Rule #2: Double-Tap

Listen up, zombie-hunters:

My wife and I watched Zombieland last week, and it is probably the funniest film I have seen this year. Mrs. Moore actually started hyperventilating at one point.

The film is slick, pacy, funny and stylish. It's visually impressive, clever and often ironic, regularly referencing and subverting the genre. Certificate 15, but bloody enough to satisfy fans of undead violence; think of Shaun of the Dead and you have a rough idea. And the hero is a massive OCD geek with a 32-point list of instructions for surviving the Zombipocalypse.

It isn't a conventional zombie-movie plot, being more rom-com than survivalism, but as a parody you'll tend to forgive it that anyway.

See it. And just remember Cardio, Double-tap, Seatbelts, and Bathroom and you're gonna do just fine.

David

Bonus Short Story

Hi all,

We've got a bit of a freebie for you today!

Scott Andrews, of Afterblight Chronicles: School's Out and Afterblight Chronicles: Operation Motherland, has written a short story for us, "The Man Who Would Not Be King." It's set just before Operation Motherland, and it's pretty damn funny.

It's available as the sample chapter at the end of Paul Kane's Afterblight Chronicles: Broken Arrow, but I'm happy to present it as a free PDF for readers of the blog right now.

Download it here.

No, that's okay. Don't thank me.

Cheers,

David

New braaains... err, blood. I meant "new blood."

Hey all,

Introducing the new Desk Editor at Abaddon books, David Moore:

David Thomas Moore stands six feet one inch tall in his shoes. He has the pale, coarse complexion and limpid hazel eyes of a phlegmatic, and keeps his hair cropped short in the manner of the military classes. Born in the colonies, he is unmemorable in appearance, indifferent in breeding and unexceptional in bearing. He is tolerably clean and owns his own suit. He will not accept a position that requires him to do laundry.

I'll be posting on here from time to time, when my editing duties allow.

Good to meet you all.

Way of The Barefoot Zombie

Right, proper post from me soon on stuff I promise.

In the meantime enjoy Jasper Bark's film for Way of The Barefoot Zombie.

Rebellion acquires Solaris

PRESS RELEASE:

2^nd September 2009

REBELLION ACQUIRES SOLARIS IMPRINT FROM GAMES WORKSHOP

This week, Rebellion, Europe’s leading independent games developer and owner of the iconic comic 2000 AD and sci-fi and fantasy imprint Abaddon Books, completed the acquisition of the Solaris book publishing imprint from Games Workshop for an undisclosed sum.

This well-known and highly successful brand offers a mixture of new and traditional science fiction, fantasy and horror books and has many bestselling titles from both upcoming and established names such as Brian Lumley, Gail Z. Martin, Eric Brown and Simon R. Green, amongst others.

Solaris will sit alongside, and be run in parallel with, Rebellion’s own Abaddon Books.

Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion said, “We’ve been aware of the Solaris imprint for some years now and have admired its success with fantastic stories and great writers. Acquiring Solaris will allow us to continue to push our publishing trajectory upwards and expand the quantity, whilst maintaining the quality, of all our titles.”

George Mann, Games Workshop’s Head of Publishing said, “We’re delighted that Solaris has found a new home with Rebellion. After a period of fantastic growth with our Games Workshop related titles, we decided the time was right for us to focus all of our attention on our Black Library imprint. We’re sure Rebellion will now take Solaris forward to even greater heights.”

Rebellion has also entered into a sales and distribution agreement with Simon and Schuster. Under the agreement, Simon & Schuster will continue to handle sales, distribution and fulfilment of all Solaris titles for all new and backlist titles to trade and specialty accounts. The agreement is effective August 31st, 2009.

Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

For more information, visit our website www.simonandschuster.com

Distribution for Solaris will continue to be represented by Simon and Schuster.

www.solarisbooks.com

Editor’s notes

Solaris Books

Acquired by Rebellion Group in 2009, the ethos of Solaris is to publish a mix of new and traditional science fiction and fantasy books for fans of these genres. It also aims to fill the ever-widening gap that has appeared between the large mass-market publishers and the small genre press in the American and British scene. But more than anything, Solaris exists to publish fantastic books by great authors, and to bring to the readers’ attention a plethora of exciting new stories and novels.

Website: www.solarisbooks.com

Rebellion^®

The UK-based computer games super-developer was established in 1992 by brothers Jason and Chris Kingsley. Their first major success was Alien Vs. Predator on Atari Jaguar for Atari in 1995. This was followed by Aliens Vs. Predator on PC in 1999, creating game innovations years ahead of their time. Rebellion’s approach to game production is focused primarily on cross-platform innovation and product quality. Their purchase of the UK sci-fi comic 2000 AD in 2000 and subsequent motion picture productions has provided valuable insight and experience in creating its unique product portfolio.

In 2005, Sniper Elite was released, securing critical acclaim, global sales success and winning the TIGA Award for Best PC/Console Game 2005. Lauded as ‘The Gran Turismo of war games’ by the gaming press, it has built upon the collection of Rebellion owned IPs, which includes Free Running, Evil Genius and the 2000 AD characters Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper.

In 2006 Rebellion purchased the Core Design studios, responsible for the Lara Croft – Tomb Raider series and Strangelite studios in Liverpool. These acquisitions established the company as one of the biggest and most innovative studios within the European development community.

Rebellion won Best Programming and Most Improved Developer at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards, has five BAFTA nominations and won three TIGA Awards for Best Developer, Best Game and Best Handheld/Console Game.

Rebellion created The Simpsons Game with EA on Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with EA on PSP, Star Wars: Renegade Squadron with LucasArts on PSP, Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem with Sierra on PSP and finally Rebellion’s own brand Free Running with Reef Entertainment on PlayStation 2 and PSP.

More recently Rebellion’s long-awaited move to the purpose built studio in Oxford happened along with announcements of Rogue Warrior for Bethesda, further work for Lucasarts on the Star Wars brand, together with the release of the world wide number 1 hit Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts. Finally Rebellion is working on Aliens Vs Predator for Sega which is planned for release in early 2010.

Website: www.rebellion.co.uk

For further press information relating to the above, please contact:

Charlotte Grafton-Chuck

Rebellion Ltd.

Tel: +44(0) 1865 792 201

Email: press@rebellion.co.uk

Abaddon news

Hulloh Folks

As ever, things are madly busy at Abaddon HQ and there are many exciting things to report.

Firstly, we are joining the e-revolution. Yes, soon you will be able to buy Abaddon books for your e-book readers. We already have a handful of titles available (follow the link on the website's front page) and our new e-book editor, Jennifer, is in the process of converting all our Abaddon titles. So very soon it will be even easier to get your hands on our books. Watch this space for more news.

Secondly, we have two (yes TWO) new series starting in 2010 which we can finally reveal the details for.

First up is No Man's World: Black Hand Gang by first-time novelist Pat Kelleher. We're still in the process of completing the cover for this but here is a wee taster:

Pat's novel follows the travails of a group of World War One soldiers who are caught in a strange explosion on the battlefield, only to find themselves transported to an alien planet. This novel is a heady mix of very well researched military fiction and pulp science-fantasy, somewhat in the mould of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I've read the first half of the MS so far and it really is one of the most unusual SF novels I've read of late. No Man's World is out in February 2010 in the UK and will hit the US by June the same year.

Next up is The Infernal Game, a single author series from writer Rebecca Levene, the talent behind the Abaddon titles The Afterblight Chronicles: Kill or Cure and Tomes of The Dead: Anno Mortis. Cold Warriors, the first book in the series, is a great mix of espionage fiction and full-blown occult horror. Rebecca is planning big things here, so it's going to be more than worth your while joining us for the ride. Cold Warriors is also out in February 2010 in the UK, and June in the US. Here's a taster of how the cover is shaping up:

As you can see, both of these covers have a slightly different feel to the previous Abaddon titles and that's because they've been done by the vastly talented Simon Parr, who has been one of the designers behind the Abaddon titles from the beginning. Simon is also a talented artist, as evidenced by these magnificent covers.

In other news, I have been signing up authors for more 2010 titles and I'm very pleased to say that Al Ewing will once again be exploring the Pax Britannia world, with a sequel to his El Sombra novel called Blood and Thunder. It's a pleasure to welcome back Al and readers should go to their nearest bookshop and purchase Al's latest book for Abaddon, The Afterblight Chronicles: Death Got No Mercy, featuring all the man fights bear action you could possibly want.

Right, that's it for now. I'm off to edit books.

Happy reading

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

On things in the sea

Hulloh Folks

Glad to report I have just this week returned from a most triumphant holiday in Tuscany where much chianti was drunk while sitting reading George Martin and marveling at the gorgeous view. Unfortunately I couldn't bring any of that lovely weather back home with me. But hey, thunder and rain is what British summer is all about right? That and zombies, obviously. On Wednesday this week I attended an evening of literature written by our very own Simon Bestwick. Simon read from Tomes of The Dead: Tide of Souls (available in all good UK book stores now) and his superb collection Pictures of The Dark . Simon is a fiercely good short story writer and I suggest you head to Amazon now and order as many of his titles as you can get your hands on.

I'm also pleased to reveal another gorgeous cover from artist Greg Staples. Feast your eyes on this:

This tale of zombie horror and weird seaside resorts is being penned by Weston Ochse, our friend across the sea, and promises to be a terrifying tale of the undead. This will be in UK stores in January 2010 and will be released in the States in April.

In other news I have just completed my edits on The Afterblight Chronicles: Broken Arrow by Paul Kane and am happy to report that this sequel to Arrowhead ups the game considerably. Paul has produced another rip-roaring post-apocalypse adventure tale feature the Hooded Man.

So much to look forward to as always.

In other news I have almost finished the book what I'm writing. Just a few more chapters to go then I shall be handing it over to Rebecca Levene for the edit. Hopefully folks will take to Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos, a rousing tale of swords and sorcery and fish. Anyway, it's been fun to write and you shall soon know more of Twilight and Kerberos than previously.

Right, that's me. I'm off to do more editing and that. Have a good weekend.

Watch out for aquatic undead.

Jon

Vacancies

Dear All

Please note that Abaddon has three vacancies that we are seeking to fill. The details are as follows:

Desk Editor
Ref AW148JO

Oxford based publisher Rebellion seeks an experienced Desk Editor for established line of genre fiction. The ideal candidate will have at least 2-3 years’ experience of working in an editorial role, copy-editing and proof reading skills, an understanding of book production, an enthusiasm for the fields of science-fiction, fantasy and horror and will preferably be educated to degree level. To apply please send CV and covering letter, including details of your current salary, to vacancies@rebellion.co.uk quoting the job title and reference number.

Account Manager
Ref AW149JO

Oxford based publisher Rebellion seeks an experienced Account Manager to handle its fiction and Graphic Novel lists. The ideal candidate will have 2-3 years’ experience in book sales and account management, an understanding of book production and marketing, an understanding of and enthusiasm for genre fiction, a solid grounding in the book trade and will preferably be educated to degree level. To apply please send CV and covering letter, including details of your current salary, to vacancies@rebellion.co.uk quoting the job title and reference number.

eBook Production Assistant
Ref AW150JO

Oxford based publisher Rebellion seeks an eBook Production Assistant for 3 month contract role to turn our published genre fiction novels into online eBooks, involving use of InDesign to extract text, minor editing of script files and HTML files and resizing of graphics. You will need excellent proof reading skills, and take pride in producing accurate and neat work. InDesign experience is preferred but not essential if you are a quick learner, have basic technical ability and a genuine interest in furthering your production skills. To apply please send CV and covering letter, including details of your current salary, to vacancies@rebellion.co.uk quoting the job title and reference number.

A quick missive

Hi Folks

Just a quick one as I'm so busy right now. Anyhew, here's how things stand. Tomes of The Dead: Tide of Souls and Twilight of Kerberos: The Crucible of The Dragon God are now at press, and very marvelous books they are too, if I do say so myself. Tomes of The Dead: Way of The Barefoot Zombie will be going to press next week in time for a late release as will Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects. So there will be a whole stack of Abaddon goodness heading your way soon.

The new size suits the books really well, you may have seen the evidence of this with The Afterblight Chronicles: Operation Motherland which is now on shelves.

Meanwhile, I'm very pleased to say that Mr Scott Andrews will be returning to his Afterblight characters next year with his third book for us, The Afterblight Chronicles: Children's Crusade. And, for Twilight of Kerberos, Mike Wild will be returning for a third book in the Kali Hooper chronicles, provisionally titled The Engines of Apocalypse. Already 2010 is shaping up to be a very exciting year indeed.

Right, that's it from me, back to the manuscript mountain.

Happy Reading!

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Books a plenty

Hi All

Many apologies for the radio silence of late. It has been just a wee bit busy at Abaddon HQ, but there are many exciting things to share with you. Firstly, we have a new cover artist in the form of the massively talented Greg Staples. Greg, as you may well know, is very well known for his stunning fantasy artwork on such properties as Magic The Gathering and World of Warcraft. He is highly respected for his work for the Galaxy's Greatest Comic 2000 AD also. Anyway, Greg has produced two incredible covers for us.

The first is for Tomes of The Dead: Hungry Hearts by Gary McMahon:

As you can see, Greg's artwork is highly detailed and lushly presented.

Greg's other cover for us is for Twilight of Kerberos: Night's Haunting by Matthew Sprange:

Greg will be working on more covers for us in the future.

This is not to say, however, that Mark Harrison will not also be continuing produce his stunning covers for us. Mark is hard at work on a couple of new ones as I type.

In other news, The Afterblight Chronicles: Operation Motherland by Scott Andrews will finally be hitting the shelves in a couple of weeks. Trust me when I tell you it will have been worth the wait. Scott's second Afterblight book has been a pure joy to edit and packs just as much punch as Schools' Out. Fans of the series are in for a real treat.

Folks may also be interested to know that with this release Abaddon Books are becoming enbigenated. Yes, that's an actual word, I can make them up, I'm an editor you know? Starting with Operation Motherland our books will be moving to B format, which means they will be larger and should look more prominent on the shelves. The designers have also been playing around with the format of the novels so expect a feast for thine eyes.

Now, some news on 2010. I've been firming up a few of the titles and there are big things in the offing.

Firstly, I'd like you to welcome US author Weston Ochse to the fold, who is penning a zombie novel for us called Tomes of The Dead: Empire of Salt for release early next year. Weston is a massively talented author whose work I've admired for a while now. It's fantastic to have a new writer on board, and particularly one from the States. You can catch up with what Weston is currently up to on his blog.

Also, we have two new series lined up for next year. Firstly we have Rebecca Levene's series concerning international espionage and the supernatural. We have yet to decide on a title for this series, but the first novel is called Cold Warriors and is just superb. It's a real thrill to be working with Rebecca again and this new horror series looks like it's going to be epic.

We also have a new Science-Fiction series with No Man's World. In this a group of World War One Tommies are transported to a strange alien planet in a freak accident. There they must learn how to survive in a hostile environment while facing a sinister threat from within their own ranks. Pat Kelleher, a first time novelist, is writing the first book. Pat's ideas virtually sparkle on the page and his first book promises to be a science-fiction adventure like no other!

But, back to the next few months and you can expect a superb zombie novel with Jasper Bark's Tomes of The Dead: Way of The Barefoot Zombie, rousing fantasy adventure in Mike Wild's Twilight of Kerberos: The Crucible of The Dragon God and steampunk tales of derring do in Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green, all of which should be hitting UK shelves very soon.

Right, that's it for now. Back to the manuscript mountain with me.

Happy Reading

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Release Dates

All fixed now :)

Julian

Release Date Bug

Hey All,

Since we swapped the site about, there's a bug with the release dates we're looking into - so please disregard them until further notice :)

Thanks,

Julian Hall

Zombies and tentacles and bears, oh my!

Hello

Well, it's been a particularly lovely winter so far with snow, more snow, bit of ice, torrential rain, so it's nice to be able to bring you good news. Yes, more Abaddon titles are in the offing and I have lovely new covers to show you courtesy of lovely Mark Harrison. Did I mention how lovely he is?

Anyway, first up we have Simon Bestwick's debut novel Tomes of The Dead: Tide of Souls. 

I've been reading Simon's short fiction for a while now and it's a pleasure to be able to work with him on his first novel. Simon's fiction is fierce, uncompromising and dark. A stunning new writer who is certainly one to watch. Tide of Souls is due to be releases in July in the UK and US dates will be confirmed later on.  With our zombie fiction this year we're very much aiming for a darker, more gritty feel and Simon has delivered this in spades.

Next up we have the return of Mr Al Ewing. Al is no stranger to Abaddon having produced two brilliant tomes of pulp joy, with Pax Britannia: El Sombra and Tomes of The Dead: I, Zombie. Now he's ventured into the world of the Afterblight with Death Got No Mercy. 

We certainly had fun formulating this cover, and I can honestly say that I've never had an author ask me to have a man punching a grizzly bear on the cover of his book before.

I just recently finished reading the first half of this and I can tell you that it's hilarious bear punching, redneck baiting, bare knuckle fighting, drugged-up, messed-up Scooby Gang, future San Francisco based fun. Trust me, that will make sense when you read it. I don't think we'll have published anything quite like this before. Due out in September in the UK. US release date to be confirmed.

And finally, may I introduce you to a little known author, new on the scene, all fresh-faced and wide-eyed... Me.

Yes, I'm having a scribble, so to speak. Now, before you ask, no I'm not editing my own book. Rebecca Levene (author of Kill or Cure and Anno Mortis) has agreed to be my editor on this project and her advice and encouragement have been invaluable. So, let me introduce Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos.

The Call of Kerberos introduces our final hero to the series, Silus. Silus is a fisherman who finds himself on the run from the Final Faith and part of the crew of an unusual ship. More secrets of the world of Twilight are revealed and there's certainly plenty of sword and sorcery. This will be hitting the UK shelves sometime in October, US date to be confirmed.

And that's the new title line-up.

Don't forget to check out Twilight of Kerberos: The Light of Heaven, which should be hitting shelves in the UK very soon.

And don't forget that we have a Facebook page which you can join to discuss our titles and such like.

Right, that's about all from me. 

Back to editing and writing and that.

Happy reading.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Steaming into 2009

Hello All

Hopefully you're suitably recovered from the festive period and are enjoying the latest that Abaddon has to offer. Keen-eyed readers will have already spotted Jonathan Green's latest Pax Britannia novel, Human Nature in stores. US readers will have to wait until February but that's not so far away. If you need reminding of what said tome looks like, well here it is:

Jonathan is currently feverishly working away on the follow-up, Evolution Expects, which you can expect in May of this year (August US release) and which will also feature the exclusive novella, Conqueror Worm, which dips into the past of Pax Britannia.

It's all hands on deck here at Abaddon as we get the next few titles ready to press. Twilight of Kerberos: The Light of Heaven by David A. McIntee should be going off to the printers later this month and I've been doing read-throughs of the first halves of several books. I can report that Tomes of The Dead: Way of The Barefoot Zombie by Jasper Bark, Tomes of The Dead: Tide of Souls by Simon Bestwick and Twilight of Kerberos: The Crucible of The Dragon God are all shaping up to be real corkers!

Anyhew, that's it for now. Short and sweet as it were. Hopefully you've noticed the ace new zombie strip from Pye and Keef on the front page. This missive from the corrupt minds of those two gentlemen will be updated periodically with their filthy outpourings so keep checking back.

In other news I can report that I finally finished reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series (all seven books) and verily dub it the mutt's nuts. A superb fantasy/horror/western/ SF series that's as much about King himself as it is about Roland's quest. I'm now kicking it old skool with John Brunner's SF classic Stand on Zanzibar. Very good.

On a slightly lower note I'm really sad to hear about the closure of the Murder One bookshop on London's Charring Cross Road. Murder One was the mecca for the crime fan. A veritable treasure trove of everything the genre had to offer. I gather that the owner, Maxim Jakuwbowski, is now retiring and I'd like to give an electronic tip of the hat to this fine gent. He had done a brilliant job over the years and is one of crime fiction's shining lights.

Remember folks, that if you're a genre fan (or indeed a fan of any type of book) and live near an independent book store, be sure to support it. These people do it for the love as well as the money and they need the dedication of fans to keep them going.

Anyhew that's all from me for now. Happy reading.

Jonathan Oliver

(Editor)

Ho Ho Ho (and so on, and so forth)

Yuletide greetings to you all

Man, have I ever been flat out intensely busy! Hence the relative lack of blog posts. Many apologies for not swinging by here more often, but the fruits of our labours will hopefully be exciting and tantalising you in 2009. So what news? Firstly lets have a look at some very sexy new covers. Here we have the cover for Jasper Bark's zombie novel Way of The Barefoot Zombie a satirical look at upper management, economic greed and the undead. Topical and zombie tastic!

Jasper is a superb writer, having produced the Sniper Elite novelisation and the thrilling, Dawn Over Doomsday for the Afterblight Chronicles series. We're all very much looking forward to seeing  what Jasper is going to produce for this foray into horror.

And now, I can also reveal the next cover in our Twilight of Kerberos sword and sorcery series, this is for Mike Wild's The Crucible of The Dragon God, the second book in the Kali Hooper trilogy. We've only just got the art in for this so we haven't had a chance to ad cover text, but behold it in all its glory anyway:

As ever Mark Harrison is to thank for these stunning covers. And, as we're doing 12 titles next year instead of 8 you can expect more from this man. That's right, no rest for Mark. He loves it really.

In other news Pax Britannia: Human Nature is now at press and should be at the distributors just before Christmas in order for an early January launch. Apologies for the delay on this but I'm sure you'll agree that it has been worth it when you read the latest installment of Ulysses Quicksilver's adventures. Included in this novel is an exclusive festive short story, Christmas Past, set in Oxford and featuring a collection of very disreputable gentlemen. And, as if that weren't enough excitement for you, you can meet Jonathan Green, the author of these delectable tales in person on Jan 9th (2009 obviously) at the Shaftsbury Avenue Forbidden Planet store in London, where he will be signing copies of Human nature between 6-7pm. Don't miss out if you're in the area. As ever, don't forget to check out Jonathan's blog.

And then in February we shall see a new character enter the world of Twilight of Kerberos when David A. McIntee's Light of Heaven is published. The final touches are being applied to the novel right at the moment so that should be winging its way to the printers in early January.

So, much going on and much to look forward to.

Right, on with the work.

Have a splendid Christmas and a great New Year.

All The Best

Jon (Editor)

The Hooded Man shall return

Hello Folkses

Another missive from Abaddon HQ for you. Mainly to tell you that I have recently commissioned Paul Kane to write a sequel to The Afterblight Chronicles: Arrowhead called Broken Arrow. This will follow the adventures of Robert and his entourage from the first novel and expands on the already intriguing world that Paul has created. The release date is still to be confirmed so watch this space for more news. In the meantime, if you haven't already, I strongly urge you to check out Arrowhead. It's already been garnering much praise, with Death Ray calling it "huge fun."

Meanwhile we've been busy putting the finishing touches to the latest volume in the Pax Britannia series, Jonathan Green's Human Nature. Expect more swashbuckling and steam-punk styled horror and intrigue from the pen of Pax Britannia's creator. Plus, as an added bonus, Human Nature, will include the short story "Christmas Past", specially commissioned for this volume. 

2009's titles are already shaping up nicely, with 12 titles already commissioned. Yus, that's four more than this year! We're upping the Abaddon goodness for you people. So expect 3 books in each series, instead of 2 plus more from the Twilight of Kerberos series, expanding on this vast sword and sorcery world and introducing a new character to the mix.

In the meantime, as we approach this festive season, why not spend the long winter nights perusing one of our fine titles? Or, they make perfect gifts for loved ones.

Anyhew, until next time.

Happy reading

Jonathan Oliver (Editor)

On Zombies, Pax Britannia and more zombies

Hello All

First of all, apologies for the lack of posts of late. I have been in manuscript land for the last two weeks and have had very little time to do anything other than read and copy-edit. 

Anyway, talking of books I'm very pleased to be able to announce that we have commissioned another Tomes of The Dead title for 2009: Hungry Hearts by the very talented Gary McMahon.

I've been reading Gary's short work for a while now and his fiction has an intelligent fierceness that makes for very compelling reading. So, please welcome him to the Abaddon fold.

On the Pax Britannia front I can now reveal the cover for Evolution Expects, the fifth book in the series by Jonathan Green, due out April 2009 (US release date to be confirmed).

As for our current list, I suggest you go check out your local book stores for Tomes of The Dead: Anno Mortis by Rebecca Levene. This is a superb addition to our zombie range set in Ancient Rome. This title will be released February next year in the States.

That's all for now. 

Happy reading

Jonathan Oliver

Vote for Kerberos

Hi All

As you may be aware a new fantasy award is in the offing with the David Gemmell Legend Award, which both honors the memory of Gemmell himself while celebrating the best in new heroic fantasy.  And guess what? You can vote for both Shadowmage and The Clockwork King of Orl over at the site. We would be honored if you did. The choice is yours.

Many thanks for Gareth Wilson for setting this up for us.

More news soon on another great Tomes of The Dead novel coming your way in 2009.

Happy reading.

Jon

Facebook and a Face

People may not be aware that there is now an Abaddon Books group on facebook which all are welcome to join. Come, join us there to discuss and link with authors.

Talking of authors I can now reveal the visage of another Abaddon writer. This be Mike Wild, author of the excellent Twilight of Kerberos: The Clockwork King of Orl. Mike is currently working on the follow-up, The Crucible of The Dragon God.

On the Abaddon Newsletter

Hi All

This is just a quick note to say that we will be disbanding the e-mailed newsletter that some of you may have been receiving in favour of the Blog. This means that all news items will now appear here. Hopefully this will free up space for people and be a much preferred option. Do feel free to send in your feedback.

Best Wishes

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Of Editor and Author

If any of you have every wondered what my hideous visage looks like here's a pic of me with Paul Kane at his book launch at Fantasycon. Paul is the one holding the copy of Arrowhead. I'm the one with wonky smile and the geeky t-shirt. I'n not usually this red. Wine may be have been involved...

On Fantasycon, Operation Motherland and Twilight of Kerberos

Hello

Keith and I (our marketing bod) returned, this week, from Fantasycon in Nottingham after having a marvelous weekend with some of the brightest genre talents around. Abaddon did well and the feedback we got was generally very positive. I sat on four panels, mediated one, and it was great to discuss the field with fellow enthusiasts and professionals such as Adam Neville, Mark Morris, John Grant, Ian Watson, Christopher Golden, Simon Guerrier and others. It was also great to hook up with old friends and I was over the moon that my good friend Joel Lane won the award for best short story. Joel is, in my humble opinion, one of the country's finest short story writers and you should all check out his collection The Lost District. It was also my pleasure to properly launch Paul Kane's Afterblight novel, Arrowhead. In fact, Paul's book was the best-seller (for us) of the convention and many thanks must go to Lee Harris of Hub Magazine for his stellar reviews of the title. Many thanks also to Marie O' Regan for her invaluable help. Feedback on this book has been great and should you need reminding of Mark Harrison's beautiful cover here it is again:

It was also great to be able to hook up with future Tomes of The Dead scribe, Simon Bestwick. Simon's novel, Tide of Souls, will be released next November. I first met Simon back when the 1990s were in their later years and it was a great pleasure to be able to hook up again for a pint or five and shoot the breeze.

Big love must also go to the very fine writer Gary McMahon, who is a true gent and a superb writer. Gary is fairly new to the scene (well, new-ish) but is already writing up a storm with distinctive, vicious and perceptive fiction. It was a pleasure to see him again and I only wish we'd had more time to chat. 

Fantasycon is the very first convention I went to as a fan back when I was 17 and it felt a bit like a homecoming to do it this year as a professional.

In other news, Mr. Harrison has done yet another beautiful cover for us for Scott Andrews forthcoming Afterblight novel, Operation Motherland (March 2009 UK/June 2009 US). 

This is Scott's sequel to the superb School's Out and follows the adventures of Lee Keegan as he goes to Iraq to search for his father. I've only read the first chapter so far but it looks like it's shaping up to be absolutely superb.

Now, let us pour ourselves a goblet of mead and talk about the Twilight of Kerberos series. "But Jon, what are your plans for the Twilight of Kerberos series?" I hear - well imagine actually -  you ask. Well the vision for Kerberos is that we're going to introduce four characters in four trilogies, one trilogy per character in other words. You may have already met the first two of these characters with Lucius Kane in Shadowmage by Matthew Sprange and Kali Hooper in The Clockwork King of Orl by Mike Wild. Next February (June for the US) you can meet Gabriella DeZantez in David A. McIntee's Light of Heaven and there will be one more hero introduced next year. The idea is that each of our extraordinary heroes have a legacy linked to the ancient races of Twilight and they will discover the strange history of their world. After the four trilogies run their course there will be a further 3-4 books dealing with massive world changing events and our heroes will be right at the heart of it. That's the plan anyway, since you ask. I hope that you'll join us for the ride as it promises to be fun. We'll be increasing the frequency of the volumes for this so you don't have to wait too long to see the saga develop.

Well, that about wraps it up. Until next time.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Of hooded men, fantasy gathering and upcoming titles

Hello from your humble editor

Hopefully by now people have begun to get their mitts on the latest title in The Afterblight Chronicles, Arrowhead by Paul Kane. Already this latest addition to the Afterblight universe is receiving positive feedback and Paul himself has been working flat-out to promote the book. An associate of Paul's, Brad Watson, has even put together a trailer for the book. Check it out:

We will also be at Fantasycon this weekend to officially launch the title. Not only will we be selling the book at the promotion price of £5 (a whole £1.99 cheaper than in the shops) but you can also get a glass of wine if you buy the book.  Paul will also be answering questions and doing a reading (of the book that is, he's not some kind of weirdy psychic). 

In other news I can now report the first 6 months' titles for next year for Abaddon. So, the schedule is currently looking like this for 2009.

February - Twilight of Kerberos: The Light of Heaven by David A. McIntee

March - The Afterblight Chronicles: Operation Motherland by Scott Andrews

April - Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green

June - Tomes of The Dead: The Way of The Barefoot Zombie by Jaspre Bark

I can also announce a commission from an author brand new to Abaddon, Simon Bestwick

Simon is penning a Tomes of The Dead novel for us called Tide of Souls. It's a great pleasure to commission a writer as diverse and talented as Simon as I've enjoyed his short fiction for years now.

There will be more titles announced shortly but that's just to wet your whistle for now.

While I'm not editing, writing or thinking about books I occasionally get time to read them for pleasure as well. Currently I'm enjoying Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which I've been meaning to get round to for ages. It's a nice melange (I love that word) of King's styles in something that's not quite fantasy, horror or western but works adequately well as all three. I'm 3 books in at the moment and plan to plow on all the way to book 7.

Anyhew, happy reading.

Jonathan Oliver 

Editor

More from Abaddon

Good afternoon/morning (time zone depending)

Well, after a busy July and August of being out of the UK quite a bit I can finally settle down and update you on what has been going on here at Abaddon towers. 

Things are progressing well with our new distributors and over the next few months I shall be putting certain measures in place that mean that the US market gets the books around the same time, if not earlier, as the UK market. So hopefully that will make it easier for our fans across the Atlantic to get their hands on our titles.

The response to our latest title - Tomes of The Dead: I, Zombie - has been very positive indeed, with Al Ewing's novel garnering praise all over the interweb as well as in the pages of such magazines as Black Static. 

Also, hot off the press is Paul Kane's post-apocalypse Robin Hood story The Afterblight Chronicles: Arrowhead which we will be officially launching at Fantasycon which runs from the 19th-21st September at the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham. 

Paul will be in attendance to sign copies and answer questions at the event. The launch date will be confirmed nearer the time. Abaddon will be at the event all weekend, selling books and guesting on panels.

In other news we have just received the cover for our first title of 2009. This is Twilight of Kerberos: The Light of Heaven by David A. McIntee, which should be hitting shelves in the UK next February.

As always Mark Harrison has done a sterling job on the cover. The Light of Heaven introduces a new hero to the world of Twilight, Gabriella DeZantez, a religious crusader whose world is turned upside down by strange events in The Worlds' Ridge Mountains. David is a stalwart of genre fiction, having produced many titles for the Doctor Who range of novels and it is a pleasure to have him on board. 

Meanwhile, early next month will see the release of the 2nd book in the Twilight series with, Twilight of Kerberos: The Clockwork King of Orl by Mike Wild.

A US release date for this will be confirmed at a later date. Clockwork King introduces us to Kali Hooper, tomb raider extraordinaire.

Next year will see the introduction of a fourth hero to the world of Twilight, as well as an expansion of the range as we follow the adventures of our group of heroes and what their 'legacies' will mean for the world of Twilight as a whole.

Anyhew, I best go now and attend to the pile of admin that I have to wade through this week. Happy days!

In the meantime, enjoy the books and keep watching this space.

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

A Very Belated Update

Hello Folks

First of all, apologies for this massively late update on the Abaddon universe. It has been a very busy few months what with going to LA, then going on holiday to Majorca and now I have to catch up with everything before we go to the San Diego Comicon in a few weeks time.

Anyway, by now - hopefully - you have all picked up your copies of Tomes of The Dead: I, Zombie by Al Ewing. If you're in the UK that is, the US copies will ship shortly and should be on shelves in the not too distant future.

And talking of zombies, the very gifted Mark Harrison has just finished the cover for the next book in the collection, Tomes of The Dead: Anno Mortis (November, UK) by Rebecca Levene.

And, I have yet another cover for you because Mark also managed to produce a stunning cover for Jonathan Green's next Pax Britannia, Human Nature (December, UK). 

So, lots of good stuff to look forward to. I will confirm US release dates shortly. We have just transfered to a new US distributor, National Book Network. I'm currently working with the team there to get the schedule and release dates sorted. More news soon.

The next UK release from us meanwhile is Twilight of Kerberos: The Clockwork King of Orl by Mike Wild, which will be hitting shelves in August. Mike has produced a rip-roaring adventure tale that expands on the world of Twilight and reveals new and exciting secrets that will impact throughout the series. This is the first book in a series of adventures for Kali Hooper, tomb-raider and adventurer extraordinaire.

So, life is generally pretty busy here at Abaddon towers. 

Happy Reading!

Jonathan Oliver

Editor

Pax Britannia Competition

If you go over to Jonathan Green's Pax Britannia Blog you will be able to enter a rather special competition. Go and check it out!

On the Apocalypse, Zombies and various other things

Hulloh from me

Well, it's been a pretty busy week with plenty of manuscripts to read through and books to put through their final stages but all is ticking over nicely. I have approved the final proofs for The Afterblight Chronicles: Dawn Over Doomsday by Jaspre Bark and this is now rolling through the press, so we should be seeing the book in shops in a couple of weeks. Look out for it.

Al Ewing's I, Zombie is pretty much in its final stages also and I will be getting out advance PDFs for reviewers very shortly.

In other news I have Paul Kane's Afterblight novel, Arrowhead to read through and will soon be receiving the manuscripts for Mike Wild's Kerberos novel, The Clockwork King of Orl and Rebecca Levene's Tomes of The Dead novel, Anno Mortis. So plenty to look forward to.

So, thats' the books.

I continue to be most impressed with the new season of Doctor Who on the telly-box. Catherine Tate is for better than I thought she'd be and new Who seems to have come to maturity. It was great to see the Sontarans back, a whole race driven by wee man syndrome!

Other than that, we're also very much enjoying Dexter in the Oliver household. Easily the best crime series of recent years. The characters are brilliantly drawn and the plot is twisty and windy in a very satisfying way. We're three quarters of the way through season one so far and loving it.

Movie-wise I saw The Wild Bunch for the first time the other day. Yes it's taken me that long to get round to it. Fantastic western. You can't go wrong with a cast that includes Ernest Borgnine and Warren Oates. We also recently watched Control, the Ian Curtis biopic. As you'd expect, not exactly a laugh a minute but still very powerful. Finally caught up with Cronenberg's latest too, Eastern Promises. A really strong crime movie. I had worried that Vigo would be awful at a Russian accent but he was spot on. Cronenberg has to be one of my favourite directors of all time. His style and thematic concerns evolve with his movies. He's not the same director now, as the man who made Shivers all those years ago, and that's a good thing. Not that Shivers isn't a very fine movie but if he was making body horror all the time he wouldn't be the great director that he is. For the record my favourite Cronenberg movie is Dead Ringers. 

I can also thoroughly recommend The Orphanage, a powerful ghost story from a first time Spanish director. It's very stylish, cleverly written and powerful. It has some proper shit-your pants scares in it too. The seance scene (starring Charlie Chaplin's daughter) is particularly chilling. As ever Europe and Asia seem to be leading the way in horror movies. 

And talking of horror, in my spare time I've been reading the rather excellent Ramsey Campbell novel The Overnight. I've always been a huge fan of Ramsey's work. He was one of the first authors who made me realise that horror fiction was just as valid a branch of literature as any other. He opened the way for me to discover such authors as Robert Aickman, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Thomas Tessier, Thomas Ligotti and many other fine writers of the macabre. When it comes to supernatural fiction, Campbell is unparalleled. The Overnight is one of his more recent works and proves that he doesn't mellow with age. Ramsey's novels are as powerful and unsettling as they've ever been. If you get the chance also check out The Grin of The Dark, which has just been released by Virgin Books in paperback. 

Anyway, this has been a vast and rambling post. I must get on and do some editing.

Until next time

Jon

Greeting from the Shiny New Place

Hulloh

Well, sorry for all the 'radio-silence' recently. Life has been pretty hectic of late what with our big office move half-way across Oxford. Yes, we are now in a shiny and new purpose-built office. It is most swanky.

The other week Keith (our marketing bod) and I attended Eastercon at the Radison Edwardian Hotel at Heathrow. Here are some authors signing books:

This be Jonathan Green, author of Pax Britannia: Unnatural History and Pax Britannia: Leviathan Rising showing off his latest book. Jon has promised me lots of good things from the next Pax Britannia volume and you may even get wind of some of his nefarious plans over at his blog.

And this dashing young fellow is Scott Andrews, author of The Afterblight Chronicles: School's Out. Scott is currently working on Operation Motherland, the follow-up to his stonkingly good Afterblight novel. You can catch up with Scott on his blog too.

Much fun was had at Eastercon and China Mieville (author of Perdido Street Station) brought me a pint. We also geeked-out with comedian Mitch Ben over 2000 AD in the bar, witnessed the rise of Tivian Stark (vampire hunter extraordinaire), discussed all things SF with SMS, bemoaned THAC0 with the editor of SFX, David Bradley, took a directionless and long walk in search of a curry and I personally apologised to Paul Cornell for mistaking him for Steven Moffatt the first time we met at a Comic Convention several years ago. You may hear the terrible details of that truly spectacular hole-digging at a convention sometime.

Anyway, stuff and things! You shall be delighted to know that Dreams of Inan: The Worm That Wasn't by Mike Maddox is now finally available. Much apologies for the lateness of this, I hope you'll agree that it has been worth the wait. In the meantime check out the super sexy cover by Mark Harrison below. I tried to paste the image immediately after this text but the Gods of the net defied me!

In other news, I have been adding the finishing editorial flourished to Jaspre Bark's novel The Afterblight Chronicles: Dawn Over Doomsday which shall be hitting shops in but a few weeks. We are also preparing for the London Book Fair next week, where I shall be meeting lots of industry types and planning for Abaddon's future. Many exciting things happening.

This week I have mostly been reading Iron Council by China Mieville and Kingdom of The Wicked by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli.

We've also been enjoying our new sofa and a healthily stocked wine rack.