Coming Soon: Christopher Husberg’s BLOOD REQUIEM


This summer, Titan Books are due to publish the third novel in Christopher Husberg‘s Chaos Queen series, BLOOD REQUIEM! Due to arrive in bookstore on June 5th, here’s the synopsis…

When a series of dark rituals devastate the fledgeling Church of Canta, Jane and Cinzia realize they have ignored the movements in the shadows for too long. Daemons lurk at the edge of the world, and they are done knocking. With Knot at her side, Cinzia deals with dark beings to fight the greater evil. Meanwhile, Astrid’s attempts to elude the Black Matron backfire, and she faces that which she fears above all things: her own past.

Winter, in hopes of regaining something of her old life, returns to Pranna to find the village nothing like it used to be. She soon finds herself wrapped up in the Druids, a tiellan faction in fierce conflict with the humans. With Urstadt the soldier and Galce the tailor at her side, she must choose how to use her still-growing, all-consuming power — if she can manage to control it at all.

Titan has also published the first two novels in the series: DUSKFALL and DARK IMMOLATION. Here are a couple of reviews the series has received so far…

‘The storytelling is fresh and assured and the characters appealing… This is a solid setup for a great new fantasy epic, perfect for fans of Daniel Abraham and Brandon Sanderson.’ Library Journal on DUSKFALL

‘The story has some of the action, horror, and revelations of the first volume, but this is a book of politics first: religion versus government, traditional female power versus traditional male power, and the wild cards that skew a chess match not designed for them.’ Starburst on DARK IMMOLATION

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

Zeno Clients Nominated for Gemmell Awards!


We’re happy to report that four of our clients’ novels have been nominated for the Gemmell Legend Award! Voting on the long-list is open until March 30th. Read on for the book details! Congratulations to all four authors for making the long-list! Voting for the short-list will open on April 20th, and close on June 1st. The awards will be presented at Edge-Lit 7, on July 14th.

Aliette de Bodard‘s THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS is published by Gollancz (UK) and Roc Books (US), and is the second novel in her award-winning, critically-acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen series. The UK cover, by Shutterstock has also been nominated for the Ravenheart Award.

As the city rebuilds from the onslaught of sorcery that nearly destroyed it, the great Houses of Paris, ruled by fallen angels, still contest one another for control over the capital.

House Silverspires was once the most powerful, but just as it sought to rise again, an ancient evil brought it low. Phillippe, an immortal who escaped the carnage, has a singular goal — to resurrect someone he lost. But the cost of such magic might be more than he can bear.

In House Hawthorn, Madeleine the alchemist has had her addiction to angel essence savagely broken. Struggling to live on, she is forced on a perilous diplomatic mission to the underwater dragon kingdom — and finds herself in the midst of intrigues that have already caused one previous emissary to mysteriously disappear…

As the Houses seek a peace more devastating than war, those caught between new fears and old hatreds must find strength — or fall prey to a magic that seeks to bind all to its will.

Peter V. Brett‘s THE CORE is the highly-anticipated conclusion to his Demon Cycle fantasy series. Critically-acclaimed and a Sunday Times bestseller, it is published in the UK by Voyager. The cover, by Larry Rostant and Millennium FX has also been nominated for the Ravenheart Award.

Prepare for the final descent into darkness. The war has begun.

For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them.

Two heroes arosemen as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Painted Man, tattooed head-to-toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat and emerge victorious. Ahmann Jardir, armed with magically warded weapons, called himself the Deliverer, a figure prophesied to unite humanity and lead them to triumph in Sharak Kathe final war against demonkind.

But in their efforts to bring the war to the demons, Arlen and Jardir have set something in motion that may prove the end of everything they hold deara Swarm. Now the war is at hand, and humanity cannot hope to win it unless Arlen and Jardir, with the help of Arlen’s wife, Renna, can bend a captured demon prince to their will and force the devious creature to lead them to the Core, where the Mother of Demons breeds an inexhaustible army.

Trusting their closest confidantes, Leesha, Inevera, Ragen, and Elissa, to rally the fractious people of the Free Cities and lead them against the Swarm, Arlen, Renna, and Jardir set out on a desperate quest into the darkest depths of evilfrom which none of them expects to return alive.

Christopher Husberg‘s DARK IMMOLATION is the second novel in the author’s Chaos Queen series, published by Titan Books in the UK and US.

A new religion is rising, gathering followers drawn by rumors of prophetess Jane Oden. Her sister Cinzia — one-time Cantic priestess — is by her side, but fears that Jane will lead them to ruin. For both the Church and the Nazaniin assassins are still on their trail, and much worse may come. Knot, his true nature now revealed if not truly understood, is haunted by the memories of others, and is not the ally he once was. Astrid travels to Tinska to find answers for her friend, but the child-like vampire has old enemies who have been waiting for her return. And beyond the Blood Gate in the northern empire of Roden, a tiellan woman finds herself with a new protector. One who wants to use her extraordinary abilities for his own ends…

Brandon Sanderson‘s OATHBRINGER is the third novel in his internationally-bestselling Stormlight Archives epic fantasy series. It is published in the UK by Gollancz. Sam Green’s cover has also been nominated for the Ravenheart Award.

In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe whose numbers are as great as their thirst for vengeance.

The Alethi armies commanded by Dalinar Kholin won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, and now its destruction sweeps the world and its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the true horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that their newly kindled anger may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths the dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put Dalinar’s blood-soaked past aside and stand together — and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past — even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not avert the end of civilization.

Zeno represents Peter V. Brett, Christopher Husberg and Brandon Sanderson in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

New Deal: Chaos Queen Audio rights sold to W. F. Howes


HusbergC-AuthorPicJodie Coles, Acquisitions Editor at W.F. Howes Ltd., has secured the UK and Commonwealth Audio rights to all five books in Christopher Husberg‘s Chaos Queen series. The deal was negotiated by John Wordsworth on behalf of Sam Morgan of the JABberwocky Literary Agency.

As reported here a little while ago, Titan Books acquired US and UK/Commonwealth rights, in separate deals, to this stunning epic fantasy series. DUSKFALL, the first book in the series and Chris’ debut novel, is due to be published in July 2016. Here’s a preliminary synopsis for the series…

Stuck with arrows and close to death, a man is pulled from the icy waters of the Gulf of Nahl. As he is nursed back to health by a local fisherman, two things become very clear: he has no idea who he is, and he can kill a man with terrifying ease.

The fisherman is a tiellan, a race which has long been oppressed and grown wary of humans. His daughter, Winter, is a seemingly quiet young woman, but behind her placid mask she has her demons. She is addicted to frostfire – a substance that both threatens to destroy her and simultaneously gives her phenomenal power.

A young priestess, Cinzia, hears the troubling news of an uprising in her native city of Navone. Absconding from the cloistered life that she has kept for the last seven years, she knows she must make the long journey home. The flames of rebellion threatening her church and all that she believes in are bad enough, but far worse is the knowledge that the heretic who sparked the fire is her own sister.

These three characters may have set out on different paths, but fate will bring them together on one thrilling and perilous adventure.

Zeno represents Christopher Husberg in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of Sam Morgan of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Christopher Husberg’s DUSKFALL Sells to Titan Books in UK


HusbergC-AuthorPicMiranda Jewess, editor at Titan Books, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Christopher Husberg‘s five-book Chaos Queen series.

The deal was negotiated by John Wordsworth at the Zeno Agency, on behalf of Sam Morgan at the JABberwocky Literary Agency. Titan has also acquired US rights.

The books in series are provisionally titled DUSKFALL, DARK IMMOLATION, HEART’S NIGHT, FEAR THE STARS and DAWNRISE. Titan are planning on publishing DUSKFALL in both territories in June 2016. Here’s a preliminary synopsis…

Stuck with arrows and close to death, a man is pulled from the icy waters of the Gulf of Nahl. As he is nursed back to health by a local fisherman, two things become very clear: he has no idea who he is, and he can kill a man with terrifying ease.

The fisherman is a tiellan, a race which has long been oppressed and grown wary of humans. His daughter, Winter, is a seemingly quiet young woman, but behind her placid mask she has her demons. She is addicted to frostfire – a substance that both threatens to destroy her and simultaneously gives her phenomenal power.

A young priestess, Cinzia, hears the troubling news of an uprising in her native city of Navone. Absconding from the cloistered life that she has kept for the last seven years, she knows she must make the long journey home. The flames of rebellion threatening her church and all that she believes in are bad enough, but far worse is the knowledge that the heretic who sparked the fire is her own sister.

These three characters may have set out on different paths, but fate will bring them together on one thrilling and perilous adventure.

Chris is a graduate of Brigham Young University’s Creative Writing programme. His short story collection Look Me in the Stars received an honourable mention in the 2013 Utah Original Writing Competition. DUSKFALL is his first novel. A punchy and confident epic fantasy, DUSKFALL combines the plot-weaving of Peter V. Brett‘s THE PAINTED MAN, and the energy of Robin Hobb’s Farseer novels to create a truly memorable debut novel.

For more on Chris’s novels and writing, take a look at Chris’ blog (where we found the banner, below) and follow him on Twitter.

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

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