Australia is about to have a major new SF/fantasy imprint.  Hachette Livre, the third largest publisher in the world, is launching two new SF and Fantasy imprints: Orbit Australia and Orbit USA. Hachette Livre purchased Orbit, the UK SF and fantasy imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group (formerly Time Warner Book Group) earlier this year. The new imprints will make Orbit a major player in the three largest English language markets in the world.

According to Malcolm Edwards, Managing Director of Hachette Livre Australia: "This is a very exciting development, both for Hachette Livre Australia and for the growing pool of very talented Science Fiction and Fantasy authors in both Australia and New Zealand.  It is rare for large publishers to combine, in such a single minded way, to nurture talent, with the express intention of giving authors the very real opportunity of being published globally, and we are very much looking forward to being part of this pioneering approach."