Lavie Tidhar has curated a new World SF StoryBundle! Available until mid-April, the bundle features 10 books selected from a variety of countries and cultures, showcasing the diversity of the science fiction genre. Here’s Lavie’s introduction to the bundle…
It’s been my great privilege over the past [mumble mumble] years to edit several anthologies devoted to international speculative fiction in all its forms, beginning with the first volume of The Apex Book of World SF back in 2009, done on a budget of chewing gum-and-string, and culminating this year with The Best of World SF: Volume 3 from Head of Zeus, the third in a series of huge, handsome hardcover volumes. Along the way I got to publish the World SF Blog for four years, and write about many international titles in a regular column for the Washington Post. But perhaps the most fun of these has been putting together these annual bundles for StoryBundle – a direct opportunity to offer readers a selection of wonderful books from around the world, at one low price, while directly benefiting the authors and their publishers. It is a reality of today’s publishing environment that the most exciting titles usually come from smaller presses, that in a crowded field it is hard to stand up, and that even a small bundle like this can often make a real difference to a book and its author.
The titles included are as follows:
SIGNAL TO NOISE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
HADITHA & THE STATE OF BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION by Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis
UNTO THE GODLESS WHAT LITTLE REMAINS by Mário Coelho
& THIS IS HOW TO STAY ALIVE by Shingai Njeri Kagunda
NOVA HELLAS: STORIES FROM FUTURE GREECE edited by Francesca T Barbini and Francesco Verso
HEBREWPUNK by Lavie Tidhar
THE LOVE MACHINE & OTHER CONTRAPTIONS by Nir Yaniv
AND WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU TONIGHT by Premee Mohamed
Lavie is also the editor of the Best of World SF series of anthologies, published by Head of Zeus; he is also the multi-award winning author of many novels, novellas, and short stories.
Last week, Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel announced the next Rivers of London comic series: HERE BE DRAGONS! Co-authored with New York Times best-selling author and BAFTA-nominated screenwriter James Swallow, you can watch a Forbidden Planet-hosted clip above.
The new series is set after the events of AMONGST OUR WEAPONS, the ninth and latest novel in the series. Here’s what Swallow said about the series…
‘Some say that a dangerous monster is at large over London. Some say that “Electric Ladyland” wasn’t the only thing Hendrix released into the wild, back in in 1968. Some say the Fey are hunting prey in the shadows. And some say only fools and bold, young coppers venture where the map warns “Here Be Dragons”!’
Want to read all of the Rivers of London books in chronological order? Titan Comics has created a new graphic with all of the books to date…
Titan Comics has published all of the Rivers of London comics in English, to date; Panini has published the first nine in German.
We’ll share covers, release dates, and more as this information becomes available.
The British Science Fiction Association published their BSFA Awards longlist last week, and we’re very happy to report that four Zeno clients have work that appear! Read on for details!
Ben Aaronovitch‘s latest Peter Grant/Rivers of London novel, the best-selling and acclaimed AMONGST OUR WEAPONS is on the Best Novel long-list! Published in the UK by Orion Books and in North America by DAW Books, here’s the synopsis…
There is a world hidden underneath this great city…
The London Silver Vaults – for well over a century, the largest collection of silver for sale in the world. It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a celebrity punch-up. Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace – only that’s what happened.
The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light and memory loss amongst the witnesses all make this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit.
Alongside their boss DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery that encompasses London’s tangled history, foreign lands and, most terrifying of all, the North!
And Peter must solve this case soon because back home his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something – and somebody – that nobody ever expects…
Effortlessly original, endlessly inventive and hugely entertaining – step into the world of the much-loved, Number One bestselling Rivers of London series.
Aliette de Bodard‘s acclaimed new Xuya novel, THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE is on the long-list for Best Novel, and its UK cover by Alyssa Winans is on the long-list for Best Cover. The novel is published by Gollancz in the UK (left) and JABberwocky in North America. Here’s the synopsis…
Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates’ enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.
Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si’s help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si’s technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.
But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together…
An exciting space opera and a beautiful romance, from an exceptional SF author.
Also, the latest novella in Aliette’s Dragons & Blades series (set in the same world as the acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen series), OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES is on the long-list for Best Short Fiction. It is published by JABberwocky. Here’s the synopsis…
It was supposed to be a holiday, with nothing more challenging than babysitting, navigating familial politics and arguing about the proper way to brew tea.
But when dragon prince Thuan and his ruthless husband Asmodeus find a corpse in a ruined shrine and a hungry ghost who is the only witness to the crime, their holiday goes from restful to high-pressure. Someone is trying to silence the ghost and everyone involved. Asmodeus wants revenge for the murder; Thuan would like everyone, including Asmodeus, to stay alive.
Chased by bloodthirsty paper charms and struggling to protect their family, Thuan and Asmodeus are going to need all the allies they can — and, as the cracks in their relationship widen, they’ll have to face the scariest challenge of all: how to bring together their two vastly different ideas of their future…
A heartwarming standalone book set in a world of dark intrigue.
Lavie Tidhar has three short stories on the long-list in that category, all three of which an be read online:
Finally, Adam Oyebanji‘s debut science fiction novel, BRAKING DAY is nominated in the Best Novel category! Published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books, here’s the synopsis…
Interstellar Vehicle Archimedes has been hurtling through space for more than five generations, an oasis of heat and light in the middle of absolutely nowhere. But now the ageing starship is preparing to brake, for it is arriving at Destination Star: Tau Ceti, the new home for the space-born descendants of the First Crew.
For trainee engineer Ravinder MacLeod, the world he knows is coming to an end. Once Archimedes succumbs to the gravitational pull of the Destination Star and its (hopefully) habitable planet, there will be no going back – or anywhere else. As Braking Day approaches, Ravi finds himself caught between the rigid requirements of the officer class to which he aspires and his blue-collar, ne’er-do-well family. Unfortunately for Ravi, Boz, his brilliant ex-con cousin, seems determined to make his life difficult – not least by her experiments with forbidden technology.
Then Ravi is assigned to routine maintenance deep in the massive engines of the Archimedes, where, alone and out of contact, he comes face to face with something impossible – mind-breakingly impossible.
Plagued by nightmares and visions and worried that his grip on reality is slipping, Ravi turns to Boz for help. Their search for answers takes them to the jagged place where the ship’s future intersects with its long past. For not everyone is excited to be reaching journey’s end, and the ghosts of the First Crew may not have been fully laid to rest.
Zeno represents Adam Oyebanji in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.
Lavie Tidhar‘s excellent new novel NEOM has received a number of great reviews since its publication. The second novel in the CENTRAL STATION setting, it is published by Tachyon Publications. Here’s the synopsis…
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. It is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful, an urban sprawl along the Red Sea, and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Elias has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business. Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose—especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
Lavie Tidhar’s (Unholy Land, The Escapement) newest lushly immersive novel, Neom, which includes a guide to the Central Station universe, is at turns gritty, comedic, transportive, and fascinatingly plausible.
If you haven’t yet read either CENTRAL STATION or NEOM, and are interested in giving the setting a try, the new short story THE SMELL OF ORANGE GROVES was published by Clarkesworld (way back in issue #62), and is available in text and audio.
For podcast enthusiasts, Lavie recently appeared as a guest on the Coode Street Podcast.
‘NEOM is a thoughtful, beautifully written story about what we have, what we want, how we achieve our desires, and what, and whom, we are willing to risk for our own benefit.’
Here are just a few of the other reviews the novel has received so far…
‘World Fantasy Award winner Tidhar takes readers back to the fascinating far-future world of 2016’s CENTRAL STATION in this gentle narrative about self-fulfillment and one robot’s quest to reunite with a lost love… Tidhar offers a heartfelt exploration of artificially intelligent beings’ struggles to find existential meaning while being restrained by both coding and form. Fans of literary sci-fi are sure to be enchanted by the imaginative worldbuilding and tenderly wrought characters.’ — Publishers Weekly
‘Tidhar’s narrative takes on a gentle, ruminative air, and while that helps establish the atmosphere of a convincing, lived-in city, veteran SF readers will also find plenty of playful and affectionate Easter eggs… Neom easily joins the list of SF cities we’d like to visit.’ — Locus
‘[A] delightful journey through a fantasy of outer space and a future Middle East. Tidhar’s world contains likable characters who work together (sometimes accidentally, sometimes begrudgingly) to tell a story full of adventure, mystery, hope, and love… Tidhar writes science fiction with real-world parallels and comedic timing, if also a bit of a tendency toward hopeful romanticism… NEOM is a wonderful read for any lover of science fiction. For someone who has not yet visited the world of CENTRAL STATION — Tidhar’s novel from 2016 — it is easy to catch on to the colloquialisms and customs of the story universe. But after reading NEOM, new Tidhar fans will surely want to go back for more.’ — Jewish Book Council
‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind
‘Lavie Tidhar’s NEOM is a stunning return to his world of CENTRAL STATION, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea.’ — Green Man Review
‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — Speculative Shelf
‘This is a book of hearts and of the heart, be it human or robot, and that is something that is universal, be it ourselves or in “the other”. The “other”, in Tidhar’s work, is us, and we are the other. We are all us, and in NEOM, we feel for that other, in the personage of the robots, in the human characters, and we take them, and their stories, into us.’ — File 770
Lavie’s other 2022 novel, in case you missed it, is MAROR, which has been selected as a best book of the year by The Guardian and The Economist. It is out now, published by Head of Zeus.
Just a quick post today to congratulate Lavie Tidhar: one of his latest novels, MAROR, has been selected by both The Guardian and The Economist as one of the best books of the year! Published in the UK by Head of Zeus, here’s the synopsis…
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. A double murder in Los Angeles.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for a country’s soul – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
Here, too, are just a few of the reviews the novel has received so far…
‘MAROR is a masterpiece of the sacred and the profane … a literary triumph.’ — The Guardian
‘[A] wildly ambitious saga… A caustic alternative history of the dream and development of Israel.’ — The Economist
‘A bloody beast of a book… MAROR is to Israeli history what Tarantino is to American movie culture’ — The Daily Mail
‘Amos Oz’s A Tale of Love and Darkness… Fade[s] into oblivion compared with Lavie Tidhar’s magnificent novel MAROR, a panoramic look at four decades of the dark, despicable side of Israel, of death, corruption, violence and drugs… It’s a brilliant undertaking.’ — The Jewish Chronicle
‘Radiant with all the brutally elegant atmosphere of crime noir, and the richly nuanced complexity and style of Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings, it’s a genre-busting novel that will catch your breath … At once illuminating, thrilling and thought-provoking, this tale of corruption, killings, sacrifice and the souls that make up a nation is a symphonic feat of fiction.’ — LoveReading
‘Some write in ink, others in song, Tidhar writes in fire… MAROR is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, immense in its sympathies, alarming in its irreverences and altogether exhilarating’ — Junot Díaz
‘One of the boldest, most visionary writers I’ve ever read creates both a vivid political exploration and a riveting crime epic. It’s like the Jewish Godfather!’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘I’ve rarely read such a sustained feat of narrative invention and momentum. The novel’s a masterpiece.’ — Tim Pears
‘MAROR blends the page-turning wit of a hard-boiled detective noir with the stirring intrigue of a multi-national political epic. An ambitious achievement that weaves a tapestry of both story and statement.’ — Kevin Jared Hosein
In case you missed the news, Apple TV+ is developing William Gibson‘s classic, highly-influential and multi-award-winning cyberpunk novel NEUROMANCER for television! According to Illuminerdi, Apple has offered the lead role to Miles Teller, who would play Case.
The novel’s SF Masterworks edition was recently re-issued in the UK by Gollancz (cover above). Here’s the synopsis…
Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler, former hack and ‘console cowboy’ who crashed and burned. His nerves were damaged and thus cut off from the digital matrix, he slouches through life.
Until he meets Molly, an augmented ‘razorgirl’, who offers him a deal on behalf of a shadowy man called Armitage. His nerves repaired and matrix access restored, in exchange for a single job. But it’s not so simple – unless he completes the job, sacs of poison will explode inside him and cripple him again.
And the job? That might be impossible.
The first novel to win the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer has become a seminal part of SF history, coining the term ‘cyberspace’ and lighting a fuse on the Cyberpunk movement. Part thriller, part warning, it is one of the 20th century’s most potent visions of the future.
William Gibson is also the author of THE PERIPHERAL, which was recently adapted by Amazon Prime, to much acclaim. THE PERIPHERAL is the first novel in the author’s Jackpot series, which also includes AGENCY — both are published in the UK by Penguin.
Zeno represents William Gibson in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of Nell Pierce at Sterling Lord Literistic.
Lavie Tidhar has curated a new Story Bundle! This time, the collection has a Hollywood Horror theme. Here’s Lavie’s introduction to the collection…
Ah, Hollywood! The glitz, the glamour – the monsters! For Halloween this year I thought it would be fun to collect books with some connection to Tinseltown – whether by actors, screenwriters, books about the movies or those in development to become films and TV shows. It’s a mixed bag of fabulous! But all of it unsettling in some way. As the nights draw long and the frost settles on the windows and the wind howls mercilessly outside, what better time to settle down with a blanket and read some tales dark and grim?
So join me as we take a tour through worlds of ancient rockets and the devil, black and white monsters and deep hidden fungus, of vampires, fire-breathing giant lizards, horror film survivors and, of course, a dinosaur detective. Here is a mixture of novels and intelligent non-fiction, anthologies and novellas – the full gamut of the field spelled out in stars against a silver screen.
cue lights! Camera! … Aaaaand action!
In case you are not familiar with StoryBundle: you decide what price you want to pay, with more books available at certain amounts.
With the Hollywood Horror Bundle, for $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
Who Wants to be the Prince of Darkness? by Michael Boatman
Monsters From the Vault by Orrin Grey
The Cutting Room edited by Ellen Datlow
We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus seven more books for a total of 11!
Deep State by Christopher Farnsworth
The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes
Scream Queen by Edo van Belkom
Revenge of Monsters From the Vault by Orrin Grey
Ancient Rockets by Kage Baker, edited by Kathleen Bartholomew
Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow
The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar
If you are so moved, you can allocate some of what you pay for the bundle to go to Locus magazine.
The bundle is available until November 3rd.
As you can see, the bundle includes Lavie’s own THE VIOLENT CENTURY. Published by JABberwocky, here’s the synopsis…
A bold experiment has mutated a small fraction of humanity. Nations race to harness the gifted, putting them to increasingly dark ends. At the dawn of global war, flashy American superheroes square off against sinister Germans and dissolute Russians. Increasingly depraved scientists conduct despicable research in the name of victory
British agents Fogg and Oblivion, recalled to the Retirement Bureau, have kept a treacherous secret for over forty years. But all heroes must choose when to join the fray, and to whom their allegiance is owed — even for just one perfect summer’s day.
The cover for THE VIOLENT CENTURY is by the ever-excellent Sarah Anne Langton.
Lavie’s latest novel is MAROR, which is published by Head of Zeus. He also curated and edited the new THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2, which AdAstra published yesterday.
We’re very happy to report that Travis Baldree‘s acclaimed debut fantasy, LEGENDS & LATTES has been selected as an Indie Next List recommended read for November!
The novel will be published by Tor Books in North America and in the UK — on November 8th and 10th, respectively.
Here’s the synopsis…
Come take a load off at Viv’s cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Grand opening!
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.
The new, North American paperback edition will include a very special, never-before-seen bonus story: PAGES TO FILL.
The novel has been enjoying a veritable flood of praise in the run up to its publication. Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…
‘This is a story about following your dreams, even when they take you away from who you thought you had to be. It’s sweet, beautiful and, most of all, kind. I hugely recommend this book.’ — Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart A Doorway
‘LEGENDS & LATTES is a uniquely beautiful book. Its cast of endearing characters have no interest at all in killing one another. There is no Great Evil, no bloody battles, and yet the pillars of great fantasy — resilience, fellowship, and a desire to make the world a better place — are all here. It’s wonderfully wholesome, and I hope heralds the rise of a ‘slice-of-life’ sub-genre in modern fantasy.’ — Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld
“Take a break from epic battles and saving the world. LEGENDS & LATTES is a low-stakes fantasy that delivers exactly what’s advertised: a wholesome, cozy novel that feels like a warm hug. This is my new comfort read.’ — Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch’s Heart
‘LEGENDS & LATTES is a big-hearted story about the small things in life. A lovingly written ode to the genre, it is a must-read for every D&D player who has ever wondered what happens after “happily ever after.”‘ — Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author
‘A stunningly-well done story at every level’ — Fantasy Faction
‘I loved LEGENDS & LATTES and I have literally nothing bad to say about it… a warm hug on a cold day. Written with care and attention, Baldree’s delicate touch and vibrant characters make this story shine… Books have their own kind of magic. LEGENDS & LATTES was positively enchanting.’ — Bookworm Blues
‘LEGENDS & LATTES reads like a fresh cup of coffee. The novel radiates the same sort of rich warmth you feel in your belly after a sip of a freshly brewed latte. That feeling sticks throughout, making for a refreshing and cozy tale worth your time… If you’re into cozy fantasy, or you just want a break from the epic subgenre, LEGENDS & LATTES is for you.’ — Quill to Live
‘A story of friendship and found family that is nothing less than heartwarming.’ — Novel Approach
Today, we wanted to highlight the audio editions of the Alchemy Wars — Ian Tregillis‘s widely acclaimed fantasy trilogy. Published by Hachette in the UK and North America, all three novels are available as audiobooks, narrated by Chris Kayser: THE MECHANICAL, THE RISING, and THE LIBERATION.
Here’s the synopsis for THE MECHANICAL…
My name is Jax.
That is the name granted to me by my human masters.
I am a slave.
But I shall be free.
Set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams, the new novel from Ian Tregillis confirms his place as one of the most original new voices in speculative fiction.
The print and eBook editions of the trilogy are published by Orbit Books in the UK and North America.
As already mentioned, the Alchemy Wars trilogy was met with incredible critical acclaim when each novel was published. Here is just a small sample of the reviews the series has received…
‘The first thing readers will say after finishing this splendid book is: “Wow.” The second thing will probably be: “When can I read the next one?” … This is a rousing SF/fantasy adventure, with a brilliantly imagined and beautifully rendered alternate world. Although he keeps the pace moving at a brisk clip, the author is able to work in some Big Ideas, asking us to think about what we mean when we speak about souls and free will. This isn’t Tregillis’ first venture into alternate history — the Milkweed Triptych is set during WWII and features an alternate time line — but, in terms of the quality of writing and cleverness of ideas, this new book constitutes a major leap forward.’ — Booklist(Starred Review) on THE MECHANICAL
‘… launches a series with this superb alternate history filled with clockwork men and ethical questions on the nature of free will… Tregillis’s complex setting is elegantly delivered, and the rich characters and gripping story really make this tale soar.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on THE MECHANICAL
‘An original approach to a well-known subject matter; human ethics and free will… a fascinating world… Tregillis is a capable sculptor of narrative. He rarely drags on in his descriptions, painting a complex picture of his world one section at a time. He imbues most characters with a specific internal voice, ably switching between points of view without it ever jarring. And the central character, a Clakker known as Jax, is the most engaging automaton you’ll encounter in any recent book. This opener to the Alchemy Wars trilogy delivers a mostly fresh breath of sci-fi fantasy.’ — SciFi Now on THE MECHANICAL
‘This is the kind of novel you’re reading on the bus or train and you actually resent reaching your destination because it means you have to pause your reading … One of the sharpest, most intelligent, hugely compelling works I’ve read this year, and I cannot wake to see where Tregillis takes this series next.’ — Forbidden Planet Blog on THE MECHANICAL
‘An excellent novel. Truly excellent: I have rarely found myself this gripped by a book … At the climactic points, I had to pause and walk away for moments at a time, because the intensity of the tension became nerve-wrackingly hard to bear. Tregillis has an excellent eye for characterisation, and a master’s grasp of how to build tension to a breaking point: the sheer narrative drive here, the way in which the storylines of the three point-of-view characters support and reinforce the tension in each other, is a thing of beauty. I can’t escape the feeling that it’s shaping up as a long arc tragedy – in the classic sense of tragedy – for all of its protagonists, but it is immensely well done. I’m very much on board to see what happens next. Even though it’s probably going to horrify me more.’ — Locus on THE MECHANICAL
‘The chases, the battles, the brutal violence, and the scheming are nonstop. As always, Tregillis offers richly textured and genuinely likable personalities with shades-of-gray morality; it’s clearly no accident that the most purely good person in the novel is the mechanical Jax, although even his sterling qualities are severely tested by the terrible situations he faces. Middle volumes are always tricky; they can often read as an obstacle to overcome on the way to the forgone conclusion of the third installment. Tregillis commendably avoids this trap, deepening his story and keeping it moving along toward an unknown horizon. Part 3 can’t come too soon.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review) on THE RISING
‘Tregillis’s splendid sequel to THE MECHANICAL is a vivid alternate history tale filled with action sequences, fascinating characters, and great worldbuilding… engrossing, with plenty of mid-story twists, and it’s well worth the ride.’ — Publishers Weekly on THE RISING
‘The thoughtful, blood-soaked conclusion to an alternate-history trilogy… A frighteningly frank and brutal consideration of slavery, post-slavery, and colonialism in metallic garb.’ — Kirkuson THE LIBERATION
‘Action-packed and harrowing…’ — RT Book Reviews on THE LIBERATION
‘THE LIBERATION brings to a violent, triumphant conclusion Ian Tregillis’s epic Alchemy Wars Trilogy: one of the most entertaining, original, and thought-provoking series of recent years… It’s a wonderfully realized world, packed with fascinating characters, and Tregillis uses alternative history brilliantly to explore concerns we still have over new technologies and their potential effect, for good and ill, on our freedom.’ — Toronto Star
‘THE LIBERATION is part philosophical debate over human nature and choice, part contemplation on colonialism and slavery, and part action-y alternate history. It brings the trilogy to a raucous, blood-soaked end where no one gets everything they want, but everyone gets exactly what they deserve… evocative and exciting… Every moment builds to half a dozen more. Each action scene both tightens the noose on the protagonists and ramps up the heart rate of the plot… 10/10…’ — Tor.com
Ian’s first trilogy, the Milkweed Triptych, is also available — published by Orbit Books in the UK and Tor Books in North America: BITTER SEEDS, THE COLDEST WAR, and NECESSARY EVIL. The audiobook editions are published by Audible, and narrated by Kevin Pariseau.
Here’s the synopsis for BITTER SEEDS…
The year is 1939. Raybould Marsh and other members of British Intelligence have gathered to watch a damaged reel of film in a darkened room. It appears to show German troops walking through walls, bursting into flames and hurling tanks into the air from afar.
If the British are to believe their eyes, a twisted Nazi scientist has been endowing German troops with unnatural, unstoppable powers. And Raybould will be forced to resort to dark methods to hold the impending invasion at bay.
But dealing with the occult exacts a price. And that price must be paid in blood.
Ian Tregillis’ Bitter Seeds is a chilling masterpiece – a tale of a twentieth century like our own and also profoundly different.
Above, you can listen to the recent, great Lavie Tidhar interview on the Better Known from a couple of weeks ago!
Back in July, Lavie was also a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book show, in the “Ethics of Crime” episode. You can listen to that, too, below.
Lavie’s latest novel is MAROR, which is published by Head of Zeus and out now. Here’s the synopsis…
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. A double murder in Los Angeles.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for a country’s soul – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
The novel has been receiving a considerable number of great reviews, and here are just a few of them…
‘Some write in ink, others in song, Tidhar writes in fire… MAROR is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, immense in its sympathies, alarming in its irreverences and altogether exhilarating.’ — Junot Díaz
‘One of the boldest, most visionary writers I’ve ever read creates both a vivid political exploration and a riveting crime epic. It’s like the Jewish Godfather!’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘MAROR blends the page-turning wit of a hard-boiled detective noir with the stirring intrigue of a multi-national political epic. An ambitious achievement that weaves a tapestry of both story and statement.’ — Kevin Jared Hosein
‘A masterpiece of the sacred and the profane … a literary triumph.’ — Guardian
‘A bloody beast of a book… MAROR is to Israeli history what Tarantino is to American movie culture’ — Daily Mail
‘Radiant with all the brutally elegant atmosphere of crime noir, and the richly nuanced complexity and style of Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings, it’s a genre-busting novel that will catch your breath … At once illuminating, thrilling and thought-provoking, this tale of corruption, killings, sacrifice and the souls that make up a nation is a symphonic feat of fiction.’ — LoveReading
‘Who can forget the savage, musical James Ellroy prose circa the L.A. Quartet books? Now we have a successor … Lavie Tidhar, a marvelous multi-genre author who never fails to delight, has now penned his noir opus. MAROR is a heady, nonstop brew of terror, violence, and mayhem, while also exuding swathes of coursing humanity.’ — Read Listen Watch
‘An unforgettably powerful saga … a sweeping portrayal of violence, corruption and chaos threaded through by veins of humanity… It is difficult to do justice to such a monumental work. So many aspects of MAROR attract superlatives but they fail to convey the range and breathtaking insight of this epic crime novel. A book for all lovers of great literature.’ — Queensland Reviewers Collective
Lavie’s next novel is NEOM, which is due to be published by Tachyon Publications, in November.
Today, Neom is a utopian dream — a megacity of the future yet to be built in the Saudi desert. In this deeply imaginative novel from the award-winning universe of Central Station, far-future Neom is already old. Sentient machines roam the desert searching for purpose, works of art can be more deadly than weapons, and the spark of a long-overdue revolution is in the wind. Only the rekindling of an impossible love affair may slow the inevitable sands of time.
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. It is is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful, an urban sprawl along the Red Sea, and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Elias has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business. Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
Lavie Tidhar’s newest lushly immersive novel, Neom, which includes a guide to the Central Station universe, is at turns gritty, comedic, transportive, and fascinatingly plausible.
NEOM is also being met with a great amount of early praise. Here’s just some of the pre-release reviews and responses…
‘World Fantasy Award winner Tidhar takes readers back to the fascinating far-future world of 2016’s CENTRAL STATION in this gentle narrative about self-fulfillment and one robot’s quest to reunite with a lost love… Tidhar offers a heartfelt exploration of artificially intelligent beings’ struggles to find existential meaning while being restrained by both coding and form. Fans of literary sci-fi are sure to be enchanted by the imaginative worldbuilding and tenderly wrought characters.’ — Publishers Weekly
‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind
‘Lavie Tidhar’s NEOM is a stunning return to his world of CENTRAL STATION, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea.’ — Green Man Review
‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — Speculative Shelf
‘This is a book of hearts and of the heart, be it human or robot, and that is something that is universal, be it ourselves or in “the other”. The “other”, in Tidhar’s work, is us, and we are the other. We are all us, and in NEOM, we feel for that other, in the personage of the robots, in the human characters, and we take them, and their stories, into us.’ — File 770
‘A new novel set in the same universe as the multi-award winning CENTRAL STATION. Tidhar is a superb author, so it really doesn’t matter to me what he writes — I’ll still happily read it.’ — Civilian Reader
‘Another downloading from Tidhar’s fertile imagination. Science Fictional ideas and references spin off this in giddy profusion…As a writer Tidhar is frequently playful, allusive and self-referential…Tidhar has of late become fairly prolific. Perhaps he’s made good use of lockdown. NEOM shows there has been no drop-off in quality.’ — ParSec
This coming week, Kristina Pérez will be participating in the Writers Digest’s Annual Science Fiction & Fantasy Virtual Conference! Specifically, this event…
Writing Secondary Characters Who Steal the Show by Kristina Pérez In this one-hour session, Kristina Pérez will guide you through the process of developing your own compelling secondary characters
Pre-registration is required for this even. Full details can be found on the WDU website.
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.
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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.
The audiobook edition of Aliette de Bodard‘s acclaimed ON A RED STATION, DRIFTING is on sale this month! Audiobooks.com is currently offering the book with a whopping 75% discount!
Published by Tantor, and read by Emily Woo Zeller, here’s the synopsis…
For generations Prosper Station has thrived under the guidance of its Honoured Ancestress: born of a human womb, the station’s artificial intelligence has offered guidance and protection to its human relatives.
But war has come to the Dai Viet Empire. Prosper’s brightest minds have been called away to defend the Emperor; and a flood of disorientated refugees strain the station’s resources. As deprivations cause the station’s ordinary life to unravel, uncovering old grudges and tearing apart the decimated family, Station Mistress Quyen and the Honoured Ancestress struggle to keep their relatives united and safe. What Quyen does not know is that the Honoured Ancestress herself is faltering, her mind eaten away by a disease that seems to have no cure; and that the future of the station itself might hang in the balance…
ON A RED STATION, DRIFTING was nominated for the Locus, Hugo, and Nebula Best Novella Awards.
YALC is this weekend, as part of the London Film & Comic Con. Zeno will be nicely represented by two of our agents — Stevie Finegan and Kristina Pérez, both of whom will be taking part in Agent 1-2-1s on Saturday, July 9th (1pm) in the Agent Arena.
In addition to Stevie and Kristina, two of our authors are also going to be attending!
Josh Winning, the author of the acclaimed debut THE SHADOW GLASS (Titan), will be taking part in the “Try the Fantasy” panel, which will ‘discuss the fun and fantastical world of fantasy YA fiction, and why we can’t get enough of these magical worlds.’
Here’s the synopsis for THE SHADOW GLASS…
Jack Corman is failing at life.
Jobless, jaded and on the “wrong” side of thirty, he’s facing the threat of eviction from his London flat while reeling from the sudden death of his father, one-time film director Bob Corman. Back in the eighties, Bob poured his heart and soul into the creation of his 1986 puppet fantasy The Shadow Glass, a film Jack loved as a child, idolising its fox-like hero Dune.
But The Shadow Glass flopped on release, deemed too scary for kids and too weird for adults, and Bob became a laughing stock, losing himself to booze and self-pity. Now, the film represents everything Jack hated about his father, and he lives with the fear that he’ll end up a failure just like him.
In the wake of Bob’s death, Jack returns to his decaying home, a place creaking with movie memorabilia and painful memories. Then, during a freak thunderstorm, the puppets in the attic start talking. Tipped into a desperate real-world quest to save London from the more nefarious of his father’s creations, Jack teams up with excitable fanboy Toby and spiky studio executive Amelia to navigate the labyrinth of his father’s legacy while conjuring the hero within –– and igniting a Shadow Glass resurgence that could, finally, do his father proud.
Vincent Tirado, debut author of the acclaimed BURN DOWN, RISE UP (Sourcebooks Fire), will be taking part in the “History Repeating” panel, which will ‘explore the challenges and triumphs that come with bringing history back to life in new and exciting ways.’
Here’s the synopsis for BURN DOWN, RISE UP…
Mysterious disappearances. An urban legend rumored to be responsible. And one group of friends determined to save their city at any cost. Stranger Things meets Jordan Peele in this utterly original debut from an incredible new voice.
For over a year, the Bronx has been plagued by sudden disappearances that no one can explain. Sixteen-year-old Raquel does her best to ignore it. After all, the police only look for the white kids. But when her crush Charlize’s cousin goes missing, Raquel starts to pay attention-especially when her own mom comes down with a mysterious illness that seems linked to the disappearances.
Raquel and Charlize team up to investigate, but they soon discover that everything is tied to a terrifying urban legend called the Echo Game. The game is rumored to trap people in a sinister world underneath the city, and the rules are based on a particularly dark chapter in New York’s past. And if the friends want to save their home and everyone they love, they will have to play the game and destroy the evil at its heart-or die trying.
