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News update: New series coming from Chuck Wendig; Gaie Sebold to pen sequel to her debut novel

Don’t look up. Don’t send your prayers skyward. Because the gods aren’t in the sky. They’re here. All of them.

After publishing Chuck Wendig’s debut novel Double Dead, in 2011 Abaddon Books has announced that it is set to publish a brand new title from the author to debut in 2013.

Gods and Monsters: Unclean Spirits, the first title in a brand new shared world series, will debut in the summer of next year.

Exiled to Earth, the gods now walk amongst us, bringing with them their children and their servants and their monsters. Their power is a mere fraction of what it once was, but even a mote of divine magic is awesome – in the truest sense of the word.

Cason Cole knows this firsthand. He’s been serving the gods for the better part of a decade, their leash fastened tight around his neck. But when his most recent divine master gets killed – a thing Cason didn’t even know could happen – he finds himself once more a free man. All he’s got left is a burning need for vengeance against the very gods who forced him to kneel, but he’ll soon discover that getting revenge against the gods is no easy feat. He’ll have to put his life, love, sanity and soul on the line. Will he pay the cost? How priceless is his wrath?

“I enjoyed working with Chuck on his debut novel, Double Dead, hugely so the intention was always to continuing working with him. To be able to launch a brand new Abaddon series with Chuck at the helm is very exciting. His writing is witty, punchy and entertaining as hell. A perfect fit for what promises to be a brilliant new series,” commented Abaddon editor-in-chief Jonathan Oliver.

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And Solaris has  announced that author Gaie Sebold is to follow up her well-received debut, Babylon Steel. Sebold has conceived one of the most well-realised female characters in the genre – ex-mercenary turned brothel owner Babylon Steel. And Babylon is set to return in Dangerous Gifts, which will be published in February 2013.

Babylon Steel runs the best brothel in Scalentine, city of portals. She’s escaped her past and it’s all going pretty well. Apart, that is, from the racial conflict and economic misery boiling up in Scalentine.

Her lover, Chief Bitternut of the City Militia, is trying to keep the lid on, while hunting a killer whose real target is a lot closer than he knows. Just as things are getting really tense, Babylon is forced to take another job. Bodyguard to Enthemmerlee Entaire: symbol of hope or object of disgust for most of her country’s population, and a prime target for assassination, along with anyone who happens to be in the way. Such as her bodyguard.

Unintentionally dragging a very annoyed government employee along in her wake, Babylon struggles to turn Enthemmerlee’s squabbling household guard from liability into security, dodge the rigid Moral Statutes of Incandress, and keep both herself and her client alive.  She soon realises that the situation is far worse than she thought, her past hasn’t quite let go of her yet, and she will be driven to a choice that will have far-reaching consequences…

“Babylon Steel was one of the most assured and brilliantly written fantasy debuts of 2012. Gaie’s characters are vivid and brilliantly realised. She is also one of the finest writers on sex and sexual politics in fantasy that I’ve read. I’m delighted to welcome her back to Solaris and discover more about Babylon Steel’s exciting and mysterious past. Gaie’s star is fast rising in the fantasy firmament,” commented Solaris editor-in-chief, Jonathan Oliver.

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