Posts Tagged ‘Philip K. Dick Award’

Shortlist for the 2019 Philip K. Dick Award

The nominees for the 2019 Philip K. Dick Award have been announced! See the shortlist below:

  • 84K by Claire North 
  • AMBIGUITY MACHINES AND OTHER STORIES by Vandana Singh
  • TIME WAS by Ian McDonald
  • THE BODY LIBRARY by Jeff Noon
  • ALIEN VIRUS LOVE DISASTER: STORIES by Abbey Mei Otis
  • THEORY OF BASTARDS by Audrey Schulman

The winner will be announced on Friday 19th April at Norwescon 42 in SeaTac, Washington.

84k, a science fiction dystopian novel by Claire NorthCongratulations to all the authors shortlisted, and in particular to Orbit author Claire North! Find out more about her outstanding novel 84K (UK|US|ANZ) below:

‘An eerily plausible dystopian masterpiece’ Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

‘An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale Cory Doctorow

Absolutely breath-taking . . .  An early and compelling candidate for best novel of 2018. Read it’ Sci Fi Magazine

‘[A] gut-punch of a novel . . . a story that is rare – one of those that is so good I didn’t want it to end . . . Painted in shades of Fahrenheit 451, of Children of Men, Soylent Green and Brave New World NPR

‘Absorbing and timely; a book to wrestle and argue with, but first and foremost, to readNew York Times

‘Claire North goes from strength to strength . . . A tense, moving story set in drawing from current political trends to present a draconian future similar to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four Guardian

‘Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists’ Booklist

Read a sample of 84K here. Follow Claire North on Twitter here.

Ann Leckie’s ANCILLARY JUSTICE nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award!

The nominees for the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award were announced today, and we’re thrilled that Ann Leckie’s science fiction debut ANCILLARY JUSTICE (US | UK | ANZ) is among them! Here’s the full list:

  • A CALCULATED LIFE by Anne Charnock (47North)]
  • THE MAD SCIENTIST’S DAUGHTER by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Angry Robot)
  • SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE by Toh EnJoe, trans. Terry Gallagher (Haikasoru)
  • ANCILLARY JUSTICE by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
  • LIFE ON THE PRESERVATION by Jack Skillingstead (Solaris)
  • SOLARIS RISING 2: THE NEW SOLARIS BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION edited by Ian Whates (Solaris)
  • COUNTDOWN CITY by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books)

Congratulations to Ann and the rest of the nominees! The award will be presented at Norwescon in Seattle, WA, on Friday, April 18th.

Exclusive Interview with THE CURVE OF THE EARTH Hero Samuil Petrovitch (Part 1)

The Curve of the Earth, a new Samuil Petrovitch near-future science fiction novel from Philip K. Dick award-winner Simon Morden - perfect for fans of Richard Morgan To celebrate the publication of THE CURVE OF THE EARTH ( UK|US|ANZ), Orbit was lucky enough to be treated to a rare interview with one of the post-apocalyptic world’s most brilliant minds: Doctor Samuil Petrovitch.

Over the course of his life, Doctor Petrovitch has been called a lot of things: hero; cyborg; menace; traitor; father; a**hole.

Now, for the first time, you can meet the man behind the metal (and the myth) in this two part interview. Find out some of his favourite things (cat videos?), discover more about his AI companion Michael, hear more on the Freezone that arose from the ashes of post-Armageddon London – and get to the heart of his strained relationship with Reconstructionist America.

(NB: the below does contain some foreign swearing, as is typical of Petrovitch’s blend of old-school Russian and English. For translations, please see our Russian swearing glossary.)

 

Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Dr Petrovitch.

SP: Yeah, okay. I’ve been told this would be a good idea, something I very much doubt. I’ll apologise in advance for punching you in the face.

I suppose I should be grateful you’re not shooting me in the face.

SP: Yes. Yes, you should. Are you going to ask me the first yebani question or do I just walk out now?

You’ve been called many things, Dr Petrovitch, and opinions about you are sharply divided. Some see you as some sort of digital saviour, others as the Antichrist himself.

SP: There isn’t actually a question there. Try again.

I’m asking you how you see yourself.

SP: In a mirror. Or I can just pop out one of my eyeballs and turn it around. Seriously, that’s a really dangerous thing to ask me. I could, if I wanted, give you my unshielded ego for the next half hour, but no one really wants to see that, not even me. I have a very strong sense of self, but I’m not so far up my own zhopu as to think that matters at all. What matters is what I do, not how I think of myself as doing. Ask me another, better question.

(more…)

The Samuil Petrovitch Guide to (Violent) Russian Swearing

The Curve of the Earth, a new Samuil Petrovitch near-future science fiction novel from Philip K. Dick award-winner Simon Morden - perfect for fans of Richard MorganSuper-genius cyborg and hero of the Freezone, Samuil Petrovitch, has a fiery temper – one prone to exploding with more potency than the nukes that signaled the apocalypse around the turn of the 21st century. Generally, Petrovitch’s explosions of anger will take the form of curses in his Russian mother tongue (or perhaps explosions of extreme violence, poisoning, putting bombs in people’s chests and stitching them up again… He’s nothing if not inventive).

To help you decode the various insults hurled at all and sundry by Petrovitch in Simon Morden’s new novel  THE CURVE OF THE EARTH (UK | US | ANZ), we’ve put together a handy glossary of Russian swearwords with a very British translation so as not to offend any delicate sensibilities…

Ahueyet
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Ahueyet! We’ve got some series govno on our hands.
Translation: Egad! It appears our metacarpus have become tainted with effluent.

Balvan
Samuil Petrovitch usage: The only way I can explain your actions is to assume your father was balvan.
Translation: Your poor decision making suggest there was an extreme deficiency in your father’s intelligence quotient.

Chyort voz’mi!
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Chyort voz’mi, this is exactly what I didn’t want to happen.
Translation: Curses! I find myself in the most hateful of all possible worlds.

Chyort!
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Chyort! How stupid are you?
Translation: Dash it all! Your foolishness demands explanation!

Durak
Samuil Petrovitch usage: That’s the sort of thing I’d expect to hear from a durak.
Translation: Your communication suggests that your skull is a vacant receptacle rather than a protective covering.

Govno
Samuil Petrovitch usage: I have had enough of this govno.
Translation: No more faeces for me, thank you.

Idi v’zhopu
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Seriously, Reconstructionist America can idi v’zhopu
Translation: I would recommend that Reconstructionist America remove itself from my presence at once, preferably in a painful manner.

Kalash
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Glad I brought my Kalash.
Translation: How fortuitous that I have this Russian-made firearm

Kon govno
Samuil Petrovitch usage: I’ve had enough of your kon govno.
Translation: I doubt the veracity of your explanation, which has the perfume of equestrian faeces.

Past’ zabej
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Past’ zajeb, or I’ll blow your knees off
Translation: Be quiet, my good sir, or I shall be forced to relieve you of your mobility.

Pizdets
Samuil Petrovitch usage: This a whole new category of  pizdets
Translation: Our situation is  beginning to resemble a cluster of effluent.

Pushka
Samuil Petrovitch usage: If I had a decent pushka, this wouldn’t be such pizdets
Translation: How I yearn for a firearm of significant calibre to relieve the difficulty of my situation!

Yajtza
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Your yajtza must be bigger than the moon.
Translation: Your gentleman’s treasures appear to be of planetary proportion.

Yebani
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Get this yebani tube out of my gullet before I vomit into my lungs.
Translation: Kindly remove this fornicating tube from my digestive tract or I fear we will be having a backwards performance of breakfast.

Yobany stos
Samuil Petrovitch usage: Yobany stos, is that the only gun you brought?
Translation: Ploppers! I had expected you to be more fully prepared for armed combat.

Zhopa
Samuil Petrovitch usage: You talk too much, zhopa.
Translation: You are surprisingly communicative for an orifice that is not generally used for speaking.

>> Read the first chapter of Simon Morden’s The Curve of the Earth

Petrovitch is back! Presenting THE CURVE OF THE EARTH

The Curve of the Earth, a science fiction adventure novel set in the Philip K. Dick award-winning world of the Samuil Petrovitch novels - perfect for fans of Richard Morgan Coming up in March is something we’ve all been waiting for: a new novel in the mind-blowing Philip K. Dick Award-winning Samuil Petrovitch series by Simon Morden.
THE CURVE OF THE EARTH (UK | US | ANZ) is a pure hit of adrenaline-filled science fiction goodness. It features everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed, bad-tempered, cybernetically-enhanced, AI-implanted, sociopathic, mad Russian genius Samuil Petrovitch.

This novel is a great place for anyone new to the Petrovitch novels to start. If you’re a fan of the likes of Richard Morgan and his classic novel Altered Carbon (another Philip K. Dick Award winner) then this is certainly for you.

THE CURVE OF THE EARTH is set 10 years after the previous three Petrovitch books ended (EQUATIONS OF LIFE, THEORIES OF FLIGHT and DEGREES OF FREEDOM) and features more high-octane action in the gritty world of the Metrozone – a dangerous post-apocalyptic London full of crooked cops, mad cults and gun-toting nuns.

This story will again see Petrovitch come head-to-head with those people he just loves to hate: Reconstructionist America. But this time he’s on a trip to the frozen slopes of North Alaska to find out what’s happened to his adopted daughter Lucy…

See the blurb below and Prepare to be Petrovitched. (more…)