Tim Lebbon signs deal with Orbit to release 'Echo City Falls'

According to British author Tim Lebbon's website, he's signed a two-book deal with Orbit for a "rich, gritty novel" called Echo City Falls and one other untitled book.

"Orbit are one of the biggest and best genre publishers in the UK, and I am so excited about this deal. I’ve already met up with my excellent editor Bella Pagan, I’ve been eager to spread the news, and I just know it’s going to be fun. Watch this space for more developments."

Here's the early blurb:

"It hides below Echo City, a threat that has been growing over generations deep beneath the streets. The corrupt wheels of commerce, the murky cycles of political rise and fall and the rivalries of religious and military sects have intersected efficiently over the ages, filling specialised niches in a rigidly organised society. But this is about to change. As darkness stirs in the depths, a stranger arrives from across the desert that isolates Echo City from the rest of the world. Watchers have long whispered of the destruction of their city and search for something that will keep them from it. Madmen and spirits of the dead have foretold disaster and looked for a saviour. But no one expected either in this lifetime.

Labyrinthine, steeped in violent history and hiding horrors far below, the city starts to unravel as the plot gathers momentum to reach a dramatic and compulsive conclusion."

Sounds promising! I've enjoyed the two books of Lebbon's that I've read previously, so have high hopes for this. Echo City Falls is due for release in 2011.