Thursday 19 January 2012

The final chapter in the story of Kerberos begins

The Twilight of Kerberos:
The Wrath of Kerberos
by Jonathan Oliver

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-35-3
$9.99/12.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-907992-36-0

An ebook-only release from Abaddon Books

Suddenly stranded in a desert by a magical storm, Silus Morlader must lead the crew of the Llothriall across the harsh landscape in search of civilisation. What they find will change their view of the world forever.

A new race reveals to Silus that his god, the planet-deity Kerberos, is not all he appears to be; that everything they understand about life on Twilight may be wrong.

The ninth and latest in the Twilight of Kerberos series, The Wrath of Kerberos is the first time Abaddon Books has published a brand new title only as an ebook.

And with the success of the recent series omnibuses – including the The Best of Tomes of the Dead and Afterblight: America – and capitalising on the growing US readership who are discovering Abaddon’s startlingly fresh shared-worlds, Abaddon Books has decided to focus the Twilight range on this format.

The long-awaited third book of the Lucius Kane Trilogy by Matthew Sprange, Legacy’s Price, will see print this March as part of the first Twilight of Kerberos Omnibus, with two more omnibuses in the series to collect the titles by Mike Wild and Jonathan Oliver.

About the Series
Twilight of Kerberos was Abaddon’s fifth shared world, launching with Matthew Sprange’s Shadow Mage in February 2008. Rocked by war and religious schism, Twilight is a fantasy world like no other, a land girt by impassable mountains and impenetrable storms, dimly lit by a distant sun and dominated by great Kerberos, an azure gas giant that fills the sky. Or is it? To some, Kerberos is a god. To others, another world. Its nature is a mystery, and uncovering its secrets – as, it is whispered, the Elder Races strove to do before they were wiped out – is sure to rock the world of Twilight to its core.

About the Author
Jonathan Oliver is the editor-in-chief of the Solaris and Abaddon Books imprints. He has previously had stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse. The Wrath of Kerberos is his second novel.

The Birth of a Dragon

Writing my second novel for Abaddon, it certainly felt like a bit of a beast at times. With my first novel, The Call of Kerberos, I had learnt so much and the trick with Wrath, was taking all that knowledge and doing it all over again. I believe it's known as Difficult Second Album Syndrome. Also, there was the added complexity of writing in a shared-world universe. This isn't a grumble, it's genuinely been great fun bouncing ideas off the other Twilight of Kerberos authors, it does however mean that everything you write has to chime true for everything the other authors are writing in the same world. Sometimes I'd hit on what I'd think would be a fantastic scene, only to find it would do things with the world that wouldn't carry well into future novels.

As well as the complexities of writing Wrath, it was the period during which my wife and I were awaiting the birth of our first child. Maia Rose Oliver was born on the 10th of February, 2011, about halfway through writing the novel. It's true what they say, being a parent changes everything and you can see some of my fatherly concerns channelled through my hero. In fact, Silus is accompanied by both his wife and child on much of his adventures.

And adventure is really the key to this novel. When I first started writing all those years ago, I actually saw myself as being a moody horror writer. (Think of an emo Garth Marenghi and you wouldn't be far wrong). Horror is still my first love (although I think I've grown out of that emo phase) but it was in my early twenties that I first started reading the pulp fantasies of Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber and Clark Ashton Smith. It was also in my early twenties that I first started gaming, starting with Call of Cthulhu, but soon moving onto Dungeons & Dragons. The fantasy worlds of the American pulp writers and the adventure games I had started to play had as big an influence on my writing as Ramsey Campbell and Stephen King when I first started. When I sat down to write my first novel, I wanted to give some of the joy back I'd had reading the pulps and rolling a D20. I'm not hugely keen on world building, so with Call of Kerberos I set it almost entirely on the sea or beneath it, giving me a sort of blank watery canvas. With Wrath I started with a world in its infancy and explored pre-history. Both of these gave me great scope to do pretty much what I pleased.

And I decided that I'd do the dragons.

Dragons had been mentioned in the previous Twilight of Kerberos novels, but neither Mike, Matthew or David had gone into too much depth (aside from some scenes in Mike's novels). I decided then, with Wrath, that I wanted to do the dragons. I'm still really pleased with the scene depicting the creation of these awesome monsters and a great deal of the book follows the adventures of the eunuch, Emuel, as he travels across the desert with his dragon companion. Not the easiest creatures to write, as they're so iconic, but I had a lot of fun with them.

Anyway, if you like your Sword and Sorcery redolent with Leiber, Lovecraft, Howard and Ashton Smith and packed full of adventure and monsters, then I present to you my final novel for the series. Head over to the Rebellion store and check it out.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Chuck Wendig returns to Abaddon

The author behind Abaddon’s fastest-selling title of 2011 is set to return with a follow-up novella and a brand new series.

Abaddon is delighted to announce that Chuck Wendig has signed up to write an ebook sequel to the popular Double Dead, as well as create a brand new series for Abaddon in 2013.

An October 2011 release from Abaddon, Double Dead was Wendig’s first original novel and became the fastest-selling Abaddon title to date, with a particularly strong showing as an ebook.

The freshest take on the undead for years, Double Dead saw the vampire Coburn awaken during the zombie apocalypse, only to realise that if he wants to survive he has to protect his food source from the undead hordes.

Now Wendig is set to return to the world of Coburn later this year with Double Dead: Bad Blood, an ebook-only novella sequel. It will be released on May 14th on all e-platforms.

Wendig is also working on an exciting new urban fantasy series for Abaddon Books, bringing gods and monsters onto the city streets in a thrilling new-take on classic genre tropes. The first in this new series is due for release in 2013.

With his prominent online presence, including his popular blog on which he is not afraid to give his opinions on the process of writing and the industry at large.

“It’s wonderful to be welcoming Chuck back to the Abaddon team,” said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books. “He’s certainly one of the most exciting new writers around and Chuck is going to build on the success of Double Dead while bringing a brand new series to Abaddon.”

"The vampire Coburn kicked his way out of my skull and onto the pages of Double Dead,” said Wendig, “so it's great to be revisiting that cantankerous old bloodsucker. And I'm utterly geeked to be working with Abaddon to help birth this brand new series of gods and monsters."

About the Author
Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter and self-described 'penmonkey'. He sold his first story when he was 18. After working in the computer and role-playing game industries he began scripting TV- and film-projects, including a horror film script which won him a place at the prestigous Sundance Screenwriter Lab 2010. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Abaddon Wins "This Is Horror" Award 2011!

Wha-hey!

So, wotcher all. I'm not sure if you're aware of the sterling work that This Is Horror does, promoting and discussing the horror genre? If not, go and check out their site; it's crammed with interviews, reviews, features and all sorts of good stuff.

At any rate, they have recently launched a new award for the horror genre, the annual This Is Horror Award, which enjoyed an enormous response and looks set to become something pretty exciting in the years ahead.

And just to show what great taste they have, they have awarded us - Solaris Books and Abaddon Books, Rebellion's sister fiction imprints - their inaugural Publisher of the Year Award!

We're thrilled, naturally. Jon, our Editor-in-Chief, says, “What a lovely way to start the New Year! I’m so pleased that Abaddon and Solaris have made their mark on the horror genre, because horror has always been my first love, ever since I discovered Ramsey Campbell at the age of 11. It’s been a real pleasure to work with This is Horror over 2011 and to be recognised by Michael and the team in this way means a great deal to us.”

To top it off, they've also given one of Solaris's books, Gary McMahon's The Concrete Grove, the Novel of the Year Award. Abaddon fans will recognise Gary as the author of the unsettling Tomes of the Dead: Hungry Hearts. We're massively chuffed for Gary; this is an amazing book, and the start of what's promising (having just finished the copy-edit on Silent Voices myself) to be an extraordinary series.

Gary says, “I’m delighted to have my book named as Novel of the Year. The Concrete Grove is a very personal novel and it’s gratifying to receive any kind of recognition for my work.”

So we're just popping open the champers in our office, here, and will pop up a photo of the certificate. Huge congratulations to Angry Robot, the runner-up Publisher of the Year, to BC Furtney, whose Scarla was the  runner-up Novel of the Year, and to all the other winners and runners-up.

Cracking.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

For Your Consideration

As you will know, the time of year has come upon us once again when the World Science Fiction Society decide on their nominations for the Hugo Awards. You are eligible to nominate if you attended WorldCon last year, or are to attend WorldCon this year, or have signed up for 2013's WorldCon. Instructions for nomination can be found here and the deadline is 31st of January (which also happens to be my birthday. Send cake.)

So, for your consideration, here is a list of Solaris and Abaddon titles that are eligible for nomination:

Novels:

Pax Britannia: Pax Omega - Al Ewing
Age of Odin - James Lovegrove
Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra - Mike Wild
The Sentinel Mage - Emily Gee
Malory's Knights of Albion: Black Chalice - Steve Savile
Loss of Separation - Conrad Williams
Cloneworld - Andy Remic
Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead - Toby Venables
The Kings of Eternity - Eric Brown
Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein - Jonathan Green
No Man's World: Ironclad Prophecy - Pat Kelleher
The Noise Revealed - Ian Whates
Malory's Knights of Albion: Savage Knight - Paul Lewis
Dead of Veridon - Tim Akers
Desdaemona - Ben Macallan
Tomes of The Dead: Double Dead - Chuck Wendig
The Concrete Grove - Gary McMahon
Sympathy for the Devil - Justin Gustainis
The Hadrumal Crisis: Dangerous Waters - Juliet E. McKenna
The Recollection - Gareth Powell
Regicide - Nicholas Royle
Redlaw - James Lovegrove
Kultus - Richard Ford
Theme Planet - Andy Remic

Authors eligible for the John W. Campbell award (best new writer):

Toby Venables
Gareth L. Powell
Richard Ford
Chuck Wendig

Cover artists for your consideration:

Mark Harrison (Pax Britannia: Gods of Manhattan/ Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein, Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra)

Gerard Miley (Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead)

Simon Parr (Malory's Knights of Albion: Black Chalice/ No Man's World: The Ironclad Prophecy/ Malory's Knights of Albion: Savage Knight/ Tomes of the Dead: Double Dead/ Regicide/ Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of SF)

Luke Preece (Tomes of The Dead: Best of Tomes of The Dead Vol. 2/ House of Fear)

Marek Okon (Age of Odin/ Cloneworld/ Themeplanet)

Stephan Martiniere (Engineering Infinity)

Larry Rostant (The Sentinel Mage)

Dominic Harman (The Kings of Eternity/ The Noise Revealed)

Vincent Chong (Loss of Separation/ Desdaemona/ The Concrete Grove)

Greg Staples (Dead of Veridon/ Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra)

Chris McGrath (Sympathy for The Devil)

Frazer Irving (Kultus)

Clint Langley (Redlaw/ The Hadrumal Crisis: Dangerous Waters)

Short Stories, for your consideration:

From Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Malak by Peter Watts
Watching the Music Dance by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Laika's Ghost by Karl Schroeder
The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter
The Server and the Dragon by Hannu Rajaniemi
Bit Rot by Charles Stross
Creatures with Wings by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone by Damien Broderick and Barbara Lamar
Mantis by Robert Reed
Judgment Eve by John C. Wright
A Soldier of the City by David Moles
Mercies by Gregory Benford
The Ki-anna by Gwyneth Jones
The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees by John Barnes


From Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of SF, edited by Ian Whates

A Smart Well-Mannered Uprising of the Dead by Ian McDonald
The Incredible Exploding Man by Dave Hutchinson
Sweet Spots by Paul di Filippo
The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three by Ken MacLeod
The One that Got Away by Tricia Sullivan
Rock Day by Stephen Baxter
Eluna by Stephen Palmer
Shall I Tell You the Problem with Time Travel? by Adam Roberts
The Lives and Deaths of Che Guevara by Lavie Tidhar
Steel Lake by Jack Skillingstead
Mooncakes by Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom
At Play in the Fields by Steve Rasnic Tem
How We Came Back from Mars by Ian Watson
You Never Know by Pat Cadigan
Yestermorrow by Richard Salter
Dreaming Towers, Silent Mansions by Jaine Fenn
Eternity's Children by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown
For the Ages by Alastair Reynolds
Return of the Mutant Worms by Peter F. Hamilton

From House of Fear, edited by Jonathan Oliver

Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear by Lisa Tuttle
Pied-a-Terre by Stephen Volk
In the Absence of Murdock by Terry Lamsley
Florrie by Adam L.G. Nevill
Driving the Milky Way by Weston Ochse
Moretta by Garry Kilworth
Hortus Conclusus by Chaz Brenchley
The Dark Space in the House in the House in the Garden at the Centre of the World by Robert Shearman
The Muse of Copenhagen by Nina Allan
An Injustice by Christopher Fowler
The Room Upstairs by Sarah Pinborough
Villanova by Paul Meloy
Widow's Weeds by Christopher Priest
The Doll's House by Jonathan Green
Inside/Out by Nicholas Royle
The House by Eric Brown
Trick of the Light by Tim Lebbon
What Happened to Me by Joe R. Lansdale