Zeno Literary Agency Ltd.

Don’t they look lovely? Both books are due out from Angry Robot next January  in the UK and in the US next Autumn – or ‘Fall’ if you prefer!

• Lavie’s been in touch to let us know that he’s revamped and updated his web sote – it’s now a rather smart WordPress affair, not dissimilar to this one!
  
  • Visit Lavie’s new web site

• Additionally – and I slap my own wrist for taking so long to post this here – Lavie’s anthology, THE APEX  BOOK OF WORLD SF has now been published  – see this interview with Lavie to find out more.
  
  • Visit Lavie’s WORLD SF web site

• A new story by Lavie, ‘Jews in Antarctica’ is now online at Fantasy Magazine.

• Lavie is nominated for one of Ann and Jeff Vandermeer’s Last Drink Bird Head Awards! He is up for the International Activism prize, given ‘In recognition of those who work to bring writers from other literary traditions and countries to the attention of readers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia…’ The winners will be announced at the World Fantasy Convention in San José and the lucky recipient will receive a bird head figurine, a certificate, and chocolate. Fingers crossed (Lavie LOVES chocolate!)

• And finally, we’re delighted to announce the sale of Lavie’s novella MARTIAN SANDS, to Jason Sizemore at Apex Publications, a long time supporter and advocate of Lavie’s work. The novella will appear some time next year or in early 2011.

Man of the moment Lavie Tidhar has been nominated for the Washington Science Fiction Association’s Small Press Award for his story ‘Hard Rain at the Fortean Café‘ which was published in Issue #14 of the now sadly defunct Aeon Speculative Fiction Magazine, edited by Bridget McKenna. Luckily, as this was an online publication, copies are still available for download here.

The award, now in its third year will be presented to the winner at this years Capclave convention, which takes place in Rockville, Maryland, USA from October 16th – 18th.

And following on from the entry below, our other Angry Roboteer Lavie Tidhar has also been interviewed by Charles Tan over at his Bibliophile Stalker Blog. In this article, Lavie discusses his soon to be published project with Apex Books, anthology The Apex Book of World SF and his recently published  novella (written with Nir Yaniv) The Tel Aviv Dossier. He also offers up some insight into his humdrum life out there in Laos!

What’s a day in the life of Lavie Tidhar like?

I’m practising the old Indian Bead Trick at the moment – you might know it better as the Needle Swallowing Trick that Houdini made popular. It’s when you swallow needles and thread and then bring them back out with the needles all threaded together. Wonderful illusion. I’m too chicken to put needles in my mouth though, so I’ve been using safety pins! Ha! Definitely not as glamorous.

Which is to say, very dull, really. I get excited if I go across the border to Thailand because they actually have supermarkets there! I think heaven is a supermarket, all clean and shiny and bright. And they have a Mister Donut!

I’m easily pleased.

• Read the rest of the interview here.

We are delighted to announce début deals for not just one, but two of our talented young authors – namely Aliette de Bodard and Lavie Tidhar, both of whom have  just been snapped up by the exciting new genre imprint Angry Robot.

Aliette’s SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD is the first of three books sold to Angry Robot and Publishing Director Marc Gascoigne describes it thus : “… a wild mix of fantasy and crime novel, set in Aztec times. In this alternate world, though, the gods are real and stalk the temples, demanding sacrifices from the people. Amidst the bloodletting, a serial killer appears to be getting away with murder – but how do you find a murderer in a world where the streets themselves are awash with blood?”

SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD is due for publication in Spring 2010 and two further novels set in the same world will follow in due course.

Aliette’s is  a name already known to many through her wonderful short fiction (she was a nominee for this year’s Campbell Award and is a Writers of the Future winner) and her deserved good fortune came about through a curious incident of her being in the wrong place at the right time.  Stuck in Calgary an extra night due to a flight delay following last year’s World Fantasy Convention, she found herself passing time at with an equally delayed agent – Zeno’s own John Berlyne -  and Angry Robot‘s Marc Gascoigne. “It was a bit cheeky of us to cajole her into pitching there and then,” says Gascoigne, ” but I’m very glad she did. We’re always looking for interesting new books to publish, but that day it was like the ancient gods themselves had all conspired to bring us to that spot! These are wonderful books, full of wild fantasy and cunning detection, and I’m so proud and pleased we’ll be publishing them.”

Angry Robot have also acquired via John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, three books from rising star Lavie Tidhar, an author described by LOCUS as “an emerging master”.

Tidhar’s THE BOOKMAN is a steampunk adventure described by Angry Robot‘s Marc Gascoigne as an “… exciting mix of Victorian culture and anachronistically advanced technology. In THE BOOKMAN, a shadowy terrorist of that name brings London society practically to a standstill by placing bombs inside books. After several atrocities against London’s theatres, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack on the blessing of the launch of the first expedition to Mars. For young poet Orphan, whose girlfriend is killed in that blast, it is the start of an epic adventure that will bring him face-to-face not only with the master-criminal but his own lost past.” THE BOOKMAN will be published by Angry Robot in Spring 2010 and will run to at least two further volumes.

Tidhar looks to have a busy year ahead with a number of short stories in the pipeline for publication and a novella, CLOUD PERMUTATIONS due from the award winning British small press PS Publishing, these following in the footsteps of his recently released collaboration with fellow Israelli author Nir Yaniv, THE TEL AVIV DOSSIER which was published to enthusiastic reviews by ChiZine.

Ellen Datlow has posted the table of contents and the fantastic cover art for her upcoming anthology Lovecraft Unbound, over on her livejournal page.

The book is to be published by M Press in October and features a fantastic line up of authors – including Michael Chabon, Joyce Carole Oates and our own rising star Lavie Tidhar. His story is entitled One Day, Soon and was previously mentioned by the author in this interview that appeared on the Apex Book Company web site last October.

The February 09 issue of Apex Magazine leads with a brand new Lavie Tidhar story entitled Dark Planet. Follow this link to read it free online. Also in this issue is the latest of Lavie’s entertaining essays in his Confessions of a Book Junkie series – be sure to check out the back issues for more of these if you missed them first time around.