Tag: Ian McDonald

Ian McDonald’s LE TEMPS FUT (TIME WAS) is out tomorrow in France!

Posted on Wednesday, February 12th, 2020

Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed, award-nominated novella TIME WAS is due out tomorrow in France! LE TEMPS FUT, published by Le Bélial’, has been translated by Gilles Goullet, and has that stunning cover, above, by Aurélien Police. Here’s the synopsis…

Bouquiniste indépendant, Emmett Leigh déniche un jour un petit recueil de poèmes lors de la liquidation de la librairie d’un confrère. Un recueil, Le Temps fut, qui s’avère vite d’une qualité littéraire au mieux médiocre… En revanche, ce qui intéresse Emmett au plus haut point, c’est la lettre manuscrite qu’il découvre glissée entre les pages de l’ouvrage. Pour le bouquiniste, tout ce qui peut donner un cachet unique et personnel à un livre est bon à prendre. Il se trouve ici en présence d’une lettre d’amour qu’un certain Tom adresse à son amant, Ben, en plein cœur de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Remuant ciel et terre – et vieux papiers – afin d’identifier les deux soldats, Emmett finit par les retrouver sur diverses photos, prises à différentes époques. Or, la date présumée des photos et l’âge des protagonistes qui y figurent ne correspondent pas… Du tout.

The novella won the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction, and was a finalist for both the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. TIME WAS is published in the UK and North America by Tor.com. 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 a few reviews the novellas has received so far…

‘[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

‘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

French readers looking for more of Ian’s work need look no further than his most recent series, Luna, which is published in France by Denoël (along with a few of Ian’s other novels).

Ian McDonald’s LE TEMPS FUT out in two weeks!

Posted on Wednesday, January 29th, 2020

Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed, award-nominated novella TIME WAS is due to be available in France in two weeks! Published by Le Bélial’ as LE TEMPS FUT, and translated by Gilles Goullet, the stunning cover is above (by Aurélien Police). Here’s the synopsis…

Bouquiniste indépendant, Emmett Leigh déniche un jour un petit recueil de poèmes lors de la liquidation de la librairie d’un confrère. Un recueil, Le Temps fut, qui s’avère vite d’une qualité littéraire au mieux médiocre… En revanche, ce qui intéresse Emmett au plus haut point, c’est la lettre manuscrite qu’il découvre glissée entre les pages de l’ouvrage. Pour le bouquiniste, tout ce qui peut donner un cachet unique et personnel à un livre est bon à prendre. Il se trouve ici en présence d’une lettre d’amour qu’un certain Tom adresse à son amant, Ben, en plein cœur de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Remuant ciel et terre – et vieux papiers – afin d’identifier les deux soldats, Emmett finit par les retrouver sur diverses photos, prises à différentes époques. Or, la date présumée des photos et l’âge des protagonistes qui y figurent ne correspondent pas… Du tout.

The novella is published in the UK and North America by Tor.com. 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.

French readers looking for more of Ian’s work need look no further than his most recent series, Luna, which is published in France by Denoël (along with a few of Ian’s other novels).

Ian McDonald’s DESOLATION ROAD is out now in Russia!

Posted on Thursday, December 12th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed sci-fi novel DESOLATION ROAD is out now in Russia! Published by ACT as Дорога запустения, it is the first in his Mars Duology. Here’s the synopsis…

Это история города, находящегося на терраформированном Марсе. Это история скандалов и кошмаров, путешествий во времени и религиозных движений, террора и всепроникающей войны всех против всех. Это история плененных механических ангелов, музыкантов, вызывающих дождь, зеркального тахионного лабиринта, который показывает все мыслимые варианты будущего, поездов, одержимых сознанием, марсианских треножников и киберсвятых. Это история того, насколько необычной, неожиданной и всеобъемлющей может быть научная фантастика. Это самая необычная история освоения Марса из всех, что когда-либо были написаны. Это история Дороги Запустения.

The novel is available in English as an eBook, published by JABberwocky (who also publish the sequel, ARES EXPRESS).

It all began thirty years ago on Mars, with a greenperson. But by the time it all finished, the town of Desolation Road had experienced every conceivable abnormality from Adam Black’s Wonderful Travelling Chautauqua and Educational ‘Stravaganza (complete with its very own captive angel) to the Astounding Tatterdemalion Air Bazaar. Its inhabitants ranged from Dr. Alimantando, the town’s founder and resident genius, to the Babooshka, a barren grandmother who just wants her own child — grown in a fruit jar; from Rajendra Das, mechanical hobo who has a mystical way with machines to the Gallacelli brothers, identical triplets who fell in love with — and married — the same woman.

Here are just a few reviews for Ian’s Mars novels…

‘Ian McDonald’s DESOLATION ROAD is one of my most personally influential novels. It’s an epic tale of the terraforming of Mars, whose sweep captures the birth and death of mythologies, economics, art, revolution, politics… Desolation Road pays homage to David Byrne’s Catherine Wheel, to Ray Bradbury’s entire canon and to Jack Vance, blending all these disparate creators in a way that surprises, delights, then surprises and delights again… Pyr Books has done us all the service of bringing this remarkable volume back into print after too long a hiatus.’ — Cory Doctorow (Boing Boing)

‘There’s a fair bit of science fiction that feels like fantasy, and vice versa, but DESOLATION ROAD is the only book I know that holds this particular balance… It was McDonald’s first novel, it absolutely bowled me over when it came out, and while I have read everything he’s published since, and admire all of it and like most of it, this remains my favourite of his books because it’s so unusual. It’s also some of the most beautiful prose imaginable… If you ever want to demonstrate how different science fiction can be, what an incredible range and sweep of things are published with a little spaceship on the spine, DESOLATION ROAD is a shining datapoint, because it isn’t like anything else and yet it is coming from a knowledge of what the genre can do and can be and making something new out of it.’ — Jo Walton (Tor.com)

‘McDonald’s fantastic Mars is vividly detailed and owes much to Bradbury’s Martian stories… entirely worthy of its rightly lauded predecessor.’ — Publishers Weekly on ARES EXPRESS

‘A phantasmagoria of nuclear locomotives and wild Martian awesomeness. It’s a definite must-read… McDonald is furthermore an extraordinary stylist. His prose is clear and lucid, and at once both beautiful and playful. There is an inescapable sense that McDonald enjoys playing with words, building prose like intricate clocks, which can persist wholly on their beauty, regardless of their subject.’ — io9 on ARES EXPRESS

‘ARES EXPRESS is a long, adventure-filled, extravagantly colourful, often funny, quite moving, highly imaginative, excellently written, story, set on a glorious Mars… might be the most fun [novel of the year]. I loved it wholeheartedly.’ — SF Site

ACT also publish the first two novels in Ian’s Luna trilogy (NEW MOON and WOLF MOON), as well as his stand-alone novels BRAZIL and THE DERVISH HOUSE.

Ian McDonald’s RIVER OF GODS is joining the SF Masterworks ranks!

Posted on Thursday, November 28th, 2019

One of Ian McDonald‘s modern classic sci-fi novels, RIVER OF GODS will soon join the ranks of SF Masterworks! A new edition is due to be published by Gollancz as part of the Masterworks series, on March 19th, 2020. Here’s the synopsis…

August 15th, 2047. Happy Hundredth Birthday, India … On the eve of Mother India’s hundredth birthday, ten people are doing ten very different things. In the next few weeks, all these people will be swept together to decide the fate of the nation. From gangsters to government advisors, from superstitious street-boys to scientists to computer-generated soap stars, River of Gods shows a civilization in flux – a river of gods.

RIVER OF GODS is an epic SF novel as sprawling, vibrant and colourful as the sub-continent it describes. This is an SF novel that blew apart the narrow Anglo- and US-centric concerns of the genre and ushered in a new global consciousness for the genre.

The novel is also available in North America, published via the JABberwocky eBook Program. The second novel in the series, CYBERABAD DAYS., is also available via Gollancz and JABberwocky.

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

‘A staggering achievement, brilliantly imagined and endlessly surprising … A brave, brilliant and wonderful novel.’ — Christopher Priest, Guardian

‘This ambitious portrait of a future India from British author McDonald (Desolation Road) offers multitudes: gods, castes, protagonists, cultures… readers will become increasingly hooked as the pieces of McDonald’s richly detailed world fall into place. Already nominated for both Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards, this is sure to be one of the more talked-about SF novels of the year.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘Hugely adventurous and entertaining, sumptuously inventive and full of heart… it is likely to rank as Ian McDonald’s finest creative achievement.’ — Locus

‘An ambitious science fiction thriller set in a futuristic India that is fabulously rewarding… in terms of risk-taking, sheer scale, ideas, detail, inventiveness, and intellectual scope there are few recent books to match River of Gods, and as a novel about India, there is nothing like it… [It’s] not just the definitive thriller set in India but the most richly imaginative thriller about India.’ — The Hindu (India’s National Newspaper)

‘[A] bold, brave look at India on the eve of its centennial, 41 years from now… McDonald takes his readers from India’s darkest depths to its most opulent heights, from rioting mobs and the devastated poor to high-level politicians and lavish parties. He handles his complex plot with flair and confidence and deftly shows how technological advances and social changes have subtly changed lives. RIVER OF GODS is a major achievement from a writer who is becoming one of the best sf novelists of our time.’ — Washington Post

‘[P]erhaps his most accomplished novel to date. It’s a dense and sometimes difficult read, reminiscent of William Gibson in full-throttle cultural-immersion mode, packed with technical jargon, religious and sociological observation and allusions to art both high and low. But RIVER OF GODS amply rewards careful consideration and more than delivers its share of straight-ahead entertainment. Already a multiple-award nominee following its British publication, McDonald’s latest ranks as one of the best science fiction novels published in the United States this year.’ — San Francisco Chronicle

Ian McDonald’s THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE out today!

Posted on Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s latest novella is out today! Set in the same series as the author’s acclaimed Luna series, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE is published by Tor.com in the UK and North America. Here’s the synopsis…

In The Menace from Farside, Ian McDonald returns to his elegantly wound solar system of the twenty-second century, full of political intrigue and complicated families.

Remember: Lady Luna knows a thousand ways to kill you, but family is what you know. Family is what works.

Cariad Corcoran has a new sister who is everything she is not: tall, beautiful, confident. They’re unlikely allies and even unlikelier sisters, but they’re determined to find the moon’s first footprint, even if the lunar frontier is doing its best to kill them before they get there.

The Luna series of novels is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is also available in an ever-growing number of translated editions.

‘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 on NEW MOON

‘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 on WOLF MOON

‘McDonald’s richly imagined Lunar culture and interplanetary poleconomy make for a superb backdrop for literally dozens of richly realized human dramas, and it’s hard to say which is more fascinating. McDonald’s wildly imaginative worldbuilding (present since his debut novel, the utterly wonderful standout OUT ON BLUE SIX) and his ability to spin out intrigues are both in full flight in this final volume.’ — Boing Boing on MOON RISING

Looking for more, shorter fiction by Ian? Tor.com also publishes Ian’s Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novella TIME WAS.

‘[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 on TIME WAS

Also, because we can’t share this news enough: Ian was recently named a European Grand Master of Science Fiction!

Next Month: Ian McDonald’s new novella, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE!

Posted on Monday, October 21st, 2019

Today, we’re very happy to share with you the cover and details for Ian McDonald‘s next book! Set in the same series as the author’s acclaimed Luna series, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE is due to be published by Tor.com on November 12th, 2019. Here’s the synopsis…

In The Menace from Farside, Ian McDonald returns to his elegantly wound solar system of the twenty-second century, full of political intrigue and complicated families.

Remember: Lady Luna knows a thousand ways to kill you, but family is what you know. Family is what works.

Cariad Corcoran has a new sister who is everything she is not: tall, beautiful, confident. They’re unlikely allies and even unlikelier sisters, but they’re determined to find the moon’s first footprint, even if the lunar frontier is doing its best to kill them before they get there.

The Luna series of novels is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is also available in an ever-growing number of translated editions.

Tor.com has also published Ian’s Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novella TIME WAS.

Also, because we can’t share this news enough: Ian was recently named a European Grand Master of Science Fiction!

Ian McDonalds NEW MOON out now in Croatia!

Posted on Thursday, October 17th, 2019

The first novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series, NEW MOON, is out now in Croatia! Published as MLADI MJESEC by Vorto Palabra, and translated by Kristian Vlasic, here’s the synopsis…

Mjesec je, bez sumnje, novo i uzbudljivo mjesto za život. Ne postoji kriminalno ni građansko pravo, već samo ugovorno i sve je, od braka i rastave pa do ubojstva, podložno pregovorima. Kultura Mjesečevih elita premrežena je (seksualnim) vezama koje ne pitaju za spol, a sve je začinjeno koktelima, dizajnerskim drogama i visokom modom isprintanom u 3D-u. No, Mjesec vas želi i ubiti. Svake sekunde u danu. Ne samo svojim negostoljubivim okolišem, iako je i on sam po sebi zastrašujuće i opasno mjesto za život. Račun za vodu, prostor, podatke i kisik svake sekunde raste, mjeri i naplaćuje svaki gutljaj i svaki san, svaku misao i udah. A možda se uz sve to nađete i usred sukoba vladajućih dinastija, poznatih pod nazivom Pet zmajeva. Morate se krvavo boriti kako biste se snašli u ovom gotovo feudalnom društvu. A to je upravo ono što je Adriana Corta i učinila.

Kao vođa najnovijeg, petog Mjesečevog Zmaja, Adriana je uspostavila čvrstu kontrolu nad industrijom helija koja daleku Zemlju opskrbljuje prijeko potrebnom električnom energijom. Ali za taj se status krvavo izborila. Sada, na zalasku života, Adriana otkriva kako je njezina korporacija, Corta Hélio, okružena mnogim neprijateljima koje je stekla tijekom svog meteorskog uspjeha. Ako joj posao i obitelj želi preživjeti, njezino petero djece mora obraniti majčino carstvo od tih neprijatelja… ali i obraniti se jedni od drugih.

NEW MOON and the other novels in the series — WOLF MOON and MOON RISING — are published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and in a growing number of translations. Here’s the English-language synopsis for the first novel…

The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family’s status in the Moon’s vicious political atmosphere.

The Moon wants to kill you.

Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations-the Five Dragons-in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation-Corta Helio-confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Ian’s forthcoming new novella, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE (Tor.com, November 11th), is also something of a prequel to the series.

NEW MOON (and the series as a whole) has been met with a tremendous amount of praise and good reviews. Here are but a handful, to give you an idea…

‘Smart, funny, passionate and at times quite dark, McDonald brings the touch we’ve seen in RIVER OF GODS and DERVISH HOUSE to an entirely new culture as it evolves in a distant hostile place where business or family rules all… it’s terrific. My only complaint: it leaves you wanting the second book right now!’ — Jonathan Strahan

‘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

Ian McDonald’s RIVER OF GODS out now in Bulgaria!

Posted on Wednesday, October 9th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s RIVER OF GODS is out now in Bulgaria! The first novel in the author’s India 2047 sci-fi series, it is published by Хермес as Река на боговете. Here’s the synopsis…

В този роман на фокус е Индия през 2047 г. На фона на шеметен напредък в нанотехнологиите Иън Макдоналд вплита в сложна сюжетна мрежа източната митология и традиционна култура със свръхестествени същества, роботи, изкуствен интелект. Паралелните съдби на героите се събират в точката, в която поличитечски реалности, митология и авангардна наука са едно. А философският гръбнак на тази завладяваща история изправя читателя пред въпросите на трансхуманизма за границите на човешкото.

The novel is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America via the JABberwocky eBook Program. Both also publish the second novel in the series: CYBERABAD DAYS. Here’s the English-language synopsis for RIVER OF GODS…

August 15th, 2047. Happy Hundredth Birthday, India … On the eve of Mother India’s hundredth birthday, ten people are doing ten very different things. In the next few weeks, all these people will be swept together to decide the fate of the nation. From gangsters to government advisors, from superstitious street-boys to scientists to computer-generated soap stars, River of Gods shows a civilization in flux – a river of gods.

RIVER OF GODS is an epic SF novel as sprawling, vibrant and colourful as the sub-continent it describes. This is an SF novel that blew apart the narrow Anglo- and US-centric concerns of the genre and ushered in a new global consciousness for the genre.

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

‘A staggering achievement, brilliantly imagined and endlessly surprising … A brave, brilliant and wonderful novel’  —  Christopher Priest, Guardian

‘Hugely adventurous and entertaining, sumptuously inventive and full of heart… it is likely to rank as Ian McDonald’s finest creative achievement.’  —  Locus

‘An ambitious science fiction thriller set in a futuristic India that is fabulously rewarding… in terms of risk-taking, sheer scale, ideas, detail, inventiveness, and intellectual scope there are few recent books to match River of Gods, and as a novel about India, there is nothing like it… [It’s] not just the definitive thriller set in India but the most richly imaginative thriller about India.’  —  The Hindu (India’s National Newspaper)

‘This ambitious portrait of a future India from British author McDonald (Desolation Road) offers multitudes: gods, castes, protagonists, cultures….readers will become increasingly hooked as the pieces of McDonald’s richly detailed world fall into place. Already nominated for both Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards, this is sure to be one of the more talked-about SF novels of the year.’  —  Publishers Weekly

‘[A] bold, brave look at India on the eve of its centennial, 41 years from now… McDonald takes his readers from India’s darkest depths to its most opulent heights, from rioting mobs and the devastated poor to high-level politicians and lavish parties. He handles his complex plot with flair and confidence and deftly shows how technological advances and social changes have subtly changed lives. RIVER OF GODS is a major achievement from a writer who is becoming one of the best sf novelists of our time.’  —  Washington Post

‘[P]erhaps his most accomplished novel to date. It’s a dense and sometimes difficult read, reminiscent of William Gibson in full-throttle cultural-immersion mode, packed with technical jargon, religious and sociological observation and allusions to art both high and low. But RIVER OF GODS amply rewards careful consideration and more than delivers its share of straight-ahead entertainment. Already a multiple-award nominee following its British publication, McDonald’s latest ranks as one of the best science fiction novels published in the United States this year.’  —  San Francisco Chronicle

Ian McDonald’s ORDASHOLD out now in Hungary!

Posted on Friday, October 4th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s second Luna novel, WOLF MOON, is out now in Hungary! Published by Gabo as ORDASHOLD, here’s the synopsis…

A Corta Hélio, a Holdat uraló öt családi vállalat egyike elbukott, vagyonát ellenségei osztották fel egymás között, túlélői szétszóródtak a világban. Tizennyolc hónappal a tragédia után az életben maradt Corta gyerekek közül Lucasinho és Luna az Aszamóa család védelme alatt áll, míg Robson lényegében túsz a Mackenzie-k kezében. Az örökös, Lucas Corta pedig eltűnt a Hold színéről.

Gabo has also published the first novel in the series, NEW MOON, as ÚJHOLD.

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

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 reviews the novel has received so far…

‘… 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

‘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… 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

NECROVILLE: 25 Years of TERMINAL CAFE!

Posted on Tuesday, October 1st, 2019

This month marks quite the amazing milestone: Ian McDonald‘s NECROVILLE was first published 25 years ago! The novel was published in 1994 by Gollancz (UK), and by Spectra (US) as TERMINAL CAFÉ. Both of the first covers are above. 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.

The novel is still available in the UK, published by Gollancz.

The BSFA Award-nominated novel was met with some great reviews when it was first published. Unfortunately, because the internet wasn’t a thing, yet, it makes it a little difficult to find good pull-quotes. We do have a few, though…

‘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

For those who prefer their books delivered as audiobooks, the novel is also available via Audible, narrated by Christopher Ragland.

The novel has also been published in translation in a number of territories, including Germany where it is published by Heyne.

Ian McDonald’s LUNE MONTANTE is out now in France!

Posted on Thursday, September 12th, 2019

MOON RISING, the third novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series, is out now in France! Published as by Denoël, as LUNE MONTANTE, here’s the synopsis…

Lucas Corta, que tout le monde croyait mort, a réussi l’impossible : survivre, lui, le natif de la Lune, à un long séjour sur la Terre. Revenu en orbite pour se venger, il a triomphé. Désormais la Lune lui appartient. Mais il a également beaucoup perdu, à commencer par son fils Lucasinho, plongé dans le coma et atteint de lésions cérébrales irréversibles. Sans compter que les Mackenzie rescapés n’ont pas dit leur dernier mot et espèrent bien rendre à Lucas la monnaie de sa pièce. Les Sun, quant à eux, fourbissent toujours leurs armes pour éliminer tous leurs concurrents. Plus que jamais, sur la Lune, la guerre entre les Cinq Dragons fait rage.

Denoël has also published the first two books in the series: NOUVELLE LUNE and LUNE DU LOUP (in addition to a handful of Ian’s other novels).

Ian’s Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is available in a growing number of translated editions. Here’s the English-language synopsis for MOON RISING…

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons — five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain — marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

‘McDonald concludes his Luna space opera trilogy in triumphant style… The political intrigue never feels too abstract or removed from 21st-century Earth. Readers will appreciate the care McDonald takes with both worldbuilding and characterization, and will enjoy little touches such as giving an assassin the job title of Corporate Conflict Resolution Officer… fans of the prior books will find this wrap-up rewarding.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘… cinematic set-pieces… so much fun to read… these entertaining, and intelligent novels, capped off by the very satisfying Luna: MOON RISING, have been about establishing a society, a community, a family that looks to the future, that lives and prospers in an environment that must always be treated with respect.’ — Locus

‘McDonald’s richly imagined Lunar culture and interplanetary poleconomy make for a superb backdrop for literally dozens of richly realized human dramas, and it’s hard to say which is more fascinating. McDonald’s wildly imaginative worldbuilding (present since his debut novel, the utterly wonderful standout OUT ON BLUE SIX) and his ability to spin out intrigues are both in full flight in this final volume.’ — Boing Boing

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights

Ian McDonald is a European Grand Master of Science Fiction!

Posted on Friday, September 6th, 2019

A little while ago, Ian McDonald was named as a Grand Master of Science Fiction by the European Science Fiction Society! The author of a number of acclaimed and award-winning sci-fi novels and novellas, we just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Ian on this very well-deserved accolade!

(It was also another opportunity to share the above photograph, taken by Alan Bellingham, who was at the ceremony.)

In the spirit of this being a European award, we wanted to also draw your attention to the European editions of Ian’s latest series, Luna. At least the first novel in the series is available in the following territories: the UK, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Romania, Hungary, Italy, and Croatia.

Here’s the English-language synopsis for NEW MOON (which is also published in North America by Tor Books)…

The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family’s status in the Moon’s vicious political atmosphere.

The Moon wants to kill you.

Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations-the Five Dragons-in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation-Corta Helio-confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Congratulations again, Ian!

Ian McDonald’s NOUVELLE LUNE paperback out now in France!

Posted on Thursday, September 5th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s NEW MOON, the first novel in the Luna series, is out today in France in a mass market format. Published by Folio SF, here’s the synopsis for NOUVELLE LUNE…

2103. Sur une Lune où tout se vend, où tout s’achète, jusqu’aux sels minéraux contenus dans votre urine, et où la mort peut survenir à peu près à n’importe quel moment, Adriana Corta est la dirigeante du plus récent des «Cinq Dragons», ces familles à couteaux tirés qui règnent sur les colonies lunaires. Elle doit l’ascension météoritique de son organisation au commerce de l’hélium 3. Mais Corta Hélio possède de nombreux ennemis, et si Adriana, au crépuscule de sa vie, veut léguer quelque chose à ses cinq enfants, il lui faudra se battre, et en retour ils devront se battre pour elle… Car sur la Lune, ce nouveau Far West en pleine ruée vers l’or, tous les coups sont permis. Souvent comparé à Game of Thrones à cause de la brutalité de ses intrigues, récompensé par le Gaylactic Spectrum Award 2016, Luna, Nouvelle Lune est le premier volume d’une trilogie.

The second and third novels in the series — WOLF MOON and MOON RISING — are published in France by Denoël, as LUNE DU LOUP and LUNE MONTANTE (published on September 12th).

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in the US by Tor Books, and extensively in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis for NEW MOON…

The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family’s status in the Moon’s vicious political atmosphere.

The Moon wants to kill you.

Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations-the Five Dragons-in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation-Corta Helio-confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Ian McDonald’s LUNE MONTANTE is out later this month in France!

Posted on Monday, September 2nd, 2019

The third novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series — MOON RISING — is due to be published in France later this month! Published as LUNE MONTANTE by Denoël, here’s the synopsis…

Lucas Corta, que tout le monde croyait mort, a réussi l’impossible : survivre, lui, le natif de la Lune, à un long séjour sur la Terre. Revenu en orbite pour se venger, il a triomphé. Désormais la Lune lui appartient. Mais il a également beaucoup perdu, à commencer par son fils Lucasinho, plongé dans le coma et atteint de lésions cérébrales irréversibles. Sans compter que les Mackenzie rescapés n’ont pas dit leur dernier mot et espèrent bien rendre à Lucas la monnaie de sa pièce. Les Sun, quant à eux, fourbissent toujours leurs armes pour éliminer tous leurs concurrents. Plus que jamais, sur la Lune, la guerre entre les Cinq Dragons fait rage.

Denoël has also published the first two books in the series: NOUVELLE LUNE and LUNE DU LOUP (in addition to a few of Ian’s other novels).

Ian’s Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is available in a growing number of translated editions. Here’s the English-language synopsis for MOON RISING…

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons — five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain — marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

‘McDonald concludes his Luna space opera trilogy in triumphant style… The political intrigue never feels too abstract or removed from 21st-century Earth. Readers will appreciate the care McDonald takes with both worldbuilding and characterization, and will enjoy little touches such as giving an assassin the job title of Corporate Conflict Resolution Officer… fans of the prior books will find this wrap-up rewarding.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘… cinematic set-pieces… so much fun to read… these entertaining, and intelligent novels, capped off by the very satisfying Luna: MOON RISING, have been about establishing a society, a community, a family that looks to the future, that lives and prospers in an environment that must always be treated with respect.’ — Locus

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights

Short Fiction Watch: Ian McDonald among the BEST OF BRITISH FANTASY 2018!

Posted on Friday, August 23rd, 2019

We’re very happy to report that one of Ian McDonald‘s stories has been included in THE BEST OF BRITISH FANTASY 2018 anthology, edited by Jared Shurin, and published by Newcon Press! Here’s the collection’s synopsis…

The very best fantasy stories by British and British-based authors. More than twenty stories of the strange and fantastic, written by an exciting blend of established names and newer voices, ranging from traditional sword and sorcery to contemporary fantasy. A book packed with mermaids, impossible quizzes, magic swords, towering monsters, ghostly lovers, tricksters, numerous apocalypses, a particularly irritating local councillor… and bees.

Ian’s contribution is THE GUILE, which was first published by Tor.com. Here’s the synopsis…

When an AI that monitors casino gambling in Reno taunts a magician by revealing all his tricks, the magician is determined to exact his revenge.

Here’s what the publisher has to say about the collection…

Editor Jared Shurin spread his net wide to discover the very best work published by British and British-based authors in 2018, whittling down the nearly 200 stories under consideration to just 21 selected (22 in the hardback edition) and two poems. These stories range from traditional sword and sorcery to contemporary fantasy, written by a mix of established fantasy authors, new voices, and those who are not usually associated with genre fiction. The result is a wonderfully diverse anthology of high quality tales.

Ian’s latest series is Luna, published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (US), and also widely in translation: NEW MOON, WOLF MOON, and MOON RISING.