Upcoming Orbit Titles (Spring/Summer 2015)

Orbit unveiled the covers for their Spring/Summer 2015 releases today (US/UK – although, they’re mostly the same), and I thought I’d share some of the ones that caught my eye, here. I present them without commentary, but I will say the Peeler cover is rather eye-catching not only because of its bold colouring, but because it’s rather amusing.

Daniel Abraham, The Spider’s War (Dagger & Coin #5)

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James S.A. Corey, Nemesis Games (Expanse #5)

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N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season

This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze – the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years – collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

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Nicole Peeler, Jinn & Juice

Cursed to be a jinni for a thousand years, Leila nears the end of her servitude – only to be bound once again against her will. Will she risk all to be human?

Born in ancient Persia, Leila turned to her house Jinni, Kouros, for help escaping an arranged marriage. Kouros did make it impossible for her to marry – by cursing Leila to live a thousand years as a Jinni herself.

If she can remain unBound, Leila's curse will soon be over. But Ozan Sawyer, a Magi with the ability to See, Call, and Bind jinn has other plans.

Oz needs Leila to help him penetrate Pittsburgh’s steel-soaked magic, a juice potent but poisonous to supernatural creatures, in order to find a missing girl with her own mysterious connection to Kouros. Unfortunately for Leila, becoming Bound to Oz may risk more than just her chance to be human once more – it could risk her very soul…

Jinn and Juice is the first in a new series by fantasy writer, Nicole Peeler, set in a world of immortal curses, powerful jinni and belly dancing.

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Kim Stanley Robinson, Aurora

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Angus Watson, Clash of Iron (Iron Age #2)

LEADERS ARE FORGED IN THE FIRES OF WAR

Iron Age warriors Dug and Lowa captured Maidun castle and freed its slaves. But now they must defend it.

A Roman invasion is coming from Gaul, but rather than uniting to defend their home, the British tribes go to battle with each other – and see Maidun as an easy target.

Meanwhile, Lowa’s spies infiltrate Gaul, discovering the Romans have recruited British druids. And Maidunite Ragnall finds his loyalties torn when he meets Rome's charismatic general, Julius Caesar.

War is coming. Who will pay its price?

Upcoming: “The Tyrant’s Law” by Daniel Abraham (Orbit)

Dan Abraham is one of my favourite authors. Despite the very odd (and annoying) fact that his books are so often books I Save For Later… Anyway, The Tyrant’s Law is the third book in Abraham’s current fantasy series, The Dagger & the Coin, which began with the excellent The Dragon’s Path and was followed by the as-yet-unread-by-me The King’s Blood.

The great war cannot be stopped.

The tyrant Geder Palliako had led his nation to war, but every victory has called forth another conflict. Now the greater war spreads out before him, and he is bent on bringing peace. No matter how many people he has to kill to do it.

Cithrin bel Sarcour, rogue banker of the Medean Bank, has returned to the fold. Her apprenticeship has placed her in the path of war, but the greater dangers are the ones in her past and in her soul.

Widowed and disgraced at the heart of the Empire, Clara Kalliam has become a loyal traitor, defending her nation against itself. And in the shadows of the world, Captain Marcus Wester tracks an ancient secret that will change the war in ways not even he can forsee.

The Tryant’s Law will be published in the US and UK by Orbit, in May 2013.

Week in Review (Apr.29-May 4)

This week, we have a piece by Nik Vincent writes about why she likes writing for Black Library; Bookworm Blues hosts a “Special Needs in Strange Worlds” series of guest posts (featuring Robert Jackson Bennett, Kendra Merritt, Paul Weimer); an older post from Daniel Abraham about reviews, readers and the neocortex; and Jon Courtenay Grimwood discusses Venice and Vampires; and Jeff Salyards writes about the green-eyed gremlin of writer-envy.

An Interview with DAN ABRAHAM

Dan Abraham is one of my favourite authors. Ever since I read the first book of his Long Price Quartet series, I’ve been eagerly awaiting every new book of his fiction. Abraham is also one of the busiest authors I’m aware of, writing novels in the fantasy, science fiction and urban fantasy genres, as well as writing graphic novel adaptations of Game of Thrones and a handful of other projects. With so many excellent projects on the go, it’s really a wonder he ever manages to sleep… I decided to ask him about this, and many other things besides…

US vs. UK Covers

Comparing Covers from across the Pond

Early next year, M.L.N Hanover’s Urban Fantasy series, The Black Sun’s Daughter gets a UK release & new artwork through Orbit Books. “M.L.N Hanover” is one of Dan Abraham’s nom de plumes (alongside James S.A. Corey and his own name, of course). The series will be released over the course of four months, as has become customary for Orbit, and should provide fans of both Abraham and Urban Fantasy with an exciting new series and heroine to follow.

Here’s the UK artwork:

Hm. Very bright and eye-catching colours, which I’m not sure match the Urban Fantasy aesthetic, to be honest. I admit, I haven’t read the novels (I do have book one already, though, from the US), but this puts me in mind of Charlie’s Angels – the woman on the front is reminiscent of Minka Kelly, as well as Rachel Weisz and Nina Dobrev, all at the same time! Is it me, or is there a bit of CSI: Miami about the covers, too? Does Jayné pause dramatically to take off her sunglasses, I wonder…?

For this one, I think it has got to be advantage USA, where the series has an altogether more atmospheric style:

I particularly like the smoky-textures to the artwork (in the first one especially), and the third cover just looks bad-ass. There’s some now-cliche UF tramp-stampage, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t have worked in the UK (see Patricia Briggs’s new covers).

What do you think?

Here’s the synopsis for the first novel, Unclean Spirits:

Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn’t quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it’s all hers — and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.

Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric’s heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means — magical or mundane — so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.

Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions — Aubrey, Eric’s devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities — Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she’ll have to learn the new rules fast — or break them completely….

“A Game of Thrones” #1 & 2 (Dynamite)

The comic adaptation of the fantasy classic

Novel by: George R.R. Martin | Adapted by: Dan Abraham | Artist: Tommy Patterson

The premiere issue introduces readers to George’s world, adapting the prologue and first three chapters of the novel, and bringing onto the graphic stage such iconic characters as Eddard and Catelyn Stark, Jon Snow, young Bran Stark, and Daenerys Targaryen.

In the second volume of A Game of Thrones, the irresistible plot thickens and the spellbinding magic of a master storyteller deepens.
For Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, a new role now beckons: Hand of the King – a position of power second only to his majesty himself. But is a life at court, in luxurious King’s Landing, any life for a hardened man of action like Stark? Is the king’s invitation an honor he can refuse – or a mandate he cannot ignore, when faced with shocking revelations of treachery on high?

Martin’s fantasy classic adapted for the comic medium by Dan Abraham, one of my favourite authors? Yeah, there was no way I was going to pass this one up. Despite still never having read the novel (but seeing and loving the HBO series), I thought these two issues were really well put together, and offered more for readers still not sure about diving into the novels.

“Leviathan Wakes” by James S.A. Corey (Orbit)

Brilliant & Addictive start to a new Sci-Fi series

Humanity has colonized the planets – interstellar travel is still beyond our reach, but the solar system has become a dense network of colonies. But there are tensions – the mineral-rich outer planets resent their dependence on Earth and Mars and the political and military clout they wield over the Belt and beyond.

Now, when Captain Jim Holden’s ice miner stumbles across a derelict, abandoned ship, he uncovers a secret that threatens to throw the entire system into war. Attacked by a stealth ship belonging to the Mars fleet, Holden must find a way to uncover the motives behind the attack, stop a war and find the truth behind a vast conspiracy that threatens the entire human race.

A collaborative effort between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, Leviathan Wakes is a brilliantly readable, gripping from start to finish, and a superb start to a new series. I was hooked from very early on, and eager for more at the end.