, the more you should question it. Have faith in your own mind, judgment and intelligence, and use it to question everything, even people who seem to be ‘above’ you in whatever place or time you happen to be in now.

Your friends are the best of you.  When you are down, remember that if a person can be judged by the company you keep, then you are frankly, amazing.  Because your friends are amazing and then some.  By which extension – when you meet them for the first time, trust the geeks.  They have found a thing they love and they have the guts to stand up for it, and through it, themselves.  When you’re trying to work out who you are, they can help.

Physicality is in your power.  The questions you ask about how you look, and more importantly how other people perceive your looks, is based on a false premise.  Charisma and confidence is a thing created in the mind, in how you see yourself and how you feel about yourself.  The rest is fluff.

Regret is not the same as wisdom.

When the monkey in the hoodie says ‘yes’ to ‘fixed’ and ‘off’ he is, in fact, wrong.

Concision is a rarer grace than wit.

Above all: do not be afraid.  Running away from something stupid or dangerous isn’t fear, it’s just good sense.  The rest however, the fear that will hold you back, is self-inflicted and can be beaten.  Do not be afraid.

Find a unique hand-written note in every HARRY AUGUST hardback

Recently we’ve been asking people the following question: If you could go back, with what you know now, and give your past self a message, what would it be?

It’s a question inspired by the ingenious novel The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (UK | US | ANZ) by Claire North, and we’ve had an amazing response already.

So many people are engaging with this novel in wonderful different ways because it’s such a unique book. So unique, in fact, that here in the UK we wanted to make each and every hardback of the book different in some way to reflect this . . .

So if you pick up a UK hardback copy of Harry August from your local store or online retailer, look out for one of the hand-written postcards inside. Every single one is different! Written on these postcards are individual pieces of advice – messages left from lives lived before, such as:

“Be on alert for a message when the clock strikes midnight”

“Your destiny awaits you in the honeysuckle hedge in the garden”

and “Remember to trust your gut instinct”

But amongst all the hardbacks out there, there are fifteen messages which are particularly special. This is because they’re signed by Harry August himself. If you’re lucky enough to find one of these cards, you can email orbit@littlebrown.co.uk to claim a prize: a treasure from one of Harry’s fifteen lives. Look at Harry’s study below to see what you could win!

A picture of Harry August's stufy, and all the prizes within it you could win - a competition to celebrate the release of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

And don’t forget to read our full terms and conditions here.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is out next Tuesday 8th April from Orbit in the UK and ANZ, and from Redhook in the US.

Become part of the story by leaving a message to your past self at www.harryaugust.net

Cover Preview UK: Spring – Summer 2014

covers_all_UK1

As Summer comes to an end, here at Orbit we’re already looking forward to the amazing selection of books that next Spring brings. We’re very  pleased to present a selection of covers for some of our exciting releases in the first half of 2014. It promises to be a very good year.

Click on each of the covers to see a larger version, and let us know your favourites.

9780356502731

Miller_PathToPower_HC

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

Weeks-BrokenEye-HC

justice_ian_irvine

The Lascar's Dagger

Dalglish_ADanceOfShadows_TP

The Ripper Affair

9781841499161

Corey_CibolaBurn_HC

9780356502373

Cursed Moon

Abraham_WidowsHouse_TP

DESCENT-ken-macleod

Art Credits: Reign of Ash: Illustration by Larry Rostant; Heaven’s Queen: Design by Kirk Benshoff; Dance of Shadows: Photo Illustration by Gene Mollica & Michael Frost, Design by Kirk Benshoff; The Girl With All The Gifts: Design by Duncan Spilling; Cibola Burn: Illustration by Daniel Dociu, Design by Kirk Benshoff; Path to Power: Illustration by Raphael Lacoste, Design by Kirk Benshoff; Justice: Design by Wendy Chan; Broken Eye: Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Silas Manhood, Design by Lauren Panepinto; The Ripper Affair: Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Craig White, Design by Lauren Panepinto; Cursed Moon: Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Don Sipley, Design by Lauren Panepinto; The Fifth Season: Design by Lauren Panepinto; The Widow’s House: Design by Kirk Benshoff