New Vlog Post: Learn With Dave...

Wotcher all.

Second Vlog done! Woot!

Now with a new educational function!



Enjoy.

David

Pax Britannia Goodness: Covers, Releases, Blogs, and Competition!

Wotcher all,

Well, it's a pretty busy time over in the parallel universe where Victoria is still Queen of England.

Let's see...

We've had The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus back from the printers (shown here with Pye Parr's gloriously grim Londinium Maximum skyline and the new Victorianesque layout), and it is beautiful. So much so that we've decided to use the same layout and design for all our future Pax Britannia books. That should be hitting the shelves in the next month or so, just in time to buy as stocking-fillers for the steampunkophile in your life.

Er, the other steampunkophile in your life. Obviously you're a steampunkophile. You wouldn't lie to us, would you?

(Pye has actually written a blog about creating the cover for this, and another one about putting the final touches to the artwork on the cover. Pop over to his blog and take a look.)

We've also just had Gods of Manhattan back from the press. Unfortunately too late to incorporate the sexy new formatting, although it does have Mark Harrison's awesome montage cover art.

(Fun fact: Al saw this art, concluded there were more hot women in the cover art than there actually were in his book, and immediately set out to add more hot women to the book. The final book has, I believe, two more hot woman in it than it initially did, wholly due to Mark's cover art and Al's OCD/whimsy. Thanks, Mark!)

Gods of Manhattan sees the Saint of Ghosts travelling to New York in the United Socialist States of America, where he encounters the impossibly heroic Doc Thunder and the dark and bloodthirsty Blood Spider, and helps uncover sinister plots and secret pasts and more evil Nazi goings-on.

We've just sent the next Ulysses Quicksilver adventure, Dark Side, off to press, with the new format cover.

Also very sexy. Particularly love Mark Harrison's dark homage to the famous "man in the moon" image from Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage dans la Lune (Okay, I had to look that up on Wikipedia; but didn't I look all informed and educated for just a second, there?), only slightly late, so you should be seeing that early next year.

This book sees Ulysses travelling to the Moon in search of his brother Barty, who's apparently (and fairly characteristically) fleeing gambling debts. Once he gets there, our intrepid dandy-adventurer encounters murders, conspiracies, secret bases, and all the usual shenanigans that he seems to find wherever he goes. It's as silly and fun as usual, but a bit... darker than the earlier books. Ulysses goes through the wringer a bit. You'll see.

(Also see a cameo by competition-winning Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch. He's well excited about this.)

...which brings me neatly to the next Pax Britannia competition! Jonathan Green loves Lego. Hell, who doesn't? He also loves steampunk. And we all love steampunk, or we wouldn't be reading/writing this blog post. And he's seen some steampunk lego that people have put together, and that's got him well-chuffed.

So he's offering another walk-on part in his coming Pax Britannia novel, Anno Frankenstein (Mark Harrison's cover shown right, although this will get redone with the new layout and text before it goes to press). Just send in a picture of your own Pax Britannia-inspired lego, and the one he likes best gets to be in his next book.

Check out his blog post about it.

Phew! That's a lot of stuff about Pax B. Might need a cup of tea and a sit down.

Cheers,

David

New Vlog Post: Meet the Mascots...

Wotcher all,

After some positive feedback on the FantasyCon vlogs, here is a vlog I dun in the office:



Enjoy.

David

What we did at Fantasycon 2010.

So, here's my Con report. Not quite as high-tech as David's 'vlogging', but then if you saw my grizzled visage it would melt your mind!

Friday afternoon, Ali (my good lady wife), David and I drove up to Nottingham, me taking a route I was convinced would only take about an hour and ten minutes from Oxford. It took three hours, but the witty banter and occasional musical interludes kept our spirits up and soon we were wafting into the luxurious splendour of the Britannia Hotel Nottingham in a cloud of literary excellence, wafted by the wings of a thousand muses.

We checked in and saw our boxes... sorry, rooms. But the convention is really about the guests and the events and this is the last year Fantasycon is in Nottingham, so enough moaning about the hotel.

Friday evening saw us at The Salutation Inn, Nottingham's premier pub for heavy metal, where Abaddon Books sponsored an evening of metal karaoke. The place was heaving and many attendees turned up to rock out with us. David Moore, desk-editor extraordinaire (or the Antipodean Anvil as we like to call him) lead proceedings, doing 4 numbers himself along with a goodly amount of moshing. But man of the night was Rio Youers, with his take on Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine. He was verily the metallist of metal and was rewarded with the promise of a bounty of Abaddon books. Much fun was had and it was particularly aces for the good lady wife and I to catch up with some old friends, and show off Ali's bump (she's in the family way you know?).

Then it was back to the hotel bar for some night caps and to hook up with such splendid folk as Simon Bestwick, Paul Meloy, Paul Finch, Rio again (who draped himself over me and told me why he should write for me, he's a bit forward that Rio (but, sadly, he doesn't dance amongst the sands)) and several other fine scribes and lovely fans. Then it was way past my bedtime so I said adieu.

Saturday afternoon saw us do a preview launch of The End of The Line, with a massive multi-signing. We rapidly sold out of every copy we brought along. Many thanks to our crew of writers and the fans who brought copies. It was great to sign for people and put names to new faces.

Then, later on, I was on a panel called 'How Not To Get Published' with Marc from Angry Robot, Jo from Gollancz and Stephen Jones, legendary anthologist. It was good fun with Jo reading some startling submission letters, and the rest of us relating various stories from the frontline. A few more audience questions would have been ace, but time was not on our side.

Then the rest of the convention involved hooking up with friends old and new, seeing a couple of readings by Paul Meloy and Chaz Brenchley. Saturday night was Ali's birthday so we took ourselves away from the convention for a quiet meal, which was very nice.

Overall, a splendid time was had by all. It was exhausting but fun, and over all too quickly.

Thanks once again to the organisers for a terrific Con. We shall see you all next year for the Brighton Bash.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Abaddon & Solaris FantasyCon Vlog III!

Okay, okay, that proper blogpost with text and pics still coming.

Here's the third video:

FantasyCon 2010 Blog Part II: More Vloggery

Righto. Will do a bloggy blog with pics and stuff in a bit. In the meantime, a second vlog:



Cheers,

David

FantasyCon 2010 Blog Part I: The Vlog!

Hola chaps,

Will be getting onto you with some quality typage (such as you have come to expect from us here at the Abaddon Books Blog) a little later in the day, but I decided to start with an exciting foray into Vlogging! Yes! We're totally twenty-first century here at Abaddon Towers.

Or I am. Jon's catching up.



Cheers,

David

Fantasycon 2010

Hello Ladies and Gents

Well, Fantasycon is nigh. And in attendance this year will be myself and my estimable colleague, David Moore. We have some things planned for this weekend which, if you're along for the Con, I think that you will enjoy very much.

Firstly, on Friday 17th from 8pm, David and I will be at The Salutation Inn, there to oversee a raucous evening of heavy metal karaoke, sponsored by Abaddon Books. The first 50 customers will get a free Abaddon zombie novel and there will be a prize for the best singer of the evening. This event isn't restricted to Fantasycon guests, so if you are in Nottingham and at a loose end, and loveth the metal, come join us.

Saturday, 1pm, Fantasycon, Britannia Hotel main bar - we will be launching the horror anthology edited by myself, The End of The Line, published by Solaris, our sister imprint. Not only will you be able to get this book two months before it hits the shop, you will also be able to get it for the discounted price of £5! Not only that, but many authors in the collection will be in attendance to deface your copy if you so wish.

Saturday, 4pm - I will be on a panel on what NOT to do when trying to get published. With me will be Marcus Gascoigne and Lee Harris from Angry Robot, Jo Fletcher from Gollancz, and editor extraordinaire Stephen Jones. Come along and hear us rant.

Other than that, David and I will both be there to talk to punters, authors and generally feel the vibes flowing from the industry.

If I see you in the bar, mine's a pint.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Twilight of Kerberos update

Hello All

"So, Jon," you say (well, at least in my head you do, just one of many voices!!!), "what's happening with the Twilight of Kerberos series? What can you tell me about my favourite sword and sorcery epic?"

Well, my friends, firstly you can feast your eyes on this marvelous review for Mike Wild's Twilight of Kerberos: Engines of The Apocalypse, the latest in the Kali Hooper series of books. What further reason do you need to jump into these fantasy books?

But, anyway, to news, as we have finally decided on how we're going to bring this series to a head.

Next year, 2011, will see the release of two more novels in this series, Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra, again by Mr Wild, in February, and Twilight of Kerberos: The Wrath of Kerberos, by some tired old hack called Oliver, in November. We will also be releasing the first in our omnibus editions, Twilight of Kerberos: The Shadowmage Trilogy by Matthew Sprange, which will feature a previously unseen novel (yes a whole book). Confirmation of the release date to come later.

But, as if the date wasn't apocalyptic enough, in 2012 we will be releasing the final Twilight of Kerberos novel, Children of the Pantheon, penned by Mike Wild. This will feature all of the main heroes seen in the series so far in an epic battle for the fate of the planet. Expect big things, I've already been chatting to Mike about this and it sounds very exciting indeed.

So yes, there you have it. The future laid out for you.

Back to editing with me.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Is "Scott Pilgrim" About You?

So, I went to see Scott Pilgrim the other day.

(Caveat: I have not read the comic, so I am profoundly unqualified to comment on whether or not it was true to the source. Was it? Comments below.)

And it was a blast. Full of nerd humour and references - very Ed Wright, in that respect - slickly done, visually cool. Very surreal and funny. High slacker-appeal both in terms of the characters (who are mostly slackers), the references and humour (very gen-X), the plot (which is, after all, all about time-wasting computer games), and the girl (who is basically a coffee-shop pin-up).

But the best thing about it, from my point of view, is how sweet and tremendously simple the premise is. The whole high-camp "defeat the evil exes" plot is a fairly straightforward allegory for dating a messed-up girl with a load of baggage.

I've been that guy. I've had that sinking feeling when an ex's name has cropped up on conversation and killed a mood dead, and thought, "wouldn't it be cool if there was a direct solution? If I could just kind of, I dunno, defeat the memory of this guy so it wouldn't keep having this effect on her?"

Basically, the film's totally about me.

So that got me thinking. Is Scott Pilgrim about you? Have any books or films been about you, recently? Have you read something, or seen something, and thought, "that's totally about me"? Why?

And if it's Monster, please don't tell me anything I might feel obliged to pass on to the appropriate authorities.

More Reviewspam...

Hey all,

Some online reviewery for you:

Mass Movement Magazine has posted this very brief review of Rebecca Levene's The Infernal Game: Ghost Dance. Jim Dodge Jr doesn't say a whole lot because he doesn't want to spoil the book for you, but he's clearly excited:

"Yes, I loved it!"

Jim Jr's also thrown up a nice little review of Scott Andrews's The Afterblight Chronicles: Children's Crusade. He feels "these characters have run their course," which is probably just as well as Crusade wraps up the storyline, but is still very complimentary. Cheers, Jim.

"With no lack of fighting and adventure, this book is an exciting read."

In a bit of an Abaddon frenzy, Mass Movement's Ian Glasper also offers us a review of Pat Kelleher's No Man's World: Black Hand Gang. Ian seems to feel that stories of soldiers mysteriously tranported to alien worlds should be more believable - and I'm sure Pat will take that on board - but nevertheless seems to have enjoyed himself.

"Told you it was going to be a wild ride, and it does belt along at a breathless pace, probably so you don’t have time to sit back and consider how daft it all is."

In the meantime, Emotionally Fourteen's Blake Harmer has also reviewed Black Hand Gang, and he properly loved it.

"A thoroughly enjoyable read [that] will keep you entertained if you like your sci-fi action stories."

Love the Metal? Love Abaddon Books!

Time to highlight one of our talented designers here at Abaddon, and to announce an event we'll be taking part in at FantasyCon in Nottingham on the 17th of this month...

Luke Preece, who's now set up his design blog over here: http://lukepreece.blogspot.com/, has created a poster to warn inform FantasyCon guests that our editors David Moore and Jon Oliver will be destroying your eardrums presiding over a metal karaoke night in a nearby pub on the Friday evening of FantasyCon, giving away free zombie novels to the singers, and a bigger prize for the singer deemed the Most Metal!

No idea how we'll judge that. Presumably this guy is pretty metal, as he's on the poster. How can we tell? Is it the had gestures? Is it the weird green stuff coming out of his mouth? Who can tell? Anyway FREE ZOMBIE BOOKS AND PRIZES, OKAY?


Luke Preece is also behind the gorey retro movie-poster look of the new Tomes of the Dead omnibus we've got coming out this November, just in time for your Xmas present-buying needs. Click for the full-size version!

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Podcast #6: A Brand New Format!

Hi all,

So after we skipped the May podcast to catch up, then the June podcast went up in July, but you didn't hear about it until August (do try and keep up), we then skipped the July podcast and have recorded the August podcast, which has also gone up in August! We're on fire, man!

Yes, that's right. The Sixth Abaddon & Solaris Books Pocast is now available to download and listen! As always, go to this link in iTunes (or search "Abaddon" in the "Search Store" box), to check it out, or be overwhelmed by the efficiency with which iTunes has already downloaded it. See alternative instructions below if you're just not into the whole iTunes bag.

In The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #6: Bring Tha Noiz, Jon interviews Ian Whates, author of Solaris's very recently released space opera The Noise Within and of the upcoming sequel, The Noise Revealed.

And here's the best bit: this is the first test of a new slicker, quicker, less polished podcast. And it's thirty-three minutes long! Get in.

We're especially keen to hear feedback, what with the new, shorter format.

Cheers,

David



*We tried to get a quote from Jon's mum, but then I just made one up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Not on iTunes, and have sworn to end your life rather than download a single Apple application? Here to help! Just point your RSS client here to download the feed without putting a penny in Steve Jobs' pocket. Keep an eye on the blog for updates, in case we change the host or something crazy like that.
  
• Bewildered by the term "RSS" and unsure what all this means? No problem, ignorant Luddite! Just follow the exact same link, click on the link to the mp3 of the episode you wish to hear, and you can listen right on your browser! Everyone's a winner!

Quick news round-up

Good Monday to All

Just to lighten your day a little and spread some cheer, here's an interview with Weston Ochse, author of Tomes of The Dead: Empire of Salt. You can hear Weston, talking to our friend Gardner Goldsmith, on his Liberty Conspiracy Podcast over here.

Enjoy

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

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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Podcast #5 out now! Er, two weeks ago. Sorry.

Hey guys,

So you remember me saying we might just skip May and call the next one the June one, to catch up on ourselves? Well, we went right ahead and did that shit, and then took so long getting the blog out that it went up on iTunes in July. And then I forgot to blog about it. So you're hearing about it in August.

So, er. Yeah. Sorry.

At any rate, you'd already know this if you're subscribed to the 'cast via iTunes, but if not, the Fifth Abaddon & Solaris Books Pocast is now available to download and listen! Point your iTunes to this link, or search "Abaddon" (or "Solaris") in the "Search Store" box at the top-right corner of iTunes, to check it out. If you are subscribed, you probably already have it. If you don't, then I guess resubscribe to it or something? How should I know? Call Apple's helpdesk.

David, Jenni and Jon at Abaddon Books and Solaris Books assault your mind and brain with sounds and information in what a well-regarded authority* might have called "an hour jolly well spent."

In The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #5: Pax Britannia Across the Pond, Jon demonstrates his versatility and leet interviewing skillz by interviewing two authors at once. Jonathan Green, author of the Ulysses Quicksilver novels (the fifth Quicksilver book, Blood Royal, is out now), and Al Ewing, author of El Sombra and the brand-new sequel Gods of Manhattan, assume their places on Jon's metaphorical couch and talk about the Pax Britannia universe, the future direction of the series and whatever pops into their heads. You also have two readings: one from each author. In our increasingly regular on-the-spot feature, Jenni Hill interviews Rebecca Levene and Scott Andrews at the top-secret launch of Rebecca's The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors, also out now.

Now, I've totally let you down, length-wise. Because we had two authors, two readings, and a launch report, this has gone well over the hour. You may have to listen to this in a couple of sittings. Two meaty, rich, fulfilling sittings.

As always, we'd love to hear any feedback.

Cheers,

David



*We tried to get a quote from Jon's mum, but then I just made one up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Not on iTunes, and have sworn to end your life rather than download a single Apple application? Here to help! Just point your RSS client here to download the feed without putting a penny in Steve Jobs' pocket. Keep an eye on the blog for updates, in case we change the host or something crazy like that.
  
• Bewildered by the term "RSS" and unsure what all this means? No problem, ignorant Luddite! Just follow the exact same link, click on the link to the mp3 of the episode you wish to hear, and you can listen right on your browser! Everyone's a winner!

Jon on Books

Hello Again

You can find a guest-blog entry over on Andy Remic's site, where I discuss my love of all things book-related.

Jon

Reviews

Hulloh Again

You know, some people say awfully nice things about our books. Which makes us very happy. So we thought we'd share some words of loveliness with you concerning our fine publications:

Un: Bound very much enjoyed The Infernal Game: Ghost Dance by Rebecca Levene, calling it a "clever and enjoyable read." You too can experience the thrills of this horror and espionage series which is out now.

They also said some nice things about No Man's World: Black Hand Gang by Pat Kelleher. In fact Pat's novel is going down a storm, rating a 4 star review in the next issue of SFX no less.

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review also very much enjoyed the novel, calling it a "thoroughly entertaining tale that promises great things for the future."

Meanwhile, our beloved zombies have been gathering good press. Jasper Barke's Tomes of The Dead: Way of The Barefoot Zombie has been described as an "entertaining and gruesome read" by our friends at Shroud Magazine.

For anyone enjoying our zombie line, please note that Weston Ochse is signing and touring to promote the brilliant Tomes of The Dead: Empire of Salt. If you can make it, go along to one of these events and say 'hi' to Weston and purchase his superb novel.

Last, but not least (obviously not least, for this is a book from the pen of your editor-in-chief!!!) some very kind people have read the book what I done gone wrote (in crayon, on the back of napkins, which is the only thing they allow me in my cell) and The Book Inn Review say of Call of Kerberos that it's "a great introduction for Oliver as a novelist", while Mass Movement Magazine say "freaking awesome [...] 5 out of 5 stars!" I think I love them.

Anyhew, that's all for now. As you were.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor-in-Chief

Coming Soon from Abaddon

Hello there

Well, as we haven't had a few cover updates in a while, how about we do a bunch in one go?

As well you know Pax Britannia goes from strength to strength and next year we see the launch of Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein by Jonathan Green (May 2011)

This one is going to be a real rip-snorter; featuring time-travel, espionage, steampunk Nazis and an experiment in the ultimate evil! As ever, the lovely Mr Mark Harrison did the cover and doesn't it look the business?

But, closer to hand we have the stunning conclusion to Paul Kane's post-apocalypse Robin Hood series with The Afterblight Chronicles: Arrowland. This one comes to you in September.

This one feels a bit like a cover for a pulp Western and Mark has perfectly caught the action of the opening chapter, and trust me it gets even madder as the book goes on!

Also, this winter, Abaddon are trying something a bit different. We've decided to release two omnibus editions. The first is The Best of Tomes of The Dead, which features the novels The Words of Their Roaring by Matthew Smith, I, Zombie by Al Ewing and Anno Mortis by Rebecca Levene. This will be hitting shelves late October and will be £9.99 in the UK and $12.99 in the US. So that's three stunning zombie novels for the price of one book. How great is that? Great also is the cover, which our very talented designer Luke Preece put together:

Not only that, but we're releasing Pax Britannia: The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus Vol 1 which will feature the first three Pax Britannia novels by Jonathan Green; Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising and Evolution Expects. We will soon have a super-sexy cover to show you as Simon Parr (designer-master-general) is currently beavering away on it. Each omnibus edition comes complete with author intros.

And as if you didn't have enough zombie madness to look forward to, check out Gerard Miley's cover for Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead by Toby Venables:

Yes, Viking zombies! It had to happen someday and fortunately the talented Mr Venables is the one helming the dragon ship. This beauty hits shelves in April 2011.

And last but not least, here is the cover for Mike Wild's final Twilight of Kerberos Kali Hooper novel The Trials of Trass Kathra (Feb 2011). This by Greg Staples:

Hang on a moment, final you say? FINAL? Don't worry Kerberos fans, we have huge plans for the finale of the series and Mr Mike Wild will be helming the epic conclusion in 2012. We're currently chatting plans but you can expect a massive, big special effects, world shattering novel to wrap up the series, featuring all the characters you've come to love. In the meantime there will also be another Silus Morlader novel by myself called The Wrath of Kerberos and we're trying something a bit special with the conclusion of the Shadowmage series by Matthew Sprange. Watch this space for details.

Anyway, news on new commissions and more upcoming titles soon.

For now, happy reading

Jonathan Oliver

Editor-in-Chief

3 for 2 and Ghost Dance review!

Oh, that title rhymes! I'm a poet and I didn't know it [/cheesy]. Anyway, there's a nice review of The Infernal Game: Ghost Dance just here at Unbound Books.

Ghost Dance was released yesterday in the US, Canada and the UK!

Also, we've got all Abaddon Books going on a 3 for 2 promotion at the Waterstones website right now! As Pornokitsch just excitedly pointedly out over on their twitter account, that means you can get The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors AND The Infernal Game: Ghost Dance, and also one for a friend! (Or grab another Abaddon book for yourself if you're less generous, like me...)

Ghost Dance came out in the UK yesterday. Of course, some lucky reviewers got their copies first...

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Worse that his bite?

Okay, okay, so that's a really labored pun, but it is a good way of making you aware of a couple of interviews with the supremely talented Mr Jasper Barke, author of Tomes of The Dead: The Way of The Barefoot Zombie, The Afterblight Chronicles: Dawn over Doomsday and Sniper Elite: Spear of Destiny.

Check out what Jasper has to say on Horror Re-animated and Dark Markets and then go buy his books!

Jon

Gods of Manhattan

“You’re in New York. Protocol went out the window the second you arrived.
This isn’t a protocol kind of town.
This is a town that breeds monsters and heroes, geniuses and madmen.
This town makes gods, and heaven help you, you wanted to be one of us.”

I've just finished editing Gods of Manhattan. I'm rather sad that I've finished, I had so much fun editing it, but hey, I can console myself with the fact that, very soon, our readers will get to enjoy it! It'll be out in shops at the end of July.

Book reviewers, bloggers, friends, (Romans, countrymen) and other editors who're on my personal Twitter and Facebook feeds will know that, while editing, I just Could Not Shut Up about how good this book was. I kept on quoting from particularly brilliant passages, telling people much fun it was, even declaring myself Queen of the Leopard Men at one point, after the fantastically pulpy character, Maya, Queen of Zor-Ek-Narr and girlfriend of the superhero Doc Thunder.

Well, just one blogpost about it, and then I'll find something else to talk about, I promise...

Maya frowned at Doc Thunder, irritated.
“You were flirting with her, weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t flirting, she’s an evil–”
“Oh, please! Like she’s not your type! Chain you to a dungeon wall and you’re anybody’s, I should know. Let me guess – did you tell her that beneath her iridescent beauty her evil shone cold and hard as a diamond?”
“Well, I didn’t say that exactly…”

Gods of Manhattan is set in Jon Green's steampunk universe, an alternative 20th Century where Britannia never did stop ruling the waves, and where Queen Victoria is still kept 'alive' by steam technology: our Pax Britannia line of novels. However, whereas Green's books focus on Ulysses Quicksilver, the most dashing secret agent the British Empire has ever employed, Gods of Manhattan takes us over the pond, to the good ol’ United Socialist States of America (By the way, you certainly don't have to have read the Ulysses Quicksilver novels to enjoy Gods of Manhattan, but they are very good).

NEW YORK, USSA - 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, USSA - 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, USSA - 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!

If you like superhero comics and secret identities – and you love stories like Watchmen and Astro City that play with the genre – you'll want to read this book.

If you like steampunk and alternate histories, if you want a writer who's really thought about what steampunk and alternate histories actually mean, you'll love it.

If you want a story about heroes wrestling with human and superhuman problems, about what happens when characters' moral codes collide, about being on the right side of the wrong side of the law, you'll love this book.

And if you just want a story about some guys and gals beating up Nazis who really, really deserve it, this is also your book.

Doc Thunder says all true patriots will read this book. And you wouldn't want to make him mad, would you?

[click picture for larger, high-def version]

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Aggressive Archaeology

Oh! Forgot to mention, Mike Wild has a blog now! Glad to see you've caught up with the rest of us, Mike. ;-)

http://www.mikewild.blogspot.com/

Mike Wild is the author of the Kali Hooper novels for Abaddon Books, an arc in our Twilight of Kerberos fantasy series.

I was filling in keywords for Amazon the other day, and one fo the ones I typed for Kali Hooper was 'aggressive archaeology.' I think it fits. She's a bit like Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider, except she'd kick Lara Croft's ass any day, and still have time to whisk Indy away for a dirty weekend...


You know she would.

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BRAAAINS.

Go tell Pornokitsch about your favourite zombie for a chance to win shiny new first editions of Ryan Brown's Play Dead, Weston Ochse's Empire of Salt and a signed copy of Rebecca Levene's Anno Mortis. Competition is here.

Me? My favourite zombie is either Bub the Zombie from Romero's Day of the Dead, or Zombo from 2000 AD's Zombo comics, or maybe the talking zombie head of Deadpool in the Marvel Zombies comics and beyond. Let's face it, I really can't decide on just one!

Speaking of Empire of Salt, Weston pointed me to a nice little review of it here, by San Diego bookshop Mysterious Galaxy. The reviewer warns us: Cheer all you want for the heroes, but reader be warned, there are many twists and turns that will leave you laughing, crying, screaming in rage, and hoping against hope that someone comes out of this alive. You won't put it down until it's over.

By the way, 2000 AD's wise-cracking Zombo was created by Abaddon Books author Al Ewing! I've just finished editing his latest work for Abaddon, Gods of Manhattan, so stay tuned here for a post all about it...

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"Real Gamer Girl" Reviews Tomes of the Dead

Hi all,

Bit of a backstory to this one. A young lady from over the pond called "Zephri" (real name Cassie) somehow managed to get the attention of a couple of gaming websites called Bell of Lost Souls and Chainfist, who breathlessly reported the existence of an actual girl who plays games, and interviewed her for the sites. You can read the interview starting here.

Now you may well be thinking "so what?" and I gather Cassie would agree with you. We're not quite sure why this was considered as desperately newsworthy as all that, but it did manage to get her blog a massive boost in readership and a flurry of comments, and made her that most fleeting of things, an internet celebrity.

Anyway.

I come into this when trawling the internet for zombies (professionally, of course; I love my job) and I trip over Cassie's post "I ♥ Zombies," in which she tells of her disappointment upon reading a zombie romance anthology (from a rival publisher, natch), professes her deep passion for the zombie genre and complains at the lack of good genre fic.

What ho, think I, we've done a zombie romance novel and it was brilliant. I bet she'd enjoy that. And I start drafting a comment on her blog nudging her in our website's direction, when I see how many comments she's getting and read her subsequent post about her newfound fame. So I figure she's an opinion-former now and send her comps of four of our zombie books.

Anyway, that was a few months back and I gather she's been very busy and has had a computer failure to boot, but she's finally posted this review for us, sharing her thoughts on Gary McMahon's Hungry Hearts ("this book gives you everything you'd expect from a zombie romance novel and then some") and Al Ewing's I, Zombie ("I can't really describe this book without "WTF?!").

But I particularly wanted to share this quote:

"[I, Zombie] gives you a seemingly simple concept, a sentient zombie that works as a mercenary/detective, but that concept is but the candle on top of a giant cake that secretly holds a really hot stripper, and she jumps out with the keys to a Ferrari then you all go out for ice cream and puppies. Then your head explodes."

By an astonishing coincidence, that actually happened to Al once. Tragically the puppies tasted dreadful and the ice cream melted in its basket.

So go swing by her blog and check it out.

Cheers,

David

Interview with Jon on The Literary Project

Hey all,

Okay, slightly late bringing this one to your attention, but Gemma Noon at The Literary Project has interviewed our loving dictator boss, Jon!

Read it here.

"We publish good fun, action-oriented genre fiction."

Cheers,

David

Zombies and other stuff...

Two things to blog about today, one, Weston Ochse reports queues out the shop doors on his booksigning tour in Arizona promoting his epic zombie novel Empire of Salt, and sent us some photos to share. (Too bad you didn't take photos of the queues Weston, we're not sure we believe you! Just kidding...)

And secondly, Scott Andrews has done a brief interview here at Pornokitsch about the conclusion to his apocalyptic St. Mark's School trilogy, Children's Crusade, which came out last month.

Also, because it's a bloody fantastic question, I'm going to steal one of Pornokitsch's interview questions and put it to you, dear readers... but you'll have to read the interview to hear Scott's answer!

Zombies attack. You can have one weapon, one sidekick and one song for your zombie-slaying soundtrack. Go...


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Your Questions Answered!

Hi all,

Well, a nice response to "Ask an Editor..." Day all around. Thanks to all who wrote in with questions! We felt generous, so all three of us have given answers to your questions.

Paul asked...

"OK, so if you could poach any author from another publisher's roster, who would it be, and what would you use to bait the defection?"

Jon answered: Well obviously we wouldn’t do that, as we’re dedicated professionals, but you do sometimes wish you were the people who got to publish Joe Hill first in the UK. Or China Mieville. However, this is more a case of admiring other lists rather than publishing envy. I’m very proud to work with the authors we currently have.

David answered: I could answer in a pie-in-the-sky, Fantasy Publisher’s League way about the authors I’d love to work with, but really they’d just be the authors whose works I really love, so it’d tell you more about my reading habits than my editorial preferences. I guess I'd have liked to discover Marie Philips' Gods Behaving Badly, and Justina Robson's Lila Black series. But we genuinely love our authors, who work hard for us and produce books we’re proud to put our brand on. And all those hookers and coke we send out never seem to have any effect anyway.

Jenni answered: Terry Pratchett still won’t return my calls. Or my hookers.


Jonathan D. Beer asked...

"Given the market trends in sci-fi and fantasy, where do you see the future of steampunk titles heading? More? Less? Scorned in favour of the next sparkly-vampires YA series?
"Damn, I think I'm going to regret asking a more hilarious question on this day of days. A great idea by the way."

Jon answered: Certainly more. I mean look at the success of people like Stephen Hunt. When we first started the Pax Britannia series for Abaddon, steampunk was pretty niche. But now it seems to be gathering more and more momentum.

David answered: I was genuinely thrown by this one. I thought Steampunk was awesome when it reared its head in the 'nineties, but would have sworn blind it was going to be a flash in the pan. But it's going from strength to strength, and spinning off other alternate history models like the Renaissance-era "clockpunk" stuff you're seeing coming up. It's not the one-trick pony it first looked like. Definitely more.

Jenni answered: I am slightly worried by the sudden popularity of the sub-genre steampunk romance. It’s really taken hold – wasn’t Steamed (Katie MacAlister) the biggest-selling steampunk novel in the US last year? I hope the genre can stick by its roots. But then as a girl in genre publishing it seems like it’s my duty to regularly express shock/horror/alarm at any and all things romance, in case people think I actually read it or something. [cue one of the clichéd Twilight-related criticisms that you’d heard a hundred times by the end of 2009]


Anonymous asked...

"Will you publish my book?"

Jon answered: I’ll give the drop-off address for the suitcase full of unmarked bills and then we’ll talk.

David answered: Nice try, Dan Brown, but the answer is still no.

Jenni answered: Yes, let’s do it. We love agreeing to publish books on the basis of anonymous comments. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.


Mihai (Dark Wolf) asked...

"What roles play the selling potential and the literary value when publishing a new author? Does one of these aspects weight more when considering a new manuscript?"

Jon answered: Obviously you don’t want to publish something that’s going to be too obscure, but we do look for fresh new ideas and takes on genre and we’re not adverse to taking risks. Literary value I think is most important, as if a book is well written that’s going to help sell it. We do look at brand new authors along with established names and we treat every MS with the same level of professionalism, care and attention to detail.

David answered: Gotta strike a balance. Publishing generates very slender profits; we have to pander to the market a bit or we'll go bust. But we're all in this industry because we love books, so we're not just going to churn out crap that we think will sell well; apart from anything else, in the long run that'll give us a bad reputation and lose us sales anyway. We're looking for books that we'll be proud of and will sell well. Fortunately, that coincides a lot more than people seem to think.

Jenni answered: What they said. It’s all about balance, young grasshopper.


Bill asked...

"Do most of your submissions come from agents? How many, say, in a month? Are there any agents that you have a particularly strong relationship with, i.e., that you could suggest for someone who wanted to be published with you?
"Maybe too many questions, huh? ;-)"

Jon answered: For Solaris, yes most. Possibly around 4 a month. There are many excellent genre agents out there and we have good relationships with John Jarrold, John Berlyne, Dorothy Lumley to name but a few.

David answered: What Jon said. He’s the Man.

Jenni answered: John Jarrold is cool – and really helpful to new writers, I’ve heard.


Harry Markov asked...

"If you could find yourself in an outrageous parody of three popular movies, which three movies would you choose?
"I want a frivolous answer, but offensive works, too."

Jon answered: Good grief. Erm... Some movies just parody themselves don’t they? Maybe some of the more obscure stuff like Turkey Shoot, The Last Dragon and any Danny Dyer film, as he’s always unintentionally hilarious. Bruvver!

David answered: I wouldn't appear in an outrageous parody. I'm a class outfit. I tend to think I'll appear in some high-brow Woody Allen pastiche. Ooh! Allen would do an excellent job of parodying the Twilight movies. Introspective neurotic middle-aged New Yorker falls in love with a beautiful young vampire and spends the whole movie debating whether he should kill him or ask to be turned into a vampire as well. I'd play the sarcastic best friend. Or the vampire. Gay vampire romance is classy, isn't it?

Jenni answered: Me and my best friend wrote a couple of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter parodies, back in the day. We thought we were pretty funny. Something like that, full of parody potential, LotR, Star Wars, a superhero movie... I’m not much of an actor but I’d play anyone wearing a cool costume, as long as I got to keep it!


Mihai (Dark Wolf) asked...

"How important is the cover artwork in the editing process? Is more important the originality of the artwork or the pattern that had success before?"

Jon answered: We try and make it so the artwork is descriptive of the book. We’re not going to plonk any old image on the front. Obviously it helps if a series maintains a certain look for consistency. But basically we look for the best cover artists and use their talents accordingly.

David answered: Original is cool, striking is better. I want to look at the cover and think, "I bet the book in here is awesome!" Which, once again, is both commercially valuable and artistically principled. There's a lot that in this business, which is good.

Jenni answered: The artwork should look and feel new, but the format (fonts, layout etc) of a series should stay the same in a series so that it’s easy for bookshops and book buyers to recognise the series. Not that we treat you like you’re easily confused, or anything... I love some of the artwork we’ve had recently, Clint Langley’s art for King Rolen’s Kin and Vincent Chong’s art for Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic Science Fiction have been my faves.

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"Ask an Editor..."

Hi all,

Here's the thing. We get good reading figures: hundreds of individual visits every month, scores of unique visitors every day. That's the dedicated blog readers; there are hundreds of you that visit the main Solaris page every day and presumably read the most recent posts. There's basically a metric assload of readers. But we don't seem to hear lots from you; there are a smattering of comments, and we get the odd email. A little more traffic on the Twitter feed.

And we'd like to hear from you. To that end, we're declaring "Ask an Editor..." Day! Post a comment here with a question, and Jenni, Jon or I will answer. Maybe seriously, maybe frivolously, maybe even slightly offensively, but you will get an answer. Just for one day.

Get posting, Abaddonians!

Cheers,

David

Ooh! Ooh!

Jon Green took some photers of the event as well.

Of me! Photos of me!

I love me.

Here's his blog post.

Cheers, Jon.

David