Tag: Ian McDonald

Zeno Clients & Titles on the Locus 2023 Recommended Reading List!

Posted on Wednesday, February 7th, 2024

Locus Magazine released their February 2024 issue, which includes their annual Recommended Reading List, covering 2023 releases. We’re very happy to report that a number of Zeno clients and titles are featured on the list. Check out below for more information on each of the featured titles.

SF Novel

Aliette de Bodard, A FIRE BORN OF EXILE (Gollancz/JABberwocky)

The Scattered Pearls Belt is a string of habitats under tight military rule… where the powerful have become all too comfortable in their positions, and their corruption. But change is coming, with the arrival of Quynh: the mysterious and enigmatic Alchemist of Streams and Hills.

To Minh, daughter of the ruling prefect of the Belt, Quynh represents a chance for escape. To Hoà, a destitute engineer, Quynh has a mysterious link to her own past… and holds a deeper, more sensual appeal. But Quynh has her own secret history, and a plan for the ruling class of the Belt. A plan that will tear open old wounds, shake the heavens, and may well consume her.

A beautiful exploration of the power of love, of revenge, and of the wounds of the past, this fast-paced, heartwarming standalone space opera is set against a backdrop of corruption, power, and political scheming in the far reaches of the Xuya universe, also home to the Arthur C. Clarke Award-shortlisted The Red Scholar’s Wake.

Ian McDonald, HOPELAND (Gollancz/Tor Books)

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

Lavie Tidhar, THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD (Tachyon)

Caught between realities, a mathematician, a book dealer, and a mobster desperately seek a notorious book that disappears upon being read. Only the author, a rakish sci-fi writer, knows whether his popular novel is truthful or a hoax. In a story that is cosmic, inventive, and sly, multi-award-winning author Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) travels from the emergence of life to the very ends of the universe.

Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn’t supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. Oskar Lens, a science fiction-obsessed mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, will stop at nothing to find the novel. After Delia’s husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer.

The infamous novel Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley’s novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system. But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?

Fantasy Novel

Jonathan Carroll, MR. BREAKFAST (Melville House)

Graham Patterson’s life has hit a dead end. His career as a comedian is failing. The love of his life recently broke up with him and he literally has no idea what to do next. With nothing to lose, he buys a new car and hits the road, planning to drive across country and hopefully figure out his next moves before reaching California.

But along the way Patterson does something his old self would never have even considered: he gets tattooed by a brilliant tattoo artist in North Carolina. The decision sets off a series of extraordinary events that changes his life forever in ways he never could have imagined. Among other things, Patterson is gifted with the ability to see in real time three different lives that are available to him. The choice is his: The life he is leading right now, or two very different ones. In all of them there is love or fame and of course danger because once he has chosen, there is no telling what will happen next.

Mr. Breakfast is a dazzling, absorbing and deeply moving novel about the choices that we have to confront and face, confirming Jonathan Carroll’s status as one of our greatest and most imaginative storytellers.

Tim Powers, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER (Ad Astra)

Howarth, 1846.

In a parsonage at the edge of the moors, a widowed rector lives with his family: three daughters and their dissolute brother, Bramwell.

Though the future will celebrate Charlotte, Emily and Anne, right now they are unknown, their genius concealed. In just a few short years they will all be dead, and it will be middle sister Emily’s chance encounter with a grievously wounded man on the moor that sets them on the path to their doom.

For there is an ancient pagan secret haunting the moors, a dark inheritance in the family bloodline and something terrible buried under an ogham-inscribed slab in the church. Not only are their lives at stake, but their very souls.

My Brother’s Keeper is an atmospheric gothic novel that mixes diabolical hatred and vengeance with the supreme power of love to conjure dark magic from the tragic fate of the Brontë sisters.

Horror Novel

Grady Hendrix, HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE (Titan UK)

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Mostly, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. But she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

Some houses don’t want to be sold…

Collections

Ian R. MacLeod, RAGGED MAPS (Subterranean Press)

From furthest reaches of deep space in “The Memory Artist” to the jungles of Yucatan in “Lamagica,” and from the strange suburbia of “Stuff” to a Vatican where a dying pope awaits deliverance in “Sin Eater,” the worlds mapped out by these stories range far and wide. 

As, from the mythic ancient city of “The God of Nothing” to the post-human futures of “Ephemera” and “The Fall of the House of Kepler,” via alternate pasts and some very twisted presents in such tales as “Selkie,” “The Mrs Innocents” and “The Chronologist,” do the times. 

What holds all these pieces together, including the gripping long new novelette “Downtime” and its vision of a near-future penal system, are vivid writing, strong characters and a sense of awe and surprise. On travels that will take you from cluttered attics and strange shorelines to star-flung civilisations and beyond, let Ian R. MacLeod be your guide.

Anthologies

Lavie Tidhar (ed.), THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 3 (Ad Astra)

The third annual instalment to the ‘excellent, lovingly curated’ (Financial Times) The Best of World SF series

The Best of World SF series is a fixture on the global science fiction scene. If you want to find the most exciting SF authors writing today, look no further.

In this third instalment, you’ll discover alien artists, rioting dinosaurs, shape-shifting rabbits, heartbreak-harvesting cafes and one robot on a quest for meaning. You will be transported to the stars and back down to Earth and sideways, with the order of the world turned upside down.

Featuring authors from Austria, Bulgaria, China, Finland, Ghana, Greece, India, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore and South Africa, this collection’s stories have been selected by award-winning writer, editor and World SF expert Lavie Tidhar.

The most exciting science fiction on the planet comes from all corners of the globe. And it’s all in the Best of World SF series.

Short Stories

Aliette de Bodard, “The Mausoleum’s Children“ (Uncanny 5-6/23)

HOPELAND Paperback Out Now in the UK!

Posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2023

The UK paperback edition of Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed novel HOPELAND is out now! Published by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

HOPELAND is also out now in North America, published by Tor Books.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘A story of the near future, it starts out as an urban fantasy love story before twisting to become a magical realism-tinged tale and a show-don’t-tell philosophical novel that’s also a rollicking sea-based adventure… HOPELAND is a profoundly optimistic novel, even one tinged with utopianism. Indeed, it often has a vibe similar to the work of another great optimist, lain Banks… By some distance Ian McDonald’s best novel — which is saying something, considering how good so many of his other books have been — this is the work of a writer at the peak of his powers.’ — SFX (5* Review!)

‘… a unique take on time-travel and electromancy… An eccentric and adventurous love story mixed with a rich and picturesque family saga. The popping action sequences reinforce McDonald’s swift and distinctive writing style.’ — Library Journal

‘[M]arries magic realism to solid, near-future speculative fiction… An essential work of climate fiction.’ — Guardian

‘HOPELAND is extraordinary — a deep-dive into pyschogeographic wonders that’s galvanised by jolts of romance and conspiracy…. HOPELAND works a sort of magic on the reader. Resist and you get lost. Submit to its mad energy and you’ll be swept from Spitalfields to Ireland, Iceland to Polynesia by the sheer variety of Ian McDonald’s imagination and the power of his vision.’ — Daily Mail

‘A novel so eerily good it almost made me angry… amazing, uncategorizable, unsummarizable, weird, sprawling, hairball of a novel…’ — Cory Doctorow, Medium

‘On display in this book is a familiar virtue of McDonald’s, seen in works such as River of Gods and Brasyl: the ability to depict a culture in both large and granular details across historical eras. But new to his quiver is the intense lyricism of the prose… Replete with deft, unforgettable character portraits… powerful, never overplayed themes… wise and expansive…’ — Locus (Paul di Filippo)

Gollancz and Tor Books also published Ian’s acclaimed Luna series.

New Russian Edition of Ian McDonald’s NECROVILLE Out Now!

Posted on Monday, November 6th, 2023

A new Russian edition of Ian McDonald‘s award-winning NECROVILLE is out now! Published by ACT as Некровиль, here’s the synopsis…

Первое полное издание классического цикла «Некровиль» на русском языке! От автора трилогии «Новая луна».

Двадцать первый век – время всепоглощающего научного прогресса. Всего несколько десятилетий назад, с изобретением революционной технологии воскрешения людей, человечество победило смерть… Однако теперь, в 2063 году, бывшие мертвецы обречены быть рабами из Некровилей – гетто для таких, как они. Человек боится смерти. Но что, если он не умрёт никогда?.. Киберанк, каким он должен быть: яркая и захватывающая история человечества, охватывающая множество веков и миров.

Нанотехнологии радикально преобразовали законы жизни и смерти. Воскрешенные мертвецы теперь составляют практически одну треть населения Земли, они лишены прав, юридически не считаются людьми и стали главной рабочей силой нового общества. У них сложилась своя культура, образовались свои собственные гетто, некровили. А Ночь мертвых принадлежит только им. Пять человек входят в некровиль, чтобы исполнить данное друг другу обещание или же обрести смысл жизни. И чем сильнее пересекаются их судьбы, тем глубже они погружаются в жизни мертвецов, тем более невероятные сцены предстают перед ними. Они еще не подозревают, что эта ночь перевернет судьбу Земли и заложит основу новой истории, необратимо изменив человечество и открыв перед ним врата пространства и времени.

The novel, which won the 1995 BSFA Award, is published in the UK by Gollancz. Here’s the synopsis…

In the Los Angeles ghetto of Necroville, the yearly celebration of the Night of the Dead – where the dead are resurrected through the miracle of nanotechnology and live their second lives as non-citizens – becomes a journey of discovery and revelation for five individuals on the run from their pasts.

With his customary flair for making the bizarre both credible and fascinating, McDonald tosses aside the line of demarcation between living and dead in a story that confronts the central quandary of human existence: the essence of non-being.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received…

‘McDonald’s lush prose paints a vivid and credible Armageddon. World-building SF that’s punk, funky, and frightening: a fantastic acid trip to the end of the world.’ — Kirkus

‘McDonald, who won the Philip K. Dick Award for KING OF THE MORNING QUEEN OF THE DAY, reveals the workings of his bizarre society through the exploits of five friends as they search for the meaning of life in the Necroville at Los Angeles on the Night of the Dead. Sorting through five points of view requires some patience, but it is well rewarded. In the best science fiction tradition, McDonald provokes reexamination of current societal standards through the prism of another time and place.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘McDonald revels in the creation of brilliantly described near-futures and lushly exotic settings, and has more ideas in a book than most writers dream up in a lifetime. Here death is no more: the dead are reborn thanks to nanotechnology in Jesus-tanks and decanted into “techtoplastic” bodies. Drug-designer Santiago Columbar invites his friends to join him in the Terminal café in the suburb of LA known as Necroville, and in the resulting free-wheeling, mind-spinning novel we follow the friends as they travel to meet him, encountering genetically engineered dinosaurs, undead prostitutes, werewolves and an invasion of Earth by resurrected space workers. In Necroville, decay sits next to fabulous invention, terrible privation next to limitless possibility. The book…offers a graphic dystopian vision.’ — Guardian

Ian McDonald’s WOLF MOON Available Now in Croatia!

Posted on Friday, November 3rd, 2023

WOLF MOON, the second novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series, is now available in a new Croatian edition! Published by Vorto Palabra as VUČJI MJESEC, it was translated by Kristian Vlašić. Here’s the synopsis…

Zmaj je mrtav. Pala je Corta Hélio, jedna od pet obiteljskih korporacija koje vladaju Mjesecom. Njezino vlasništvo razgrabili su mnogobrojni neprijatelji, a preživjeli članovi obitelji razbježali su se na sve strane.

Prošlo je osamnaest mjeseci. Preostala djeca obitelji Corta, Lucasinho i Luna, pod zaštitom su moćnih Asamoaha, a Robson, koji se još oporavlja od nasilne smrti roditelja, sada je štićenik – ili, točnije, talac – Mackenzie Metalsa. Posljednji je nasljednik obitelji, Lucas, nestao s Mjeseca. Samo Lady Sun, doajenka Taiyanga, sumnja da Lucas Corta nije poginuo i, što je još važnije, da je i dalje jedan od najvažnijih igrača u novonastalim okolnostima.

Lucas je oduvijek bio spletkaroš koji ni smrti ne bi dopustio da ga spriječi u namjeri da vrati sve što mu je oduzeto i izgradi novu Corta Hélio, jaču nego ikada prije. No korporaciji trebaju saveznici i on kreće na odvažno, nemoguće putovanje – na Zemlju. U nestabilnoj atmosferi Mjeseca, političke spletke i krhka lojalnost svih obitelji kovitlaju se u smrtonosnom metežu i vode prema jedinom mogućem kraju – otvorenom ratu…

Trilogiju “Luna” nazivaju jednom od najuzbudljivijih i najvažnijih znanstveno-fantastičkih serijala desetljeća i opisuju kao “Igru prijestolja u svemiru”. Radnje smještene u dalekoj budućnosti, oko pedeset godina nakon koloniziranja Mjeseca, ovo je uzbudljiv triler o članovima jedne obitelji uhvaćenima u žestokoj i nemilosrdnoj borbi za prevlast u surovom okruženju Mjeseca. Prateći sudbine raznolikih likova, “Luna” pruža nezaboravan prikaz zastrašujućeg novog doma čovječanstva.

The Luna series — which begins with NEW MOON and ends with MOON RISING — is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America by Tor Books. THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE, a prequel, is published by Tor.com in the UK and North America.

NEW MOON is also available in Croatia, published by Vorto Palabra as MLADI MJESEC, and translated by Kristian Vlašić.

Here’s the English-language synopsis of WOLF MOON…

Corta Helio, one of the five family corporations that rule the Moon, has fallen. Its riches are divided up among its many enemies, its survivors scattered. Eighteen months have passed.

The remaining Helio children, Lucasinho and Luna, are under the protection of the powerful Asamoahs, while Robson, still reeling from witnessing his parent’s violent deaths, is now a ward – virtually a hostage – of Mackenzie Metals. And the last appointed heir, Lucas, has vanished from the surface of the moon.

Only Lady Sun, dowager of Taiyang, suspects that Lucas Corta is not dead, and – more to the point – that he is still a major player in the game. After all, Lucas always was a schemer, and even in death, he would go to any lengths to take back everything and build a new Corta Helio, more powerful than before. But Corta Helio needs allies, and to find them, the fleeing son undertakes an audacious, impossible journey – to Earth.

In an unstable lunar environment, the shifting loyalties and political machinations of each family reach the zenith of their most fertile plots as outright war between the families erupts.

Here are just a few of the many great reviews WOLF MOON has received…

‘… powerful sequel… compelling throughout. Each of McDonald’s viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated. Fans of the first volume will love this one and eagerly look forward to the next.‘ — Publishers Weekly

‘NEW MOON was one of the most interesting sci-fi novels of 2015, with smart ideas on humanity and economies matched by street smarts, political brawls and murder in the streets. LUNA: WOLF MOON turns that up to eleven – it’s a fascinating story, which is also a tense, enthralling read.’ — Sci-Fi & Fantasy Review

‘The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice. McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once. Starting with his debut novel, 1988’s Desolation Road, McDonald has used his intense, finely crafted and small personal stories of his vast casts of characters as the pixels in an unimaginably vast display on which he projects some of the field’s most audacious worldbuilding — never worldbuilding for its own sake, either, but always in the service of slyly parodying, critiquing or lionizing elements of our present-day world.’ — Boing Boing

‘A Howling Good Read… No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does. Piece by piece and brick by brick. Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be…, deep and meaty when he wants to be…, he does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. There are no wasted moves, nothing that isn’t vital because, in the end, everything is vital. Everything matters… it is fascinating, all of it. Because McDonald has made a world that is ruthless in its consistency and living, breathing reality, and then made characters who are not just living in it, but wholly and fully of it… McDonald’s corporate war is a gorgeous thing, fought with every tool available… McDonald is able to wrap the biggest events in constellations of the smallest so that a cocktail party here, a discussion of ’80s retro fashion (all mall-hair and WHAM! T-shirts), a love story and a day at work for a guy who cleans solar panels all build and coalesce to form the background radiation of life in this unstable future. Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR

‘LUNA: NEW MOON was a “magnificent bastard of a book,” as I put it in my review. Part two, it’s my pleasure to tell you, is just as awesome, and just as masterfully nasty.’ — Tor.com

Ian’s latest novel is the highly-acclaimed stand-alone HOPELAND, also published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (North America).

Ian McDonald’s LUNA YENİ AY Out Now in Turkey!

Posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2023

A new Turkish edition of Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed first Luna novel, NEW MOON, is available now! Published by Salon Yayınları as YENİ AY, it was translated by Zeynep Eski. Here’s the synopsis…

Önce onları yakalıyor…

Sonra da işlerini bitiriyor…

Polis müfettişi dedektif Luc Callanach yeni çalışma ortamına tam adımını atmıştı ki kayıp Elaine vakası ile yüzyüze geldi ve işler sarpasarıp cinayet soruşturmasına dönerek ortalık kızıştı. O İnterpol’deki kariyer vadeden görevinden ayrıldıktan sonra yeni ekibine kendini ispatlama derdinde. Ama anladı ki Edinburgh Lyon’a çok uzakta ve Elaine’nin katili ayakizlerini çok titizce bir dikkatle yok ediyor.

Çok geçmeden başka bir kadın kapısının önünden çok ustaca kaçırılıyor ve Callanach da kendini zamanla yarışta buluyor. Ya da o öyle sanıyor…Kaçırılan kadınların gerçek yazgısı onun tahmin edemeyeceği kadar karmakarışık.

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America by Tor Books — NEW MOON is followed by WOLF MOON and MOON RISING. A prequel to the series, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE, is published by Tor.com. Here’s the English-language synopsis to the first novel…

The Moon wants to kill you. It might not get there first.

Luna is a gripping thriller about five corporate families caught in a bitter battle for supremacy in the harsh environment of the moon. It’s very easy to die on the moon, but with its vast mineral wealth it’s also easy to make your fortune.

Following the fortunes of a handful of disparate characters, from one of the lowliest workers on the moon to the heads of one of the most powerful families, LUNA provides a vast mosaic of life on this airless and terrifying new home for humanity.

This is SF that will be perfect for fans of Kim Stanley Robinson and Ken Macleod alike.

Here are just a few of the many great reviews NEW MOON has received…

‘McDonald… begins his superb near-future series… scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next year’s award ballots.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Mafia-style mining families clash in a compelling fantasy that offers up all the pleasures of a cut-throat soap opera in space…That McDonald is able to spin a compelling story from this unforgiving set-up is testament to his skill as a writer… One thing Luna does exceptionally well is to puncture Old Heinlein’s assumption that a frontier society based on the primacy of the family and a disregard of conventional laws would end up like idealised smalltown America. Luna argues that any realistic future colonisation of the moon will be much more The Sopranos than The Waltons. LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian

‘No one writes like Ian McDonald, and no one’s Moon is nearly so beautiful and terrible… Ian McDonald’s never written a bad novel, but this is a great Ian McDonald novel… McDonald has ten details for every detail proffered by other sf writers. Not gratuitous details, either: gracious ones. The fashion sense of William Gibson, the design sense of Bruce Sterling, the eye for family drama of Connie Willis, the poesie of Bradbury, and the dirty sex of Kathe Koja and Samuel Delany… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing. As the family saga of the Cortas unravels, we meet a self-sexual ninja lawyer, a werewolf who loses his mind in the Full Earth, a family tyrant whose ruthlessness is matched only by his crepulance, and a panoply of great passions and low desires. LUNA: NEW MOON is the first book of a two-book cycle. Now I’m all a-quiver for the next one.‘ — BoingBoing

‘Fans of cerebral, high-concept science fiction will love this exploration of society on the moon many decades after it has been colonized. The focus is more on concept and plot than on character, but the former are compelling enough to make this an addictive page-turner. Including the stories of many characters gives the reader important insights into different facets of society, and although the book starts at a slow pace, it accelerates into a mesmerizing political thriller.’ — RT Book Reviews

‘LUNA: NEW MOON is the best moon novel I’ve seen in many years, but it’s also something of a piece with the recent movement on the part of Paul McAuley, Kim Stanley Robinson, and oth­ers to confine novels to the solar system, out of a realistic assessment that this is likely all we’ll have to work with – but McDonald takes this a step further. Possibly the most chilling lines in the book for an SF reader come from Adriana herself, in her own narrative: ‘‘There was no law, no justice,’’ she writes, ‘‘only management. The moon was the frontier, but it was the frontier to nothing. There was nowhere to run.’’ Inasmuch as it challenges one of the cherished master narratives of SF, in which the moon is only a stepping-stone, and despite what it owes to the tropes of ’70s-era social melodrama, McDon­ald’s novel has some formidable SF stingers not far beneath its densely textured surface.’ — Locus

Ian’s latest novel is the highly-acclaimed stand-alone HOPELAND, also published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (North America).

Three Weeks: Ian McDonald’s HOPELAND UK Paperback Edition

Posted on Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

The UK paperback edition of Ian McDonald‘s latest acclaimed novel, HOPELAND is out in three weeks! Due to be published by Gollancz, on November 9th, here’s the synopsis…

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

HOPELAND is also out now in North America, published by Tor Books.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘A story of the near future, it starts out as an urban fantasy love story before twisting to become a magical realism-tinged tale and a show-don’t-tell philosophical novel that’s also a rollicking sea-based adventure… HOPELAND is a profoundly optimistic novel, even one tinged with utopianism. Indeed, it often has a vibe similar to the work of another great optimist, lain Banks… By some distance Ian McDonald’s best novel — which is saying something, considering how good so many of his other books have been — this is the work of a writer at the peak of his powers.’ — SFX (5* Review!)

‘… a unique take on time-travel and electromancy… An eccentric and adventurous love story mixed with a rich and picturesque family saga. The popping action sequences reinforce McDonald’s swift and distinctive writing style.’ — Library Journal

‘[M]arries magic realism to solid, near-future speculative fiction… An essential work of climate fiction.’ — Guardian

‘HOPELAND is extraordinary — a deep-dive into pyschogeographic wonders that’s galvanised by jolts of romance and conspiracy…. HOPELAND works a sort of magic on the reader. Resist and you get lost. Submit to its mad energy and you’ll be swept from Spitalfields to Ireland, Iceland to Polynesia by the sheer variety of Ian McDonald’s imagination and the power of his vision.’ — Daily Mail

‘A novel so eerily good it almost made me angry… amazing, uncategorizable, unsummarizable, weird, sprawling, hairball of a novel…’ — Cory Doctorow, Medium

‘On display in this book is a familiar virtue of McDonald’s, seen in works such as River of Gods and Brasyl: the ability to depict a culture in both large and granular details across historical eras. But new to his quiver is the intense lyricism of the prose… Replete with deft, unforgettable character portraits… With its powerful, never overplayed themes of country versus city, arctic versus tropical, male energies versus female energies, tradition versus innovation, kids versus adults, life versus death, this wise and expansive tale beautifully embodies the famous saying of David Ben-Gurion: “Anyone who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist.”’ — Locus (Paul di Filippo)

Gollancz and Tor Books also published Ian’s acclaimed Luna series.

Ian McDonald’s TIEMPO QUE FUE Out Now!

Posted on Monday, July 10th, 2023

The Spanish edition of Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed and BSFA Award-winning TIME WAS is out today! Published by Dolmen Editorial as TIEMPO QUE FUE, here’s the synopsis…

Novela de ciencia ficción sobre una historia de amor en tiempos de guerra que atraviesa los límites marcados por el tiempo.

Una historia de amor cosida a través del tiempo y la guerra, moldeada por el poder de los libros, y finalmente destruida por ella. En el corazón de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Tom y Ben se convirtieron en amantes. Reunidos por un proyecto secreto diseñado para ocultar objetivos británicos del radar alemán, los dos consolidaron un amor que no podía ser revelado. Cuando el proyecto salió mal, Tom y Ben desaparecieron en la nada, presuntamente muertos. Sus cuerpos nunca fueron encontrados.

TIME WAS is published in the UK and North America by Tor.com; it is also available in France (LE TEMPS FUT — Bélial’) and Japan (時ありて — 早川書房/Hayakawa).

Here’s the English-language synopsis…

A love story stitched across time and war, shaped by the power of books, and ultimately destroyed by it.

In the heart of World War II, Tom and Ben became lovers. Brought together by a secret project designed to hide British targets from German radar, the two founded a love that could not be revealed. When the project went wrong, Tom and Ben vanished into nothingness, presumed dead. Their bodies were never found.

Now the two are lost in time, hunting each other across decades, leaving clues in books of poetry and trying to make their desperate timelines overlap.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novella has received…

‘[E]ntrances readers with this multigenerational novella of two time-crossed lovers who can only meet for brief moments separated by several years… beautiful writing… Fans of science fiction who enjoy a dash of history and legend will savor this tender story.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘With echoes of H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine and replete with the inimitable scent of used bookstores, TIME WAS weaves an exquisite spell of love, war and quantum physics that is timeless in its appeal. A scientific romance in the most evocative sense of the word.’ — Nina Allan

‘Throughout his career, Ian McDonald has demon­strated a remarkable versatility of style and language. His recent fiction has ranged from the YA sense-of-wonder exuberance of his parallel-world Everness series to the efficient social melodrama narration of the Luna novels, but he’s always been equally capable of great lyricism, and his new novella, TIME WAS, is a persuasive and gorgeous example of it. Essentially a timeslip romance in which the romance is evoked not by dramatic clinches but by a heightened sensuality, an acute awareness of nature, and a haunting sense of imminent loss, it nevertheless introduces enough chatter about quan­tum indeterminacy to work as SF. In a fascinating way, the two “time-crossed lovers,” Ben and Tom, come to represent the dual aesthetic of any good SF romance: Ben is a physicist working on a complex new experiment with his “Uncertainty Squad,” while Tom is a poet and part-time amateur actor who, when we meet him, is working for the Signal Corps. Early on, Ben confesses that he doesn’t have the soul of a poet, and Tom admits he doesn’t “have the soul of a scientist,” but, as McDonald well knows, you need both to tell a story like this… one of the most purely beautiful pieces of writing McDonald has given us in years.’ — Gary K. Wolfe (Locus)

‘This slender, poignant queer romance incorporates time travel and hints of hard science into a story as devastatingly sad—which isn’t to say bleak—as anything you’ll read this year.’ — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog (Best SFF Books of the Year So Far, 2018, Honourable Mention)

‘TIME WAS… a peculiar story of time, mystery, books, love, and war, compact as a parable, layered like a complex metaphor… and in some ways, strikingly unsettling… very well put together, and gorgeously written.’ — Tor.com

Ian McDonald’s TIME WAS Available in Japan

Posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2023

Ian McDonald‘s BSFA Award-winning novella TIME WAS is available in Japan! Published by 早川書房/Hayakawa as 時ありて, here’s the synopsis…

時を超えて彷徨う二人の男の物語。英国ＳＦ協会賞受賞作 戦記ノンフィクションを専門に扱う古書ディーラーが、即売会で手にした一冊の詩集『時ありて』。彼は詩集に挟まれた手紙に書かれた事実を追ううちに、第二次大戦の戦火を生きた二人の男をめぐる迷宮を彷徨うことになる。英国SF界のレジェンドによる傑作時間SF

TIME WAS is published in North America and in the UK by Tor.com. In addition to winning the 2019 BSFA Award for Short Fiction, that year it was also a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and Philip K. Dick Award; it also placed 6th for the Locus Award for Best Novella. The novella is also available in France, published by Le Bélial’.

Here’s the English-language synopsis…

A love story stitched across time and war, shaped by the power of books, and ultimately destroyed by it.

In the heart of World War II, Tom and Ben became lovers. Brought together by a secret project designed to hide British targets from German radar, the two founded a love that could not be revealed. When the project went wrong, Tom and Ben vanished into nothingness, presumed dead. Their bodies were never found.

Now the two are lost in time, hunting each other across decades, leaving clues in books of poetry and trying to make their desperate timelines overlap.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novella has received…

‘[E]ntrances readers with this multigenerational novella of two time-crossed lovers who can only meet for brief moments separated by several years… beautiful writing… Fans of science fiction who enjoy a dash of history and legend will savor this tender story.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘With echoes of H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine and replete with the inimitable scent of used bookstores, TIME WAS weaves an exquisite spell of love, war and quantum physics that is timeless in its appeal. A scientific romance in the most evocative sense of the word.’ — Nina Allan

‘[A] character-based story about the impact of a pair of time travelers on those who discover their existence. A full-length novel might have been consumed with the temporal mechanics and incidents in the lives of time-lost lovers; by eliding those details, this shorter work is, paradoxically, able to slow down and luxuriate in the story’s elegiac themes… an impressively challenging book for its length, both in McDonald’s use of language, and in its timey-wimey overlapping narratives. A story from the point of view of poets and book lovers would fall flat if the novel’s language weren’t a match for the inner monologues you’d expect from people whose interior lives are so full of words. McDonald succeeds in doing several seemingly incompatible things at once, and doing them well. TIME WAS is a time travel story that’s also, and primarily, a love story. Science fiction is typically plot-driven, occasionally to the exclusion of other elements, but this one luxuriates in characters and language. It’s a work that looks to the past, but speaks to the future of science fiction.’ — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

‘Throughout his career, Ian McDonald has demon­strated a remarkable versatility of style and language. His recent fiction has ranged from the YA sense-of-wonder exuberance of his parallel-world Everness series to the efficient social melodrama narration of the Luna novels, but he’s always been equally capable of great lyricism, and his new novella, TIME WAS, is a persuasive and gorgeous example of it. Essentially a timeslip romance in which the romance is evoked not by dramatic clinches but by a heightened sensuality, an acute awareness of nature, and a haunting sense of imminent loss, it nevertheless introduces enough chatter about quan­tum indeterminacy to work as SF. In a fascinating way, the two “time-crossed lovers,” Ben and Tom, come to represent the dual aesthetic of any good SF romance: Ben is a physicist working on a complex new experiment with his “Uncertainty Squad,” while Tom is a poet and part-time amateur actor who, when we meet him, is working for the Signal Corps. Early on, Ben confesses that he doesn’t have the soul of a poet, and Tom admits he doesn’t “have the soul of a scientist,” but, as McDonald well knows, you need both to tell a story like this… one of the most purely beautiful pieces of writing McDonald has given us in years.’ — Gary K. Wolfe (Locus)

‘This slender, poignant queer romance incorporates time travel and hints of hard science into a story as devastatingly sad—which isn’t to say bleak—as anything you’ll read this year.’ — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog (Best SFF Books of the Year So Far, 2018, Honourable Mention)

‘TIME WAS… a peculiar story of time, mystery, books, love, and war, compact as a parable, layered like a complex metaphor… and in some ways, strikingly unsettling… very well put together, and gorgeously written.’ — Tor.com

Ian’s latest novel is HOPELAND, out now in the UK (Gollancz) and North America (Tor Books).

New Polish Edition of Ian McDonald’s DESOLATION ROAD and ARES EXPRESS!

Posted on Monday, February 20th, 2023

We’re very happy to report that there’s a new Polish omnibus edition available, collecting Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Desolation Road series! DROGA BEZ ZNACZENIA / EKSPRES ARES collects both novels in the duology (DESOLATION ROAD and ARES EXPRESS), and is published by MAG as part of their Artefakty collection. The novels have been translated by Wojciech Próchniewicz.

Here’s the synopsis…

Droga bez znaczenia

To wszystko zaczęło się trzydzieści lat temu na Marsie, od zielonej osoby. I zanim dobiegło końca, miasteczko Droga Bez Znaczenia przeżyło wszystkie wyobrażalne anomalie, począwszy od Objazdowej Edukacyjno-Rozrywkowej Ekstrawagancji Adama Blacka (z prawdziwym aniołem w klatce do kompletu) aż po Niesamowity Powietrzny Bazar Tatterdemalionów. Jego mieszkańcy stanowili pełen przekrój osobowości, od doktora Alimantanda, założyciela miasteczka i lokalnego geniusza, przez Babuszkę, bezpłodną staruszkę, która po prostu chciała mieć własne dziecko, wyhodowane w słoju na przetwory, przez Rajendrę Dasa, włóczęgę i gundę, mającego magiczną rękę do maszyn, aż po braci Gallacellich, identyczne trojaczki, które zakochały się — i poślubiły — tę samą kobietę.

Ekspres Ares

Akcja tej powieści rozgrywa się w kalejdoskopowej przyszłości Drogi Bez Znaczenia — na Marsie po terraformacji, gdzie termojądrowe lokomotywy kursują po sieci torów będącej planetarnym krwiobiegiem, a sztuczne inteligencje miliardy razy na sekundę rekonfigurują rzeczywistość. Pewna młoda kobieta, Sweetness Octave Glorious-Honeybun Asiim Maszynistka XII staje się osobą, od której zależy przyszłość — lub przyszłości — Marsa. Dzieje się tu z przytupem, awanturniczo, zabawnie, autor pożycza sobie Marsa Raya Bradbury’ego oraz nowsze, terraformowane Marsy Kima Stanleya Robinsona i Grega Beara, aby spleść z nich szaloną fantastykę połączoną z realizmem magicznym, pełną dziwacznych filozofii, niesamowitych, niespodziewanych pomysłów oraz wielkich jak miasta pociągów.

The first novel, DESOLATION ROAD was recently published as part of Gollancz’s SF Masterworks series. Both novels are also available via JABberwocky, in North America. Here’s the English-language synopsis for DESOLATION ROAD…

It all started thirty years ago on Mars. By the time it was finished, the town of Desolation Road had been witness to every abnormality yet seen on the Red Planet. From Adam Black’s Wonderful Travelling Chautauqua and Educational ‘Stravaganza, to the Astounding Tatterdemalion Air Bazaar, nowhere else boasts such sights for the wandering lucky traveller.

Its inhabitants are just as storied. From Dr. Alimantando — founder and resident genius — to the Babooshka, a barren grandmother with a child grown in a fruit jar; from Rajendra Das, mechanical hobo whose way with machines bordered on the mystic, to the Gallacelli brothers, identical triplets who fell in love with – and married – the same woman.

There’s nowhere quite like Desolation Road. Once you go there, you may never be the same again.

Ian’s latest novel is the acclaimed stand-alone HOPELAND, which was published by Gollancz and Tor Books last week (UK and North America, respectively).

Ian McDonald’s HOPELAND Out Today in the UK!

Posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2023

HOPELAND, the highly-anticipated new standalone novel from Ian McDonald, is out today in the UK! Published by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

HOPELAND is also out now in North America, published by Tor Books.

Here are just a few of the great early reviews the novel has received…

‘A story of the near future, it starts out as an urban fantasy love story before twisting to become a magical realism-tinged tale and a show-don’t-tell philosophical novel that’s also a rollicking sea-based adventure… HOPELAND is a profoundly optimistic novel, even one tinged with utopianism. Indeed, it often has a vibe similar to the work of another great optimist, lain Banks… By some distance Ian McDonald’s best novel — which is saying something, considering how good so many of his other books have been — this is the work of a writer at the peak of his powers.’ — SFX (5* Review!)

‘… a unique take on time-travel and electromancy… An eccentric and adventurous love story mixed with a rich and picturesque family saga. The popping action sequences reinforce McDonald’s swift and distinctive writing style.’ — Library Journal

‘[M]arries magic realism to solid, near-future speculative fiction… An essential work of climate fiction.’ — Guardian

Ian’s latest series, Luna, is also published in the UK by Gollancz.

Ian McDonald’s HOPELAND Out Today in North America!

Posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2023

Ian McDonald‘s highly-anticipated new novel, HOPELAND is out today in North America! A standalone science fiction tale, it is published by Tor Books. Here’s the synopsis…

A time-traveling, futuristic saga of a family trying to outlast and remake a universe with a power unlike any we’ve seen before.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne — tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace — in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family — and family is dangerous.

HOPELAND is due out in the UK on Thursday, to be published by Gollancz.

Here are just a few of the great early reviews the novel has received…

‘A story of the near future, it starts out as an urban fantasy love story before twisting to become a magical realism-tinged tale and a show-don’t-tell philosophical novel that’s also a rollicking sea-based adventure… HOPELAND is a profoundly optimistic novel, even one tinged with utopianism. Indeed, it often has a vibe similar to the work of another great optimist, lain Banks… By some distance Ian McDonald’s best novel — which is saying something, considering how good so many of his other books have been — this is the work of a writer at the peak of his powers.’ — SFX (5* Review!)

‘… a unique take on time-travel and electromancy… An eccentric and adventurous love story mixed with a rich and picturesque family saga. The popping action sequences reinforce McDonald’s swift and distinctive writing style.’ — Library Journal

‘[M]arries magic realism to solid, near-future speculative fiction… An essential work of climate fiction.’ — Guardian

Ian’s latest series, Luna, is also published in North America by Tor Books.

Ian McDonald’s HOPELAND is Out in Two Weeks!

Posted on Monday, January 30th, 2023

The UK and North American editions of Ian McDonald‘s highly-anticipated new novel, HOPELAND are out in two weeks! Due to be published by Gollancz (February 16th) and Tor Books (February 14th), respectively, here’s the synopsis…

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

Ian is also the author of the acclaimed Luna series, also published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (North America): NEW MOON, WOLF MOON, and MOON RISING. A prequel novella is also available — A MENACE FROM THE FAR SIDE — published by Tor.com.

Ian McDonald’s HOPELAND Out Next Year in North America!

Posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2022

Last week, we shared the UK cover for Ian McDonald‘s highly-anticipated new novel, HOPELAND (due out early next year). Today, we have the North American cover! Due to be published by Tor Books, on February 16th, 2023, here’s the synopsis…

A time-traveling, futuristic saga of a family trying to outlast and remake a universe with a power unlike any we’ve seen before.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne — tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace — in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family — and family is dangerous

The UK edition of the novel is due out on February 16th, via Gollancz. Here’s the cover again…

Ian is also the author of the acclaimed Luna series, published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (North America): NEW MOON, WOLF MOON, and MOON RISING. A prequel novella is also available — A MENACE FROM THE FAR SIDE — published by Tor.com.

Coming Soon: HOPELAND by Ian McDonald!

Posted on Friday, October 21st, 2022

Ian McDonald‘s highly-anticipated new novel, HOPELAND is due out early next year! Above you can see the cover for the UK edition, which will be published by Gollancz on February 16th. Here’s the synopsis…

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

The novel is due to be published in North America by Tor Books, on February 14th. We’ll share the cover for that next week!

Ian is also the author of the acclaimed Luna series, published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (North America): NEW MOON, WOLF MOON, and MOON RISING. A prequel novella is also available — A MENACE FROM THE FAR SIDE — published by Tor.com.

Ian McDonald and Roger Zelazny Get New Italian Editions

Posted on Friday, July 15th, 2022

Italian publisher Urania is celebrating their 70th anniversary publishing great science fiction. To celebrate, the publisher has paired up with Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport to release a selection of 25 notable titles. We’re very happy to report that included in this selection are Ian McDonald‘s THE BROKEN LAND and Roger Zelazny‘s TO DIE IN ITALBAR!

Both books have new covers by Franco Brambilla. Read on for some more details about each book.

Ian McDonald‘s THE BROKEN LAND is published in Italy as LA TERRA INFRANTA. Here’s the synopsis…

Siamo in un futuro lontano, sulla Terra. Il villaggio di Chepsenyt è un’enclave pacifica e autosufficiente i cui residenti vivono in armonia con la natura attraverso le loro conoscenze di ingegneria genetica. Ma quando le truppe dell’Impero scoprono che tra la popolazione si celano dei ribelli, il villaggio viene dato alle fiamme e gli abitanti si disperdono. Da qui parte il doloroso viaggio della giovane Mathembe Fileli verso l’età adulta, per sopravvivere e ritrovare la propria famiglia.

The novel is published in English by JABberwocky. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Grandfather was a tree, Father grew trux, in fifteen colours. Mother could sing the double-helix song, sing it right into the hearts of living things and change them…

The Land is a living, breathing, sentient world, where careful skills and talent can manipulate its very substance into a myriad different shapes and forms.

This is the world in which Mathembe Fileli grows up, until the conflicts tearing her country apart shatter her village, her home and her family and scatter them to the four winds. Can Mathembe reunite her family in a world full of angels, talking trees, squalor and glory?

Urania have published a number of Ian’s other books in Italy: the Luna series, the India 2047 series, and the Everness trilogy. You can find out more about them here.

*

Roger Zelazny‘s TO DIE IN ITALBAR is the second novel in the author’s Francis Sandow duology — the first is ISLE OF THE DEAD (1969). TO DIE IN ITALBAR is published in Italy as MORIRE A ITALBAR. Here’s the synopsis…

«Il sentiero era la sua vita. Le tombe, il simbolo delle centinaia, no, forse migliaia, di morti che si era lasciati indietro. Al suo tocco gli uomini morivano. Il suo alito appassiva intere città. Dove arrivava la sua ombra, talvolta non rimaneva nulla. Pure, era suo potere vincere le malattie. E proprio adesso arrancava faticosamente con questa intenzione. Era conosciuto per questo, anche se solo con il nome H.»

Questo romanzo è stato definito un’avventura assurda: personaggi vividi, un ritmo veloce ed emozioni forti sono scaturiti dalla fertile immaginazione di Roger Zelazny.

TO DIE IN ITALBAR was first published in 1971. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Walker in the Valley of the Shadow

H was the name he was known by. H was unique in the galaxy, for he had the healing touch. Where there was plague, sickness, pain, H was the universal cure.

But H also had the slaying touch. Where he went death and disaster often followed. Where there had been health there would be left desolation and desert.

The talent alternated. It reversed itself — and H always warned people of this. To live in Italbar or TO DIE IN ITALBAR, that was always the question.

Three other novels by Zelazny are published by Urania: THE DREAM MASTER, EYE OF CAT, DAMNATION ALLEY; and the publisher has also released DOPPIA DIMENSIONE, which is an anthology including HOME IS THE HANGMAN and HE WHO SHAPES.