Solaris Rising - Forbidden Planet Signing

Here’s a snap of Saturday’s signing of Solaris Rising. Seated from left-as the signing began: collection editor Ian Whates, Alastair Reynolds, Jaine Fenn, Lavie Tidhar, Pat Cadigan, Eric Brown, Dave Hutchinson.

Surely bringing together so many authors in one place threatened some kind of a critical mass incident? Indeed, one could hear the tables’ groaning under the stock. Physicists may debate for some time to come whether it was FP’s liberal supply of biscuits and cake, or the post-signing trip to the pub that saved central London.

Thanks to the many people who came and queued-up, and many thanks to the authors who travelled so far from so different places to make it a success.

Solaris Rising Signing - and Ebooks on Special!

Wotcher all,

So a couple of bits of news for you today. The first,

Solaris Rising Signing at Forbidden Planet!

So this is pretty cool. Ian Whates's powerhouse anthology, Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (spacerrific cover to the right, courtesy of our own Pye Parr), came out a couple of weeks ago, and is already causing a stir:

"After Solaris Books published ‘Engineering Infinity’ earlier this year, I pondered ‘I’d be surprised if there’s a stronger anthology in 2011′. Well, the same publisher has produced another anthology that is up there with it."
- BestSF

"The literary equivalent of a well-presented buffet of tasty snacks... the overall standard is impressive."
- SFX Magazine

"This anthology of new short stories is essential reading."
- BBC Focus Magazine

So if you haven't bought it yet - and I'll naturally be disappointed and confused if you haven't - you can roll down to London's Forbidden Planet on Saturday 26th November at 1pm, and meet some of these highly acclaimed authors! Hell, even if you've read it! I basically promise that you won't be pinned down and forced to buy another copy. Basically. Eric Brown, Pat Cadigan, Alastair Reynolds, Lavie Tidhar, Dave Hutchinson and Ian Whates will all be there, jumping to sign your books and have a chinwag. It should be a laugh.


...and the second piece of news is,

Pantheon Trilogy Ebooks Now On Sale!

Yep, you heard it. They've consistently been among our best-selling books for the whole time they've been in print, and frankly, with good reason. James Lovegrove's New York Times Bestselling Pantheon series - The Age of Ra, The Age of Zeus and The Age of Odin - are imaginative, complex, action-packed tours de force. Each stand-alone book tackles the theme of "men versus the gods" with a different pantheon and from a different perspective. And there's more coming: The Age of Aztec is due out next April (just in time for the End of the Fifth Age of the World, as predicted and dreaded by the Aztecs, natch), with two more full-length novels under way, and an extra-special, super-sekrit, cross-your-hearts-and-hope-to-die, yet-to-be-announced, hanging-on-the-edge-of-your-seats, I'm-dying-to-tell-you-but-I'd-get-into-trouble bonus novella, out next spring (I'm allowed to say this much: I hope you like spiders).

The Guardian called them "the kind of complex, action-oriented SF Dan Brown would write if Dan Brown could write"; SFX called them "yet more proof that Lovegrove is one of the UK SF scene's most interesting, challenging and adventurous authors." And they can be yours, O gentle ebook buyer, for the low, low price of £3 per book; that's half the listed price.

Jump on Rebellionstore.com right now to pick up any of these three ebooks - in .mobi or .epub edition - for three quid, right now. Hell, get all three and you've still got enough change of a tenner to buy a scatch card. That's not bad at all.

Solaris unveils exciting debut author

Solaris Books is very proud to announce its latest exciting debut author – Lou Morgan.

The Brighton-based author is a distinctive new voice in Urban Fantasy and her debut novel, Blood and Feathers, will be released in August 2012.

Pitched as ‘Alice in Wonderland goes to hell’, Blood and Feathers is about the search for family set against the backdrop of the continuing war against heaven and hell.

But her angels are hardly ‘angelic’ – funny, wise and sometimes utterly horrifying, Morgan’s characterisation and dialogue sparkle in a novel that is both heart-breaking and thrilling, and introducing an exciting new voice into urban fantasy and a fresh take on the eternal battle between the forces of good and evil.

“It’s always a pleasure to encounter a new author with such a strong and distinctive voice and to now bring Lou to a wider audience is a real privilege,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. “Blood and Feathers is a stunning debut that manages to be thrilling and frightening as well as utterly heart-breaking. I’m sure that this is just the start of a glittering career in genre for Lou.”

"What's the first thing you think of when I say 'angel'?" asked Mallory. Alice shrugged. "I don't know... guns?" Alice isn't having the best of days – late for work, missed her bus, and now she's getting rained on – but it’s about to get worse.

The war between the angels and the Fallen is escalating and innocent civilians are getting caught in the cross-fire. If the balance is to be restored, the angels must act – or risk the Fallen taking control. Forever. That’s where Alice comes in. Hunted by the Fallen and guided by Mallory – a disgraced angel with a drinking problem he doesn’t want to cure – Alice will learn the truth about her own history… and why the angels want to send her to hell.

What do the Fallen want from her? How does Mallory know so much about her past? What is it the angels are hiding – and can she trust either side? Caught between the power plays of the angels and Lucifer himself, it isn't just hell's demons that Alice will have to defeat...

More about Lou Morgan
Lou Morgan’s first short story was published by the British Fantasy Society in 2008, and her work has since appeared in venues including Hub Magazine and the Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse anthology. Born in Wales, she now lives with her husband and son in Brighton, placing her firmly on the front line in the event of a mutant-squid attack. This is not something she likes to think about. Blood and Feathers is her first novel.

The ultimate Hammer Horror they never made...

Hell Train
by Christopher Fowler

Careening into the UK on 5th January and the US/Canada on 27th December

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-9-07992-43-8
$8.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-907992-44-5

Also available as an ebook

At its peak in the 1960s, the legendary Hammer Films embarked upon an ill-fated new horror movie that was Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr Terror’s House Of Horrors all rolled into one…

Christopher Fowler, who created some of the most memorable taglines in movie history – including Alien’s “In space, no-one can hear you scream” – and whose company designed the iconic Trainspotting and Reservoir Dogs film posters, has crafted a terrifying tale set in the halcyon days of British horror cinema.

In his first book for Solaris, the multi-award winning author of the Bryant & May mysteries conjures up bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of train travel, all in a classically-styled horror novel that evokes the real-life spirits of this most British of movie studios.

When American screenwriter Shane Carter is asked to revive the classic studio’s fortunes and, inspired by an old board game, writes a script where four strangers who meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War must solve a terrifying mystery if they are to survive.

As they race through the war-torn countryside, they must uncover the secrets of a locked casket and of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them. And what exactly is the devilish riddle of the train itself?!

“The very British spirit of Hammer Horror rises from the grave in Christopher Fowler’s rattling, roaring yarn”

– Kim Newman, author of Anno Dracula

About the Author
Born in London, Christopher Fowler has written for film, radio, television, graphic novels and for newspapers, including The London Times, for more than thirty years. He is a regular columnist for The Independent on Sunday. Fowler is the multi-award winning author of more than thirty novels, including the lauded Bryant & May mysteries. In the past year he has been nominated for eight national book awards.

Rebellion Store Now Open!

Seriously. If you've seen or done something cool recently, it's Not As Cool As This. I promise you.

At long last, Rebellion Publishing has opened its own book store!

Do you like ebooks?  Course you do!*

Well, we got loads! And we're selling them online!

The new Rebellion Publishing Ebook Store, Rebellionstore.com, is the last word in Abaddon and Solaris ebooks. Almost our entire list of electronic is up there already, and they should all be up there very shortly.

And we have the best prices around for our ebooks.

So, why are you still reading this? Go! Buy our damn ebooks! Fill your reader!

*Or probably. I'm kinda going on faith here that you like ebooks. I mean, you like books, right? And you're online, so you must like e-things. So, ebooks! They're pretty cool, right? Well, to Hell with you, then. We like them.

Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds comment on Solaris Rising...

Two of the biggest names in contemporary science fiction – Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds – have spoken about their work in a fresh new anthology of SF from Solaris.

The authors of the Night's Dawn Trilogy and the Revelation Space series are both included in Solaris Rising – the first in an exciting new series of anthologies set to reaffirm Solaris’s proud reputation for producing high quality SF.

"Original fiction anthologies are the lifeblood of SF, the proving ground for new ideas and themes, as well as a great place to discover new writers,” Alastair Reynolds. “Solaris Rising fills a vital need, and I'm very pleased to have been a part of it."

In a book full of boundless variety, energy and imagination, award-winning editor Ian Whates gathers the most accomplished writers in the genre, which also includes Ian McDonald, Paul di Filippo, Stephen Baxter, Adam Roberts, Pat Cadigan, and Eric Brown.

"When Ian asked me to contribute to this anthology and showed me the other names involved I never hesitated,” Peter F. Hamilton. “Even though my story isn't quite SF in the true sense, I'm still pleased it managed to get in there."

Bizarre futures, gritty other worlds and strange realms, Solaris Rising exemplifys the diversity and innovation that continue to make science fiction the most thrilling genre there is.


Solaris Rising, edited by Ian Whates - OUT NOW!
£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-08-7
$7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-907992-09-4

Also available as an eBook in the UK and the US

Introducing... Thaddeus Blaklok!

As if you didn't know by now, Richard Ford's mental-as-a-box-of-angry-steampunk-kittens debut novel, Kultus, hits shelves (and e-readers) this month. Behold, the lovely cover!

But what you may not be aware of, is that Richard and his artist colleague have put together a rather snazzy comic introduction to the world of Blaklok, and you should certainly go and check out the free PDF over here!

Hello boys! What’s your kind of fantasy...?

Babylon Steel
by Gaie Sebold

Your fantasies fulfilled on 27th December (UK) and on 5th January 2012 (US & Can)

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-37-7
$7.99 (US & Canada) ISBN 978-1-907992-38-4

Also available as an eBook

Ex-sword-for-hire Babylon Steel runs the best brothel in the city. She’s got elves using sex magic upstairs, S&M in the basement, a green troll cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and she’d love you to visit, except…

She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, her girls are disappearing, and if she can’t pay her taxes she’s going to lose her business. Despite giving up the mercenary life, when the mysterious Darask Fain pays her to find a missing heiress, she has to take the job. And then her past starts to catch up with her in other, more dangerous ways.

Babylon Steel sees the start of an exciting new fantasy series. Witty and fresh, debut author Sebold delivers the most exciting take on the fantasy genre in years.

"A unique and richly realised setting, a vivid cast, a plot that coils and divides and fakes and deceives... Ingenious, gripping, and full of pleasures on every level. Exceptional."

– Mike Carey, author of NYT Best Seller The Unwritten and the Felix Castor novels

About the Author
Gaie Sebold was born in the US but has lived in the UK most of her life. She grew up in a country village near Oxford and now lives in a moderately dodgy bit of South East London. She works for a charity, reads obsessively, grows vegetables and sometimes runs around in woods hitting people with latex weapons. She has won a few awards for poetry (her collection, Urban Fox, was published by Tall Lighthouse), has sold some short stories and has been known to commit performance poetry.

Gaie is a member of T Party Writers, a London-based genre critique group; she has the standard cat apparently issued to most fantasy writers, a very understanding boyfriend, and a large desk full of undone paperwork.