Solaris Books: First Choice of Shady Czech Assassins Everywhere!

So, as a big Bruce Campbell fan, (who doesn't love him in Evil Dead 2?) I can't wait to watch Burn Notice, that awesome-looking show about ex-CIA operatives in Miami. However, as my lazy student boyfriend is on his summer holidays at the moment, he's got there first and he's watching it without me! Grrr!

How do I know this? Because I got this text from him today!

Czech assassin reading The Solaris Books of New Science Fiction in his hotel room in Burn Notice! How's that for notoriety? ;-)

Groovy, baby!


Disclaimer: Solaris books does not encourage its readers to get involved in international conspiracies of any kind, nor to take on assassination contracts.

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Podcast #6: The Sleeker, Sexier Podcast

Hi all,

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers,

David



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

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

Comp of Kings: Winners!

WINNERS!

Yes! I am here to proudly announce the winners of the Comp of Kings competition.

Ian deliberated at some length over the list, and chose his winners based purely on personal whimsy. Which is fair.

The winners are:

Lou Morgan, with the Arthurian Fisher King;
and Den Patrick, with Labyrinth's the Goblin King.

If the pair of you could get in touch with me and let me know your preference (either Rowena Cory Daniells' King Rolen's Kin series or Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God series) - if you both decide you want the same one, we'll probably go with first come, first served - we'll get those prizes out presently.

Thanks all for taking part. It's been a giggle.

David

Comp of Kings final line-up

Right, here's the final list of entries for the Comp of Kings:

Weirdmage – King Shrewd (Robin Hobb’s Assassin Trilogy)
Michele – King Aragorn (J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy)
Jonathan D. Beer – King Robert Baratheon (George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Series)
Gris – The Pirate King (Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance)
Jared – The King in Yellow (Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow Stories)
Jared – King Louie (Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book)
Adam Christopher – The King in Yellow (Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow Stories)
Stephen – The King (Joe R. Lansdale’s Bubba Ho-Tep)
Mieneke – King Zachary Hillander (Kristen Britain's Green Rider)
Mieneke – Drustan Mab Necthana (Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legeacy)
Dreamsandspeculation – King Aragorn (J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy)
Leland – King Arthur (Arthurian myth)
Steven Poore – Smaug (the real King Under the Mountain) (J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit)
ChrisW – Al'Lan Mandragoran the uncrowned King of Malkier (Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time)
editormum75 – Emperor Gregor (Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan Series)
Harry Markov – Hades, king of the underworld (Greek myth)
Amanda Rutter – The Metal King Slime (DragonQuest VIII)
Beachy Books – King Rollo (David McKee’s King Rollo Series)
Lou Morgan – The Fisher King (Arthurian myth)
Bloduedd83 – Rand al’Thor (Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series)
Prince Jvstin – Avtokrator Krispos (Harry Turtledove’s The Tale of Krispos)
Den Patrick – The Goblin King (Labyrinth)
Eithin – Auberon Quin (G. K. Chesterton’s The Napoleon of Notting Hill)
Pablo Cheesecake – King Ralph (King Ralph)
Hadean – King Jezal the First (Joe Abercrombie's The First Law)
Hadean – The Crimson King (Stephen King’s Dark Tower)

And there are just too many excellent answers for me to pick.

Fortunately, we have author and editor Ian Whates here for the podcast, so we might just ask him to be a special guest judge.

Winners announced this afternoon.

Cheers,

David

The Comp of Kings!

Hi all,

Well, we're in a charitable mood. Or else there's something weird in the water here. Either way, we're proud to announce our latest competition, the Comp of Kings.

In honour of the releases of Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God omnibuses (Hawkwood and the Kings, out now, and Century of the Soldier, due out next month) and Rowena Cory Daniells' The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin trilogy (The King's Bastard and The Uncrowned King, out now, and The Usurper, due out next month), we're holding an all-kings-themed competition.

(by way of illustration, here are King Tutankhamen, The Lich King, Alison King, Stephen King, The Burger King, Martin Luther King, Jr., King Henry VIII, a King Charles Spaniel, King, and the King:)

"Very nice," I hear you cry, appreciatively, "But what exactly is this competition, David? What do we stand to win?"

I'm glad you asked. The two winners will each win a complete set of one of our current monarch-related series; one will receive both The Monarchies of God omnibi (here are those gorgeous Pye Parr/Andrew Evans covers again for you):

...and the other will win all three The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin books, complete with book-plates signed by Rowena herself! (here are those kick-ass Clint Langley covers again):

"All very well, David," you persist, "But what do I have to do?"

Nothing simpler. Just jump on here, or on our Twitter at @SolarisBooks, and tell us who your favourite fictional king is and why. We'll probably weigh in with our own favourites, purely for the sake of the debate, although, naturally, we're excluded from the competition.

We'll leave the competition open for a couple of days; probably decide on a winner next Monday or something.

Commence!

David

News round-up

Hulloh,

Quite a lot of exciting stuff to tell you folks about, first of which is the news that our horror anthology, The End of The Line, is finished and about to go press.

Here, to remind you, is the awesome cover by design-bot Luke Preece:-

And here is the final line-up:

Introduction - Jonathan Oliver
Bullroarer - Paul Meloy
The Girl in The Glass - John L. Probert
The Lure - Nicholas Royle
23:46 Mordren (via Bank) - Rebecca Levene
End of The Line - Jasper Bark
The Sons of The City - Simon Bestwick
The Roses That Bloom Underground - Al Ewing
Exit Sounds - Conrad Williams
Funny Things - Pat Cadigan
On All London Underground Lines - Adam L.G. Nevill
Fallen Boys - Mark Morris
In The Colosseum - Stephen Volk
The Rounds - Ramsey Campbell
Missed Connection - Michael Marshall Smith
Siding 13 - James Lovegrove
Diving Deep - Gary McMahon
Crazy Train - Natasha Rhodes
All Dead Years - Joel Lane
Down - Christopher Fowler

The End of The Line is released in mid-November this year with a launch event at Foyle's book shop in London, details of which can be found here.

Also, a couple of reviews for you.

Rowena Cory Daniells brilliant King Rolen's Kin fantasy trilogy continues to reap praise, as evidenced by the kind words over at Speculative Book Review.

Also, volume one of Paul Kearney's classic fantasy, The Monarchies of God, earns high praise from our friends at Falcata Times.

But, last and certainly not least, I'm thrilled to be able to tell you that we have just commissioned a new fantasy trilogy from Rowena Cory Daniells, following on from the success of King Rolen's Kin. The First T'en is set in a new and fascinating world, and judging from what I've read so far, you're all in for a treat.

Anyway, until next we meet.

Happy reading.

Jonathan Oliver
Editor

Yet More Art Teasers for Monarchies of God!

Hey all,

The talented and scruffy-haired Pye Parr has produced another blog post about his work on the Monarchies of God; this time, naturally, on the second volume, Century of the Soldier.

Read it here.

While we're at it, Andrew Evans (the CGI artist who created the helmets and weapons on both books) has also set up a blog, including a blow-by-blow description of how 3D rendering is achieved. It's pretty interesting stuff:

Hawkwood and the Kings Post

"How it was done"

So don't say we never do anything nice for you.

David

Technical Writing Explained Through "The King's Bastard"

Hey all,

The Australian Literature Review has run an article about technical aspects of writing, using examples from our very own Rowena Cory Daniells' The King's Bastard to highlight some of the points it discusses!

Check it out.

Cheers,

David

Reviews and acclaim!

The Barnes and Noble sci-fi and fantasy blog has written a great article on Natasha Rhodes' paranormal fiction - the Kayla Steele series. Read the article here.

Vampires, werewolves, avenging angels, a super sexy heroine, an apocalyptic storyline, nonstop action and adventure, monsters—and monster trucks!—Natasha Rhodes’s Kayla Steele saga (Dante's Girl, The Last Angel, and the recently released Circus of Sins) has absolutely everything a paranormal fantasy reader might want… so why isn’t she a household name like Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, or Charlaine Harris?


Walker of Worlds has previewed two of our covers, James Lovegrove's Age of Odin and Ian Whates's The Noise Revealed, and written a review of Ian's The Noise Within.

The sequel, The Noise Revealed, is definitely a book on my must-read list for next year. The ending here opens up so many questions and throws this series into the realm of some of the best space opera available today. I'd recommend this in a heartbeat to any fan of the genre, but also to anyone who wants to read a fast paced story written with style. It's a page turner for sure!


SFRevu have also written a great review of Jetse de Vries's Shine anthology, over here.

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

Hey guys,

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

So, er. Yeah. Sorry.

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers,

David



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

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