Archive for June, 2009
Seen in the wild
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See that? Number 57 in the WHSmith Travel charts.
This book wasn’t on the shelves at the weekend, but first thing this morning at York train station, Kaaron Warren‘s astonishing debut novel, Slights, is not only on display, but they only have one copy left!
Pretty good for a book that doesn’t officially launch until the day after tomorrow!
You’ll see Slights and Moxyland in bookshops across the UK and Australia from this week, and there are some good offers on at the moment, such as the Buy One Get One Half Price that you see in this photo.
What are you waiting for? Go on and treat yourself…
Thick and Fast
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No, I’m not talking about me, but the rate at which reviews are starting to come in for our first set of books. Next off the starting block – Moxyland by Lauren Beukes.
Moxyland essentially deals with technical progress and how on it’s current track could quite easily result in complete loss of personal freedom, think a very adult version of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother mixed with Bladerunner, then peppered with “V” for Vendetta and topped off with cyberpunk classics like Snow Clash and you will begin to grasp the ultra modern novel that is Moxyland.
Quite a sound summary from the good people over at sciencefictionandfantasy.co.uk – but did they actually like it?
Moxyland is a highly charged, imaginative and emphatic story that manages to both impress and disturb at the same time. A word of caution though this is clearly an adult only novel, not for the younger readers.
That’ll be a “yes”, then. You can read the full review here.
Book of Secrets – First review now in.
Posted by: | CommentsNot sure if you want to buy Book of Secrets, yet? Well, check out the post below for a free sample chapter, and if that doesn’t convince you, head on over to Random Musings and read David H Burton’s review.
It’s quick, witty, and spell-binding. I couldn’t put this down
Still here? Why not preorder Book of Secrets from Play.com for only £5.99?
More Fantastic Samples
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We will be offering free sample chapters of all of our titles prior to release, and to show you just how much we love you (yes, even you – you look lovely today, by the way), today we have TWO free samples for you!
The following free samples are from Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner and Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson.
UK/Aus/eBook: 1 August ‘09. US/Canada: 15 October ‘09 (Book of Secrets) and 1 January ’10 (Nekropolis).
All rights reserved.
However, feel free to share these sample chapters with anyone you wish, or to post them on your own site. And if you like them, buy Chris’ and Tim’s books.
You can pre-order Nekropolis from Play.com for only £5.99 or Book of Secrets for the same low price!
Free Samples
The following extract is taken from Book of Secrets. Please note that the formatting will vary from that of the final commercial product.
The following extract is taken from Nekropolis. Please note that the formatting will vary from that of the final commercial product.
Mobi and PDF
Click on the appropriate icons, above to download the sample in your choice of format.
ePub users may choose to download the file (your system may change it to a .zip – if so, just rename the extension to .epub). Alternatively, type the sample URLs directly into your device of choice:
angryrobotbooks.com/samples/BookOfSecretsSample.epub
angryrobotbooks.com/samples/NekropolisSample.epub
Robot Army Website of the Month
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It’s that time again, when we announce our Website of the Month.
Dave Brendon’s Fantasy & SciFi Weblog is a good example of a genre blog.
The design is simple, and although the white/grey on black sometimes prevents the reading experience from being as enjoyable as it could be, there is always a lot of excellent content on the site – author interviews, competitions, news reports and reviews – and this more than makes up for it!
Dave Brendon has also been a staunch supporter of Angry Robot since we became active, and we’re pleased to announce his blog as our second Robot Army Website of the Month.
Dave – your prize will be in the post, soon!
Slights Review at The Book Smugglers
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I’m not sure how to write this review.
I don’t think I have the words to describe how dark and depraved and strangely, perversely heartbreaking Slights is.
Head on over to The Book Smugglers for the latest review of Slights (launched in the UK and Australia on July 1st, US and Canada October 1st).
As well as being extremely positive about the book (and after Slights it you’ll see why), it is also one of the most thoughtful analyses of the text that we’ve read. Not only do the good folk over at The Book Smugglers know good literature when they read it, they also know how to write about it!
Slights is a forceful, harrowing read, and is not only the best horror novel but one of the best books I have read in 2009. Be warned, this is a dark read and certainly isn’t for everyone…but I loved it. Absolutely recommended, for those with a strong constitution.
What are you still doing here? Go read the review! (Then pre-order from Play.com for only £5.99!)
Angry Robot is presented today by the letter “M”
Posted by: | CommentsHide us! Something seriously spooky just happened. Today, the planets all being in the correct alignment, we are announcing the signing of not one, not two, but three authors whose names begin with M. Only our devious Robot overlord master (you know, him, whose name begins with… M! Aye caramba!) knows how the hell that happened, but check this trio out:
Maurice Broaddus is one of the real good guys, so why the hell his fiction is so terrifying is beyond our understanding. The three books of the KNIGHTS OF BRETON COURT series is a modern retelling of the King Arthur cycle, set among the drug gangs of inner city America. Told through the eyes of King, as he tries to unite the crack dealers and do the right thing, it’s a stunning, edgy work, genuinely unlike anything we’ve ever read. Cheap movie analogy for you: Gilliam’s Fisher King meets The Wire. The first volume will be published by Angry Robot in summer 2010, with the remaining parts at six month intervals. Extraordinary.
More: mauricebroaddus.com
Matt Forbeck… well, where do you start? Multiple award-winning 
fantasy game designer, computer game creative, writer of so many novels and comicbooks across all the major genre properties… So it’s about damn time someone allowed him free reign with his own novels, no? And we have a pair of stunners. AMORTALS, to be published November 2009, is set just a few years in the future. After a cop is killed, his reincarnated clone must find out who did the deed. Double Indemnity meets Altered Carbon? Roxor!
That’ll be followed late spring 2010 by the equally fabulous VEGAS KNIGHTS. It’s Oceans Eleven meets Harry Potter as three student wizards use Spring Break in an attempt to break a Vegas casino using magic. Only… the casino has its own sorcerers, and they’re not going to hand over all the moolah to a bunch of twenty year-old wand-wavers.
More: forbeck.com
Mike Shevdon is the Brit in our pile, and our debut novelist. The immense SIXTY-ONE NAILS and its sequel THE ROAD TO BEDLAM follow Niall Petersen, everyday guy, from a suspected heart attack on the London Underground, into the hidden world of the Feyre, an uncanny place of legend that lurks just beyond the surface of everyday life. The Untainted, the darkest of the Seven Courts, have made their play for power, and unless Niall can recreate the ritual of the Sixty-One Nails, their dark dominion will enslave all of the Feyre, and all of humankind too. A massive rollercoaster ride from a stunning new talent, the first volume will be in stores worldwide from November 2009.
More: shevdon.com
A week in the life of an Angry Robot
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SciFi Now Magazine – one of the UK’s premier genre titles (also available worldwide) asked me what it is I actually do in the Angry Robot office.
I’m not sure if they were genuinely curious, or if they doubted I did anything other than sip exotic cocktails all day while listening to live jazz played by a quartet of meerkats that live in the corner of the room.
(For the record, that isn’t true – it only happens on Tuesdays).
If - like the charming editors at this august periodical - you have any interest in the working week of an Angry Robot Assistant Editor, pick up a copy of SciFi Now at your local newsagent. It doesn’t have any Angry Robot reviews this month, but we still like it. 
More interviews with Kaaron Warren
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With the UK and Australian launch of Slights less than 4 weeks away, everyone seems to want a piece of Kaaron! She’s interviewed in the current SFX magazine (out in all good newsagents now, fact fans!) and also over at Luke Reviews where she discusses minimalism, personal fears and cheese biscuits.
Tips for those new to electronic books
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We’ve been quite vocal in our support of the eBook, and so we’ve had quite a few enquiries from eBook virgins, interested in getting involved in this new(ish) medium.
Rather than tell you more about what we think of eBooks and readers (there’ll be plenty of that to come, believe us), we asked those helpful folk over at Mobile Read (in my humble opinion, one of the best sources for eBook and eReader information on the planet) to give us some hints and tips for someone new to eBooks. Mobile Read editor, Nathaniel Hoffelder give us the lowdown…
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The Beginner’s Guide to eReading by Nathaniel Hoffelder
1. The first thing a beginner should know is that you don’t need to buy a dedicated ebook reader. Do you have a PDA, Blackberry, or smartphone? Any one of these is more than good enough to get you started. I know quite a few people who use one of the above as their main reader and have no intention of buying a dedicated device. In fact, I even know someone who insists that the best way to read an ebook is on his PC.
2. While “ereader” is a common term for ebook reader, there is also a specific ebook format by that name. eReader cannot be read on any of the ebook readers currently on the market. If you are looking for books for the “Sony Ereader”, stop. The Sony Reader cannot read that format.
3. There are many sources of ebooks besides ebook retailers. Publishers sometimes give away an ebook as part of a promotion. Some authors (like Cory Doctorow) give away their work for free. And there sites like Project Gutenberg and Google Books that have quite a few public domain ebooks free for download. If you’d like to know more, click here.
4. I also need to tell you about something called Digital Restrictions Management. DRM is a security measure that publishers [or distributors] add to ebook files as a way to discourage piracy. In some countries, circumventing the DRM on an ebook is illegal. DRM is why you can’t, for example, read an Adobe PDF on all your computers. It’s also why the ebook you bought and downloaded yesterday cannot be read on the device you bought today. If you’d like to learn more, click here.
5. Know your ebook format. Each of the dedicated ebook readers supports exactly one DRMed ebook format. While it’s possible to convert from one ebook format to another, it’s not easy. And if the ebook has DRM, it’s illegal (in some countries).
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Standard disclaimer: This entry has been written by invitation, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of Angry Robot, HarperCollinsPublishers, or its staff.
