Jonathan Oliver, commissioning editor of Abaddon Books, has acquired Satan’s Reach, a second Weird Space SF novel by Eric Brown.  This follows on from Eric’s soon-to-be-published The Devil’s Nebula. The novel will be delivered in 2013. The agent was John Jarrold and the deal is for UK/US rights.

Eric Brown said:  “I’m excited about doing the second book in the Weird Space series – a seat-of-the-pants adventure entitled Satan’s Reach about a telepath on the run from the Expansion authorities and the bounty hunter who will stop at nothing to get him – and what they find on a far-flung planet in the badlands of  Satan’s Reach. It’s space opera with the emphasis on starships, aliens, exotic worlds – and the perennial threat from the Weird.”

TOMES OF THE DEAD: DOUBLE DEAD by Chuck Wendig

Abaddon Books, s/b, £7.99 www.abaddonbooks.com

Reviewed by Matthew Johns

A zombie apocalypse tale with a difference, this tells the story of Coburn the vampire awoken from a desiccated near death state to find the New York he used to know changed. No more is it a buzzing metropolis full of people partying, it’s now a wasteland populated with zombies and a few survivors trying to eke out what living they can without getting eaten by said zombies. Gone is the ready source of food for Coburn – he must now hunt carefully for human survivors, and has to start thinking about his long term food supply.

This is made even more difficult by one particular zombie which, after drinking some of his blood, mutated into a deadly zombie-vampire crossbreed.

A nice twist on the standard zombie apocalypse genre, Coburn’s fight against his inner animalistic vampire to not immediately consume all of his prey and to instead become their protector is excellently portrayed on these pages. The different groups of humans he comes across, including cannibals and religious zealots, all add to his troubles and woes.

Chuck Wendig paints a realistic post-zombie apocalypse world, and fully immerses the reader in the trials and tribulations facing Coburn and the flock of humans that he starts to protect. Even if you don’t enjoy a good zombie adventure, try this book – it’s not the standard zombie fare; the human and vampire elements really make this one worth seeking out.

Abaddon Books is to publish its first ever ebook-only title, while capitalising on the recent success of its series omnibuses. The next book in the Twilight of Kerberos series – The Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver – will be the first time the imprint has published a brand new title as only an ebook. The Twilight of Kerberos is a shared-world fantasy series set on a planet inhabited by the remnants of lost civilisations, orbiting the gas giant Kerberos. The Wrath of Kerberos will be the series’ ninth book.

With its READ ANYTHING campaign and commitment to producing first rate genre fiction, the Abaddon Books team are firm believers in new forms of publishing. The Twilight of Kerberos series is a perfect fit for experimenting with an ebook only release. And with the success of the recent series omnibuses – including the The Best of Tomes of the Dead and Afterblight: America – and capitalising on the growing US readership who are finding our shared-worlds through them, Abaddon Books has decided to focus the Twilight range on this format.

The long-awaited third book of the Lucius Kane Trilogy by Matthew Sprange, Legacy’s Price, will see print in March 2012 as part of the first Twilight of Kerberos Omnibus, with two more omnibuses in the series to collect the titles by Mike Wild and Jonathan Oliver.

Rebellion reports:

“Having already conquered the world of roleplaying games, one of the most dynamic RPG publishers in Britain is now advancing into the world of fiction. Cubicle 7 is pleased to announce the launch of its new fiction imprint – Cubicle 7 Fiction. In cooperation with the established and successful Solaris and Abaddon Books imprints, Cubicle 7 Fiction will publish between three and five novels and anthologies a year based upon its terrific science fiction, fantasy, and speculative properties.

The first title is Sarah Newton’s far future adventure, Mindjammer. The novel and its universe can be explored at the new website HERE. Mindjammer has been released in ebook format, with a release of physical print edition to follow. Additional titles will be announced in the months to come.

Cubicle 7 has already earned a stellar reputation thanks to the quality of its RPG games, which range from aliens and trans-humans to vistas of a far-flung future and Steampunk dystopias peopled by Frankensteinian monsters. Its stable of imagination-fuelled intellectual properties has inspired and driven numerous roleplaying game lines.”

“Rebellion Publishing is proud to announce the opening of its brand new digital store – giving you the pick of the freshest genre writing available at the click of a button.

Everything from SF to horror and fantasy to urban fantasy will be available direct from our Solaris and Abaddon Books imprints for the first time, and in both ePub and mobi formats – perfect for anyone with a Kindle or eReader.

You can visit the new store HERE

The ideal one-stop shop for the 21st century reader, the Rebellion Publishing store offers digital downloads for all our titles with competitive prices, special sales and promotional offers – it’s the perfect place to stock up with winter warmers for the festive season.

Offering Steampunk, SF, fantasy, urban fantasy and horror, the site is easily navigable and each book is categorised in multiple ways. Alternatively, in search of a new read with a strong female lead? Or maybe a good anti-hero? Find what you want quickly with our ‘popular themes’ sections.

And to kick off, not only is there 10% off of all ebooks but, inspired by the lingering chill of Hallowe’en, for this week only all the novels in our Tomes of the Dead zombie series and the Infernal Game series are just £2 each!”

‘Continuing its commitment to digital publishing through its READ ANYTHING campaign, Solaris Books is delighted to announce a preview book now available on iTunes – for free!

The Wizard’s Coming is now available as a free ebook on iTunes, which serves as an excellent introduction to the brand new epic fantasy series, The Hadrumal Crisis by Juliet E. McKenna.

Discover the fallout from the events in The Wizard’s Coming in McKenna’s Dangerous Waters, which was published in August and is also available on iTunes.

READ ANYTHING is the campaign by Solaris and Abaddon Books, two of the freshest genre publishers in the UK today, to encourage people to use their eReaders to explore genres outside of their usual comfort zones. The revolution in eReaders gives readers the freedom to read whatever they want – fantasy, science-fiction, horror, urban fantasy, Steampunk, historical action, ANYTHING. They’re perfect to explore genre fiction you never knew even existed!

The Wizard’s Coming is just the first of the free ebooks that will be made available on iTunes.

“Electronic publishing and e-books provide a whole host of opportunities for the publisher and reader,” said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books and Solaris. “We can get our books out now to an even wider audience and we’re looking forward to welcoming new fans to the world of genre.” ‘

Links for The Wizard’s Coming:

iTunes UK

iTunes US

Links for Dangerous Waters, the first book in the The Hadrumal Crisis series:

iTunes UK

iTunes US

Coming to life on 10 November 2011 in the UK and 15 November in the US and Canada from Abaddon Books!

‘ “What does a vampire eat during the zombie apocalypse?

Coburn has a problem – he’s just woken up from a five year sleep to find that human civilisation has fallen in the face of the zombie apocalypse. He likes blood. They like brains. So, yeah – problem.

And now he’s starving. So this vampire not only has to find human survivors but must become an unlikely shepherd with a shotgun. After all, a man has to look after his food supply…

A thrilling chase across a zombie-infested America – but with a twist – Double Dead is Chuck Wendig’s fantastically entertaining, blood-thirsty, brain-guzzling debut novel. ‘

Details HERE

Abaddon Books is delighted to announce a bold new venue in genre publishing – one where the readers are in charge!

Time’s Arrow will be the latest book from the world’s longest continuously running Steampunk novel series, Pax Britannia. Set in a world where the Victorian age never ended, Pax Britannia is an insane world of high technology and rip-roaring adventure.

The big difference with Time’s Arrow? Each instalment will be published as an ebook and, at the end of each of the first two, readers will be able to vote on where THEY want the story to go. Once all three instalments have been published, they will be bound together into a print edition.

The first part of the book will go live online on 11 October 2011, with the vote for what happens next closing on 11 December 2011.

Merging the best of print and online, Abaddon is proud to engage in such an exciting experiment – one where readers actively have a say in how the book is written.

Jon Green has written titles in the legendary Fighting Fantasy series and created seven of the critically-acclaimed Pax Britannia books for Abaddon.

“Pax Britannia is one of Abaddon’s most established series,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books, “so it seemed like the natural choice for such a unique venture in publishing. This adventure is sure to reach out to new readers while giving established fans a say in the rich universe they have come to love.”

“I am passionate about the whole Steampunk milieu, and the world of Pax Britannia in particular, while my first forays into writing professionally were adventure gamebooks,” says Jonathan Green. “To marry elements of both is a fantastic opportunity for me as a writer and I, for one, can’t wait to see how the story pans out!”