News Archive 2009 - 2012

DECEMBER 2012

SEASON’S GREETINGS

 

If you celebrate it, I wish you a very

Merry Christmas

And to everyone -

Have a happy, peaceful and productive New Year

 

NOVEMBER 2012 

FRENCH EDITION OF INFERNO
PUBLISHED THIS MONTH

Bragelonne release Inferno, the final volume in my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, on 23rd November.  It joins the French editions of volumes one and two, Weapons of Magical Destruction and Army of Shadows -

 

GERMAN OMNIBUS OF THE SECOND TRILOGY ALSO OUT

Heyne publish on 12th November.  Here’s how the individual German volumes look -

   

AND THE UK OMNIBUS OF THE FIRST TRILOGY REPRINTS AGAIN

 

Continuously in print in this form from Gollancz since 2004, the book is now in its fifteenth printing.

 

OCTOBER 2012

200 FRENCH EBOOKS FOR ONE EURO EACH
(INCLUDING A COUPLE OF MINE)

French readers, or readers of French, might be interested to know that for a limited time my French publisher, Bragelonne, is offering no less than two hundred of their fantasy and science fiction books as ebook downloads for just one euro each. The selection includes volumes one and two of my Orcs: First Blood trilogy, Bodyguard of Lightning (La Compagnie de la Foudre) and Legion of Thunder (La Légion du Tonnerre).

 

You can check out the selection on offer here.

INTERVIEW

Excellent Italian f&sf site Warlandia, the brainchild of Leonardo Cannata, is running an interview with me in both Italian and English. It can be read here.

 

APPEARANCES

A reminder that I’m taking part in this year’s Birmingham Book Festival. On 8th October, between 7-8.30pm,

I’ll be on a panel entitled Discovering Alternative Genres, along with fellow authors Peter F. Hamilton, Janet Edwards and Mez Packer. The venue is The Custard Factory Theatre, Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA, and full details can be found here.

* * * * *

It’s the West Midlands again on 10th December when I’ll be at Birmingham’s Northfield library. Every month the library hosts a guest author under the banner Talk About. I’ll be discussing fantasy and science fiction for one hour from 11am, and admission is free. Northfield library is at 77 Church Road, Northfield, Birmingham B31 2LB. There’s a map and other details here.

 

SEPTEMBER 2012

CASTLEFEST 2012

The eighth Castlefest, held 2nd-4th August in Lisse, Holland, was a really enjoyable event.  I was there for the launch of the Dutch omnibus edition of my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, published by Luitingh-Sijthoff.  25,000+ people attended to celebrate all aspects of fantasy, and a large proportion turned up in some kind of costume, many very imaginative.  The weekend was one of the most sociable, good humoured gatherings I’ve attended.  All kudos to the organisers for a superbly planned, smooth-running, child-friendly event.  Particular thanks go to our hosts, Alex and Eva de Jong - along with “Alex’s Angels” Jaline, Jannie and Marieke -  for their kindness and hospitality. 

Every time I attend one of these mega fantasy festivals in mainland Europe I come back wondering why we can’t do something similar here in the UK.  The weather’s no excuse - the Netherlands and the UK have practically identical climates.  We have our conventions, many very good, but nothing like these great outdoor extravaganzas.  I wish we did.

I took a lot of photos at Castlefest.  Hopefully this small selection gives some flavour of it

                    

     

 

 

INFERNO OUT IN MASS-MARKET PAPERBACK EDITION THIS MONTH

Gollancz publish the mmpb edition of Inferno, the last volume in my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, in the UK on 13th September.  As with the other books in the orcs series, it’s available as an ebook in all formats, including the Kindle. 

 

THE RETURN OF WORDSMITHS OF WONDER

Well, hopefully. 
I was proud of Wordsmiths of Wonder: Fifty Interviews With Writers of the Fantastic which, incredibly, was published in 1993.  (Where does the time go?)  I think the interviews are still relevant, and in the case of the authors no longer with us, quite poignant.  The publisher, Orbit Books, thinks so too, and we’re in negotiation to issue WoW as an ebook.  Long out of print, I’d love to see it available again.
Here’s a list of the author interviews included:
Douglas Adams, Brian Aldiss, Robert Asprin, Peter Atkins, Jonathan Aycliffe, JG Ballard, Iain M Banks, Clive Barker, Greg Bear, Ray Bradbury, David Brin, Terry Brooks, Ramsey Campbell, CJ Cherryh, Storm Constantine, Louise Cooper, Stephen Donaldson, Gardner Dozois, Christopher Fowler, Stephen Gallagher, David Gemmell, Colin Greenland, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, James Herbert, Robert Holdstock, Shaun Hutson, Patricia Kennealy, Katharine Kerr, Tanith Lee, Graham Masterton, Michael Moorcock, Dwina Murphy-Gibb, Kim Newman, Larry Niven & Steven Barnes, Diana Paxson, Frederik Pohl, Terry Pratchett*, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, Guy N Smith, Brian Stableford, Michael Swanwick, Lisa Tuttle, Howard Waldrop, Tad Williams, David Wingrove, Jonathan Wylie. 
I was particularly pleased that something Terry Pratchett said in his interview with me made it into The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Quotations.  But you’ll have to refer to the book to find out what!
I’ll post more news here about the possible ebook version when I know it.

 

ARTWORK FROM ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL FOR SALE

Joe Flood, the artist on Orcs: Forged For War, the graphic novel published by First Second Books (US), Pan Macmillan (UK) and Gallimard (France) last October, is selling off the original artwork.  Here are a couple of sample pages -

 

You can contact Joe via his website.

 

I mentioned last month that I’m taking part in this year’s Birmingham Book Festival.  The festival’s programme has now been released, and here’s what it says about the item I’m on.

Discovering Alternative Genres

Monday 8 October, 7 – 8.30pm

The Custard Factory Theatre, Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA

Science-fiction, fantasy and the spaces in between.
With an ever-expanding readership, and fascinating new subgenres emerging all the time, we are entering a golden age for genre fiction. Join us for a night exploring the meaning and boundaries of science-fiction and fantasy today.

This panel discussion features bestselling science-fiction writer Peter F. Hamilton (The Commonwealth Saga and The Void Trilogy), million-selling fantasy novelist Stan Nicholls (Orcs: First Blood and Orcs: Bad Blood), young adult author Janet Edwards (Earth Girl) and author and publisher Mez Packer (The Game Is Altered) who is one of two writers creating the narrative for the Festival’s Reliable Witness project.

This is the ideal event for those with an existing interest in this popular field, as well as the perfect introduction for those wanting to know more about these varied and long-lasting genres.

Full details on the festival’s official website.

 

AUGUST 2012 

GERMAN AUDIOBOOK OF FIRST BLOOD TRILOGY

A German language audiobook of the Orcs: First Blood trilogyis now available. 

Read by Erik Schaffler, it’s unabridged and runs for 30 hours. 

It can be downloaded from Audible, or other outlets including I-tunes; and there’s a sample here.

 

DUTCH BAD BLOOD OMNIBUS PUBLISHED

My Dutch publisher, Luitingh-Sijthoff, releases the book this month, and it’s the first omnibus edition of the second orcs trilogy in any language.   

I’ll be signing copies at …

CASTLEFEST

This year’s Castlefest, running from 2nd-5th August, is the eighth gathering.  The event features a mixture of fantasy literature, music, art and gaming.  Venue: Kasteel Keukenhof, Keukenhof 1, 2161 AN Lisse, Holland. 
The full programme book is here.

 

ANOTHER PERSONAL APPEARANCE

The Birmingham Book Festival will be staged between 4th and 13th October.  I’ll be participating on 8th October, as part of a panel “exploring the genres and boundaries of science fiction and fantasy”.  Fellow speakers are authors Peter F. Hamilton, Mez Packer and Janet Edwards.  The festival’s website is here.

 

JULY 2012

GEMMELL AWARDS PRESENTED

This year’s David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy (of which I’m proud to be the Chair) were presented on 15th June in a ceremony held at London’s Magic Circle headquarters.  The results were as follows:

RAVENHEART AWARD (Best cover art)

Raymond Swanland for Blood of Aenarion by William King (Black Library)

 

 

Artist Chris Baker (top left) presents the Ravenheart Award to Black Library's representative on behalf of Raymond Swanland.

 

MORNINGSTAR AWARD (Best debut)

Helen Lowe, The Heir of Night (Orbit)

 

 

Deborah Miller (top left) presents the Morningstar Award to Orbit's Jenni Hill, accepting on behalf of Helen Lowe.

 

LEGEND AWARD (Best novel)

Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear  (Gollancz)

Stephane Marsan of Bragelonne presents the Legend Award to Gillian Redfern of Gollancz, accepting on behalf of Patrick Rothfuss.

Photographs by Sandy Auden.

 

2013: The Gemmell Awards and World Fantasy Convention

I’m pleased to announce that next year’s Gemmell Awards ceremony will take place as part of 2013’s World Fantasy Convention.

The convention will be staged in Brighton between 31st October and 3rd November.  The only other times that the World Fantasy Convention has moved outside North America was in 1988 and 1997, when it was held in London, so we feel privileged to be involved with this prestigious international event.

Held at Brighton’s Metropole Hotel and the West Pier, WFC 2013 boasts an impressive line-up of guests, including Richard Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, Brian Aldiss, Alan Lee and Tessa Farmer.  The Master of Ceremonies is China Mieville; and a host of other authors, artists, publishers and industry insiders will also be attending.

For full details of the convention visit the official website. 

As the Gemmell Awards will be presented in October/November next year, and not in mid-June as usual, we’ll be altering our voting cycle to accommodate the change of date.  To keep abreast of the changes check the awards website, where you can sign-up for our free newsletter.  The change of venue and date is for one year only - 2014 will see the awards returning to the Magic Circle.

 

My wife Anne and I were guests at Les Féeries Du Bocage festival in à Voulx (Seine-et-Marne) France on 2nd and 3rd June.  It was a really enjoyable gathering, one of the friendliest we’ve attended, in the company of lovely, gifted people in a beautiful setting.  This was the first time the festival’s been staged, and the hope is that it’ll be a regular annual event. It deserves to be.  Here’s a small selection of photographs.

   

Fellow GoH Pierre Dubois

The Organisers

TALKING OF EVENTS …

A reminder that I’ll be in the Netherlands between 3rd and 5th August as a guest at this year’s Castlefest.  Now in it’s eighth year, Castlefest showcases a mixture of fantasy literature, art, gaming and music.  Among other things, I’ll be signing the Dutch omnibus edition of my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, which is being launched at the event.  The venue is Kasteel Keukenhof, Keukenhof 1, 2161 AN Lisse, Holland, and full details are on the website.

 

HORIZON

Readers in the Netherlands will want to know about Horizon, an anthology from independent publisher Uitgeverij Macc, and for which I wrote an introduction.  It contains all new stories by Jeff Carlson, Uschi Zietsch, Theo Barkel, Tais Teng, Jaap Boekestein, Nando Harmsen, Peter van Oosterum, Pieter Feddema and Nico de Braeckeleer.   More details here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUNE 2012

A PAIR OF UPCOMING OMNIBUSES

In last month’s update I mentioned that omnibus editions of the second orcs trilogy,
Orcs: Bad Blood, were scheduled for publication in Holland and Germany. 

Here are the covers.

This is the Dutch edition, which Luitingh-Sijthoff publish in August.

The book’s going to be launched at 

Now in it’s eighth year, and showcasing a mixture of fantasy literature, art, gaming and music, Castlefest takes place between 3rd and 5th August.  I’m one of the author guests of honour and I’ll be signing copies at the event.  Details here.

The German omnibus looks like this -

- and Heyne release it on 12th November.

I think both covers are excellent.

 

2012’s DAVID GEMMELL AWARDS FOR FANTASY

This year’s ceremony takes place at London’s Magic Circle headquarters on 15th June.  The finalists for the Legend Award (best novel) are Joe Abercrombie, Kristen Britain, William King, Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson.  Those in the running for the Morningstar Award (best debut) are Elspeth Cooper, Douglas Hulick, Mark Lawrence, Helen Lowe and Peter O’Rulloan.  The artists on the shortlist for the
Ravenheart Award (best cover art) are Aaron Briggs, Didier Graffet & Dave Senior & Laura Brett, Larry Rostant, Raymond Swanland and Frank Victoria.
I’ll be reporting on the winners and the ceremony here in next month’s update, but you can find out who won by visiting the awards website on 16th June.

 

MAY 2012

GEMMELL AWARDS SHORTLISTS REVEALED

The shortlists for 2012’s David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy are as follows -

Legend Award (Best novel):
Joe Abercrombie: The Heroes
Kristen Britain: Black Veil
William King: Blood of Aenarion
Patrick Rothfuss: The Wise Man’s Fear
Brandon Sanderson: Alloy of Law

Morningstar Award (Best debut):
Elspeth Cooper: Songs of the Earth
Douglas Hulick: Among Thieves
Mark Lawrence: Prince of Thorns
Helen Lowe: The Heir of Night
Peter O’Rulloan: The Unremembered

Ravenheart Award (Best cover art):
Aaron Briggs for Journey By Night
Didier Graffet & Dave Senior for The Heroes
Larry Rostat for Among Thieves
Raymond Swanland for Blood of Aenarion
Frank Victoria for Oracle’s Fire

The awards are decided by open vote, and you can cast yours at the official website, here.

Voting closes at noon on 31st May. This year’s awards ceremony takes place on Friday 15th June at London’s enchanting Magic Circle HQ.

 

On the subject of the Gemmells, my publisher invited me to write a piece on the awards’ history and ethos, which can be found on the Gollancz blog.

TALKING OF BLOGS …

 

My American publisher, Orbit, asked me to write something for their blog, too, in this case telling how the graphic novel Orcs: Forged For War was created.  That can be found here.

 

OMNIBUSES ON THE WAY

Readers in the Netherlands and Germany might be interested to know that omnibus editions of the second orcs trilogy, Bad Blood, are in the pipeline.

The Dutch volume appears in August, from Luitingh-Sijthoff. 

Heyne publish the German version on 12th November under the overall title Die Rückkehr (‘The Return’).  I’ve not seen covers yet - I’ll post them here as soon as I do.

 

PERSONAL APPEARANCES

I’m pleased to report that I’m going to be back in the Netherlands between 3rd-5th August as a guest at the legendary Castlefest. 

Full details here.

And a reminder that I’ll also be appearing in France at Les Feeries du Bocage on 2nd and 3rd June. 

The full line-up and further details are on the official website.

 

APRIL 2012

ORCS: INFERNO PUBLISHED IN US THIS MONTH

Here’s a finished cover.  I like this a lot.  All the American covers for both trilogies are really outstanding, I think.  Orbit publish Inferno on 10th April.  

 

TALKING OF FINISHED COVERS …

This is how the cover for the French edition of the Orcs graphic novel turned out. 

Orcs: Forged For War is an all new story, not an adaptation of the existing novels, with words by me and art by Joe Flood.  Les Editions Gallimard published in France on 8th March.  The US and UK editions have been available since October.

 

MARCH 2012 

INFERNO: SCIENCE FICTION BOOK CLUB EDITION

  

America’s Science Fiction Book Club will be offering Inferno as an early Summer selection, joining their editions of books 1 and 2 of the Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy. The SFBC website is here.

INFERNO’s MIGHT-HAVE-BEEN GERMAN COVER

I’m indebted to Christian Endres of Atlantis Verlag for sending me this alternate version of the German cover for Inferno. Apparently artist

Volkan Baga was asked by my German publisher, Heyne, to amend the artwork. This kind of thing happens all the time, but we don’t always get to see the different versions. Check out Volkan’s website (and if you have a spare 3500 euros the original can be yours).

Original version

Finished version © Volkan Baga

 

ORCS: FORGED FOR WAR
PUBLISHED IN FRANCE THIS MONTH

 

The French edition has dropped the Forged For War subtitle; and Editions Gallimard, under its Bayou imprint, is publishing on 8th March, a week earlier than I reported last month. 

An all new graphic novel, with art by Joe Flood, Orcs: Forged For War is published by First Second Books in the US and Pan Macmillan in the UK. 

 

DAVID GEMMELL AWARDS FOR FANTASY 2012

A reminder that voting for this year’s Gemmell Awards closes on 31st March. 

There are three categories: the Legend Award (best novel), the Morningstar Award (best debut) and the Ravenheart Award (best cover art). 

The winners are decided by an open vote.  It’s a simple process and you’ll find what you need to know on the official website.  This year’s ceremony is again at London’s Magic Circle headquarters, on 15th June.  I’ll be posting the shortlists here as soon as we know them. 

 

FEBRUARY 2012

  ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL: FRENCH PUBLICATION DATE

We now have a publication date for the French edition of Orcs: Forged For War, the all-new graphic novel penned by me and illustrated by Joe Flood (published in the US by First Second Books and in the UK by Pan Macmillan). 

Les Editions Gallimard will be releasing the book on 15th March.  I haven’t seen the cover yet, but I’ll post it here when it arrives.

 

GRAPHIC NOVEL WINS AWARD

I mentioned last month that Forged For War was one of five titles nominated for the 2011 Geek Life Awards, in the Best Comic Book of the Year category.  I’m pleased to report that we won!   Many thanks to all who voted for us.  Read the citation and a perceptive review here.

 

YOU CAN OWN ORIGINAL ARTWORK …

 

Artist Joe Flood has put some selected pages of his Forged For War artwork up for sale, including the page above.  Details here.

… OR A VERY LIMITED EDITION PRINT

Joe has also made available this incredible, high quality print.  Here’s his description:

“Depicting the opening battle scene from "Orcs: Forged for War, " this 4 page spread is reproduced in its entirety on this 26x9.75 inch digital print.  Astonishing panoramic view of an intense and bloody battlefield, rendered by illustrator Joe Flood.  The print is made with archival ink on Rives BFK treated with acrylic digital ground.  A limited edition of six, each is hand signed and numbered by the artist.  Receive a free personalized sketch with each order.” 

How can you resist an offer like that?  But hurry, there will never be more than six.  Go here.

PERSONAL APPEARANCES

Early notification of two events I’ll be guesting at later this year.

The Discover Festival is described by its organisers -

“DISCOVER brings together a host of talent from the worlds of science-fiction, fantasy and horror for one huge weekend of activities. The perfect event for anyone with an interest in the genre, whether you're a die-hard fan or a casual reader or viewer.”

Other guests announced so far include Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Peter Hamilton, Graham Masterton, Mark Chadbourn, Adam Christopher, AJ Dalton, Tom Fletcher, Andrew Hook, Kim Lakin-Smith, Paul Magrs, Lou Morgan, Gareth L Powell, Gavin Smith, Gav Thorpe, Ian Whates and Conrad Williams. 

The Discover Festival takes place at the Snibston Discovery Museum & Century Theatre, Coalville, Leicestershire between Friday 18th and Sunday 20th May.  The official website is here.

 

Les Féeries Du Bocage, like Discover, debuts this year. 

I’ll be one of a host of authors and artists at this pure fantasy event.  Other guests include legendary French writer Pierre Dubois, and leading UK artists Paul Kidby and John Howe (tbc).  There are bands, too! 

Les Féeries Du Bocage takes place on 2nd and 3rd June at Salle polyvalente, 30 rue des Percherons 77 940, Voulx, France.  A full list of attendees and all details here.

 

JANUARY 2012

2011 round-up

As we’re into a new year I thought I’d summarise the news stories I posted here during 2011. So, in reverse order …

 December

Inferno, the final volume in my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, was published in the UK by Gollancz.  (The German edition, from Heyne, is already out, and the US edition, from Orbit, appears in April. 

Other foreign editions are published at various times this year - I’ll post the dates here as known.)

I’ve written a piece to tie-in with the publication of Inferno for the Gollancz blog,which is scheduled to go up on 6th January.

 

Both orcs trilogies became available as i-books from the UK and US i-tunes stores. 

The German and Italian editions of the first trilogy are also being offered. 

 

The orcs graphic novel, Forged For War, was shortlisted in the “Comicbook of the year” category of the second annual Geek Life Awards.  Voting closes on Friday 6th January.

 

My short story Juice appeared in Vivisepulture.  Edited by Andy Remic and Wayne Simmons, and described as “An all-new anthology of weird and bizarre tales of twisted imagination”

Vivisepulture is available for download (PDF, ebook and MOBI formats) from Anarchy Books.

 

PS Art Books began publishing the complete run of classic 1950s fantasy comicbook
Forbidden Worlds. 

This first volume, reproducing issues 1 to 5 (1951/1952), has a foreword by me.

 

On Boxing Day (26th December) voting opened for the fourth annual David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy, for which I have the honour of being Chair.  There are three categories: the Legend Award (best fantasy novel), the Morningstar Award (best debut) and the Ravenheart Award (best cover art).  The awards are decided on an open vote.  If you’d like to participate, go to the official website, check out the three lists of nominations and cast your vote.  2012’sawards ceremonywill again be held at London’s wondrous Magic Circle headquarters, on Friday 15th June.

 

November

The Orcs graphic novel entered the New York Times’ bestseller list.

A Special Repackaged Edition of the first two volumes of the Bad Blood trilogy -
Weapons of Magical Destruction and Army of Shadows -was issued by the Books Events company. 

The pair of hardback books come in a presentation box. 

 

October

Orcs: Forged For War, an all-new graphic novel written by me and illustrated by Joe Flood, was published in the US by First Second Books and in the UK by Pan Macmillan.

 

The audiobook of the first Orcs trilogy, read by John Lee and originally released by Tantor Audio in the US, was issued in the UK as a download by Orion.

 

Heyne published the German version of Inferno, making it the world first edition. 

 

September

The first advance review of Orcs: Forged For War appeared in prestigious industry journal Publishers’ Weekly. 
“A cracking good tale from start to finish, this is strongly recommended for those who seek arealistically violent and profane heroic fantasy.”

The British Fantasy Society celebrated its fortieth anniversary with the publication of the anthology Full Fathom Forty, which contains my short story Throwing A Wobbly.

 

I made a number of personal appearances in 2011, including Eastercon, The Write Fantastic’s Oxford event, the David Gemmell Awards ceremony (of course) and, on 9th September, I was a guest speaker at the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.  The Brum Group is the UK’s longest-running sf club.  Check it out here.

 

August

They chained me to my keyboard in August and wouldn’t let me out.

 

July

 

The Mark Morris edited Cinema Futura, which came out from
PS Publishing in September 2010 and contains my essay on silent film classic Metropolis, was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards, non-fiction category. 

 

June

 

Romanian publisher Nemira released their edition of Warriors of the Tempest, the third volume in the Orcs: First Blood trilogy.

 

The third David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy were presented at the Magic Circle headquarters in Euston, London.  The Ravenheart Award (best fantasy book cover) went to Olof Erla Einarsdottir for Power & Majesty (HarperCollins Australia); the Morningstar Award (best debut novel) went to Darius Hinks for Warrior Priest (The Black Library), and Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings (Gollancz/Tor US) won the Legend Award for best fantasy novel.

 

May

 

 

The shortlists were announced for 2011’s David Gemmell Awards

 

April

 

The French rights to the graphic novel Orcs: Forged For War were sold to publisher Editions Gallimard. 

I’ll report on the publication date when I know it.

 

March

 

Leading genre site SF Crowsnest published a list of the top hundred sf and fantasy novels of 2010 as voted for by its readers. 

My orcs novel Army of Shadows, book two of the Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, came in at number 54, with a gratifying 900 votes. 

 

February

 

The UK mass-market paperback edition of Weapons of Magical Destruction went into a fifth printing.

 

January

 

Bard Publishing House released the Bulgarian edition of Weapons of Magical Destruction, first volume of the Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy.  Somewhat confusingly, they adapted the American cover of volume two, Army of Shadows.  But what the heck.

 

Tantor Media released the audiobook version of Army of Shadows, read by John Lee. 

It joined the unexpurgated audiobooks of the Orcs: First Blood omnibus and Weapons of Magical Destruction (re-named simply Bad Blood in the US). 

 

News Archive 2011

December 2011

FINAL VOLUME IN ORCS: BAD BLOOD TRILOGY PUBLISHED IN THE UK THIS MONTH

Book three in the Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, Inferno, has an official UK publication date of 29th December, so expect to see it in the shops and available from online retailers before Christmas.
Gollancz has given this series a great set of covers, and here they are:

   

The American edition, from Orbit, will be published next April.  There are going to be a number of other foreign editions, and I’ll post publication dates here when I know them.

 

ORCS ON I-TUNES

Between 15th and 29th December both orcs trilogies will start being available as i-books from the UK and US i-tunes stores. I believe that the German and Italian editions of at least the first trilogy will also be on offer. Note that you need an iPad, iPhone (3G or later) or iPod Touch (2nd generation or later) to view i-books.

The trilogies are also available as eBooks in the UK direct from the publisher, along with the audiobook version of the first trilogy, read by John Lee, as a digital download.  Details here.

 

CRAZY NAME, CRAZY ANTHOLOGY

Subtitled ‘Weird tales of twisted imagination’, Vivisepulture is scheduled for release from independent publisher Anarchy Books on 24th December, and it includes a story by me entitled Juice.  The anthologyis going to be available as an eBook in PDF, EPUB and MOBI formats.  I think it might be downloadable to Amazon’s Kindle, too. 

This is an all new anthology, with stories by Neal Asher, Tony Ballantyne, Eric Brown, Richard Ford, Ian Graham, Lee Harris, Colin Harvey, Vincent Holland-Keen, James Lovegrove, Gary McMahon, Stan Nicholls, Andy Remic, Jordan Reyne, Ian Sales, Steven Savile, Wayne Simmons, Guy N. Smith, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jeffrey Thomas, Danie Ware, Ian Watson and Ian Whates. 

The Anarchy Books website is here.

 

FORBIDDEN WORLDS VOLUME ONE

PS Art Books will be issuing a series of handsome volumes collecting the complete run of classic 1950s fantasy comicbook Forbidden Worlds. 

Volume One, which PS hopes to have out before the end of this year, contains issues 1 to 5 (July/August 1951 to March/April 1952), and has a foreword by me. 

Details here.

 

AND FINALLY …

To those of you who celebrate it, I wish you a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

And to everyone

HAVE A HAPPY, PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

 

 

NOVEMBER 2011 

ORCS: INFERNO PUBLISHED IN US BY ORBIT IN APRIL

Orbit has served the series really well with their imaginative, eye-catching covers, and this third volume in the Bad Blood trilogy is no exception.  Here’s a reminder of the previous covers -

Orcs: First Blood omnibus

Orcs: Bad Blood 1

Orcs: Bad Blood 2

 

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL ENTERS NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST

I’m delighted to report that Orcs: Forged For War, illustrated by Joe Flood and published by First Second Books, entered the New York Times graphic novel bestseller list for the week to 6th November.  It’s great to be in such illustrious company!

 

 

PERSONAL APPEARANCE

 

Novacon is the longest-running regional science fiction convention in the UK, having reached its 41st year. 

I’m going to be attending this year, and will be on at least one programme item. 

The convention runs from 11th-13th November at The Park Inn, Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG5 2BT, and the guest of honour is author John Meaney.

More details on the official website.

 

OCTOBER 2011

LAST VOLUME IN BAD BLOOD TRILOGY PUBLISHED BY GOLLANCZ IN THE UK 29th DECEMBER …

… and here’s a finished cover:

DUTCH EDITION

Luitingh-Sijthoff publish this month, and their website is here.

We don’t have dates for other foreign editions yet.  I’ll announce them when known.

 

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL PUBLISHED THIS MONTH

Orcs: Forged For War is an all new Wolverines adventure, running to over 200 pages, with art by Joe Flood.  First Second Books publish in the US on 11th October; Pan Macmillan release the book in the UK on 21st October.  The US Amazon page is here; the UK Amazon page here. There’s going to be a French edition from Les Editions Gallimard, date tba.        You can read a 17 page excerpt from the graphic novel here.

Joe Flood has an orcs sketchbook blog here, containing lots of development sketches and comments by both of us.

 

ORCS: FIRST BLOOD AUDIOBOOK RELEASED IN UK

I mentioned in last month’s news update that my UK publisher, Orion, would be issuing the audiobook version of the first orcs trilogy here.  It’s now available as a download.  Read by John Lee, this is complete and unabridged, and runs for a massive 23 hours, 30 minutes. Details here.

 

FULL FATHOM FORTY PUBLISHED

Full Fathom Forty, the anthology edited by David J Howe to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the British Fantasy Society, and in which I have a story, was published on 30th September.  BFS members received a copy as part of their September mailing, but the book’s also on sale generally, and it’s available as a download.  Details on the BFS website. 

Here’s the line-up: Nina Allan, Suzanne Barbieri, Carl Barker, Mike Barrett, Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Carroll, Adrian Chamberlin, Simon Clark, Raven Dane, Jan Edwards, Murray Ewing, Paul Finch, Christopher Fowler, Matthew Fryer, Stephen Gallagher, Cate Gardner, R B Harkess, Ian Hunter, Wilf Kelleher Jones, Jasper Kent, Joel Lane, Stephen Laws, Mark Lewis, Alison J Littlewood, Steve Lockley, Graham Masterton, Peter Mark May, Geoff Nelder, Kim Newman, Stan Nicholls, Martin Owton, Cas Peace, John Llewellyn Probert, Tina Rath, Steven Savile, Robert Shearman, Jim Steel, Sam Stone, Deborah Walker and Conrad Williams.

 

THE COLLECTED FORBIDDEN WORLDS

This is the cover for the first volume of the complete collected run of classic comic Forbidden Worlds, carrying a foreword by me.  PS Publishing aim to release the book in November. 

 

SEPTEMBER 2011

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL
“A cracking good tale from start to finish, this is strongly recommended … ”

We’ve had the first advance review for Orcs: Forged For War, the original graphic novel published next month.  Prestigious industry journal Publishers’ Weeklysays:

“Spawned from author Nicholls's series of novels featuring the titular creatures, this comes as a real surprise.  Coupled with Flood's deceptively simple and clear visual storytelling, the story centers on a troop of orcs bound in service - or, more accurately, slavery - to a vicious, magic-wielding queen and tasked with protecting a secret weapon under the control of a goblin sorcerer and his underlings.  The orc commander, Stryke, must lead his soldiers and maintain order in their occasionally fractious ranks while also putting up with abuse from both the queen and the goblins, whose race has long been bitter enemies with Stryke's people.  Not to be confused with the variety made famous by Tolkien, the orcs of this narrative are noble warriors from whose point of view the reader witnesses events and immediately comes to sympathize with their situation.  A cracking good tale from start to finish, this is strongly recommended for those who seek a realistically violent and profane heroic fantasy.”

With art by Joe Flood, the book is published in the US on 11th October by First Second Books and in the UK on 21st October by Pan Macmillan.  Here are a further pair of sample pages -

 

There’s going to be a French version from Les Editions Gallimard, on a date to be announced; and one of France’s leading genre websites, Fantasy.fr, has a news item about that here.

 

ORCS AUDIOBOOKS IN UK

As regular visitors to this site will know, American audiobook company Tantor issued spoken word versions of my two Orcs trilogies, read by John Lee.  Now my UK publisher, Orion, has decided to release the first of these in a single three volume package.  We don’t have a date for this yet, but early indications are that it should retail for around £25, which is pretty good for an unexpurgated reading of Orcs: First Blood running to 23½ hours. 

I imagine that the audiobook will be repackaged for the UK market.  Here’s a reminder of how the US version looks -

Hopefully we’ll also see a UK audiobook version of the second trilogy at some point. I’ll post more details here when I know them.

INFERNO IN GERMANY

The first edition of the final volume in the Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, Inferno, will actually be the German translation from Heyne, published on 11th October with this cover -

The English edition comes out from Gollancz on 29th December; Orbit will publish in America a few months after that. French, Dutch and Italian editions, among others, are in the pipeline.

BRUM GROUP APPEARANCE

A quick reminder that I’ll be the guest speaker at the Birmingham Science Fiction Group at 7.30pm on the evening of Friday 9th September. Venue is the Briar Rose Hotel, Bennett’s Hill in the city centre. Non-members are welcome. Details here.

 

 

AUGUST 2011

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER

Here are a couple more sample pages.

 

Orcs: Forged For War is based on an original story, with art by Joe Flood. It’s out this October from First Second Books in the US and Pan Macmillan in the UK; and Les Editions Gallimard will be publishing a French edition on a date to be announced. This Amazon “Look Inside” page has some more samples of the artwork and my introduction to the book.

 

FULL FATHOM FORTY

The British Fantasy Society celebrates its fortieth anniversary next month with the publication of this anthology. 

It contains forty pieces of fiction, and I’m pleased to say that my short story Throwing A Wobbly is one of them. 

BFS members will be sent a copy as part of the Society’s September mailing. 

Non-members can buy a copy or download the Kindle version.  Details and the list of contributors can be found here.

 

PERSONAL APPEARANCE

I’ll be at the Birmingham Science Fiction Group on the evening of Friday 9th September, alongside Peter Weston (author of With Stars in Their Eyes) to discuss the history, present state and possible future of science fiction fandom.

Non-members are welcome. Full details on the Brum Group website.

 

 

JULY 2011

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL: MORE SAMPLES

Two more sample pages from Orcs: Forged For War, the all new graphic novel coming from First Second Books (US), Pan Macmillan (UK) andLes Editions Gallimard (France) this October; with art by Joe Flood.

 

DAVID GEMMELL FANTASY AWARDS 2011 - THE WINNERS

This year’s Gemmell Awards ceremony was held on 17th June at London’s Magic Circle headquarters, and the winners were -

Ravenheart Award For best fantasy book cover
Olof Erla Einarsdottir for Power & Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperCollins Australia)

 

Morningstar Award For best debut novel Darius Hinks: Warrior Priest (The Black Library)

 

Legend Award For best fantasy novel Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings (Gollancz/Tor US)

Here are some photos from the evening -

Olof Erla Einarsdottir	Darius Hinks	Editor Simon Spanton for Brandon Sanderson
Hosts Anne & Stan Nicholls	Host James Barclay	Juliet McKenna Morningstar presenter

Ravenheart presenter Anne Sudworth with Anne Nicholls

Legend Award presenter Graham McNeill(2010’s winner) 3rd from left

Ravenheart Award

Morningstar Award

Legend Award

We’re already gearing up for 2012’s ceremony.  You can follow developments on the Gemmell Awards official website.

 

AVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN

The enterprising folk at PS Artbooks, a division of PS Publishing, have been issuing beautiful slip-cased editions of Golden Age comics like the complete Chamber of Chills, Witches’ Tales, Black Cat Mystery and Forbidden Worlds. Next in line is a two volume collection of all 174 issues of Adventures Into The Unknown (1948-1967), and I’m pleased to report that Volume One will contain an essay by me about the influence comicbooks had on me as a child. PS are aiming to have the books out by Christmas.

   

 

TALKING OF PS PUBLISHING …

I’m delighted that the Mark Morris edited Cinema Futura, which came out from PS last year and contains my piece on silent film classic Metropolis, is shortlisted for this year’s British Fantasy Awards, non-fiction category.  You can find a complete list of the finalists here.  The awards will be presented at Fantasycon in Brighton, 30th September-2nd October.

 

FAN ART

       

These delightful orchish characters are by Chris Shipton, and I’m grateful to him for letting me reproduce them here.  Chris has an extensive collection of amusing orc artwork of all kinds at his website - check it out.

 

 JUNE 2011

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL PREVIEW

Some sample pages from Orcs: Forged For War, the graphic novel coming from First Second Books on 11th October, with art by Joe Flood.  This is an original story, not an adaptation of the novels.  I’ll post more samples here in the run-up to publication.

Images © 2011 Stan Nicholls/Joe Flood/First Second Books

 

 

FIRST ORCS TRILOGY COMPLETES IN ROMANIA

Romanian publisher Nemira has now released their edition of Warriors of the Tempest, the third volume in the original orcs trilogy, Orcs: First Blood.  The covers are another interesting take on how orcs might look.

Here are the covers for the first two volumes of the Romanian editions, Bodyguard of Lightning and Legion of Thunder:

   

 

GEMMELL AWARDS CEREMONY: 17th JUNE

Voting for the three categories in 2011’s David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy, of which I’m proud to be Chair, closed on 27th May.  (The shortlisted finalists are listed below, in the May update.)  The winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony on the evening of Friday 17th June at The Magic Circle in London, and you can be there.  A few “fan tickets” for the catered event are still available at £20 each, either direct from Treasurer Christine Harrison at christineharrison_007@hotmail.com or via the awards’ official website.

The Magic Circle is an amazing venue.  Here are a few photos to give you a taste of the place -

   

   

 

FAN ART

This month’s offering is a depiction of Coilla, a female character from my Orcs series, and I’m grateful to artist Mike Libassi for submitting it.  Mike has a page on the Deviant Art site here. 

I’m always pleased to see fan art based on my books, and to consider it for display here.  You can get in touch with me via the Contact button in the menu over on the above left. 

 

MAY 2011

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL: MORE INFO

I’ve had lots of requests for further details about the Orcs graphic novel, coming from First Second Books this October. Here’s a page from the Autumn catalogue, which should answer many of those questions.

Running up to publication date I’m hoping to post some sample pages from the book here. So keep looking!

 

DAVID GEMMELL FANTASY AWARDS: THE SHORTLISTS

The shortlists have been announced for 2011’s David Gemmell Awards. You can vote in each of the following categories at the awards’ official website, here. It’s a simple, fast process, but don’t leave it too long - voting closes on Friday 27th May.

Ravenheart Award
For best fantasy book cover

Olof Erla Einarsdottir for Power & Majesty (HarperCollins Australia)
Todd Lockwood for The Ragged Man (Pyr)
Cliff Nielson for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Orbit)
Jon Sullivan for Shadow King (The Black Library)
Frank Victoria for Tymon’s Flight (HarperCollins Australia)

Morningstar Award
For best debut novel

Blake Charlton: Spellwright (Tor US)
Darius Hinks: Warrior Priest (The Black Library)
N.K. Jemisin: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Orbit UK/US)
Alexey Pehov: Shadow Prowler (Tor US)
Mary Victoria: Tymon’s Flight (HarperCollins Australia)

Legend Award
For best fantasy novel

There are six short-listed titles this year as two were tied.

Peter V. Brett: The Desert Spear (Voyager)
Markus Heitz: War of the Dwarves (Orbit UK/US)
Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson: Towers of Midnight (Orbit UK/Tor US)
Pierre Pevel: The Alchemist in the Shadows (Gollancz)
Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings (Gollancz/Tor US)
Brent Weeks: The Black Prism (Orbit UK/US)

As usual, the presentation ceremony takes place at The Magic Circle headquarters, Euston, London; and this year it’s on the evening of Friday
17th June. If you’d like to be there, we have a limited number of fan tickets available. These are £20 each, and include food and drinks. Details on the website.

 

April 2011

PUBLICATION DATE FOR ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL

We now have an American publication date for Orcs: Forged For War, the original graphic novel from FirstSecond Books: 11th October.  Here’s a finished cover -

The cover and all interior art is by the very talented Joe Flood.  It’s actually a wraparound, and this is how it looks without over-print -

The book’s up on Amazon US, though there are some errors in the accompanying text - it says it’s my first graphic novel, when in fact it’s my third (the other two admittedly being adaptations of David Gemmell novels) and it would have been nice if they spelt my name correctly - but hopefully those hiccups will be sorted.

 

GRAPHIC NOVEL - FOREIGN EDITIONS

There’s no word yet on a British edition of Forged For War.  I hope to have news on that before too long.  But there has been a French sale, to leading publisher Editions Gallimard.  I’ll report on the publication date when I know it.

 

A FORTHCOMING ANTHOLOGY FROM A NEW PUBLISHER

I’m down for a short story in an e-book anthology called Vivisepulture (crazy title, crazy book) to be issued by new publisher Anarchy Books this August.  Described as “Weird tales of twisted imagination”, the line-up is: Neal Asher, Lauren Beukes, Eric Brown, Ian Graham, Vincent Holland-Keen,
James Lovegrove, George Mann, Gary McMahon, Stan Nicholls, Andy Remic, Jordan Reyne, Ian Sales, Steven Savile, Wayne Simmons, Jeffrey Thomas, Danie Ware, Ian Watson, Ian Whates and Conrad Williams, with artwork by Vincent Chong.  I understand a couple of other contributors are likely to be added.

Paul Denton, Sonya Ivers and author Andy Remic are the people behind this new electronic publishing venture.  Here’s their description: “Anarchy Books, part of Anarchy Media, is a radical new publishing company.  Our focus is on multi-strand publishing projects, concepts which combine different media to present a wider experience for the entertainment junkie.”  More details on their website.

 

 

APPEARANCES

A reminder that I’m going to be at Illustrious, this year’s Eastercon, held between 22nd and 25th April at the Hilton Metropole, NEC, Birmingham.  I’ll be on a panel discussing the David Gemmell Fantasy Awards, and we’ll be announcing the shortlists for the three award categories - best fantasy novel, best debut novel and best cover art - prior to the panel.   The Illustrious website is here, and the Gemmell Awards here.

I’ll also be one of the guests at The Write Fantastic’s second annual one day fantasy and science fiction gathering at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, on Saturday 28th May.  More details at TWF’s website.

And here’s a new one for your diaries.  On Friday 9th September I’ll be at the Birmingham Science Fiction Group - the UK’s oldest sf group - to discuss “The history of sf fandom in Birmingham and London” with veteran fan Peter Weston.  My contribution is the London bit.  The Brum Group’s website is here.

 

March 2011

ORCS AUDIOBOOKS ON iTUNES IN US

Readers have asked if it’s possible to download the audiobook versions of the orcs books to their iPods, iPhones and iPads. 

The answer’s yes, if you use the American I-tunes store. 

 

       

This site carries links to the various platforms the audiobooks are available on.

 

THE HYPER HUNDRED: SF CROWSNEST'S FANTASY, HORROR & SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS CHART

In February, leading genre news and reviews site SF Crowsnest published a list of the top one hundred sf and fantasy novels of 2010 as voted for by its readers.  I’m pleased to say that my orcs novel Army of Shadows, book two of the Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, came in at a respectable number 54, with 900 votes.  It’s an interesting list, and every one of the titles links to a full review.  Check it out here.

 

MORE ON APPEARANCES

Last month, I mentioned a couple of events I’ll be at in the next couple of months.  Here are some further details.

This is the UK’s principal science fiction convention, and in 2011 - its 62nd year - it’s going to be held at the Hilton Metropole, NEC, Birmingham, from 22nd to 25th April.  Guests of honour are authors David Weber and Peter F. Hamilton, and artist David A. Hardy. 

I’m be on a panel discussing the David Gemmell Fantasy Awards, of which I’m Chair, alongside Awards Administrator Deborah Miller and two or three other participants to be decided.  We don’t yet know what day or time the panel’s going to be, but I should have the info by next month’s update.  Here’s the con’s official website.

 

Talking of the Gemmell Awards, there’s still time to vote - but hurry, the polls close at the end of March. There are three categories.  The Legend Award is for the year’s best fantasy novel; the Morningstar Award goes to the best debut novel, and the Ravenheart Award honours the best cover art.  All are decided by a public, open vote, and you don’t have to register to participate.

The awards ceremony takes place on Friday 17th June 2011 at the Magic Circle headquarters in London’s Euston.  Details on the website

 

The other event I'll be attending is The Write Fantastic's second annual one day fantasy and science fiction gathering at St Hilda's College, Oxford, on Saturday 28th May.

We now have an idea of the line-up. Apart from myself and my wife, Anne Gay, the other confirmed guests are Pat Cadigan, Mary Hoffman, Ben Jeapes, Mike Shevdon and Ian Watson. The Write Fantastic contingent will be Sarah Ash, Juliet E McKenna, Kari Sperring, Freda Warrington, Liz Williams and Ian Whates.

You can find out more about The Write Fantastic and the Oxford event at the official website.

 

 

FAN ART

I’m pleased to be able to post another piece of reader’s artwork this month.  Here’s a portrait of my character Stryke, from the orcs series, for which I’m obliged to Darin Rodberg.

Darin, who lives in Lake Worth, Florida and has a website here, has come up with an imaginative interpretation.  Thank you, Darin!

I’m always pleased to see art based on characters and scenes from my books.  So if you’re an artist who’s tackled my work, and you’d like to see it here, do please get in touch.  In due course I’ll have a section on the site devoted to readers’ art.

 

February 2011

WEAPONS REPRINTS AGAIN

I’m pleased to report that the UK mass market paperback edition of Weapons of Magical Destruction, Book One in my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, published by Gollancz, went into a fifth printing in January. 

A reminder that the American edition, published by Orbit, was re-titled simply Bad Blood.  Here’s the cover:

The British edition of Book Two, Army of Shadows, has also gone through several reprints.  Here are the UK and US covers:

   

Book Three, Inferno, is forthcoming.  I’ll post the publication date and cover here when I have them.

 

ORCS AUDIOBOOK IN PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Leading trade journal Publishers Weekly covered the audiobook version of my first Orcs trilogy in its January reviews section.  Here’s the text:

Orcs
Stan Nicholls, read by John Lee, Tantor Media, unabridged, 20 CDs, 23.5 hrs., $59.99 ISBN 978-1-4001-1685-0
Sent to fetch a magical relic, Stryke, the Orc captain of the Wolverines, discovers that his band is being hunted not only by his usual enemies (humans, hostile Orc tribes, etc.) but by his queen, Jennesta, the very one who had sent him on the mission. Evading enemies, fighting in foreign territories, and acquiring additional magical relics are the only means he and his fellow orcs have of surviving. The more than 20 hours of listening (this production includes the entire Orc trilogy and a bonus short story) finds a perfect vessel in John Lee's deep, rhythmic, reverberating voice with its quirky mix of Irish and English accents. The book offers eclectic characters of different age, sexes, and species, but Lee provides distinct voices for each, shifting from description to action and from character to character flawlessly.

Tantor Media have now issued audiobook versions of the original Orcs trilogy, Orcs: First Blood, and Books One and Two of the second trilogy, Orcs: Bad Blood, in the US.  Here’s the packaging:

       

 

SOME FORTHCOMING EVENTS

I’m going to be at Illustrious, this year’s Eastercon, which will be held at the Hilton Metropole, NEC, Birmingham, UK from 22nd to 25th April.  I don’t know if I’m going to be a programme participant - I’m waiting to hear about that.  More info at the official website.

 

   THE WRITE FANTASTIC

I will be taking part in the programme at The Write Fantastic’s second annual one day fantasy and science fiction event at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, on Saturday 28th May. 

The Write Fantastic is an authors’ collective - with which I was proud to be associated for over five years - set up with “The intention is to promote the literature of the fantastic to new readers, reluctant readers, and established readers who have not yet investigated contemporary fantasy.”  TWF’s current membership comprises Sarah Ash, Chaz Brenchley, Juliet E McKenna, Deborah J Miller, Jessica Rydill, Kari Sperring, Freda Warrington and Ian Whates.

You can find out more about the group at their website, where details of the May event will be posted.

 

SAVE OUR LIBRARIES!

The Bookseller, the UK’s principal magazine for the retail trade, has launched a campaign opposing the widespread closure of libraries threatened by government cuts.  More details at The Bookseller’s website.  There’s also a Facebook page.  This is a campaign well worth supporting - please think about getting involved.  Our libraries are a precious asset, and once they’re gone, they’re gone …

 

January 2011

BAD BLOOD IN BULGARIA

OK, pay attention because this is a little confusing. 

Bulgaria’s leading publisher, Bard Publishing House, which published the first orcs trilogy, is now issuing the second trilogy.  Above is the jacket for Book One (entitled Weapons of Magical Destruction in the UK and simply Bad Blood in the US) and which translates as Blood Feud.  But the cover’s adapted from the American edition of Book Two, Army of Shadows.   Perhaps Book Two’s going to have the cover of Book One …  Whatever, it’s good to see the series appearing there.

 

ARMY OF SHADOWS AUDIOBOOK

Published 27th December in the US by Tantor Media, here’s the artwork for the audiobook version of Army of Shadows, the second book in the second orcs trilogy. 

As with the first trilogy and book one of the second, the reader is John Lee, who’s an accomplished stage actor and winner of numerous Audie Awards and Audiofile Earphones Awards, as well as being named Golden Voice 2009 by Audiofile.

 

MORE FAN ARTWORK

In the October news update I started reproducing fan artwork based on my books. 

I’m very pleased to post here this splendid piece of art, showing the principal characters from the first Orcs trilogy, by Nguyen Van Dom Xavier,
who has an impressive website here.

 

GEMMELL AWARDS:
IT’S TIME TO VOTE AGAIN

On 26th December voting opens for the 2011 David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy, when the shortlists of the nominated titles will appear on the Awards’ official website.

Established in memory of the late fantasy author David Gemmell, the awards currently have three categories.  The Legend Award is for the year’s best fantasy novel; the Morningstar Award goes to the best debut novel, and the Ravenheart Award honours the best cover art.  All are decided by the public in an open vote. 

The presentations take place on Friday 17th June 2011, and once more the venue is the Magic Circle headquarters in London’s Euston.  Details of how to obtain tickets for the event will be on the website nearer the date.

 

 

NEW DUTCH FANTASY BOOK WEBSITE

Readers in the Netherlands will be interested to know that Dutch fantasy enthusiast Martijn Oud has launched Fantasy Boeken, a review site dedicated to fantasy and science fiction books.  It’s early days and the site is still being added to, but it’s worth a visit, here.

 

All that remains to be said this month is …

      

 

 

News Archive 2010

December 2010

MORE ORCS AUDIOBOOKS

Here’s the cover for the audiobook version of Orcs: Bad Blood (UK title Weapons of Magical Destruction) which Tantor Media released in the US on 27th November. 

The audiobook of the next volume in the Bad Blood trilogy, Army of Shadows, comes out from Tantor in the States on 27th December.  I’ll post the cover here when I have it.  Like the omnibus audiobook of the first Orcs trilogy (cover below) these are unabridged, and again the reader is John Lee. 

 

2011 DAVID GEMMELL FANTASY AWARDS

   

2011 sees the third year of the awards established to commemorate the late fantasy author David Gemmell.  There are three categories.  The Legend Award is presented for the year’s best fantasy novel; the Morningstar Award goes to the best debut novel, and the Ravenheart Award honours the best cover art.  All are decided by readers in an open vote.  Voting begins on 26th December - Boxing Day - when the shortlists of the nominated titles are posted on the Awards’ official website.

The presentations take place on Friday 17th June 2011, and once more the venue is the Magic Circle headquarters in London’s Euston.  Details of how to obtain tickets for the event will be on the website nearer the date.

The David Gemmell Fantasy Awards are sponsored by Bragelonne, France’s leading fantasy and science fiction publisher; and the UK’s premier genre publication, SFX magazine, is our media partner. 

    

 

 

November 2010

Please note: I recently discovered that due to a server problem my replies to messages sent to me from the third or fourth week of September to mid-October might not have been delivered.  It’s also possible that I didn’t receive some incoming messages.  I always do my best to answer messages, so if you wrote to me during that period and didn’t get a reply, please write again.  You can use the contact button on the left-hand side of this page.

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL: ANOTHER PEEK

Here are a few more samples from the forthcoming Orcs graphic novel, by artist Joe Flood.  Like the previous batch that you can see in the September news update if you scroll down this page, bear in mind that these are from a work in progress.  As I previously mentioned, the graphic novel is based on a new story, and isn’t an adaptation of the existing orcs novels.

We now have a new title for the book, Orcs: Forged For War, and a US publication date of Autumn 2011.  The publisher is FirstSecond Books.

Images © 2010 Stan Nicholls/Joe Flood/FirstSecond Books

 

PURE FANTASY

Pure Fantasy, one of the Netherlands’ leading speculative fiction magazines, began publishing a trio of short stories by me, under the collective title ‘Three Whimsies’, in issue 18+, a special erotic number that appeared in April. 

The second story is published in issue 21, out this month.  Details can be found on the Pure Fantasy website.

 

CINEMA FUTURA … REPRISE

I kicked off last month’s update with news of Cinema Futura, edited by
Mark Morris, a collection of 61 essays on science fiction films by 61 sf/fantasy authors, including me.  (Scroll down this page to see the full contents listing). 

PS Publishing issued the book in September, with a cover by J.K. Potter. 
I didn’t have a finished cover last month, so here it is.

You can read a sample from Cinema Futura and other PS Publishing titles here.

 

 

BRAZILIAN ORCS

Panini published Bodyguard of Lightning, volume one of my Orcs: First Blood trilogy, in Brazil in June.  Readers in Brazil have been asking when volume two, Legion of Thunder, is due out.  I don’t have a date yet, but it should be early next year.  I’ll post the exact date here when I know it.  Meanwhile, here’s a rather catching promotional poster for volume one …    

 

 

October 2010

CINEMA FUTURA

Published 30th September by PS Publishing, and edited by the redoubtable Mark Morris, Cinema Futura - a follow-up to Mark’s Cinema Macabre- contains essays by 61 genre authors on their favourite science fiction film.  I’m privileged to be a contributor, with a piece on Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and my wife (using one of her fiction pseudonyms, Anne Gay) chose Serenity. The book’s a jacketed hardback, with a cover by J.K. Potter, as above.  (Note that this is the artwork without lettering; I haven’t seen a finished copy at this point.)  

Here’s a list of the content:

Metropolis (1927) - Stan Nicholls
Frau in Mond (1929) - Christopher Burns
The Man in the White Suit (1951) - Brian Stableford
When Worlds Collide (1951) - Paul Meloy
Invaders From Mars (1953) - Joe R Lansdale
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) - James A Moore
Quatermass II (1957) - David Pirie
I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958) - Steven Utley
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - John Connolly
The Wasp Woman (1959) - Paul Magrs
Village of the Damned (1960) - Bill Hussey
Day of the Triffids (1962) - Christopher Golden
La Jetee (1962) - Christopher Priest
Alphaville (1965) - Lucius Shepard
Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) - Simon Guerrier
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - James Moran
Planet of the Apes (1968) - Gary McMahon
The Andromeda Strain (1971) - David J Schow
A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Ian R MacLeod
Silent Running (1972) - Alastair Reynolds
Solaris (1972) - Trevor Hoyle
Sleeper (1973) - Michael Bishop
Westworld (1973) - Stephen Volk
Logan’s Run (1976) - Sarah Pinborough
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) - Tony Richards
Star Wars (1977) - Nate Kenyon
Quintet (1979) - Gary A Braunbeck
Stalker (1979) - Adam Roberts
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) - Brian Keene
Time Bandits (1981) - Joolz Denby
Bladerunner (1982) - Guy Adams
2010 (1984) - Paul Cornell
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) - Chris
Roberson
Repo Man (1984) - John Skipp
The Terminator (1984) - James Barclay
Brazil (1985) - Steve Rasnic Tem
The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1985) - Robert Shearman
Aliens (1986) - Peter F Hamilton
The Fly (1986) - Stephen Gregory
Robocop (1987) - Jeff Strand
Delicatessen (1991) - Philip Palmer
Twelve Monkeys (1995) - Michael Cobley
Independence Day (1996) - Joseph Lidster
Gattaca (1997) - Ken MacLeod
Pi (1998) - Pat Cadigan
The Wonderful Ice-Cream Suit (1998) - Mike Resnick
The Matrix (1999) - Juliet E McKenna
Donnie Darko (2001) - Sarah Langan
The Lord of the Rings (2001) - Amanda Hemingway
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001) - Elizabeth Massie
Lilo and Stitch (2002) - Tony Ballantyne
Minority Report (2002) - Steve Mosby
Code 46 (2003) - Garry Kilworth
Serenity (2005) - Anne Gay
V For Vendetta (2005) - Ian Irvine
Children of Men (2006) - James Miller
The Fountain (2006) - Steven Hall
The Mist (2007) - Steven Erikson
Star Trek (2009) - Toby Litt
Avatar (2009) - Ian Whates

 

ORCS: BAD BLOOD AUDIOBOOK - COMING SOON

In the US on 29th November, to be precise, from Tantor Media.   This is the first book of the second trilogy.  The trilogy’s overall title in the UK is Orcs: Bad Blood, and the British title of Book One is Weapons of Magical Destruction - the American edition had a title change.   As with the audiobook of the first trilogy omnibus, this is unabridged and read by John Lee.  More details on the Tantor page. 

Left is the provisional cover, which will probably change, as happened with the audiobook of the first trilogy.  Here’s that new cover again:

 

ARMY OF SHADOWS MASS MARKET PAPERBACK
PUBLISHED IN UK THIS MONTH

Here’s the front cover, and back cover blurb.  Official publication date is 14th October. 

 

 

FAN ART

It’s always a pleasure when readers send me their artwork of characters or scenes from my books.  I’ve been meaning to incorporate a fan art section in this site, but until I have the time to do that I thought I’d occasionally post artwork I’ve received.  The illustration below, by Andy Price, and reproduced here with his permission, is an interpretation of the five principal characters from Orcs: First Blood.  I really like it.  It isn’t necessarily the way I see Stryke, Coilla, Haskeer, Alfray and Jup myself, but that in no way distracts from the charm of the illustration.  Thanks, Andy!    

© Andy Price 2010

 

September 2010

ORCS GRAPHIC NOVEL: SNEAK PREVIEW

Here are some advance images from the forthcoming Orcs graphic novel.  I have to stress that the illustrations here are from a work in progress, but they should be a good taster.

The graphic novel is based on a totally new story - it isn’t an adaptation of my Orcs novels - and takes place before the events depicted in the first trilogy (Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder and Warriors of the Tempest).  As reported earlier, the book’s working title was Fit For Purpose, but that’s going to be changed.  We’re currently considering alternatives - I’ll announce the new title when it’s been chosen.

The artist is New Yorker Joe Flood, and I think he’s doing a terrific job.  As you can see, his work is incredibly detailed, and the action sequences are depicted really well.  It’s going to be a substantial book - something like 180 pages - and publisher FirstSecond will be releasing it in the US next year.  I’ll post the publication date here when known.

  

Images © 2010 Stan Nicholls/Joe Flood/FirstSecond Books

 

ORCS AUDIOBOOK RELEASED

This is the cover for Tantor Media’s audiobook of the first Orcs trilogy, read by John Lee, which is now out in the US. 

It’s an unabridged reading, lasting over 23 hours, and you can listen to an MP3 audio sample here. 

Here’s the audiobook’s Amazon US page, and its page on Amazon UK. 

 

OTHER WAYS OF GETTING UP CLOSE AND INTIMATE WITH THE ORCS

If you prefer digital to paper, the first Orcs trilogy is available as an e-book in all formats. 

You can download it for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad here. 

This is the Amazon Kindle page; and this site offers the other formats.

 

 

August 2010

NEUCHATEL INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL 

This was the tenth year of the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival,
held in the beautiful Swiss lakeside town between 4th and 11th July.  For the first time, this year’s festival included a literary strand, and I was privileged to be a participant.  I took part in two panels - New Worlds of Science Fiction, moderated by Bragelonne’s Alain Nevant, along with authors Serge Lehman and Richard Marazano; and New Worlds of Fantasy, where Stéphane Marsan of Bragelonne moderated and the other participants were Serge Le Tendre and Pierre Pevel, as shown in this photo:

L-R: Stephane Marsan, me, Pierre Pevel, Serge Le Tendre

My wife Anne and I also took part in a documentary on the David Gemmell Fantasy Awards (on whose committee we both serve).  The documentary’s going to be available on the Internet - I’ll post details about that here when I know them.

During our visit to Switzerland we also had the pleasure of visiting …

MAISON d’AILLEURS

That translates as The Museum of Elsewhere, and it’s one of only three science fiction museums in the world (the others are in Los Angeles and Liverpool, England).  It’s located in the charming town of Yverdon-les-Bains, and we were lucky enough to have a conducted tour (along with legendary filmmaker Douglas Trumbull and his party); and we contributed to a documentary on the Museum.  The museum isn’t enormous, but it’s much bigger than its modest entrance suggests - it used to be the town jail! - and they’ve recently extended the premises to an adjoining building, reached by a newly-built covered bridge. 
Here’s a shot of the entrance:

The museum’s beautifully and very cleanly designed and furnished.  When we were there they had an exhibition called ‘Galactic Hits: Musiques et Science-Fiction,’ which meant most of the galleries were displaying album covers and posters of records with an sf or fantasy theme. 

Below are some photos of the exhibition:

     

But the really impressive exhibition is the permanent Jules Verne room - the most comprehensive collection of Verne material anywhere.  In addition to countless books and magazines it contains detailed models of various artefacts from Verne stories, such as the Nautilus.  Here are some views:

            

   

There’s a large screen showing clips from film adaptations of Verne’s works and slide shows of artwork: 

We all agreed that this room comprised the perfect library - the kind any book lover would kill to have - dark wood fixtures, everything behind glass and sympathetic lighting. 

A bust of Verne is set high, overlooking the collection.

The Verne Room leads to the Pulp Room. 

   

Which in turn opens onto the general collection …

       

The Museum celebrates its twentieth anniversary next year.  The staff’s small, but what they lack in numbers they certainly make up for in passion.  What they’ve achieved, without any significant official funding, isn’t far short of miraculous.  The Maison d’Ailleurs website is here.

 

ORCS AUDIOBOOKS RELEASED THIS MONTH

A quick reminder that Tantor Media Inc brings out their audiobook version of my first Orcs trilogy in the US on 30th August.  Read by actor and voice artist
John Lee, it’s unabridged and runs for 23 ½ hours.  Anytime now audio samples will be available here.

Tantor will also be issuing audiobook versions of the second Orcs trilogy, Orcs: Bad Blood, on a date to be announced.

 

July 2010

ORCS INVADE BRAZIL …

This is the cover for the Brazilian edition of Bodyguard of Lightning, book one of my Orcs: First Blood trilogy, published by Panini in June. Another interesting take on how an orc might look.

 

. . . AND THEY'RE BACK IN ITALY

Also published last month - the Italian edition of Army of Shadows, book two of the second trilogy, Orcs: Bad Blood, from Mondadori.

 

ABOUT THE AUDIOBOOKS

Following the item last month about the forthcoming American release of audiobook versions of the Orcs series from Tantor Media Inc, readers in the UK have been asking if they can buy them here.  They’re available from Amazon UK, and there are three options.  Details of the standard version are here.  There’s also a library edition and an Mp3 download.  These are unabridged readings, by John Lee, running to 23 hours, 30 minutes.  Release is set for 30th August.

 

NEUCHATEL INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL

Now in its tenth year, the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival has grown into one of the most important global fantasy film events. 

I’m going to be in Switzerland for the festival, participating in a literary strand entitled New Worlds of Fantasy.  The programme items are being finalised as I write, but it’s been confirmed that I’ll be taking part in two open discussions on Saturday 10th July. 

In the first, New Frontiers in SF, I’ll be with French authors Serge Lehman and Richard Marazano.  The second, New Frontiers in Fantasy, has me alongside Pierre Pevel and Serge Le Tendre.  Details here.

 

 

 

DAVID GEMMELL AWARDS 2010 - THE WINNERS

The second annual David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy were presented at the Magic Circle headquarters, London, on 18th June. 

There were three categories this year: the Ravenheart Award for best cover art, the Morningstar Award for best debut, and the Legend Award for best novel.  The winners were:

Ravenheart: Didier Graffet, Dave Senior and Laura Brett for the cover of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz).
Morningstar: Pierre Pevel for The Cardinal’s Blades (Gollancz).
Legend: Graham McNeill for Empire (The Black Library). 

The awards are decided by open vote, and just over 15,500 were cast this year (as against almost 11,000 last year).  The Ravenheart received votes from 64 countries, the Morningstar 34, and the Legend an astounding 91,   confirming that the awards are proving to be truly international. 
You can find out more about the Gemmell Awards at our official website.

Here are a few photos from the evening, reproduced by kind permission of photographer Rob Monk and our media partner, SFX magazine.

Didier Graffet and Laura Brett with the Ravenheart Award

 

Pierre Pevel and the Morningstar Award

 

Graham McNeill with the Legend Award

 

June 2010

FRENCH EDITIONS

As I mentioned in the last couple of news updates, my French publisher, Bragelonne, is celebrating its tenth anniversary by publishing special editions of ten titles from its first decade.  These include my Orcs: First Blood trilogy, and this is the cover.  The books were released on 28th May in a promotion called “10 years, 10 titles, 10 Euros”. 

By the way, in last month’s update I was wrong to say that the two David Gemmell titles, Legend and Waylander, were going to be published in a single volume. Here are all the covers:

And this is a promotional poster for the campaign:

 

LEGION OF THUNDER IN ROMANIA

My Romanian publisher, Nemira, released Legion of Thunder (book 2 in the Orcs: First Blood trilogy) in May with this striking cover.
Here’s a promotional banner:

 

ORCS AUDIOBOOKS

We now have a US release date for Tantor’s audiobook version of the First Blood trilogy (cover above) - 30th August.  Read by British actor and renowned voice artist John Lee, this is an unabridged reading running to 27 hours.  It’s going to be available as a 22 disc CD package and in Mp3 format.  I can’t wait to hear it!

 

2010 DAVID GEMMELL AWARDS

I have the honour of being Chair of the David Gemmell Fantasy Awards.  This year’s ceremony is fast approaching, and it’s your last chance to apply for a ticket.  Here’s a message from Awards Administrator Deborah Miller:

“Because the DGLAs are all about readers and fans, it’s very important to us that the 2010 Award Ceremony is again open to both the publishing industry and fans of the fantasy genre.
”Last year’s ceremony was a glittering night of fun and surprises, held in the enchanting Magic Circle headquarters in London’s Euston.  Many fantasy authors attended to meet and mingle with the fans; and Raven Armouries - creators of the ‘Snaga’ battleaxe trophy - came to show off a full-scale Snaga and their newly completed Swords of Night & Day.  A lucky few were able to have their pictures taken with the awesome weapons.

”This year’s ceremony is at the same venue on Friday 18th June.  The Magic Circle theatre only holds 162 people, so if you’d like a ‘non-industry’ - or as we prefer to call them ‘Friend & Fan’ (F&F) ticket - you’ll have to move fast.  F&F tickets are £20 per person, and include a quality buffet and welcome drinks. 
”To apply for tickets come over to the DGLA website: http://www.GemmellAward.com  
(Note that you DO NOT HAVE TO REGISTER and become a member in order to get tickets.)  Click on ‘Award Ceremony & Ticket Purchase’ at the top of the page, which will take you to all the information you need.

“Do remember that the dress code is formal, i.e. long dresses for the ladies and suit and tie or DJs for the gents - no swords or battleaxes, unless you win one!
“If you have any questions, just email Deborah Miller, Awards Administrator on millerlau@clara.co.uk

”We hope to see you on the night!””

 

May 2010

FRENCH EDITIONS

Bragelonne published an omnibus of my Quicksilver trilogy on 16th April, with this fine cover by Didier Graffet. 

2010 is Bragelonne’s tenth anniversary, and as part of the celebrations they’re publishing a selection of titles from their first decade under the banner:
“10 years, 10 titles, 10 Euros”. 

These special editions will be released on 21st May, and here’s the list:

Légende and Waylander  by David Gemmell (Double volume)

Orcs – L'Intégrale by Stan Nicholls

Ayesha – La Légende du peuple turquoise by Ange

La Moïra – L'Intégrale by Henri Loevenbruck

Les Chroniques des Féals – L'Intégrale by Mathieu Gaborit

Le Maître du Temps – L'Intégrale by Louise Cooper

A vos souhaits by Fabrice Colin

Wonderful by David Calvo

Lord of the Ringards by Henry N. Beard & Douglass C. Kenney

 

ORCS IN ITALY

My Italian publisher, Mondadori, will be publishing Orcs: Bad Blood 2 : Army of Shadows as Orch: L'armata delle ombre in July.  I’ve not seen a cover yet, but I’ll post it here when it turns up.

 

MEANWHILE, IN HOLLAND ...

Pure Fantasy is one of Holland’s leading genre magazines.  This is the cover of special issue 18+, published in April.  As the title (or rather the number) implies, this is an “adult” issue, containing fantasy stories with an erotic twist.  They include a story by me entitled Three Whimsies.

 

THE WRITE FANTASTIC ANTHOLOGY

Here’s the jacket for Anniversaries, an anthology of all new fantasy stories published by NewCon Press to celebrate the fifth anniversary of writing collective The Write Fantastic.  It contains stories by Sarah Ash, Chaz Brenchley, Juliet E. McKenna, Jessica Rydill, Kari Sperring, Freda Warrington, Ian Whates and Liz Williams; and I’ve supplied an introduction.  Anniversaries is published as both a trade paperback and a limited hardback edition.  Details of the book, and TWF’s fifth anniversary event in Oxford on 8th May, can be found here.

 

PERSONAL APPEARANCE

I’ll be giving a talk about fantasy fiction and the writing life on Thursday 13th May, between 1.30 and 2.30 at Weoley Castle Library, 17 Beckbury Road, Birmingham B29 5HR.  It’s a free event but places are limited.  To ensure a place you can contact the library on Weoley.castle@birmingham.gov.uk, or call 0121 464 1664. 

 

GEMMELL AWARDS SHORTLISTS

The shortlists for the 2010 David Gemmell Fantasy Awards have been released.  There are three categories this year …

The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington
The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
The Drowning City by Amanda Downum
The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel
Lamentation by Ken Scholes

The Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art

Didier Graffet & Dave Senior for the cover of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
Jackie Morris for the cover of The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
Larry Rostant for the cover of Fire by Kristin Cashore
Jon Sullivan for the cover of The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel
Jon Sullivan for the cover of Empire by Graham McNeill

The David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Empire by Graham McNeill
The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 18th June atThe Magic Circle headquarters in London. You can vote on these shortlists, and have a chance of attending the ceremony, by visiting the awards website. 

 

April 2010

SHADOW ARMY REACHES HOLLAND

Here’s the cover for the Dutch edition of Orcs: Bad Blood 2: Army of Shadows, which Luitingh-Sijthoff of Amsterdam published in March. The Dutch edition of book 3, Inferno, should appear late this year or early next.

 

BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY: TWENTY YEARS, TWO SURVEYS

That’s the title of an interesting book just published by the British Science Fiction Association, and here’s the cover:

Compiled and edited by Paul Kincaid & Niall Harrison, the book combines the results of surveys conducted in 1989 and 2009. The same ten questions were asked on both occasions (with a bonus eleventh question in 2009) and responses were solicited from over 120 authors. (I was fortunate enough to be one of them.) The result is a fascinating insight into the way the sf and fantasy fields have developed over the past two decades. Well, actually it’s intriguing to see how some things have radically changed and others have stayed just the same. The book’s very well put together, and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t get at least nominated for one or more of the genre’s major awards. If you’re a BSFA member you’ll have received a free copy in their last mailing; otherwise, copies are on sale here.

 

THE WRITE FANTASTIC:
ONE DAY EVENT AND ANTHOLOGY

A press release:   The Fifth Anniversary Event May 8th 2010

Since our launch in May 2005, The Write Fantastic's diary has seen over 60 engagements, ranging from library and bookshop events, talks to local writers' groups and contributions to literary festivals to teaching creative writing.

We've found readers' appetite and enthusiasm for fantasy fiction is boundless, from epic tales of sword and sorcery to gritty urban myth. It's been our pleasure to help make sure that no one is missing out on all the wonderful reading currently on offer.

To celebrate TWF's fifth year, we're welcoming Kari Sperring, Ian Whates, Freda Warrington and Liz Williams to the team and holding our first day event, at the Jacqueline Du Pré Building, St Hilda's College, Oxford on May 8th 2010.

We're inviting friends and colleagues to share their insights and recommendations in a wide-ranging programme. Our author guests are Stephen Deas, Ben Jeapes, Geoff Ryman, Mike Shevdon and Ian Watson. We'll also be joined by David Moore of Solaris Books, Oxford's very own SF&F publisher, who'll be offering his editorial perspective.

The day will also see the launch of TWF's anniversary anthology of original stories.

Check our website for updates as details of the day are finalised!
- End of release -

The founding members of The Write Fantastic were Sarah Ash, Chaz Brenchley, Mark Chadbourn, Juliet E. McKenna, Deborah J. Miller, Jessica Rydill and myself. A couple of months ago, and due to our commitments elsewhere, Mark and I stepped back from direct involvement with TWF. But we continue to support the group, and we’ve both supplied introductions for the anthology mentioned above. As soon as I have details of the anthology’s contents I’ll post them here. Meantime, think about attending the fifth anniversary event; it’s going to be a good day.

 

GEMMELL AWARDS SHORTLIST

By the time you read this, the shortlists for the three categories comprising the David Gemmell Fantasy Awards will have gone online. There are five finalists for each of the following: the David Gemmell Legend Award (best fantasy novel of the year), Morningstar Award (best debut) and Ravenheart Award (best cover art). The winners are decided by public vote. If you’d like to decide who wins, just go over to the official Awards website. Voting is simple and free.
The Awards ceremony is going to be held at the HQ of The Magic Circle in London on Friday 18th June. Details on the website.

 

March 2010

I’m going to be among the authors appearing at this year’s Foire Du Livre De Bruxelles, on 5th, 6th and 7th March. Held annually in Belgium since 1969, this is one of Europe’s biggest and most prestigious book fairs. They’ll be around 1000 authors present, and some 200 panels, readings and debates. 70,000 visitors are expected. I’ll be there as part of the contingent accompanying my French publisher, Bragelonne, along with, among others, leading French fantasy authors Henri Loevenbruck and Pierre Pevel. The venue is the massive exhibition centre at Avenue du Port, 86C ,1000 Bruxelles. You can find out more about the fair at its official website.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRAGELONNE!

Talking of Bragelonne, this Spring marks their tenth anniversary. Over the past decade the company has grown to be mainland Europe’s largest and most successful publisher of fantasy and science fiction, and I’m proud to have been associated with it since its instigation. The Bragelonne Dream Team has come up with an innovative way of celebrating the anniversary. They’re going to publish deluxe, limited editions of ten books from that initial decade, and I’m very pleased to say that one of them is going to be the omnibus of my first Orcs trilogy. I’ll let you know the publication date when I have it, along with a list of the other titles and a preview of the jacket.

AND TO COMPLETE THE HAT TRICK …

Bragelonne are also going to publish an omnibus edition of my Quicksilver trilogy (Vif-Argent trilogy in France) this April. I like omnibus editions; they’re good value for readers, and people don’t have the frustration of waiting for subsequent volumes in a trilogy to appear. I’ll post a jacket here when it’s available.

 

THE SFX WEEKENDER

I mentioned this as pending in last month’s news round-up. The event, held in Camber Sands, Sussex over 5th and 6th February, turned out to be very well attended, with around 3000 people present, and it was lively and fun. Here are a few photos …

Me, fellow author Deborah J. Miller and the Tardis!

From a panel discussing the David Gemmell Awards …

L to r: Richard Morgan, Adrian Tchaikovsky,
Joe Abercrombie, Awards Administrator Deborah Miller, and
SFX Editor-in-Chief Dave Bradley acting as moderator.

And during the panel there was an …

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE GEMMELL AWARDS

To the effect that SFX is now the Awards’ media partner. Yes, the world’s leading multimedia science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine has come on board as of this year’s ceremony. We’ll be letting you know more about what this means just as soon as we iron out the details.

Meantime, keep an eye on the David Gemmell Awards website, where voting is now open for the Legend Award (best fantasy novel), Morningstar Award (best fantasy debut) and Ravenheart Award (best fantasy book cover art).
As last year, the awards ceremony will be held at the headquarters of The Magic Circle, in London’s Euston; on Friday 18th June. And you can be there - details on the website nearer the night.

 

February 2010

I’m pleased to report that I’m going to be a guest at one of 2010’s biggest multimedia science fiction and fantasy events, SFX magazine’s Weekender. Held 5th/6th February at Pontin’s, Camber Sands, East Sussex, the Weekender has a very impressive line-up. Other authors attending include Joe Abercrombie, Paul Cornell, Peter F Hamilton, Stephen Hunt, China Mieville, Richard Morgan, Robert Rankin and Justina Robson.

Among the visual arts guests are Tom Baker (Dr Who), Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood), James Marsters (Buffy and Angel) and leading graphic novel artist Dave Gibbons (Watchmen). (This is just a small selection; there are lots more guests.) There’s going to be a maskerade ball, live music, a mega-quiz and presentation of the 2010 SFX Awards.

Among other things, I’ll be on a panel discussing the Gemmell Awards, of which I’m Chair, along with Awards Administrator and author Deborah J. Miller.

To find out more about the event, and for ticket availability, check the Weekender blog and website. Hope to see you there!

ORCISH HAPPENINGS

This is an advance jacket for the German edition of Orcs: Bad Blood 3: Inferno (re-titled Blood Hunt in Germany).

Heyne publish this October.

 

 

Luitingh-Sijthoff will be publishing the Dutch edition of Bad Blood 2, Army of Shadows (as Leger van Schaduwen) this March. I haven’t seen the cover yet; I’ll post it here when I do.

 

Russian publisher Eksmo, which put out the first orcs trilogy and my Quicksilver series, has now bought the second trilogy; publication dates tba.

 

The first orcs trilogy has now been taken up by Panini for publication in Brazil. Again, publication date tba.

 

  AND ORCS FIND THEIR VOICE!

A piece of news I’m really excited about is that Tantor Media, one of the leading American companies in its field, will be producing audio-book versions of the two Orcs trilogies - and they’re going to be unabridged. The deal’s just been struck, so we don’t yet know who’s going to be reading them, or release dates. I’ll give details when I have them.

 

DAVID GEMMELL AWARDS FOR FANTASY

Followers of the Gemmell Awards continue to grow - the number of people registered with our website passed the 1000 mark over Christmas (it’s nudging 1100 as I write). Voting for the awards is now open, and this year there are three categories - the Legend Award (best fantasy novel of the year); the Morningstar Award (best newcomer); and the Ravenheart Award (best cover art). Anyone can vote; just visit the website for details.

This year’s David Gemmell Awards ceremony will again be held at
The Magic Circle headquarters in London, on Friday 18th June.

 

 

News Archive 2009

December 2009

Blatantly pinched, with thanks, from Orbit Books US.

Merry Christmas and a happy, book-filled New Year!

News updates resume in January.

 

 

November 2009

New Orcs Published in France This Month

Orcs: Bad Blood 2: Army of Shadows will be published in France by Bragelonne on 13th November.  As you can see, I again have a splendid cover by Didier Graffet.  It’s really fascinating to see how various countries and different artists interpret the series, and I think this is a particularly fine example.  In France the trilogy is called The Revenge of the Orcs. 

 

Italian mmpb

My Italian publisher, Mondadori, has now published the mass-market paperback edition of Orcs Bad Blood 1: Weapons of Magical Destruction, the book having originally appeared from Mondadori last year in hardback.  The cover has another interesting take on how an orc should look.
In Italy the trilogy’s called The War of the Orcs, and this volume has been renamed Sons of the Wolf.
I don’t have a publication date for book 2 in Italy yet, or any idea what it might be called, but I’ll post details here when I know.

Orcs e-books

Readers have been asking if the orcs series are available as e-books, and I’m pleased to say that most are.

You can download e-book versions of the UK editions here.

The American editions are available in various formats here (along with
e-books of my Quicksilver trilogy - re-titled the Dreamtime trilogy in US).

       

The above are also available for download to Amazon’s Kindle reader here.

 

The David Gemmell Awards

We have some exciting news concerning developments on the award front.  Here’s the text of a press release we’ll be sending out in the week beginning 2nd November:

When we established The David Gemmell Legend Award For Fantasy it was with the intention of subsequently introducing further award categories to cover other aspects of the fantasy genre.  We are now pleased to announce two new, additional awards, to be presented at next year’s ceremony.  They are -

The David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Newcomer

The David Gemmell Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art

 The Morningstar Award will give recognition to emerging talent in the field of fantasy fiction.  As David Gemmell always took a keen interest in new writers, and helped many onto the path to publication, we regard this as an appropriate category to add, and one we feel sure David would have approved.  

The Ravenheart Award will honour the best fantasy book cover art.  The importance of fantasy cover art deserves admiration, as do the artists who produce it, yet there is no major UK award acknowledging this.  The Ravenheart Award will fulfil that role.

Like the Legend Award, the winners of these new awards, for best debut author and best cover/artist, will be decided by popular vote.  The first Legend Award, for best fantasy novel of the year, presented at a ceremony in London in June of this year, garnered an incredible 11,000 votes from around the world.  We are confident that the Morningstar and Ravenheart awards, which are being created with the full approval of the Gemmell family, will be greeted with no less enthusiasm.

Details of the process whereby these new awards will be administered - and a glimpse of the handsome trophies - can be found on our website. 
Our aim is to establish, over time, a set of awards covering all aspects of the fantasy genre.  Launching this pair of new awards takes us a step nearer to that objective.

The 2010 David Gemmell Awards ceremony will again be held at The Magic Circle headquarters in London, on Friday 18th June.

Stan Nicholls Chair 

Deborah Miller Awards Administrator

 

Louise Cooper

May 29, 1952 - October 21, 2009

On a much less happy note, I was shocked and saddened by the death of fantasy author Louise Cooper, who passed away suddenly on 21st October as the result of an aneurysm.  She was 57 years old.  An enormously prolific author - she published more than eighty books for both adults and young readers - Louise was a consummate professional, a writer with a natural and enviable talent for storytelling.  She was also a kind-hearted, smart, funny human being with an unquenchable passion for her craft.

My wife Anne and I last saw Louise at Belgium’s Trolls & Legendes festival at Easter, where she was thrilled to receive a lifetime achievement award.  Here’s a photo taken just after the presentation -

Our thoughts and commiserations go to Louise’s husband, Cas, pictured on left.

 

October 2009

New orcs out in UK/US this month

Army of Shadows, Book Two in my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, will be published in the US by Orbit on 21st October.  Gollancz publishes in the UK on 22nd October, in hardcover and trade paperback editions; and I’ve just been told that the paper edition has already gone into a pre-publication reprint. 

 

 

Interviews

I have a couple of new interviews online.  Fantastinet is a French website, and if you go here you’ll be on a page that directs you to either the English or French version.

Italian site Fantasy World Forum is running an interview in English here and Italian here.

I also recently gave an interview to Ezzulia, a leading Dutch literary magazine that has both a print and an internet version.  As I write (30th September) the interview hasn’t appeared yet, but will apparently go up soon.

 

Oops! Department

In the last update I mentioned that I’ll signing at Forbidden Planet, Bristol this month.  Then I managed to fumble the date.  I said it was at 1pm on Saturday 25th October.  As several eagle-eyed visitors to this site have pointed out, that Saturday is actually the 24th.  Sorry.  I’ll be joined at the event by fellow Write Fantastic members Juliet E McKenna and Chaz Brenchley, and there’s a real possibility that one or two other fantasy writers will be present. 

So that’s Saturday 24th October at Forbidden Planet, Units 4 & 5, Clifton Heights, Triangle West, Bristol BS8 1EJ (Tel 0117 929 7767).

 

September 2009

Army of Shadows on the march

Army of Shadows, book two in my Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy, was published in Germany by Heyne on 3rd August (making it the world first edition) under the title Die Orks: Blutnacht. On 5th August it went to number one in amazon.de’s fantasy bestseller list of books translated from English. At time of writing (31st August) it’s still there, which is very gratifying.
The book will be published in the US by Orbit on 21st October, and in the UK by Gollancz the next day. In the UK it appears in both hardback and trade paperback editions.

American edition

British edition

Army of Shadows is the September lead title from the UK’s F&SF Book Club, and the American Science Fiction Book Club has it as a December “featured alternate” offering in December.

There are going to be French, Dutch and Italian editions of the book, among others, and I’ll post the publication dates here when I know them.

Progression of a cover

This powerful cover, of the American edition of the Orcs: First Blood omnibus from Orbit (published in September 2008), generated a lot of interest. It was based on a bust created by Tom Lauten, and I thought you might like to see some photographs of it in development. I love it!

 

And we’ve been sampled! A reader kindly sent me this -

My correspondent found it somewhere on the net, but frustratingly he can’t remember where! (Or it might have been forwarded to him.) I think it’s great. But I don’t like reproducing someone’s work (even if they adapted it from our original) without crediting them. So if you did this, or know who did, I’d appreciate being told. Apart from anything else, I’d like to compliment the creator …

Personal appearance

I’m going to be signing copies of Army of Shadows and other titles at Forbidden Planet’s Bristol megastore on Saturday 25th October between 1 and 3pm. I’ll be joined by writing colleagues and fellow Write Fantastic members Chaz Brenchley and Juliet E. McKenna, so it should be a good session. FP Bristol is located at Units 4 & 5, Clifton Heights, Triangle West, Bristol BS8 1EJ (Tel 0117 929 7767). Hope to see you there.

 

 

August 2009

What do the following have in common?

All of them, and a few others, have appeared since I last updated this site.  A pretty damning indictment of my snail-paced updating, eh?  I can only apologise, and plead a heavy workload.
For the record, they above are -

American omnibus edition of Orcs: First Bloodtrilogy	Spanish omnibus of First Blood	Romanian edition of Bodyguard of Lightning
French mass-market paperback edition of Bodyguard of Lightning	French mass-market paperback edition of  Legion of Thunder	French mass-market paperback edition of Warriors of the Tempest.
German mass-market paperback of First Blood trilogy (9th printing; variant cover)	UK edition of Orcs: Bad Blood 1: Weapons of Magical  Destruction	American edition of Bad Blood 1
French edition of Bad Blood 1	Italian edition of Bad Blood 1	French omnibus of the Nightshade Chronicles trilogy

Weapons of Magical Destruction was published in the UK in hardback, trade paperback and mass-market paperback, and I’m pleased to report that the mmpb edition, which appeared in May, is now in its fourth printing.

Meanwhile, the UK omnibus edition - this one - is in its fourteenth printing.

 

The US edition of the First Blood omnibus is available as a Kindle download; and the American Science Fiction Book Club has published editions of both the omnibus and the first volume of the Bad Blood trilogy. 

Weapons of Magical Destruction was published in Australia in February.

And here are a couple of covers for the forthcoming second volume in the Bad Blood trilogy:

UK edition (Gollancz, October 2009)

US edition (Orbit, September 2009) This is a provisional cover.

 

Orcs graphic novel

I mentioned here previously that the orcs graphic novel - which is from an original story and not an adaptation of the novels - will be entitled Fit For Purpose.  Now I’m pleased to be able to say that the artist is Joe Flood.  A talented young New Yorker, Joe has already been prolific, but is probably best know for his stunning work on Hellcity.  We don’t have a release date for Fit For Purpose yet, but publishers FirstSecond will probably put it out late next year or early in 2011.  The artwork is shaping up to be individualistic, eccentric and very impressive.  I’ll post some samples here nearer the launch.

 

The David Gemmell Legend Award For Fantasy

David Gemmell was a superlative fantasy author, and a good friend, and when he died unexpectedly in 2006 the feeling was that some way should be found to commemorate his memory.  The outcome was the establishment of the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy, and I’m proud to be Chair of the Award committee. 

The Award was decided by popular vote, and nearly 11,000 people from 74 countries participated.  We hoped for a good response, but this outdid anything we expected.  It was a great start, and bodes well for future years. 

Our award ceremony, a black tie and posh frock affair, was held on 19th June at the HQ of the Magic Circle in London.  The audience consisted of publishers, media, movers and shakers in the fantasy community and, most importantly, readers.  We were particularly pleased that David Gemmell’s children, Kate and Luke, not only attended but participated in the ceremony.  The winner of the Legend Award, for best fantasy novel of the year, was Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski for Blood of Elves(published in the UK by Gollancz).

Our aspiration is to make the Award the most prestigious in the field of fantasy literature, and we plan to add further categories in the coming years, to honour all aspects of the genre.  Go here to find out more about the Award.

Here are some photos from the ceremony.  They were taken by Peter Coleborn, our official photographer on the evening.

Author James Barclay kicks off proceedings with a spirited rendition of “A call to arms” from David Gemmell’s Legend.	Award Administrator Deborah Miller and Chairman Stan Nicholls co-host the ceremony
Anne Nicholls remembers David Gemmell	James conducts the charity auction on behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières, Dave Gemmell’s favourite charity
The shortlisted authors/representatives (Joe Abercrombie on right)	All five shortlisted authors were presented with a “baby Snaga”, a scaled-down version of the actual Award
A “baby Snaga”	Kate and Luke Gemmell open The Gold Envelope
Gollancz editor Jo Fletcher accepts the Award on behalf of Andrzej Sapkowski	The Award itself.  Based on the weapon wielded by David Gemmell’s most enduring character, Druss the Legend, it was specially created by Raven Armoury
Detail of the Award, engraved with the winner’s name	The Award committee and helpers

 

Interview

Towards the end of last year I gave a lengthy interview to leading German fantasy website Literatopia.  You can read it in English here.  Or if you prefer, the German version is here.

 

Facebook

I’ve finally given in and joined the rest of the world (or so it seems) and created a Facebook page, which you can visit here.

News Archive 2008

© Stan Nicholls

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