The Solaris Editors' Blog

GIVING QUESTIONS, DEMANDING ANSWERS: Simon Bestwick

2012-01-31T14:30:00.001Z

This week, as I'm fairly sure we've already mentioned, sees the publication of our new novels The Faceless and Greatshadow in the UK and North America.

So we kidnapped the favourite childhood cuddly toys of the men behind these two titles, Simon Bestwick and James Maxey, and held a blow torch close to them until the fur singed a *little* bit so that they gave into our demands to answer some questions for your reading pleasure. Harsh

but, we think you'll agree, fair.

Here Mr Simon Bestwick, whose prompt replies saved 'Bobo' from being burnt to a crisp, tells us a bit about the thinking behind The Faceless.

1. What was the inspiration behind The Faceless?

The first inspiration was seeing a series of photographs of World War One servicemen who’d sustained facial wounds. They were very common during the ‘Great’ War, and a lot of modern reconstructive surgery techniques were first developed to treat these survivors. I also became interested in the psychological casualties of the war, and the different techniques used to treat them (some of which, such as those of Dr Lewis Yealland, almost as appalling as what the victims had already gone through.) It’s impossible not to be disturbed and affected by any study of this subject; those stories and images stayed with me. So I did what I usually do under those circumstances and worked them into a story.

2. What is it that draws you to supernatural fiction and horror?

A lot of what I do falls into that category almost by default, I think. Of all genres, it gives the writer the most freedom. You can write what is essentially a psychological novel, but incorporate elements of other genres, such as crime, science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, or anything else you please. This is important as genre works as a kind of toolbox, with different kinds equipping you better to explore different themes. Horror- I’d suggest- is what Ellen Datlow calls ‘a literature of unease’. That is, it’s a way of writing about the things that frighten and disturb us, which can take any form: fear of mental illness, fear of losing what we have (home, family, job), fear of tyranny and repression or fear of catastrophes such as nuclear war or climate change. You can write about these things as realistically as you like, but can then add the logic of nightmare or introduce the symbolic. Not everything I do is horror, but a lot of it is to do with finding the freest possible form to work in. Hidebound, formulaic horror is one of the most ugly, depressing and downright embarrassing forms of literature available- good horror, written by authors trying to use the huge toolbox the field offers to say something personal, is among the best.

3. How would you describe your novel?

It’s a ghost story and a sort of haunted house story; it’s a book about the destruction and suffering of the First World War and it tries, I hope, to show how the legacy of that conflict still affects us now. I don’t really know if it succeeds in that or not because I still feel too close to it to be objective. Aside from that, I hope it’s disturbing and unsettling, obviously; I also hope it’s a book that has some real substance as literature. Most of all, I hope it’s a book that people will feel compelled to keep reading, even if they want to stop!

4. Who would you list as your inspirations in the genre?

Ramsey Campbell is one of the first who springs to mind, both as an author and an editor- no writer in Britain has done more to demonstrate that horror can be both literature and entertainment. Joel Lane, and Nick Royle’s Darklands anthologies in general, for showing it’s a field that can be put to use in a lot of different ways. Ray Bradbury for his amazing, lyrical language; Richard Matheson for similar reasons. Stephen King because he’s truly an example of a great storyteller- I hate it when that term is used to describe near-illiterates like Dan Brown - real storytelling fuses narrative, language, description, character and ideas all together into one and makes it look effortless. King does that extraordinarily well. Poe for his incredibly dark vision and marvellous use of language (‘…and darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all’ is both beautiful and terrifying.), Lovecraft for his revolutionising of the genre via his atheism, and for showing just how important and subtle structuring could be. I don’t think Joolz Denby is thought of as a writer of horror fiction, or thinks of herself as one, but she’s another great, and powerfully empathic, storyteller- brilliant stories and poems such as ‘Shapeshifter’ or ‘The Disappearance’ definitely edge into horror territory, her fourth novel Borrowed Light makes powerful use of an implied supernatural theme, and her third novel, Billie Morgan, though not supernatural, is a compelling, dark and wrenching account of a murder and its consequences which I think everyone in the world should read. Arthur Machen, A.M. Burrage, M.R. James… I’ve probably missed someone important out, but I’ll stop now else we’ll be here all night.

5. What is your writing process?

I think every writing process breaks down into three things- planning, writing and revision. It’s all about finding the best balance! With The Faceless I planned out the whole book, but in quite broad strokes, and I waited till I’d finished the first draft before revising. The result was a first draft of 160,000 words and a lot of rewriting to get it into a readable form. I’m all in favour of taking as much time as necessary to get the damn thing right, but I made a lot more work for myself than was needed. I’m trying to juggle things round a bit better for the current projects. I’ve a lot of things I want to write, and only so much time to do it in!

6. What are you working on next?

At the moment, I’m alternating between a pair of novels; one is a supernatural horror novel that is shaping up to be the bleakest thing I’ve done yet, while the other is a bit of a departure- I can best describe it as Battlestar Galactica with airships and Spitfires instead of spaceships and with the Great Old Ones and a fanatical death-cult instead of killer robots. I’m trying to get enough of that written that I feel I’m on the right track before going back to the horror novel.

7. Have you ever had any encounters with the supernatural?

I’m afraid not, although as a boy I wanted to. The closest I came was when I was at college; I remember an experience with a ouija board that scared the living shit out of me. Looking back, though, I think a lot of it was group hysteria- that and one of our number later admitted she’d been moving the glass at least part of the time. Having said all that, and even though I’m an atheist, I wouldn’t go near one of them again… But if I want to see horror and things that once might have been human but no longer are, I can just pick up a paper and read about the present government.

Read the first chapter of The Faceless - FREE!

2012-01-31T11:45:00.000Z

Don't say we never give you anything...

This week sees the publication of the very excellent, the very chilling The Faceless by Simon Bestwick. Later today, we'll be having a chat with the author himself but in the meantime, and to get you in a suitably terrified mood, we present the first chapter for free.

FOR. FREE.

You should totally read it. Like, now.

Horror, dragons, spooky hospitals: THESE ARE THE FACTS, PEOPLE!

2012-01-30T09:59:00.008Z

Drop everything!

This week sees not one, but TWO smashing releases from Solaris - Greatshadow by James Maxey and The Faceless by Simon Bestwick! Out this week in the both the UK and the US, these two impressive tomes will blow your socks off - guaranteed!

And to celebrate, this week we'll be bringing you some interesting posts to whet your appetite, tickle your fancy and... stimulate other bits of you.

Here's the details of each book, but stayed tuned this week for juicy bits. Lots and lots of juicy bits!

Greatshadow
Book One of the Dragon Apocalypse

by James Maxey

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-73-5

$8.99/$10.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1907992-72-8

Available as an ebook

Solaris is proud to present the first in a breathtaking new trilogy by one of its most popul ar authors: Greatshadow is the first book in the Dragon Apocalypse series by James Maxey, author of the Dragon Age series.

The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay Greatshadow, the evil elemental dragon who spies through every candle flame, once and for all.

But tensions run high between the leaders of the team who view the mission as a holy duty and the superpowered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who view this as a chance to claim Greatshadow’s vast treasure. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?

A striking mix of adventure, fantasy and lurking menace, Greatshadow promises to be the beginning of a stand-out new series in 2012, written by a real master of the genre.

“…a book that feels like fantasy but is, at core, smart science fiction. It feels like — and is — a magnificent hero story.”

– Orson Scott Card on James Maxey’s Bitterwood

The Faceless

by Simon Bestwick

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978- 1-907992-74-2

$8.99/$10.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978- 1-907992-75-9

Available as an ebook

In the Lancashire town of Kempforth, people are vanishing.

When two-year-old Roseanne Trevor disappears, the local kids blame ‘The Spindly Men.’ But even as Detective Chief Inspector Renwick vows to stop at nothing until she finds her, terrifying visions summon TV psychic Allen Cowell and his sister Vera back to the town they swore they’d left forever and local historian Anna Mason pieces together a history of cruelty and exploitation almost beyond belief.

Meanwhile, in the decaying corridors and lightless rooms of a long abandoned hospital, something terrible is waiting for them all.

In a chilling tale of contemporary small-town horror, Bestwick has truly evoked the terror of films such as The Orphanage and the writing of James Herbert, Adam Nevill and M R James.

“Simon Bestwick writes with great imaginative flair and an excellent grasp of colour and narrative pace.'”

– Daily Telegraph

Audrey Niffenegger comes to Solaris for Magic anthology

2012-01-24T11:30:00.004Z

International best-selling author Audrey Niffenegger is to pen a story for Solaris’ forthcoming anthology, Magic.

Solaris are proud to announce that Niffenegger, whose novel The Time Traveller's Wife has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, is to produce a story for the themed anthology of the occult and arcane, due for release in November 2012 in North America and the UK, in both paperback and ebook.

This is the third themed collection from Solaris editor-in-chief Jonathan Oliver. The previous critically-acclaimed anthologies include The End of the Line, which featured stories set on the Underground, and House of Fear, which rebooted the haunted house for the 21st Century. The titles garnered ecstatic reviews, with The Times describing End of the Line’s stories as “exceptionally good”.

“I'm delighted to be involved in this project,” said Audrey Niffenegger. “My story is called The Wrong Fairie and is about Charles Altamont Doyle. He was a Victorian artist who was institutionalized for alcoholism. He was also the father of Arthur Conan Doyle, and he believed in fairies.”

Niffenegger became a publishing sensation thanks to The Time Traveller’s Wife, published in 2003 and made into a Hollywood movie in 2009, and her subsequent novel was the subject of intense bidding by publishing houses.

“It's really very exciting to be working with Audrey, whose novels The Time Traveller's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry show an author with a great talent for subverting genre norms and delivering the unexpected,” said Jonathan Oliver. “Audrey's story is sure to make a great addition to Magic.”

The line-up for Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane is set to include other high profile authors, including Richard and Judy Book Club-choice Alison Littlewood, NYT Bestseller Dan Abnett, and celebrated authors such as Christopher Fowler, Storm Constantine, Robert Shearman, Paul Meloy, Sophia McDougall, Will Hill, Gemma Files, along with new writers such as Sarah Lotz, Lou Morgan and Thana Niveau and more.

Solaris hold world English and translation rights to the anthology.

Debut author brings a devilish edge to the English Civil War

2012-01-17T11:20:00.002Z

Figure the English Civil War is all about dashing Cavaliers and dour Roundheads? Think again…

Solaris is proud to announce it has acquired Gideon’s Angel by Clifford Beal (pictured), due for publication in 2013, which takes the seemingly familiar history of the mid 17th Century but introduces an infernal plot that makes this much more than just a history lesson!

Described as The Day of the Jackal meets The Devil Rides Out, this swashbuckling historical fantasy set in the aftermath of the terrible English Civil War sees science and alchemy as strange bedfellows with witchcraft and magic.

An epic adventure in the tradition of Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane, it is set in England in 1653. Colonel Richard Treadwell, an exiled Royalist officer in the service of Cardinal Mazarin, returns home in secret from France on a self-appointed mission to assassinate Oliver Cromwell, now king in all but name. He quickly learns however, that his is not the only plot in motion.

A secret army run by a deluded Puritan is bent on the same quest, guided by the Devil’s hand. When demonic entities are summoned, Treadwell finds himself in a desperate turnaround: he must save Cromwell to save England from a literal descent into hell. But can he convince the man sent to forcibly bring him back to the Cardinal? A young king's musketeer named d'Artagnan.

“Not only is Clifford’s novel a rip-roaring blood and thunder horror fantasy,” said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris, “it is also a brilliant historical thriller. His sense of history and depth of narrative really transports you deep into a post-civil war London. It’s always a real joy to discover an accomplished debut novelist, and I know that Gideon’s Angel is really going to make its mark on the genre.”

About the Author
Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Clifford Beal is an award-winning journalist and the former Editor of the authoritative London-based international news magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly. He worked as a defence journalist for over 20 years in both the US and the UK before he began writing books.

Beal is the author of Quelch’s Gold, the true story of a little-known but remarkable Anglo-American pirate of the 18th century who was the first man to be tried in a British Admiralty court outside of England (Praeger Books, 2007).

And writing realistic sword fighting scenes in fiction is second nature to Beal. He began medieval style armoured combat at the age of 17 in the US and later, in the mid-1990s, he organised a group of friends to begin the practical study of renaissance rapier and dagger techniques. This became the Sussex Rapier Society and is now the Sussex Sword Academy in Brighton.

Gideon’s Angel is his debut novel.

Solaris Wins "This Is Horror" Awards 2011!

2012-01-17T11:20:00.000Z

Wha-hey!

So, wotcher all. I'm not sure if you're aware of the sterling work that This Is Horror does, promoting and discussing the horror genre? If not, go and check out their site; it's crammed with interviews, reviews, features and all sorts of good stuff.

At any rate, they have recently launched a new award for the horror genre, the annual This Is Horror Award, which enjoyed an enormous response and looks set to become something pretty exciting in the years ahead.

And just to show what great taste they have, they have awarded us - Solaris Books and Abaddon Books, Rebellion's sister fiction imprints - their inaugural Publisher of the Year Award!

We're thrilled, naturally. Jon, our Editor-in-Chief, says, “What a lovely way to start the New Year! I’m so pleased that Abaddon and Solaris have made their mark on the horror genre, because horror has always been my first love, ever since I discovered Ramsey Campbell at the age of 11. It’s been a real pleasure to work with This is Horror over 2011 and to be recognised by Michael and the team in this way means a great deal to us.”

To top it off, they've also given one of our books, Gary McMahon's The Concrete Grove, the Novel of the Year Award. We're massively chuffed for Gary; this is an amazing book, and the start of what's promising (having just finished the copy-edit on Silent Voices myself) to be an extraordinary series.

Gary says, “I’m delighted to have my book named as Novel of the Year. The Concrete Grove is a very personal novel and it’s gratifying to receive any kind of recognition for my work.”

So we're just popping open the champers in our office, here, and will pop up a photo of the certificate. Huge congratulations to Angry Robot, the runner-up Publisher of the Year, to BC Furtney, whose Scarla was the runner-up Novel of the Year, and to all the other winners and runners-up.

Cracking.

Prepare to soar into a brand new dragon series

2012-01-12T11:57:00.003Z

Book One of the Dragon Apocalypse
Greatshadow
by James Maxey

Arriving 31st January (US & Canada) and 2nd February (US)

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-73-5
$8.99/$10.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1907992-72-8

Available as an ebook
REVIEW COPIES and INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE

Solaris is proud to present the first in a breathtaking new trilogy by one of its most popular authors: Greatshadow is the first book in the Dragon Apocalypse series by James Maxey, author of the Dragon Age series.

The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay Greatshadow, the evil elemental dragon who spies through every candle flame, once and for all.

But tensions run high between the leaders of the team who view the mission as a holy duty and the superpowered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who view this as a chance to claim Greatshadow’s vast treasure. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?

A striking mix of adventure, fantasy and lurking menace, Greatshadow promises to be the beginning of a stand-out new series in 2012, written by a real master of the genre.

“…a book that feels like fantasy but is, at core, smart science fiction. It feels like — and is — a magnificent hero story.”

– Orson Scott Card on James Maxey’s Bitterwood

About the Author
James Maxey lives in Hillsborough, NC with his lovely bride Cheryl and a clowder of unruly cats. His novels include the superhero tales Nobody Gets the Girl and Burn Baby Burn, and the Dragon Age trilogy of Bitterwood, Dragonforge, and Dragonseed. His latest fantasy series is an enthusiastic blend of the superhero and fantasy genres into the multi-book epic of the Dragon Apocalypse, beginning with Greatshadow in February 2012, followed by Hush in July 2012, and Witchbreaker in January 2013.
Maxey’s short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. His short story Empire of Dreams and Miracles was a Phobos Award winner, and his ghost tale Silent as Dust was included in the Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009 edition. These stories and others appear in his short story collection There is No Wheel. For more information on James and his writing, visit his blog at dragonprophet.blogspot.com

For Your Consideration

2012-01-10T14:42:00.007Z

As you will know, the time of year has come upon us once again when the World Science Fiction Society decide on their nominations for the Hugo Awards. You are eligible to nominate if you attended WorldCon last year, or are to attend WorldCon this year, or have signed up for 2013's WorldCon. Instructions for nomination can be found here and the deadline is 31st of January (which also happens to be my birthday. Send cake.)

So, for your consideration, here is a list of Solaris and Abaddon titles that are eligible for nomination:

Novels:

Pax Britannia: Pax Omega - Al Ewing

Age of Odin - James Lovegrove

Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra - Mike Wild

The Sentinel Mage - Emily Gee

Malory's Knights of Albion: Black Chalice - Steve Savile

Loss of Separation - Conrad Williams

Cloneworld - Andy Remic

Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead - Toby Venables

The Kings of Eternity - Eric Brown

Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein - Jonathan Green

No Man's World: Ironclad Prophecy - Pat Kelleher

The Noise Revealed - Ian Whates

Malory's Knights of Albion: Savage Knight - Paul Lewis

Dead of Veridon - Tim Akers

Desdaemona - Ben Macallan

Tomes of The Dead: Double Dead - Chuck Wendig

The Concrete Grove - Gary McMahon

Sympathy for the Devil - Justin Gustainis

The Hadrumal Crisis: Dangerous Waters - Juliet E. McKenna

The Recollection - Gareth Powell

Regicide - Nicholas Royle

Redlaw - James Lovegrove

Kultus - Richard Ford

Theme Planet - Andy Remic

Authors eligible for the John W. Campbell award (best new writer):

Toby Venables

Gareth L. Powell

Richard Ford

Chuck Wendig

Cover artists for your consideration:

Mark Harrison (Pax Britannia: Gods of Manhattan/ Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein)

Gerard Miley (Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead)

Simon Parr (Malory's Knights of Albion: Black Chalice/ No Man's World: The Ironclad Prophecy/ Malory's Knights of Albion: Savage Knight/ Tomes of the Dead: Double Dead/ Regicide/ Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of SF)

Luke Preece (Tomes of The Dead: Best of Tomes of The Dead Vol. 2/ House of Fear)

Marek Okon (Age of Odin/ Cloneworld/ Themeplanet)

Stephan Martiniere (Engineering Infinity)

Larry Rostant (The Sentinel Mage)

Dominic Harman (The Kings of Eternity/ The Noise Revealed)

Vincent Chong (Loss of Separation/ Desdaemona/ The Concrete Grove)

Greg Staples (Dead of Veridon/ Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra)

Chris McGrath (Sympathy for The Devil)

Frazer Irving (Kultus)

Clint Langley (Redlaw/ The Hadrumal Crisis: Dangerous Waters)

Short Stories, for your consideration:

From Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Malak by Peter Watts

Watching the Music Dance by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Laika's Ghost by Karl Schroeder

The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter

The Server and the Dragon by Hannu Rajaniemi

Bit Rot by Charles Stross

Creatures with Wings by Kathleen Ann Goonan

Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone by Damien Broderick and Barbara Lamar

Mantis by Robert Reed

Judgment Eve by John C. Wright

A Soldier of the City by David Moles

Mercies by Gregory Benford

The Ki-anna by Gwyneth Jones

The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees by John Barnes

From Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of SF, edited by Ian Whates

A Smart Well-Mannered Uprising of the Dead by Ian McDonald

The Incredible Exploding Man by Dave Hutchinson

Sweet Spots by Paul di Filippo

The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three by Ken MacLeod

The One that Got Away by Tricia Sullivan

Rock Day by Stephen Baxter

Eluna by Stephen Palmer

Shall I Tell You the Problem with Time Travel? by Adam Roberts

The Lives and Deaths of Che Guevara by Lavie Tidhar

Steel Lake by Jack Skillingstead

Mooncakes by Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom

At Play in the Fields by Steve Rasnic Tem

How We Came Back from Mars by Ian Watson

You Never Know by Pat Cadigan

Yestermorrow by Richard Salter

Dreaming Towers, Silent Mansions by Jaine Fenn

Eternity's Children by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown

For the Ages by Alastair Reynolds

Return of the Mutant Worms by Peter F. Hamilton

From House of Fear, edited by Jonathan Oliver

Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear by Lisa Tuttle

Pied-a-Terre by Stephen Volk

In the Absence of Murdock by Terry Lamsley

Florrie by Adam L.G. Nevill

Driving the Milky Way by Weston Ochse

Moretta by Garry Kilworth

Hortus Conclusus by Chaz Brenchley

The Dark Space in the House in the House in the Garden at the Centre of the World by Robert Shearman

The Muse of Copenhagen by Nina Allan

An Injustice by Christopher Fowler

The Room Upstairs by Sarah Pinborough

Villanova by Paul Meloy

Widow's Weeds by Christopher Priest

The Doll's House by Jonathan Green

Inside/Out by Nicholas Royle

The House by Eric Brown

Trick of the Light by Tim Lebbon

What Happened to Me by Joe R. Lansdale

Horror has no face...

2012-01-09T13:06:00.002Z

The Faceless

by Simon Bestwick

OUT ON 2ND FEBRUARY (UK) AND 31ST JANUARY (US & CANADA)

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978- 1-907992-74-2 $8.99/$10.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978- 1-907992-75-9

Also available as an ebook

In the Lancashire town of Kempforth, people are vanishing.

When two-year-old Roseanne Trevor disappears, the local kids blame ‘The Spindly Men’. But even as Detective Chief Inspector Renwick vows to stop at nothing until she finds her, terrifying visions summon TV psychic Allen Cowell and his sister Vera back to the town they swore they’d left forever and local historian Anna Mason pieces together a history of cruelty and exploitation almost beyond belief.

Meanwhile, in the decaying corridors and lightless rooms of a long abandoned hospital, something terrible is waiting for them all.

In a chilling tale of contemporary small-town horror, Bestwick has truly evoked the terror of films such as The Orphanage and the writing of James Herbert, Adam Nevill and M R James.

“Simon Bestwick writes with great imaginative flair and an excellent grasp of colour and narrative pace.”

– Daily Telegraph

"Outlandish, action-packed, violent, fun, and exciting"

2012-01-09T12:00:00.001Z

We get the feeling that SF Book Reviews might have quite liked Andy Remic's Theme Planet from Solaris. After all, they did give it a whopping FIVE stars!

"I seriously loved this book, as with all of the author's novels there is a relentless vibrance, an unforgiving energy that you can't help but be swept along with and this is combined with a great plot, larger than life characters and some powerful messages, highly recommended."

And it garnered a few fans over at Figures.com too: "The craziest sci-fi writer out there continues to create characters, stories, and settings unlike anything and everything else out there! ... Remic's work is outlandish, action-packed, violent, fun, and exciting."

Here's the blurb for the most action-packed book you'll read this year:

Welcome to Theme Planet, an entire alien world dedicated to insane rides, excessive hedonism and dangerous adventure - the No. 1 destination for fun-seeking human holidaymakers galaxy-wide!

Amba Miskalov is an Anarchy Android – beautiful, merciless and deadly. Sent to Theme Planet on a dangerous assassination mission, Amba stumbles upon a plot to undermine and destroy Earth’s all-powerful Oblivion Government – and its Ministers of Joy. Will Amba remain loyal to her creators and tormentors, support the enemy – or just annihilate them all?

The writer behind the popular Combat K novels returns with a new series set in the world of The Anarchy – another blistering SF journey that fans will love and new readers will find full of action infused adventure!

“Hard-hitting, galaxy spanning, no-holds barred, old fashioned action adventure.”

– The Guardian on War Machine

In the UK? Buy a copy here or go get the ebook. For the US, you can bag yourself a copy here or the ebook here.

Epic fantasies fulfilled! Girl on lizard action!

2012-01-06T11:03:00.004Z

Babylon Steel
by Gaie Sebold

OUT NOW in the UK, US and Canada!

£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.

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

New Eric Brown title comes to Solaris

2012-01-05T13:51:00.002Z

Award-winning SF author Eric Brown is to bring another of his masterpiece novels to Solaris.

Solaris is delighted to announce that it has acquired Serene Invasion, a brand new novel by the celebrated writer. The novel will be delivered at the end of 2012 for a summer 2013 publication. The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal was for UK/US rights.

Serene Invasion spans the first twenty-five years following an entirely peaceful invasion of Earth by aliens who believe they are saving humanity from self-destruction. The novel opens in 2025, with the world plagued by war, terrorist attacks, poverty and increasingly desperate demands for water, oil, resources.

The West and China are sending forces into Africa and South America in order to 'stabilise' regimes, but in reality to garner precious land on which to farm intensively, mine for resources and drill for oil. Much of the global conflict surrounds the dearth of natural resources in an overpopulated world, with the rich West and China doing nothing to alter their materialistic life-style. And then the Serene arrive…

Eric’s highly-acclaimed Kings of Eternity was published in 2011, going on to top several ‘best of’ lists in the New Year, and the imprint also published his novels Helix, Xenopath, Necropath, Cosmopath, Kethani, Engineman, and Guardians of the Phoenix.

“I'm delighted to be doing The Serene Invasion for Solaris,” said Brown. “It's a book that has been on the back-burner for years, and a project I'm very excited about. Alien invasion with a difference, set in Britain, India and Africa, featuring a varied cast of human characters who each in their own way respond to the coming of the Serene.”

“For me, Eric is up there with the greats – Silverberg, Clarke, Leiber,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief at Solaris. “So it’s always a delight to bring a new work by this brilliant author to genre fans.”

“Even a collaboration between John Wyndham and Clifford D. Simak at their best would be hard pressed to equal this."

– Peter F. Hamilton on Kings of Eternity

All aboard the Hell Train: Chris Fowler event this month!

2012-01-04T15:52:00.003Z

It's the new year, the parties are over and the return to work has either claimed you or is looming large on the horizon.

What better way to avoid the post-festive blues than by spending an evening on a thrilling ride to the depths of hell itself with one of the country's best known authors?

Christopher Fowler is the multi-award winning author of more than 30 novels, including the Bryant & May mysteries, and has created some of the most memorable taglines in movie history - including Alien's 'In space, no-one can hear you scream'.

Hell Train is his first novel for Solaris and we're jolly excited about it! It's a classic tale set in the halcyon days of British horror cinema, brimming with bizarre creatures, satanic rites and terrified train passengers.

To celebrate the launch of this fantastic new title, Christopher will be joined by Solaris editor-in-chief, Jonathan Oliver, for what promises to be an exciting evening of conversation at Foyles on Charring Cross Road in London.

The event will take place on 19th January 2012 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm at Foyles, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB. Tickets are free, but need to be reserved by e-mailing events@foyles.co.uk

Full details are here.

Day 24: Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T10:00:00.005Z

Merry Christmas to all our faithful readers! As a Christmas present to you here is a roundup of all our free eBooks available to download from 2011 – a little something to enjoy before you kick off your Yuletide celebrations or even something to hide yourself away from the bedlam! Enjoy!

The End of The Line edited by Jonathan Oliver
A collection of some of the very best in new horror writing in a themed anthology of stories set on, and around, the Underground, the Metro and other places deep below. The Lure is an erotically-charged tale of voyeurism and dread sparked by Nicholas Royle that is included in The End of the Line and now available as a free download.

The Wizard’s Coming by Juliet E Mckenna serves as a prequel for The Hadrumal Crisis – McKenna’s brand new trilogy that hit the shops in August with Dangerous Waters. Download now in ePub, Kindle and PDF.

Eric Brown’s The Blue Portal is the opening of his novel The Kings of Eternity, which began as this short story. The Kings of Eternity took SF great Eric Brown ten years to complete and is a space opera spanning decades. Download the first chapter The Blue Portal for free now using the epub file from our website.

Babylon Steel is Gaie Sebold’s debut novel and a brilliant start to an exciting new fantasy series. Ex-sword-for-hire, ex… other things, Babylon runs the best brothel in Scalentine; city of many portals, two moons, and a wide variety of races, were-creatures, and religions, not to mention the occasional insane warlock.

She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, women in the trade are being attacked, it’s tax time, and there’s not enough money to pay the bill. So when the mysterious Darask Fain offers her a job finding a missing girl, Babylon decides to take it. But the missing girl is not what she seems, and neither is Darask Fain. In the meantime twomoon is approaching, and more than just a few night’s takings are at risk when Babylon’s hidden past reaches out to grab her by the throat. To read the first chapter follow the links for epub and mobi.

Hell Train is the Hammer Horror movie they never made. In his first book for Solaris, Christopher Fowler, 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?! Read the first chapter here and see if you get hooked! epub and mobi

And to round things off, we present the first chapter of the next book in the Twilight of Kerberos series – The Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver – which will be the first time the imprint has published a brand new title as only an ebook.

The Twilight of Kerberos is a shared-world fantasy series set on a planet inhabited by the remnants of lost civilisations, orbiting the gas giant Kerberos. The Wrath of Kerberos will be the series’ ninth book.

The Wrath of Kerberos will be released early next year and the first chapter is available in epub and mobi formats.

Thanks for sticking with the Abaddon and Solaris Advent Calendar. We hope you've found something you like.

Merry Christmas, readers! See you in 2012!

Day 23: The Best of 2011

2011-12-23T10:00:00.001Z

We love all out books and authors here at Abaddon and Solaris but we wanted to showcase a few worth noting from 2011:

Solaris Rising edited by Ian Whates. Solaris Rising is the first in an exciting new series of anthologies that are set to reaffirm Solaris’s proud reputation for producing high quality science-fiction. The book feature's all original short stories from some of the foremost authors in the field; stories guaranteed to surprise, thrill and delight, demonstrating yet again why science fiction remains the most innovative, satisfying, and downright exciting genre of all.

The Recollection is Gareth L Powell’s debut SF novel with Solaris
When his brother disappears into a bizarre gateway on a London Underground escalator, failed artist Ed Rico and his brother's wife Alice have to put aside their feelings for each other to go and find him. Their quest through the 'arches' will send them hurtling through time, to new and terrifying alien worlds.
Four hundred years in the future, Katherine Abdulov must travel to a remote planet in order to regain the trust of her influential family. The only person standing in her way is her former lover, Victor Luciano, the ruthless employee of a rival trading firm.
Hard choices lie ahead as lives and centuries clash and, in the unforgiving depths of space, an ancient evil stirs...

The Black Chalice by Steven Saville is the beginning of Abaddon Books' brand new The Malory’s Knights of Albion Series
Son of a knight and aspirant to the Round Table, Alymere yearns to take his place in the world, and for a quest to prove his worth. He comes across the foul Devil's Bible – written in one night by an insane hermit – which leads and drives him, by parts, to seek the unholy Black Chalice. On his quest he will face, and overcome, dire obstacles and cunning enemies, becoming a knight of renown; but the ultimate threat is to his very soul. Malory’s Knights of Albion: The Black Chalice is the start of an exciting new series of never-before-seen Arthurian adventures.

House of Fear edited Jonathan Oliver is our 2011 horror anthology
The tread on the landing outside the door, when you know you are the only one in the house. The wind whistling through the eves, carrying the voices of the dead. The figure glimpsed briefly through the cracked window of a derelict house. Editor Jonathan Oliver brings horror home with a collection of haunted house stories by some of the finest writers working in the horror genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Pinborough, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Priest, Adam L. G. Nevill, Nicholas Royle, Chaz Brenchley, Christopher Fowler, Gary Kilworth, Weston Ochse, Eric Brown, Tim Lebbon, Nina Allan, Stephen Volk, Paul Meloy and more.

Dangerous Waters is the first novel in a brand new series for The Hadrumal Crisis by Juilet E. McKenna. The Archmage rules the island of wizards and has banned the use of magecraft in warfare, but there are corsairs raiding the Caladhrian Coast, enslaving villagers and devastating trade. Barons and merchants beg for magical aid, but all help has been refused so far.
Lady Zurenne’s husband has been murdered by the corsairs, and a man she doesn’t even know stands watch over her and her daughters. Corrain, former captain and now slave to the corsairs, knows that Zurenne’s guardian is a rogue wizard.

If Corrain can only escape, he’ll see justice done. Unless the Archmage’s magewoman, Jilseth, catches the renegade first...

Viking Dead by Toby Venables is a typical example of the fresh eyes the Tomes of the Dead series bring to Zombie literature
Northern Europe, 976 AD. Bjólf and the viking crew of the ship Hrafn flee up an unknown river after a bitter battle, only to find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence. The dead don’t lie down, but become draugr – the undead – returning to feed on the flesh of their kin. Terrible stories are told of a dark castle in a hidden fjord, and of black ships that come raiding with invincible draugr berserkers. And no sooner has Bjólf resolved to leave, than the black ships appear... Now stranded, his men cursed by the contagion of walking death, Bjólf has one choice: fight his way through a forest teeming with zombies, invade the castle and find the secret of the horrific condition – or submit to an eternity of shambling, soulless undeath!

Day 22: Galactic Tales

2011-12-22T10:00:00.003Z

Only a couple of days left for Christmas shopping! Lucky for you, eBooks can be brought and delivered in one click!

Today’s recommendation is for Solaris Author, Eric Brown. Not only has he written a huge volume of novels for Solaris Books but he is described by Peter F Hamiliton as ‘the name to watch in SF’.

The Kings of Eternity
1999 on the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him? 1935. Writers Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings-on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there – no less than a strange creature from another world – will change their lives forever. What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown’s most ambitious novel to date.
To read the opening chapter of The Blue Portal, the story that inspired The Kings of Eternity, download the .epub file from our website, or find the book on Apple’s iBookstore. If you haven’t got an e-reader, just read the book in PDF format!

Helix
Helix is a grandiose space opera, a story of exploration, alien contact and desperation. It follows the plight of a group of humans who crash land on a desolate alien planet. Daylight brings the discovery that the planet is merely one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound around a central sun. The group set off to discover a more habitable Earth-like world, encountering bizarre alien races on the way. But they must also find a means to stay alive

Proving that good things come in threes - The Bengal Station Trilogy is set on an exotic spaceport that dominates the ocean between India and Burma and follows Jaded telepath, Jeff Vaughan. In the first novel, Necropath, Vaughan discovers a sinister cult that worships a mysterious alien god. The Church of the Adoration of the Chosen One uses drugs to commune with the Ultimate, and will murder to silence those who oppose their beliefs. The story follows Vaughan as his mistrust of his fellow humans is overturned by his love for the Thai street-girl Sukura, while he attempts to solve the murders and save himself from the psychopath out to kill him.

Xenopath - Happily married to Sukara with a child on the way, Vaughan now works for a telepathic detective agency and is investigating a series of murders linked to the colony world of Mallory, and the slaughter of innocent aliens there by the Scheering-Lassiter colonial organisation. But not only does the investigation put his own life in danger, back on Bengal Station Sukara’s life is threatened too.

Finally in Cosmopath, Jeff Vaughan comes out of retirement when he is hired by a ruthless businessman to find out what happened to a lost crew. When he arrives on Canopus VII, the investigation takes a strange turn as they are captured by a group of humans inhabiting the planet. They take him to an underground city, where the true reason for the investigation becomes clear

The Faceless - A winter chill coming your way in 2012

2011-12-21T10:31:00.005Z

And now that we're barreling into the last few days of 2011, I thought what better time to give you a taster of something special for February 2012? If you like Adam Nevill, Joe Hill, Gary McMahon... hell, if you like great supernatural fiction then you're going to love Simon Bestwick's brilliant novel The Faceless.

To give you some hint of the dread secrets that lie within, here's a book trailer for you to enjoy.

Day 21: Christmas Chronicles

2011-12-21T10:00:00.001Z

‘Royal intrigue, court politics and outlawed magic make for an exciting adventure.’

Rowena is an award winning fantasy author and her Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin has everything a great fantasy needs - kings and queens, beasts and warriors, magic and politics. Rowena set out to write the ideal book to curl up with during the winter months and we think that makes for a great Christmas gift.

The King’s Bastard: Book One of The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin
The Kingdom of Rolencia, By royal decree, all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Abbey because of his innate Affinity, the King’s youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Unfortunately, he’s a gentle dreamer and the other acolytes bully him. The only way he can escape them is to serve the Abbey Mystic, but his Affinity is weak.
Fiercely loyal, thirteen year-old Piro is horrified to discover she is also cursed with unwanted Affinity. It broke their mother’s heart to send Fyn away, so she hides her affliction. But, when Fyn confesses his troubles, Piro risks exposure to help him.
Even though Byren Kingson is only seven minutes younger than his twin, Lence, who is the king's heir, Byren has never hungered for the Rolencian throne. When a Seer predicts that he will kill Lence, he laughs. But Lence Kingsheir sees Byren’s growing popularity and resents it. Enduring loyalty could be Byren’s greatest failing.

The Uncrowned King: Book Two of The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin
Rolencia’s ancestral enemy, Merofynia, has invaded and marches on King Rolen’s castle. Powerless to help, thirteen yeard old Piro watches as her father, King Rolen, listens to poisoned whispers concerning his son Bryen. How could the King doubt his second son? Determined to prove his loyalty, Bryen races across the path of the advancing army to ask the Abbot to send the warrior monks in defense of the castle.

Usurper: Book Three of The Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin
Now a slave, Piro finds herself in the Merofynian Palace where, if her real identity is discovered, she will be executed. Meanwhile, Fyn is desperate to help his brother, Bryen, who is now the uncrowned King. Bryen never sought power but now he finds himself at the centre of a dangerous resistance movement as the people of Rolencia flee vicious invaders. How can Byren defeat the invaders, when half his warriors are women and children, and the other half are untrained boys and old men?

Day 20: Other Worldly Giveaway

2011-12-20T10:00:00.003Z

Today we have a giveaway of Science-Fcition of the highest order! Packed with quality stories, Solaris Rising is the first in an exciting new series of anthologies that are set to reaffirm Solaris’s proud reputation for producing high quality science fiction!

Not only are we giving away three copies of Solaris' latest anthology - We are giving away three copies signed by Ian Whates, Alastair Reynolds, Eric Brown, Lavie Tidhar, Pat Cadigan, Jaine Fenn, Dave Hutchinson.

In a book full of boundless variety, energy and imagination, editor Ian Whates gathers together the most accomplished writers in science fiction including Ian McDonald, Dave Hutchinson, Paul di Filippo, Ken Macleod, Tricia Sullivan, Stephen Baxter, Stephen Palmer, Adam Roberts, Lavie Tidhar, Jack Skillingstead, Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ian Watson, Pat Cadigan, Richard Salter, Jaine Fee, Keith Brooke and Eric Brown, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton.

From bizarre futures and surreal present day to gritty other worlds and strange realms, Solaris Rising exemplifies the diversity and innovation that make science fiction the most exciting genre of all time.

“A cliché it may be, but there really is something for everyone here... an ideal bait to tempt those who only read novels to climb over the short fiction fence.”
– Interzone

To win please email abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk and answer this other worldly question.

What is the name of the Earth-like planet found earlier this month by the Kepler Telescope?

UPDATE: Wow! Your responses have been flooding in!
So the three copies have all been won - obviously - and we've had a flurry of more responses to boot.
There's no more need to send in answers. Thanks!

Day 19: Post-Apocalyptic Present?

2011-12-19T10:00:00.002Z

The Afterblight Chronicles is a post-apocalyptic series in which a devastating epidemic has ravaged the world. In the Afterblight pockets of humans attempt to continue civilization amidst the mounting chaos of the collapsed infrastructure. Mobs run rampant while cults and warlords fight for authority over the survivors of the global plague.

For your entertainment we have decided to showcase The Afterblight Chronicles: The St Marks trilogy. Scott Andrews’ series follows a bunch of kids in post-Cull Britain who must not only survive in the post-apocalypse world – they must survive school in these harshest of conditions.

School’s Out
"After the world died we all sort of drifted back to school. After all, where else was there for us to go?" It's never easy being fifteen, but when your teachers are killing each other, the prefect who loves to bully you is experimenting with crucifixion, and the rival gang from across town have decided that ritualistic cannibalism is the way to go, spots and BO don't seem like such big problems after all. These are the final days of St Marks' School For Boys, and the punishment for disobedience is death!

Operation Motherland
"I celebrated my sixteenth birthday by crashing a plane, fighting for my life and facing execution, again." Lee Keegan travels to Iraq on the trail of his missing father, only to find himself caught between desperate rebels and a general who wants to strap him into an electric chair. In England, Jane Crowther, one time matron of St Mark's School for Boys, attracts the wrong kind of attention and has to fight to protect her new school from unlikely enemies. And in a bunker underneath Washington, a madman issues orders that will tip two devastated countries into total war.

Children’s Crusade
The orphaned children of post-Cull Britain have always been easy prey for gangs, cults and killers. But now something has changed. Organised teams are roaming the country, taking children from their homes and villages, spiriting them away into the night. Jane Crowther is willing to risk everything to rescue them, but to save the children, Jane must confront the woman she used to be, and the man who killed her. This is the third and final year of St Mark's school for Boys and Girls. But it's not going down without a fight!

Day 18: Medieval Merriment

2011-12-18T10:00:00.001Z

The Malory’s Knights of Albion is an Arthurian adventure perfect for our fans of the Sword in the Stone legends.

The Black Chalice
Son of a knight and aspirant to the Round Table, Alymere yearns to take his place in the world, and for a quest to prove his worth. He comes across the foul Devil's Bible – written in one night by an insane hermit – which leads and drives him, by parts, to seek the unholy Black Chalice. On his quest he will face, and overcome, dire obstacles and cunning enemies, becoming a knight of renown; but the ultimate threat is to his very soul. Malory’s Knights of Albion: The Black Chalice is the start of an exciting new series of never-before-seen Arthurian adventures.

The Savage Knight
Sir Dodinal the Savage is more at home in the wild forest than in the tilting yard or the banquet hall. Keenly attuned to the natural world, but burdened with a terrible rage, he turns his back on Camelot to find peace, or a just death. In a quiet village on the Welsh border, Dodinal believes he may have finally found a home, but the village is struck by child-stealing raiders from the hills, and he must take up arms once again in his new friends’ aid. His quest will take him into the belly of darkness, as the terrible secret hidden in the hills comes to light...

Dark North
The latest novel in the Abaddon series by Paul Finch is due out next year. A new Empire has risen in Rome, and the Emperor, Lucio Bizerta, is determined that Britain shall kneel before him as they once did to the Caesars. As Lucio’s forces mass in France and his ambassadors come to Camelot, Arthur hurriedly convenes his court to meet them. Sir Lucan, one of Arthur’s most stalwart supporters, comes from his cold northern home with his squire, Alaric. Lucan’s beautiful wife Trelawna has come as well, for among the Italian delegates is her lover, the noble Rufio. The world stands poised on the brink of a terrible war, in which the fates of lives and hearts will play as great a role as those of nations...

Day 17: Need something with a kick this Christmas?

2011-12-17T10:00:00.002Z

Andy Remic is our hard-talking, hard-fighting author whose novels are always full of action packed, gun-blazing hardcore SF. His long-running Combat-K Series is "Fun and fast-paced ass-kicking action."

War Machine
In a time of post-Singularity and FTL travel, the Helix War has raged across galaxies. Ex-soldier Keenan is now working as a private investigator on a planet at the peaceful fringes of the Tri-Gal. Following the death of his family he's run up debts and become a heavy drinker, but he cannot refuse business. Especially when a prince from the Jervai Province offers him a case on a dangerous colony world in exchange for clues that may lead him to his family's murderer. However, to have any chance of success he must gather together his old military unit, a group who swore they'd never work together again...

Biohell
On a planet teeming with corruption, a global technology corporation manufactures the Biomod Human Upgrade. However, when hackers break the code it heads onto the black market, creating a zombie population packed with hardcore weaponry. The Combat-K squad must uncover what's really turned this planet into a wasteland of murder and mutations, and they focus on the darkness at the heart of the corporation that created the upgrade.

Hardcore
Sick World was a planet dedicated to the ill, the deformed, the dying and the dead. Humanity as an organism was not the most durable chassis. After mixing it up with aliens, the human shell developed a host of unwanted and incurable ailments… esoteric diseases, curious viruses, life-changing bugs, vomit-inducing deformations. So a beautiful planet, Sick World, was terraformed with limitless funding, state-of-the-art research centres, gleaming wards and towering operating theatres providing unparalleled care, a perfection of medicine and a pinnacle of repair for the plethora of grotesque diseases and mutating conditions. However, a thousand years ago something happened, and the planet was evacuated in totality. Today, it lies uninhabited. Combat K: Keenan, Franco and Pippa, forced by implanted logic cubes into an unholy alliance of cooperation. Mission: to infiltrate Sick World and carry out a simple fact-finding mission prior to SLAM excavations to research the new Junk threat. It should have been safe, simple, secure. As the first day fades, so a long hibernation ends. The Medical Staff of Sick World, the doctors, the nurses, the patients, those abandoned long ago, a thousand year gestation of hardcore medical mutation and accelerated healthcare technology… they can smell fresh meat, and begin to awake…HARDCORE. You’ll never look at a nurse the same way again.

Cloneworld
Junks, an ancient evil alien scourge, are flooding Quad-Gal with terror as they spread their toxic plague. Combat K, proficient in infiltration, assassination and demolition, are sent on a mission to find an elusive alien retrovirus which can be used against an enemy. SLAM-dropped to CLONEWORLD, a planet ravaged by violent civil war, not only are Combat K hunted by elite junk assassins, but they get caught in a global conflict between ORGS, huge augmented mechanised war machines, and GANGERS, slick, genetically modified humans who have the ability to ganger, or clone themselves at will.

Through a mash of constant battle and vast, war-torn landscapes, through mechanised ORG factories and G.U.N. workshops, through GANGER SlushPits and CloneCities and SexVats, Combat K must think and fight their way to victory, to save the planet, and save the Four Galaxies. But how can Combat K possibly succeed, when their main foe are their own elite and deadly clones?

Day 16: Strong Female Characters

2011-12-16T10:00:00.001Z

Strong Females Characters can take many forms. Here are some of Solaris’s leading ladies.

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin by Rowena Cory Daniells
Rowena Cory Daniell’s trilogy centres on King Rolen and his family, written from the view-point of his three children. His 13 year old daughter, Piro is headstrong and fiercely loyal. Her unwanted affinity soon becomes integral to her family's survival and her decisions and actions are a driving force throughout the trilogy.

The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution by Juliet E McKenna
In Juliet E McKenna's epic tale of fantasy rebellion, women are at the heart of the conspiracy with just as much at stake as the men. Branca is a strong-minded scholar whose humble origins won't stop her studying lost magic to help the cause. Failla is one duke's mistress while spying for his enemies. Charoleia is an enigmatic trader of invaluable information and contacts. Set against them and their allies, can Duchess Litasse of Triolle find common cause with Duchess Tadira of Carluse or Ridianne, the Duke of Marlier's mistress and captain of his mercenaries?

Dangerous Waters - Book One of the Hadrumal Crisis by Juliet E McKenna
An acclaimed magewoman of Hadrumal, Jilseth has long been trusted by the Archmage to safeguard the wizard isle's interests, travelling the realm of Caladhria with no need to fear the corsairs who ravage the coastline. Lady Zurenne by contrast has lived a sheltered and cosseted life. But now she's bereft of her husband and any other protector for her fatherless daughters.

As two of the few who know the truth of a scandal which could bring down the Archmage, will these women work together to help defeat the corsairs and keep such perilous secrets or find themselves on opposite sides?

The Sentinel Mage by Emily Gee
Shapeshifting Innis is the youngest ever female Sentinel Mage. Her abilities are unique along with their strength. So much so it must be her that does the forbidden and take the form of a human to save the Seven Kingdoms.

Desdaemona by Ben Macallan
Desdaemona is a sassy leading lady who takes no prisoners. Half demon, half human she has enough powers to not be messed with and enlists protagonist Jordan to help her find her missing sister Faye.

Day 15: Silent Night - Twilight

2011-12-15T10:00:00.002Z

We have too much high fantasy for just one calendar day so today’s recommendation is Abaddon’s long-running Swords and Sorcery series. The Twilight of Kerberos currently spans nine books and the final novel, Children of the Pantheon, is due out in 2012.

Rocked by war and religious schism, Twilight is a fantasy world like no other, a land girt by impassable mountains and impenetrable storms, dimly lit by a distant sun and dominated by great Kerberos, an azure gas giant that fills the sky... Or is it? To some, Kerberos is a god. To others, another world. Its nature is a mystery, and uncovering its secrets - as, it is whispered, the Elder Races strove to do before they were wiped out - is sure to rock the world of Twilight to its core.

Jonathan Oliver’s contributions follow Silus Morlader, a simple fisherman with a horrifying legacy.

The Call of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver.
Silus is a fisherman working the Nurn coast; a simple man leading a simple life. But there is more to Silus than even he himself realises. When a mysterious man on the run from the Final Faith tries to persuade Silus on an extraordinary voyage, his world begins to change. And when an ancient and evil race bursts from the sea to try and claim Silus as one of their own, he is forced to flee his home. Soon Silus becomes a pawn in a deadly game played between ancient races. On the forbidding Twilight seas, Silus begins to discover the extraordinary truth behind his burgeoning preternatural abilities. As he battles alongside the crew of the magical galleon the Llothriall, Silus will find out more about his world and his legacy than he could ever have imagined. Hearing the call of Kerberos, he will fight to save existence itself!

The Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver (due for release January 2012 in e-book)
Silus Morlader and the crew of the Llothriall find themselves beached in the middle of a desert after a magical storm envelops their ship. Stranded with dwindling supplies and half their crew missing, Silus leads his companions across the harsh landscape in search of civilisation. What they find will change their view of the world forever.
A new race reveals to Silus that his god, Kerberos, is not all he appears to be; that everything they understand about life on Twilight may be wrong. When the truth is finally told, Silus and his companions must fight their way across a dying world, facing Final Faith fanatics, orcs and dragons. They must find a way to deliver a very important message to Katherine Makennon, head of the Final Faith, before war tears Twilight apart.

Day 14: We’re got plenty of S-Punk!

2011-12-14T10:00:00.004Z

Not only do we have plenty, Abaddon Books is proud to publish Pax Britannia, the longest-running steampunk series.

Launched in 2007, Pax Britannia is 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.

Pax Britannia: Gods of Manhattan by Al Ewing
While his sidekick lies bleeding out in hospital, city saviour Doc Thunder and Maya, his beatiful companion, attempt to discover the identity of their friend's assailant. The clues lead to secrets altogether older and darker than they could ever have imagined.
The Blood Spider - a name that strikes fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere. But unlike Doc Thunder, this vigilante is willing to kill, and it can only be a matter of time before the two heroes collide.
Mexican masked swordsman El Sombra is visiting the Big Apple, but he's not just any tourist. El Sombra is on a mission of revenge that will take him all the way into the heart of the city's corrupt underworld.

Author, Tim Akers also creates his own steampunk universe of Veridon and the Church of the Algorithm.

Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers
Jacob Burn: pilot, criminal and disgraced son of one of the founding families of the ancient city of Veridon. When an old friend delivers to him a strange artifact, Jacob's world crashes down around him as he runs not only from the law but also from those who were once friends. But even as the array of machines and strange creatures stalk him through the streets of Veridon, something even more sinister and dangerous makes its move against him, an entity that will make Jacob question everything he thought he knew about himself and the city.

Dead of Veridon by Tim Akers

Trouble finds Jacob Burn: kicked out of his house, out of his comfortable life – out of everything that is familiar – even turned away from his circle of criminal friends and interesting enemies. Two years after he saved an ungrateful city from a mad angel, thwarting the plans of every powerful faction in Veridon, Jacob is still trying to pull his life together. And still trouble finds him. A bad job goes worse, and soon old enemies present themselves as allies, and former friends set themselves against Jacob as he tries to put the dead to rest and the living to justice. Things gets even harder when he’s appointed by the Council to investigate the rise of the cog-dead, while some hold him personally accountable, and others in the city work to use the chaos to their advantage.

Kultus by Richard Ford is a steam-powered burlesque of brutal demonic action!
Thaddeus Blaklok – mercenary, demonist, bastard and thug-for-hire – is pressed into retrieving a mysterious key for his clandestine benefactors. Little does he know that other parties seek to secure this artefact for their own nefarious ends and soon he is pursued by brutal cultists, bloodthirsty gangsters, deadly mercenaries and hell spawned monsters, all bent on stopping him by any means necessary. In a lightning-paced quest that takes him across the length and breadth of the steam-fuelled city of Manufactory, Blaklok must use his wits and his own demonic powers to keep the key from those who would use it for ill, and open the gates to Hell itself.

And today we are offering a fantastic short story, Masques and Lies by David Moore from our Pax Britannia Series. Enjoy on epub and mobi!

Day 13: Deck the Dead

2011-12-13T10:00:00.001Z

Behind today’s door is the latest in Abaddon’s Tomes of Dead series, Double Dead.

Double Dead is a bloodthirsty ride through zombie-infested Route 66 that answers that age old question: what does a vampire eat during the zombie apocalypse?

Coburn has a problem – he’s just woken up from a five year sleep to find that human civilisation has fallen in the face of the zombie apocalypse. He likes blood. They like brains. So, yeah – problem.

And now he’s starving. So this vampire not only has to find human survivors but must become an unlikely shepherd with a shotgun. After all, a man has to look after his food supply...

A thrilling chase across a zombie-infested America – but with a twist – Double Dead is Chuck Wendig’s fantastically entertaining, blood-thirsty, brain-guzzling debut novel.

As a little ‘Merry Christmas’ present from Abaddon and Solaris, here’s a free preview of chapter one of Double Dead available for download! Check out the epub version, the Kindle version or the .pdf version now.

Day 12: Guns Galore

2011-12-12T10:00:00.004Z

Behind today’s calendar door is our recommendations for military SF fans. First up is a title just published this month, which should have all fans of the genre drooling with delight...

Andy Remic’s Combat K books are kick-ass, action-adventure SF extravaganzas centring around a corrupt and slightly insane combat squad. Themeplanet is a particular delight. It’s better than sex! It’s better than drugs! If you haven’t been sick yet, you soon will be... Welcome to Theme Planet, an entire alien world dedicated to insane rides, excessive hedonism and dangerous adventure. Operated by the Monolith Corporation, Theme Planet is the No. 1 destination for fun-seeking human holidaymakers Galaxy-Wide! Amba Miskalov is an Anarchy Android, an assassin/torture model fitted with a Quantell Systems v4.7 KillChip. She is beautiful, merciless and deadly, and blends perfectly with her human superiors. Sent to Theme Planet on a dangerous assassination mission, Amba stumbles upon a plot to undermine and destroy Earth’s all-powerful Oblivion Government – and its Ministers of Joy. But Amba is twisted, damaged and decadent – and this rebellion poses Amba a problem: to remain loyal to her creators and tormentors, to support the enemy – or annihilate them all.

The No Mans World series by Pat Kelleher is a great military SF series based on a World War One battalion. Black Hand Gang is the first in the series, set in 1916. Nine-hundred men of the 13th Battalion of The Pennine Fusiliers vanish without trace from the battlefield, only to find themselves stranded on an alien planet. There they must learn to survive in a frightening and hostile environment, forced to rely on dwindling supplies of ammo and rations as the natives of this strange new world begin to take an interest. However, the aliens amongst them are only the first of their worries, as a sinister and arcane threat begins to take hold from within their own ranks!

Day 11: Time’s Arrow

2011-12-11T10:00:00.000Z

Have you ever wished the characters in your book would just listen to your advice? Found yourself screaming “No you Idiot! Don’t go that way!” at the page?

Well, Abaddon Books is here to grant your wish with their new interactive novel, Time’s Arrow by Jonathan Green. Time’s Arrow allows you, the reader, to decide its hero’s next step! Quick, Hop, Run though – Today is the last day to download your free copy of Part One: Red Handed and decide Ulysses Quicksilver’s fate!

Time’s Arrow is 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.

Each instalment of Time’s Arrow is 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.

Vote Today!
In the next thrilling installment of Time's Arrow, “Black Swan,” our hero - wanted by the French Police for murder - battles his way across Paris, from the Louvre to Notre Dame, in order to prove his innocence. But where he goes next is up to the reader to decide. Voting closes today!

Day 10: Swords and Sorcery

2011-12-10T10:00:00.003Z

High fantasy has it all - Epic stories arcs, magic, politics and battles. Solaris and Abaddon Books are teeming with fantasy authors, so we've picked a select few for today’s calendar:

Thief With No Shadow by Emily Gee
Emily Gee is a compelling fantasy writer and Thief With No Shadow is a rich, romantic fantasy tale set in a world where the ordinary and extraordinary co-exist, where fire-breathing salamanders live alongside men, and magic runs in the blood of mortals. Melke is a wraith, able to walk unseen. Feared by all, hunted and hated, she has lost everything - except her younger brother. Now she is forced to do the unthinkable: in exchange for her brother's freedom, she must use her magic to commit a terrible crime.

The Sentinel Mage by Emily Gee
The Sentinel Mage is Emily’s latest book with Solaris. In a distant corner of the Seven Kingdoms, an ancient curse festers and grows, consuming everything in its path. Only one man can break it: Harkeld of Osgaard, a prince with mage's blood in his veins. But Prince Harkeld has a bounty on his head and assassins at his heels.

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin is a brilliant trilogy that begins with The King's Bastard. In the Kingdom of Rolencia, by royal decree, all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Abbey because of his innate Affinity, the king’s youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Unfortunately, he’s a gentle dreamer and the other acolytes bully him. The only way he can escape them is to serve the Abbey Mystic, but his Affinity is weak.

Fiercely loyal, thirteen year-old Piro is horrified to discover she is also cursed with unwanted Affinity. It broke their mother’s heart to send Fyn away, so she hides her affliction. But when Fyn confesses his troubles, Piro risks exposure to help him.

Even though Byren Kingson is only seven minutes younger than his twin, Lence, who is the king's heir, Byren has never hungered for the Rolencian throne. When a Seer predicts that he will kill Lence, he laughs. But Lence Kingsheir sees Byren’s growing popularity and resents it. Enduring loyalty could be Byren’s greatest failing.

The sequels, The Uncrowned King and The Usurper, are also available from the new Rebellion Store.

Chronicles of the Necromancer by Gail Z. Martin
This is the pick for fans of Robin Hobb, Lois McMaster Bujold and Terry Goodkind. The Summoner is the first in the series. The world of Prince Martris Drayke is thrown into sudden chaos and disorder when his brother murders their father and seizes the throne.

Cast out, Martris and a small band of trusted friends are forced to flee to a neighbouring kingdom where he believes they can regroup and plot their retaliation. With only a handful of loyal colleagues to support him, he must seek retribution and restore his father's honour.
But if the living are arrayed against him, Martris must call on a different set of allies: the ranks of the dead.

Day 9: Gifts of Gore - Tomes of the Dead

2011-12-09T10:00:00.001Z

Everyone loves a zombie. The perfect stocking filler for every gore guzzler, Abaddon’s Tomes of the Dead series, has been running since our inception and is full of fresh stories in this evergreen genre:

Double Dead – Chuck Wendig
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 – the walking dead. Suddenly the vampire not only has to find human survivors but now he has to make the transition from predator to protector—after all, a man has to look after his food supply.

Viking Dead – Toby Venables
Northern Europe, 976 AD. A viking crew find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence. The dead don’t lie down, but become draugr – the undead – returning to feed on the flesh of their kin. Bjólf, our brave viking, is stranded, his men cursed by the contagion of walking death and his only choice is to fight his way through a forest teeming with zombies, invade the castle and find the secret of the horrific condition – or submit to an eternity of shambling, soulless undeath!

Stronghold – Paul Finch
Stronghold is a zombie novel with a difference, set in the dark world of medieval Wales. Ranulf, a young English knight, sent to recapture Grogen Castle from Welsh rebels, comes into conflict with his leaders over their brutal methods. Unbeknownst to any of them, the native druids are using an ancient artefact to summon a horrifying army. As Grogen Castle is besieged by countless, tireless soldiers forged from bone and raddled flesh, Ranulf must defy his masters and rescue the daughter of his enemy... if the castle stronghold lasts!

Empire of Salt – Weston Osche
The Olivers have a chance to make a new home at Salton Sea. Looking forward to California fun, sun and adventure they are unprepared for the ecological devastation they find. The sea is rotting, the town of Bombay Beach is dying and the citizens are like bait, waiting to be plucked from their homes by what comes from the sea. Beware the coming of the green, they say. Beware the coming of the night.

I, Zombie – Al Ewing
"My name is John Doe. I’ve been dead for ten years." John Doe is a zombie, though he can’t explain how so he sells his dead flesh to the highest bidder. Kill for you, steal for you, or save your life for you - there's no mystery he can't be hired to solve… until now. This is murder mystery with a deadly secret, the kind of secret that could end life on this planet.

Day 8: Warrior Races, Feuding Monarchies and Self Righteous Churches - Paul Kearney

2011-12-08T10:00:00.002Z

Today our door reveals Paul Kearney, British Fantasy Award short list nominee who has produced the critically-acclaimed series The Monarchies of God and The Macht Trilogy. Paul’s battle-orientated work will suit the more traditional fantasy lover.

The Monarchies of God series begins with Hawkwood and the Kings.

The world is in turmoil. In the east the savage Merduks, followers of the Prophet Ahrimuz, have captured the holy city of Aekir. The western kingdoms are too distracted by internecine bickering to intervene and the Church seems more obsessed with rooting out heresy. It is an age where men go to the stake for the taint of magic in their blood, where gunpowder and cannon co-exit with werewolves and sorcerers. It is the turning point when two great religions will fight to the death and the common folk will struggle to merely survive.

In The Monarchies of God sequel, The Century of the Soldier, it is the mid sixth-century of Ramusian reckoning and the great struggle is approaching its climax. For the victor there will be supremacy; for the vanquished, cultural annihilation. Fighting that war, Corfe of Torunna will find that court intrigue can be as murderous as any martial foe. The monks Albrec and Avila will explode a bombshell of secret knowledge which will change the continent irrevocably. And Richard Hawkwood will return with the discovery of a New World. The sixth century is the crucible of history. The century of the soldier.

Kearney’s The Macht Trilogy follows a warrior race of mercenaries whose skills are the stuff of legends:

In The Ten Thousand on the world of Kuf, the Macht are little more than rumour, after centuries of solitude in the Harukush Mountains. But now the Great King's brother means to take the throne of the Asurian empire by force, and in order to do so he has sought out the legend. He hires ten thousand mercenary warriors of the Macht, and leads them into the heart of the Empire.

Corvus is the second novel in the series, set twenty-three years since a Macht army fought its way home from the heart of the Asurian Empire. The man who came to lead that army, Rictus, is now a hard-bitten mercenary captain, middle-aged and tired. He wants nothing more than to lay down his spear and become the farmer that his father was. But fate has different ideas. A young war-leader has risen to challenge the order of things in the very heartlands of the Macht. A solider of genius, he takes city after city, and reigns over them as king. What is more, he has heard of the legendary leader of The Ten Thousand. His name is Corvus, and the rumours say that he is not even fully human. He means to make himself absolute ruler of all the Macht. And he wants Rictus to help him.

Kings of Morning is the thrilling conclusion to Paul Kearney's Macht trilogy, due out in March 2012. For the first time in recorded history, the ferocious city-states of the Macht now acknowledge a single man as their overlord. Corvus, the strange and brilliant boy-general, is now High King, having united his people in a fearsome, bloody series of battles and sieges. He is not yet thirty years old. A generation ago, ten thousand of the Macht marched into the heart of the ancient Asurian Empire, and fought their way back out again, passing into legend. Corvus’s father was one of those who undertook that march, and his most trusted general, Rictus, was leader of those ten thousand. But he intends to do more. The preparations will take years, but when they are complete, Corvus will lead an invasion the like of which the world of Kuf has never seen. Under him, the Macht will undertake nothing less than the overthrow of the entire Asurian Empire.

Lovegrove signs up for “man vs. the gods” military SF sequel

2011-12-07T12:18:00.004Z

Solaris is delighted to announce that it has signed up James Lovegrove to write another book in his best-selling military science-fiction Pantheon Series.

Age of Voodoo is due for publication in 2013 and will continue the killer blend of high-octane action set in worlds dominated by religion, but not necessarily ones we would find familiar.

The series, including New York Times bestseller The Age of Odin, sets itself in alternative histories that can be read as stand-alone novels or enjoyed as a collective. Deities of old are rewritten and revitalized by Lovegrove, a talented writer who creates some truly gripping adventures.

2012 will see the publication of the next in the series, Age of Aztec, along with the ebook-only novella, Age of Anansi. The series focuses on the central question of ‘what if the Gods of Mythology were not only real but played a direct role in mankind’s lives?’

In Age of Aztec, the Aztecs' reign is one of ruthless oppression and regular human sacrifice, but in the jungle-infested city of London, one man defies them: the masked vigilante known as the Conquistador. As the apocalypse looms, the Conquistador must assassinate the mysterious, immortal Aztec emperor even as he is pursued by police inspector Mal Vaughn.

Age of Odin remained on the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks earlier this year and the series also includes Age of Ra and Age of Zeus.

"It's fantastic to have another book from James in The Pantheon Series,” said Jonathan Oliver, Solaris editor-in-chief. “This is military SF like you've never seen it before: clever, funny, action-packed and epic in scope."

“The kind of complex, action-oriented SF Dan Brown would write if Dan Brown could write.”

– The Guardian on The Age of Zeus

About the Series
A thematic trilogy of related, but stand-alone novels, the Pantheon series addresses the theme of “men versus the gods” in three different worlds, with three different pantheons, offering three different takes. All high-action military SF books, the series has presented an armed uprising against distant but powerful Egyptian divinities, a high-powered slugfest between battle-suited humans and super-heroic Greek gods, and a gritty, intimate firefight between an infantry company and an army of ancient Norse giants.

About the Author
James Lovegrove published his first novel at the age of 24 and has since had more than 20 books out. He has also produced a sequence of teen fantasy novels, the Clouded World series, under the pseudonym Jay Amory. He is a regular reviewer of fiction for the Financial Times and lives in Eastbourne on the south coast of England with his wife Lou, sons Monty and Theo, and cat Ozzy.

Day 7: Christmas is not a date but a State of Mind

2011-12-07T10:00:00.001Z

The urban fantasy genre is becoming increasingly popular, and Abaddon and Solaris have everything you could want when delving behind the shop fronts and into the dark alleyways of our modern urban nightmares…

British Fantasy Award winner Nicholas Royle creates a nightmarish hidden city in Regicide. Carl, who runs a London record store, meets the mysterious Annie Risk and falls for her - hard. Carl stumbles across part of a map to an unknown town. He becomes convinced it represents the city of his dreams, where ice skaters turn quintuple loops and trumpeters hit impossibly high notes.... where Annie Risk will agree to see him again. But if he ever finds himself in the streets on his map, will they turn out to be the land of his dreams or the world of his worst nightmares?

What really walks the city streets? In Desdaemona, Ben Macallan’s debut novel in Urban Fantasy, you will definitely wish you hadn't asked. Jordan is a not so regular teenager who helps kids on the run find their way back home. Desdaemona is desperately searching for her lost sister Fay, who did a Very Bad Thing involving an immortal. She enlists Jordan’s help but is it a mistake for them both? Too many people are interested now, and some of them are not people at all...

The Infernal Games series is thriller meets urban fantasy and Cold Warriors by Rebecca Levene merges cold war intrigue and occultist plots. The Hermetic Division of the British secret services was formed at the height of the Cold War, an agency charged with using supernatural means to defend the nation. It has only one mission: to find the mysterious Ragnarok artefacts, said to have the power to end the world. Now, two of the division's most powerful agents are sent on the trail of a corrupt Russian oligarch who may possess the artefacts. Their perilous journey will take them across Europe and into the darkest reaches of the occult!

Day 6: Go big this Christmas - Space Opera

2011-12-06T10:00:00.001Z

Larger than life, breathtaking, grandiose – the biggest gift a SF fan could hope for this Christmas is a space opera. Behind today’s door we are looking at some of biggest in Solaris’s collection.

Released earliest this year, The Recollection is Gareth L. Powell's epic new science-fiction novel that delivers galaxy-spanning scope. When his brother disappears into a bizarre gateway on a London Underground escalator, failed artist Ed Rico and his brother's wife Alice have to put aside their feelings for each other to go and find him. Their quest through the 'arches' will send them hurtling through time, to new and terrifying alien worlds. Meanwhile, four hundred years in the future, Katherine Abdulov must travel to a remote planet in order to regain the trust of her influential family. The only person standing in her way is her former lover, Victor Luciano, the ruthless employee of a rival trading firm.

Highly acclaimed Helix is a story of exploration, alien contact and desperation. It follows the plight of a group of humans who crash land on a desolate alien planet, one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound around a central sun. The group set off to discover a more habitable Earth-like world, encountering bizarre alien races on the way. But they must also find a means to stay alive.

More from Brown and proving that good things come in threes, The Bengal Station Trilogy is some of Brown’s most acclaimed work. Set on a exotic spaceport that dominates the ocean between India and Burma and following Jaded telepath, Jeff Vaughan. In the first novel, Necropath, Vaughan discovers a sinister cult that worships a mysterious alien god. The Church of the Adoration of the Chosen One uses drugs to commune with the Ultimate, and will murder to silence those who oppose their beliefs. The story follows Vaughan as his mistrust of his fellow humans is overturned by his love for the Thai street-girl Sukura, while he attempts to solve the murders and save himself from the psychopath out to kill him.

Xenopath - Happily married to Sukura with a child on the way, Vaughan now works for a telepathic detective agency and is investigating a series of murders linked to the colony world of Mallory, and the slaughter of innocent aliens there by the Scheering-Lassiter colonial organisation. But not only does the investigation put his own life in danger, but back on Bengal Station Sukura’s life is threatened too.

Free ongoing extracts from Steve Rasnic Tem 's DEADFALL HOTEL

2011-12-05T15:01:00.005Z

If you're not already excited about next year's DEADFALL HOTEL from Steve Rasnic Tem, then you're either dead or possibly merely ill-informed.

The World Fantasy Award and British Fantasy Award-winning author has crafted a weird fiction masterpiece that The Weird Fiction Review described as: "Nightmares, supernatural creatures, cults, eccentric characters, and the atmosphere of the titular hotel all combine for a fascinating read. With the popularity of TV shows like American Horror Story, the timing seems right, as well (although we think Deadfall is much more interesting.)"

So we are VERY pleased to announce that they are running a long self-contained excerpt from Deadfall Hotel, The King of the Cats, in four parts, every Thursday between now and Christmas.

And part one is already live...

Enjoy.

Day 5: 2 for 1 Offer: Two Series , One Great Author - Juliet E McKenna

2011-12-05T10:10:00.002Z

Classics scholar and Oxford graduate Juliet E McKenna is a well-loved and much respected fantasy writer who always delivers rich characters and high adventure. The fifth door on our advent calendar reveals her two series with Solaris Books.

We recommend Juliet’s work not just to fantasy fans but anyone who’s looking for strong, interesting characters. Look below for a free short story of her work!

The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution series is a high fantasy adventure set in a land laid to waste by its rival dukes who fight for the High King’s crown. A mismatched band of exiles and rebels agree that the time has come for change. Can a small group, however determined, put an end to generations of intractable misery?

The Hadrumal Crisis Series is Juliet E McKenna’s brand new trilogy and kicks off with Dangerous Waters.

In a world where magic is banned, what protection is there for the innocent against murderous roving corsairs? And who will be the first to unveil the secret of a widow’s mysterious guardian? The Caladhrian Coast is a rich new world filled with pirates and politics, rogue wizards and adventure. This is the perfect point to join a new fantasy series from an increasingly dominant voice in the genre.

For a sneak peek at The Hadrumal Crisis, Solaris is happy to offer this short story prequel, The Wizard’s Coming free to download as an ePub, PDF and Kindle

Day 4: Stocking Sized Stories - Anthologies

2011-12-04T10:02:00.001Z

Here’s your chance to read all your favourite authors in one book. Anthologies are the perfect gift for Christmas. Today we are recommending our favourite Solaris anthologies that include some of the brightest names in science fiction.

Our newest anthology, the critically-acclaimed Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction edited by Ian Whates, is the first in an exciting new series that is set to reaffirm Solaris’s proud reputation for producing high quality science-fiction, featuring some of the biggest names in the genre, including Ken Macleod, Tricia Sullivan, Stephen Baxter, Adam Roberts, Mike Resnick, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ian Watson, Keith Brooke and Eric Brown, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton.

Shine makes a great gift this Christmas as it is a collection of optimistic (and shiny) stories set in the near future. The genre’s brightest talents write about the opportunity and chances for a better tomorrow and make a refreshing alternative to dire dystopian warnings. Jetse de Vries collects 16 stories from the likes of Eric Gregory, Jacques Barcia, Jason Stoddard, Holly Phillips, Paula R. Stiles, Gareth L. Powell & Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar, Mari Ness Silvia, Moreno-Garcia, and Alastair Reynolds.

The universe shifts and changes: suddenly you understand, you get it, and are filled with a sense of wonder... Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan, is an innovative anthology that centres on that moment of universal understanding that drives some of the greatest science-fiction stories. This exciting anthology collects together stories by some of the biggest names in the field, including Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross and Greg Bear.

Day 3: Winter Chills - Horror

2011-12-03T10:00:00.001Z

To accompany the chilly weather, we have gathered together our best collection of horror titles to give you the Winter Thrills! We recommend reading them with a blanket, some mulled wine and the lights turned down – If you dare....

House of Fear: An Anthology of Haunted House Stories, edited by Jonathan Oliver brings horror home with with 19 short stories from some of the finest writers working in the genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Pinborough, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Priest, Adam L. G. Nevill, Christopher Fowler, Eric Brown, Tim Lebbon, Nina Allan, Stephen Volk, Paul Meloy and more.

On the cutting edge of horror, Concrete Grove by Gary McMahon is the start of a chilling horror trilogy showing us a modern Britain many of us will recognise, while whispering of the terrible and arcane presences clawing against the boundaries of our reality.

Any of one of our Tomes of Dead series is a gore-rific horror fest but today we are recommending Viking Dead by Toby Venables. Bjólf and his viking crew find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence. The dead don’t lie down, but become draugr – the undead – returning to feed on the flesh of their kin. Stranded, his men cursed by the contagion of walking death, Bjólf has one choice: fight his way through a forest teeming with zombies, invade the castle and find the secret of the horrific condition – or submit to an eternity of shambling, soulless undeath!

Finally, The End of The Line. edited by Jonathan Oliver. collects some of the very best in new horror writing in a themed anthology of stories set on, and around, the Underground, the Metro and other places deep below.

The Lure is one of the short stories from The End of The Line collection. It’s is an erotically-charged tale of voyeurism and dread sparked by Nicholas Royle and is available as a free download this Christmas!

http://solarisbooks.com/downloads/End_of_Line_-_The_Lure.pdf
Both it and The End of the Line anthology were nominated last month for the prestigiou British Fantasy award. So please enjoy and check back tomorrow to see what our next calendar recommendation has in store!

Advent Calendar Day Two: 'It'll be over by Christmas!'

2011-12-02T11:03:00.002Z

For all you historical boffins, today for the Abaddon and Solaris Advent Calendar we’ve selected a new series that launched this year and combines World War One with a hearty dose of science-fiction.

Pat Kelleher’s No Man’s World series is a truly unique blend of trench warfare and survival on an alien world. Guarding the British lines at The Somme in 1916, the 13th Battalion of the Pennine Fusiliers think facing the Germans is bad enough – until they suddenly find themselves wrenched from the mud of Flanders and displaced to an inhospitable alien world. Great characters, lots of action and a real attention to historical detail make this a series you don’t want to miss:

Black Hand Gang by Pat Kelleher
On November 1st 1916, 900 men of the 13th Battalion of the Pennine Fusiliers vanish without trace from the battlefield only to find themselves on an alien planet. There they must learn to survive in a hostile environment, while facing a sinister threat from within their own ranks and a confrontation with an inscrutable alien race!

The Ironclad Prophecy by Pat Kelleher
It has been three months since the 13th Battalion of the Pennine Fusiliers vanished from the Somme and found themselves stranded on an alien world, and their trenches have become the target for vengeful Khungarrii attacks. While the encampment faces an alien threat, a search party discover an ancient edifice, hiding a secret that will tear the Battalion apart... As the Pennines fight for their lives against the mounting horrors of No Man’s World, their only hope for survival – and a way home – lie in the psychotropic fuel-addicted crew of the Ivanhoe... and it’s increasingly insane commander!

Also set in the maelstrom of World War, Sniper Elite: Spear of Destiny is Abaddon Book’s accompaniment to Rebellion’s successful 2005 Sniper Elite video game - a high-octane shoot 'em up set against an alternate historical backdrop, shot through with political intrigue.

Sniper Elite: Spear of Destiny by Jasper Bark
Berlin, 1945. Karl Fairburne is a member of an elite sniper corps, working for the American secret service deep behind enemy lines. Stalin's troops have overrun the city looking to revenge the battle of Stalingrad and seize control of the Nazi's nuclear secrets before their British and American allies. SS General Helmstadt, head of the Nazi nuclear programme, is defecting to Russia, but first he plans the ultimate act of vengeance, to make the US pay for the defeat of the Third Reich. If he succeeds Russia will win the Cold War before it has even begun. Karl has one chance to stop him. A single sniper's bullet will change the course of history.

The Christmas Count Down Begins!

2011-12-01T13:39:00.002Z

The Christmas Count Down Begins!

Finally the time is here to deck the halls and jingle some bells but more importantly... To open the first door of our Advent Calendar!

Here at Solaris and Abaddon Books we have decided to create our own Advent Calendar for readers, old and new. And this is the perfect opportunity for all those who get a new e-reader in their stocking from Father Christmas to find out about all our best books from fantasy to horror - sorcery to aliens!

Check our blog every day as we open a new door on our calendar and post a new feature full of fantasy filler and seasonal SF for all our readers this winter. Every day we will have our recommendations for the best buys for Christmas, some free downloads and your chance to win copies of our best selling books.

Day One: The Gift of Gods

So what does the first day of Christmas bring? Not a partridge in a pear tree. Instead we are kicking off our Abaddon and Solaris Advent Calendar with The Pantheon Series by James Lovegrove.

What if the Gods of Mythology were not only real but played a direct role in mankind’s lives?

This series of military SF, including New York Times bestseller The Age of Odin, sets itself in alternative histories that can be read as standalone novels or enjoyed as a collective. Deities of old are rewritten and revitalized by Lovegrove, a talented writer who creates some truly gripping adventures:

The Age of Ra

The Ancient Egyptian gods have defeated all the other pantheons and claimed dominion over the Earth, dividing it into warring factions, each under the aegis of a different deity. Lt. David Westwynter, a British soldier, stumbles into Freegypt, the only place to have remained independent of the gods' influence. There, he encounters the followers of a humanist leader known as the Lightbringer, who has vowed to rid mankind of the shackles of divine oppression. As the world heads towards an apocalyptic battle, there is a far more to this freedom fighter than it seems...

The Age of Zeus
The Olympians appeared a decade ago, living incarnations of the Ancient Greek gods on a mission to bring permanent order and stability to the world.  Resistance has proved futile, and now humankind is under the jackboot of divine oppression. Until former London police officer Sam Akehurst receives an invitation too tempting to turn down: the chance to join a small band of guerrilla rebels armed with high-tech weapons and battlesuits. Calling themselves the Titans, they square off against the Olympians and their ferocious mythological monsters in a war of attrition which some will not survive.

The Age of Odin
Gideon Coxall was a good soldier but bad at everything else. Now the British Army doesn't want him anymore. So when he hears about the Valhalla Project it seems like a dream come true. They're recruiting former service personnel for excellent pay, no questions asked, to take part in unspecified combat operations. The last thing Gideon expects is finding himself fighting alongside the gods of the ancient Norse pantheon. The world is in the grip of one of the worst winters it has ever known, and Ragnarok - the fabled final conflict of the Sagas - is looming.

Solaris Rising - Forbidden Planet Signing

2011-11-28T15:07:00.002Z

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!

2011-11-18T16:03:00.002Z

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

2011-11-07T14:23:00.001Z

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...

2011-11-07T11:46:00.003Z

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!

2011-11-04T16:02:00.000Z

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...

2011-11-04T11:51:00.003Z

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!

2011-11-02T16:05:00.004Z

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...?

2011-11-02T14:52:00.003Z

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.

All Hallows' Read: Solaris can give you the Hallowe'en heebie jeebies

2011-10-31T11:39:00.005Z

Hallowe'en, All Hallows' Eve, Samhain - whatever festival you're donning the costumes for tonight, Solaris has the perfect terrifying tomes to accompany your spooky celebrations. From haunted houses to horror-filled council estates, make sure your Hallowe'en goes with a bump by picking up one of these chilling titles:

House of Fear
An Anthology of Haunted House Stories

Editor Jonathan Oliver and Solaris bring horror home with a fresh collection of haunted house stories by some of the finest writers working in the horror genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Pinborough, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Priest, Adam L. G. Nevill, Christopher Fowler, Paul Meloy and more.
£7.99 352 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk

Redlaw

Solaris and New York Times bestselling author James Lovegrove unveils a very different kind of vampire novel – one where they live among us, abhorred, marginalised, despised. The job of policing the ‘Sunless’ falls Captain John Redlaw - London's most feared and respected Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive officer. But when the vampires start rioting in their ghettoes, and angry humans respond with violence of their own, even Redlaw may not be able to keep the peace.

£7.99 416 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk

The Concrete Grove

Book One of the Concrete Grove Trilogy

The Concrete Grove is a place where all your nightmares become real. Think of dark urban streets where crime, debt and violence are not the only things to fear. Picture a housing project that is a gateway to somewhere else, a realm where ghosts and monsters stir hungrily in the shadows...

£7.99/$7.99 432 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Regicide

Carl stumbles across part of a map to an unknown town and is determined to find the city. But if he ever finds himself in the streets on his map, will they turn out to be the land of his dreams or the world of his worst nightmares?

$7.99/£7.99 384 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Loss of Separation

Commercial pilot Paul Roan has survived a plane crash and cheated death. But terrible dreams of a crippled black airliner screaming through the night, its pitted engines streaked with carbon and blood makes him fear the jet – and its terrible cargo – is coming back for him.

£7.99/$7.99 448 pages

Available through Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Some Halloween events coming your way

2011-10-27T14:22:00.002+01:00

Yes, that time is nearly upon us again, when kids in cheap horror masks demand treats from us in return for not covering our houses in toilet papers and eggs. Truly it is a magical time.

But Halloween also means horror and there are two events that you should certainly check out:

The first happens this Friday (28th October) at Waterstone's Liverpool One. House of Fear's Adam Nevill, Lisa Tuttle and Nicholas Royle will be on hand to read to you and chat about the genre. There will also be other writers attending, so it's well worth coming along to spend an evening with some of the finest genre practitioners around.

While on the 31st of October - Halloween Night itself - you should get yourself down to Warwick Art's Centre for another evening of horror, this time with Gary McMahon (author of The Concrete Grove), David Moody and Adam Nevill (who gets around a bit). Tickets are £8 and available from the Warwick Art's Centre website.

So if you fancy avoiding being mugged by tykes and handing over Haribos, then get yourself to these two events for an evening of literary horror.

Gail Z Martin - Days of The Dead Blog Tour

2011-10-25T09:51:00.005+01:00

Solaris Books author Gail Z. Martin is hosting her annual Days of the Dead blog tour, and she’s kicking it off with plenty of giveaways, special interviews, downloadable treats and hot news. We’ve got the one of five different interviews Gail has done with her vayash moru (vampires), a group that play a significant role in all of her Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings Cycle books.

Interview with Gabriel

By Gail Z. Martin, author of The Chronicles of the Necromancer and the Fallen Kings Cycle series

In honor of my Days of the Dead blog tour, I'd like to introduce you to one of my vayash moru (vampire) characters from the Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings series. Vayash moru play an important part in my books, aiding - and sometimes opposing - Tris Drayke and Jonmarc Vahanian.

Here, I'd like to introduce you to Lord Gabriel, a four-hundred year old vayash moru who is a member of the Blood Council and an unlikely friend of Jonmarc Vahanian.

Q: What has immortality taught you?

A: The circumstances set into motion by our actions reach much farther than we can possibly imagine.

Q: You are ancient, a lord in your own right and a member of the Blood Council. Why serve as seneschal for Jonmarc Vahanian?

A: The Dark Lady came to me in a dream and asked me to do all in my power to enable her chosen champion. I am pledged to serve until Jonmarc no longer needs my help.

Q: The Winter Kingdoms have gone to war against the Temnottan invaders from the north. Yet you have stayed behind at Dark Haven instead of accompanying Jonmarc. Why?

A: I best serve him by assuring the safety of his family and manor. I have faced Temnotta before in battle. By holding Dark Haven and the river,we keep the enemy contained. This the vayash moru and vyrkin can do quite well, despite our limited numbers.

Q: What is your biggest disappointment about immortality?

A: Mortals do not learn from the mistakes of their ancestors. Crises repeat needlessly. In this, immortality is frustrating because the poor choices of mortals are obvious and repetitive.

Please check out my Days of the Dead online blog tour—there are lots of other free downloads, drawings for free books, excerpts, interviews and fun—details are at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com

To be in with a chance of winning a full set of Gail's exciting Chronicles of The Necromancer series, please comment on this blog post with your e-mail address. The winner will be selected at random.

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Free books, you say? Also, Jon Oliver Interviewed

2011-10-10T17:56:00.005+01:00

Hey all,

So, do you like free books?

What kind of question is that? Who the hell doesn't like free books?

Well, if you haven't already bought last year's top-notch underground-themed horror anthology End of the Line, edited by Mr. Jon Oliver, now may be your chance to get your hands on a free copy (or hell, even if you have, it could always be a Christmas gift for someone, right?).

The tenth issue of Haunted magazine (cover pictured below) comes with a free copy of the book for the first nine hundred buyers.

It's available at literally dozens of WHSmith outlets all around the country, from Aberdeen to Worcester. Check it out...

And while you're admiring your handsome new free copy of "a collection of innovative and disturbing stories on a classic horror theme," (Pornokitsch) don't throw away that glossy, glossy magazine just yet! Oh, no!

Quite apart from an engaging, informed, varied and bang-up-to-the-minute journal of ghosts, ghost-hunters and the paranormal in the UK, you get to read the thoughts of the anthology's editor, Solaris Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver, on ghost stories and horror. Which is, I am sure you'll agree, a treat at the best of times.

Enjoy.

Cheers,

David

Fantasycon Photos

2011-10-06T11:52:00.010+01:00

Two editors, one PR guy and lots of Solaris authors walk into a convention...

Just a quick post to share with you some of the photos that we took of the Big Solaris Book Event, and to say thank you to all the fans and readers who came to the signing and who told us how much they're enjoying our books.

A big thank you also to the British Fantasy Society, for organising such a fabulous convention, and to all the hardworking volunteers who made it happen.

Gary McMahon, Nicholas Royle, Richard Ford, James Lovegrove, Juliet E. McKenna and Conard Williams at the signing.

The view from the hotel.

Juliet chats with a fan.

Fantasycon 2011 - Our Schedule

2011-09-26T11:09:00.007+01:00

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 our PR wizard, Michael Molcher, and desk editor, Jenni Hill, 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 Separation author, 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.

House of Fear Launch!

2011-09-14T10:05:00.007+01:00

On Tuesday the 27th of September, something scary will be haunting Foyles book shop on Charing Cross Road, London... us! The writers and editors of the upcoming House of Fear anthology of haunted house stories will be celebrating its launch and we'd like you to join us.

You can RSVP and spot who'll be there at the public facebook page, but don't forget to reserve your free ticket through the Foyles website!

House of Fear is an anthology of haunted house stories featuring terrifying tales by nineteen scribes of terror: Lisa Tuttle, Stephen Volk, Terry Lamsley, Adam L.G. Nevill, Weston Ochse, Rebecca Levene, Garry Kilworth, Chaz Brenchley, Robert Shearman, Nina Allan, Christopher Fowler, Sarah Pinborough, Paul Meloy, Christopher Priest, Jonathan Green, Nicholas Royle, Eric Brown, Tim Lebbon and Joe R. Lansdale.

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Juliet E. McKenna Speaks Out in SFX

2011-09-08T15:07:00.004+01:00

Juliet E. McKenna has written a fascinating article over at the SFX Magazine website, entitled 'Everyone Can Promote Equality in Genre Writing'.

Juliet talks about some of the barriers facing women writing science fiction, fantasy and horror novels, and the sometimes subconscious biases that people carry. She says that a survey conducted by Strange Horizons magazine revealed that even though slightly more SFF and horror books were being written by men (55% vs. 45%), across a wide range of genre publications the proportion of books being reviewed was 70% by men vs 30% by women...

Head over there and read the article, and get involved the the debate going on in the comments! It's interesting stufff...

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Eric Brown interviewed

2011-09-08T12:00:00.000+01:00

After looking at his inspirations and influences, Civilian Reader is continuing its chat with Solaris author Eric Brown. As well as discussing his new project for our sister imprint, Abaddon, Eric discusses life as a writer and what makes him get to his writing desk every day.

"Writing is really the only full-time job I’ve ever done, at least from the age of twenty-two. Of course in the early years I wasn’t paid for doing it, but I worked on the assumption that if I worked hard I’d get better and eventually find a publisher. It took a lot longer than I thought it would – I had a lot of rubbish to get out of my system before I learned how to tell a tale. Working within the publishing industry? Well, it’s got to be done. I’ve had horrible experiences in publishing, which I’d rather not talk about, and some wonderful ones. I’m having the latter now with my current publisher Solaris, who are a great bunch to work with."

Do check it out...

Announcing our READ ANYTHING eBook campaign

2011-09-07T12:23:00.002+01:00

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.”

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Influences & Inspirations: Eric Brown

2011-09-02T11:06:00.003+01:00

Earlier this year, Solaris published The Kings of Eternity - a book that took author Eric Brown ten years to complete. Vast in scope but emotionally powerful, The Kings of Eternity has been one of our stand-out titles this year and something we really do recommend you pick up.

With the book being such a significant personal undertaking for Eric, it's interesting to read about his influences and inspirations in this great post from Civilian Reader, in which he discusses his earliest experiences of reading...

"I came upon the works of H.G. Wells and Robert Silverberg at the same time, and if I’d found Christie revelatory, then you can imagine what these writers did to my head. I read all Wells’s scientific romances (and was bitterly disappointed when I finished them and tried to read his social novels) and began collecting Silverberg. Over the years, the latter was a great influence."

Enjoy.

Recollecting the launch of The Recollection...

2011-09-01T13:13:00.002+01:00

Bristol on a late summer’s night. Steam drifted from the doorways of the busy bars and the Wills Tower soared high above the Triangle in Clifton. A place known for its nightlife, a place known for its past: the place to launch The Recollection.

Gareth Powell’s time-travelling space opera was always bound to cause a stir amongst the high-life and literary crowd in the city that launched the ship that discovered North America (ref. John Cabot) and gave the world Trip Hop.

At 6pm the crowds were gathering among the bookstacks at Forbidden Planet. Then Powell, a very approachable man with a far-seeing look in his eye, took to the floor and conversation stopped as he read the opening passages of his novel. Despite this being his debut novel from a mainstream publisher Gareth sold only a whisker’s fewer books than Iain Banks in the same venue.

Supported by the active Bristol SF community and new readers Gareth signed for queue of fans before celebrating the launch at the bar conveniently found next door. Already booked for the Bristol SF convention Bristol-con Gareth is sure to be in demand on the convention scene as one of the most talented up and coming authors on the British SF scene.

That night’s lucky readers with their signed first editions should make sure they keep tight hold of those for the future.

Online Reviews:

2011-08-30T08:56:00.011+01:00

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review reviews Redlaw, gives it nine and a quarter out of ten, and hopes that this could be the start of a series...

SciFiChick.com reviews Sympathy for the Devil. Dark, suspenseful, with plenty of surprising twists, the story was completely engaging and hard to put down. And the characters are complex and gritty. Gustainis never fails to entertain.

The Fantasy Book Review has reviewed Juliet E. McKenna's Dangerous Waters. reviewer, mark, says he not only now understands Juliet's place within 'the pantheon' of British fantasy authors, but is planning the read her earlier novels. As a reader we are stretched as taut as a bowstring... our frustration building until, at the last, the world McKenna has corralled us into explodes in a maelstrom of violence that is merely the tinder spark for what must come in the next books...

Pornokitsch reviews Nicholas Royle's Regicide, (insists on being read through to the final page, with every paragraph serving as another turn in the maze....) as does Gavin C. Pugh of GavReads.co.uk (It’s not often that books affect me after reading them but this one lingers, especially when you start asking how unhinged Carl actually is and when you first started to notice...). Gavin is also running a Regicide giveaway, ending 2nd September, so get over there and enter if you want to bag yourself a copy....

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Tonight in Bristol - the launch of stunning SF novel 'The Recollection'

2011-08-25T12:27:00.004+01:00

Tonight's the night for the unveiling of Gareth L Powell's stunning new novel THE RECOLLECTION ...

The Forbidden Planet store in Bristol is the venue from 6pm to 7pm, and Gareth will be doing short reading, followed by a Q&A and signing.

Described by Colin Harvey, author of Winter Song, as ‘utterly impossible to put down’, The Recollection is Gareth L. Powell’s epic new science-fiction novel that delivers a story of galaxy spanning scope from a writer of astounding vision.

Gareth will be at the Forbidden Planet Megastore on Clifton Heights, Triangle West, Bristol - come along, meet him and pick up a copy of The Recollection, we promise you won't be disappointed...

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Justin Gustainis: Free Short Story and Interview

2011-08-23T10:57:00.004+01:00

You can read an interview with Justin Gustainis at the 'Open letters Monthly' Arts and Literature review, in which he talks all things Morris and Chastain Investigations, including possible TV deals and his dream casting decisions for Libby and Quincey.

Justin has released online a free short story about Morris and Chastain Investigations, called 'Big, Bad Wolf!' Go and read it today...

“B-b-both of my b-brothers have been bu-bu-bu-bu -- killed and eaten,” the pig said...

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Press Release: Search for me...

2011-08-22T13:13:00.003+01:00

Regicide by Nicholas Royle

Coming in September

£7.99 (UK) ISBN: 978-1-907992-01-8
$7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN: 978-1-907992-00-1

Also Available as an eBook

The pain of falling for the wrong girl. A map to an unknown town. A world behind our own. A stunning new novel.

When he finds part of a map to somewhere that doesn’t exist, broken-hearted Carl convinces himself it is the city of his dreams, where the elusive and beautiful Annie will agree to meet him again. But do the streets on the map reveal the land of his dreams or the world of his worst nightmares?

With stunning gold foil cover and a story that will appeal to fans of China Miéville and Neil Gaiman, Regicide is a powerful novel from a master of the macabre that takes readers into a baroque, nightmarish otherworld that will leave them dizzy.

Praise for Nicholas Royle: “A thoroughly satisfying, thought-provoking and beautifully realized work that will keep you pondering for days and will seep into your dreams” – Infinity Plus on Antwerp

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Guest post: Juliet E. McKenna discusses Urban fantasy

2011-08-22T08:45:00.018+01:00

Juliet E. Mckenna is the author of several bestselling fantasy series, including The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, and her new series, The Hadrumal Crisis, which begins with Dangerous Waters, released in bookstores this month. Download a free Hadrumal Crisis short story by Juliet, or find out more about her work at her official website, on Amazon, and on Twitter.

Writing Epic Fantasy, Reading Urban Fantasy

People can be surprised when they ask what good books I’ve read lately and I offer urban fantasy titles. I write epic fantasy; the affairs of kings and wizards, full of conflict, politics and power, and their human impact. I write those books because I love all that high historically-influenced drama. So why don’t I read all the splendid writers published nowadays?

Well, I do read high epic fantasy but only when I’m on holiday. While I’m actually working on a book myself, I cannot set aside the analytical writer’s mindset unless I’m reading to write a review in which case that mindset is ideal. But to switch off and immerse myself in an epic secondary world? These days I have to be right away from my own work.

Urban fantasy though, is sufficiently different from my own writing. It also offers so much of the enjoyment and thrill I have always got from crime fiction.

So I’ve been celebrating the publication of my own new book by reading Sympathy for the Devil, by Justin Gustainis. The third of his ‘Morris and Chastain Investigations’, this sees white witch Libby Chastain and supernatural investigator Quincey Morris caught up in the US presidential race. There are always concerns about candidates being in thrall to special interest groups; unions, big business, extremists on right and left. How much more worried would you be at the thought of the White House really going to Hell in a hand basket?

As with his two previous stories, Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways, Gustainis takes an apparently straight-forward idea and really tests that premise, his characters and the readers with a thrilling plot that never ducks the hard choices. Morris and Chastain are convincingly complex characters who know the folly of hoping for easy answers. Their different perspectives, their secret parallel world, their allies and their enemies, are all made ominously plausible thanks to Gustainis’ astute eye for logic and telling detail along with timely pop culture references and a canny sense of humour offering lighter touches to enhance the darkness.

Imagine my delight when I discovered he’s also got a new book coming from Angry Robot. Hard Spell flips the coin completely; a first person narrative by Stan Markowski, a Scranton, Pennsylvania cop in a world where supernatural creatures are openly acknowledged. See a crime involving one? Dial 666. Here the quest for power is far more local and personal, though just as potentially disastrous for the human race, while the cost to individuals amid the inexorable demands of the bigger picture makes this a story about real people, just the wickedly funny riffs on TV cop shows and mystery fiction raise a smile.

Over on the west coast of America, I’m enjoying Patricia Briggs’ ‘Mercy Thompson’ series, from Moon Called to the latest, River Marked. These are fast-paced, exciting thrillers with a personal focus on Mercy, who’s a coyote shape-changer, and her relationship with Adam, alpha werewolf of the local pack. But don’t make the mistake of thinking these are sappy paranormal fang-banger romances. Mercy is a car mechanic and that’s very far from a token gesture to female empowerment. Along with the thrills and chills, these books explore the nature of power and its use and abuse within all the relationships which we become entangled in, through choice, accident, family and love, platonic and sexual.

Those same subtexts add similar depth and substance to Kelley Armstrong’s ‘Otherworld’ series, which I’ve been enjoying since the first book, Bitten. I’m really looking forward to the next instalment, Spell Bound where young witch Savannah Levine discovers that the only thing worse than having occult powers is not having them. I have no idea what Armstrong is going to do with that twist but I can’t wait to find out, and to see which other characters from her series help Savannah out. A particular strength of this series is the wide-ranging cast of different women and men whose stories explore so much of this world and the pressures on us all in the here and now; cash and careers, life-work balance, familial expectation, through these adventures in parallel realms.

Where these series mark the boundary between thrillers and urban fantasy, Charlie Houston’s Joe Pitt casebooks stray into real horror territory, this time in Manhattan. A reader needs a robust frame of mind to see the story through from Already Dead to My Dead Body. These stories are uncompromisingly bloody though not entirely unremittingly grim. That’s what saves them from crossing the line from exploration of violence and cruelty to mere exploitation. Once again, the nature of power is studied and most of all, what happens to people when they believe there can be no consequences, or just as deadening, no hope, whatever they might do. In this context, such harsh urban fantasy has at least as much to say, if not more, than the slasher/serial killer sub-genre of crime fiction these days.

I don’t only read US based urban fantasy. Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels, from The Devil You Know onwards offer a bleakly believable vision of London slowly coming to terms with the emergence of ghosts and other things that go bump in the night. Felix has the power to exorcise ghosts and if he gets the chance, worse. Though it turns out that demons are none too keen on being sent back whence they came and have no conscience when it comes to using and abusing humans tricked by their promises and/or trapped by their own folly. Add those who would exploit Felix’s powers for their own purposes, whatever the cost to him, and the police who are just trying to manage the body count, and these are some very mean streets for a man to walk down.

Even more distinctively British, Ben Macallan’s debut novel Desdaemona opens in a small town bus station where Jordan finds Sarah, another runaway teenager who’s about to be eaten by werewolves. She has no idea what to do but he does, because what he’s running away from is far, far more deadly. This is what Jordan does; he keeps on running and while he’s doing that, he saves other lost and vulnerable people when and where he can. For a whole lot of reasons, he’s far older than his seventeen years. So what is he to do when Desdaemona finds him in an end-of-season seaside cafe and asks for his help finding her lost sister? Because only Jordan understands the perilous world which these girls were seduced by and just how relentless the pursuit will be now that the powerful and the personal have found themselves at odds. That’s all very well but the danger is that Jordan’s own enemies will pick up his scent if they’re on the same trail.

Urban fantasy can only convince with the ‘urban’ when the real-world setting is a three-dimensional, fully sensory environment. It will never convince with the fantasy if all it delivers is variations on cliché monsters. Macallan delivers. The story takes us to London but it’s events in Henley on Thames that truly anchor the dread in the Thames Valley. There are werewolves and such but it’s evil drawn from English myth that chills all the more thoroughly as half-glimpsed folklore is woven into the modern world of back alleys and refuges for runaways and outcasts. Above all else, the people must convince. They must be more than ‘characters’; living, breathing, loving, fearful. Even when they might not even be people at all, we must care about their fate. You will.

The use and abuse of power, in life and love and everything in between. Lies and self-deception. The cost of sacrifice and of ambition, for the individual and for those around them. The lingering effects of dramatic events on those swept along, innocent and guilty alike. The full gamut of human experience is explored in urban fantasy.

Just as it is in epic fantasy. Just as it is in the books I write. After a dozen books in the Einarinn timeline, I’ve found the rights and wrongs of using wizardly power have come to the fore in the Hadrumal Crisis trilogy. Can the Archmage evade the hard choices? What happens if he does? What will the mainland rulers do if he refuses to help them? What will the consequences be? What are the costs to a wizard of pursuing magic above all else? What is the ultimate price of devotion for a loving wife and a loyal guardsman?

In the final analysis, all fiction that’s worth reading explores the human condition. Only the details differ. Thankfully urban fantasy differs just enough from the epic to give me such great books to read while I’m working on my own stories.

~Juliet E. McKenna

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You can still download a free short story by Juliet Mckenna, The Wizard's Coming, in ebook or pdf form when you click on the banner below:-

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Announcing the launch of Gareth L. Powell's 'The Recollection'

2011-08-17T13:24:00.004+01:00

The Forbidden Planet store in Bristol will be the venue for the launch of Gareth L Powell's stunning new novel THE RECOLLECTION next week...

Described by Colin Harvey, author of Winter Song, as ‘utterly impossible to put down’, The Recollection is Gareth L. Powell’s epic new science-fiction novel that delivers a story of galaxy spanning scope from a writer of astounding vision.

Gareth will be at the Forbidden Planet Megastore on Clifton Heights, Triangle West, Bristol, on Thursday 25th August from 6pm – 7pm for the launch - come along, meet him and pick up a copy of The Recollection, we promise you won't be disappointed...

‘Just the way SF should work.’ - Warren Ellis on The Last Reef

'Gareth Powell is going to be a major voice in SF.’ – Paul Cornell

When his brother disappears into a bizarre gateway on a London Underground escalator, failed artist Ed Rico and his brother’s wife Alice have to put aside their feelings for each other to go and find him. Their quest through the ‘arches’ will send them hurtling through time, to new and terrifying alien worlds. Four hundred years in the future, Katherine Abdulov must travel to a remote planet in order to regain the trust of her influential family. The only person standing in her way is her former lover, Victor Luciano, the ruthless employee of a rival trading firm. Hard choices lie ahead as lives and centuries clash and, in the unforgiving depths of space, an ancient evil stirs...

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News Round-Up!

2011-08-15T11:38:00.006+01:00

The brilliantly-named Innsmouth Free Press (famed for their accurate reporting of Mythos-related horrors that the regular press will cover up!) have interviewed our very own editor-in-Chief, Jonathan Oliver, for their website.

Fantasy penmistress Juliet E. McKenna has shared some wise words with the readers of feminist pop culture blog Bad Reputation, in a piece entitled The Representation of Women in Fantasy: What’s the Problem?

Juliet's also received a brilliant review for the debut novel in her new fantasy series, Dangerous Waters, from the BFS (British Fantasy Society). They say: 'A classic fantasy narrative that gallops along and leaves us wanting more ... recommended for fans and newcomers alike.'

You can still vote two of our longlisted titles, The Concrete Grove and Regicide, for The Guardian's Not the Booker Prize award.

Nicholas Royle's Regicide has received what we believe is it's very first review, at Graeme's Fantasy Books. Only the start of the acclaim for this much-anticipated novel... Regicide is out on 30th August in the US and Canada, and the 1st of September in the UK.

And finally, just a quick note to say that many of our upcoming titles for 2012 have now been added to the Titles section of our website. There's lots to look forward to!

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Two Solaris Titles up for 'Not The Booker Prize' prize!

2011-08-11T11:36:00.007+01:00

Forget the Booker - THIS is the prize everyone wants to win!
The shortlist for The Guardian's 'Not The Booker Prize 2011' has been announced and there are two (count 'em) titles from Solaris upon it:

Regicide by Nicholas Royle
Concrete Grove by Gary McMahon

The voting system is ... er ... somewhat odd, though it's great to see two of our best titles up there. Regicide is being published in September, but if you've enjoyed Concrete Grove then please vote for it because we think it should DEFINITELY win. Don't just take our word for it, here are the views of others:

New York Journal of Books: “The Concrete Grove conjures up images that will haunt readers long after the book is put away”

British Fantasy Society: “This book is an outstanding mix of urban horror and dark fantasy, hints of King's Dark Tower series, hints of Holdstock's Mythago Wood, but above all the realisation of McMahon's talents as the outstanding British horror writer of our times.”

Andre Farant: “Much in The Concrete Grove reminded me of Clive Barker’s work. I don’t know if it’s a British thing, but McMahon manages, like his more famous (for now) countryman before him, to blend sensuality with horror”

The Eloquent Page: “The Concrete Grove is a must read for all self-respecting fans of horror... I couldn’t tell you the last time I read a novel in a single sitting.”

Read Horror: “Read The Concrete Grove because McMahon depicts precise details succinctly without compromising on the unrelenting pace or quality of his prose... Read The Concrete Grove because it deals in horror that cuts deeper than beasts, monsters, zombies and werewolves... Read The Concrete Grove.”

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It Knows Where You Live: discussing urban horror this Saturday

2011-08-11T09:00:00.006+01:00

If you're in Manchester this Saturday (or even if you're not), get yourself along to Waterstones for some truly amazingly talented people talking about what makes urban horror so very chilling...

It Knows Where You Live: Discussing Urban Horror
WATERSTONE'S MANCHESTER DEANSGATE
Saturday, 13 August 2011, 7:00PM - 8:30PM

Horror legend Ramsey Campbell presents the absolute crème of contemporary urban horror talent for an open discussion of the genre, including readings from the authors. The panel includes Gary "Concrete Grove" McMahon and Conrad "Loss of Separation" Williams.

Press Release: Welcome to a New Kind of Fantasy World

2011-08-03T13:30:00.008+01:00

Book One of the Hadrumal Crisis:
Dangerous Waters
by Juliet E. McKenna

OUT THIS MONTH

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907519-97-0
$7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-907519-96-3

Also available as an eBook

In a world where magic is banned, what protection is there for the innocent against murderous roving corsairs? And who will be the first to unveil the secret of a widow’s mysterious guardian?

The first book in a stunning new fantasy series, with Dangerous Waters renowned author Juliet E. McKenna promises a thrilling re-invention of fantasy with a unique series far removed from the clichés of the genre.

The Caladhrian Coast is a rich new world filled with pirates and politics, rogue wizards and adventure. This is the perfect point to join a new fantasy series from an increasingly dominant voice in the genre.

The prequel for the series, The Wizard’s Coming, is available as a free eBook in ePub, Amazon Kindle and PDF formats, and introduces some of the characters and events leading up to this stunning new fantasy series from a major voice in fantasy writing.

Juliet’s Chronicles of the Lescarii Trilogy eBooks are also all discounted on Amazon Kindle – down to £3.98 in the UK and $4.99 in the US.

“A tapestry of conflict and complications that you can’t bring yourself to put down.”

– SF Site on Irons in the Fire

About the Author
Juliet E. McKenna is the renowned author of The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, The Tales of Einarinn series and The Aldabreshin Compass sequence. Dangerous Waters marks the start of a major new fantasy trilogy.

www.julietemckenna.com
www.twitter.com/JulietEMcKenna

The Election Campaign: Vote for Stark

2011-08-03T09:04:00.013+01:00

Okay, so we don't usually get involved with politics on the Solaris blog, but this time, we just felt we had to. You could say something was compelling us, in fact.

Howard Stark's ground-breaking campaign promises 'the end of all our problems, once and for all'. Visit his website for more details.

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Incidentally, we've been informed by, well, I believe the man and the young woman in the quite chilly-looking outfit who came knocking at our door late last night claimed to be from 'Morris and Chastain Investigations', that you can find out "all you need to know about Howard Stark" in the upcoming book by Justin Gustainis, Sympathy for the Devil.

Sympathy for the Devil, they say? Oh. Perhaps Mr. Stark is a Rolling Stones fan?

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Sony Reader: King Rolen's Kin Bundle

2011-08-02T09:09:00.005+01:00

The Sony Reader Store are now selling the King Rolen's Kin fantasy trilogy in bundle form.

With this best-selling trilogy Rowena Cory Daniells carved a big space for herself in modern Fantasy. The story of a winter-bound kingdom split asunder by intrigue and magic, its princes set against each other and rival powers circling like vultures, this epic fantasy is held together by its vivid characters. Byren, the King's second son must challenge his elder brother for the throne, Fyn the disinherited child with magic in his blood must become a leader, and Pyro the only princess and a secret magic-worker, is the pivot around which the world may turn for good or ill.

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Press Release: Solaris acquires urban fantasy sequel

2011-08-01T11:56:00.004+01:00

Solaris Books has acquired PANDAEMONIUM, the second volume of an urban fantasy series from pseudonymous author ‘Ben Macallan’.

The title will be the first sequel to Desdaemona, published last month by Solaris, and is due for publication late in 2012.

In Desdaemona – Macallan’s terrifying, sexy, sinister urban fantasy debut – Jordan may look like a teenager but he treads the line between mundane reality and the supernatural in a world where vampires don’t glitter and runaways don’t just disappear – they’re hunted.

Macallan is not only a pseudonym of award-winning crime and thriller writer Chaz Brenchley, but has also appeared as a character in his books, Dead of Light and Light Errant.

The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal is for Worldwide English Rights.

Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris, said:
“It's a delight to be working with Ben again. He had such a strong debut with Desdaemona and has proved that he is a fresh new voice in urban fantasy.”

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Sympathy for the Devil: The Competition

2011-07-27T08:53:00.003+01:00

Here's a message from Justin Gustainis, about the competition you can enter after reading Sympathy for the Devil. It's a tricky one!

In this context, “Easter Egg” refers to a popular culture reference made in passing. The reference can’t be explicit, or it’s not an Easter egg.

Here’s the difference: there’s a reference in the book to Jill Kismet (used by permission of her creator, Lilith Saintcrow). Since Jill is mentioned explicitly by name, it’s not an Easter egg. On the other hand, a character says he took some classes at UVA with “that chick Clara something, the one who joined the FBI and later shot that killer Buffalo Billy.” That’s an Easter egg, because it indirectly (if not very subtly) references Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs.

There are at least thirty Easter eggs within the pages of Sympathy for the Devil. The reader who identifies the most wins First Place in the contest; second most Easter eggs takes second place, ditto for third.

The first place winner (as determined by me) wins a $50 Amazon gift card and I will name a character after him/her in the next Morris & Chastain novel. Second place is a $25 gift card and Third Place gets a $10 Amazon gift card.

Keep your listings brief – something like this: “The woman named Clara who shot Buffalo Billy (p. 98) is a reference to Clarice Starling.”

One entry per email address, and you don’t get to amend your entry once you’ve sent it in. Send your entry – in the body of your email, not as an attachment – to justingustainis@yahoo.com. Entries will be acknowledged. In the event of a tie for First, Second or Third Place, duplicate prizes will be awarded.

Deadline is midnight (Eastern US time) on Halloween (October 31, 2011). Winners will be announced by December 1st.

-Justin Gustainis

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Twitter Competition: Juliet E. McKenna

2011-07-26T10:17:00.006+01:00

To celebrate the arrival of a crate full of her new fantasy novel, Dangerous Waters, on her doorstep, Juliet E. McKenna has organised a Twitter giveaway this week, ending on Thursday! Head over to her account to enter.

Don't forget that you can still download a free short story by Juliet Mckenna, The Wizard's Coming, in ebook or pdf form when you click on the banner below:-

And if you're in Oxford this week, Juliet will be in conversation with two other Solaris authors, Ian Whates and Ben Macallan, at a signing at Waterstones this Thursday.

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Oxford signing this Thursday: Waterstones

2011-07-25T09:35:00.003+01:00

Come along on Thursday to meet Juliet E. McKenna, Ian Whates and Ben Macallan (a.k.a. Chaz Brenchley), as well as our editor-in-chief, Jonathan Oliver!

Waterstones, Oxford is located at William Baker House, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3AF.

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Flight Z - Now Boarding at Waterstones, Altrincham

2011-07-21T12:22:00.003+01:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Flight Z will be ready for boarding at Waterstones, Altrincham, this Saturday from 11am. Full details of your departure itinerary can be found at this website.

Passengers, are advised to buckle-up as the ride could well get bumpy.

Conrad Williams will be signing copies of his brilliant horror novel, Loss of Separation, at Waterstones, Altrincham, this Saturday at 11am.

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When Graeme Interviewed Gary...

2011-07-19T16:56:00.004+01:00

Graeme Flory (of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review) has recently interviewed Gary McMahon (of The Concrete Grove) in a colossal battle that destroyed much of Northeast England. Both men have now been captured and, heavily sedated, transported to a safe facility in the North Sea where British Science can study and seek to understand them.

Their interview is recorded, for posterity, here:

READ THIS - YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT

Thank you for your time.

David

Reviews!

2011-07-19T16:33:00.004+01:00

Hello!

Right, time for some reviews.

What, thought I'd do some kind of comic introduction? What sort of person do you think I am? I am a blogging professional. I'm 100% business, me. Bam! I blog that shiz, right there.

Ahem.

Right, so Theresa Derwin at Terror Tree has had some very nice things to say about Ben Macallan's Desdaemona, whose mix of dry wit and ass-kicking has clearly appealed to her.

I have no doubt that there will be a follow up to this novel. Apart from plenty of shocks and incredibly strong main characters in both Jordan and Desi, sharp humour abounds in this book and brings it to a whole new dimension of Urban Fantasy. Witty, intelligent and fast-paced, Desdaemona is positively the most fun read I have had in a very long time.

And Graeme at Graeme's Fantasy Book Reviews has been equally pleased with Gary McMahon's The Concrete Grove, which slightly foiled his plans of a week of "comfort reads."

It goes without saying that if you are squeamish at all then this is probably a book that you should avoid. McMahon doesn’t pull his punches at all and this shows us all too well that perhaps the true horror in this piece lies in just what us humans can be capable of if we want something enough. It’s not pretty... It’s a vicious read with a delicate beauty about it; if you like your horror fiction then I don’t see any reason why you won’t get a lot out of this.

Finally, Michael Wilson at Read Horror has shared his thoughts on last year's horror anthology, Jonathan Oliver's The End of the Line, which he feels captures not just the atmosphere of the subject matter, but the gamut of the horror medium to boot.

Well worth dipping into, boasting a plethora of original, humorous, and horrific tales. Whilst I have been unable to detail the entire magnificence of the roster on show, The End of The Line comes fully recommended. This collection contains stories that will terrify you with vivid realism, move you, deliver more than a healthy dose of spiritual eeriness and bring you face to face with loss. Both horror and The End of The Line can offer more than jump out of your seat shocks, read this and prepare for enlightenment.

Sweet.

Cheers,

David

Podcast XII

2011-07-19T16:28:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

You're probably going to start getting dizzy with all the podcast updates. However will you keep up?

The twelfth podcast, A Pax in Time, Book Nine,* brings Desk Editor David Moore and Marketing Intern Colm Bannon in Close Contact with Abaddon Author Jonathan Green.

Jon's here to talk about the steampunk Pax Britannia universe, the recent release of the Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection, about ebooks and Fighting Fantasy, and about the intriguing upcoming "audience participation" project Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, in which the story will be told in several installments in ebook form and readers will be given the chance to vote on the direction of each new installment.

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

Cheers,

David

*In fact, Time's Arrow is book eight. And if your mother had been obliging enough to tell you that "a stitch in time saves eight," we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. So I think we can take a good long look at her before we start pointing fingers, hmm?

Press Release: Is the President actually the Anti-Christ?

2011-07-14T12:31:00.008+01:00

Sympathy for the Devil

by Justin Gustainis

4 August 2011 • £7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-907992-02-5
26 July 2011 • $7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-907992-03-2

Also available as an eBook

The most powerful man in the world, a supernatural conspiracy, hell on Earth - just how are occult investigator Quincey Morris and white witch Libby Chastain going to stop a demon from becoming President of the United States?

It’s election time, and as Senator Howard Stark continues his demonic rise to the White House, Morris and Chastain are determined to stop him - but they must overcome both the US Secret Service and the very forces of Hell itself in order to stop the anthem becoming ‘Hell to the Chief’.

Sympathy for the Devil is the latest in an electrifying series of supernatural thrillers. To complement its release, eBooks of the first two titles in the Morris and Chastain series – Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways – will become available the same week.

“... A lot of entertainment. A very good book... I look forward to reading another one in the series.” – Charlaine Harris on Black Magic Woman

About the Series
Quincey Morris and his "consultant", white witch Libby Chastain, are Occult investigators in an electrifying series of supernatural thrillers, as they search out evil in the darkest corners of America. Previous titles include Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways.

About the Author
Justin Gustainis is a college professor living in upstate New York. In earlier incarnations, he has been a factory worker, soldier, speechwriter, and professional bodyguard. His short fiction has twice won the Graverson Award for Horror and received ‘Honorable Mention’ from Ellen Datlow in Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 1. He is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop.
www.justingustainis.com

Flight Z - Now Boarding at Waterstones, Wigan

2011-07-12T09:52:00.004+01:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Flight Z will be ready for boarding at Waterstones, Wigan, this Saturday from 11am. Full details of your departure itinerary can be found at the website.

Passengers, are advised to buckle-up as the ride could well get bumpy.

Which is a very roundabout way of saying that Conrad Williams will be signing copies of his brilliant horror novel, Loss of Separation, at Waterstones, Wigan, this Saturday at 11am.

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