Aliens vs. Predator

Just a big shout out to our colleagues in Rebellion Video Games, who you may or may not know that we at Solaris Books share an office with. Their recently released game Aliens vs. Predator is currently number one on all platforms in the UK, beating games such as BioShock 2! It's also the fastest-selling game in the UK of 2010!

Props to be you, guys! Guess all those months of making us poor publishers listen to weird alien noises coming from the sound room actually came to something, huh?

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Thanks, Google!

Okay, this is a little odd...

Does anyone know the Google Analytics tool? It's like an uber-hit-tracker. It doesn't just count hits; it breaks them down into unique and repeat hits, gives you statistics on where visitors came from, what they were looking for, compares statistics month-by-month. Generally a really interesting tool. Debatable value, unless you're working in marketing, but there you go.

Anyway, we use it to show our bosses how useful these blogs are, what sort of posts work, what doesn't. We love talking to you guys 'n' gals, but to justify doing it at work, we need to show that it's getting the message out.

So I was combing through the statistics just now. 47 out of the 229 direct visits the blog has received in the past 10 days come from Google. Fair enough. Of those, 6 were from a search for "rubber underwear."

*ahem*

Thank you, Andy Remic. Your rubber panties brought 6 people to our site who might not have visited otherwise. Not sure they're book-buyers, but it's good to reach out to new people.

David

The Write Stuff...

Hola,

Seems I'm to speak at The Write Fantastic's Fifth Anniversary Event this year in Oxford.

Juliet E. McKenna (who wrote the Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution books Irons in the Fire - there's David Palumbo's dramatic cover on the right - Blood in the Water and upcoming Banners in the Wind) has asked me to come along and speak on one of her panels.

Our own Ian Whates - whose space opera The Noise Within is due out in a couple of months - will be there too, and a load of other exciting authors have already been confirmed, and I know they've got more potentials lined up.

If you're likely to be in the area on Saturday 8th May, then swing by and say hello. You can even book now if you're keen.

Jenni's said she'll pop by as well.

David

eBooks!

ROBO-&E7, the eBooks 'bot, has just rolled over to our booth, one wheel broken and trailing a USB lead, and asked us for requests for eBooks. So head on over to Mobipocket, check out our titles, and let us know any Solaris book we don't currently have available that you'd like to see. We don't have electronic rights to all of them - confound those tricksy copyright laws! - but put up a request here or email us to tell us your preference, and we'll let the little guys know.

New shiny shiny things!

Hello All

Remember me? Actually, I'm not sure I've even posted here before, but haven't David and Jenni being doing a brilliant job of keeping things happily ticking away? Anyway, thought I should say a few words about what I've been commissioning of late.

Firstly, it's a great pleasure to welcome back Tim Akers to the Solaris fold. Tim did a stunning job with Heart of Veridon and it was great to be able to get him back for the follow up. Dead of Veridon will be hitting shelves probably spring next year, but in the meantime here is the cover art sans text. Once we have the finished jobby we'll let you see that too, but I couldn't resist showing you what loveliness Greg Staples came up with for us:

Along with Tim, we're welcoming back other Solaris authors for new and continuing novels. I have just signed a three book deal with Andy Remic (or REMIC! as we like to refer to him in the office, yes all capitals and an exclamation mark) who will be continuing the Combat K series of novels. Andy is, by far, the hardest man working in SF today (he told me to say that, otherwise he said he'd cut me) and it's a pleasure to be working with him again. Just in case you need proof of his toughness credentials (and, believe me, he is nails, he makes a mean chilli for a start) here's a picture of him with a gun. That's how he writes by the way, gun in one hand, pen in the other, sitting atop a mountain while fighting bears and eating barbed wire:

It is also a great pleasure to welcome back Conrad Williams, who is going to be penning a novel for us called Loss of Separation. I have been reading Conrad's work for years now, I was even at the launch of his first novel, Head Injuries, and Conrad has always been one of the most intelligent and fiercely good writers working in the horror genre. Loss of Separation promises to be gut-wrenching and powerful.

On top of all this we also have the return of Emily Gee. Emily is by far one of the brightest new stars in fantasy and her novels The Laurentine Spy and Thief With No Shadow were both superb. So, it's with great pleasure that I announce that Emily is penning a new fantasy for us called The Sentinel Mages.

And now a new project for Solaris this year to tell you about. I'm in the process of putting together an anthology of horror stories set on and around the underground, called The End of The Line. This is going to feature some of the brightest stars of horror fiction and I already have stories in from Chris Fowler, Al Ewing, Simon Bestwick, Gary McMahon and Adam Neville. I'll keep the blog updated as more stories come in. I've always loved stories set on the underground and it's a pleasure to gather together some of my favourite writers to weave tales set in this strange subterranean world. Here's the cover rough to pique your interest:

And that about wraps it up for now.

Keep reading and keep your comments coming.

Jon Oliver

Editor

Life Imitating Art...

Hi all,

So here's a turn-up for you. As you may or may not yet know, Jetse de Vries' upcoming anthology Shine (and here's that sexy cover by Vincent Chong again) features a story, "Twittering the Stars," by the talented Mari Ness.

"Twittering" tells the story of a group of astronauts who travel to the asteroid belt to harvest lithium and of the tragic accident that occurs while they're out there, and tracks the narrator's reaction to what happened. The twist? It's told entirely in the form of Twitter posts, or "tweets."

Now, in a classic case of life imitating art, astronaut Soichi Noguchi (@Astro_Soichi) is sending pictures from the International Space Station via Twitter. This is Mt. Kilimanjaro. Neat, huh? Check out his tweet feed for all the pictures.

Reviews

The Falcata Times has posted a sterling review of Andy Remic's Hardcore over here.

And Nayu's Reading Corner has reviewed Eric Brown's Cosmopath here.

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SFX Weekender: Tenth Post

(Ninth post right here on the Abaddon Blog).

So here's Jon in the bar this morning giving a reading and presentation on his new book, Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos. Yep. I just included the words "morning," "bar," and "presentation" in the same sentence. I really can't reconcile any two of those in my mind, much less all three.

I guess that's just how we roll, here at the SFX Weekender. Represent.

Actually, not sure if he's presenting on his book or giving cooking instructions. Or very subtly trying to signal someone across the room without the audience seeing.

And here again.

Now I'm getting a kind of "What the Hell am I doing here?" vibe.

Karaoke and dancin' next.

Awww yeah.

More about that, and a final wrap, at the eleventh post here.

SFX Weekender: Eighth Post

Part seven is here.

Well, I joined some kind of gang. They seem like pretty tight guys; didn't like stairs for some reason. But I'm part of the outfit, now. Sounds like we hang out, get drunk, and then kill doctors.

For some reason.

Part Nine here.

SFX Weekender: Sixth Post

Fifth post is here.

So check this out. One of the organisers is talking to a Jedi Knight. There's Lord Vader in the background; there's the stormtroopers. Everyone's acting cool, keeping it natural, but the tension's clear.

Someone's gonna start some shit, yo.

(Saturday morning starts with the seventh post, here.)

SFX Weekender: Fourth Post

Third post is here.

So, yeah, I'm wandering the halls looking for interesting people to photograph, and I run into our gametesters (QA guys).

Classy mofos, aren't they?

Head over here for the fifth live update post.

SFX Weekender: Second Post

What's that, you say? Surely this can't be the second post? We haven't had the first post yet!

There you'd be wrong, gentle reader. As I'm here for both Abaddon and Solaris, I'm posting to both blogs. Go here to read the first post, over on the Abaddon Blog.

So we've been here for a few hours, watching the geeks sail blissfully by, looking at the crazy and inspired costumes, generally getting our voyeur on.

Over at the 2000AD stall, they're obviously organised and efficient, and very much on top of things.

Below is a picture of the Solaris and Abaddon stall.

We're all over that shit like Mussolini on the train networks. I'm telling you.

Head here for the Third Post.

Tim Akers Sequel and 'Heart of Veridon' review

Critical Mass have reviewed Tim Akers' brilliant Heart of Veridon here.

Is it too early to get excited about the sequel, The Dead of Veridon: book two of The Burn Cycle? I don't think it's too early, especially as we just had Greg Staples' gorgeous cover art for the book delivered into the office.

As soon as we get the huge acrylic painting (can I take it home, can I, can I guys, huh?) scanned, I'll put it up here on the blog for you to admire. But for now, here's Tim's blurb for the new book:-

When an army of corpses animated by cogwork rises from the dark waters of the rive Reine and threatens to upset the balance of power in Veridon, Jacob Burn must discover who is behind this undead atrocity before the city comes crashing down around him. But will he succeed when he finds out that the very Council who has hired him to solve this mystery is working against him behind the scenes, and the only ally he can count on is his bitterest rival?

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SFXWeekender Tomorrow!

We're heading off to SFXWeekender tomorrow!

This time tomorrow I'll be driving a huge rental van somewhere along the M25, shouting at other drivers, The Bloodhound Gang blaring out of the stereo.

Then this time Friday I'll be nobbing with the stars of science-fiction and fantasy, getting on down and generally having a good time.

If you're coming, make sure and drop by the 2000AD/Abaddon/Solaris stand and say "hi." We'll be chuffed to chat.

I'll try and sling Twitter (@SolarisBooks) and blog posts up periodically over the weekend.

Cheers,

David

Andy Remic Wears Rubber Panties

And now, a message from Andy Remic, our resident 'certifiable film-making nurse idiot' and author of the hard-drinking, hard-fighting Combat-K series of military SF:-


So, I’ve just finished principal photography for the short promo film HARDCORE, in support of my new Combat K book which came out last month. Previously, my film for KELL’S LEGEND was a low budget affair, me and a cam and a couple of friends messing about in various Scottish forests. This time, we pushed the budget a little further and I wrote a script, we coerced a director (Colin Howarth) into filming, we had a proper cast and gun props, and the main location was a steelworks in Bury, the perfect spot for some bloody nurse zombie mayhem!

Whilst writing the short script, it seemed incredibly humorous to take a scene from the book where Franco Haggis “disguises” himself unconvincingly as a nurse in order to blend with all manner of medical deviants. If I’d followed this through mentally, I would have realised the reality of such a writing outcome!! Who gets to play Franco? Me. Who gets to wear rubber underwear? Me. Ha!

Still, much credit must go to Phil, boss-man at Bradshaw Profiles Ltd, the steelworks in Bury where we filmed on location – because, as I stepped from the toilets, a big fat man dressed as a nurse, wearing a sexy lace garter and carrying a real Remington pump-action shotgun, Phil didn’t so much as bat an eyelid – you know, as if gun-toting nurse transvestites stepped from that toilet cubicle ten times a day. However, he did comment that my nail varnish was particularly fetching.

The actual filming was an insanity of, er, insanity. Great fun, running around with guns shooting advancing dribbling zombie nurses. I was completely absorbed by the role, and entered a kind of Zen-like trance whereby for a while, I really believed I was there, and the zombies were freaking me out, and I was in Shaun of the Dead – or something. I also felt, at times, like I was in a computer game (such as Left 4 Dead) pumping round after round into sickly undead flesh. It was a bit of a surreal and confused experience, if the truth be told; but all the actors (the “talent”, to those in the know) had a great time despite -2⁰ conditions and copious amounts of syrupy blood and pus.

The guns (a Remington shotgun, 9mm Uzi and 9mm Luger machine-pistol) were very kindly supplied by The Fusilier Museum in Bury, and added a real air of authenticity (and yeah, I know, I know, more anachronisms—but then, did you realise Han Solo’s gun in Star Wars was actually a German “broom-handle” Mauser pistol from the early 1900s?). I digress. The staff at The Fusilier Museum were extremely helpful, and thanks must go to Colonel Glover for sanctioning gun release to a certifiable film-making nurse idiot.

As I went to bed that night, it was one of those strange situations – a strange day, in fact – where SO MUCH had happened during the day, your brain is fighting itself trying to decode and file a million strands of information… you know, where the things that happened in the morning (in this case, filming in Ramsbottom park) seemed like they happened a month previous! Madness.

Anyway, the HARDCORE film short is currently in post-production, and will go “live” in a couple of weeks at www.andyremic.com and www.solarisbooks.com.

You can also see some production stills at www.grungefilms.com.

And yes, I was wearing a bra and padded boobs.

And yes, rubber panties are damn uncomfortable! Hoho.

-Andy Remic. February 2010.