Reviewspam!

Hey all,

So it's an exciting month, coming up, 'cos I'm going on holiday to Australia! Okay, that's probably not exciting to you, but I'm pretty chuffed about it. Ben's heading off as well, as is Jenni; there's cons and business trips and stuff; it's all very busy. Which means we're working ourselves hard to get ahead of our workload, which means we're crazy busy, which means we've been neglecting our blog. We're bad bloggers. And we're sorry. :(

So I'll just trot out a couple of extra posts now to give you something to digest.

For starters, the ever-popular (actually, I have no idea if this is popular or not; but I figure you probably read some of our books, so you presumably want to read reviews of our books to see which ones to read) REVIEWSPAM!

I can feel the thrill pouring off you even now. You may want a shower.

Some stuff people have said stuff about includes:

Graeme over at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has had some nice thoughts to share on Pat Kelleher's No Man's World: The Ironclad Prophecy. And just as well, it's awesome.

And what a story it is!... Kelleher doesn’t mince his words letting us know just what’s at stake here... The outcome here blazes with action and suspense as Atkins and men take on the absolute worst that their new home can throw at them. These final scenes are more than worth the price of entry.

Andrea at Book Chick City has clearly enjoyed Rebecca Levene's The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors, really digging her teeth into an intricate, mythic thriller.

A quick, fun read that kept me guessing with each page, and each character was so ambiguous it’s hard to know which one to root for. It’s an original story with a great plotline and a solid foundation in the supernatural.

Jared at Hub Fiction was blown away by Toby Venables' Tomes of the Dead: Viking Dead, and its crew of manly, hairy, heavily armed but essentially lovable heroes.

Just to be clear, The Viking Dead is about Vikings... fighting zombies. And, just to be completely clear, it is awesome. There are some key structural reasons behind Mr. Venables’ tome of legitimate awesomesauce.

Liz at SFRevu was deeply impressed by Steven Savile's Malory's Knights of Albion: The Black Chalice, particularly by Savile's knack of making a medieval manuscript feel like a piece of contemporary historical fantasy.

We are shown how one wrong decision can change a person's future... In the end we have a thoroughly unpleasant main character on our hands. One who has become even more unreliable than when we met him... an interesting conundrum presented to the reader: do we hope Alymere gets to redeem himself or do we wish him into the fires of Hell?

So a good mix of older and more recent titles, some pretty solid support, and (importantly, to us) some reviewers who very much Got It on some of our slightly more daring projects. Always brilliant to see.

Cheers,

David

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...

-

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

Cold Warriors Launch Party

Hi all,

The official Launch Party for Rebecca Levene's The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors took place amidst a modest fanfare last night at the rather snug Phoenix Artist Club on Charing Cross Road. A good time was had by all.

(One of the attendees obligingly pointed out to me that Googlemaps provides you with a street-level view of the venue. Check out the wonders of the twenty-first century, kids.)

Pornokitsch's fabulous Jared Shurin organised and presided over the event, and has put a brief thank you up for everyone here.

No, thank you, Jared. We had a blast.

We sold out of books, met with some very cool people - industry people and fans alike - and generally got our groove on. Bex seemed to enjoy herself, Bex's mum was very nice, and the atmosphere was very warm.

(And warm, actually. It was an underground venue and we were pretty tightly packed, so we got pretty hot.)

Anyway, I ran around with a camera and got some images to remember the occasion by. Here follows my pictorial tour of the evening:

The extraordinary Jared. He and his glamorous partner Anne Perry ran around the whole time, talking to everyone and generally making sure the whole thing went smoothly. He makes it to a lot of cons and things; if you ever get a chance to grab him for a drink and a chat, do so. He's very friendly.

Ms. Levene appeared to be camera-shy, or at least diligently remained on the far side of the room from the book stand, so capturing her on film was a challenge. This was shoot on high zoom through three conversations.

Rebecca is also afraid of public speaking. Her friend Magnus (I should probably know his full name, but regret that I don't) read a sample of the book. She then stood and gave a terrified forty second speech and fled the mic.

Our talented designer and artist Pye Parr, who did the beautiful cover you can see at the top of this post. Looking slightly bewildered that I would choose to photograph him.

At the beginning of the evening, with Ms. Levene's close friends mostly in evidence, they sat down for a meal before the guests arrived. Jenni stood in the way of my shot. Nuisance girl.

I'm explaining to this lady the themes and concepts underlying Transformers. It's not my fault; she asked about my shirt.

Actually, slightly disappointed. Clearly someone else has highjacked my camera and sneakily taken my photo. This doesn't bother me - I absolutely love having my photo taken - but whoever it is (Jenni denies all knowledge) failed to let me know so that I could pose pretentiously. Damn them.

"Jon! Jon! Jonathan! Look over here!" I cried, but in vain.
I guess that dude he was talking to was rilly, rilly interesting.

Scott Andrews was on antibiotics and not drinking - a tragic state of affairs in a room of media lushes - and so decided to give me an "I'm not impressed that you're taking my photo" pose. Nice try, Andrews, but I'm hip to your jive. Putting on a pose to show that you don't want to pose doesn't make sense. It just doesn't work like that.

So, anyway, a splending evening and an auspicious kick-off for an awesome book. Very slightly hungover (I'm more suffering from getting to bed at 2am than anything else) but pleased by the outcome.

Do buy it and read it; your life will be improved by it by a typical 17.2%. This has been proven by scientists; and scientists can't lie. It's genetic or something.

Cheers,

David

Cold Warriors Launch Final News

Hi all,

We've given away six tickets to the Cold Warriors launch in Soho this evening already, but it's not too late! Send an email to abaddon@rebellion.co.uk and tell us why you deserve it, and we'll give you a ticket to the launch party and a stylish and commemorative "Hermetic Division" tie-pin of your very own!

Special update: Simon Parr, the artist and designer of the cover (shown right), will be there. So you can give him your adoration and badger him to autograph the book for you as well as Rebecca Levene.

Awesome.

Cheers,

David

Children's Crusade and Cold Warriors out in the UK tomorrow!

Children's Crusade at Amazon.co.uk

Cold Warriors at Amazon.co.uk

(Go here to request tickets to the Cold Warriors launch party in London tomorrow night!)

Book Launch Tickets Giveaway!

Right, lightning quick, 'cos this is for tomorrow evening.

Rebecca Levene's awesome new series, The Infernal Game, launches with the first book, Cold Warriors, tomorrow evening at a secret location in London.

We've just heard from the organisers that, after inviting all the trendy media types and booksellers, he has a few tickets left over, and would love us to give them away!

So sling us an email at abaddon@rebellion.co.uk and tell us why you should get a ticket. If we like your answer, not only will we give you a ticket for tomorrow evening's launch party, we'll also throw in one of the shiny new "Hermetic Division" tie pins we've got here in the office.

Ooh, shiny.

Get mailing!

Cold Warriors Launch!

Oh, sorry to say we missed this!

Hub Magazine, the FREE weekly SF, horror and fantasy magazine downloadable online in PDF or ePub format, had a great review of Rebecca Levene's Cold Warriors in issue 117.

Hub Magazine is run by Lee Harris from Angry Robot books, who recently announced their move away from HarperCollins, to Osprey Publishing.

Abaddon and Solaris Books wish you all the best with the move, guys! We look forward to the relaunch in September...



Speaking of Cold Warriors, we're having the launch party next week! I'm excited... If you're about in London on the evening of May the 19th, keep the date free and we'll see if we can find some tickets to give away...

Reviewspam!

Okay,

Another flurry of reviews:

• Hub Magazine Issue 114 includes a decent interview of Simon Bestwick's Tomes of the Dead: Tide of Souls by Derek John.
  
  "‘Tide of Souls’ is an original take on a tired genre, perhaps showing a new way back to its traditional horror roots."
  
  
• The Novelblog's Daniel S. Boucher has written this very nice review of Jasper Bark's Tomes of the Dead: Way of the Barefoot Zombie.
  
  "Crap, just writing all that is giving me the willies again. I mean seriously, who reads this stuff? Oh, wait a minute..."
  
  
• Graeme Flory of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has written this glowing review for Rebecca Levene's The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors.
  
  "Cold Warriors’ is a novel that’s just as good as hitting you with the supernatural as it is with all the other more mundane stuff... it makes the reader feel that this stuff could really be happening just beyond the corner of their eye..."
  
  
• On that subject, the guys at Falcata Times have written this very kind (if brief) review for Cold Warriors.
  
  "It’s a great setting, it’s got a lot of scope for follow up tales but perhaps best of all its the characters that really come alive to the reader."

Some good reviews there, which is always nice to see.

David

Off to Press!

Hey all,

Just to let you know Rebecca Levene's Cold Warriors has been sent off to press.

It should be coming out in the spring.

Ooh....

David

Pornokitsch interviews Rebecca Levene

Happy New Year from all at Abaddon Books!

Hope you enjoyed our Very Abaddon Christmas (and, if you missed it, scroll back through the blog because it was stonkin' great), and that you all had a great holiday.

Here's a treat for the new year - the fantastic folks at Pornokitsch have posted an interview with our very own Rebecca Levene, click here to read Part One and Part Two. ere's an excerpt:-

What can you tell us about Cold Warriors (2010 release)? Occult spies chasing down apocalyptic artifacts... it sounds fantastic.

Cold Warriors is the first in a new series created and written by me for Abaddon, called The Infernal Game. It’s coming out in May next year, and it’s best described as a cross between The Bourne Identity and The Omen. Here’s the blurb:

‘You died 20 years ago. Welcome back.’

At the peak of the Cold War, the British secret service formed the Hermetic Division, an agency charged with using supernatural means to defend the nation. Its primary mission: to find the mysterious Ragnarok artefacts, said to have the power to end the world.

Tomas Len was the Hermetic Division’s most senior agent, until he volunteered to take part in a dangerous voodoo ceremony. Morgan Hewitt is a young assassin who has an unnatural affinity for death, which strikes everyone he cares about.

Together, they’re sent on the trail of a corrupt Russian oligarch rumoured to be selling one of the Ragnarok artefacts. The journey will take them across Europe and into the darkest reaches of the occult. And it will uncover the terrible secret that has shaped both their lives…

-

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