Orbit Books has announced their Fall/Winter US titles from September 2009 through March 2010. As usual, it’s a very diverse and impressive catalog—full list can be found HERE—and I’ve listed a few highlights below:
“The Drowning City” by Amanda Downum. US Release Date: August 25, 2009. UK Release Date: September 3, 2009.
Symir—the Drowning City. A lush subtropical port, home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who'll stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.
For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her Crown, and to forget the heartbreak that haunts her at home. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But the longer she stays in the monsoon-drenched city, the more factions and intrigues she uncovers—even the dead are plotting, and the monsters who live in the flooded canals. And the closer she grows to an Imperial mage, the more her loyalties are strained.
Betrayed by her allies, hunted by the people she meant to aid, and determined to save a man oath-bound to kill her, Isyllt must choose between her mission and the lives of thousands of people. But as the waters rise and dams crack, everything she's worked for may still be swept away...
Official Amanda Downum Website
Preorder "The Drowning City" HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
“Soulless” by Gail Carriger. US Release Date: October 2009. Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced!
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible.
Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? And who is the real enemy . . . and do they have treacle tart?
“Soulless” is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking...
Official Gail Carriger Website
“Red Claw” by Philip Palmer. US Release Date: October 2009. Professor Richard Helms is the leader of a merry band of scientists and soldiers sent to catalog and explore New Amazon, a planet seemingly determined to attack them at every turn. When they are done cataloguing every detail of this vast, strange, unfamiliar ecosystem, they will burn it to the ground and make it fit for human habitation.
But when the team falls under attack, Helms and his followers are forced to flee into the depths of the New Amazon jungle. Old enemies and petty rivalries surface as they struggle to survive. They must fight for survival—against the planet they are exploring, the robots of the empire, and most of all, against each other...
Philip Palmer burns a new path for science fiction in this gripping, dark tale of man’s place in the universe.
Official Philip Palmer Website
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “Debatable Space”
“The Sad Tales of the Brothers Grossbart” by Jesse Bullington. US Release Date: November 2009. In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority ekes out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days.
Hegel and Manfried Grossbart, however, couldn’t care less. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt.
Embarking on a naïve quest for fortune, the strangely pious, graverobbing twins attempt to keep their faith no matter the consequences. Theirs is a world both familiar and distant; a world of living saints and livelier demons, of beguiling beauties and cruel tragedies, of monsters and madmen. The Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy...
Official Jesse Bullington Blog
“Full Circle” by Pamela Freeman. US Release Date: November 2009. In the conclusion to the Castings Trilogy, an unstoppable ghost army is descending on the Eleven Domains. The only hope for their destruction lies with Bramble and Ash, who will try to raise the spirit of the one man who might lay the ravaging army to rest.
The warlord, Thegan, has his own solution, and it may mean the death of every living Traveller—unless his wife and his most faithful officer forget all their loyalties and betray him.
The final confrontation between the dead and the living, the warlords and the Travellers, will change the face of the Domains forever...
Official Castings Trilogy Website
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “Blood Ties”
“Mr. Shivers” by Robert Jackson Bennett. US Release Date: January 2010. It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life.
Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death—a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human.
As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge...
Official Robert Jackson Bennett Website
“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin. US Release Date: February 2010. Yeine Darr is heir to the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. She is also an outcast. Until, that is, her mother dies under mysterious circumstances.
Summoned by her grandfather to the majestic city of Sky, Yeine finds herself thrust into a vicious power struggle for the throne. As she fights for her life, she comes ever closer to discovering the truth about her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history—as well as the unsettling truths within herself.
With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate are bound inseparably together, for both mortals and gods alike...
Official N.K. Jemisin Website
“The Last Stormlord” by Glenda Larke. US Release Date: March 2010. Shale is the lowest of the low—an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert, water is life and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It’s the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn’t get him killed first...
Terelle is a slave fleeing a life as a courtesan. She finds shelter in the home of an elderly painter but as she learns the strange and powerful secrets of his art she fears she may have traded a life of servitude for something far more perilous…
The Stormlord is dying in his tower and there is no one, by accident or design, to take his place. He brings the rain from the distant seas to his people. Without a Stormlord, the cities of the Quartern will wither and die. Their civilization is at the brink of disaster. If Shale and Terelle can find a way to save themselves, they may just save them all...
Official Glenda Larke Website
“The Midnight Mayor” by Kate Griffin. US Release Date: March 10, 2009. It’s said that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then the Tower will crumble and the kingdom will fall. As it happens, that’s not so far from the truth…
London faces its gravest threat since the Great Fire, and resurrected sorcerer Matthew Swift is alarmed to find himself thrust into the position of savior. One by one, the magical wards that guard the city are falling: the London Wall defiled with cryptic graffiti, the ravens found dead at the Tower, the London Stone destroyed.
Scattered throughout London, this multitude of magical defenses—a mix of international tourist attractions and forgotten urban legends—add up to a formidable magical shield. Protection for the City of London against . . . well, that’s the question, isn’t it?
If Matthew Swift is lucky, he might just live long enough to find the answer...
Official Kate Griffin Website
NOTE: “The Midnight Mayor” is the second Matthew Swift novel after “A Madness of Angels”, published April 6, 2009.
“The Drowning City” by Amanda Downum. US Release Date: August 25, 2009. UK Release Date: September 3, 2009.Symir—the Drowning City. A lush subtropical port, home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who'll stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.
For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her Crown, and to forget the heartbreak that haunts her at home. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But the longer she stays in the monsoon-drenched city, the more factions and intrigues she uncovers—even the dead are plotting, and the monsters who live in the flooded canals. And the closer she grows to an Imperial mage, the more her loyalties are strained.
Betrayed by her allies, hunted by the people she meant to aid, and determined to save a man oath-bound to kill her, Isyllt must choose between her mission and the lives of thousands of people. But as the waters rise and dams crack, everything she's worked for may still be swept away...
Official Amanda Downum Website
Preorder "The Drowning City" HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
“Soulless” by Gail Carriger. US Release Date: October 2009. Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced!Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible.
Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? And who is the real enemy . . . and do they have treacle tart?
“Soulless” is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking...
Official Gail Carriger Website
“Red Claw” by Philip Palmer. US Release Date: October 2009. Professor Richard Helms is the leader of a merry band of scientists and soldiers sent to catalog and explore New Amazon, a planet seemingly determined to attack them at every turn. When they are done cataloguing every detail of this vast, strange, unfamiliar ecosystem, they will burn it to the ground and make it fit for human habitation.But when the team falls under attack, Helms and his followers are forced to flee into the depths of the New Amazon jungle. Old enemies and petty rivalries surface as they struggle to survive. They must fight for survival—against the planet they are exploring, the robots of the empire, and most of all, against each other...
Philip Palmer burns a new path for science fiction in this gripping, dark tale of man’s place in the universe.
Official Philip Palmer Website
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “Debatable Space”
“The Sad Tales of the Brothers Grossbart” by Jesse Bullington. US Release Date: November 2009. In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority ekes out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days.Hegel and Manfried Grossbart, however, couldn’t care less. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt.
Embarking on a naïve quest for fortune, the strangely pious, graverobbing twins attempt to keep their faith no matter the consequences. Theirs is a world both familiar and distant; a world of living saints and livelier demons, of beguiling beauties and cruel tragedies, of monsters and madmen. The Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy...
Official Jesse Bullington Blog
“Full Circle” by Pamela Freeman. US Release Date: November 2009. In the conclusion to the Castings Trilogy, an unstoppable ghost army is descending on the Eleven Domains. The only hope for their destruction lies with Bramble and Ash, who will try to raise the spirit of the one man who might lay the ravaging army to rest.The warlord, Thegan, has his own solution, and it may mean the death of every living Traveller—unless his wife and his most faithful officer forget all their loyalties and betray him.
The final confrontation between the dead and the living, the warlords and the Travellers, will change the face of the Domains forever...
Official Castings Trilogy Website
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “Blood Ties”
“Mr. Shivers” by Robert Jackson Bennett. US Release Date: January 2010. It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life.Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death—a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human.
As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge...
Official Robert Jackson Bennett Website
“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin. US Release Date: February 2010. Yeine Darr is heir to the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. She is also an outcast. Until, that is, her mother dies under mysterious circumstances.Summoned by her grandfather to the majestic city of Sky, Yeine finds herself thrust into a vicious power struggle for the throne. As she fights for her life, she comes ever closer to discovering the truth about her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history—as well as the unsettling truths within herself.
With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate are bound inseparably together, for both mortals and gods alike...
Official N.K. Jemisin Website
“The Last Stormlord” by Glenda Larke. US Release Date: March 2010. Shale is the lowest of the low—an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert, water is life and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It’s the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn’t get him killed first...Terelle is a slave fleeing a life as a courtesan. She finds shelter in the home of an elderly painter but as she learns the strange and powerful secrets of his art she fears she may have traded a life of servitude for something far more perilous…
The Stormlord is dying in his tower and there is no one, by accident or design, to take his place. He brings the rain from the distant seas to his people. Without a Stormlord, the cities of the Quartern will wither and die. Their civilization is at the brink of disaster. If Shale and Terelle can find a way to save themselves, they may just save them all...
Official Glenda Larke Website
“The Midnight Mayor” by Kate Griffin. US Release Date: March 10, 2009. It’s said that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then the Tower will crumble and the kingdom will fall. As it happens, that’s not so far from the truth…London faces its gravest threat since the Great Fire, and resurrected sorcerer Matthew Swift is alarmed to find himself thrust into the position of savior. One by one, the magical wards that guard the city are falling: the London Wall defiled with cryptic graffiti, the ravens found dead at the Tower, the London Stone destroyed.
Scattered throughout London, this multitude of magical defenses—a mix of international tourist attractions and forgotten urban legends—add up to a formidable magical shield. Protection for the City of London against . . . well, that’s the question, isn’t it?
If Matthew Swift is lucky, he might just live long enough to find the answer...
Official Kate Griffin Website
NOTE: “The Midnight Mayor” is the second Matthew Swift novel after “A Madness of Angels”, published April 6, 2009.
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2 comments:
Yep that is a great line-up. Standouts for me are the Bullington and Bennette debuts, they look awesome.
Hey Calibander! It's been a while...hope all is well :) I'm pretty much interested in everything that I highlighted in this list, but that Bullington book has me really intrigued, especially considering all of the prepub it's received...