Above you can see the cover for a new Russian edition of James P. Blaylock‘s critically-acclaimed, Philip K. Dick Award-winning, classic steampunk novel HOMUNCULUS! The first novel in the author’s Langdon St. Ives series, it is published by Аркадия as Гомункул. Here’s the synopsis…

Викторианская эпоха, затянутые туманами улицы Лондона. В тусклом небе проплывает ведомый скелетом в истлевшем костюме загадочный аэростат. Ужасные тайны, скрытые на его борту, силятся раскрыть сбитые с толку члены Королевской академии наук, корыстный проповедник Армагеддона, изувер-вивисектор с обезумевшим подручным, лишенный совести миллионер и… пестрая компания поборников истины, ведомая ученым-изобретателем Лэнгдоном Сент-Ивом. Сумеет ли «существо из бутылки», в незапамятные времена прибывшее на Землю, уберечься от хищных лап злодеев?

HOMUNCULUS and the other novels in the series are published in the UK and US by Titan Books (covers at the end). Here’s the English-language synopsis…

It is the late 19th century and a mysterious airship orbits through the foggy skies. Its terrible secrets are sought by many, including the Royal Society, a fraudulent evangelist, a fiendish vivisectionist, an evil millionaire and an assorted group led by the scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives. Can St. Ives keep the alien homunculus out of the claws of the villainous Ignacio Narbondo?

Here’s some of the aforementioned critical acclaim that HOMUNCULUS has received…

‘… the fastest, funniest, and most colorful and grotesquely horrifying novel that could ever be written about Victorian London.’ — Tim Powers

‘… every page is crammed with evidence of Blaylock’s feverishly Gothic imagination. Think Charles Dickens by way of Mervyn Peake and M. John Harrison, and you’ll have some notion of what’s in store. The wheels of the plot spin manically fast, but at the same time the weight of description makes everything feel as if it’s happening in slow motion. That might sound like a criticism, but the effect is strangely impressive and nightmarish. A steampunk Titus Groan.’ — Starburst

‘I absolutely love this book. I picked it up and, although I was initially a little sceptical of the idea of a ghostly airship, I soon became completely absorbed into the deep and exciting story… easy to read as a stand alone novel and due to this fact, even though I haven’t read the prequel book I could easily keep up with the wide variety of characters and plot lines… Imagery is used once more, to blow any reader’s mind completely out of their perceived realms of possibility. I couldn’t help but fall in love with the portrait of London that Blaylock has once again moulded with terrific use of words. I am now used to zoning out of the real world and into the fantasy world of Professor St.Ives, as this seems to happen whenever I pick up one of Blaylock’s novels…  be prepared to be lost in the wonderful world of Langdon St.Ives.’ — Nerd Cabinet

‘I found HOMUNCULUS entertaining, with its cast of Victorian characters and ingenious contraptions making me smile. It’s a book that makes you cheer for the good guys and will give your imagination a great workout.’ — SF Crowsnest