Tag: Aliette De Bodard

Coming Soon: HISTORIAS DE XUYA by Aliette de Bodard!

Posted on Friday, September 30th, 2022

Announced a little while ago, Red Key Books are due to publish a Spanish edition of Aliette de Bodard‘s Xuya novellas! HISTORIAS DE XUYA will include LA MAESTRA DEL TÉ Y LA INVESTIGADORA (THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE) and SEVEN OF INFINITIES!

La maestra del té y la investigadora + Seven of Infinities, de Aliette de Bodard

Dos novelas cortas de la afamada escritora Aliette de Bodard llegan juntas en unos meses: La maestra del té y la investigadora y Seven of infinities.

Son dos novelas muy reconocidas y valoradas, con las que Aliette nos abre la puerta de manera magistral a su Universo Xuya. Ciencia ficción, investigación, un futuro alternativo, sugerentes ideas, una trama elaborada… Pocos adjetivos son para estas dos obras. Hablaremos de ellas más adelante. Pero si queréis ir conociendo a esta autora y a su obra, os invitamos a pasaros por el programa en el que Leticia Lara, quien podemos considerar la entrevistadora oficial de Aliette de Bodard en España, nos acompaña en nuestro programa vigésimo quinto para ilustrarnos sobre ella.

If you’d like to learn more about the books, check out an episode of the Red Key Books podcast, here.

Both THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE and SEVEN OF INFINITIES are available in English, published by Subterranean Press and JABberwocky. Here’s the synopsis for THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE, which won the British Fantasy and Nebula Awards for Best Novella (2019)…

Once, the mindship known as The Shadow’s Child was a military transport. Once, she leapt effortlessly between stars and planets, carrying troops and crew for a war that tore the Empire apart. Until an ambush killed her crew and left her wounded and broken.

Now the war is over, and The Shadow’s Child, surviving against all odds, has run away. Discharged and struggling to make a living, she has no plans to go back into space. Until the abrasive and arrogant scholar Long Chau comes to see her. Long Chau wants to retrieve a corpse for her scientific studies: a simple enough, well-paid assignment.

But when the corpse they find turns out to have been murdered, the simple assignment becomes a vast and tangled investigation, inexorably leading back to the past–and, once again, to that unbearable void where The Shadow’s Child almost lost both sanity and life…

And the synopsis for SEVEN OF INFINITIES, which was a finalist for the Locus Best Novella Award (2021)…

On a string of orbitals called the Scattered Pearls Belt lives Sunless Woods—sentient spaceship, master of disguise, and master thief who chafes against the obscurity that comes with her retirement. There, too, lives Vân, a poor scholar with little confidence but plenty of heart, and whose income comes from tutoring a wealthy student.

Their lives are turned upside down when Vân finds a corpse in her student’s quarters and Sunless Woods, intrigued by Vân’s sense of justice, offers her help. Scholar and spaceship must chase the mystery around the empire’s forgotten edge: from rundown teahouses to ascetic havens, and even in the wreck of a spaceship—and all the while, they begin to fall for each other in earnest. But the secrets they’ve kept from each other are large and devastating—will they and their love survive the revelations?

Coming Soon: Aliette de Bodard’s THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE!

Posted on Friday, September 2nd, 2022

Two days ago, Gollancz unveiled Alyssa Winans‘s stunning cover for Aliette de Bodard‘s highly-anticipated new novel, THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE!

The latest Xuya masterpiece from the author of THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE and SEVEN OF INFINITIES (to name but two), it is due to be published on November 24th, in the UK and Commonwealth. 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…

The novel has already racked up a number of great advanced reviews. Here are just a few of them…

‘A fizzingly inventive space opera, quite unlike anything I’ve encountered before, and told with style, grace, and a big dose of heart. SF is lucky to have Aliette de Bodard’ — Alastair Reynolds

‘A “read-in-one-sitting” novel with a beautifully-realized setting amid a complex examination of power and consequences, all intertwined with an intense and gripping romance’ — Kate Elliott

‘An epic tale of piracy and romance in the void of space. A new book from Aliette de Bodard is always a treasure’ — Gareth L. Powell

‘Thrillingly exciting and achingly romantic, THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE is rich with political intrigue and piratical adventure. It took my breath away!’ — Stephanie Burgis

‘Confident, sexy, and touching — THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “star-crossed lovers”!’ — Max Gladstone

‘A gripping science fiction adventure, full of cool science-fictional ideas, plot twists, and high stakes… Most importantly, this story has heart, with characters you really care about’ — Laura J. Mixon

‘THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE takes you on an exhilarating dive into space piracy with passion, politics, dazzling settings, and-even better-a profound core of love transcending hopelessness that rings throughout the story’ — Everina Maxwell

Book reviewers interested in reading the book can request it on NetGalley, or from the publisher directly.

A number of Aliette’s other Xuya books have been published by Subterranean Press in North America, and by JABberwocky in eBook and elsewhere.

A Very Good Week for Aliette de Bodard…!

Posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2022

Over the past few days, there has been rather a lot of excellent news for Aliette de Bodard! First, the Asia Society has named Aliette as one of their Asia 21 Young Leaders! From the press release…

The Class of 2022 features a diverse mix of leaders representing 26 different countries and includes journalists, human rights advocates, entrepreneurs, fiction writers, politicians, and more. Together, they will form an integral part of the Asia Society family as the newest cohort of its signature young leaders initiative, embody the organization’s mission to navigate shared futures, and actively contribute in taking the network to new heights. 

“Drawing on their personal expertise and leveraging the collective power of the Asia 21 network, the class of 2022 will actively contribute in shaping a more peaceful, prosperous, and secure future for all,” said Asia Society President and CEO Kevin Rudd. “We are delighted to play our part in connecting individuals who share common values and desire to make this world a better place.”

In addition, THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS has been picked as one of the Top 10 21st Century Fantasy Novels by the Guardian! The first novel in Aliette’s Dominion of the Fallen series, it won the BSFA Best Novel Award in 2016. It’s published by Gollancz in the UK, Roc Books in North America, and in a number of translated editions. Here’s the synopsis…

An epic murder mystery set on the crumbling streets of a Paris torn apart by a magical war…

Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black, thick with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation; or the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

The Dominion of the Fallen series also includes the novels THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS (Gollancz, Roc Books) and THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING FLAMES (Gollancz, JABberwocky), and the spin-off Dragons & Blades novellas OF DRAGONS, FEASTS AND MURDERS and OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES (both published by JABberwocky).

And last, but by no means least, Aliette has also been announced as an online speaker at Octocon, which will take place in Dublin between October 15th-16th. Head over to their website for full details of the convention and Aliette’s participation.

Aliette de Bodard’s ON A RED STATION, DRIFTING is on Sale This Month!

Posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2022

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.

Aliette de Bodard’s OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES is out tomorrow!

Posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2022

Aliette de Bodard‘s highly-anticipated new Dragons and Blades novella, OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES is out tomorrow! The novella is set in the same world as the award-winning Dominion of the Fallen series, and takes place after the third novel. Published by JABberwocky, here’s the synopsis…

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a sparkling new romantic adventure full of kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

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.

The cover art is by Ravven.

The Dominion of the Fallen novels are published by Gollancz in the UK, and Roc Books (1-2) and JABberwocky (3) in North America: THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS, THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS, and THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING FLAMES. The first book in the Dragons and Blades series — OF DRAGONS, FEASTS AND MURDERS — is also published by JABberwocky.

Here are some early reviews of the new novella…

‘A darkly delicious romp full of ghosts, murder, dragons, and romance, with a couple that just keeps getting better and better as they push each other to new limits.’ — Stephanie Burgis, author of Snowspelled and Scales and Sensibility

‘Beautifully described, deeply caring, and satisfyingly murderous, it’s an immersive delight.’ — KJ Charles, author of the Will Darling Adventures

‘This one has everything… I gulped it down when I should have savoured it like a delicate tea, but what can I say.’ — Freya Marske, author of A Marvelous Light

Aliette de Bodard & John Berlyne at Stockholm Writer

Posted on Monday, June 20th, 2022

The Stockholm Writers Festival is due to take place in August this year (12th-14th). We’re very happy to report that Aliette de Bodard and John Berlyne will be attending the festival and participating in certain events!

Aliette will be participating in two main events, on day two of the festival — Saturday, August 13th (Day 2)…

  • 09:05 to 10:20: Panel

Leaning into lived experience: There’s an old adage: “Write what you know.” But how about creating new worlds and exploring themes you haven’t necessarily lived? Our faculty share their own experiences when it comes to leaning into their lived experiences. With Lola Akinmade Åkerström, Olivia Dade, Aliette de Bodard, Kim Golden, and Elise Valmorbida. Moderator: Paul Rapacioli with audience Q&A.

  • 16:50 to 18:00: Keynote

In conversation with our keynote author, Aliette de Bodard. Moderator, Paul Rapacioli. With audience Q&A.

John Berlyne will be taking part in some Agent One-on-Ones — be sure to book tickets for these, as spaces are strictly limited.

Aliette de Bodard’s OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES is out in Two Weeks!

Posted on Monday, June 13th, 2022

Aliette de Bodard‘s highly-anticipated new novella, OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES is due out in two weeks (June 28th)! With a striking cover by Ravven, the novella is set in the same world as the award-winning Dominion of the Fallen series, and is the second book in the Dragons and Blades series. To be published by JABberwocky, here’s the synopsis…

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a sparkling new romantic adventure full of kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

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.

The Dominion of the Fallen novels are published by Gollancz in the UK, and Roc Books (1-2) and JABberwocky (3) in North America: THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS, THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS, and THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING FLAMES. The first book in the Dragons and Blades series — OF DRAGONS, FEASTS AND MURDERS — is also published by JABberwocky.

Here are some early reviews of the new novella…

‘A darkly delicious romp full of ghosts, murder, dragons, and romance, with a couple that just keeps getting better and better as they push each other to new limits.’ — Stephanie Burgis, author of Snowspelled and Scales and Sensibility

‘Beautifully described, deeply caring, and satisfyingly murderous, it’s an immersive delight.’ — KJ Charles, author of the Will Darling Adventures

‘This one has everything… I gulped it down when I should have savoured it like a delicate tea, but what can I say.’ — Freya Marske, author of A Marvelous Light

Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar & Grady Hendrix are Locus Award Finalists!

Posted on Thursday, May 12th, 2022

Announced yesterday, we’re very happy to report that Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar, and Grady Hendrix are among this year’s Locus Award Finalists!

Aliette de Bodard’s highly acclaimed novella FIREHEART TIGER (Tor.com) is a finalist in the Novella category. MULBERRY AND OWL (Uncanny Magazine) is a finalist in the Novelette category.

Fire burns bright and has a long memory…

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate — and her own?

THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 (Head of Zeus/AdAstra), edited by Lavie Tidhar (and including a story by Aliette: IMMERSION) is amongst the finalists in the Anthology category.

The future is coming. It knows no bounds, and neither should science fiction.

They say the more things change the more they stay the same. But over the last hundred years, science fiction has changed. Vibrant new generations of writers have sprung up across the globe, proving the old adage false. From Ghana to India, from Mexico to France, from Singapore to Cuba, they draw on their unique backgrounds and culture, changing the face of the genre one story at a time.

Prepare yourself for a journey through the wildest reaches of the imagination, to visions of Earth as it might be and the far corners of the universe. Along the way, you will meet robots and monsters, adventurers and time travellers, rogues and royalty.

In The Best of World SF, award-winning author Lavie Tidhar acts as guide and companion to a world of stories, from never-before-seen originals to award winners, from twenty-three countries and seven languages. Because the future is coming and it belongs to us all.

Grady Hendrix’s THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP (Titan), which also won a Goodreads Choice Award, is a finalist in the Horror category.

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized — someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

Huge congratulations to Aliette, Lavie and Grady!

Award winners will be announced on June 25, 2022, during the virtual Locus Awards Weekend.

*

Zeno represents Grady Hendrix in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Aliette de Bodard Wins BSFA Award for FIREHEART TIGER!

Posted on Monday, April 25th, 2022

In case you missed the news: Aliette de Bodard has won a BSFA Award for FIREHEART TIGER! Winning in the Best Shorter Fiction category, we hope you’ll join us in sending congratulations to Aliette!

But wait, that’s not all! Last week, it was also announced that FIREHEART TIGER is a finalist for the Ignyte Award for Best Novella!

The novella is published by Tor.com. Here’s the synopsis…

Fire burns bright and has a long memory….

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate — and her own?

Next Week: Italian Edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Vol.1!

Posted on Friday, April 22nd, 2022

Next week, Fanucci is due to publish IL GRANDE LIBRO DELLA FANTASCIENZA MONDIALE, the Italian edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Vol.1. Edited by Lavie Tidhar, it’s a fantastic collection of science fiction stories by authors from around the world. Here’s the synopsis…

Il grande libro della fantascienza mondiale” riunisce ventisei storie provenienti da tutto lo spettro della fantascienza – leggerai di robot, astronavi e viaggi nel tempo, oltre a cose davvero strane – che rappresentano ventuno Paesi e quattro continenti. Lavie Tidhar ha selezionato racconti che spaziano da autori esordienti e mai sentiti prima ad altri vincitori di premi, in ogni momento della loro carriera.

Questi i Paesi rappresentati: Francia, Cina, Singapore, Botswana, Nigeria, India, Giappone, Italia, Cuba, Regno Unito, Brasile, Trinidad e Tobago, Spagna, Messico, Finlandia, Israele, Islanda, Russia, Ghana, Sudafrica, Svezia e Malesia.

Gli autori, quattordici donne e dodici uomini sono Aliette de Bodard, Chen Qiufan, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Chinelo Onwualu, Vandana Singh, Han Song, Ng Yi-Sheng, Taiyo Fujii, Francesco Verso, Malena Salazar Maciá, Tade Thompson, Fabio Fernandes, R.S.A. Garcia, Cristina Jurado, Gerardo Horacio Porcayo, Hannu Rajaniemi, Nir Yaniv, Emil Hjörvar Petersen, Ekaterina Sedia, Kuzhali Manickavel, Kofi Nyameye, Lauren Beukes, Karin Tidbeck, Silvia Moreno-Garcia e Zen Cho.

The English-language edition is published in the UK and North America by Head of Zeus. Here’s the synopsis…

The future is coming. It knows no bounds, and neither should science fiction.

They say the more things change the more they stay the same. But over the last hundred years, science fiction has changed. Vibrant new generations of writers have sprung up across the globe, proving the old adage false. From Ghana to India, from Mexico to France, from Singapore to Cuba, they draw on their unique backgrounds and culture, changing the face of the genre one story at a time.

Prepare yourself for a journey through the wildest reaches of the imagination, to visions of Earth as it might be and the far corners of the universe. Along the way, you will meet robots and monsters, adventurers and time travellers, rogues and royalty.

In The Best of World SF, award-winning author Lavie Tidhar acts as guide and companion to a world of stories, from never-before-seen originals to award winners, from twenty-three countries and seven languages. Because the future is coming and it belongs to us all.

Here’s the full table of contents…

  • ‘Immersion’ by Aliette de Bodard
  • ‘Debtless’ by Chen Qiufan (trans. from Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks)
  • ‘Fandom for Robots’ by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
  • ‘Virtual Snapshots’ by Tlotlo Tsamaase
  • ‘What The Dead Man Said’ by Chinelo Onwualu
  • ‘Delhi’ by Vandana Singh
  • ‘The Wheel of Samsara’ by Han Song (trans. from Chinese by the author)
  • ‘Xingzhou’ by Yi-Sheng Ng
  • ‘Prayer’ by Taiyo Fujii (trans. from Japanese by Kamil Spychalski)
  • ‘The Green Ship’ by Francesco Verso (trans. from Italian by Michael Colbert)
  • ‘Eyes of the Crocodile’ by Malena Salazar Maciá (trans. from Spanish by Toshiya Kamei)
  • ‘Bootblack’ by Tade Thompson
  • ‘The Emptiness in the Heart of all Things’ by Fabio Fernandes
  • ‘The Sun From Both Sides’ by R.S.A. Garcia
  • ‘Dump’ by Cristina Jurado (trans. from Spanish by Steve Redwood)
  • ‘Rue Chair’ by Gerardo Horacio Porcayo (trans. from Spanish by the author)
  • ‘His Master’s Voice’ by Hannu Rajaniemi
  • ‘Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys’ by Nir Yaniv (trans. from Hebrew by Lavie Tidhar)
  • ‘The Cryptid’ by Emil H. Petersen(trans. from Icelandic by the author)
  • ‘The Bank of Burkina Faso’ by Ekaterina Sedia
  • ‘An Incomplete Guide…’ by Kuzhali Manickavel
  • ‘The Old Man with The Third Hand’ by Kofi Nyameye
  • ‘The Green’ by Lauren Beukes
  • ‘The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir’ by Karin Tidbeck
  • ‘Prime Meridian’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • ‘If At First You Don’t Succeed’ by Zen Cho

Aliette de Bodard, Josh Winning & Adam Oyebanji at CYMERA 2022!

Posted on Wednesday, April 20th, 2022

Three Zeno clients will be attending Cymera 2022! Aliette de Bodard, Josh Winning, and Adam Oyebanji will all be taking place in virtual panels. (Tickets are required, and details can be found via the relevant links, below.) The book festival is taking place between June 3rd-5th. Here are the details for our authors…

Aliette de Bodard will be taking part in the Elemental Forces panel:

  • ‘History hides many a tale, and some are more powerful than others.’
  • Saturday, June 4th — 11:30am-12:30pm

Aliette’s latest book, the multi-award nominated FIREHEART TIGER, is out now — published by Tor.com. Also, this past weekend, the book won the BSFA Award for Best Novella!

Fire burns bright and has a long memory….

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate—and her own?

Adam Oyebanji will be on the Ad Astra panel:

  • ‘Journey among the stars on faster-than-light spaceships and settle on planets and space stations with these stories of humankind’s foray beyond Earth.’
  • Saturday, June 4th — 4-5pm

Adam’s debut novel, BRAKING DAY, is out now — published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books.

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.

Josh Winning will take part in the panel, The Making of a Hero:

  • Sunday, June 5th — 12:30pm-1:30pm

Josh’s acclaimed debut novel, THE SHADOW GLASS, is out now in the UK and in North America — published by Titan Books.

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.

Zeno represents Adam Oyebanji in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Paperback Edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is Out Tomorrow!

Posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2022

The paperback edition of the acclaimed THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 anthology is out tomorrow! Published by Ad Astra/Head of Zeus, the collection is edited by Lavie Tidhar. Here’s the synopsis…

The future is coming. It knows no bounds, and neither should science fiction.

They say the more things change the more they stay the same. But over the last hundred years, science fiction has changed. Vibrant new generations of writers have sprung up across the globe, proving the old adage false. From Ghana to India, from Mexico to France, from Singapore to Cuba, they draw on their unique backgrounds and culture, changing the face of the genre one story at a time.

Prepare yourself for a journey through the wildest reaches of the imagination, to visions of Earth as it might be and the far corners of the universe. Along the way, you will meet robots and monsters, adventurers and time travellers, rogues and royalty.

In The Best of World SF, award-winning author Lavie Tidhar acts as guide and companion to a world of stories, from never-before-seen originals to award winners, from twenty-three countries and seven languages. Because the future is coming and it belongs to us all.

Here’s the full Table of Contents:

  • IMMERSION by Aliette de Bodard
  • DEBTLESS by Chen Qiufan (trans. from Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks)
  • FANDOM FOR ROBOTS by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
  • VIRTUAL SNAPSHOTS by Tlotlo Tsamaase
  • WHAT THE DEAD MAN SAID by Chinelo Onwualu
  • DELHI by Vandana Singh
  • THE WHEEL OF SAMSARA by Han Song (trans. from Chinese by the author)
  • XINGZHOU by Yi-Sheng Ng
  • PRAYER by Taiyo Fujii (trans. from Japanese by Kamil Spychalski)
  • THE GREEN SHIP by Francesco Verso (trans. from Italian by Michael Colbert)
  • EYES OF THE CROCODILE by Malena Salazar Maciá (trans. from Spanish by Toshiya Kamei)
  • BOOTBLACK by Tade Thompson
  • THE EMPTINESS IN THE HEART OF ALL THINGS by Fabio Fernandes
  • THE SUN FROM BOTH SIDES by R.S.A. Garcia
  • DUMP by Cristina Jurado (trans. from Spanish by Steve Redwood)
  • RUE CHAIR by Gerardo Horacio Porcayo (trans. from Spanish by the author)
  • HIS MASTER’S VOICE by Hannu Rajaniemi
  • BENJAMIN SCHNEIDER’S LITTLE GREYS by Nir Yaniv (trans. from Hebrew by Lavie Tidhar)
  • THE CRYPTID by Emil H. Petersen (trans. from Icelandic by the author)
  • THE BANK OF BURKINA FASO by Ekaterina Sedia
  • AN INCOMPLETE GUIDE… by Kuzhali Manickavel
  • THE OLD MAN WITH THE THIRD HAND by Kofi Nyameye
  • THE GREEN by Lauren Beukes
  • THE LAST VOYAGE OF SKIDBLADNIR by Karin Tidbeck
  • PRIME MERIDIAN by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED by Zen Cho

ICYMI: The World SF StoryBundle 4 Has Launched!

Posted on Sunday, March 27th, 2022

The World SF StoryBundle 4 has been launched! Curated once again by Lavie Tidhar, it includes a fantastic selection of fiction from an international cast of authors…

  • Aliette de Bodard — ON A RED STATION DRIFTING
  • Francesco Verso — BLOODBUSTERS
  • Dilman Dila — THE FUTURE GOD OF LOVE
  • Xueting Ni (ed.) — SINOPTICON
  • Un-Su Kim — THE CABINET
  • Rokuro Inui — AUTOMATIC EVE
  • Lavie Tidhar — GOREL AND THE POT-BELLIED GOD
  • Thilde Kold Holde — NORTHERN WRATH
  • Fabio Fernandes — LOVE. AN ARCHAEOLOGY
  • Wole Talabi — INCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS

Here’s what Lavie had to say about the new bundle…

It’s hard to believe this is now the fifth annual World SF bundle I get the good fortune to curate. The first one was back in 2018!

And yet with every year it’s possible to find more great books – novels, novellas, anthologies and collections – that highlight the sheer talent and diversity of speculative fiction from around the world.

The future doesn’t need to be American anymore. Can it be Vietnamese? Italian? Nigerian? Chinese? You bet it can.

I can imagine nothing more rewarding than being able to share these books with new readers, while supporting the authors and their publishers directly through this bundle. Not to mention supporting a wonderfully worthwhile charity at the same time! So join me, if you will, into the reaches of space and deep into the South American jungles, to the distant past and to the tombs of the moon!

With writers from France, Japan, Italy, Uganda, Korea, China, Brazil, Nigeria and Denmark, you really are in for a truly international feast!

With proceeds from each bundle going to the authors and charity, this is a great way to discover great, international writing talent and also do a little bit of good.

The bundle is available for another 18 days, so make sure you check out the website for full details and to purchase the bundle!

Aliette de Bodard’s Next Book is out in June: OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES!

Posted on Wednesday, March 9th, 2022

Last week, Aliette de Bodard unveiled Ravven‘s striking cover for her next novella, OF CHARMS, GHOSTS AND GRIEVANCES. Set in the same world as the award-winning Dominion of the Fallen series, this is the second book in the Dragons and Blades series. Due to be published by JABberwocky, on June 28th, here’s the synopsis…

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a sparkling new romantic adventure full of kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

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.

The Dominion of the Fallen novels are published by Gollancz in the UK, and Roc Books (1-2) and JABberwocky (3) in North America: THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS, THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS, and THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING FLAMES. The first book in the Dragons and Blades series — OF DRAGONS, FEASTS AND MURDERS — is also published by JABberwocky.

Here are just a few of the advance reviews for the novella…

‘A darkly delicious romp full of ghosts, murder, dragons, and romance, with a couple that just keeps getting better and better as they push each other to new limits.’ — Stephanie Burgis, author of Snowspelled and Scales and Sensibility

‘Beautifully described, deeply caring, and satisfyingly murderous, it’s an immersive delight.’ — KJ Charles, author of the Will Darling Adventures

‘This one has everything… I gulped it down when I should have savoured it like a delicate tea, but what can I say.’ — Freya Marske, author of A Marvelous Light

ICYMI: Aliette de Bodard Interviewed on Page Break Podcast

Posted on Wednesday, February 16th, 2022

Today, we wanted to draw your attention to Aliette de Bodard‘s interview for Brian McClellan’s Page Break podcast.

Brian’s guest is software engineer and award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Aliette de Bodard. Aliette has been published in magazines, ezines, collections, and in long form by major publishers across a prolific career. She has either been nominated for or outright won many of the big awards in genre publishing.

Aliette and Brian talked about history and conflict; about writing and rewriting, and how working with translators and being multilingual change the way writers think about our stories.

If you’d prefer to listen to the podcast on your phone (or other device), it is available from most podcast hosting apps.

Aliette’s latest book is the award-nominated and critically-acclaimed novella, FIREHEART TIGER. Published by Tor.com, it’s out now. Here’s the synopsis…

Fire burns bright and has a long memory…

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate — and her own?

Aliette is also the author of the acclaimed, award-winning Dominion of the Fallen series, published by Gollancz (UK), Roc Books and JABberwocky (North America); and also the Obsidian & Blood series, published by JABberwocky.