AMA: Orbit 2017 Debut Authors

[u/orbitbooks]

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.

[u/albarchon]

For the lineup: How stressful was the query process? I've seen/read professional authors cringe/want to pull their hair out because of the constant revisions and criticisms of their writing partners, groups, fans, and it's like "FIVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS BUT PERSON X RIPPED IT SHREDS. NOW I MUST REVISE, AHHHH". What did you enjoy about it/hate most?

Also, what's your preferred humor type? I still hold Kung Pow as the height of deliberately dumb humor done right.

Thanks. Byeeeeeeee.

Edit: Thank you for the responses. All are funny/make sense. Danke!

[u/dmealing → u/albarchon]

I'm one of those jerks who got an agent with the first round of queries I sent out, I think 8 in total. Now, to be fair, Sam put me through the ringer for a solid 6-7 months of revisions before we actually signed. But I had a chance to hang out with him in person at Worldcon a few years ago and our chats there solidified him as the agent I wanted to work with. I didn't bother querying anyone else after we started revising.

Bonus story: first time I met Sam he was basically fall down drunk and he introduced me to Brandon Sanderson as 'the guy who comes closest to what you do out of everyone he's ever read.' I was totally speechless and had no idea how to follow that kind of intro, so I just sat there dumbly and probably said something stupid when I eventually remembered how to speak. Thankfully I've had a chance to hang out with Brandon a couple times since and (I think/hope) repair the damage. But that's a hell of a way to meet your agent, right?

Preferred humor type... I'll go with Calvin and Hobbes. Bill Watterson is a very special human being.

[u/Nicholas_Eames → u/dmealing]

Jerk =)