Well, this is interesting:

We’re thrilled to announce our first ebook only publication from New York Times Bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow! We’ll be publishing The Hedgewitch Queen in December 2011, and the sequel, The Bandit King, in July 2012 in both the US and the UK. The series will be available across all digital reader platforms.

There’s an adage going around the publishing industry (generally in defense of eBooks being sold for the same price as paperbacks) that the cost of producing/storing/distributing/paying middle-men (ie. bookstores)/dealing with returns is negligible for publishing companies. The real cost, of course, is in editing/copy-editing/layout/cover art/royalties/marketing, which is the real meat of the success in the hearts and minds of readers. So, despite not needing to be stored/distributed/printed/returned/etc…, eBooks often cost the same or only marginally less than paper books. Of course, most of these tasks are done for the physical books (whether there’s to be an eBook published or not), so all that’s left is proofing and layout of the eBooks. Sadly, to anyone (like me) who’s read a fair number of eBooks, it’s clear that many publishing companies put little-to-know effort into proofing/layout of their eBooks. It’s not to say that *good* eBooks are cheap to produce, Lou Anders and Pyr Books (who produce some of the finest eBooks in all of publishing) would tell you differently, but that and eBook-only release of these novels suggest that Orbit’s experiencing something of a lack of faith in a more traditional Fantasy novel penned by an author known almost exclusively for her Urban Fantasy.

So, it seems strange that Orbit Books would be so excited about their first eBook-only launch of a novel (or, in this case, a set of two novels), so ‘thrilled’ to limit the audience of one of their premier authors, to publish a book with only a partial bit of their publishing oomph behind it.

Does it suggest that the eBook market has matured to the point where it’s a viable medium in which to solely distribute and sell novels? Orbit thinks so; many, many self-published authors (like John Locke or, until recently, Michael J.Sullivan) believe so. Or is it a case of a publisher trying to spit shine their lack of confidence in the novels being able to recoup the costs associated with a physical release? Lilith Saintcrow isn’t a small fry, she’s got a heck of a lot of readers. But what about those unfortunate fans that don’t own an eReader or have no interest in reading the novels off their computer screen/smart phone (via the free Kindle/Kobo/etc… apps)? And if there’s little extra cost associated with printing/storing/selling physical books (at least not enough of an appreciable difference to bring down the cost of eBooks), why not produce (even in limited quantities) a physical edition for those fans? It’s a daring experiment on Orbit’s part, and not one I’m confident will bear great fruit.

And what’s in it for Saintcrow? Higher royalties, presumably, but there’s no way that Orbit’s matching Amazon.com’s the 70% royalties that she’d get if she self-published the novels. Market penetration of eReaders is high, but even if 50% (which is being extremely generous) of her readers were willing to read eBooks, that’s still a hell of a lot of sales left on the table. Why limit a target audience when Orbit is more than capable of producing and marketing physical copies alongside the eBook release (like, you know… a normal book release)? To dip their toes in the water and see how Saintcrow’s audience responds to her shifting genre?

This isn’t a step forward for publishing, but a rather startling look at where the publishing industry might be headed. Is this a case of Orbit saving some cash, or taking a chance and publishing books that wouldn’t have been good enough for publication the old fashioned way. Either way, it’ll be one heck of an interesting experiment to watch. Educate me, because I’m not seeing how this is beneficial to anyone.

Really, it needs no introduction. Written by Jim Theis, published by all that is good in the universe and sits alongside the likes of Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth, Howard’s chronicles of Conan the Cimmerian and Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, first published in Osfan #10 (1970), and now partially re-printed here for your enjoyment.

The legend lives on.

The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense from overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Small rodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the daily accomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over three heaving mounts in blinding clouds, while they bore the burdonsome cargoes of their struggling overseers.

“Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of hell, barbarian”, gasped the first soldier.

“Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death, wretch!” returned Grignr.

A sweeping blade of flashing steel riveted from the massive barbarians hide enameled shield as his rippling right arm thrust forth, sending a steel shod blade to the hilt into the soldiers vital organs. The disemboweled mercenary crumpled from his saddle and sank to the clouded sward, sprinkling the parched dust with crimson droplets of escaping life fluid.

The enthused barbarian swilveled about, his shock of fiery red hair tossing robustly in the humid air currents as he faced the attack of the defeated soldier’s fellow in arms.

“Damn you, barbarian” Shrieked the soldier as he observed his comrade in death.
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Trained from birth in swordplay and combat, a young knight named Siris has journeyed to the Dark Citadel with a single purpose: fight through the army of Titans to face the tyrannical God King in one-on-one combat. This was his father’s sacred mission, and his father’s before him, going back countless generations in an effort to free their people from enslavement. But when Siris somehow succeeds where all those from his bloodline previously have failed, he finds himself cast into a much larger world, filled with warriors and thieves, ancient feuds and shifting alliances, Deathless immortals and would-be kings. His quest for freedom will take him on an epic journey in search of the mythical figure known as the Worker of Secrets – the one being in the world who can unravel the secrets of the Infinity Blade.

Based on the bestselling video game from ChAIR Entertainment and Epic Games, this all-new adventure from acclaimed fantasy author Brandon Sanderson digs deeper into the fantastical world of Infinity Blade, a world of mystery and intrigue where magic and technology are indistinguishable, and even life and death are not what they seem.

Uhh… weird? Infinity Blade is and iPhone/iPad game released last year that caused a stir among fans for its impressive graphics and fun (if repetitive) gameplay. Apparently Sanderson was a fan (or ChAIR and Epic Games threw enough money at him) and was chosen/convinced to write a novella that bridges the story in the original game and the recently announced sequel, Infinity Blade 2. Sanderson talks about the novella and the process behind writing it:

I initially downplayed the INFINITY BLADE offer. However, after a little back-and-forth [Like, say, adding some zeroes to the cheque –Ed.], I realized that this project had the potential to be a whole lot of fun. They gave me complete creative freedom, yet I also had some pretty strong constraints. They had built a video game (a very fun one, by the way) that was very popular. My challenge was to take things placed into the game because of mechanics, and actually build magic systems, a world, characters, and a story to match them. The game developers had some ideas, but they told me I could do anything at all that I wanted.

I’ve often said that interesting limitations make for interesting magic systems in books. Well, I’ve also found that interesting limitations in writing can force me to grow and stretch in different ways as a writer. I took on the project partially because the guys I was working with were so much fun, but also because—as a gamer—I’ve always had a bit of an itch to be involved in video games in one way or another. (I’ve always envied Orson Scott Card, for example, who worked on the original MONKEY ISLAND, one of the great games of all time.)

This story was just plain FUN to write. I had a blast with it, and it turned out quite well. I got to play with the idea of blending entertainment media—the story is for sale in-game, and together with the game, blends storytelling with gameplay. I think our world is going to change in interesting ways as books, video games, and cinema meld together.

So, this story hit a sweet spot for me. I got creative freedom, the ability to work with fun people, a chance to work with some interesting limitations, a chance to dip my toes into video games (they also let me do a draft on the script for the second game), and a chance to play with transmedia.

ChAIR has experience working with best-selling authors. Their Xbox Live Arcade game, Shadow Complex, is set in a universe created and owned by ChAIR and licensed out to Orson Scott Card who wrote two novels in the universe, The Empire Duet. In a reversal of roles, Shadow Complex plays as a bridge story to the two novels, where Infinity Blade: Awakening bridges the two videogames. I’m not usually interested in tie-in novels (especially when they’re drawn from games I’ve not played), but Sanderson’s name is more than enough to convince me to download the sample to my Kindle. As he mentioned in his blog post, magic systems and their effect on their users is one of his hallmarks as a writer and the Infinity Blade setting and non-linear style of story-telling should give him a lot of room to wriggle around in.

You can find out all the details (and find links to purchase the novella) on Sanderson’s blog.