Burton & Swinburne - Zeno Agency Ltd.

UK Publication Day for Mark Hodder’s THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN

Posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2014

Today’s the day! Mark Hodder‘s fifth Burton & Swinburne novel – THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN – is now available in the UK! Published by Del Rey UK, the novels have become one of the most popular modern steampunk series. Here’s the synopsis for the new book…

Burton and Swinburne return in a new wildly imaginative steampunk adventure, and this time they’re facing their greatest foe…

Leicester Square, London. Blood red snow falls from the sky and a strange creature, disorientated and apparently insane, materialises out of thin air. Spring Heeled Jack has returned, and he is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton.

Burton is experiencing one hallucination after another; visions of parallel realities and future history plague his every thought. These send him, and his companions, on an unimaginable expedition – a voyage through time itself…

The Burton & Swinburne Adventures also include THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK, THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN, EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (published by Snowbooks), and THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI (published by Del Rey UK). Mark is currently working on the sixth, as-yet-untitled book in the series. He is also the author of the stand-alone novel A RED SUN ALSO RISES, which is also published in the UK by Del Rey UK.

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

Cover Reveal: THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN

Posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Above is the UK cover for Mark Hodder‘s latest steampunk adventure! THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN is published in the UK by Del Rey UK, on August 7th, 2014. Here’s the synopsis…

Spring Heeled Jack is jumping back!

It’s 9 p.m. on February 15, 1860, and Charles Babbage, the British Empire’s most brilliant scientist, performs an experiment. Within moments, blood red snow falls from the sky and Spring Heeled Jack pops out of thin air in London’s Leicester Square. Though utterly disoriented and apparently insane, the strange creature is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton!

Spring Heeled Jack isn’t alone in his mental confusion. Burton can hardly function; he’s experiencing one hallucination after another – visions of parallel realities and future history. Someone, or something, is trying to tell him about … what?

When the revelation comes, it sends Burton and his companions on an expedition even the great explorer could never have imagined – a voyage through time itself into a twisted future where steam technology has made a resurgence and a despotic intelligence rules over the British Empire!

THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN is the author’s fifth novel in the Burton & Swinburne series, following: THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK, THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN, EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON and THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI. The series is published by Pyr Books in the US.

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

Sidewise Award Nomination for Mark Hodder!

Posted on Monday, June 9th, 2014

We are delighted to report that Mark Hodder‘s THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI has been nominated for a 2013 Sidewise Award!

The Awards, presented in recognition of excellence in alternate history, are named after Murray Leinster’s 1934 short story ‘Sidewise in Time’. Each year, there are two categories, Long- and Short-Form, and Mark’s novel has been nominated in the long-form category. The winners in the two categories will be announced at Loncon 3, in London, on August 14th, 2014.

This is the second year in a row in which a Zeno client has been nominated for a Sidewise Award! Last year, Ian R. MacLeod‘s WAKE UP AND DREAM won in the long-form category, too. Ian also won twice for THE SUMMER ISLES – in 1999 for the original short story, and in 2006 for the full-length version. Let us hope that Mark takes home the prize this year!

THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI, the latest novel in the author’s popular Burton & Swinburne Adventures series, was published in the UK by Del Rey, and in the US by Pyr Books. Here is the synopsis…

Having successfully discovered the source of the Nile, Captain Richard Francis Burton returns to London expecting to marry his fiancé, Isabel Arundell, and be awarded the consulship of Damascus. However, when he’s unexpectedly knighted by King George V, his plans go awry. The monarch requires an agent to investigate a sequence of disappearances, and Burton, whether he likes it or not, is the man for the job.

Engineering and medical luminaries – such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Florence Nightingale – are among the missing, but the most significant absence is that of Abdu El Yezdi, an inhabitant of the Afterlife who, in the two decades since the assassination of Queen Victoria, has been Prime Minister Disraeli’s most trusted advisor.

The search for the missing ghost soon becomes the least of the explorer’s concerns, for it quickly becomes apparent that he himself is at the centre of increasingly bizarre and interconnected events, and that someone – or something – is intent not only on meddling with history, but also on harming the people Burton values the most.

Mark is currently working on the next novel in the series.

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