Archive for February, 2011
Nearly open for unsolicited manuscripts
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For one month only (March 1st to 31st) we will be accepting unsolicited manuscripts for science fiction, fantasy and horror novels.
Excited? We are!
From what we’ve read across the blogosphere, and on various forums, there are quite a few of you hotly anticipating our Open Door Month in March, and that begins in just a few hours. We open our doors at midnight tonight (GMT) and close them again at midnight (GMT) on March 31st.
We’ve just uploaded a page with information on exactly how to submit, and what to expect. There’s quite a lot of information there (as well as another linked page you should read) so grab yourself a drink before you sit down and digest. Read both pages, carefully. At least twice.
We’ve already stocked the office with copious amounts of sandwiches, crisps and caffeine pills in anticipation of the deluge we’re expecting.
So, what are you waiting for? Finish polishing that manuscript then HEAD HERE for details of how to submit (but not until tomorrow).
Angry Robot Podcast #8
Posted by: | CommentsIn our February episode, we welcome our first solo interview, Guy Adams, author of The World House and the forthcoming sequel, Restoration.
Theme song courtesy of John Anealio, find more of his awesome/twisted science fiction-themed music at SciFi Songs.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS feed or via iTunes.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Some forthcoming UK signing events
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LOADS of authors involved in these signing events. Come ‘n’ get ‘em while they’re hot! (And, you know, these are Angry Robot authors – they’re all hot!)
Thursday March 3rd – Dan Abnett
at Waterstones, Nottingham
from 7.00pm
Dan Abnett will be giving a talk and signing his many, many books, to celebrate the launch of his Prospero Burns title for Black Library. Dan’s a great talker, and he’s always worth listening to. This is a ticketed event – tickets are £3 and are available from the store. Make sure you get him to sign a copy of Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero for you while you’re there!
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Saturday 12th March – Andy Remic, Gary McMahon, Justina Robson, Adrian Tchaikovsky
at Waterstones, Leeds
from 11.00am until 2.00pm
In a cross-publisher event that would put the United Nations to shame, Andy and Gary (Angry Robot) are joined by Justina (Gollancz) and Adrian (Tor) for a multi-author signing. All genre publishers love each other, you see. There’re usually pillow fights, and everything!
Rem! will be signing Kell’s Legend and Soul Stealers and Gary will be signing Pretty Little Dead Things. Justina and Adrian will be signing their respective titles, too. This is a great opportunity to meet some of your favourite authors all in one place, without having to buy them a beer at a convention!
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Saturday March 26th – Dan Abnett
at Forbidden Planet Megastore, London
from 1.00pm until 2.00pm
Dan will be signing the limited edition hardback of his new Military SF novel, Embedded. This one is going to be huge, so order early to avoid disappointment. You can pre-order the book from Forbidden Planet if you’re unable to make it to the event. A collectible of the future, no doubt…
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Saturday 23rd April – Dan Abnett, Andy Remic, Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, Thomas Blackthorne (John Meaney), Colin Harvey. Also, possibly Ian Whates and Matthew Hughes, subject to other commitments.
at Waterstones, Birmingham High Street
from 12.30pm until 2.00pm
In an Angry Robot tour de force, we take Birmingham High Street by the short and curlies, and show it what’s what!
Lavie Tidhar is flying in from Israel, and Aliette de Bodard from Paris, so this is an excellent opportunity to meet them, and the rest of the Angry Robot gang, all in one place. Titles available for signing include:
Servant of the Underworld and Harbinger of the Storm (Aliette)
The Bookman and Camera Obscura (Lavie Tidhar)
Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero and possibly Embedded – not due for release for another 5 days, but we’ll try to get stock there (Dan)
Kell’s Legend and Soul Stealers and possibly Vampire Warlords (Andy)
Edge and Point (Thomas)
Winter Song and Damage Time (Colin)
City of Dreams and Nightmare and City of Hope and Despair (Ian – subject to availability)
The Damned Busters (Matthew – subject to availability)
An interview with Mike Shevdon plus the Nebulas
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Over at MyBookishWays.com, our very own Mr Mike Shevdon has been interviewed about his books, his writing and his free time*. Head there now, read the interview, and you can also be in with a chance to win signed copies of his two highly-acclaimed novels, Sixty-One Nails and The Road to Bedlam.
There’s something about not being able to write things down – to have to keep it all in your head at once – that helps me resolve problems by extending the horizon and seeing the big picture. It’s worked so often that it’s now referred to as ‘steaming the brain’ by the family.
And if you’ve had your head in the sand for the last 24 hours, you can’t help but notice that the Nebula Awards Shortlists have just been announced.
With so much great reading on the list, it’d be unfair for us to single anyone out. But we’re going to, anyway.
Congratulations to Aliette de Bodard, whose The Jaguar House, In Shadow is shortlisted for Best Novelette.
It’s a great list, and congratulations to all the nominees!
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*No, we don’t know what that expression means, either.
Bit of Locus love for Angry Robot
Posted by: | CommentsLocus is “the magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy field”. Now now, settle down – banish those mental images of George RR Martin in green wellies mucking out the pigs. It’s the magazine of the SF/F publishing industry, with in-depth coverage of all the aspects of our genre that mean so much to hotheads like us. Which is why it’s such an honour to get a mighty fistful of coverage from them in the February issue.
Faren Miller says this of Lavie Tidhar‘s literature-tinged fantasy The Bookman:
“Mingling the historic with tropes and entities out of pulp SF, steampunk, the period-appropriate mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and an earlier poem about some Ancient Mariner, Tidhar brings an unexpected sense of purpose to his wild gumbo of genres… That mixture or jugglinga ct involving themes, tones and literary forms, both high and low, is the greatest feat of legerdemain by this Israeli author. In The Bookman he essentially pulls off the impossible.”
And on the same page, Adrienne Martini looks at Lauren‘s peerless Zoo City:
“(Beukes’) main character, Zinzi December… has a voice that sustains you through the frenetic story. You keep reading because you want to know what happens to her because she feels so alive… While the narrative isn’t always straightforward, the underlying story about redemption is. I hope her journey continues on.”
Our thoughts exactly 
Cover Love – Reality 36
Posted by: | CommentsWell, hello. Don’t you look lovely today?
We know how much some of you enjoy seeing new cover art, so feast your eyes on this:
This is Reality 36 – the debut novel from former SFXer and White Dwarf editor, Guy Haley. The artist is the mighty Richard Jones, of the Artist Partners agency. Richard will be working on all of the covers in this series, which is handy, as he built Richards inside a computer so he can pose him in whichever fashion a cover demands.
That chap on the left? He’s a level 5 AI. He likes to play dress-up in bodies that look artificial. He also likes to dress as an old-fashioned PI. But he’s not crazy. Well, not like the majority of other level 5s…
And his uber-muscled pal, there? That’s his business partner – he’s an ex-military cyborg. Tough as they come.
Together, they are: Richards and Klein.
Reality 36 is published in the UK in August, and everywhere else in September.
What Are eBooks Worth?
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All this month, Shane Jiraiya Cummings is hosting a Grand Conversation on eBooks at his site. He invited me to take part, and as (a) I’m a big eBook devotee, and (b) I’d attend the opening of an out of date jar of lemon curd, I naturally said yes.
So, if you want to read about my views on what eBooks are worth (as opposed to what they cost), head here. If you don’t, don’t click this link.
Now available on Kindle, everywhere!
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At last, we’re delighted to announce that Angry Robot titles are now available for the Kindle, everywhere. Kindle owners in the Americas and Africa (excluding South Africa) have been able to buy titles on Kindle from Amazon.com. Now, everyone else can buy them from Amazon.co.uk or .com, and all for the cost of a glass of wine (each).
Yesterday we uploaded our 30 current titles to the UK Kindle store, and as of 15 minutes ago, 13 of them had ported across. We’d expect all 30 to be available within the next 24 hours, and from this moment on, all new titles will be available from Kindle US and UK on the same date.
The future – it’s good, innit!
Some jokes to start your Monday with a smile or a grimace
Posted by: | CommentsOn Friday we set a competition to win a proof copy of our edition of KW Jeter’s Morlock Night and Infernal Devices. The first four people from four different countries to email us a joke were the winners, along with one more, who made us laugh.
Well, there were lots of entries, and it was somewhat surprising to find so many centred around the art of self-love…
Here are the first 4 winners:
Ann Larimer from the USA
A man walks into a bar and says, “Ow.”
Ok, we didn’t state that the jokes had to be funny. Serves us right, I suppose.
Next up: Tony Lane from the UK:
A horse walks into a bar. Barman says “Why such a long face?”
Tony – seriously, you and Ann should hook up.
Lauren Smith from South Africa sent us the following:
A mother took her young daughter to an art museum. They came across a statue of a naked man. The daughter pointed to its penis and asked, “What’s that?”
The mother said, “That’s something boys have and girls don’t.”
Her daughter said, “But I want one.”
Wanting to end the conversation as quickly as possible, the mother said, “Well, if you’re a good girl you’ll get one when you grow up.”
Her daughter asked, “And what if I’m bad?”
A security guard who overheard the conversation mumbled, “Then you’ll get lots of them!”
Thanks, Lauren – that’s going to get us banned from some of the better search engines…
Steven Hogan from Canada sent us the classic:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side.
Ahh, sometimes the old ones are the best.
Sometimes, they’re just old, though.
And the winner for the best* joke is John Murray from California:
What can’t you hear a pterodactyl in the bathroom?
Because the “P” is silent.
An additional prize is to be awarded to Peter Jesenszky from Hungary, who narrowly missed out on being one of the first 4. This is the I’m-sure-some-people-will-find-it-amusing-but-I-haven’t-a-clue-what-it-means prize:
In a dark, narrow alley, a function and a differential operator meet:
“Get out of my way – or I’ll differentiate you till you’re zero!”
“Try it – I’m e^x…”
Commiserations to the following, who also made us smile, but who will remain Jeter-less for the time being:
Adrianna Valencia from the US:
Stephen Hawking walks into a bar…
Jukka Halme from Finland:
What do seamonsters eat? Fish and ships.
and Andrew Byers from the US:
Q: How many steampunks does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two – one to change it and a second to glue unneccessary clock parts to it.
Thanks to everyone who entered – the winners’ books will be posted today.
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*It’s a relative term… 
Friday Afternoon Quickfire Competition
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Here’s a simple competition for you -
I have 5 proof copies of KW Jeter’s Infernal Devices and Morlock Night to give away. These classic steampunk romps have been out of print since the late 1980s, but you can get your hands one one, now!
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What to do:
1) Send an email to incoming [AT] angryrobotbooks.com with the subject heading “Jeter Giveaway”
2) Inside the email, tell us a joke. Any joke. Preferably a funny one. Also include your full name and snail mail address.
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I will send a copy to the first 4 people to respond from different countries. So, if you’re first, you’re guaranteed to win. If you respond second, you’ll win if your address is in a different country to the first person. If you’re fifteenth, and no-one from your country has yet responded, you’ll win.
We’ll also send out a copy to the person whose joke makes us laugh the most, and we’ll put a selection of your jokes on our blog.
By entering, you are permitting us to put your joke (and name) on our blog.
And if you like the books, please consider posting a review at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, or whichever is your preferred online bookstore.
This competition closes at midnight tonight, wherever you are.
Now, go to it!
