Rebellion Publishing: DRM Free Since 2006

‘DRM Free since 2006!’ It falls some way short of being a sexy headline, but how do you compete with other publishers apparently news-worthy headlines about going DRM-free in 2014, when it’s been 8 years since Rebellion took that decision?

Rebellion Publishing may not be one of the instantly recognisable names in the UK book trade, but for fifteen years we've been the home of the British institution 2000 AD, and first published our perennially bestselling graphic novel collection, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 back in 2005 (we publish volume 23 this summer). The following year we founded our first fiction imprint Abaddon Books. And in those pre-Kindle, pre-Twitter days, when digital rights management was something most publishers assumed was a music industry issue, Rebellion also started selling digital files for download with no DRM.

How was it that we took the step that most digitally-savvy publishers came to many years later? We had one big advantage, Rebellion is also a tech company, one of the leading computer games developers and publishers in the UK (our latest, Sniper Elite III, is out at the end of June). Our founders and owners Jason and Chris Kingsley understood how important ownership was for a digital consumer, how being able to buy something and keep it was a vital part of the trust relationship between publisher and reader, and gamer. You bought the digital copy? Well that’s yours to keep forever, and not just until you change device or operating system. It can be put  like this: we value the support of legitimate customers more than we hate the activity of people who steal from us.

In the years since 2006 we've acquired the SF imprint Solaris books; begun simultaneous publishing in the UK and North America; launched the children’s and YA literature imprint Ravenstone; started our standalone ebook shop rebellionstore.com to go alongside 2000adonline.com; and have seen our books feature on the best-seller lists time and time again.

So, as a leading publisher of comics and genre fiction in the UK it’s great to have had Tor and others join us in the DRM-free world. The others will be along soon, we're sure.

www.rebellionstore.com

Welcome to a different kind of Twilight

When certain types of fantasy novel become popular, you often see a rush to capitalise and slake the thirst of these new readers with more of the same. But are you tired of the same old fantasy titles? Weary of cookie cutter fantasy worlds which peddle the same old clichés?

Then you need a change of scenery. Welcome to a different kind of Twilight.

Twilight of Kerberos is one of Abaddon’s original shared worlds – a realm like no other, rocked by war and religious schism, its lands surrounded by impassable mountains and impenetrable storms, dimly lit by a distant sun.

It is dominated by great Kerberos, an azure gas giant that fills the sky. To some, Kerberos is a god. To others, it is 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 – has rocked the world of Twilight to its core.

The Twilight of Kerberos: The Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver is the first chapter in the end of the Twilight saga.

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.

It’s also is the first time Abaddon Books has published a brand new title only as an ebook.

At just £4.99 from the Rebellion store you’d be daft not to pick it up! Treat yourself to a whole new world and catch the beginning of the final chapter in the story of Kerberos.

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.

All the titles in the Twilight of Kerberos series are available as ebooks through the Rebellion store…

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.

Out Now! in November

Hello all!

On the shelves this month is just one title, but it's a proper doozy. You may have heard of Chuck from his long career writing for roleplaying games - especially for the World of Darkness - or you may have encountered his many screenwriting projects, or been spattered with bile and whisky on his hate-filled writing-advice-and-general-thought-vomit site, Terrible Minds. Either way, you've either fallen in love with his peculiar mix of insight, sarcasm and spite, or taken out a restraining order.

Well, Chuck has strode (stridden? strode? stroden? let's say "strode"), mighty-thewed, into the world of the novellist, with self-published novella, short-story collection, and several "writing" "advice" "books" available at all good ebook retailers, and two full-length novels in the works over at Angry Robot, but we're extremely proud to be able to present his first full-length, original novel, the vampire/zombie/apocalypse epic Double Dead.

Tomes of the Dead: Double Dead, by Chuck Wendig

Coburn’s been dead now for close to a century, but seeing as how he’s a vampire and all, it doesn’t much bother him. Or at least it didn’t, not until he awoke from a forced five-year slumber to discover that most of human civilization was now dead— but not dead like him, oh no. See, Coburn likes blood. The rest of the walking dead, they like brains. He’s smart. Them, not so much. But they outnumber him by about a million to one. And the clotted blood of the walking dead cannot sustain him. Now he’s starving. And nocturnal. And more pissed-off than a bee-stung rattlesnake. The vampire not only has to find human survivors (with their sweet, sweet blood), but now he has to transition from predator to protector—after all, a man has to look after his food supply.

David Says: A hectic road movie of a book, complete with guns, arbitrary deaths, religious fanatics, drug-crazed juggalo cultists and a big final showdown with explosions and shattering glass. Coburn's a proper lovable rogue - well, a despicable rogue, but acerbic and awesome; you want him to win even though you kind of hate him - and the story barrels along. I was left sweat-drenched and gasping for air.

Which is about all you needed to know. It's available in hard copy at all good bookstores (literally; if it's not at your local bookstore, it's a rubbish bookstore), and in ebook at all good electronic stores, including at Rebellionstore.com.

Go now! Buy it! Hurry!

David

Rebellionstore.com Now Trading!

So this is our Very Exciting New Development For Twenty-First Century Ladies And Gentlement Of Discretion And Taste.

At long last, Rebellion Publishing has opened its own book store!

I'm assuming you're a fan of electronic books, of course...*

Well, we got loads! And we're selling them online!

The new Rebellion Publishing Ebook Store, Rebellionstore.com, is the last word in Abaddon and Solaris ebooks. Almost our entire list of electronic is up there already, and they should all be up there very shortly.

And we have the best prices around for our ebooks. Including two very exciting offers! Right now, for a limited time, All Tomes of the Dead books and all Infernal Games books are available for a mere £2!

Which is value by anyone's standard, and I stand ready to call out anyone who says otherwise...

*You are, aren't you? They're the way of the future. They're why electricity was invented. Hell, right now, you're using electricity to read about how important it is to be able to read using electricity! That must be worth something.

Announcing the launch of our READ ANYTHING campaign

READ ANYTHING

Ever wanted to read something different but didn’t want the world to judge you by the cover of the book?

Spaceships, wizards, hooded swordsman – we love them all. But it’s not the cover, it’s the insides that matter. So, Solaris and Abaddon books are here to tell you that you can READ ANYTHING.

The revolution in eReaders gives you, the reader, the freedom to read whatever you want – fantasy, science-fiction, horror, urban fantasy, Steampunk, historical action, ANYTHING. They’re perfect to explore genre fiction you never knew even existed!

The READ ANYTHING campaign from Solaris and Abaddon Books aims to do away with judging a book, or rather its reader, by its cover. At last, content shall be king with whole new worlds of genre publishing opening up to readers.

Solaris and Abaddon Books are two of the freshest genre publishers in the UK today, producing books that transcend lazy genre clichés. Explore the Steampunk world of Pax Britannia on your iPad, the terrifying sink estate of The Concrete Grove on your Kindle, or soaring SF epics such as The Recollection and The Kings of Eternity.

Solaris and Abaddon don’t just release eBooks – we want to provide new and exciting material for readers. Both imprints will:
• publish every new book as an eBook on multiple platforms on the same day as it sees prints
• publish the first chapter of every new book online, for free, ahead of publication
• publish selected future titles exclusively as eBooks
• introduce new ways to share eBooks with your friends and family.

“The world of genre fiction is as rich and rewarding as anything produced by the publishers of ‘literature’,” says Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of both Solaris and Abaddon Books. “At Solaris and Abaddon we are committed to providing great fiction in a format to suit the reader. Now with the READ ANYTHING campaign you can jump into the world of genre without worrying what your fellow commuters will think.”

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

Double Dead Preview: Coburn is coming, November 2011!

Here's a treat for all you Chuck Wendig fans, we've got a preview of Chapter One of Double Dead sitting right here on our servers.

Download the epub version, the Kindle version or the .pdf version now, for free!

Coburn’s been dead now for close to a century, but seeing as how he’s a vampire and all, it doesn’t much bother him. Or at least it didn’t, not until he awoke from a forced five-year slumber to discover that most of human civilization was now dead— but not dead like him, oh no. See, Coburn likes blood. The rest of the walking dead, they like brains. He’s smart. Them, not so much. But they outnumber him by about a million to one. And the clotted blood of the walking dead cannot sustain him. Now he’s starving. And nocturnal. And more pissed-off than a bee-stung rattlesnake. The vampire not only has to find human survivors (with their sweet, sweet blood), but now he has to transition from predator to protector—after all, a man has to look after his food supply...

Double Dead will arrive in stores in November 2011. It is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.

Chuck Wendig rants and froths at the mouth blogs about the craft of writing, to much acclaim, at Terrible Minds. Double Dead will be his first published novel.


UK release - 10th November 2011 - £7.99 - ISBN: 978-1-907992-40-7
US release - 15th November 2011 - $9.99 - ISBN: 978-1-907992-41-4

ebook releases - November 2011
Kindle ISBN: 978-1-84997-272-7
epub ISBN: 978-1-84997-271-0

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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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eBooks, redux

Hello all,

Right. For those of you eagerly awaiting the latest Ulysses S. Quicksilver (dandy and secret agent) adventure in electronic format, Jonathan Green's Evolution Expects is now available from Mobipocket and our other usual vendors.

"Why is this newsworthy, David?" I hear you cry, "loads of Abaddon books have gone up as eBooks over the last few months, and you don't normally make a great hue and cry about individual titles. What gives?"

Quite right, because &E7's output is so prodigious it would be futile keeping up. Futile!

But this is a bit special. Those of you who read the hardcopy books - and you really should - will know that the Pax Britannia titles normally have lovely borders, twiddly Victoriana stuff around the chapter heads, mock-newspaper adverts for hair tonic and the like. Stuff which is normally hard to convey through the slightly limited mark-up tools of eBook designers.

But &E7 has been hard at work, exploiting new developments, tweaking the paramaters of the software, and generally making the design tools his bitch. And now Evolution Expects is out with all those bits kept in. Yes, Virginia, you can enjoy both the convenience of electronic reading and the beauty of our fine gentlemen's adventure chapbooks...

David

eBooks!

ROBO-&E7, the eBooks 'bot, has just rolled over to our booth, one wheel broken and trailing a USB lead, and asked us for requests for eBooks. So head on over to Mobipocket, check out our titles, and let us know any Abaddon book we don't currently have available that you'd like to see. There's only five or six yet to come - some of our latest titles - but put up a request here or email us to tell us your preference, and we'll let the little guy know.

Podcast!

The first ever Abaddon and Solaris Books podcast is being recorded by David Moore and Jonathan Oliver right now!

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Call of Kerberos!

Hey all,

I'm now holding a copy of Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos in my hot little hands. Not actually at this moment, of course; I'm typing. I'd have to type one-handed, and that would be awkward. Look, why am I even explaining myself to you? It's a figure of speech. Don't judge me.

Anyway, it's even now winging its way through the tortuous labyrinth that is the contemporary distribution system, and will be hitting the shelves in a week or so, so all you Kerberos fans dying to get your hands on the next book can take a measured breath. Not long yet.

Our busy little eBook elves are frantically adapting it to electronic format as well, so it should be available in our Mobipocket shop at the same time as it hits the shelves! Vive le Revolution Electronique!

Kick ass.

David

eBook Bestsellers

A little number-crunching from Abaddon’s eBook ‘bot reveals the current bestselling titles. (Click on the titles for links to sellers.)

1. Shadowmage (TWILIGHT OF KERBEROS)
Lucius Kane finds his loyalty torn between the ‘Hands’ and his mentor in the secret society of Shadowmages.

2. The Culled (AFTERBLIGHT CHRONICLES)
‘The Blight’ sweeps across the world sparing no-one except those with a particular blood type. Those that remain struggle to survive the post-apocalyptic nightmare.

3. Unquiet Grave (DURHAM RED)
A thousand years young and with a body built for sin, mutant vampire Durham Red just wants to get her kicks while she can... but a nightmare tribe of blood worshippers have other ideas A great 2000 AD novel !

4. Dredd VS Death (JUDGE DREDD)
No surprise to see Dredd in the top five! Dredd is pitted against the four Dark Judges in this all-action novel.

5. Fear the Darkness (ANDERSON PSI DIVISION)
Called in to psychically read the crime scene, Psi-Judge Anderson encounters ever-increasing signs that a malignant psychic presence is at work. Prepare yourself for a tense and intriguing investigation that will blow your mind.


Hot off the ePress!

I’d definitely recommend Night’s Haunting from the TWILIGHT OF KERBEROS series. More trouble in store for thief and Shadowmage, Lucius Kane. This, the latest in the series was released just this month in the original printed form and also in scrummy eBook format.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your eReaders!!!

&e7

The ebook 'bot.

A message from Andy Severn, Abaddon's eBook 'bot

Hi All,

If you’re a shameless techhie like myself, you’ll be squealing with delight to hear that ALL the Abaddon novels are now available as eBooks! Go to the Titles tab on www.abaddonbooks.com and make with the clicky-click on the WHSmiths link.

You can snap up an eBook edition at loads of reputable book sites such as WHSmith, BooksOnBoard, Waterstones, Amazon Kindle, Mobipocket and CoolerEbooks. They’re available in two delightful flavours, ePub and Mobi so will work on whatever reader you have.

If you don’t have one of those gorgeous eReaders then you can still read them on your iPhone, iPod Touch or laptop. But really, you’ll be wanting to ask Santa to pop one of those readers in your stocking this Christmas – they’re soooo cool, and the eInk technology is incredibly comfortable to read. I grabbed myself an Elonex one* from the pile of readers we have for checking the eBooks and now I take it EVERYWHERE with me – and I really DO mean everywhere ;)

I’ve just finished reading the BRILLIANT Pax Britannia book Human Nature, methinks I’ll have a dip into one of the 2000AD books next, perhaps the supernatural thriller Caballistics Inc? Or a bit of Judge Dredd? So many to choose from...

&e7 – Abaddon’s eBook ‘bot.

* I’d have grabbed an eCooler but the one we have is a girly hot-pink colour – why couldn’t we have got a blue one, or even grey or red to match my laptops?

Update Time!

Hi all,

Right, so two quick updates:

eBooks

Our hard-working assistant Jenni's been frantically working through our eBook back-catalogue, and now every Abaddon book released up to April this year is available from Mobipocket. There's also lots of the old Black Flame books set in the 2000AD universe, so crack on.

Upcoming Schedule

I'm proofing Matthew Sprange's second Lucius Kane book Twilight of Kerberos: Night's Haunting right now, so that's due out next month. Jon's book Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos is due out in November as well, as the series draws ever closer to revealing the secrets of Twilight and the ever-present Kerberos, about the fate of the lost Old Races, and about the strange evil that lurks beneath the waves. Sorry for the delay with these books; as you will have seen in our press-release, we've just taken on a load of extra titles, and we're kind of running to catch up right now.

Fans of crown agent and dandy Ulysses Quicksilver will be thrilled to know that Jonathan Green's Pax Britannia: Blood Royal is due out on time in December. It's the perfect gift for the steampunkophile in your life but remember, a steam-powered centenarian senile cyborg queen is for life, not just for Christmas.

In January, we're still expecting to deliver Weston Ochse's coastal horror Tomes of the Dead: Empire of Salt. This is Weston's first book for us, and we're really looking forward to it. Aquatic zombies and bracing sea air; the perfect combination for a getaway.

February will see the release of Cold Warriors, Rebecca Levene's first instalment in our new horror-espionage setting The Infernal Game, and Pat Kelleher's Black Hand Gang, which will kick off our new WWI/sci-fi crossover No Man's World. These are both really intriguing settings, and I'm pretty excited about both of them.

Coming up, we have more Twilight, more Pax, Scott Andrews' third Afterblight book and, as always, more of those hungry, hungry zombies. Watch this space...

Good hunting,

David