L’Ombre de la Longue Nuit, translated by Laurent Queyssi, is published by Bragelonne and will compete with ten works by contemporaries such as Dan Simmons, China Mieville and Lauren Beukes and fellow Zeno client Aliette de Bodard.

Aliette’s novel, D’Obsidienne et de Sang, translated by Laurent Philibert-Caillat, is published by Eclipse – having originally been published in English by Angry Robot as SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD. And yes,  the multiple ironies involved with a native French author, living in France, writing in English, being translated into French and then nominated in a category for Best Foreign Novel have not escaped our notice! Still cool, though, ain’t it!

The shortlist will be announced by the jury at the end of March and the winners will receive their prizes at a ceremony held during the Etonnants Voyageurs (Amazing Voyagers) festival at Saint-Malo (26-28 May 2012).

Congratulations and good luck to both Mike and Aliette. We’re hoping for a tie between the two of you!

THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS by Anne Lyle
GIANT THIEF by David Tallerman
THE GREAT GAME by Lavie Tidhar

‘Hughes writing is both funny and clever, with some great descriptive passages.  he has a style that instantly hooks the reader, that manages  to balance the fine line between being a funny novel, and novel that is just full of jokes… I will be picking up the next instalment of this series without a doubt. A highly recommended read.‘ — Ginger Nuts of Horror

‘…a damn good book. Chesney Arnstruther is a uniquely charming protagonist; the plot is immensely entertaining, full of wit, humor and heart; the ideas presented are original and thought-provoking; and Matthew Hughes’ writing is skillful and engaging. Best of all, The Damned Busters is a blast to read and not quite like any book I’ve ever tried before, instantly making the sequel one of my most anticipated releases of 2012…‘ — Fantasy Book Critic

‘THE DAMNED BUSTERS is a supernatural adventure that blends a rich and unpredictable story, with a tone and wit that provides plenty of laughs along the way. A great balance of action and comedic situations with some romance thrown in for good measure, albeit an awkward romance, this is a great read. It will forever contain the most intense game of poker I have ever read. 5 *****‘ — Celebrity Cafe

‘Hughes continues to carve out a unique place for himself in the fantasy-mystery realm. A droll narrative voice, dry humor and an alternate universe that’s accessible without explicit exposition make this a winner.‘ — Publisher’s Weekly

‘What Matt achieves in this title is not only chock full of humour but a title that has an unlikely hero, a devilishly intriguing sidekick and above all else a plot that moves along at its own pace keeping the humour very much in the fore. It makes no bones about what it is, it has some novel solutions and it was a title that gave me a lot of fun with my reading time, so much so that I really couldn’t wait to get back to it. All in the prose is decent, the characters outstanding and the overall arc very pleasing to the reader. Great stuff.’ — Falcata Times

‘A little bit of Terry Pratchett, a little bit of Mystery Men, a whole lotta hilarious punny word-play alongside some meta bookishness and probably some misdirection, The Damned Busters is a damn good book.   As funny and light-hearted as it is thought provoking and belief challenging, I’ve never read anything quite like it.‘ — Little Red Reviewer

‘This is a funny and surprisingly endearing book with some interesting discussions about the role of sin and our reactions to it.‘ — The Guardian

‘…you’re missing out if you haven’t bought this book yet. Pure and simple. 9.75 / 10‘ — The Founding Fields

‘The Damned Busters is a very clever book (and fast read), exactly the type of work that Angry Robot Books is noted for: it is a smooth melange of genres–comic, noir, humor, fantasy, and metaphysical; ultimately entertaining and damned smart.‘ — Red Book Review

Further raves can be found at The Antick Musings of G.B.H Hornswoggler, Gent ;  Goodreads ; The Horror Review ; Drying Ink and I Will Read Books.

First up was Aliette de Bodard, who was on hand to collect the award for Best Short Fiction for her story The Shipmaker, which appeared in Interzone issue #231. I managed to snap this pic of her being dwarfed by David Weber, who was on hand the present the award. (The homeless man to the rear is Paul Cornell prior to the removal of his comedy charity beard – for which he raised an impressive amount of money for, ironically, Shelter!)

No sooner had the applause for Aliette died down than our own Ian McDonald took to the stage to accept for the award for Best Novel for THE DERVISH HOUSE (not ‘The Dervish Nights’ as the convention newsletter later reported!), his 2010 novel published by Gollancz in the UK and by Pyr in the US.

A further layer of coolness was added to these wins when we later learned that both Ian and Aliette have been nominated for this year’s Hugo Awards – this news adding to Aliette’s previously reported Nebula nomination for the same story, and Ian’s Arthur C. Clarke Award nomination.

Huge congratulations to both authors.

There were lots of other Zeno authors at Eastercon – I got to meet our latest clients Anne Lyle and David Tallerman, albeit all too briefly, and the mass signing of Angry Robot authors at Waterstones in the centre of Birmingham was almost a mini ‘Zenocon’ of its own. Present were Aliette, Colin Harvey, John Meaney – or was it Thomas Blackthorn? – and, in a rare UK appearance, one Lavie Tidhar (pictured here next to a banner proclaiming his novels in all their steampunky glory.)

Elsewhere at the con, at readings, on panels and if truth must be told, in the bar, one could find Freda Warrington, Susan Boulton, Michael Cobley and last but by no means least Ian R. MacLeod.

I did a panel called ‘Writing 102: Finding an Agent‘, which was well attended and along with Gollancz Editorial Director Gillian Redfearn, Gollancz author Stephen Deas and author Martin Owton, we fielded a number of excellent questions from the audience. Hope those who were there found it helpful.

Anne’s Elizabethan fantasy series entitled Night’s Masque features the adventures of disreputable swordsman Mal Catlyn. ‘Explorers have returned from the New World bearing strangely primitive natives – and their uncanny elders, regal beings straight out of the Norse myths who call themselves skraylings. Hired to protect these strangers … Mal … soon finds himself dragged into a world of conspiracy and dark magic. The first of the series, THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS, is an irresistible combination of dashing swordplay and cunning alternate history from a natural born storyteller. It will be published simultaneously in the US and UK in March 2012.’

David’s novels focus on the notorious Easie Damasco, ‘a rogue and a thief and a scoundrel, who somehow always lives to see another day. In the first of his outlandish adventures, GIANT THIEF Damasco somehow manages to steal the wrong treasure and ends up with an entire army on his tail. Riotous swashbuckling adventure in the popular tradition of recent fantasy successes Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie, the Easie Damasco adventures will run to at least three books.’

Both deals are for three books and include ebook and audio rights. They were negotiated with  Angry Robot‘s Publishing Director Marc Gascoigne by John Parker and John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, who represent all translation rights.

Marc Gascoigne says, ‘These are two very different fantasy series, but they share a common quality – thoroughly engaging storytelling. Both these authors have the that rare skill of grabbing the reader in an opening paragraph and taking them off on a wild, wild ride full of magic, swordplay and adventure.’

Congratulations to all.

CAMERA OBSCURA

• Sunday 17th April :  12.00pm  – Waterstones, The Bentalls Centre, 9 Wood Street, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey

• Tuesday 19th April :  18:00 -  Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue,London, WC2H 8JR

• Saturday 23rd April : 12.30pm  – Waterstone’s, 24-26 High Street, Birmingham. This is a group signing featuring Angry Robot authors, so if you turn up, besides Lavie, you’re likely to also run into (and get books signed by) other Zeno clients, Aliette de Bodard, Thomas Blackthorne (aka John Meaney) and Matt Hughes. John B will be there too – but won’t of course, be signing books!

And if you want to get a taste of Lavie’s new book, here’s a neat bit of code courtesy of the folks at Angry Robot…

• John Meaney has just dropped us a line to let us know he’s added a page of downloadable audio to his author web site. Follow the link and you’ll be able to hear John don the disguise that is is alter-ego Thomas Blackthorn, reading the first chapter of soon-to-be-published novel POINT as well as that of EDGE, both Angry Robot releases.

  

  And as if that wasn’t enough, he’s also made available the prologue and first two chapter of his superb Gollancz space opera ABSORPTION, the second volume of which, TRANSMISSION, is soon to be delivered. Note that The Times described ABSORPTION as ‘best hard science fiction I’ve read this year, well written, exciting, mysterious, full of interesting characters and ideas…‘

• And another of our Angry Robot stars, Lavie Tidhar, is the guest on the latest podcast over at The Functional Nerds – head over there to hear Lavie discuss his novel THE BOOKMAN, forthcoming sequel CAMERA OBSCURA, and the third book in the series that he’s currently working on, as well as his life, his writing and all sorts of other stuff.

  

  You can also hear Lavie discussing Steampunk with Jeff Vandermeer and Karin Lowachee over at Cheryl Morgan’s Salon Futura podcast.

Well, now there’s this…

Aliette De Bodard‘s new novel, HARBINGER OF THE STORM – sequel to SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD, will be published by Angry Robot in Jan 2011.

‘The world-building is exquisite and we *believe* we are transported to the 15th century Tenotichtlan and together with the superb voice they formed the main reason I enjoyed this book so much… Highly recommended… Ms. de Bodard is a writer to watch.’ — Fantasy Book Critic

‘Servant of the Underworld is an incredibly strong and promising debut, showing her talents at full effect – she can create amazing, believable worlds; her characters are solid and relatable, and she knows how to do interesting magic, great action and creepiness in spades.’ — Fantasy and SciFi Weblog

• Angry Robot have revealed this gorgeous David Frankland cover for Lavie Tidhar’s forthcoming novel, CAMERA OBSCURA, the follow-up to his Steampunk romp, THE BOOKMAN, due for release next May, and about which they say ‘… In this one we meet Milady de Winter, investigating some murders in, of all places, the Rue Morgue. (Why yes, that does sound strangely familiar…) As she dives deeper into Parisian society, it seems everyone knows who did it except her… and the real question is not who, but why? Her search for answers will take her to the far side of the world, and beyond.’
• And THE BOOKMAN has just sold to Rani Graff at Graff Publishing in Israel.
• Lavie’s CLOUD PERMUTATIONS, published by PS Publishing has been receiving some nice coverage and we’ve just done a deal with Peter Crowther at PS for a new Tidhar collection – more news on this anon.
• And whilst we’re patting him on the back, congrats to Lavie for being winning the Last Drink Bird Head award for International Activism… follow that link to find out more.

And we’ve a couple of other Angry Robot covers to show off here – on the left is Colin Harvey‘s DAMAGE TIME, a seat of the pants, SF thriller from the author of WINTER’S SONG. This new one by Colin has just been released by AR and in a recent Guardian review was described thus by Eric Brown ‘The strength of the novel lies not only in the depiction of a detailed future of hardship and privation, but in the expert characterisation of [protagonist] Shah: a lone figure whose origins leave him open to prejudice within the police department, and whose problematic relationship with an intersexual courtesan reveals his own deep-seated prejudices.‘

And to the right, we’ve the cover for POINT by Thomas Blackthorn (a.k.a John Meaney), not due out until Feb 2011 and which looks rather splendid when placed next to EDGE, the first Blackthorn novel. Swapping identities and publishers for a moment, John reports he has just completed the second Ragnarok novel for Simon Spanton at Gollancz… more on that in due course.

• We’ve some delivery news too… Tim Powers handed in new novel HIDE ME AMONGST THE GRAVES (working title) to Nic Cheetham at Corvus, and Ian Sinclair delivered GHOST MILK to Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton.
• And in deal news, we’ve been very busy indeed – highlights  include recently cemented contracts for Michael Cobley, whose Humanity’s Fire books will be released by Audible next year; for Peter V. Brett (in a major deal with Voyager); for Charlaine Harris (more audio) ; numerous foreign sales of Sir Roger Penrose‘s CYCLES OF TIME; for Ian McDonald (foreign language sales); for Justina Robson (a brand new story collection forthcoming from Australian publisher Ticonderoga); a film option for Andrew Hodges;  and an exciting top secret project for Ben Aaronovitch which we’ll be announcing in due course; and one or two other things too.

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.