Red-Handed: the Big Result!

Cover by Pye Parr...

Hey chaps-slash-chapesses,

You probably remember how, a couple of months ago, we announced a thrilling new experiment in publishing. Jonathan Green's eighth Ulysses Quicksilver book, Time's Arrow, is being released in three parts, and you - yes, you - yes, actually you right now, sitting there and reading this; I can see you, you know - can download each part as a separate mini-ebook and vote on the direction of the next part.

So you read the blog post, you bought the book (in the US or UK), you read and loved it, and you voted. And I want to thank you all. We've been really pleased with the response.

And that response, overwhelmingly - by a ratio of something like four to one - has been for Option B: Ulysses goes in search of the mysterious "M. Lumière."

Outstanding.

So, there you go. Green's been given his marching writing orders, and you get to wait a couple of months as he rolls the next one out for you to vote on. This is shaping up to be pret-ty exciting.

And it's not too late to get involved! Buy Red-Handed now, catch up, and wait with bated breath like the rest of us for Black Swan to come out, and next time your vote can be counted! It's like we're playing a massive game of Fighting Fantasy! Whee!

Time's Arrow: Red Handed (US Kindle Store)

Time's Arrow: Red Handed (UK Kindle Store)

Time's Arrow: Red Handed (US iTunes Store)

Time's Arrow: Red Handed (UK iTunes Store)

 Kick ass.

David

Podcast Twelve!

Hi all,

We're clearly on some kind of obscene roll. Podcasts just keep happening, without any of those pesky six-month hiatuses...

The twelfth podcast, A Pax in Time, Book Nine,* sees the return of that earth-shattering editor David Moore, and likewise the return of that plucky pensmith, Jonathan Green, and of our intriguing intern, Colm Bannon.

Jon's here to talk about the Pax Britannia universe, the recent (and profoundly affordable) Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection, ebooks in general, his experiences with the Fighting Fantasy series, and the upcoming Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, a very exciting project in which Jon will let the story unfold in short ebook-format "chapbooks" and allow readers to vote on the direction the story will take each time. Find it here on iTunes, or go to the Store and search for "Abaddon and Solaris."

You can also just go here to look at the feed direct, or to subscribe using an RSS application, like Outlook.

Cheers,

David

*This title is a total lie. Time's Arrow is book eight. But that would ruin the name of the podcast. I dunno, pretend like the Short Story Collection is book eight, or something.

Jon Green Interviewed in SFX!

Hey gang,

Not sure if you're a regular reader of SFX Magazine, or of their website, but if not you should jump on there and check out the interview with Jon Green, author of the Ulysses Quicksilver books in the Pax Britannia series.

Check. It. Out.

The interview is, of course, in honour of the Ulysses Quicksilver Collection, collecting three of the early novellas from Ulyssess Quicksilver's career: "Fruiting Bodies," "Vanishing Point" and "White Rabbit."

If you want to catch up on this neat little collection, you can buy it now for as little as 99 cents.

Outstanding.

David

Get your steampunky fix for International Steampunk Day!

It is, apparently, International Steampunk Day - yes, no more hiding in the shadows of International Talk Like a Pirate Day or Global Cheese Week (we may have made that last one up), it's time to break out the cog-strewn goggles, fire up the steam-powered walking stick and sally forth into the world of steam tech amazingness!

And there's no better way of marking this global celebration of all things steampunky than by picking up a title from the world's longest running steampunk novel series: Pax Britannia from Abaddon Books!

You can start your steampunk addiction for just $0.99 (or as little as 49p) by downloading the Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection from Kindle or iTunes! Fans of Boy’s Own adventure and insane steampunk shenanigans will love this thrilling collection of short stories following the dandy, detective and adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver.

These three short stories have been hand-picked by the author, taken from his earlier novels to form the perfect introduction to the acclaimed steampunk world of Pax Britannia.

Now available to download for 99 cents through Kindle (UK 69p) and iTunes (UK 49p).

All titles in the Pax Britannia series are available as eBooks – part of Abaddon’s mission to bring the best of genre fiction to fans in new and exciting formats.


Also published recently in the Pax Britannia series:

Al Ewing's stunning Gods of Manhatten (available both in the UK and the US): The steam-powered city of tomorrow where psychedelic beat-poets rumble with punk futurists in the rain-drenched alleys, and where mad science colludes with the monstrous plans of the Meccha-Fuhrer! NEW YORK, USS - City of dazzle and danger. Only here could we find The Blood Spider, Doc Thunder and the saint of ghosts known as El Sombra! NEW YORK, USS - The setting for a bloody battle of steel will and science gone wild in a contest to save the city of tomorrow - or end it!




Could Hitler’s ultimate weapon be our hero’s nemesis? - time travelling Nazi terrorists, flailing steampunk fisticuffs, dapper swashbucklers facing Hammer Horrors from before they were born – Ulysses Quicksilver may have travelled into the past, but has he bitten off more than he can chew?

It’s temporal trouble for Quicksilver as he travels back in time to stop the ultimate weapon falling into Hitler’s hands just at the crucial moment of his defeat in the Second Great War but must infiltrate the most heavily-defended fortress on the planet to stop this malignant gift from the future from changing the past – and erasing Quicksilver himself from history!

Available in the UK and the US, Jonathan Green storming steampunk adventure is Mary Shelley meets Kim Newman meets The Terminator!

“Jonathan Green gets mileage out of his monsters, with big action set-pieces that read like things we’d like to see in a rip-roaring summer movie.” SFX

Three slices of steampunk for just $0.99

Yes, you can now get THREE slices of steampunk for JUST $0.99

Abaddon is delighted to announce the release of its first 99 cent eBook – the Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection.

Now available to download for 99 cents through Kindle (UK 69p) and iTunes (UK 49p), fans of Boy’s Own adventure and insane steampunk shenanigans will love this thrilling collection of short stories following the dandy, detective and adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver. These three short stories have been hand-picked by the author, taken from his earlier novels to form the perfect introduction to the acclaimed steampunk world of Pax Britannia.

In Fruiting Bodies a gruesome death leads Ulysses and his manservant Nimrod to the glasshouses of Kew, bringing them face to face with the horrors lurking within. A Hallowe’en séance leads our intrepid duo into a close encounter with the world beyond in Vanishing Point, while in White Rabbit Ulysses journeys into a world of madness and murder, meeting some sinisterly familiar characters along the way.

All titles in the Pax Britannia series are available as eBooks – part of Abaddon’s mission to bring the best of genre fiction to fans in new and exciting formats.

Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books, said:
“Abaddon is committed to bringing the best genre fiction to the widest audience possible and it’s a great delight to be able to present these stories in this format at such an attractive price.”

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Steampunk at Waterstones and the Vitruvian Fankenstein...

Wotcher all,

We're all pretty excited here at Abaddon Towers, as we're just sending Jon Green's seventh Ulysses Quicksilver adventure, Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein, to the printers. That means it's now only a matter of weeks away from hitting the shelves!

In Anno Frankenstein, dandy and adventurer Ulysses finds himself thrust back in time to the Second Great European War, to combat the horrific super-soldiers of Germany's top-secret Frankenstein Corps. Among other terrors, he will fight with - or alongside - werewolves, vampires, the extraordinary Edward Hyde, the beautiful agents of the Monstrous Regiment, and his own father, Hercules.

Quicksilver's (now, I suppose, "the Quicksilvers'") adventures are continuing to make a stir out there in the steampunkophile world, as evidenced at Waterstones's flagship store in Picadilly, which has put up this Steampunk promotional display.

Note particularly that we make two appearances on the shelf, which we share with some extremely good company - something that, otherwise, only China Mieville seems to have achieved:



This is what Waterstones's "Dave" has to say about the Quicksilver Omnibus:


"That's always good news, surely?" We certainly like to think so, Dave.

Anyway, the very last thing we put together for the book was a kind of "Vitruvian Frankenstein," named in honour of da Vinci's most famous sketch, to put in the section headers (to understand why, buy and read the book...). Our brilliant artist and designer Pye Parr drew it for us, and we thought we'd share it with you:



Just to get your juices flowing even more, be aware that this will be available as a free downloadable desktop, on a lovely old-paper background, a little closer to the launch date. Keep your eyes on the blog!

Cheers,

David

First Review of Jonathan Green's 'Dark Side'

Pornokitsch has written the first review of Jonathan Green's Dark Side, the sixth Ulysses Quicksilver novel.

Dark Side is the biggest book in the series in all respects. By bringing in characters and conflicts from earlier books (some for the last time), Green elevates this from a snappy, pocket-sized adventure into the start of something properly epic. ... Without giving away any spoilers, the reader feels like the cozy universe of Pax Britannia is truly, irreversibly changing.

The inspiration for the cover - the poster for the movie Le Voyage Dans La Lune

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Pax Britannia Competition Winner!

Heyo,

You probably remember me starting the month of October with a massive post about Pax Britannia: covers, new commissions, and, of course, Jon Green's Lego-inspired competition...

If you don't remember, feel free to refresh yourself now. I'm cool with waiting for a bit. It's not like I have anything better to do.

Anyway, once you've done, you can jump over to Jon Green's Pax Britannia blog, where he has announced the winner!

Yes, that's right, Adam Sparshott, and/or Sparshott and Son - I'll admit I'm confused as to whether the Adam in question is Sparshott or Son - has created an awesome airship for Ulysses to fight on (I'm guessing Ulysses has the two pistols and the smarmy grin, rather than the katana and the top hat), complete with two massive balloons for carrying it through the skies of Londinium Maximum. It's frikkin sweet. Sparshott will be making an appearance in the upcoming Anno Frankenstein (Mark Harrison's cover art pictured, right).

And here to show you the kick-ass airship in question, is Sparshott himself. Or Son:

He loves it.

Cheers,

David

One more cover for you chaps...

Saddened by your long wait for another series of the BBC's recent Sherlock Holmes adaptation? Never fear, loyal servants of the empire, for another dashing, daring detective and his loyal companion await you in the world of Jonathan Green's Pax Britannia!

Perhaps, we'd like to think, slightly ahead of the curve of today's current steampunk trend, Abaddon has been publishing the Ulysses Quicksilver adventures since early 2007, and it is still one of the longest-running steampunk series around, with the ninth Pax Britannia book being published in October this year, and the tenth already in progress.

The omnibus is something we're all very proud of, (just look at that beautiful cover by Simon Parr,) and it collects the first three Ulysses Quicksilver novels - Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising and Human Nature - as well as an introduction from the author, and the short stories Vanishing Point and Christmas Past.


This rather impressive tome is currently pre-ordering for £8.99 on Amazon. Perfect for reading anywhere, but heavy enough to double up as a weapon against those ne'er-do-wells who might impede your own mystery-solving adventures.

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