Fantasycon 2011 - Our Schedule

Good morning/afternoon

As some of you folk will be aware, this weekend sees Fantasycon 2011 taking over Brighton, well a hotel in Brighton. Myself. desk editor Jenni Hill, and our PR wizard, Michael Molcher, will be in attendance, and if you too are at this splendid event, why not buy us beer and lavish us with praise? Anyway, our schedule at said event is the following:

FRIDAY

General mingling, come find us and say 'hi' and

2pm-3pm - Fitzherbert - Abaddon's Scott Andrews will be taking part in a panel on How to Maintain Your Online presence, alongside Lee Harris, Stephen Hunt, Adam Christopher and Adele Wearing.

3pm-4pm - Fitzherbert - Hell Train author, Christopher Fowler, and Loss of Separationauthor, Conrad Williams, will be taking part in a panel on Making a Living as a Writer alongside Guy Adams, Lisa Tuttle and Tony Lee.

4pm-5pm - Fitzherbert - It's that Gary McMahon again, this time on the panel Has Crossover Overtaken Genre? Alongside Gary will be Suzanne McLeod, Mike Carey, Steve Mosby and Sarah Pinborough.

9-9.30pm - Room 134 - Lou Morgan, author of the forthcoming Blood and Feathers, will be reading a sample from her brilliant novel.

10.30-11pm - Room 134 - Concrete Grove author, Gary McMahon, will be doing a reading.

SATURDAY

10am-11am - Russel Room - Hadrumal Crisis author, Juliet McKenna, joins Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tom Lloyd, and Joe Abercrombie to talk about trends in fantasy fiction.

10am-11am - Fitzherbert - Desdaemona and Concrete Grove trilogy cover artist, Vincent Chong, will be on a panel about, strangely enough, book covers with Les Edwards, Steve Upham, Ben Baldwin and Marc Gascoigne

1pm-2pm - Fitzherbert - Pantheon and Redlaw series author, James Lovegrove, will be chatting about What's Next in SF alongside Christopher Priest, Brian Aldiss, Ian R. Macleod and Dan Abnett

1pm - Reading Room 134 - Jonathan Oliver will be reading his story 'The Ruby Nipples of Jugulon' for the entertainment of anybody who turns up. This was written for the occasion of Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch's birthday, and has only been read/heard by a handful of the select. Now you can become one of those select and enjoy Jon's tribute to Dungeons & Dragons and smutty humour.

2pm - The Big Solaris Book Event - Regency Lounge

We will be giving away, yes giving away, a selection of our titles and giving you the chance to meet some of our authors and have a drink on us. How good does that sound? Free books, booze and literary repartee. Join us for the biggest book event of the convention.

5pm-6pm - Dealing with Agents and Editors panel - Fitzherbert

Jonathan Oliver will be moderating a panel in which we discuss the role of the agent and the editor in publishing. Joining Jon will be Jo Fletcher, John Berlyne, Meg Davis and Dorothy Lumley.

8pm-9pm - Fitzherbert - Stronghold author, Paul Finch, will be joining Stephen Volk, Pete Atkins, and Stephen Gallagher to chat about Script Writing and Improv.

9pm-1opm - Fitzherbert - Join Regicide author, Nicholas Royle and Robert Shearman, Jasper Kent, Gwyneth Jones and Peter Crowther to hear them talk about their favourite books.

1opm-11pm - Fitzherbert - School's Out author, Scott Andrews, is back to moderate a panel on Tie-in Fiction featuring Simon R. Green, Guy Adams, Mark Morris and Cath Trechman

SUNDAY

10am - How to Market Your Novel panel - Fitzherbert

Michael Molcher will be joining Ian Whates, Jon Weir, Colleen Anderson and Gary McMahon to discuss the role of marketing and PR in genre fiction. A must-attend to those who want to know the best way to promote their novel.

1pm-4pm - Fantasycon Banquet and Awards Ceremony.

Jon and Mike will attend the prestigious Fantasycon banquet and will then attend the awards ceremony. Jon's anthology, The End of The Line, is up for Best Anthology with one short story from the collection, The Lure by Nicholas Royle, being up for Best Short Story.

Anyway, hope to see you all there.

TIME FOR A CHANGE: Abaddon Books introduces a new direction for genre publishing

Abaddon Books is delighted to announce a bold new venue in genre publishing – one where the readers are in charge!

Time’s Arrow will be the latest book from the world’s longest continuously running Steampunk novel series, Pax Britannia. Set in a world where the Victorian age never ended, Pax Britannia is an insane world of high technology and rip-roaring adventure.

The big difference with Time’s Arrow? Each instalment will be published as an ebook and, at the end of each of the first two, readers will be able to vote on where THEY want the story to go. Once all three instalments have been published, they will be bound together into a print edition.

The first part of the book will go live online on October 11th, with the vote for what happens next closing on December 11th.

Merging the best of print and online, Abaddon is proud to engage in such an exciting experiment – one where readers actively have a say in how the book is written.

Jon Green has written titles in the legendary Fighting Fantasy series and created seven of the critically-acclaimed Pax Britannia books for Abaddon.

“Pax Britannia is one of Abaddon’s most established series,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books, “so it seemed like the natural choice for such a unique venture in publishing. This adventure is sure to reach out to new readers while giving established fans a say in the rich universe they have come to love.”

“I am passionate about the whole Steampunk milieu, and the world of Pax Britannia in particular, while my first forays into writing professionally were adventure gamebooks,” says Jonathan Green. “To marry elements of both is a fantastic opportunity for me as a writer and I, for one, can't wait to see how the story pans out!”

About the Series
Pax Britannia launched in 2007 with Unnatural History. A steampunk alternative history set in a late twentieth century in which Queen Victoria – now nearing the end of her sixteenth decade on the throne, and wholly dependent on steam technology for survival – rules over the vastly wealthy, powerful and decadent Empire of Magna Britannia. Airships ply the skies overhead as gentlemen of leisure admire the dinosaurs in London Zoo, while the Empire has extended to the Moon. Across the pond, the United Socialist States of America, loosely allied with the might of Magna Britannia, is home to dreamers, poets, madmen, and heroes, poised to usher in a new era.

The series has included seven books by Jonathan Green, featuring the adventures of Ulysses Lucian Quicksilver, dandy and adventurer and agent of the throne; an omnibus collecting the first three is currently available.

Announcing the launch of our READ ANYTHING campaign

READ ANYTHING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is Steampunk: Al Ewing has a few ideas...

It's The Summer of Steampunk here at Abaddon Books and before we embark on our next giveaway, we continue our look at what the Pax Britannia authors think of the genre.

Next up is the mighty Al Ewing, author of Gods of Manhatten and El Sombra. Here are his thoughts on Steampunk:

I know people who love Steampunk above all other genres - I'm not one of them. For me, it's just another kind of alternate universe, and the reason I love alternate universes is that they're experimental playgrounds - ways to interrogate aspects of the universe we live in. If you take the scope wide enough, that's what all fiction is - but let's get back to Steampunk. I'm just going to talk off the top of my head.

For many, Steampunk equals Victoriana. If we look at the Pax Britannia universe, it's incredibly significant that Victoria is still alive in the 'present day', kept alive far beyond her natural span by machinery. She's the mirror of what Steampunk often is - the Victorian era, returned to life through science fiction. All the story potential inherent in the imperialism of the time, in the massive class differences, in the struggles of the disempowered to empower themselves in the face of inherent societal prejudice, in emerging technology on the edge of science. We're back to interrogating the world we're in again. It's an incredibly rich seam, so to speak.

That said - I find the emphasis on Victoria, or Britain, gets a bit stifling, and also Jon has that sewn up and I like having room to work. In Gods Of Manhattan, I was exploring what happens when you let a steampunk world grow and change - I took out the Victoriana and the Verne and replaced them with Americana and pulp-fiction influences, and that worked out nicely.

What I'm doing - particularly with Pax Omega - is taking that further. Looking at what a steampunk universe looks like a hundred and fifty years before Victoria's reign, or a million years after. These are the interesting questions to me - for instance, can a steampunk world survive having Warhol in it? Or Grandmaster Flash? Or Betty Page? I'm not talking about just dressing them up in frock coats and corsets and goggles - what does their effect on the world look like when you transpose it to a steampunk world? What shape is it then?

Now take it forward five hundred years. Look around. Describe it.

Is that still Steampunk? If so, why? If not, why not?

Discuss.

Guest post: steampunk and the world of Pax Britannia

The Summer of Steampunk continues over at our special Pax Britannia Facebook page - this week we'll be continuing with the competitions AND bringing you news of our special, super, mega, big steampunk announcement...

To kick off the new week with a bang, we asked the authors behind Pax Britannia to give their views on steampunk, writing in the genre, what makes it so much fun and why more people should read them.

First off today, we have Mr Jonathan Green:

Why do I like reading and writing steampunk adventures? Because they’re cool, that’s why. Even if they’re set in the future, they hark back to a time when there wasn’t a corner of the globe that couldn’t be explored, where there wasn’t a machine that couldn’t be built to do whatever it was that needed to be done, when the British Empire was at its height, driven on but an almost endemic sense of indefatigable optimism.

Steampunk is born of that science fiction staple “What if?”

What if the rule of the British Empire had never ended? What if Babbage’s analytical engine had been completed – and worked? What if H G Wells and Jules Verne weren’t writing science fiction but science fact? It’s precisely those questions I asked myself when I first came up with the world of Pax Britannia and created my dandy protagonist, and Hero of the Empire, Ulysses Quicksilver.

My first experience of steampunk was Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates. Later came 2000AD’s John Smith-scripted Jack the Ripper Indigo Prime thriller Killing Time and Alan Moore’s meta-fictional The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

As well as clanking machinery, vast gothic revival backdrops and rivets by the thousand, they brought with them a certain sense of decorum, of elegance, of style, of – well – Britishness, goddammit! Tea in china cups, duelling at dawn on Hampstead Heath, locomotives constructed with an artificer’s eye to detail, along with top hats, frock coats and monocles everywhere you looked.

What wasn’t there to like, when all around us in modern society we are confronted by the total antithesis of these things on a daily basis. (I’m thinking more here about a general lack of good manners and respect for one’s elders, rather than people drinking coffee out of paper cups.)
It was this that I was, in part, trying to emulate in my own steampunk creation, the world of Pax Britannia.

The great thing about the Pax Britannia setting is that it is just that. After nine books (with more on the way) and various short stories, totalling some three quarters of a million words altogether, Pax Britannia has grown to become something that is far greater than merely the sum of its parts.

And because of that, because it is such a richly painted setting, you can write pretty much any kind of story you want to set within it. Whether it’s action-adventure, horror, murder mystery, spy thriller, superhero pastiche, romance, ghost story, out-and-out SF, war story or time travel caper, all have their place within the world of Pax Britannia.

So if you’ve not experienced Pax Britannia yet for yourself, then what, quite frankly, are you waiting for? The game is, after all, most definitely afoot!

Welcome to The Summer of Steampunk!

Longest running steampunk series raises the heat in fortnight-long genre celebration

Break out your top hats and holster your Tesla Mark Seven blunderbuss, the Summer of Steampunk from Abaddon Books is here!

To mark a major new direction for the world’s longest-running series of steampunk novels, Pax Britannia, Abaddon is running two weeks of steampunk shenanigans at the new dedicated Pax Britannia Facebook page.

From free eBooks and competition giveaways to debate and word from our authors about what makes steampunk so much fun, join us for two weeks of celebration of this most charming, exciting and ever-growing line of books.

The event will culminate in a major announcement about a surprising new book which throws away the rulebook of how genre publishing works.

A must for any fan of steampunk or pulp adventure action, Pax Britannia is set in a radically different version of the late 20th Century where the age of the Victorians never ended and Queen Victoria remains alive thanks to steampunk technology.

From Jonathan Green’s swashbuckling agent of the Empire, Ulysses Quicksilver, to Al Ewing’s ultra-violent El Sombra, Pax Britannia takes steampunk adventure to a new level.

Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books, said:
“Pax Britannia is one of the longest running steampunk adventures in publishing, and our Summer of Steampunk will bring a host of goodies bound to appeal to new and old readers of the series alike.”

Abaddon announces major new SF series

Acclaimed SF author Eric Brown creates new epic world for imprint

Best-selling author Eric Brown has created a brand new shared world for Abaddon Books: Weird Space.

This thrilling space-opera series will begin in June 2012 with the release of The Devil's Nebula by the best-selling author of Helix, Engineman and The Kings of Eternity.

In the first book in this epic new series, Brown will introduce readers to the human smugglers, veterans and ne’erdowells who are part of the Expansion – and their uneasy neighbours, the Vetch Empire.

When an evil race threatens not only the Expansion, but the Vetch too - an evil from another dimension which infests humans and Vetch alike and bends individuals to do their hideous bidding, only cooperation between them means the difference between a chance of survival and no chance at all.

Brown has meticulously created a massive shared world of interstellar potential, which other writers will explore with each new book.

With the launch of this new SF epic, Abaddon is adding to its series of shared worlds which already include the post-apocalyptic The Afterblight Chronicles, the new take on Arthurian legend Malory’s Knights of Albion, the World War One soldiers marooned on an alien world in No Man’s World, steampunk adventure in Pax Britannia, the zombie-infested Tomes of the Dead and the fantasy quests of the Twilight of Kerberos.

Eric Brown said:
"It's great to be part of the team working for Abaddon on the Weird Space project, and it's a fantastic imaginative opportunity to be developing the background and working on the first novel, The Devil's Nebula. The Weird is vast in scope - borrowing on an age-old tradition of everything that's best is space-opera - and will allow the writers to tell exciting, human stories set against an eerie, thrilling, futuristic back-drop. I'm more than a little excited at being part of the team!"

Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon, said:
“Eric is such a terrific writer that it's a great honour to be welcoming him to the Abaddon fold. The vast scope of this series and the richness of Eric's writing will mean that this will be a space-opera like no other.”

Coming soon: Arthurian legend as you’ve never seen it before

Malory’s Knights of Albion:
The Savage Knight
by Paul Lewis

Coming in September 2011

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-33-9 $9.99/$12.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-907992-34-6
Also Available as an eBook

Forget the quaint pageantry of Camelot and the noble knights of the Round Table – join Abaddon as we recast the legend of King Arthur’s court as a tale of blood, sweat and tears.

Sword and sorcery is back thanks to the Camelot and Game of Thrones TV series – now find out why they called it The Dark Ages...

Burdened with a terrible rage, Sir Dodinal the Savage turns his back on Camelot to find peace in a quiet Welsh village. But even here there is none. When his new home is struck by child-stealing raiders he must take up arms once again. But can a simple knight deal with the terrible secret hidden in the hills...?

An exciting, action-packed, and totally original Arthurian story, The Savage Knight is a new take on the well-known sub-genre, filled with savagery and knights who live and die by their bloodied swords.

“Lewis has a compelling and brilliant writing style and a great ability to create and maintain suspense and terror.” – The Alien Online on The Ice Maiden

About the Series
‘Uncovered’ in the parish church of St. Barbara and St. Christopher in the summer of 2006, the Salisbury Manuscript (British Library Add. MS 1138) is the only extant copy of Sir Thomas Malory’s The Seconde Boke of kyng Arthur and also His noble Knyghts, apparently written at Thomas Caxton’s request after Malory’s release from gaol. Deep controversy surrounds the book, which is claimed by some to be a contemporary forgery, possibly written by Caxton himself. In March 2010, Rebellion Publishing announced that it had secured exclusive rights to publish the modernisations of the stories.
Abaddon’s eighth shared world, Malory’s Knights of Albion will regale our readers with totally original stories set in King Arthur’s time, exploring the stories of the less well-known knights – like loyal Sir Alymere – or telling previously-unknown events from the lives of beloved characters close to Britain’s greatest king.
With courage and courtesy close to its heart, the series promises to deliver the best of heroic, chivalric adventure, often with a dark or surprising twist.

About the Author
Paul Lewis has written hundreds of comedy sketches for UK network TV, including Spitting Image, as well as radio sitcoms and plays. Paul co-edited the Cold Cuts horror anthology and is co-author of the novels The Ragchild and The Quarry, several novellas and numerous short stories including a Doctor Who contribution for BBC Books. Paul works as a journalist and lives with his wife and son in a village near Swansea, Wales.

The Devil's Nebula

Hello Abaddonians

I'm very excited to be able to announce the start of a new series for Summer 2012: Weird Space. This is Abaddon's first foray into the space-opera and if that weren't enough to pique your interest, just check out who we have to launch the series.

We are more than a little bit excited to have the brilliant Eric Brown (best-selling author of Helix, Engineman and The Kings of Eternity) with us for the launch of this new SF epic. Fans are going to be in for a real treat with a series that promises to be vast and hugely entertaining. Here, for your delectation, is the blurb for the first book in the series:

Starship Captain Ed Carew and his crew of two - ex-marine Lania Takiomar and ex-convict Gord Neffard - lead a carefree life of smuggling, gun-running and other illicit pursuits in a far future ruled by the fascistic Expansion Authority. But when an Expansion judiciary ship captures Carew and his crew leaving the planet of Hesperides, an out-of-bounds world governed now by the fearsome Vetch extraterrestrials, Carew, Takiomar and Neffard are sentenced to death...

Unless they agree to travel through Vetch territory in pursuit of an human colony vessel which set off for the Devil's Nebula one hundred years ago. But why are the Expansion authorities so eager to track down the ship, will Carew and co. survive the journey through Vetch territory - and what might they find when they arrive at the Devil's Nebula?

The Devil's Nebula is the first book in a thrilling space opera series, Weird Space. An evil race is threatening not only the human Expansion, but the Vetch Empire, too - an evil from another dimension which infests humans and Vetch alike and bends individuals to do their hideous bidding. And only if humans and Vetch cooperate to fight off the fearsome Weird do they stand a chance of ensuring their survival...

Eric Brown said, "It's great to be working for Abaddon on the Weird Space project, and it's a fantastic imaginative opportunity to be developing the background and working on the first novel. Weird Space is vast in scope - borrowing on an age-old tradition of everything that's best in space opera - and will allow future writers to tell exciting, human stories set against an eerie, thrilling, futuristic backdrop."

Podcast Twelve!

Hi all,

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

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

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

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

Cheers,

David

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

Interview with Simon Bestwick...

Hey kids,

Have you ever wondered, "I wonder what that Simon Bestwick, author of Tomes of the Dead: Tide of Souls thinks about stuff?"

Yup, thought so. Probably more than ever, with the release of Best of Tomes of the Dead 2 coming up, bringing with it a fresh chance to have his words fired into your synapses by your eyes.

Well, you need no speculate any longer than you wish (and, I dunno, maybe you're cool with the speculation thing; me, I like speculating from time to time).

Why, I hear you ask? Why, because Jimbo at... ahem, "Ginger Nuts of Horror"... has interviewed him!

Read his brains here.

Cheers,

David

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

Bit More Kelleher Love

Hey all,

A little bit more Pat Kelleher joy, for those of you still anxiously awaiting the arrival of No Man's World: The Ironclad Prophecy on the shelves.

Graeme Flory over at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has asked Pat to write a few words about his inspiration for the series, and Pat has kindly obliged.

Read his guest post here:

Kelleher on No Man's World

Good stuff.

David

Pat Kelleher Reading

Hey all,

So as you know, me and Jenni hit the Derby QUAD over the weekend, to meet some extraordinary people, drink a little beer, talk - a lot - and generally get our vibe on with the community of British writers, current, new, up-and-coming and aspiring.

A fantastic time was had, by us and by the people around us. Not, you understand, because you were around us, but because they were also at the very good event we just attended.

I mean, they probably also enjoyed being around us; as far as I know, we were perfectly charming company. Jenni was, certainly. I was a little drunk for some of it, so I may have just been loud company. Charmingly loud, maybe. I don't know. I mean, you don't, do you? There you are, getting on with your evening, having fun, thinking everyone around you is having a good time too, but maybe they're not, and they're too polite to say. Does that ever bother you? Or did it not, but now it will?

Anyway.

So we will be getting some kind of blogpost out about our experiences - tomorrow, hopefully - but in the immediate term, here's a bit of a treat. Our own Pat Kelleher was there, pimping his latest ouvre, No Man's World: The Ironclad Prophecy, and fine company he was too.

He also did a reading, Sunday afternoon, and I was on hand to capture it on my phone:

Forgive slightly shaky camera work.

Anyway, more tomorrow.

Sleep tight...

David

Alt.Fiction this Saturday!

Tomorrow David and I will be heading off to Derby for one of the best alternative literary festivals around, Alt.Fiction!

Not only will you be able to meet the editors (us!), but Pat Kelleher, the author of the No Man's World series, will be on several panels, and reading from his newest book on the Sunday.

Gary McMahon, author of The Concrete Grove (Solaris) and Hungry Hearts (Abaddon) will also be there, as will Paul Kane, author of the Arrowhead trilogy and Paul Finch of Stronghold fame.

From Solaris we will have science fiction author Ian Whates and acclaimed fantasy novelist Juliet E. McKenna doing the rounds!

Check out the Alt.Fiction website for ticket details, you can turn up for the Saturday, the Sunday or the whole weekend. View the programme for full details of all the sci-fi, fantasy and horror-themed events on offer.

-

Out Now! in June

Hey all,

As you may have seen over at our partners at Solaris, we've decided to run monthly articles on our blogs about what's actually out now on the shelves and what we think of it. Of course, we love all our children equally, but here's a chance to see why...

The Afterblight Chronicles: America, by Simon Spurrier, Rebecca Levene and Al Ewing

The Blight arose from nowhere. It swept across the bickering nations like The End of Times and spared only those with a single fortuitous blood type. Hot headed religion and territorial savagery rule the cities now. Somewhere amidst the chaos, however, there are groups of people fighting to survive. Heroes determined to create a better world. But can these warriors of the apocalypse hope to rediscover the humanity lost long ago in the blood and filth and horror of the Cull?

The Afterblight Chronicles Omnibus: America features three action-packed novels set in a dangerous, broken America ruled by crazed gangs and strange cults.

David Says: Fast, maniac, bloody and action-packed. It almost feels like Spurrier, Levene and Ewing are playing some kind of game of one-upmanship, both in the craziness/grotesquery of the villains and in the hard-boiledness of the heroes. By the time you get to cannibal bankers and a man punching a bear to death, it almost feels reasonable. Brilliant.

So go get it!

David

Jon Green Interviewed in SFX!

Hey gang,

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

Check. It. Out.

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

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

Outstanding.

David

Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #11 now up!

Hi all,

Check it out! Twice in one month!

Well, kind of. Truth be told, I got a bit behind updating the blog on the podcast, so for those of you who wait to read it here before going to listen to it, I decided to trickle the last two in rather than tell you both of them at once.

The eleventh podcast, No Man's World But Pat's, brings together handsome and debonair Desk Editor David Moore (hey, I can say what I want; nobody checks these things) and dry raconteur Pat Kelleher, author of the stunning No Man's World series, including the up and coming Ironclad Prophecy. Find it here on iTunes, or go to the Store and search for "Abaddon and Solaris."

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

Cheers,

David

Double Dead Preview: Coburn is coming, November 2011!

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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Get your steampunky fix for International Steampunk Day!

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

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

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

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

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

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


Also published recently in the Pax Britannia series:

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




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

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

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

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

Three slices of steampunk for just $0.99

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #10: Eric of Eternity

Hi all,

Right, regularity still a slight challenge with the Podcast, but it's still trickling in...

The tenth podcast, Eric of Eternity, finds peerless Editor-in-Chief Jon Oliver face-to-face with Eric Brown, author of the Space Opera epic Kings of Eternity, out now from Solaris Books.

Find it here on iTunes, or go to the Store and search for "Abaddon and Solaris."

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

Cheers,

David

Interview with Jonathan Oliver

The Read Horror blog have interviewed Abaddon Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver for their Meet the Publisher feature:-

http://readhorror.wordpress.com/meet-the-publisher/abaddon/

What Abaddon releases are you most proud of and why?

With so many books published this is very hard to answer. I’m very chuffed that we published Gary McMahon’s first mass market novel with Tomes of The Dead: Hungry Hearts and I was delighted that Simon Bestwick got the recognition he deserved with Tomes of The Dead: Tide of Souls, but really I’m so proud of both imprints. I’m the luckiest man alive; I get paid to work with my favourite people...

Read the rest of the interview here.
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Win a Signed Copy of The Black Chalice!

Wotcher all,

Fancy a signed copy of Steven Savile's groundbreaking Arthurian fantasy, Malory's Knights of Albion: The Black Chalice?

'Course you do.

Well, check this. How about the world-exclusive, first ever signed copy of The Black Chalice? Authenticated by Mr. Savile himself?

Now we're talking.

Steven has been so good as to sign his first ever copy of the book, and will be giving it away to one lucky subscriber to his newsletter in the next few weeks.

The newsletter is kicking off very soon, and will include such goodies as excerpts, teasers in advance of his coming books, and links to unlock special content on his site.

So pop on over to his website, StevenSavile.com, right now, and you could be in on a genuinely special piece of collectibilia.

Collectibilia? Is that a word? You can have memorabilia. This is kind of memorabilia. It's collectible. It's collectibilia.

To Hell with it. I'm an editor; I can add new words if I want.

You still here? Why are you still reading this? I'm just waffling about new words I made up. You should be at StevenSavile.com, registering for his newsletter!

Cheers,

David

Appear in Savage Knight!

Hey all,

As you may know (if you've been good boys and girls and bought Steven Savile's The Black Chalice), the Malory's Knights of Albion series features helpful faux-academic appendices in the back, with research and analysis of the Second Book of King Arthur and his Noble Knights and the history of the text.

Well, I'm producing the essays for the back of the second Malory's book now, Paul Lewis's The Savage Knight, and I'm offering you the chance to appear in the appendices as an "expert."

It's a dead simple offer. The first three people to comment on this post saying "yes, please!" get naming rights for an academic in the appendices. Give us the name and university of your academic and I'll pop him (or her) in, attributing some learned and possibly controversial opinion.

Offer closes at midnight tonight, GMT, after which I'll just make three names up.

Cheers,

David

Paul Kane in Leeds, Nottingham and London

Paul Kane will be making several public appearances over the next few weeks. The first is this weekend:

Saturday 21st May, Midday – 2pm
Travelling Man, 32 Central Rd, Leeds

The second is:

Saturday 28th May from 11:30am onwards
Waterstone’s, 1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham

Copies of the Arrowhead Promo comic will also be available before and during the events.

He'll also be at the British Fantasy Society Open Night on Friday 3rd June, 3 Tooley Street, London, from 6pm onwards.

Paul's display in Waterstones, Nottingham

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Manchester Signing

MANCHESTER DEANSGATE

A Super SF/Fantasy Weekender
Gary McMahon, Pat Kelleher, Mike Wild, Conrad Williams and Ian Whates
Saturday, 21 May 2011, 2PM - 5PM

Waterstones asks "Can Manchester contain this amount of SF and Fantasy talent?" It's an SFF and horror invasion as authors Gary McMahon, Mike Wild, Pat Kelleher, Ian Whates and Conrad Williams take over Manchester's Deangate Waterstones for an afternoon of signings and discussion.


Arrive early, at 1pm, and you'll get to see another great SF signing, the 'Deansgate Doctor Who Forum'. Waterstones says 'Join Terry Nation expert Alywn Turner, Doctor Who Big Finish audio play and Dead Ringers maestro Nev Fountain and that walking encyclopaedia of all things Gallifrey, David J. Howe, for a discussion-filled odyssey into all things Doctor Who.'

Further details can be found at the Waterstones Manchester Deansgate website, or at this number: 0161 839 1248.

______________

Also, check out this interview with Gary MacMahon at horror and dark fiction site The Black Abyss.
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School’s Out for the summer blockbuster?

Abaddon’s ‘Attack the Block meets Lord of the Flies’ novel optioned by Multistory Films

Abaddon Books is proud to announce that it has struck a deal with Multistory Films to bring School’s Out by Scott Andrews to the big screen.

Attack the Block meets Lord of the Flies in a post-apocalyptic landscape where pupils at a public school grow up fast or they don’t grow up at all, School’s Out is one of the stand-out titles from Abaddon’s successful Afterblight Chronicles series.

The books follows the final days of St Mark’s School for Boys; and when your teachers are killing each other, the prefect is experimenting with crucifixion, and the rival gang from across town has decided that ritualistic cannibalism is the way to go, spots and BO don’t seem like such big problems any more.

Multistory Films is a new UK-based production company, which has just completed post-production on its debut feature film, low budget horror thriller The Harsh Light of Day. This will be closely followed by art house feature Verity’s Summer; written and directed by Short film Palme D’Or nominee Benjamin Crowe.

Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books, said:
“We’re delighted that the quality of Scott’s work on School’s Out has been recognised – it’s a great novel and a cracking read that never lets up. With teenagers facing insurmountable odds in TV series like Misfits and films such as Attack the Block, the time when teens save the world is nigh!”

Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, said:
“Whereas much post-apocalyptic fiction focuses on the bleak, The Afterblight Chronicles is made for the silver screen: action, big set pieces, strong characters and a killer concept. Abaddon’s status as an ideas factory is now well established – our medieval zombie novel Stronghold was optioned earlier this year and this is yet another property that’s been snapped up by a film company.”

Emma Biggins, producer and MD of Multistory Films, said:
“We are thrilled to begin development on School’s Out. The book presents a perfect opportunity to create a high-octane action movie with depth, intelligence and wit. As a new production company we are extremely excited to be collaborating with a company as successful and renowned as Rebellion.”

Zombie apocalypse smackdown: which civilisation could would fare best?!

Inspired by Toby Venables' The Viking Dead, Pornokitsch is asking the question we're all dying (and rising again) to know the answer to: which ancient culture would be best equipped to defeat the undead hordes? The winner gets a copy of The Viking Dead!

Your suggestions should go here and you have till 11 pm Wednesday (UK time) to come up with your decision - choose wisely though, lest you find yourself becoming an undead hors d'oeu·vre!

The Arthur C Clarke Awards!

Hey yo,

So I went to the Arthur C. Clarke Award in Picadilly last night. We weren't in the running - this time - but we'd been invited, so it'd be rude not to accept.

And a good time was had by all. The ceremony was short and sweet, which is nice. Lauren Beukes' Zoo City won, which I think was richly deserved. And I wandered over to the after-party at the Picadilly Institute right after, where some kind of drinks were enjoyed and I caught up with people, or as it may be, met people I had previously only spoken to on the interweb.

Pictures were a hard ask, in the darkness of the bar, and I wasn't sure I was allowed pictures of the ceremony (I got in quite late and couldn't ask), so you've just got a couple here.


The venue was the Apollo Cinema at Picadilly. It was interesting actually sitting in a cinema for an awards ceremony. Felt a little odd.


Here's proof I was at Picadilly. 'Cause, you know, there's no way I could have just pulled this shot off the net or something.


The remarkable Dave Monteith of Geek Syndicate fame, interviewing the equally remarkable Tom Hunter, the compere of the award, for the podcast.


Believe it or not, this is Lauren. I did say it was dark.


Our own Scott Andrews, who had discovered it was a free bar shortly before this shot.

So, good time had by all. Congratulations to Lauren on her award!

David