Ian McDonald and Roger Zelazny Get New Italian Editions


Italian publisher Urania is celebrating their 70th anniversary publishing great science fiction. To celebrate, the publisher has paired up with Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport to release a selection of 25 notable titles. We’re very happy to report that included in this selection are Ian McDonald‘s THE BROKEN LAND and Roger Zelazny‘s TO DIE IN ITALBAR!

Both books have new covers by Franco Brambilla. Read on for some more details about each book.

Ian McDonald‘s THE BROKEN LAND is published in Italy as LA TERRA INFRANTA. Here’s the synopsis…

Siamo in un futuro lontano, sulla Terra. Il villaggio di Chepsenyt è un’enclave pacifica e autosufficiente i cui residenti vivono in armonia con la natura attraverso le loro conoscenze di ingegneria genetica. Ma quando le truppe dell’Impero scoprono che tra la popolazione si celano dei ribelli, il villaggio viene dato alle fiamme e gli abitanti si disperdono. Da qui parte il doloroso viaggio della giovane Mathembe Fileli verso l’età adulta, per sopravvivere e ritrovare la propria famiglia.

The novel is published in English by JABberwocky. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Grandfather was a tree, Father grew trux, in fifteen colours. Mother could sing the double-helix song, sing it right into the hearts of living things and change them…

The Land is a living, breathing, sentient world, where careful skills and talent can manipulate its very substance into a myriad different shapes and forms.

This is the world in which Mathembe Fileli grows up, until the conflicts tearing her country apart shatter her village, her home and her family and scatter them to the four winds. Can Mathembe reunite her family in a world full of angels, talking trees, squalor and glory?

Urania have published a number of Ian’s other books in Italy: the Luna series, the India 2047 series, and the Everness trilogy. You can find out more about them here.

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Roger Zelazny‘s TO DIE IN ITALBAR is the second novel in the author’s Francis Sandow duology — the first is ISLE OF THE DEAD (1969). TO DIE IN ITALBAR is published in Italy as MORIRE A ITALBAR. Here’s the synopsis…

«Il sentiero era la sua vita. Le tombe, il simbolo delle centinaia, no, forse migliaia, di morti che si era lasciati indietro. Al suo tocco gli uomini morivano. Il suo alito appassiva intere città. Dove arrivava la sua ombra, talvolta non rimaneva nulla. Pure, era suo potere vincere le malattie. E proprio adesso arrancava faticosamente con questa intenzione. Era conosciuto per questo, anche se solo con il nome H.»

Questo romanzo è stato definito un’avventura assurda: personaggi vividi, un ritmo veloce ed emozioni forti sono scaturiti dalla fertile immaginazione di Roger Zelazny.

TO DIE IN ITALBAR was first published in 1971. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Walker in the Valley of the Shadow

H was the name he was known by. H was unique in the galaxy, for he had the healing touch. Where there was plague, sickness, pain, H was the universal cure.

But H also had the slaying touch. Where he went death and disaster often followed. Where there had been health there would be left desolation and desert.

The talent alternated. It reversed itself — and H always warned people of this. To live in Italbar or TO DIE IN ITALBAR, that was always the question.

Three other novels by Zelazny are published by Urania: THE DREAM MASTER, EYE OF CAT, DAMNATION ALLEY; and the publisher has also released DOPPIA DIMENSIONE, which is an anthology including HOME IS THE HANGMAN and HE WHO SHAPES.

Ian McDonald’s THE BROKEN LAND out now in Italy!


Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed, classic novel THE BROKEN LAND is now available in Italy! Published by Urania/Mondadori as LA TERRA INFRANTA, here’s the synopsis…

Suo nonno era un albero.
Suo padre allevava boveicoli, in quindici colori diversi.
Sua madre conosceva il canto della doppia elica, lo cantava dritto nel cuore degli esseri viventi e li trasformava.

Fin dal suo incipit, “La Terra infranta”, romanzo stand alone dalla penna straordinaria di Ian McDonald, ci fa assaporare la visione del mondo della protagonista, Mathembe Fileli.

Nata e cresciuta nel villaggio di Chepsenyt, sulla Terra di un futuro lontano, Mathembe è circondata da persone che hanno imparato a vivere in armonia con la natura, grazie ad avanzatissime conoscenze di ingegneria genetica, e in un perfetto equilibrio fra le differenti religioni, credenze e culture dell’umanità.

Purtroppo, questa enclave armoniosa si trova ai bordi dell’Impero Oltre il Fiume, che di pacifico ha ben poco, e quando le truppe dell’Impero scopriranno che i suoi abitanti nascondono dei ribelli, il villaggio verrà dato alle fiamme.

Mathembe, vittima di una violenta oppressione politica e religiosa, si ritroverà suo malgrado ad allungare le file dei profughi, e dovrà imparare a lottare per sopravvivere e per ritrovare la sua famiglia.

First published in 1992, the novel is now available in the UK and US as an eBook, published by JABberwocky. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Grandfather was a tree, Father grew trux, in fifteen colours. Mother could sing the double-helix song, sing it right into the hearts of living things and change them…

The Land is a living, breathing, sentient world, where careful skills and talent can manipulate its very substance into a myriad different shapes and forms.

This is the world in which Mathembe Fileli grows up, until the conflicts tearing her country apart shatter her village, her home and her family and scatter them to the four winds. Can Mathembe reunite her family in a world full of angels, talking trees, squalor and glory?

Here are just a few reviews the novel has received…

‘Inventive and often effective drama, but dense and oppressive, with the dark and anguished backdrop looming above the characters; and the ending bleakly acknowledges that, in terms of today’s troubles, nothing much can be done.’ — Kirkus

‘[The] world is a captivating one with its rampant biotechnology and passionate characters. But McDonald…, a lifelong resident of Belfast, also succeeds in presenting the religious and national conflict of an Ireland that still knows no respite from bloodshed.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘Ian McDonald takes on all the atrocity and strife of the 20th Century, radically displaces it, and dares to envision a means of change. It’s a brilliant achievement.’ — Locus

‘At once disturbing and beautiful . . . superbly realized.’ — The Times

Five classic Ian McDonald novels now available as eBooks!


We’re very happy to report that five classic Ian McDonald novels are available now as eBooks in North America and in the UK! Published via the JABberwocky eBook Program, read on for the details…

First up, OUT ON BLUE SIX (cover at top), which was first published in 1989…

Hundreds of years from now, the world is perfect. The Compassionate Society guarantees happiness, peace and total personal fulfillment to its citizens, and those less than satisfied are guilty of Paincrime.

Among them, count cartoonist Courtney Hall, who runs afoul of the Ministry of Pain when one of her cartoons hits a little too close to home. Pursued by the relentless Love Police, she drops down a rabbit hole into a counter-world of rebels, artists and enhanced raccoons.

Out on Blue Six is a fast, funny, bizarre story of an almost-Utopia–and almost-Utopias make the best dystopias.

‘For ten years, I’ve been singing the praises of OUT ON BLUE SIX, Ian McDonald’s 1989 science fiction novel that defies description and beggars the imagination… this book is one of those once-in-a-generation, brain-melting flashes of brilliance that makes you fall in love with a writer’s work forever.’ — Cory Doctorow

Published in 1991, KING OF MORNING, QUEEN OF DAY went on to win the Philip K. Dick Award…

In Ireland, three generations of young women fight to control the powers coursing through their blood: the power to bring the mystical Otherworld into our world, and change it.

Emily, Jessica and Enye must each face their dark side of human mythoconsciousness — and their own personal histories. But the forces of faerie are ever treacherous…

Filled with vivid, passionate characters you will never forget, King of Morning, Queen of Day is a spellbinding fantasy of the real Ireland.

‘McDonald’s power as a storyteller lies in his stylistic versatility and intensity of language as well as in his capacity to create vivid and memorable characters. Highly recommended.’Library Journal

‘A brilliant book.’Charles de Lint

Next up, 1992’s THE BROKEN LAND

Grandfather was a tree, Father grew trux, in fifteen colours. Mother could sing the double-helix song, sing it right into the hearts of living things and change them…

The Land is a living, breathing, sentient world, where careful skills and talent can manipulate its very substance into a myriad different shapes and forms.

This is the world in which Mathembe Fileli grows up, until the conflicts tearing her country apart shatter her village, her home and her family and scatter them to the four winds. Can Mathembe reunite her family in a world full of angels, talking trees, squalor and glory?

‘At once disturbing and beautiful… superbly realized.’ — The Times

‘Ian McDonald takes on all the atrocity and strife of the 20th Century, radically displaces it, and dares to envision a means of change. It’s a brilliant achievement.’ — Locus

‘Inventive and often effective drama, but dense and oppressive, with the dark and anguished backdrop looming above the characters; and the ending bleakly acknowledges that, in terms of today’s troubles, nothing much can be done.’ — Kirkus

‘[The] world is a captivating one with its rampant biotechnology and passionate characters. But McDonald…, a lifelong resident of Belfast, also succeeds in presenting the religious and national conflict of an Ireland that still knows no respite from bloodshed.’ — Publishers Weekly

Look at that fantastic (and slightly terrifying) cover for the new edition of SCISSORS CUT PAPER WRAP STONE! First published in 1994, this edition also includes the short story THE TEAR. Here’s the synopsis…

Words can control you, words can make you act against your own will… and words can kill.

Ethan Ring discovers computer graphics with profound effects on human minds — fracters. Dark political forces want his power, and Ethan must face the consequences of his creation, and his actions.

In search of redemption, he embarks on an ancient thousand-mile pilgrimage, but can he ever escape the forces that once controlled him, and can he resist the power of the deadly images tattooed onto his hands?

‘Cyberpunk’s first lyrical poem, mixing Kabbalah, manga, pop-culture trivia and Zen with enough style and dexterity to actually pull it off… [McDonald] does more in a page than most writers do in a chapter.’ Neal Stephenson

‘[A] slim but powerful vision of 21st-century Japan and a guilt-ridden man’s journey through it toward redemption… effectively blends Ring’s personal story with his depiction of a future Japan reverting to technological feudalism and haunted by reconstructed “ghosts” of the dead preserved in virtual realities, and he keeps this fine novel tight and well focused.’ — Publishers Weekly

And finally, SACRIFICE OF FOOLS, which was first published in 1996…

They’re ancient, power, enigmatic, and here.

Eight million alien Shian have come to Earth. Not as conquerors, or invaders, but as settlers. In exchange for their technology, they’re given places to live.

One of those places in Northern Ireland, where eighty thousand Shian settlers disrupt the old, poisonous duality of Northern Irish life. The Shian remain aloof from the legacy of violence — until a Shian family is murdered down to the last child.

Humans and aliens seem on a collision course, unless Andy Gillespie, ex-con, now Shian translator, can hunt down the killer before they strike again. But that’s not so easy in Northern Ireland…

‘A spell-binding tale of intrigue and empathy.’ — SF Site

‘A powerful and effective story.’ Jo Walton

Ian’s latest novel is LUNA: MOON RISING, the third novel in his critically-acclaimed Luna series, published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely in translation.

THE BROKEN LAND is an Early Bird Special!


McDonald-BrokenLandOR-BlogToday, Ian McDonald‘s THE BROKEN LAND is an Early Bird eBook special deal! For today only, the eBook is only $1.99, available at all major e-tailers.

The eBook of THE BROKEN LAND is published in the US by Open Road Media. Here’s the synopsis…

In an instant, Mathembe Fileli’s life was burned away… Now, in search of answers, she must traverse a divided nation

Life in the village of Chepsenyt is idyllic. Despite the empire’s growing religious tensions, the people of Chepsenyt live together peacefully and ply their trades, growing useful objects through the manipulation of DNA. It was here that Mathembe Fileli grew up, with her father creating tools used in construction and her mother spinning clothes and food.

That all changed in an instant.

The Broken Land mirrors Belfast resident Ian McDonald’s upbringing in Northern Ireland by depicting a nation cut in two by a violent religious divide. On one side are the Proclaimers, the ruling group that doesn’t believe in life after death, and on the other side are the Confessors, the opposing group whose thoughts are uploaded in the afterlife. When two Confessors take shelter in Chepsenyt, the Emperor’s soldiers burn the village to the ground, throwing the whole country into civil war. In this newly perilous world, Mathembe must draw on her resourcefulness and inner strength to find her family and bridge the nation’s gaping rift.

Ian McDonald is the multi-award winning, bestselling author of multiple science fiction novels, many of which are published extensively in translation. Most recently, LUNA: NEW MOON, which is published in the US by Tor Books, and in the UK by Gollancz. Open Road publishes a selection of Ian’s backlist in eBook in the US — details can be found here.