Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’

2018 Locus Awards Nominations

The 2018 Locus Awards nominations are in and we’re excited to announce seven Orbit books made the list!

Science Fiction

PERSEPOLIS RISING cover Paperback cover of Kim Stanley Robinson's NEW YORK 2140

PERSEPOLIS RISING by James S. A. Corey [US | UK | ANZ]

PROVENANCE by Ann Leckie [US | UK | ANZ]

NEW YORK 2140 [US | UK | ANZ]

Fantasy

THE STONE SKY by N. K. Jemisin [US | UK | ANZ]

JADE CITY by Fonda Lee [US | UK | ANZ]

THE DELIRIUM BRIEF by Charles Stross [UK | ANZ]

First Novel

AUTONOMOUS by Annalee Newitz [UK | ANZ]

Orbit is also among the top ten publishers nominated in the best publisher category! Check out the full list of nominees here. Winners will be announced during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 22-24, 2018. Congratulations to all of the nominees.

Acquisition Announcement: Megan O’Keefe’s Space Opera

The next big space opera is coming… will you be ready? We’re not one to toot our own horn (okay, maybe a little), but we just can’t be humble about this: Orbit has just acquired a brilliant space opera trilogy by Morningstar award winning author Megan O’Keefe. Think epic space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI with deadly secrets and you’re halfway to figuring out why we love this so much. Here’s a little teaser as to what it’s about:

The last thing Sanda remembers is her gunship breaking up around her as her preserving pod expanded, sealing herself away for salvage-medics to pick up. She expected to awaken in friendly hands, patched up and patched back into a new gunship. Instead, she awakens 230 years later upon an empty enemy smartship, The Light of Berossus or, as he prefers to be called, “Bero”. The war is lost. The star system is dead.

However, Bero may not exactly be telling the whole truth.

Megan O’Keefe’s Orbit debut is scheduled for Summer 2019. But in the meantime, go say hello to Megan on twitter @MeganEOkeefe.

Cover Launch: ANNEX by Rich Larson

ANNEX, the first book in Rich Larson’s debut series, is out July 24th. This stunning science fiction novel, about a young transgender girl who fights to take back her city from alien invaders, has an equally stunning cover.

Click here to see the full cover in B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog’s exclusive coverage—and watch a video of the cover being painted!

Artwork by Gregory Manchess; Design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

Cover Launch: THERE BEFORE THE CHAOS by K. B. Wagers

THERE BEFORE THE CHAOS, the first installment of the Farian War trilogy by K. B. Wagers, will publish in October. In the meantime, here’s an early preview of the cover, designed by Lauren Panepinto, with amazing art by Stephan Martiniere!

A galactic conflict between two alien empires threatens to engulf all of humanity. What’s a newly-crowned empress to do? If you’re Hail Bristol—ex-gunrunner, current Empress of Indrana, perennial firebrand—you undertake that most sensitive of diplomatic interventions yourself. But in the depths of space, nothing goes according to plan…

Design by Lauren Panepinto; Art by Stephan Martiniere

2018 Audie Awards Finalists

We’re thrilled to announce three Orbit audio books made it to the finals of the 2018 Audie Awards!

Best Female Narrator
THE STONE SKY by N.K. Jemisin (US), Read by Robin Miles

Science Fiction
PROVENANCE by Ann Leckie (US | UK), Read by Adjoa Andoh
THE STONE SKY by N.K. Jemisin (US), Read by Robin Miles
NEW YORK 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson (US | UK), Read by Suzanne Toren, Robin Miles, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, Caitlin Kelly, Michael Crouch, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Christopher Ryan Grant, and Robert Blumenfeld

The winners will be announced at the Audie Awards Gala on May 31st.

Congratulations to our authors, Hachette Audio, and the rest of the nominees!

Listen to samples of our nominated audiobooks:

Listen to THE STONE SKY here.

Listen to NEW YORK 2140 here.

Listen to PROVENANCE here.

Cover Launch: The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross

The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross

Feast your eyes on the latest Charles Stross cover, with design by Crush Creative and Ellen Rockell. THE LABYRINTH INDEX, coming later this year, is the ninth novel in The Laundry Files, where spy thrillers meet the supernatural . . .

Britain is under New Management. The disbanding of the Laundry – the British espionage agency that deals with supernatural threats, has culminated in the unthinkable – an elder god in residence in 10 Downing Street.
But in true ‘the enemy of my enemy’ fashion, Mhairi Murphy finds herself working with His Excellency Nylarlathotep on foreign policy – there are worse things, it seems, than an elder god in power, and they lie in deepest, darkest America.
A thousand-mile-wide storm system has blanketed the midwest, and the president is nowhere to be found – Mhari must lead a task force of disgraced Laundry personnel into the storm front to discover the truth. But working for an elder god is never easy, and as the stakes rise, Mhari will soon question exactly where her loyalties really lie.

Cover Launch: EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU by Heather Child

We’re beyond excited to share the cover for Heather Child’s cutting-edge debut novel EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU (UK|AUS). Gripping, heartrending and quietly terrifying, this  novel imagines a world where people can be recreated as data ghosts and lives can be changed by the information they’ve left behind. It’s perfect for fans of Black Mirror and Margaret Atwood.

 

Everything About You

Cover designed by Ellen Rockell at Little, Brown Book Group

Read on for a taste of what’s in store:

Freya has a new virtual assistant. It knows what she likes, knows what she wants and knows whose voice she most needs to hear: her missing sister’s.

It adopts her sister’s personality, recreating her through a life lived online. This data ghost knows everything about Freya’s sister: every date she ever went on, every photo she took, every secret she ever shared.

In fact it knows things it shouldn’t be possible to know. It’s almost as if her sister is still out there somewhere, feeding fresh updates into the cloud. But that’s impossible. Isn’t it?

EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU will be available in hardback, ebook and audio from 26 April.

Cover launch: AUTONOMOUS by Annalee Newitz

We’re thrilled to announce that Orbit UK is publishing Annalee Newitz’s stunning new novel AUTONOMOUS – a wildly inventive science fiction debut from the co-founder of io9.

Released in the US this autumn, AUTONOMOUS has already received tonnes of praise and we’re delighted to be bringing it to a new audience with a colourful twist on Will Staehle’s wonderful cover.

Look out for our early ebook release (available now) or buy the audio or paperback edition from 15th March 2018.

Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap medicines for those who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane.
Hot on her trail is an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his indentured robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understands.
And underlying it all is one fundamental question: is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?

‘Autonomous is to biotech and AI what Neuromancer was to the internet’ NEAL STEPHENSON
‘Something genuinely and thrillingly new’ WILLIAM GIBSON
‘Holy hell. Autonomous is remarkable’ LAUREN BEUKES

Acquisition announcement: Rich Larson’s ANNEX

Orbit has acquired world rights to up-and-coming speculative fiction author Rich Larson’s stunning debut novel, ANNEX, about Violet, a young transgender girl who must fight to take back her city. In this astonishing work of science fiction, Rich introduces the world to one of the most affecting young protagonists since Nailer in Paolo Baciagalupi’s Shipbreaker.

At first it is a nightmare. When the invaders arrive, the world as they know it is destroyed. Their friends are kidnapped. Their families are changed.

Then it is a dream. With no adults left to run things, Violet and the others who have escaped capture are truly free for the first time. They can do whatever they want to do. They can be whoever they want to be.  

But the invaders won’t leave them alone for long…

Combining all the thrills of an action movie with his award-winning, literary writing, Larson turns the alien invasion novel inside out. The first book is scheduled for July 2018, but in the meantime read some of Rich’s acclaimed short fiction on http://richwlarson.tumblr.com

Cover Launch: ADRIFT by Rob Boffard

Lost in the depths of space . . . No contact with civilisation . . . no way home . . . what would you do?

We’re very proud to present the cover for a gripping new science fiction novel we have coming in June 2018:

Adrift - a science fiction adventure novel by Rob Boffard

Rob Boffard’s ADRIFT is a tale of survival against all odds in the depths of space.

We just love the premise of this: An unsuspecting group of space tourists have their short pleasure trip turn into a nightmare – when they find themselves the only survivors of a devastating attack, drifting in space, with no way home and a terrorist ship on their tail . . .

This is pulse-pounding stuff, and it’s already getting some brilliant reactions from a whole host of science fiction authors:

‘AN EDGE-OF-THE-SEAT EPIC OF SURVIVAL AND ADVENTURE IN DEEP SPACE’ Gareth L. Powell, the BSFA award-winning author of Embers of War

‘A UNIQUE MIX OF THRILLER, SPACE ADVENTURE AND CONSPIRACY NOVEL – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED’ Jamie Sawyer, author of the Lazarus War novels

‘ADRIFT IS RICH IN DEEP CHARACTER-DRIVEN DRAMA, BUILT ON A HIGHLY SUSPENSEFUL PREMISE‘ D. Nolan Clark, author of Forsaken Skies

Sounds pretty cool, huh? Believe us – IT IS.

ADRIFT is perfect for fans of Alastair Reynold’s Revenger, John Scalzi’s The Collapsing Empire, Becky Chamber’s The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and Adrian Tchaikovksy’ Children of Time.

Read on for the blurb below, and look out for ADRIFT in a galaxy near you in June 2018.

In the far reaches of space, a tour group embarks on what will be the trip of a lifetime – in more ways than one . . .

At Sigma Station, a remote mining facility and luxury hotel in deep space, a group of tourists boards a small vessel to take in the stunning views of the Horsehead Nebula.

But while they’re out there, a mysterious ship with devastating advanced technology attacks the station. Their pilot’s quick thinking means that the tourists escape with their lives – but as the dust settles, they realise they may be the only survivors . . .

Adrift in outer space on a vastly under-equipped ship, they’ve got no experience, no weapons, no contact with civilisation. They are way out of their depth, and if they can’t figure out how to work together, they’re never getting home alive.

Because the ship that destroyed the station is still out there. And it’s looking for them…