We’re happy to report that Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed first Luna novel, NEW MOON, is available in a Ukrainian edition! Published by Богдан, as Луна. Новий Місяць, here’s the synopsis…
Місяць постійно хоче тебе вбити. Він має для цього тисячі способів: крижаний вакуум, смертельна радіація, задуха від реголітового пилу чи поступове руйнування кісток твого тіла. І якщо ти виживеш, тебе намагатимуться зламати П’ять Драконів — корпорації, що керують місячними багатствами та навіть твоїм диханням.
Але ти залишаєшся. Бо Місяць дає шанс на достаток, що перевершує найвигадливіші мрії. Допоки ти тримаєшся.
«Луна: Новий Місяць» — епічна сага Ієна Макдональда про закон великого капіталу та невблаганну владу сімейних кланів. Письменник майстерно створює дивовижно детальний світ, де бізнес стає зброєю, а найближча родина — єдиною опорою.
The novel was translated by Yevgeny Lushchikov; the cover is by Rostislav Kramar.
The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz and in North America by Tor Books: NEW MOON, WOLF MOON, and MOON RISING. The novels are published widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis….
The Moon wants to kill you. It might not get there first.
Luna is a gripping thriller about five corporate families caught in a bitter battle for supremacy in the harsh environment of the moon. It’s very easy to die on the moon, but with its vast mineral wealth it’s also easy to make your fortune.
Following the fortunes of a handful of disparate characters, from one of the lowliest workers on the moon to the heads of one of the most powerful families, LUNA provides a vast mosaic of life on this airless and terrifying new home for humanity.
This is SF that will be perfect for fans of Kim Stanley Robinson and Ken Macleod alike.
Here are just a few of the great reviews NEW MOON has received…
‘The way that Ian McDonald flawlessly adapts his writing to the relevant culture and country at hand is ingenious, and he showcases this perfectly in his much-lauded previous work. In LUNA: NEW MOON though, McDonald has clearly perfected this skill… McDonald certainly shows off the well-developed Cortas to illustrate his knack for creating dynamic human relationships that encompass the whole Moon… LUNA: NEW MOON is a world that has been intricately woven together by its author. It’s compelling and thought-provoking, and all without relying on overbearing sci-fi clichés. Brilliantly done.’ — SciFiNow
‘Almost monolithic in its ambition. In its gravitas and tension and, alas, tragedy, it’s damn near Shakespearian… a setting so brilliantly built and deftly embellished that buying into it isn’t ever an issue; a vast cast of characters as satisfying and sympathetic individually as they are as part of McDonald’s elaborate ensemble; and a plot composed of so many threads that you never know where it’s going to go — except that when it ends, it’s destined to end terribly… a world as wicked as it is convincing… only a matter of time before CBS sets about broadening the appeal of this magnificent bastard of a book.’ — Tor.com
‘Science Fiction authors have made the Moon a popular destination for centuries now: our closest celestial neighbor is home to hundreds of stories. Ian McDonald’s latest novel, LUNA: NEW MOON, is probably one of the best set there… McDonald envisions a future that feels wholly realistic… This is an astonishingly good novel, loaded with vivid detail and interesting ideas about politics, dynasties and our future in space. McDonald has written — no, crafted — some of my favorite science fiction novels, from RIVER OF GODS to THE DERVISH HOUSE, and this one is probably his best yet.’ — io9
‘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’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… an addictive page-turner… accelerates into a mesmerizing political thriller.’ — RT Book Reviews
‘LUNA: NEW MOON is the best moon novel I’ve seen in many years… Inasmuch as it challenges one of the cherished master narratives of SF, in which the moon is only a stepping-stone, and despite what it owes to the tropes of ’70s-era social melodrama, McDonald’s novel has some formidable SF stingers not far beneath its densely textured surface.’ — Locus
‘Heralds the welcome return of one of western science fiction’s foremost globally oriented authors. Bristling with the energy and action… LUNA burns with the desperate anxieties of the late-capitalist, financialized age: the universalization of debt, the demand for contingent and flexible labor, and the resulting polarized wealth gap… one of McDonald’s greatest strengths: an ability to think through the uneven development and cultural diffusion of global economic and technological change. In a striking fashion, McDonald’s worlds are heavily cultural… McDonald’s worlds, whether grim, hopeful, or — as is often the case — both, feel lived in rather than culturally depleted or used up… With an action narrative driving this political commentary, LUNA is actually a fantastically fun read as well as an important one.’ — LA Review of Books