All the news that’s fit to capsulize!
ORBITING A GREAT DEAL
Need to fill up that e-book reader you got for Christmas? Orbit has started a program to offer one e-book each month for only $1. Brent Weeks’ THE WAY OF SHADOWS is the first in the promotion, with Karen Miller’s EMPRESS, Brian Ruckley’s WINTERBIRTH and Iain M. Banks’ USE OF WEAPONS slated to be discounted in future months. “We believe that this promotion will give readers a great opportunity to discover new writers,” said Tim Holman, Orbit vice president and publisher. “Most of our consumer marketing has an online focus, and the digital marketplace offers the perfect platform for price-promotion initiatives such as this.”
WHO WANTS HOT LINKS?
• Get a free short story by Jonathan Mayberry, whose zombie novel PATIENT ZERO comes out in March.
• Order lab tests or shoot the patient? It’s up to you in an online game promoting Josh Bazell’s debut novel BEAT THE REAPER.
• Wanna know what AbeBooks’ most expensive sales were in 2008?
FACTS AT STAKE
Five things you didn’t know about Bram Stoker, according to publicity materials for James Reese’s THE DRACULA DOSSIER:
1. Had a “day job” as right-hand man to the day’s most famous actor, Sir Henry Irving.
2. Did not walk till the age of 7 — owing to a mysterious illness — but later became a star athlete at Trinity College.
3. Wooed his bride-to-be away from none other than Oscar Wilde.
4. Knew many of the major artists of his day, from Walt Whitman to Sarah Bernhardt.
5. Was a lifelong lover of sea voyagers and died — in debt — two days after the Titanic sank.
… and five things you didn’t know about Jack the Ripper:
1. Has spawned a band of amateur detectives known as “Ripperologists.”
2. Was never caught, though today’s “short” list of suspects numbers around 30.
3. “Authored” hundreds of letter published in the day’s press (though Ripperologists say only three are authentic).
4. Committed an unknown number of murders — perhaps as many as 11.
5. Was elected “Worst Briton in History” in 2006 by the readers of BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE.
TRAILER PARK
Get old-school monster-movie chills in this trailer for James Morrow’s next novel, February’s SHAMBLING TOWARD HIROSHIMA:
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