bite me: the week in bite-sized chunks

Atom:

Dear teenage self,

If only Atom’s The Atomics, a new blogosphere of reviewers aged twelve to eighteen who will be given the opportunity to see Atom’s latest titles before they go to print, had existed back when you were morosely putting pen to paper. You could have stopped writing about the love that never could be (he’s gay, by the way), and instead wrote reviews and been published in the Atomics section of the Atom website. I wrote about this last month as Atom are great for interacting with their blogging fans (and feeding them buns). They are also keen to let readers know they aren’t just publishing ‘girly’ paranormal romances, they’re currently expanding their list to cater to a breadth of teenage topics, including mystery and adventure. Perhaps this signals a move away from what could be known as their Twilight Era, their ‘tween’ stage on the way to being a fully established imprint no longer under Orbit’s considerable shadow. Atom is all grown up and ready to split (sorry).

Angry Robot Books: these guys have, rather excitingly, just launched their digital short story store and from the 1st December readers will be able to buy and download their authors’ short stories (AKA ‘Nano Editions’). Also, at 59p each or 10 for £3.49, they’re not pricey. Eager to embrace the new opportunities digital technology is presenting publishers with, Editor Lee Harris calls this venture an ‘excellent way for readers to sample unfamiliar authors, without breaking the bank.’ In addition, I realise I’ve said this before but I really do intend to review a title by this publisher if only to justify my place in their Angry Robot Army, where I am currently registering as so low in the ranks I’m only classed as Miffed. Also, great interview with Harris in SFX here.

2010 Urban Fantasy Cover Art Awards: voting is now open for these annual awards by All Things Urban Fantasy and closes on 29th December. Featuring titles published between the 1st January and the 31st December 2010, the 15 categories include Best Male Cover, Most Unique Cover, Cover of the Year 2010 and, my personal favourite, Best Female w/ Animal Cover. Voting also means you’re eligible to win some of the shortlisted titles. I love covers, being a hardcopy romantic, and naturally there are many beautiful pieces of art to choose from, such as artist Chris McGrath’s cover designs for Clay and Susan Griffith’s The Greyfriar, a Steampunk title published by Prometheus Books (and surely based on Mitchell, the vampire from the excellent BBC supernatural drama Being Human?). My favourite cover out of all those in the running has to be The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, published by Razorbill and by cover artist Jonathan Barkat, for its uniqueness amongst the usual Urban Fantasy tokes and because it features that which terrifies me the most: a baby in a pram.

bite me: the week in bite-sized chunks

Atom: This is the sister imprint of Orbit and it’s mostly known for buying the UK rights to Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series (it was only a matter of time before that made an appearance here, opinion notwithstanding). But that’s not all they do! No, they also have the foresight to invite bloggers to their offices, feed them buns and give them a presentation on their upcoming titles. Now that is tasty and savvy marketing. But they missed out on a treat (aha) by not having Edward and Jacob faces on each bun and making people choose between them (because this is what people like to do), and have a bun-off. Because visual aids are useful, and I had too much time on my hands, I’ve mocked these up for you. The original photo was from blogger Amanda Rutter, whose Floor to Ceiling books blog is always a good place to while away some quality browsing time. She also talks about the new initiative Atom are starting called the Atomics that involves teenage bloggers – ah to be young. Read more here.

NaNoWriMo: It’s National Writing Month where every kind of (mad) writer sets aside a whole month to write – what, a short story? A poem? A soliloquy? – a novel, of course. It’s an exercise in sheer determination, bloody-mindedness and willpower, and it doesn’t matter what you write as long as it’s 50,000 words long. Even if you’re not participating, you can hop on over to the forum and peruse topics like ‘NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul’, which sounds promising. For SFF, head over to the genre section where you can read threads like ‘Raise someone from the dead, how?’ and, my personal favourite, ‘If you were an abusive umbrella, what you would yell?’

Top 2010 SFF titles announced: Three of the top 5 are Orbit’s - The Bone Place by Amanda Downum about the sex industry and vampires, Feed by Mira Grant (a pseudonym for Seanan McGuire) about zombies and Republicans in the Midwest and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms/The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, two novels about ordinary people being manipulated by gods in a changing world. There’s also Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death by Penguin USA’s DAW imprint (the first ever publishers dedicated to SFF) about a post-apocalyptic Saharan Africa and Pegasus’ A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter by Peter Straub, which is actually only a short story/excerpt from A Dark Matter. The full list can be found here in Publishers Weekly.

Solaris book launch: if you’re lucky enough to live in/around London, rather than the publishing-barren Manchester, then you can go to the FREE Solaris’ book launch event at Foyle’s on the 16th November. More information can be found on the Solaris editors’ blog. It’s The End of the Line edited by Jonathan Oliver, a book of Horror short stories set on the underground. This is exactly the kind of book I love – set in the hidden parts of a city and taking the otherworldly element of the underground literally - and I can’t wait to read it. Just check out the blood-smeared cover. Lovely.