Archive for Future formats

Apr
18

Announcing Angry Robot audiobooks!

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Yes, it’s big news press release time again! Here’s what we just announced to the publishing world…

Lively British science fiction and fantasy publisher Angry Robot (that’s us!) has signed an exclusive licensing deal with the renowned Brilliance Audio. The US-based company will create and release audio editions of the imprint’s titles, including new releases and selected backlist. Recordings will be available for the retail and library markets on compact discs, MP3-formatted compact discs, and as files for download worldwide.

Brilliance Audio, a Michigan-based audiobook publisher that is part of the Amazon.com group of companies, publishes more than 600 audiobook titles annually. They are a leading publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy in audio, having published multiple Hugo and Nebula nominees and winners.

Briliance’s SF & Fantasy Manager, the tireless John Grace said, “The one thing I know is that the face of publishing will be very different ten years from now. What I don’t know is what it will look like. What I am personally sure of is that publishers like Angry Robot who are focused and specialize in something they are passionate about will flourish in the future, which is why I’m very glad to join forces with them.”

Meanwhile, our Marco added: “Today’s customer wants great stories, as they always have, but they want them in the format that’s most convenient to them – which isn’t always the traditional one. Our ultimate aim is to have our books appear in all popular formats, to any reader anywhere in the world, at the same time. Brilliance will help us realise this aim, brilliantly.” (See what he did there?)

Additionally, we can tell you that titles will be appearing as soon as this summer! As soon as we have a confirmed set of release dates, you’ll read them here first.

Feb
17

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 He invited me to take part, and as (a) I’m a big eBook devotee, and (b) I’d attend the opening of an out of date jar of lemon curd, I naturally said yes.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.

Categories : Future formats
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Feb
16

Now available on Kindle, everywhere!

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kindleAt 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!

Categories : Books, Future formats
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Advent Calendar
Today’s Advent Calendar surprise is courtesy of Tim Waggoner (author of Nekropolis and Dead Streets). It may not be the most uplifting Christmas message you’ll read, but it’s certainly one of the most honest!

Un:Bound Video
After a few teething problems, the team at Un:Bound have launched their pilot video magazine, Un:Bound Video Editions. There’s a lot crammed into the half-hour, including a behind-the-scenes at Tor, some author interviews, Alasdair Stuart being kind and mean at the same time, and yours truly, giving the first in a series of publishing tips.

Access the fun and mayhem here.

Consider the following statements:

  • 1. We love short stories
  • 2. You love short stories
  • 3. Many of our authors write short stories

Put them together, and what do you get? That’s right – the Angry Robot Short Story Store.

Here’s the official Press Release type thing, but what it boils down to, is: From December 1st you can buy short stories (or “Angry Robot Nano Editions”) by our authors from our online eBook store (www.angryrobotstore.com) – at realistic prices. And if you buy lots, you get great discounts!

Digital publishing – it needn’t be rocket science…

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PRESS RELEASE

On December 1st 2010, Angry Robot will be launching “Nano Editions”. Exclusive to the publisher’s own webstore at angryrobotstore.com, Nanos are digital short stories by Angry Robot novelists, sold at sensible prices in ePub format, ready to load onto the world’s most popular eBook readers.

Most Nanos will be in the 5,000 – 15,000 word range. Shorter works than that will be automatically bundled with another story to ensure value for money.
Talking of which – stories will cost just 59p each (approximately US $0.95). Readers can bundle a collection of any 10 by any combination of authors, for only £3.49 (US$5.59). The files will be DRM-free and available worldwide. If demand for the stories takes off, AR plan to also sell them via eBook retailers.

Angry Robot Editor Lee Harris said, “Publishing is changing, but our role as publishers remains the same – to find cool stories and bring them to readers. This is another step in Angry Robot’s ongoing plan to embrace the new opportunities digital formats provide – and an excellent way for readers to sample unfamiliar authors, without breaking the bank.”

Authors included in the Nanos series include multi-million-selling novelist Dan Abnett and award-winning short fiction authors Kaaron Warren and Aliette de Bodard, along with many others. We will have at least 30 Nanos available for the December 1st launch, with more added at regular intervals.

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Aliette de Bodard has created a rather wonderful trailer for her new book – Harbinger of the Storm (Obsidian and Blood, Book II).

And Colin Harvey (author of Winter Song and Damage Time) was recently interviewed by Cheryl Morgan for Salon Futura Magazine. It’s a really good interview – watch it here.

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Oct
28

The Big Idea: Servant of the Underworld

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Aliette de Bodard’s fantastical Aztec murder mystery, Servant of the Underworld is currently the focus of John Scalzi’s Big Idea feature at his blog, Whatever.

I picked the Aztecs for a combination of reasons. I wanted a non-Western culture because I’d read far too many medieval fantasies and mysteries and wanted to go further afield. I didn’t know much about Aztec culture at the outset, other than their reputation for bloodthirstiness–which seemed to me a bit dodgy once I realised that it came from the accounts of the conquistadores, who were hardly saints themselves.

Head on over to Whatever to read a little more about the book, and about the type of research necessary to make a story like this as intelligent and as authentic as possible (not to mention as enjoyable).

Why not then head across to your favourite store and pick up a copy? The paperback is just US$7.99, or you can pick up an eBook for just $4.99 from angryrobotstore.com, or your favourite eBook retailer.

At the tie of writing this blog entry, Servant of the Underworld is at number 20 in the historical fantasy charts in the Amazon Kindle store! Pretty good for a book that was released just 2 days ago. (And as an added bonus, Amazon have reduced the price of their Kindle edition to just $3.99! Quick – go snap it up!)

And here’s a beautifully atmospheric book trailer, created by the author, herself:

Eight weeks and one day ago we had no titles available for purchase in the US and Canada. As of today, we have eighteen! EIGHTEEN! Our latest batch of titles has hit the States today, and hit it hard.

Don’t worry if you haven’t yet bought all of our titles – Christmas is just around the corner, and a stack of AR books would make anybody happy – just pop them all on your Christmas list.*

So, this is what you can expect when you walk into your favourite store this month:

SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD by Aliette de Bodard – a unique fantasy, set  in the ancient Aztec City of Tenochtitlan. A priestess disappears from an empty room drenched in blood. Acatl, high priest, must find her, or break the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead. But how do you find someone, living or dead, in a world where blood sacrifices are an everyday occurrence and the very gods stalk the streets?

Andy Remic has pulled out all the stops with SOUL STEALERS – the second in the gloriously violent Clockwork Vampire Chronicles (The first, of course, was Kell’s Legend). In fact, he’s not just pulled out all the stops – he’s put them all back in again, just so they can be re-pulled! Now that’s dedication. The book has so much blood we considered printing it on red paper.

DAMAGE TIME is Colin Harvey‘s Philip K Dick-esque novel of near future America. SFX Magazine said that there’s “much to admire, particularly Harvey’s ability to twist a plot in unexpected directions.” A future classic, perhaps?

Chris Roberson‘s Angry Robot title is BOOK OF SECRETS – an adventure across America, that combines a mysterious artifact, classic pulp fiction and tales of derring-do. It’s what Angels and Demons might have been, if there were actually angels and demons in it.

THE ROAD TO BEDLAM is a sure-fire winner. A sequel to September’s Sixty-One Nails by your man, Mike Shevdon (and the highest selling fantasy title on the Kindle, at one point), it’s the story of what happened to Niall after the events in the first book. Let’s just say, that it’s pretty devastating stuff! Urban fantasy at its very best.

CITY OF DREAMS AND NIGHTMARE is the debut novel by the always lovely, Mr Ian Whates. It’s set in the incredible, impossible city of Thaiburley – a vertical city where the rich live in the upper storeys and the poor fester in the levels below. When a young thief witnesses a murder on the top level, he must use all his street smarts to escape the killers, the law, and the creatures that dwell in his nightmare city. A must-read.

That’s a huge amount of reading, and we know that it’s difficult to read eighteen titles in just three months, so we’re not publishing anything in December, just so you’ll have plenty of time to catch up. How good we are to you. But be warned – come January we’ll be all up in your face, again!

Don’t forget, of course, that all these titles (and those from September and October) are available as eBooks from your favourite ebook store, or from our own palace of electronic goodness at angryrobotstore.com. Enjoy.

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*Not a request. Just do it. Now.

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Here’s a special treat for you – Andy Remic reads from the first two volumes in his Clockwork Vampire Trilogy.

First up, Kell’s Legend (about 10 minutes in length):

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And if your constitution is strong enough, here’s a snippet from Soul Stealers (about 14 minutes): 

WARNING: Definitely Not Safe For Work

Kell’s Legend is available now.

Soul Stealers is available in the UK now, and in the US and Canada from October 26th.

Categories : Books, Future formats
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Oct
04

And the #1 Kindle fantasy novel is…

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Says it all, really…

(Yes, we know it won’t last. But just right now, HELL YEAH!!!)

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