As well as the complexities of writing Wrath, it was the period during which my wife and I were awaiting the birth of our first child. Maia Rose Oliver was born on the 10th of February, 2011, about halfway through writing the novel. It's true what they say, being a parent changes everything and you can see some of my fatherly concerns channelled through my hero. In fact, Silus is accompanied by both his wife and child on much of his adventures.

And adventure is really the key to this novel. When I first started writing all those years ago, I actually saw myself as being a moody horror writer. (Think of an emo Garth Marenghi and you wouldn't be far wrong). Horror is still my first love (although I think I've grown out of that emo phase) but it was in my early twenties that I first started reading the pulp fantasies of Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber and Clark Ashton Smith. It was also in my early twenties that I first started gaming, starting with Call of Cthulhu, but soon moving onto Dungeons & Dragons. The fantasy worlds of the American pulp writers and the adventure games I had started to play had as big an influence on my writing as Ramsey Campbell and Stephen King when I first started. When I sat down to write my first novel, I wanted to give some of the joy back I'd had reading the pulps and rolling a D20. I'm not hugely keen on world building, so with Call of Kerberos I set it almost entirely on the sea or beneath it, giving me a sort of blank watery canvas. With Wrath I started with a world in its infancy and explored pre-history. Both of these gave me great scope to do pretty much what I pleased.

And I decided that I'd do the dragons.

Dragons had been mentioned in the previous Twilight of Kerberos novels, but neither Mike, Matthew or David had gone into too much depth (aside from some scenes in Mike's novels). I decided then, with Wrath, that I wanted to do the dragons. I'm still really pleased with the scene depicting the creation of these awesome monsters and a great deal of the book follows the adventures of the eunuch, Emuel, as he travels across the desert with his dragon companion. Not the easiest creatures to write, as they're so iconic, but I had a lot of fun with them.

Anyway, if you like your Sword and Sorcery redolent with Leiber, Lovecraft, Howard and Ashton Smith and packed full of adventure and monsters, then I present to you my final novel for the series. Head over to the Rebellion store and check it out.

The author behind Abaddon’s fastest-selling title of 2011 is set to return with a follow-up novella and a brand new series.

Abaddon is delighted to announce that Chuck Wendig has signed up to write an ebook sequel to the popular Double Dead, as well as create a brand new series for Abaddon in 2013.

An October 2011 release from Abaddon, Double Dead was Wendig’s first original novel and became the fastest-selling Abaddon title to date, with a particularly strong showing as an ebook.

The freshest take on the undead for years, Double Dead saw the vampire Coburn awaken during the zombie apocalypse, only to realise that if he wants to survive he has to protect his food source from the undead hordes.

Now Wendig is set to return to the world of Coburn later this year with Double Dead: Bad Blood, an ebook-only novella sequel. It will be released on May 14th on all e-platforms.

Wendig is also working on an exciting new urban fantasy series for Abaddon Books, bringing gods and monsters onto the city streets in a thrilling new-take on classic genre tropes. The first in this new series is due for release in 2013.

With his prominent online presence, including his popular blog on which he is not afraid to give his opinions on the process of writing and the industry at large.

“It’s wonderful to be welcoming Chuck back to the Abaddon team,” said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books. “He’s certainly one of the most exciting new writers around and Chuck is going to build on the success of Double Dead while bringing a brand new series to Abaddon.”

"The vampire Coburn kicked his way out of my skull and onto the pages of Double Dead,” said Wendig, “so it's great to be revisiting that cantankerous old bloodsucker. And I'm utterly geeked to be working with Abaddon to help birth this brand new series of gods and monsters."

About the Author
Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter and self-described 'penmonkey'. He sold his first story when he was 18. After working in the computer and role-playing game industries he began scripting TV- and film-projects, including a horror film script which won him a place at the prestigous Sundance Screenwriter Lab 2010. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs.

So, for your consideration, here is a list of Solaris and Abaddon titles that are eligible for nomination:

Pax Britannia: Pax Omega - Al Ewing

Age of Odin - James Lovegrove

Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra - Mike Wild

The Sentinel Mage - Emily Gee

Malory's Knights of Albion: Black Chalice - Steve Savile

Loss of Separation - Conrad Williams

Cloneworld - Andy Remic

Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead - Toby Venables

The Kings of Eternity - Eric Brown

Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein - Jonathan Green

No Man's World: Ironclad Prophecy - Pat Kelleher

The Noise Revealed - Ian Whates

Malory's Knights of Albion: Savage Knight - Paul Lewis

Dead of Veridon - Tim Akers

Desdaemona - Ben Macallan

Tomes of The Dead: Double Dead - Chuck Wendig

The Concrete Grove - Gary McMahon

Sympathy for the Devil - Justin Gustainis

The Hadrumal Crisis: Dangerous Waters - Juliet E. McKenna

The Recollection - Gareth Powell

Regicide - Nicholas Royle

Redlaw - James Lovegrove

Kultus - Richard Ford

Theme Planet - Andy Remic

Toby Venables

Gareth L. Powell

Richard Ford

Chuck Wendig

Mark Harrison (Pax Britannia: Gods of Manhattan/ Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein, Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra)

Gerard Miley (Tomes of The Dead: The Viking Dead)

Simon Parr (Malory's Knights of Albion: Black Chalice/ No Man's World: The Ironclad Prophecy/ Malory's Knights of Albion: Savage Knight/ Tomes of the Dead: Double Dead/ Regicide/ Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of SF)

Luke Preece (Tomes of The Dead: Best of Tomes of The Dead Vol. 2/ House of Fear)

Marek Okon (Age of Odin/ Cloneworld/ Themeplanet)

Stephan Martiniere (Engineering Infinity)

Larry Rostant (The Sentinel Mage)

Dominic Harman (The Kings of Eternity/ The Noise Revealed)

Vincent Chong (Loss of Separation/ Desdaemona/ The Concrete Grove)

Greg Staples (Dead of Veridon/ Twilight of Kerberos: The Trials of Trass Kathra)

Chris McGrath (Sympathy for The Devil)

Frazer Irving (Kultus)

Clint Langley (Redlaw/ The Hadrumal Crisis: Dangerous Waters)

Malak by Peter Watts

Watching the Music Dance by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Laika's Ghost by Karl Schroeder

The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter

The Server and the Dragon by Hannu Rajaniemi

Bit Rot by Charles Stross

Creatures with Wings by Kathleen Ann Goonan

Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone by Damien Broderick and Barbara Lamar

Mantis by Robert Reed

Judgment Eve by John C. Wright

A Soldier of the City by David Moles

Mercies by Gregory Benford

The Ki-anna by Gwyneth Jones

The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees by John Barnes

A Smart Well-Mannered Uprising of the Dead by Ian McDonald

The Incredible Exploding Man by Dave Hutchinson

Sweet Spots by Paul di Filippo

The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three by Ken MacLeod

The One that Got Away by Tricia Sullivan

Rock Day by Stephen Baxter

Eluna by Stephen Palmer

Shall I Tell You the Problem with Time Travel? by Adam Roberts

The Lives and Deaths of Che Guevara by Lavie Tidhar

Steel Lake by Jack Skillingstead

Mooncakes by Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom

At Play in the Fields by Steve Rasnic Tem

How We Came Back from Mars by Ian Watson

You Never Know by Pat Cadigan

Yestermorrow by Richard Salter

Dreaming Towers, Silent Mansions by Jaine Fenn

Eternity's Children by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown

For the Ages by Alastair Reynolds

Return of the Mutant Worms by Peter F. Hamilton

Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear by Lisa Tuttle

Pied-a-Terre by Stephen Volk

In the Absence of Murdock by Terry Lamsley

Florrie by Adam L.G. Nevill

Driving the Milky Way by Weston Ochse

Moretta by Garry Kilworth

Hortus Conclusus by Chaz Brenchley

The Dark Space in the House in the House in the Garden at the Centre of the World by Robert Shearman

The Muse of Copenhagen by Nina Allan

An Injustice by Christopher Fowler

The Room Upstairs by Sarah Pinborough

Villanova by Paul Meloy

Widow's Weeds by Christopher Priest

The Doll's House by Jonathan Green

Inside/Out by Nicholas Royle

The House by Eric Brown

Trick of the Light by Tim Lebbon

What Happened to Me by Joe R. Lansdale

The Wizard’s Coming by Juliet E McKenna serves as a prequel for The Hadrumal Crisis – McKenna’s brand new trilogy that hit the shops in August with Dangerous Waters. Download now in ePub, Kindle and PDF.

Eric Brown’s The Blue Portal is the opening of his novel The Kings of Eternity, which began as this short story. The Kings of Eternity took SF great Eric Brown ten years to complete and is a space opera spanning decades. Download the first chapter The Blue Portal for free now using the epub file from our website.

Babylon Steel is Gaie Sebold’s debut novel and a brilliant start to an exciting new fantasy series. Ex-sword-for-hire, ex… other things, Babylon runs the best brothel in Scalentine; city of many portals, two moons, and a wide variety of races, were-creatures, and religions, not to mention the occasional insane warlock.

She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, women in the trade are being attacked, it’s tax time, and there’s not enough money to pay the bill. So when the mysterious Darask Fain offers her a job finding a missing girl, Babylon decides to take it. But the missing girl is not what she seems, and neither is Darask Fain. In the meantime twomoon is approaching, and more than just a few night’s takings are at risk when Babylon’s hidden past reaches out to grab her by the throat. To read the first chapter follow the links for epub and mobi.

Hell Train is the Hammer Horror movie they never made. In his first book for Solaris, Christopher Fowler, the multi-award winning author of the Bryant & May mysteries conjures up bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of train travel, all in a classically-styled horror novel that evokes the real-life spirits of this most British of movie studios.

When American screenwriter Shane Carter is asked to revive the classic studio’s fortunes and, inspired by an old board game, writes a script where four strangers who meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War must solve a terrifying mystery if they are to survive.
As they race through the war-torn countryside, they must uncover the secrets of a locked casket and of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them. And what exactly is the devilish riddle of the train itself?! Read the first chapter here and see if you get hooked! epub and mobi

And to round things off, we present the first chapter of the next book in the Twilight of Kerberos series – The Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver – which 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.

The Wrath of Kerberos will be released early next year and the first chapter is available in epub and mobi formats.

Thanks for sticking with the Abaddon and Solaris Advent Calendar. We hope you've found something you like.

Merry Christmas, readers! See you in 2012!

The Kings of Eternity
1999 on the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him? 1935. Writers Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings-on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there – no less than a strange creature from another world – will change their lives forever. What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown’s most ambitious novel to date.
To read the opening chapter of The Blue Portal, the story that inspired The Kings of Eternity, download the .epub file from our website, or find the book on Apple’s iBookstore. If you haven’t got an e-reader, just read the book in PDF format!


Helix
Helix
Helix is a grandiose space opera, a story of exploration, alien contact and desperation. It follows the plight of a group of humans who crash land on a desolate alien planet. Daylight brings the discovery that the planet is merely one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound around a central sun. The group set off to discover a more habitable Earth-like world, encountering bizarre alien races on the way. But they must also find a means to stay alive.





Proving that good things come in threes - The Bengal Station Trilogy is set on an exotic spaceport that dominates the ocean between India and Burma and follows Jaded telepath, Jeff Vaughan. In the first novel,Necropath, Vaughan discovers a sinister cult that worships a mysterious alien god. The Church of the Adoration of the Chosen One uses drugs to commune with the Ultimate, and will murder to silence those who oppose their beliefs. The story follows Vaughan as his mistrust of his fellow humans is overturned by his love for the Thai street-girl Sukura, while he attempts to solve the murders and save himself from the psychopath out to kill him.

Not only are we giving away three copies of Solaris' latest anthology - We are giving away three copies signed by Ian Whates, Alastair Reynolds, Eric Brown, Lavie Tidhar, Pat Cadigan, Jaine Fenn, Dave Hutchinson.


In a book full of boundless variety, energy and imagination, editor Ian Whates gathers together the most accomplished writers in science fiction including Ian McDonald, Dave Hutchinson, Paul di Filippo, Ken Macleod, Tricia Sullivan, Stephen Baxter, Stephen Palmer, Adam Roberts, Lavie Tidhar, Jack Skillingstead, Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ian Watson, Pat Cadigan, Richard Salter, Jaine Fee, Keith Brooke and Eric Brown, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton.

From bizarre futures and surreal present day to gritty other worlds and strange realms, Solaris Rising exemplifies the diversity and innovation that make science fiction the most exciting genre of all time.


“A cliché it may be, but there really is something for everyone here... an ideal bait to tempt those who only read novels to climb over the short fiction fence.”
– Interzone


To win please email abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk and answer this other worldly question.