A sharp urban fantasy with a uniquely South African twist, APOCALYPSE NOW NOW has been described by fellow SA writer Lauren Beukes (author of the Arthur C. Clarke award winning ZOO CITY) as ‘… mad and dark and irreverent and wonderfully twisted in all the right ways‘. Here’s a taste of what you can expect…

‘Baxter Zevcenko is your average sixteen-year-old-boy — if by average you mean kingpin of a schoolyard porn syndicate and possible serial killer who suffers from surreal  nightmares. Which may very well be what counts as average these days. Baxter is the first to admit that he’s not a nice guy. After all, if the guy below you falls, dragging you down into an icy abyss you have to cut him loose — even in high school.

That is until his girlfriend, Esmé, is kidnapped and Baxter is forced to confront a disturbing fact about himself — that he has a heart, and the damn thing is forcing him to abandon high-school politics and set out on a quest to find her. The clues point to supernatural forces at work and Baxter is must admit that he can’t do it alone. Enter Jackie Ronin, supernatural bounty hunter, Border War veteran, and all-round lunatic, who takes him on a chaotic tour of Cape Town’s sweaty, occult underbelly.

What do glowing men, transsexual African valkyries, and zombie-creating arachnids have to do with Esmé’s disappearance? That’s what Baxter really, really needs to find out.’

John Berlyne said ‘When this one landed in my in-box I knew immediately that it was something special. It’s sly, iconoclastic, off-the-wall and full of the kind of energy that I hunger for in my reading. It’s also extremely well written – the kind of book that reads effortlessly. I’m very pleased indeed that Century – who’ve had such a success with Ernest Cline’s superb READY PLAYER ONE – will be publishing.’

Jack Fogg said ‘APOCALYPSE NOW NOW is one of those rare, generous novels which goes to incredible lengths to entertain the reader. I haven’t laughed so hard or flat out enjoyed a ride more in a very long time. Charlie is a fantastic writer, at the forefront of the nascent speculative fiction scene in South Africa, and I feel incredibly privileged to be publishing his unique novels.’

Charlie Human is a writer from Cape Town, South Africa. His short story, The Immaculate Particle, appeared in Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse, and Land of the Blind was printed in the UK version of ZOO CITY  by Lauren Beukes. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town.

All other rights are with Zeno.

Mark’s fantastic steampunk romp THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK was a hugely popular winner of the 2011 Philip K. Dick Award, and along with the two follow up titles THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN and EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (published by Pyr in the US and Snow Books here in the UK) has brought this author great acclaim and a huge fan base in a relatively short period of time.

We can now announce three new Burton and Swinburn novels, THE SECRET OF ABDU EL-YEZDI THE MYSTIC, IN THE GRIP OF THE BEAST, and THE MYSTERY OF THE MULTIPLYING MEN, which will run parallel to the first trilogy. These, along with a ‘sword-and-planet’ standalone, A RED SUN ALSO RISES have been acquired at auction in a four book deal by Michael Rowley at Ebury, and will be published on their soon-to-be-name dedicated SF/F list, the first title appearing in 2013.

The deal was negotiated by John Parker on behalf of the author’s primary agent Martha Millard and Zeno is absolutely delighted to add this marquee name to our list of clients.

News on the novel is strictly under wraps for now, but this superb collection should certainly whet your appetite whilst we wait. Here’s the cover copy…

‘William Gibson was writing fiction when he predicted the internet. And as his stories bled into reality, so he became one of the first to report on the real-world consequences of cyberspace’s growth and development.

Now, with the dust settling on the first internet revolution, comes Gibson’s first collection of non-fiction essays from the technological and cultural frontiers of this new world. Covering a variety of subjects, they include:

• Metrophagy: The Art and Science of Digesting Great Cities
• An account of obsession in ‘the world’s attic’:eBay
• Reasons why ‘The Net is a Waste of Time’
• Singapore as ‘Disneyland with the Death Penalty’
• A primer on Japan, our default setting for the future

These and many other pieces, collected for the first time in DISTRUST THAT PARTICULAR FLAVOR, are studded with revealing autobiographical fragments and map the development of Gibson’s acute perceptions about modern life.

Here, then, is a guide to the new territory we find ourselves in written by one of its discoverers.‘

In addition to this, A.J.’s best known work ROGUE MOON will be reissued in 2012 in the Gollancz SF Masterworks series and there are also plans afoot for an omnibus trade paperback edition of THE IRON THORN, MICHAELMAS and HARD LANDING – again dates TBC.

• Naomi Foyle
• Amy Jeans
• Anne Lyle
• James Maxey
• Frank Morin
• David Tallerman
• John Theobald
• Rio Youers

Watch this space for exciting announcements for some of these folks in next few days and weeks.

Jim Blaylock’s credentials and achievements are almost too many to list! He is the author of nearly twenty published novels and numerous shorter works. His 1978 story ‘The Ape-Box Affair’ is acknowledged as the first Steampunk story and the many further adventures of his much loved character Langdon St. Ives, in both shorter and longer forms (notably in the Philip K. Dick Award winning novel HOMUNCULUS and LORD KELVIN’S MACHINE) have made him the central figure in the original Steampunk triptych alongside Tim Powers (also represented by Zeno in the UK) and K.W. Jeter. He continues to collaborate with Powers, maintaining a partnership that has lasted since the two met in college back in the mid-70s and one only occasionally hampered by the interference of William Ashbless.

Blaylock has received multiple nominations for the World Fantasy Award, winning it on two occasions – for short stories ‘Paper Dragons‘ and his collection ‘Thirteen Phantasms‘. Over the years his work has consistently ranked the highest positions in the annual LOCUS Magazine poll and his story ‘Unidentified Objects‘ was included in Prize Stories 1990, the O. Henry Awards.

‘I have admired Jim’s work for over two decades now,’ says Zeno agent John Berlyne, ‘In fact – gushing fanboy that I am – I realise I’ve read every word of  his published fiction! Aside from being, by a country mile, the best short fiction writer I’ve ever come across, he is, and remains, a truly original voice – unique in fact – and a hugely respected and cherished genre figure.’

James P. Blaylock lives in Orange, CA with his wife, Viki. He teaches creative writing at Chapman University where he is Assistant Professor of English.‘Blaylock’s evocative prose and studied pacing make him one of the most distinctive contributors to American magical realism’ — Library Journal,

‘James P. Blaylock has proved himself to be among the front-running authors working in speculative fiction’ — Rick Kleffel

‘Blaylock is a singular American fabulist’ — William Gibson

‘Blaylock allows us to see the mundane world through new eyes, to perceive the familiar as strange, and therefore exciting’– Charles de Lint

It’s looking increasingly likely that I’ll be attending Aussiecon 4 later in the year – volcanic ash permitting! My intention, having schlepped all that way, is to return with the pick of genre talent in my agently pocket, thus we’ve decided to open for submissions, but only for authors who will be attending the con. (Don’t try and hoodwink me – as I’ll be checking the membership roster to see if you’re on it! If you’re not going to be at Worldcon, your submission will not be considered in this window.)

What am I looking for? Well, all areas of genre fiction basically. That means SF, Fantasy and Horror and the various combinations/permutations thereof. As always, the salient factor is that of the excellence of the writing and the commercial hook, rather than how many rockets or wizards or ghosts appear in the story, so look to our Submission Guidelines and the About Zeno page to gauge our tastes.

Come on Australia and NZ – let’s see what you’ve got!

Samit is a very much a rising star on the scene in India – his Gameworld Trilogy, hit the best seller lists over there and he joins Zeno having sent his novel Turbulence into us – a novel which both Johns absolutely loved. It’s an extremely clever and terrifically inventive take on the Superhero genre and one with a very fascinating Indian slant. Full of energy, intrigue, action and verve, Turbulence packs a serious punch and its central plot poses two key questions… How would you feel if you actually got what you wanted? And what would you do if you could really change the world? Turbulence is due to be published in the Autumn by Hachette India.

Instinctively creative, Samit is established in other markets too – he has had a number of works for children published by Scholastic and is extremely active in the world of comics graphic novels (with work published by Virgin Comics). He has recently completed a GN project with Mike Carey and is working on a number of Bollywood screenplay projects.

We’re very much looking forward to working with Samit and to introducing his wonderful work to a wide international audience.

• Visit Samit’s Page on the Zeno Web Site

Zeno has taken on Ben Aaronovitch as a client and we’ve already got some excitement going on for his novel RIVERS OF LONDON, the first book in a quite superb fantasy crime series that I’ve been pitching as “NEVERWHERE meets  THE SWEENEY“.

John Berlyne says “Ben’s arrival proves that the system works  and should give hope to all unagented writers out there. His book came in during the last round of submissions and the process followed the proscribed protocols in textbook fashion. I received an enquiry letter which intrigued me, asked for an elevator pitch which excited me, then received an excerpt which impressed me and finally a manuscript which floored me. It’s exactly the scenario that both parties – writer and agent – long for.

RIVERS OF LONDON is one of the most exciting and commercial prospects I’ve seen in a good while and ticks every box. John Parker and myself are enjoying working with Ben enormously and can’t wait to get this series out into the world”

• Check out Ben’s page on the Zeno web site for more info.

SECRET HISTORIES is now available from PS Publishing, and one significant thing that occured to me whilst I was working on it was that, with only minor exceptions, Powers remained out of print here in the UK for almost the entire time I was writing about him -  a project I began in the previous century!

Given my expert knowledge on this particular subject, I decided to set about addressing the issue and it is with tremendous personal and professional pride that I am delighted to be able to announce that Zeno, in association with Russell Galen of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, has just completed on a FOUR book deal for Tim with Nicholas Cheetham at Corvus Books, the new imprint at Grove Atlantic.

Corvus is a perfect home for Powers, who has for many year’s been confined to the genre ghetto. However, the wider readership is nowadays far more receptive to genre-friendly, mainstream-cross-over novels in the wake of the Dan Brown phenomenon and the runaway success  in recent years of novels such as The Historian and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.  Publishing Director Nic Cheetham says of the imprint “Corvus takes a particular delight in patrolling those fertile zones of convergence at genre borders, where the best stories are to be found, where entire worlds – historical, psychological, fantastical – are built just to tell stories,” which makes things sound pretty much tailor made for Powers!

The Corvus deal sees publication both backlist and frontlist titles, bringing Powers back to a British and Commonwealth  audience with a fanfare that this extraordinary author truly deserves. Their programme begins with a mass market paperback edition of DECLARE – Tim’s 2000 World Fantasy Award winner, described as a “…transcendent thriller that re-writes the espionage fiction rule book as it reveals the terrible secret at the heart of the Cold War…” and scheduled for publication in June 2010. It’s hard to believe that this will be the first UK publication of this novel. Note that the image to the right is merely a design rough from the Corvus catalogue and may well change in due course. (I like it though!)

Nic Cheetham: “Everyone is a Tim Powers fan, but just not everybody knows it… yet. We’re looking forward to changing that in June with the publication of Tim’s World Fantasy Award-winning spy novel DECLARE.”

Following DECLARE will be another first UK publication, this time of THREE DAYS TO NEVER (format to be confirmed) currently scheduled for a January 2011 release, though subject to change. Corvus and will then publish a brand new Powers novel sometime later in that year. THE LIGHTS ALONG THE SHORE is set some years after the events of THE STRESS OF HER REGARD, to which it is a loose sequel.  STRESS will also be reissued as part of the deal.

So, there you have it folks – Powers is back in the UK with a new publisher, a new book and ready to find a new audience. Happy days!