Literary agency
Ben Aaronvitch adds yet another feather to his already impressive panache with the news that his hugely popular novel RIVERS OF LONDON is one of the titles announced today on the long list of this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country.
This feat prompted him to wonder if he can now officially be classed as a crossover author! We reckon so, Ben. Congratulations!!
It’s been a busy time here at Zeno Towers, what with the recent Worldcon in Reno, the upcoming Fantasycon and World Fantasy Convention, plus one or two personal bits and bobs that JP and I have been catching up on… life, I think some people call it!
That notwithstanding, we’ve been beavering away and are delighted to announce a few deals that we’ve recently concluded…
And there are plenty more things in the pipeline! More in due course.
There are all sorts of exciting goings on around here at the moment… We’ve had the staggeringly wonderful news that Ben Aaronovitch‘s novel RIVERS OF LONDON (a.k.a. MIDNIGHT RIOT over in the US, where Del Rey have just published) will appear at number eight in this week’s Sunday Times Bestseller list for hardcover fiction – a truly amazing achievement for Ben, who, we’re told, is the first début that Gollancz have ever had on this list. Extra big pats for our Ben!
No less vigorous pattage for Mister Ian McDonald, whose novel THE DERVISH HOUSE (also a Gollancz title – and Pyr in the States) has been nominated for the 2010 BSFA award for best novel. The shortlist is impressive, but Ian is widely regarded as a favourite. We’d be very surprised if this was only shortlist this wonderful novel makes this year. Also on the shortlist for the best short fiction is our own Aliette de Bodard, for her story The Shipmaker, which appeared in issue #231 of Interzone – congrats to both authors.
THE DERVISH HOUSE has also made this year’s LOCUS Recommended Reading List, which serves as a guide for the very best material our field has to offer. Here are the Zeno authors whose work has been listed…
Novels, Science Ficition – THE DERVISH HOUSE by Ian McDonald
Novels, Fantasy – THE DESERT SPEAR by Peter V Brett
Novels, Fantasy – HESPIRA by Matthew Hughes
First Novels – THE BOOKMAN by Lavie Tidhar
Collections – JOURNEYS by Ian MacLeod
Novellas – CLOUD PERMUTATIONS by Lavie Tidhar
Novellettes –BUTTERFLY AND THE BLIGHT AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD by Lavie Tidhar (Daily Science Fiction 9/3/10)
Short Stories – SECOND JOURNEY OF THE MAGUS by Ian R. MacLeod (Subterranean Winter ’10)
Short Stories – TONIGHT WE FLY by Ian McDonald (Masked)
Short Stories – THE NIGHT TRAIN by Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons 6/14/10)
Short Stories –THE SPONTANEOUS KNOTTING OF AN AGITATED STRING by Lavie Tidhar (Fantasy 5/17/10)
… a pretty good haul by anyone’s standards! More pats to all those who made the list, but particularly to Lavie Tidhar who scored a quite remarkable FIVE mentions!
… this time in the unmissable guise of Ben Aaronovitch, whose RIVERS OF LONDON (or MIDNIGHT RIOT, if you’re in the US) continues to garner some spectacular reviews.
Ben will be appearing on The Radio 2 Book Club segment of the Simon Mayo Show on Monday 24th January, discussing RIVERS OF LONDON and generally being amusing, witty and wry. The BBC web site is offering the first chapter online, so follow that link above. UK residents who miss the broadcast can catch up with it on the BBC iPlayer.
Ben signing at London’s Forbidden Planet store on Jan 15th, 2011
Our man Ben Aaronvitch sees his brilliant new novel RIVERS OF LONDON published next month by Gollancz. It’s also being released by Del Rey in the US under the title MIDNIGHT RIOT. With follow-up novel, MOON OVER SOHO, following in the spring and a third title WHISPERS UNDER GROUND soon to be delivered, January is thus the start of a very big year for Ben.
To celebrate the launch of Ben’s new series, he’ll be signing copies at London’s flagship Forbidden Planet store on January 15th, 2011 between 1pm and 2pm, so be sure to come along and grab a copy. Further details can be found here.
‘RIVERS OF LONDON manages to be fresh and original and a wonderful read. I loved it.’ — Charlaine Harris
‘A consummate story of real policing in a vividly real world intersecting the decidedly unreal to marvellous effect. Filled with detail and imagination, the quality of this achievement stands out, making Aaronovitch a name to watch.’ — Peter F. Hamilton
Posting to the agency web site has been sporadic of late, entirely down to time constraints. Aside from the aftermath of Worldcon, there has been the Frankfurt Book Fair, the processing of the bi-annual royalties (a tough job, but the one of the reasons we’re here, I guess!) prep for this year’s World Fantasy Convention (in Columbus, OH) and a subsequent week of meetings in NYC and the fact that we’ve been to a number of rather nice parties! That said, here’s a little news…
Angry Robot have revealed this gorgeous David Frankland cover for Lavie Tidhar’s forthcoming novel, CAMERA OBSCURA, the follow-up to his Steampunk romp, THE BOOKMAN, due for release next May, and about which they say ‘… In this one we meet Milady de Winter, investigating some murders in, of all places, the Rue Morgue. (Why yes, that does sound strangely familiar…) As she dives deeper into Parisian society, it seems everyone knows who did it except her… and the real question is not who, but why? Her search for answers will take her to the far side of the world, and beyond.’And we’ve a couple of other Angry Robot covers to show off here – on the left is Colin Harvey‘s DAMAGE TIME, a seat of the pants, SF thriller from the author of WINTER’S SONG. This new one by Colin has just been released by AR and in a recent Guardian review was described thus by Eric Brown ‘The strength of the novel lies not only in the depiction of a detailed future of hardship and privation, but in the expert characterisation of [protagonist] Shah: a lone figure whose origins leave him open to prejudice within the police department, and whose problematic relationship with an intersexual courtesan reveals his own deep-seated prejudices.‘
And to the right, we’ve the cover for POINT by Thomas Blackthorn (a.k.a John Meaney), not due out until Feb 2011 and which looks rather splendid when placed next to EDGE, the first Blackthorn novel. Swapping identities and publishers for a moment, John reports he has just completed the second Ragnarok novel for Simon Spanton at Gollancz… more on that in due course.
… by Ben Aaronovitch have arrived at Zeno towers, hot-foot from the Gollancz offices, books so fresh that the ink is almost wet!
There’s a very nice Diana Gabaldon quote on the front and a very nice Charliane Harris quote on the back and check out the cover copy below. RIVERS OF LONDON will be published next January by Gollancz.
“My name is Peter Grant and until recently I was just a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). Now I’m a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddesses of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden.
But there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair. It’s falling to me to bring order out of the chaos – or die trying.“
We’re delighted to announce the sale of the first two books in Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON series to DTV Deutscher Taschenuch Verlag in a deal brokered in association with our German language agents at Paul & Peter Fritz.
The deal includes MOON OVER SOHO which Ben has just delivered to us here at Zeno towers and also to his editors, Betsy Mitchell over at Del Rey and Jo Fletcher at Gollancz. Both publishers are looking to publish book one early next year and so we hope to have some cover art to show you soon!
Having announced only recently the exciting news that Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON series is to be published in the US by Del Rey, we’re equally delighted to now announce that Jo Fletcher at Gollancz has acquired world rights (excluding USA/Canada, France and Germany) for the series and will be matching release dates with Del Rey, with the first two books due to be published in Spring 2011.
‘I’m delighted to have acquired Ben’s RIVERS OF LONDON series: CSI London meets The Sweeney – Urban Fantasy style!‘ says Jo Fletcher. ‘I love this series of fast-moving, plot-driven urban fantasy adventures, and the combination of rookie beat copper-turned-apprentice-wizard Peter Grant and his boss, the debonair Inspector Nightingale, aka the last wizard in England, is gripping stuff. The books are real page-turners, and enormous fun – I shall never look on the River Lea quite the same way again. Ben’s already got a devoted audience with his Doctor Who episodes; I am quite sure he’ll be winning a whole new audience with this series.‘
For more on Ben Aaronovitch, see this previous posting and visit his author page on the Zeno Web Site.
Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief at Del Rey has concluded a deal for US rights for the first three titles in Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series, after an auction conducted by John Berlyne and John Parker at the Zeno Literary Agency. The first two books will be published in Spring 2011.
RIVERS OF LONDON is a fresh and exciting London-based Urban Fantasy focusing on 20-something police constable Peter Grant who finds himself seconded – much to his surprise! – to a secret and arcane branch of the Met specialising in crimes of a supernatural nature, and thus apprenticed to the last wizard in Britain.
“Ben Aaronovitch is a new Del Rey darling,” Mitchell said. “Both male and female readers here were delighted by the character of Peter Grant and Ben’s new take on the urban paranormal genre.”
For more on Ben Aaronovitch, see this previous posting and visit his author page on the Zeno Web Site.
We’re a little late in announcing this (so much to do, so little time!) but are delighted to be doing so nonetheless.
Zeno has taken on Ben Aaronovitch as a client and we’ve already got some excitement going on for his novel RIVERS OF LONDON, the first book in a quite superb fantasy crime series that I’ve been pitching as “NEVERWHERE meets THE SWEENEY“.
John Berlyne says “Ben’s arrival proves that the system works and should give hope to all unagented writers out there. His book came in during the last round of submissions and the process followed the proscribed protocols in textbook fashion. I received an enquiry letter which intrigued me, asked for an elevator pitch which excited me, then received an excerpt which impressed me and finally a manuscript which floored me. It’s exactly the scenario that both parties – writer and agent – long for.
RIVERS OF LONDON is one of the most exciting and commercial prospects I’ve seen in a good while and ticks every box. John Parker and myself are enjoying working with Ben enormously and can’t wait to get this series out into the world”
