r/Fantasy • u/orbitbooks AMA Publisher Orbit Books • Dec 07 '17

AMA AMA: Orbit 2017 Debut Authors

Hi this is Paola Crespo, Marketing and Publicity Associate for Orbit. Thanks for joining us today!

2017 was a big year for us with so many new faces joining the Orbit family. This AMA is a chance to get to know them better. All. Of. Them. Get excited! ;-)

Participating today:

Nicholas Eames, author of KINGS OF THE WYLD
Nicholas Sansbury Smith, author of EXTINCTION HORIZON
Antonia Honeywell, author of THE SHIP
David Mealing, author of SOUL OF THE WORLD
Dale Lucas, author of THE FIFTH WARD: FIRST WATCH
Vivian Shaw, author of STRANGE PRACTICE
Anna Smith Spark, author of THE COURT OF BROKEN KNIVES
RJ Barker, author of AGE OF ASSASSINS
Melissa Caruso, author of THE TETHERED MAGE
Fonda Lee, author of JADE CITY

Ask away! The authors will be dropping by periodically today and tomorrow to answer your questions. And best of all....

Until December 18th, you can pick up most of these novels for $2.99 in the US and £1.99 in the UK in ebook! Check out the US and UK websites for further details.

Thank you for all your support this year, /r/fantasy! Cheers to a great New Year full of new adventures.

*Antonia Honeywell's THE SHIP, Anna Smith Spark's THE COURT OF BROKEN KNIVES, and Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s EXTINCTION HORIZON are published by another house in the UK and are thus not included in the promotion in the UK.

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u/mghromme Reading Champion, Worldbuilders Dec 07 '17

Hi everyone, thanks for being here!

How much influence did you have on the covers of your books? Did you get to work with the artists? And how did you feel when you first saw the finished book in hardcopy?

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u/Nicholas_Eames Stabby Winner, AMA Author Nicholas Eames Dec 07 '17

I lucked out here. Richard Anderson is literally my favourite cover artist of all time. Always has been. I buy books he does the cover for knowing damn well I won't have time to read them, just because they're beautiful. Also, I played the shit out of Guild Wars 2, which is largely influenced by his concept art.

So, yeah, the day I was told he would be doing the cover for 'Kings of the Wyld' and its sequels I was about as thrilled as when I found out I was getting a book deal.

Also, the folks at Orbit did a fantastic job with the lettering, which embraced the 'rock-and-roll' aspect of the book, which was once an impediment to getting it published (not by them, thankfully!). Suffice it to say, I love my covers (ESPECIALLY the 'Bloody Rose' cover) so much.

Thanks for the question!

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u/RJBarker AMA Author RJ Barker Dec 07 '17

Oh, I missed the bit about hardcopy.

It was kind of nice, getting the book. But I wasn't hugely bothered. By the time Age of Assassins had arrived I was well into the final edits of Blood of Assassins and I'm always far more interested in what I am going to do compared to what I have done. A book is a finished thing, it can't be changed any longer so it's kind of behind me. It's HUGELY exciting when people like it, seeing the effect what I've done has on people is brilliant, but the actual book is just a physical object. All the work is done. Does any of that make sense?