THE AYLESFORD SKULL by James P. Blaylock is available now in Russia! Published by Аркадия as Джеймс Блэйлок: Айлсфордский череп, here’s the synopsis…
Профессор Лэнгдон Сент-Ив, блестящий, хотя и немного эксцентричный ученый и изобретатель, наслаждается семейной жизнью в роскошном поместье: играет с сыном и дочкой, ходит с женой на рыбалку, планирует вволю полетать на собственном дирижабле и мечтает завести слона. Но его злейший враг, доктор Игнасио Нарбондо, не дремлет. Он уже задумал новое злодейство. И если некроманту-вивисектору удастся осуществить задуманное, улицы разрушенного Лондона заполнят духи умерших людей! Пока же Нарбондо занимается разграблением могил, устраивает взрывы, а заодно похищает сынишку Сент-Ива, Эдди. И профессор бросается в погоню…
Аркадия has also published the first two novels in the series in Russia: Гомункул and Машина лорда Келвина.
The third novel in Blaylock’s fan-favourite Langdon St. Ives steampunk series, it is published in the UK and US by Titan Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis…
It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer is at home in Aylesford with his family. However a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay, the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives. When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race into London in pursuit…
Titan has also published the other novels in the series: HOMUNCULUS, LORD KELVIN’S MACHINE and BENEATH LONDON.
‘James P Blaylock has been underpublished on this side of the Atlantic, a state of affairs Titan are addressing with THE AYLESFORD SKULL… Blaylock throws in all the furniture of the genre: derring-do and cliffhangers, a vivid portrayal of Victorian London, a gallery of grotesque characters and the obligatory airship, but the strength of the novel is his rendering of St Ives caught between his love of the chase and his commitment to family.’ — Guardian
‘St. Ives has to be one of the most fleshed out Victorian characters ever written, and I’m sincerely hoping that Blaylock isn’t finished with this scientist adventurer. THE AYLESFORD SKULL can easily stand alone without any knowledge of Blaylock’s previous steampunk stories, but you’ll want to hunt down additional St. Ives tales, I’m for certain.’ — Wired.com
‘I never found it less than gripping. In fact I sped through it in just two sittings. I especially enjoyed the way Blaylock split his heroes up and had them all working vaguely towards the same end, while having no clear idea where the others were, or what they were up to. Even so, he managed to keep a tight control on who was where and when, so that the action ties up properly in the end… Narbondo is deranged, as all such villains should be. His plot to overthrow the throne and government would leave even the likes of Fu Manchu speechless. Off-the wall doesn’t cover it… The climactic scenes are spectacular to say the least, and I found it hard not to visualise it in terms of a Hollywood Blockbuster.’ — British Fantasy Society
‘This is steampunk at full power and it’s a heady, thrilling read as a result. Packed with high adventure, mad science and derring do, THE AYLESFORD SKULL is a perfect place to start the Langdon St Ives books and, with Titan re-releasing the other books in the series, there’s plenty to keep you and St Ives busy. Which is, I suspect, just how he likes it.’ — SFX