Solaris Books is an imprint which focuses on publishing science fiction, fantasy and

dark fantasy Dark fantasy, also called fantasy horror, is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporates disturbing and frightening themes. The term is ambiguously used to describe stories that combine horror fiction, horror ...

novels and anthologies. The range includes titles by both established and new authors. The range is owned by

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...

and distributed to the UK and US booktrade via local divisions of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

History

Solaris Books was founded in February 2007 by BL Publishing, to trade alongside their existing licence-based imprint the

Black Library The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing List of Black Library novels, novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) ...

, and the then-existing Black Flame imprint. When asked why BLP had started the new imprint, Consulting Editor George Mann stated that "...between... the major corporate publishers... and... the small and independent press... there seems to be little or no room left for the midlist," and that Solaris would provide a mass-market platform for up-and-coming writers, or established writers with smaller readerships. In September 2009, it was announced that Solaris Books had been bought by

, who also publish comics and graphic novels under '' 2000 AD'' imprint and genre fiction under the Abaddon Books imprint, for an undisclosed sum. The imprint came under the leadership of Abaddon editor Jonathan Oliver, who ran both imprints side by side as Editor-in-Chief, along with editors David Moore and Jenni Hill. As of August 2023, Solaris had published over 300 titles, including anthologies and new editions of out-of-print titles.

Publications

*'' Arch Wizard'' (by

Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood (born July 21, 1959) is a Canadian fantasy writer and the creator of the '' Forgotten Realms'' game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for ''Dragon'' magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold the rig ...

, December 2008, ) *'' Bitterwood'' (by James Maxey, July 2007, ) *''Dante's Girl'' (by Natasha Rhodes, March 2007, ) *''

Dark Lord In fiction and mythology, a dark lord (sometimes capitalized as Dark Lord or referred to as an evil overlord, evil emperor etc. depending on the work) is an antagonistic archetype, acting as the pinnacle of villainy and evil within a typically h ...

'' (by

, September 2007, ) *'' Deadstock'' (by Jeffrey Thomas, March 2007, ) *''

Helix A helix (; ) is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring or the thread of a machine screw. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is for ...

'': (by Eric Brown, June 2007, ) *''House of Fear Anthology edited by Jonathan Oliver *'' Infinity Plus'' (edited by

Keith Brooke Keith Brooke is a British science fiction author, Editing, editor, web publisher and anthologist from Suffolk, England. He is the founder and editor of the infinity plus webzine. He also writes children's fiction under the name Nick Gifford. Biog ...

and Nick Gevers, August 2007, ) *''Phoenicia's Worlds'' (by Ben Jeapes, 2013) *'' Set the Seas on Fire'' (by Chris Roberson, August 2007, ) *''

Splinter A splinter (also known as a sliver) is a fragment of a larger object, or a foreign body that penetrates or is purposely injected into a body. The foreign body must be lodged inside tissue to be considered a splinter. Splinters may cause initia ...

'' (by Adam Roberts, September 2007, ) *''The Solaris Book of New Fantasy'' (edited by George Mann, December 2007, ) *''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction'' (edited by George Mann, February 2007, ) * ''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Three'' (edited by George Mann, 2009, ) * ''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two'' (edited by George Mann, 2008, ) *'' The Summoner'' (by Gail Z. Martin, February 2007, ) *''The Touch'' (by Brian Lumley, March 2007, ) *''Thief With No Shadow'' (by Emily Gee, May 2007, )

Awards

Alastair Reynolds Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Early life Reynolds was born in Wales and spent his early years in Cornwall before moving back to Wales, ...

' story "The Fixation", from ''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three,'' won the 2009 Sidewise Award for Alternate History (Short Form). * Chris Roberson's ''The Dragon's Nine Sons'' won the 2008 Sidewise Award for Alternate History (Long Form). * Ellen Datlow's ''Poe Anthology'' won the 2010 Black Quill Award for Best Dark Genre Anthology (Readers' Choice), and the 2010 Shirley Jackson Award for an Edited Anthology, and was nominated for the 2010

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. * Mary Robinette Kowal's story " Evil Robot Monkey", from ''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Two,'' was nominated for the 2009

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

for Best Short Story. * Mary Rosenblum's story "Sacrifice", from ''Sideways in Crime,'' won the 2008 Sidewise Award for Alternate History (Short Form). Tobias Buckell's story "The People's Machine", and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's story "G-Men", both from ''Sideways in Crime,'' were nominated in the same category. * Paul Cornell's story "One of Our Bastards is Missing", from ''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three,'' was nominated for the 2010

for Best Novelette. * Stephen Baxter's story "Last Contact", from ''The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction,'' was a finalist in the 2008

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. Originally a poll ...

for Short Story and a nominee for the 2008

for

Short Story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

.2008 Hugo Award Nominees
The Hugo Awards, 21 March 2008

Notes

References

Solaris Books
at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

External links