We will be hiring someone with experience of the crime fiction field –although not necessarily someone with a specifically publishing background. Duties will be to source new titles for the imprint, buy them, get them edited and ultimately published in digital and book format, using AR’s existing resources and systems.

The imprint will be a standalone line, with its own name and presence, but will employ the same fresh and distinctly modern approach that AR has in the SF/F world. The editor will play a key role in building the personality of the imprint, and telling the world about its brilliant books, especially online.

The key skills this role demands, therefore, are an up-to-date knowledge of US and UK crime fiction publishing, eBooks, editing, project management, negotiation – and the ability to walk the walk as the mouthpiece of the coolest new crime imprint on the block.

This role could be based in either the US or UK. The Osprey Group, of which Angry Robot is a part, has offices in Oxford and Nottingham in the UK, and New York in the US, but we also have employees who telecommute and work from home offices. If you’re the one for us, we can be flexible.

If you are interested, please apply with your CV and salary expectations to Marc Gascoigne, care of incoming [at] angryrobotbooks.com or via our Contact page. Closing date is noon GMT on 24 Jan 2012.

PS, Yes this does mean AR are in the advanced stages of launching a crime fiction imprint. Debuting in 2013, it will employ the same young and lively approach as AR does, using social media, street teams and all. We’ll tell you more as soon as we are able, promise.

Seriously, we dare ya!

(The photo is Kristal Shaff posting at the Absolute Write forum – The Waiting Club thread).

“Debris is a strong, exciting debut that took me by surprise with its unique setting, interesting main character, and powerful “fight your way back to the top” narrative.”
- Tor.com

“The world building is spectacular with a concept that’s amazingly simple yet wonderfully constructed and when added to some decent characterisation it’s a title that really does make you think… this debut is pretty impressive.”
- Falcata Times

““Debris is a fast read, and very well put together. I was immersed in its world at every stage, and fascinated by its characters. Tanyana may be too proud for her own good, but Jo Anderton has written a novel she deserves to take pride in.”
- Warpcore SF

“Jo Anderton combines elements of steampunk with her own unique vision to create something striking. Debris is a first novel NOT to be missed.”
– Marianne de Pierres, award winning author of the Parish Plessis and Sentients of Orion series.

“Anderton demonstrates a mastery of storytelling and world building in this series opener that is reminiscent of the visionary works of China Miéville. This accomplished debut novel should enjoy a wide readership.”
- Library journal

“I did enjoy living within this very richly crafted world that the author presents in Debris and the magical system is not only pretty unique but such a great idea too.”
- SF Books Review

“If you want a novel that will sweep you up and take you to another world where a kick-ass heroine will do battle to right wrongs and save her planet, then you are going to thoroughly enjoy Debris! I know I did!”
- Popcorn Reads

_________________

“Crowther’s twisted rapture is a fast-paced, character-driven, funny, gruesome apocalypse.”
- Stephen Baxter, author of Flood and Stone Spring

“I was reminded of the best of Stephen King. It’s the smartest and most compelling end-of-the-world alien-zombie story I have ever read.”
- Adam Roberts, author of By Light Alone and Yellow Blue Tibia

“This book is told with a sure hand and careful attention to detail; it’s frightening where it should be, sensitive where it should be, and enthralling throughout.”
- Mike Resnick, author of the Starship series, and the John Justin Mallory Mysteries

“Peter Crowther is crafting the first great post-apocalyptic saga of the new century, one that may dwarf even such a benchmark work as The Stand.”
- Lucius Shepard, author of The Golden and Life During Wartime

“Anything that has Pete Crowther’s fingerprints on it is evidence of quality. Snap it up.”
- Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Drive-In series and Bubba Ho-Tep

“As intensely menacing and gruesome as any George Romero film. A virtuoso ‘tour de force’ by Pete Crowther.”
- Ramsey Campbell,  author of The Grin of the Dark and Thieving Fear

“His writing is master storytelling at its finest — gripping, chilling and beautifully told.”
- Sarah Pinborough, author of the Dog-Faced Gods trilogy and The Language of Dying

To answer your query: we do not yet know if/when we will be repeating the Open Door month, but rest assured we will be giving it plenty of attention if/when we do.

Sincerely,

The team at Angry Robot

The Secret Lair is a bit of a misnomer – it’s actually really easy to find – here, for example. Not much of a secret, really, but we don’t mind – we’d prefer you to be able to actually find it. Partly because it’s a great blog, and partly because this week they’re running an Angry Robot Week.

Every day this week you’ll find reviews, interviews and commentary on some of the things Angry Robot are up to. For example:

There’s a Haiku Contest, where you can win five cool Angry Robot books.

There’s a review of the classic Morlock Night (recently reprinted by Angry Robot).

There’s an overview of our Nano Editions (short stories by our authors).

And today there’s an interview with Empire State author, Adam Christopher.

Go visit them every day this week for further goodies.

Head over to your favourite author pages to check out their titles, or see the summary here.

Our January to June 2011 schedule will be available very, very soon!

Not long now…

We’ve had so many good wishes via email, Facebook, text, Twitter, blog comments and strangers in the pub, and so many lovely things written about us all over the web since we announced we’re joining the Osprey family, we just wanted to say thanks, and to share a little bit of that love around.

At Dave Brendon’s Fantasy & SciFi Weblog Dave tell us:

with Marco and Lee still at the helm, there’s no way the quality and quantity will be changing. I say, Expect Even Bigger from Angry Robot!

Leading publishing industry analyst Eoin Purcell has some great things to say about both Osprey and Angry Robot, too:

I like Osprey. I think they are very smart operators and they know what they are doing and why. They have also built two very nice niche brands (Osprey and Shire) that are almost instantly recognizable in their markets, certainly by the kind of people who buy books and information in those spaces. So the news that they have bought the HarperCollins science-fiction and fantasy imprint Angry Robot is pretty exciting.

Steampunk author Adam Christopher writes:

This is good news. It will allow Angry Robot to grow and develop as a key, important independent genre publishing house. They’re established, they have a great brand, a terrific and incredibly diverse collection of authors and books, and a new set of owners who have promised business as usual and seem to be as excited about this (at least going by their Twitter feeds today!) as I am. I’m totally behind this move, and I’m quite happy to restate my position:

I trust Angry Robot Books to deliver the best genre storytelling around, and I would happily take all of their titles, on spec, as a standing order.

which is all well and good, except Adam then goes on to say that as we’re now independent publishers we should show up to work in skinny jeans and narrow ties. Tut-tut, Mr C - don’t you know that to be truly independent, you don’t follow what other independents do?

Two months ago Liz and I moved to Israel for the first time. We were getting married (‘At last!’ as friends were heard to comment) and we wanted it to be a special occasion, with many of our friends and family. Our wedding was a simple affair in Cyprus (we can’t legally get married in Israel, thanks to Israel’s medieval religious law) followed by a large party on the shores of the Sea of Galilee back in Israel. We had just moved into our new apartment, a one-bedroom place in Jaffa, and were looking forward to seeing all our guests, finally getting the promised sofa cushions, and then settling into a new life together – in my case writing the third book I’m contracted for with Angry Robot Books.

We had a wonderful wedding. We had a wonderful party. Our amazing friends came from all over – people we’d met in Russia, in Vanuatu, in England. Liz’s mum came, and our friends who have a gorgeous four year old kid, Jack (the life and soul of any party). Our teacher friends came from London, and our friend Rob, last seen in Africa fifteen years ago, flew in the day before to surprise us. So many people came, to be with us and travel around for a few days and go for a drink or a meal and celebrate.

Then came the volcano in Iceland.

And now our wedding guests, our lovely, patient, wonderful guests, are stuck in Israel.

Through no fault of their own. And they have to get back – to jobs, and houses being renovated, and children left behind – and they can’t.

Lavie and his guests need your help.

Please,  please, please head on over to the Apex Blog to read the rest of this post, plus the first instalment in Lavie’s Jesus and the Eightfold Path and see how you can help.

The same thing happened last  year, and our announcement was somewhat… sillier…

Click here to remind yourselves of last year’s gag.

Oh, and Happy Easter! We’ll be back in the office next week.

First up, we’re going old-school. Moxyland as reviewed by a native of South Africa (where it’s set):

I’d built up this book for myself for a while… Expectations were high, and they were met. It’s a hugely challenging and fun adventure through places both familiar and strange, encapsulated in a rich, coherent world. Highly recommended.

Read the full review here.

Falcata Times reviews J Robert King’s supernatural serial killer horror, Angel of Death:

Its quirky, its different and its definitely a novel to make you think… Not something to rush and will remain in the readers subconscious long after the final page.

Helium reviews Guy Adams’ The World House:

But in the meantime we have The World House, which is a wonderful read – and a book that deserves to be in the best-seller lists – by a writer who will at least keep me reading his new fiction.

A few interviews:

Dan Abnett interviewed by SciFi Now:

The premise [of Embedded] sounds really interesting, could you expand on your inspirations behind it?

It was one of those things that just sort of came along. Obviously through 40k, I am associated with what’s commonly known as, or officially known as Combat Science-Fiction. Military SF. Which I’d probably been writing for four or five years before I realised that it was a subgenre – I had no idea. In fact at 40k, in Black Library and stuff we always referred to it not as Combat SF, we referred to it as ‘shooty-death-kill-in-space’, which is a much better name for it. Anyway, if I’ve got a reputation based on anything at all, it’s probably that, because the bulk of my novels are those. The Gaunt’s Ghosts stuff particularly falls into that category. So one thing that Angry Robot said was ‘If you’re so damned good at that, can you put out something that plays on those strengths but has that universe stamp of being your own product’. So what I didn’t want to do was take the tried and tested Gaunt’s Ghosts formula, change his name to Gant, and they can be Gant’s Phantoms. You know, just transferring them across and crossing out 40k.

Kaaron Warren interviewed by DragonKat:

I get creeped out very easily. Just this morning on the bus, a man was picking at his fingernails and I wanted to hit him with my book.

I also tap into my subconscious very well. I think we all have nightmares under the surface. I can see what lies between, and I have these odd glimpses of dark truth.

Sometimes I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, as many do. It’s all too hard. There are too many problems, too much suffering. I think my writing is the result of all that. It’s like the negativity translates itself into story. Like that man on the bus, the fingernail picking one; things are not going to end well for him in my next story. Not well at all.

and Kylie Chan interviewed by Kathryn Linge:

After book three of the ‘Dark Heavens’ series, ‘Blue Dragon’, I received a constant stream of emails asking me when the next one would be out. I did a tour of the southern states just before Christmas to coincide with the release of ‘Earth to Hell’, and it was exciting to see queues of people at book shops waiting to have their copies signed. ‘Earth to Hell’ hit the top of a few best seller lists, and now I’m receiving the emails again – asking when the next one, ‘Hell to Heaven’, will be released.

And finally, some people who really seem to like our Mr Tidhar. Not quite sure what to make of this one… :-/

Have a great week!