We delighted to announce the sale of French translation rights Aliette De Bodard’s Obsidian and Blood series to Mathieu Saintout at Bibliotheque Interdite in a deal done in association with our brilliant French agent Lora Fountain. We are very chuffed indeed for Aliette knowing that she’s to be published on her own turf! Not sure yet when they intend to publish but we’ll note it on here as soon as we know.
Meantime, here’s the fantastic cover for the forthcoming Angry Robot release of Book two in this series HARBINGER OF THE STORM, due early next year. Here too is the cover blurb…
The year is Two House and the Mexica Empire teeters on the brink of destruction, lying vulnerable to the flesh-eating star-demons – and to the return of their creator, a malevolent goddess only held in check by the Protector God’s power.
The council is convening to choose a new emperor, but when a councilman is found dead, only Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, can solve the mystery.
When he hears rumours of a sinister cabal of sorcerors he must face up to demons, not all of them his own.
And whilst I’m on, it’s worth noting the excellent reviews Aliette received from both Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton in the most recent edition of LOCUS for her story THE JAGUAR HOUSE, IN SHADOW which appeared in the July issue of Asimov’s.
The year is Two House and the Mexica Empire teeters on the brink of destruction, lying vulnerable to the flesh-eating star-demons – and to the return of their creator, a malevolent goddess only held in check by the Protector God’s power.
The council is convening to choose a new emperor, but when a councilman is found dead, only Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, can solve the mystery.
When he hears rumours of a sinister cabal of sorcerors he must face up to demons, not all of them his own.
Here’s a quick snap of John (Thomas Blackthorne) Meaney and Aliette De Bodard at the Forbidden Planet signing last Friday evening (12th Feb). Having signed lord knows how many copies, John is texting his physiotherapist to book a treatment for stressed autographing ligaments, whilst Aliette is in the midst of a video interview with Nick Butler (aka blogger extraordinaire, Loudmouthman).
Thomas Blackthorne‘s EDGE gets five stars over at the Science Fiction and Fantasy blog, which the reviewers calling the book ‘…an intelligent, slick and brilliantly executed novel with a quite unexpected but superbly scripted ending.’ Full review here.
THE BOOKMAN has received yet another glowing review, this time on the Only The Best SciFi/Fantasy blog. ‘[THE BOOKMAN is] a boisterous mix of steampunk, Victorianna, mystery, travel story, thriller, adventure, partly coming of age story…Lavie Tidhar knows how to keep you in suspense… a shining steampunk bijou, brims over with allusions and cameos, vibrant, gorgeous depicted, clever constructed, compelling … steampunk in 3D! Highly recommended from the bottom of my heart.’ Full review here.
And finally the Lateral Books blog loudly hails Aliette De Bodard‘s SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD as ‘…a book I was very excited by… It is a book which is like a fresh breeze of crisp air….I fully expect Ms De Bodard’s name to be huge‘. Full review here.
Elizabeth Moon: A long excerpt fromSHEEPFARMER’S DAUGHTER (the prologue and first two chapters, no less!) the first in the DEED OF PAKSENARRION series, is available at the Orbit web site, promoting their recently released omnibus edition (see this previous post).
Zeno clients Aliette De Bodard and John Meaney (also known as Thomas Blackthorn) will be signing, respectively, SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD and EDGE - their novels published (soon to be published in the case of Mister Meaney / Blackthorn) by Angry Robot. You’ll be able to meet both authors on Friday February 12th at 6pm at the flagship Forbidden Planet megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue.
Prior to the above, John will be one of the participating authors at the SFX Weekender – a two day Sciffy fest taking place on the 5th and 6th of February at Camber Sands – see their web site (link above) for details. Note that fellow Zeno client Justina Robson will also be in attendance.
Still with John Meaney, those of you hungrily awaiting the arrival of his brand new space opera ABSORPTION, will, alas, no have to wait a little while long, as publisher Gollancz has had to reschedule the release date – you’ll be able to get hold of it from May 20th.
And hot on the heels of the cover art (see below), here’s an amazing trailer that Aliette has put together for her forthcoming novel Servant of the Underworld. Is there no end to this woman’s talents?
And the My Favorite Books blog is running an exlusive excerpt from Servant of the Underworld – check it out if you want to wet your appetite for this superb historical fantasy thriller, which will be published January 7th by Angry Robot.
Charles Tan’s excellent Bibliophile Stalker Blog has just put up a brand new interview with Aliette de Bodard conducted by Marshall Payne. In it Aliette talks about her background and, of course, her writing, and she also discusses the odd but fortuitous circumstances which brought about her first book deal…
You just signed a three-book deal with Angry Robot. What can you tell us about that?
Well, this was totally a case of serendipity. Last year, I was rather miffed when British Airways cancelled my flight home from World Fantasy, leaving me stuck in a shabby hotel with not much in the way of distraction. By sheer luck, there were also two people in the hotel: John Berlyne, who was setting up a new agency in the UK, and Marc Gascoigne, editor of the new HarperCollins Angry Robot. Together, they cajoled me into pitching the novel I had completed at the time (and which I’d had no intention of pitching at all, making for a rather flustered few seconds while I got my sentences under control).
And, as it turned out, the first became my agent, and negotiated a three-book deal with the second, for the novel in question and two sequels. It all feels very surreal, but there you have it.
The novel is called Servant of the Underworld, and is a fantasy-mystery set in Aztec times, featuring death-priest-cum-investigator Acatl (and ghostly jaguars, bloodthirsty gods and fingernail-eating monsters). It’s a wild, fast-paced ride through a blood-soaked land where the old gods are manifest, and quick to demand their due in all kinds of unpleasant ways. It’s due in print Spring 2010.
We are delighted to announce début deals for not just one, but two of our talented young authors – namely Aliette de Bodard and Lavie Tidhar, both of whom have just been snapped up by the exciting new genre imprint Angry Robot.
Aliette’s SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD is the first of three books sold to Angry Robot and Publishing Director Marc Gascoigne describes it thus : “… a wild mix of fantasy and crime novel, set in Aztec times. In this alternate world, though, the gods are real and stalk the temples, demanding sacrifices from the people. Amidst the bloodletting, a serial killer appears to be getting away with murder – but how do you find a murderer in a world where the streets themselves are awash with blood?”
SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD is due for publication in Spring 2010 and two further novels set in the same world will follow in due course.
Aliette’s is a name already known to many through her wonderful short fiction (she was a nominee for this year’s Campbell Award and is a Writers of the Future winner) and her deserved good fortune came about through a curious incident of her being in the wrong place at the right time. Stuck in Calgary an extra night due to a flight delay following last year’s World Fantasy Convention, she found herself passing time at with an equally delayed agent – Zeno’s own John Berlyne - and Angry Robot‘s Marc Gascoigne. “It was a bit cheeky of us to cajole her into pitching there and then,” says Gascoigne, ” but I’m very glad she did. We’re always looking for interesting new books to publish, but that day it was like the ancient gods themselves had all conspired to bring us to that spot! These are wonderful books, full of wild fantasy and cunning detection, and I’m so proud and pleased we’ll be publishing them.”
Angry Robot have also acquired via John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, three books from rising star Lavie Tidhar, an author described by LOCUS as “an emerging master”.
Tidhar’s THE BOOKMAN is a steampunk adventure described by Angry Robot‘s Marc Gascoigne as an “… exciting mix of Victorian culture and anachronistically advanced technology. In THE BOOKMAN, a shadowy terrorist of that name brings London society practically to a standstill by placing bombs inside books. After several atrocities against London’s theatres, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack on the blessing of the launch of the first expedition to Mars. For young poet Orphan, whose girlfriend is killed in that blast, it is the start of an epic adventure that will bring him face-to-face not only with the master-criminal but his own lost past.” THE BOOKMAN will be published by Angry Robot in Spring 2010 and will run to at least two further volumes.
Tidhar looks to have a busy year ahead with a number of short stories in the pipeline for publication and a novella, CLOUD PERMUTATIONS due from the award winning British small press PS Publishing, these following in the footsteps of his recently released collaboration with fellow Israelli author Nir Yaniv, THE TEL AVIV DOSSIER which was published to enthusiastic reviews by ChiZine.
Stories by Zeno clients Aliette de Bodard and Stephen Volk grace the pages of the brand new issue of British horror mag Black Static. In terms of fiction therein, that makes it 20% Zeno!
Alliette’s story is called The Lonely Heart and Steve’s has the typically uncompromising title of Fear.
We are absolutely delighted to welcome Aliette de Bodard to the Zeno agency.
John Berlyne says “Aliette’s reputation as a rising star of genre fiction had reached me long before I had the pleasure of meeting her in person at last year’s World Fantasy Convention in Calgary. That reputation was well founded – her work is both delightful and ingenous, her voice distinctive and her feeling for history and the ancient civilisations where she sets much of her work is instictive, thorough and a credit to her extensive research. No longer can she be considered merely one of the Writers of the Future (she was a winner of that competition on 2007) – Aliette is a very much a writer of today and one that is going to be around for a long time to come.“
We delighted to announce the sale of French translation rights Aliette De Bodard’s Obsidian and Blood series to Mathieu Saintout at Bibliotheque Interdite in a deal done in association with our brilliant French agent Lora Fountain. We are very chuffed indeed for Aliette knowing that she’s to be published on her own turf! Not sure yet when they intend to publish but we’ll note it on here as soon as we know.
The year is Two House and the Mexica Empire teeters on the brink of destruction, lying vulnerable to the flesh-eating star-demons – and to the return of their creator, a malevolent goddess only held in check by the Protector God’s power.
Stories by Zeno clients 