Abaddon Books

Abaddon Books
Parent companyRebellion
FoundedAugust 2006
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Headquarters locationOxford
DistributionSimon & Schuster (US)[1]
Fiction genresScience fiction
Fantasy
Horror
Official websitewww.abaddonbooks.com

Abaddon Books is a British publishing imprint, founded in 2006.[2] It is part of the Rebellion group of companies, along with publishing companies Solaris Books, 2000 AD, 2000 AD Graphic Novels, and Cubicle 7.[3]

Abaddon publishes "shared world" novels in the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres.[4] Describing itself as a return to "the good old days of pulp fiction", the imprint focuses on shorter, action-driven novels with dark or horrific themes.[5]

The line was founded by Jonathan Oliver,[4] who has been Editor-in-Chief of Abaddon and Solaris Books since Rebellion bought the latter from BL Publishing in 2009.[6]

Shared-world series

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Abaddon publishes "shared-world" novels set in a number of narrative settings, with two or more authors writing in each series. Abaddon's editorial team creates the worlds in collaboration with the authors, placing an emphasis on original and engaging ideas:

It's franchise fiction without a franchise. We’re giving writers the spark of an idea and asking, "can you do this?” But we’re not giving them an idea that is based on a game or a film, or anything... we’re just saying: "Wouldn’t it be cool if this kind of fiction existed? Could you write this kind of fiction for us?”

— Jonathan Oliver[7]

The imprint is currently publishing books in six series:

  • The Afterblight Chronicles, a post-apocalyptic setting in which cults and warlords run rampant over the survivors of a global plague.
  • The Infernal Game, an espionage series incorporating elements of urban fantasy and gothic horror.
  • No Man's World, an exploration story about a company of World War I soldiers inexplicably transported to an alien world.
  • Pax Britannia, a steampunk alternate history in which a 160-year-old Queen Victoria still governs the British Empire towards the end of the twentieth century.
  • Tomes of the Dead, not a single shared world, but a series of stand-alone zombie stories marked by subversion or reinterpretation of the genre.[8]
  • Twilight of Kerberos, a "sword and sorcery" setting on a small world orbiting the gas giant Kerberos, inhabited by the remnants of lost civilizations.

A seventh series was announced in 2010:

A further two series were launched in the imprint's first year, but have since ceased:

  • Dreams of Inan, a science fantasy series set on a futuristic world in which magic acts as a nuclear-style deterrent. The series concluded with The Worm That Wasn't in 2007.
  • Sniper Elite, an alternate history based in the world of the Sniper Elite games. The series included only a single book, The Spear of Destiny, in 2006.

Publications

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The following titles have been previously published or are announced as upcoming.

All releases prior to 2009, and most releases since, have featured cover art by Greg Staples or Mark Harrison; covers for the new The Infernal Game and No Man's World titles, and for the upcoming omnibus editions, have been created by 2000 AD staff designers Simon Parr and Luke Preece.

The Afterblight Chronicles

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Novels

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  1. Spurrier, Simon (August 2006). The Culled. ISBN 978-1-905437-01-6.
  2. Levene, Rebecca (April 2007). Kill or Cure. ISBN 978-1-905437-32-0.
  3. Andrews, Scott K. (August 2007). School's Out. ISBN 9781905437405.
  4. Bark, Jaspre (April 2008). Dawn Over Doomsday. ISBN 978-1-905437-62-7.
  5. Kane, Paul (September 2008). Arrowhead. ISBN 978-1-905437-76-4.
  6. Andrews, Scott K. (May 2009). Operation Motherland. ISBN 978-1-906735-04-3.
  7. Ewing, Al (October 2009). Death Got No Mercy. ISBN 978-1-906735-15-9.
  8. Kane, Paul (November 2009). Broken Arrow. ISBN 978-1-906735-27-2.
  9. Andrews, Scott K. (August 2010). Children's Crusade. UK-ISBN 978-1-906735-53-1, US-ISBN 978-1-906735-81-4.
  10. Kane, Paul (September 2010). Arrowland. UK-ISBN 978-1-907519-13-0, US-ISBN 978-1-907519-12-3.
  11. Ochse, Weston (2012). Blood Ocean. ISBN 9781907992872.
  12. Andrews, Scott K. (September 2012). School's Out Forever. ISBN 9781781080269.
  13. Cross, Malcolm (January 2014). Orbital Decay. ISBN 9781849976787.
  14. Harvey, C.B. (February 2014). Dead Kelly. ISBN 9781849976800.
  15. Tchaikovsky, Adrian (July 2014). The Bloody Deluge. ISBN 9781849977647.

Omnibus collections

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  • Cross, Malcolm; Harvey, C.B. & Tchaikovsky, Adrian (August 2014). Journal of the Plague Year: an Omnibus of Post-Apocalyptic Tales. ISBN 9781781082461. Includes: Orbital Decay, Dead Kelly, and The Bloody Deluge.
  • Spurrier, Simon; Levene, Rebecca & Ewing, Al (June 2011). The Afterblight Chronicles Omnibus, Volume 1: America. ISBN 9781907992148. Includes: The Culled, Kill or Cure, and Death Got No Mercy.

The Infernal Game

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No Man's World

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Pax Britannia

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Tomes of the Dead

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Twilight of Kerberos

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  1. Shadowmage (Matthew Sprange, February 2008, ISBN 978-1-905437-54-2)
  2. The Clockwork King of Orl (Mike Wild, August 2008, ISBN 978-1-905437-75-7)
  3. The Light of Heaven (David A. McIntee, February 2009, ISBN 978-1-905437-87-0)
  4. The Crucible of the Dragon God (Mike Wild, June 2009, ISBN 978-1-906735-13-5)
  5. The Call of Kerberos (Jonathan Oliver, October 2009, ISBN 978-1-906735-16-6)
  6. Night's Haunting (Matthew Sprange, October 2009, ISBN 978-1-906735-25-8)
  7. Engines of the Apocalypse (Mike Wild, August 2010, UK-ISBN 978-1-906735-37-1, US-ISBN 978-1-906735-79-1)
  8. The Trials of Trass Kathra (Mike Wild, Date TBC, UK-ISBN 978-1-907519-64-2, US-ISBN 978-1-907519-65-9)
  9. The Wrath of Kerberos (Jonathan Oliver, Date TBC, ISBN TBC)

Malory's Knights of Albion

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Dreams of Inan

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Sniper Elite

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Judges

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Other media

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Films

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  • In October 2010, Amber Entertainment announced that it had optioned the movie rights for Tomes of the Dead: Stronghold (2010),[10] to be produced by Amber's Ileen Maisel and directed by Rebellion's Jason Kingsley.

References

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  1. ^ Our Valued Clients
  2. ^ "Rebellion Talks 2000 AD," Archived 29 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Forbidden Planet International, 10 July 2006, discussing "a new prose range" with editor Jonathan Oliver.
  3. ^ Rebellion Developments Ltd. on Moby Games, 2006.
  4. ^ a b "An Interview with Jonathan Oliver," Archived 19 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine The Literary Project, 16 April 2010
  5. ^ "About Us," Abaddon Books, October 2009
  6. ^ "Rebellion Acquires Solaris Imprint," Archived 6 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine The Bookseller, 3 September 2009.
  7. ^ "PK Interview: Jonathan Oliver (Part 4)," Pornokitsch, 24 March 2010
  8. ^ "Interview with Jasper Bark by JD'L," Horror Reanimated, 4 June 2010
  9. ^ "News Series Announcement!" Abaddon Books, 19 March 2010
  10. ^ "Zombies go medieval". Variety. 21 October 2010.
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