Archive for News
Chuck Wendig signs on for two more books!
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We can’t get enough of that Mr Wendig, here at Angry Robot, which is why we refused to unlock his writing cell door, despite previous assurances to the contrary. He’s just going to have to write more for us! Bwahahahaaaaaaaaa!
*ahem*
Aaaaanyway. Chuck has graciously agreed to write another couple of books for us (bringing the current total to six!), beginning with Bloody Brides - the sequel to The Blue Blazes (out next Tuesday in eBook worldwide, and in paperback in the US and Canada, the following week in paperback in the UK). Bloody Brides will be published in early 2015, followed by another (top sekrit) book, later that year.
When we opened the food hatch to his cell, Chuck said,
“PLEASE CALL THE POLICE THEY WON’T LET ME LEAVE THEY JUST KEEP MAKING ME WRITE THESE BOOKS AND I HAVEN’T SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY IN TWO YEARS– oh! I’m sorry, what I mean to say is, Angry Robot is full of awesome people bringing awesome books into the world and I’m happy that they’re continuing to afford me the opportunity to reduce the overall quality of their stable of authors. I am, as always, excited to continue my relationship with these charming robot curators of genre fiction.”
The deal was negotiated by Angry Robot Senior Editor Lee Harris, and Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
NetGalley Info
Posted by: | Comments***20/05/2013 UPDATE***
Hi again!
First off, thanks to everyone who has commented, tweeted, shared and participated in this conversation; it’s been very encouraging to see how much we all want to make NetGalley even better! I just saw this NG Tumbler post and think it’s worthwhile sharing as well: http://netgalley.tumblr.com/wellness. They’re running a Wellness Pledge programme to help users improve their profiles and usability of the site, with the aim being to get a badge posted to your profile showing publishers that you’re committed to being “NetGalley Healthy”! Here’s the page for the pledge: https://www.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=4ca06851f92c4ded943c5816b387caa4
I hope that further helps!
Caroline
***17/05/2013 POST***
So first off, I want to say how much I utterly love NetGalley; it’s an amazing tool for everyone involved and strikes up conversations about books prior to publication in a, largely, hassle-free manner.
But after working with it for the last month, I thought I’d put together a few, hopefully, handy tips and some advice. The aim is that this will help reviewers, bloggers, librarians, booksellers and everyone else who uses NG, understand what we, as publishers, would love to see in requests. If this helps us approve more requests, and gives you an insight into what we’re looking for, then I’ll be very happy! Thusly:
Profiles
When I was first applying for my publishing internship way back when I was still in college, my cover letter was all about how much I loved books, and thus this naturally meant I was made for the world of publishing. That is, until it was pointed out to me by my lovely publishing mentor that it’s a given to all involved with books that we’re voracious readers who absolutely love everything bookish. It doesn’t mean it’s not important that you love reading, but to us, what’s more important is what you’re going to do after you read our books. Ideally I’d love to see the following in your profile:
- • Links to your blog/website/online forums where you talk books
- • Your bio as a reviewer/bookseller/librarian (from here on, NG user as I don’t want to leave anyone out!) is really important:
- • how long have you been active whether reviewing, book club recommending, or as a bookseller, librarian etc;
- • where have you reviewed in the past
- • where do you think you’ll be sending this review
- • who will you be talking to about the book ie fellow students/bloggers/librarians/booksellers/customers
- • If possible, include direct links to some sample reviews or blogs/school library sites
- • If you’re a librarian, and registered with the American Library Association, please try and register your membership number with the NG site so you have the official ALA logo beside your name. That makes a big difference! I’m not sure how you do this, and am happy to be guided, and can include a how-to here if needed.
- • For bloggers/reviewers, we absolute love to see your stats: the most useful and helpful basic site statistics are:
- • dated eg as of 17 May 2013 I have xyz followers…
- • if you have a newsletter subscription, tell us how many subscribers you have
- • Page views per day (average)
- • Unique visitors per month
- • But don’t just tell us about your site, especially if you don’t have one! If you use Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads etc and will be talking about the requested book on these sites, you can still tell us how many followers, friends, interactions you have.
Requesting
- • Whenever we put a title on NG, we send out the respective group email: to the Robot Army, the Chemistry Set or the Witness Protection Programme. We always urge NG users to get requests in early, and I can’t stress that enough: there are often hundreds of requests and we cannot match that amount for each book so do get your request in as soon as possible
- • With that, please make sure you do have time to read the books you’re requesting, and that more importantly you download them as soon as possible: our books are generally only available for 4 weeks on NetGalley so if you’ve been approved, please do download the title
Posting Reviews
When you’re sending in your review, there are a few things that would really make my job easier… and also make me love you even more!
- • Please include the date the review was published especially if it’s a forthcoming review
- • If you run your own blog, or contribute to one, send us the link which the review will appear on, but also don’t forget to include the link for your Goodreads account, your Amazon reviews, twitter or basically anywhere else the review will appear. This not only makes it easier for me to remember how amazing you are, but also to help promote you and your work: if we’re not already connected on Twitter, I’ll tweet your review and link to you. We want you to get as much out of your work as we can.
Possible Reasons for Declining
First off, none of us like declining people… it makes us sad, really. We love our books, and so look forward to people reading them and sending back informed reviews, whatever way they may go. It’s the nature of the game that not all books are going to satisfy all readers, and we’re never going to decline you because you didn’t like our last book or anything silly. But it is a business, and we do need to make sure we don’t potentially undermine any book’s worth by sending out copies to everyone without seeing a value in it. So, to avoid you and I both feeling terrible, please bear in mind:
- • If your profile has no link to a blog, or any discernible outlet, but you maintain you’re a reviewer, it definitely lowers your approval chances
- • A profile with little info at all will also lower approval rates
- • If you provide a link to a website but there haven’t been any recent posts, or it doesn’t have any book reviews, that will look odd. If there’s a reason for this (you’ve been caught up in something else and are looking to get back to bloggging, for example, let us know that – add it to your bio)
- • No bio at all: unless you’re an extremely high-profile person or known to us personally, this is always worrying
I think that covers everything; if you think of anything you’d like clarification on or want to run past me/us, please comment below. I’d really love to hear from NG users as well, especially on what we could be doing to help you: this is a site that we’ll all get as much out of as we put in, so let’s start talking about how we could all do better and help each other out!
Happy Friday, everyone!
Caroline
Welcome to Exhibit A
Posted by: | CommentsRegular robot followers will know that we’re intent on world domination. A little under four years ago we launched Angry Robot in the UK, followed by the US and Canada a year or so later.
Last September we launched our new YA imprint, Strange Chemistry, to critical acclaim, and today sees the launch of our new Crime/Thriller imprint, Exhibit A, with the incomparable Emlyn Rees at the helm – himself a bestselling novelist.
Exhibit A’s launch titles are Scare Me by Richard Parker and Penance by Dan O’Shea, available in paperback today in the US and Canada, and in ebook worldwide. UK crime fans only have to wait until Thursday for their fix!
Head over to Exhibit A to find out more!
Robot Round-Up 26.04.13
Posted by: | CommentsCaroline here for my first Robot Round-Up, and what a gathering it is!
The week of April 15 was off a great start with Damien Walter’s Guardian round-up of the best young novelists from SF’s universe, even more so with not 1…nor 2…nor 3…but 4 Angry Robot authors being highlighted. Lauren Beukes, Madeleine Ashby, Aliette De Boddard, and Chuck Wendig are definitely four writers who, simply put, “tell great stories”.
Courtesy of @EMAldred, I present to you the wonderful display of Angry Robot Books in Foyles St Pancras:
I do like it when authors promote their stable mates and Joseph D’Lacey’s tweet does just that, with this photo of Adam Christopher and Emma Newman from WHS.
As we fast approach the publication date (April 30 for US/ebook and May for 2 UK) for Wesley Chu‘s debut novel, The Lives of Tao, the reviews are coming in thick, fast and impressive…just the way we like them!
• Over on The Founding Fields Bane of Kings declared The Lives of Tao to be an “awesome, fun read” whilst Upcoming4me not only agreed, likening it to “the best carnival rides, it is unlikely that you will forget it anytime soon, they also were lovely in praising the noses of our editorial Overlords in sniffing out new talent…thank you!
• Wesley and The Lives of Tao were busy on Fantasy Book Critic with Wesley’s Guest Blog on what goes into a great villain such as Sean Diamont, and after picking up his blown-off socks Mihir Wanchoo excitedly reviews The Lives of Tao as “one of the best amalgamations of SF, Thriller, buddy-stories, comedy and other genre assortments, which was even more impressive because it’s a debut and is funny as hell.” Nice!
• Troubled Scribe’s Liam is currently searching for his own brain-sharing alien but before he left, he described The Lives of Tao as “a fun, exciting, alien, sci-fi romp through history and espionage. Tao has had way too many lives to meet them all, but you should be sure to give it a shot by reading this book!” and gave it 9 out of 10 Liams.
• Christal on Badass Book Reviews highly recommends The Lives of Tao to all “those looking for a uniquely modern science fiction yarn” and reckons it to be an enthralling debut!
• If you want to hear Wesley reading from the book, check out this YouTube link, courtesy of William Shunn.
• Wesley has taken part in a number of SF Signal Mind Melds recently, one such talking about humans and AIs, which also featured Madeline Ashby whose second Machine Dynasty novel iD will be out in June.
• Every Read Thing interviewed Wes, and there you can read about his books of 2012, favourite books and authors, his love for sci-fi, and some of the ideas and research behind The Lives of Tao. 
• Kirkus reviews have picked The Lives of Tao as one of their April picks: check it out here
• Jessica at the Apex Book Company has highlighted Wes’ debut as a recommended read
• The Qwillery are continuing their Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars and April features the fantastic cover of The Lives of Tao (by Argh! Oxford). Click here to vote!
• Finally, here’s a link to Wesley’s blog where he has a great list of interviews and blogs to date, plus forthcoming!
More reviews for Adam Christopher‘s The Age of Atomic:
• Adventures Fantastic not only currently have Adam Christopher’s books in their Featured section but have been writing about The Age Atomic and the fast clipped action within. With “plenty of chases, fights, and intrigues for fans of pulp fiction”, they demand readers to Pick. It. Up. Their sentiment; my bossy intonation.
•Over on The Fiction Stoker The Age Atomic is awarded four strokes out of five, and rightly so for it is declared “relentlessly entertaining” and with a “remarkably striking and disturbing villain” in Evelyn McHale, “fans of funny robots, pulp detective novels and genre-bending will find much to like”.
• Make sure to keep an eye on the forthcoming April issue of VS Comics for an interview with Adam.
• The Financial Times delightfully announced The Age Atomic “a worthy successor [which] has the same jazzy plotting and anything-goes attitude that made Empire State such an unalloyed pleasure.”
• As always, Adam was kept busy and held an AMA over at Reddit, answering amongst other questions, his ideal casting for Jennifer Jones and Evelyn McHale.
• And in a HUGE finally, Adam has been short-listed for not one but two awards at this year’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards! Empire State has been shortlisted for the Best New Novel (and deservedly so) and Adam himself is up for Best New Talent. Eligible voters are members of SFFANZ or Au Contraire, the NZ national science fiction convention, so please do pass this on if you happen to know any such members, or indeed are one!
• If the June release of Chuck Wendig’s The Blue Blazes (May 28 for US/ebook release and June 6 for UK) is just too far away, then head to the mighty Tor.com and whet your appetite with a glimpse into this fantastic title.
• “Sin City after doing an 8-ball of mystic cocaine”…an epic summary of The Blue Blazes from The 52 Review. It thusly describes Chuck’s prose as “blunt force choreography, full of brutally disturbing descriptions, and wrecking ball action” whilst saying “fans of noir fantasy and urban fantasy with a bleeding edge should definitely explore the world of The Blue Blazes.” Roll on June!
• Joseph D’Lacey had, in his words, a huge first this last week with Black Feathers being excitedly photographed in WHS. Photo courtesy of Joseph’s Twitter
• The review on A Fantastical Librarian firstly highlights the importance of a great cover as Black Feathers image grabbed and intrigued Mieneke, and she does sound pleased that it did! Describing Joseph’s prose as poetic at times, Mieneke praises Black Feathers as “a compelling narrative and an amazing adventure”.
• Joseph was also on My Shelf Confessions to discuss his love for all things apocalyptic
• Since our last Robot Round-Up, the book trailer for Black Feathers was released, and if you haven’t already seen it, here’s your chance!
• Ever catch yourself thinking about what must go into writing a book like The Marching Dead, or about the worries of writing a sequel to the brilliant The Corpse-Rat King? Wonder no more, but head over to Upcoming4me to hear Lee Battersby’s ‘Story Behind’
• The cover reveal for Emma Newman’s Any Other Name (May 28 for US/ebook release and June 6 for UK) was excitedly received. Fantasy Fiction’s Jennie Ivin is already looking forward to book three’s cover given how fantastic Between Two Thorns and Any Other Name look side by side, whilst Uncorked Thoughts thinks it “absolutely beautiful”
• Emma was busy with a short story featuring Between Two Thorns’ characters Claudia, Richard, and Imogen, over on Dark Faerie Tales, which is also running competition for a copy of the book, as well as appearing on Ujima Radio’s Women’s Outlook with Cheryl Morgan, which can be listened back to here.
• Over on Portland Book Review, Between Two Thorns was awarded five stars out of five, with reviewer Katie Richards declaring it “part Jane Austen novel of manners mixed with a contemporary fantasy novel”.
That *should* be everything for this round-up but do let me know if I’ve missed anything (be gentle!), and do come back next week for more linkage!
Welcome our latest Robot recruit, Caroline Lambe
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We’ve had a small reshuffle up here in our terrifyingly gun-bedecked orbital headquarters.
Please welcome our new Publicity Manager, CAROLINE LAMBE. She’s based full-time in the Nottingham office, and will greatly enhance our book promotion and marketing capabilities, from wrangling metadata and TIs for our new sales partners Faber, to arranging reviews and bookstore events. She joins us from Liberties Press in Dublin, and we’re sure you’ll make her welcome around these parts.
In other news, DARREN TURPIN has now completed his move from a full-time to a freelance role as our website manager. He’s still lurking in the background of everything that happens on this site, just… well, over there rather than right here in our midst. ROLAND BRISCOE, UK sales maven, has moved on to pastures new, and we wish him all the very best as he rejoins the world of humans. Right, back to engineering this whole total global domination malarkey…
Robot Round-Up, 06.04.13
Posted by: | CommentsDamn, April already? Isn’t this year flying past? But also, that means that it’s British launch week for the wonderful The Age Atomic, the terrifying Black Feathers and the incontinence-inducing hilarity of The Marching Dead.
That man Joseph D’Lacey has been hither and thither promoting his book in the UK, and many thanks to Blackwells and Big Green for letting us hijack your stores.
• The mighty Tor.com said the novel is “an exceptional piece of apocalyptic/horror/fantasy fiction”, which is true.
• Upcoming4Me rather agreed: “a refreshing take on the whole post-apocalyptic genre and a great introduction to the writing of Joseph D’Lacey”.
• SciFi Now magazine gave it a half page and said the novel “artfully weaves a tale of destruction and rebirth”.
• Head to Popcorn Reads for a review and a chance to win an advance proof: “I loved this novel, despite the fact that it gave me chills and some bad dreams.”
• … or Book Bones Buffy, who also has a proof to give away, to celebrate “a story that is irresistibly addicting.”
• Fantasy blog Draumr Kopa recommended Black Feathers “to anyone who wants a more intelligent story, with lots of secrets and mystery, people who don’t mind a little thinking while reading.”
• And Then I Read a Book were blown away by the book: “It terrified me, made me angry, made me sad, transported me somewhere new and yet strangely familiar, and hasn’t left my head yet. It combines mythology, folktale, shamanism, coming of age and apocalyptic themes to create something very special.”
• And Stanley Eriks concluded by saying: “Black Feathers is an original and intelligent apocalypse story. It’s a myth-filled fable of the end of the world on an individual basis. It’s a coming-of-age story set on a cruel and broken Earth.”
The inimitable Lee Battersby has returned, bringing hapless half-dead Marius don Hellespont with him in The Marching Dead, the sequel to The Corpse-Rat King:
• Kate Of Mind blog loved loved loved it, giving it “all the stars” and saying “With this sequel, Battersby kicked up everything I loved about the first novel by a notch or two – world-building, storytelling, hilarity, and most of all, characters who just made me punch the air over and over again, usually while laughing.”
• Don’t forget you can get a taster in the form of an exclusive short story, Lying Like Cards, right here on this very website.
The tireless Adam Christopher was out and about promoting The Age Atomic, the two-fisted follow-up to Empire State. Thanks to Forbidden Planet in London for a fab launch event this Thursday – we rocked the joint, again.
• The book was an April pick for Kirkus Reviews, which was nice.
• A Writer’s Sidequest said it is “a glorious and joyous ode to the pulp science fiction of old. Awesome fun, from start to finish, just straight up, pure entertainment.”
• Adam was interviewed on My Bookish Ways, who also have a copy to give away too, so hurry over there!.
Upcoming debut author Wesley Chu continues to wow folks with the breakneck thrillride that is The Lives of Tao, out in May.
• Wes had a guest post on The Qwillery this week to talk about the first time a novel really spoke to him.
• I Will Read Books had this to say: “By the end of the books I was close to tears, which proves my emotional investment in the characters and their fates. I wish every book made me care about the characters as much as The Lives of Tao.”
• Over at Tome of Geek, Wes managed to overcome their usual aversion of genre mash-up novels: “We get the full sci-fi feeling combined with the spy genre without either side getting diluted or ignored. We get the full effect and in turn get a character we care about.”
Emma Newman, despite losing her wisdom teeth this week (wishing you a speedy recovery, Em), was still full of the joys of Between Two Thorns.
• Her guest post on The Creative Penn talked charmingly about urban fantasy, as a genre, its influences and its many strands.
• And finally, blog heavyweights Fantasy Faction gave the book nine stars out of ten, saying: “If you like a bit of fairy magic, the juxtaposition between ancient and modern, here and there, and you don’t mind being left in suspense for a good few months, you’ll really enjoy it.” (They’re going to be overjoyed when they hear that the sequel, Any Other Name, will be out in June then!)
Announcing Angry Robot’s Latest Signing: James A Moore
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes you read just the first few pages of a manuscript and know that you have to have it for your list. So it was with something called Seven Forges, that came in through last year’s fantasy open door month. So our Amanda read it – because she certainly knows a great epic fantasy when she reads it – and she called the whole thing in and sent it to me, and I read it, and I bought it.
Often our open door submissions are from debut authors, but in Jim’s case it was a change of subject and style that brought him to us. Over the last fifteen years or so, this Atlanta, Georgia-based writer has made quite a name for himself with a whole catalogue of acclaimed horror and dark fantasy titles, and earned himself a couple of Stoker Award nominations along the way. Now he’s set his sights on something more widescreen, and we’re delighted to bring it to you.
The Seven Forges of the title are a range of impassable mountains, far to the north of the settled lands of Fellein. From time to time explorers venture up beyond the Blasted Lands in search of a way over them and the promise of legendary riches, but without success. Now Captain Merros Dulver has found a path, and encountered, at last, the half-forgotten people who dwell there. And it would appear they were expecting him.
We prodded Jim with one of those long, slightly jagged metal things that are always lying around here, and he said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Angry Robot Books and the amazing team they’ve assembled. They’ve been enthusiastic, caring and attentive, and now that the contracts have been signed I’m happy to report to the entire team that their loved ones will be returned home safely in the very near future, most of them no worse for the wear.” See, one of us.
Seven Forges will be published by Angry Robot as soon as this October (yay!), with a second volume to follow next spring. Cover will be by the delicious Alejandro Colucci, and we’ll show you that very soon. Greet James online on his blog and via Twitter.
Angry Robot announces new UK sales partners
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Hey gang! This might be more book industry-focussed than our usual robot-obsessed blog posts, but no less important…
In the UK, we’re delighted to announce that our books – AR, Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A alike – are going to be represented by that most beloved of publishers Faber, as part of their Faber Factory Plus sales team.
This will mean we have better coverage across the whole of the UK, as well as Ireland and into Europe too. We’ll have more reps on the ground telling your favourite local bookshop about our great novels, and increased coverage for libraries as well. As you may well have seen, to support this properly, we have also been expanding our publicity capabilities, recruiting a new, full-time Fiction Publicity Manager. They will work with authors and stores to promote the books across the country. We’ll have more news on that appointment shortly.
All round, this is a big deal for Angry Robot, Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A, and we should see its effects almost immediately. In the UK, authors will find there are more invitations to events and signings than before, and you’ll meet some of the reps at upcoming conventions like Eastercon too, as they are enthusiasts like us.
Ian West, head of the FF+ team, said: “We are particularly delighted to be working with Angry Robot and the Osprey group, who have consistently been ahead of the game and breaking new ground in the ways they bring writers and readers together.”
So there you go – we’re increasing our reach across the UK and Ireland, making it easier to buy our books in your local shop, month in, month out. Can’t be bad. Now for cake.
Now Hiring: Fiction Publicity Manager
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Angry Robot’s swathe of cool genre imprints is in need of a lively PUBLICITY MANAGER. The aim of this job is to work with our divine authors, our favourite bookshops, our lovely bloggers and the Robot Army, and our fab distributors who link this all together, to promote the hell out of our books.
Duties include arranging signings and store promotions, placing reviews and articles online and in print, blogging and attending events. You’ll also be making sure all the metadata that feeds all this activity is both correct and snappier than an alligator at lunchtime.
Don’t delay – the closing date is noon GMT on 25th March 2013. More details, including how to apply, after the jump:
Happy US/CAN & ebook Publication Day, Messrs Holm, Tallerman and Broaddus!
Posted by: | CommentsToday is US, Canada and ebook publication day for Angry Robot’s October titles (which will be available in UK bookstores from Thursday October 4th).
Our October line-up contains two fantastic sequels and a power-packed three-volume omnibus, in the form of Chris F. Holm‘s second Collector series novel The Wrong Goodbye, David Tallerman‘s second Tale of all-round rascal Easie Damasco, Crown Thief and that aforementioned omnibus edition Maurice Broaddus‘s extraordinary modern-day retelling of the Arthurian myth-cycle, The Knights of Breton Court.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick up a copy of any or (preferably) all of the above from your favourite bookstore or online retailer, definitely not forgetting our very own Robot Trading Company for all you discerning, DRM-Free ebook purchasers out there. (This blog post will self-destruct in 5… 4… 3…)
The Wrong Goodbye
by Chris F. Holm
Meet Sam Thornton, Collector of Souls.
Because of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.
Which sounds all well and good, but when the soul Sam’s sent to collect goes missing, Sam finds himself off the straight-and-narrow pretty quick.
More Info, Reviews & Free Extract here
Grab the ebook from the Robot Trading Company!
Crown Thief
by David Tallerman
Meet Easie Damasco: Thief, swindler and lately, reluctant hero.
But whatever good intentions Damasco may have are about to be tested to their limits, as the most valuable – and dangerous – object in the land comes within his light-fingered grasp.
Add in some suicidally stubborn giants, an old enemy with dreams of empire and the deadliest killers in two kingdoms on his heels, and Damasco’s chances of staying honest – or even just surviving – are getting slimmer by the hour.
More Info, Reviews & Free Extract here
Grab the ebook from the Robot Trading Company!
The Knights of Breton Court
by Maurice Broaddus
The Wire meets Excalibur in this stunning urban fantasy.
From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise.
The King Arthur myth gets dramatically retold through the eyes of street hustler King, as he tries to unite the crack dealers, gangbangers and the monsters lurking within them to do the right thing.
More Info, Reviews & Free Extract here
Grab the ebook from the Robot Trading Company!
