Archive for August, 2010
In the USA? Win some Angry Robot goodies!
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This will be our last blog entry of the day – we think you deserve a rest.
Today (as you will have gathered by now) we launched in the US and Canada. Our books are being carried by many bookshops (chains and independents), but in Barnes and Noble for the next three months our titles will be presented in freestanding Angry Robot displays.
Which is cool.
We’d quite like to see these displays, but we’re thousands of miles away. {sad face} So, we’d like to see some photos of them! {happy face}
What we’d like you to do is to take a photograph of you, holding one of our books, standing next to one of our displays in a Barnes and Noble. It’s probably a good idea to get permission from the store before you start taking snaps, though.
Send your photo to us at: INCOMING @ ANGRYROBOTBOOKS.COM
We’ll blog some of our favourite photos (so by entering you’re giving us permission to use the photo in this way). And one lucky winner will receive some random Angry Robot stuff from the Angry Robot Cupboard of Win. We’ll get one of our authors to choose the outright winner, so we don’t get the blame.
Competition closes midnight Saturday 4th September. No purchase necessary to enter (though we’d obviously like you to).
Angry Robot eBooks now available
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We’re big fans of eBooks, here at Angry Robot. Well, we’re big fans of books, and eBooks are just one of the formats that we love. We’ve been working furiously behind the scenes to get you eBook versions of our titles, and today we launch the first 9.
- Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
- Slights by Kaaron Warren
- Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero by Dan Abnett
- Winter Song by Colin Harvey
- The Crown of the Blood by Gav Thorpe
- Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon
- The Road to Bedlam by Mike Shevdon
- Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
- Kell’s Legend by Andy Remic
Our eBooks can be purchased through a number of online retailers, including the Amazon US Kindle store*, Barnes and Noble, Sony Reader Store, and many others. In the UK you will shortly be able to purchase them through Amazon Kindle UK and Waterstones. Within a few days our titles will also appear in the Apple iBookstore.
We have also launched our own eBook store at
Our eBooks are all currently priced at £3.50 (through UK retails) or $4.99 (overseas).
and if you purchase your eBooks through our own store, you can download them as often as you need to (in case you change eReading devices, for instance, or lose access to your copy for any other reason). And all downloads from angryrobotstore.com are DRM-free!
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Kindle US Note:
The search facility for these titles isn’t currently working at the Amazon.com Kindle store, so here are the direct links, while the techie gurus work their magic:
- Moxyland
- Sixty-One Nails
- Slights
- Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero
- Winter Song
- Kell’s Legend
- The Road to Bedlam*
- Zoo City*
*available from Thursday September 2nd.
The Latest Interviews and Reviews
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Colin Harvey – author of Winter Song (out today in the US and Canada) tells about his inspirations for the novel in this fascinating interview:
I loved the idea of a man capable of acts of incredible brutality, yet who could write beautiful poetry, who was almost heroically ugly, yet his vitality attracted women. Ragnar (the antagonist in Winter Song) was a fusion of two people I knew, because the sagas don’t attribute emotions or motives, only the character’s actions.
The book review blog Dark Fiction Review is having an Angry Robot Special this week, to celebrate our US and Canada launch. The first book under the microscope is Kaaron Warren’s award-winning Slights.
Slights, is one of those books that reaches into your core and takes something from you, whilst ultimately leaving something you really aren’t sure you wanted to be left with.
Gav Thorpe’s epic fantasy The Crown of the Blood is published this week in the UK and in 4 weeks in the US and Canada. Gillian Polack had this to say:
The Crown of the Blood (Gav Thorpe) is an old-fashioned sword and sorcery romp. There’s not a great deal of sorcery, but there’s lots of fighting and plotting and planning to conquer… it’s a fun book. This book is for readers who want a blast from the past; who want their hour of adventure in a strangGe world.
Mike Shevdon’s superior urban fantasy, Sixty-One Nails has its roots in fact as well as legend. Here, Mike reminds us of some of the history behind the novel.
“Red Light District in a Convent Garden” is an article on the history of Covent Garden, one of the main locations for Sixty-One Nails, proving that truth can sometimes be more surprising than fiction. This is a genteel area in the heart of the West End now, but it has a seedy past.
SciFi Now magazine talks to Dan Abnett about his first (after 35 tie-in titles) original novel – Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero – out today in the US and Canada.
Triumff has been around in my head as a concept for a long time, I think a lot of writers when they start out, they have projects they’d like to develop, and Triumff – bits of it anyway, are getting on for 20 years in terms of an idea. Way back when I was first getting into comics I was thinking ‘Can I make this into a comic? Is there a book lurking there?’ All sorts of things like that. So when I finally got to write a novel of my own for publication, one that somebody was actually going to buy and publish, it seemed that by dint of seniority it deserved the chance.
while over at SF Signal, Dan extols the virtues of the pun:
what it is with me and puns. Call me paranomasiac, but I love ‘em, god help me. Homophonic puns, homonymic puns, homographic puns, Homer Simpson puns, I can’t get enough. I love graphological puns and morphological puns, logical puns and illogical puns, polysemic puns and metonymic puns, old school puns and current puns and, at the risk of fracturing myself, I love compound puns. I can’t have too many multiple puns and as for double entendres, woof! get a load of the double entendres on that, if you know what I mean.
More, soon. 
Angry Robot Launches in the US and Canada today
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This will be the first of several posts today, as we’re all so gosh-darned excited here at Angry Robot Towers. You see, today’s the day we launch our first six titles in the USA and Canada, but then you already knew that, as the title of this post gave more than a little clue.
It’s been a fascinating, exciting journey, with one or two minor hiccups along the way, and we’re in a stronger position than we’ve been in since Angry Robot was first conceived, just over two years ago, in Hammersmith, London, England.
At 1.00 this afternoon (BST) we’ll be cracking open a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and invite you* to do the same**.
Check back throughout the day for further updates, competitions, news, and general buffoonery.
*Not at our expense, naturally – we’re lovely people, but we’re not rolling in money!
** Feel free to substitute cola, tea, coffee, or the beverage of your choice.
Win free books with Angry Robot and io9
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Everyone loves a competition – especially competitions that are pretty darn simple to enter!
To celebrate Angry Robot’s imminent invasion of the US of A and Canada, those lovely people over at io9 are giving you the chance to win some Angry Robot goodies. Head on over there to enter.
So what’s the Big Idea?
Posted by: | CommentsSimple – The Big Idea is a regular, popular feature at John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever, featuring writers, their books, and the ideas behind the words.
This week’s Big Idea feature is on none other than Mike Shevdon’s Sixty-One Nails. UK readers have been able to read and enjoy this for almost a year, of course – next week the US and Canada can do the same.
Here, Mike tells us all about the history of the novel, and the amount of historical research that goes into creating something very modern.
When I started writing Sixty-One Nails, I wanted to write fantasy set in the real world – the world of shopping malls, CCTV cameras and mobile phones. I wanted to create a feeling that if you were quick and observant enough, you might see something quite extraordinary. I wanted magic in the now.
This is easy to say, but it immediately spawns a host of questions.
Head here to read the questions, and the answers that Mike came up with.
Lavie Tidhar, Dan Abnett and @SFXmagazine
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Lavie
Yesterday was a long day, but thoroughly enjoyable. I travelled from York to London and back (a 450 mile round trip) to meet The Bookman author Lavie Tidhar for lunch, on one of his occasional forays to the UK, followed by an evening spend with Dan Abnett Esquire, his lovely wife Nik, and various member of the British Science Fiction Association. I interviewed Dan for the BSFA, and – as always – he was a fascinating interviewee, talking with great passion for around an hour and a half about his work for various tie-in universes (in comic, novel and screenplay formats) as well as his later work with original fiction. The BSFA always have a raffle at these events, so Dan brought a few of his graphic novels, Angry Robot supplied a few books, and The Black Library generously donated some books and audiobooks, too.
Last night was also the SFX party to celebrate the world’s biggest SF magazine reaching issue 200! That’s quite an achievement! Unfortunately, though I was invited (and accepted the invitation) I got my dates muddled up,and didn’t realise it was on the same night I was interviewing Dan, so I missed the party, though Lavie went in my stead, and thoroughly enjoyed himself, by all accounts. Congratulations to Dave Bradley and his team – and here’s to the next 200!
So, a good time had by all (despite the torrential rain – yeah, thanks, London).
We’ll be podcasting the interview with Dan soon, so keep an eye (and an ear) out for that.
Two brief reminders – Dan Abnett and Lauren Beukes
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If you’re in the London area (or can travel to it) tomorrow (25th August), it’s well worth popping into Belgravia, where I will be interviewing multi-million-selling novelist, comic-writer and screenwriter,Dan Abnett for the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA).
Dan is a great speaker, and with over 20 years’ experience in the business, he’s always fascinating to listen to.
Venue:
Upstairs Room
The Antelope Tavern
22, Eaton Terrace
Belgravia
London
SW1W 8EZ
Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle)
All welcome! (FREE entry. Non-members welcome.)
Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5.00).
There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.
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And don’t forget – you have until next Tuesday to enter the SFX Magazine competition to win a copy of Lauren Beukes’s Zoo City in limited edition hardback. Click here for the competition details.
If you don’t feel lucky, you can buy the hardback exclusively from Forbidden Planet – and we only printed 100 to sell – now that’s limited edition!
Or, you can wait for the paperback, which is out in the UK on September 2nd (December 28th in the US and Canada). Pre-order it from Amazon UK, or Waterstones, or pop into your local independent shop and ask them to order it for you.
- Limited Edition Hardback: £20
- Paperback: £7.99
- eBook: £3.50
Angry Robot TV launches!
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Ok, it’s not so much a TV channel as a collection of our multimedia links – videos, first chapter recordings, interviews, podcasts, etc.
So, pull up a chair, crack open a tub of your favourite ice-cream, and enjoy…
Choose your channel from the drop-down list under the new AR TV link in the main menu bar, above.
The Crown of the Blood – out next Thursday
Posted by: | CommentsYep – it’s almost time for Angry Robot to storm the battlements once more and retake our crown. What better weapon to use to crush our foes and dismantle their war machines, than the start of a new, truly epic fantasy series?
Gav Thorpe‘s The Crown of the Blood is just the book to help us defeat the usurpers and win the hand of the fair maidens that are… oh, it’s only Monday morning, and I think I’ve already worn this analogy dry.
Let’s just say that The Crown of the Blood is out on Thursday 2nd September in the UK (28th Sept in US and Canada), and it’s bloody good!
Don’t take our word for it. Over at James Atlantic Speaks the book gets an impressive 4 out of 5 stars* and the reviewer tells us:
This is one of Thorpe’s best novels. The setting and story are well thought out and are remarkably logical for a fantasy novel. If you enjoy military or historical fiction, you will enjoy The Crown of the Blood. Action, intrigue, conquest, and charismatic generals are waiting for you here!
And if that isn’t enough to whet your appetite, here’s a sample from the book. Yes, I know we posted this a couple of weeks ago, but it deserves another moment in the spotlight.
Click for full-screen. You can embed the free sample in your own site – just copy the code (by clicking on the “menu” button in the bottom right corner of the sample, and selecting “Copy embed code”) into your site.
*OK, technically, it gets 4 out of 5 sans stars, but I like stars. Perhaps it could get 4 out of 5 swords, or maybe 4 out of 5 dinosaurs – dinosaurs are cool. Anyway, whatever the rating system, it got 4 out of 5.
