Tim Powers Talks Steampunk


The above clip is a couple of years old, but because we’re starting to think about Tim Powers‘s upcoming new novel — MEDUSA’S WEB — we thought we’d share the video here.

PowersT-MedusasWebUK-BLogMEDUSA’S WEB is due to be published in the UK by Corvus, on January 21st, 2016. Here’s the synopsis…

In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby south of Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this old house that is a conduit for the supernatural.

Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars. A collection of hypnotic abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time – to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying.

As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott must fight to protect her. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them… or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

Corvus publishes five other novels by Tim Powers: ON STRANGER TIDES, THE STRESS OF HER REGARD, THREE DAYS TO NEVER, DECLARE, and HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES.

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Powers’s Fault Lines trilogy has recently been published in the UK by Gollancz, as part of the Fantasy Masterworks series, and includes: LAST CALL, EXPIRATION DATE, and EARTHQUAKE WEATHER.

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Zeno represents Tim Powers in the UK, on behalf of Russell Galen at the Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.

Cover: MEDUSA’S WEB by Tim Powers


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Above we have the recently-unveiled cover for Tim Powers‘s hotly-anticipated new novel. MEDUSA’S WEB is due to be published in the UK by Corvus in January 2016. Here’s the synopsis…

In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby south of Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this old house that is a conduit for the supernatural.

Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars. A collection of hypnotic abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time — to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying.

As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott must fight to protect her. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them… or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

Corvus also publish five other novels by Tim: ON STRANGER TIDES, THE STRESS OF HER REGARD, THREE DAYS TO NEVER, DECLARE and HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES.

Zeno represents Tim Powers in the UK, on behalf of Russel Galen at the Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, Inc., in New York.

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Cover: THE BOOK OF SPECULATION by Erika Swyler (UK)


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We announced back in February that John Wordsworth had negotiated the sale of UK rights for Erika Swyler‘s novel THE BOOK OF SPECULATION to Corvus Books. Today, we are able to share with you the UK cover (above). The novel is due to be published in the UK in February 2016.

Here’s the synopsis…

Simon Watson lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a cliff that is slowly crumbling into the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a travelling carnival and seldom calls.

On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious book from an antiquarian bookseller; it has been sent to him because it is inscribed with the name Verona Bonn, Simon’s grandmother. The book tells the story of two doomed lovers who were part of a travelling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes and sketches. He is fascinated, yet as he reads Simon becomes increasingly unnerved. Why do so many women in his family drown on 24th July? And could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in years, risk the same terrible fate?

As 24th July draws ever closer, Simon must unlock the mysteries of the book, and decode his family history, before it is too late.

Zeno represents Erika Swyler in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of Michelle Brower and Melissa Sarver White at Folio Literary Management.

Corvus Acquires UK Rights for Erika Swyler’s THE BOOK OF SPECULATION


Sara O’Keeffe, Editorial Director at Corvus, an imprint of Atlantic Books, has acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights to Erika Swyler’s stunning debut novel, THE BOOK OF SPECULATION.

SwylerE-BookOfSpeculationUS-BlogThe deal was negotiated by John Wordsworth at the Zeno Agency, on behalf of Michelle Brower and Melissa Sarver White at Folio Literary Management. The novel was sold to St. Martin’s Press in the United States in a six figure deal.

“Dear Mr. Watson, I came across this book at auction as part of a larger lot I purchased on speculation. The damage renders it useless to me, but a name inside it—Verona Bonn—led me to believe it might be of interest to you or your family…”

Simon Watson, a young librarian on the verge of losing his job, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home – a house, perched on the edge of a bluff, that is slowly crumbling toward the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards, and seldom calls.

On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious package from an antiquarian bookseller. The book tells the story of Amos and Evangeline, doomed lovers who lived and worked in a traveling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes, sketches, and whimsical flourishes; and his best friend and fellow librarian, Alice, looks on in increasing alarm. Why does his grandmother’s name, Verona Bonn, appear in this book? Why do so many women in his family drown on July 24? Could there possibly be some kind of curse on his family – and could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in six years, risk the same fate in just a few weeks? In order to save her – and perhaps himself – Simon must try urgently to decode his family history while moving on from the past.

THE BOOK OF SPECULATION is due to be published in the US in June 2015, and Corvus will publish in the UK in February 2016. No news yet on the UK cover, but the image above-left will grace the US edition. We’ll be sure to share the UK cover here as soon as it is available.

‘The Book of Speculation is a luscious experience – dark, sweet, and wild’ — Katherine Dunn

Find out more about the author by visiting her website and following her on Twitter.

Four Zeno Clients in Sainsbury’s Summer Reading eBook Deals!


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It’s often easy to forget that there are an ever-increasing number of eBook vendors, these days – so dominated is the market by Amazon. One new entrant into the market is Sainsbury’s – that venerable supermarket chain. For the next two days, they are running a Summer Reading sale for eBooks – this campaign seems to have been rather stealthily rolled out, too. Handily split up by genre, we are delighted to report that novels by four Zeno clients are included in the ‘Other Worlds’ Science Fiction and Fantasy selection!

Among the great selection of titles from across the SFF genres, there are six Zeno titles…

So, if you’re after some new e-reading for the inconsistent British summer weather, then these would all offer a great starting point for Ben’s, Pete’s, Tim’s and Brandon’s work.

Zeno represents Tim Powers in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency. Zeno represents Peter V. Brett and Brandon Sanderson in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Following up on Tim Powers’s Blog Tour…


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Just over a month ago, we mentioned Tim Powers‘s October blog tour, which came to an end this past Friday. Because it was so good, we thought we’d offer a round-up of the various tour-stops here.

On the 7th, Tim discussed Magic and Realism over on Fantasy Book Critic, and how ‘To my mind, the problem with Magic Realism is that it’s got plenty of magic but falls short on the realism – if only in that no one in the stories is ever surprised by the plain fact of magic actually happening. Wouldn’t you be?’ Powers discusses ‘the logic of dreams and fairy tales and mythology’, and how he wants the (sur)realism to work in his novels, how he hopes readers will see it.

On the 8th, Tim stopped by Falcata Times to talk about how research can lead to the strangest connections. For example, the idea for HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES came about (partly) thus: ‘I was reading a book about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and I learned that after his wife killed herself he laid the notebook of all his poetry into her coffin, to be buried with her. This was a fine and much-admired romantic gesture – but a couple of years later a publisher told him, “You know, if you had a collection of poetry, we could publish it,” and Rossetti said, in effect, “Uh, gimme a couple of days on that.”‘

Mieneke of A Fantastical Librarian interview Tim about the new novel, his research and writing practices.

On October 10th,  SF Signal hosted a guest post by Tim, in which he talks about ‘How he Got Started Down the Road to Science Fiction and Fantasy’, and how it all started with Timothy Turtle. He also mentions how he got to know James P. Blaylock (also a Zeno client) and K.W. Jeter, and the very important advice the latter gave him: ‘Start when the action of the plot starts.’

On the 11th, Tim stopped by Civilian Reader to talk about Edward John  Trelawny, ‘the Magnificent Liar’ – a legendary biographer, novelist and adventurer best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets, including Lord Byron. His life was stranger than fiction, but he was not above fictionalising some early exploits.

On the 14th, Fantasy Book Review hosted an extract of HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES.

Speculative Scotsman hosted Tim on October 18th, for a guest post, ‘Taverns Measureless to Man’, in which the author discusses how steampunk started.

Over the course of the 21st-25th, Pornokitsch hosted a number of great pieces:

Tim Powers – Coming to a blog near you! (October)


Further to the exciting news that Tim Powers will be making his first trip to the UK in a long while, we are also able to share with you news of his upcoming Blog Tour. The tour, organised by Corvus, celebrates the recent paperback release of Tim’s latest novel, HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES (September 2013). The author will be writing guest posts and be interviewed for a number of the best genre blogs. The first stop is on October 7th. Here’s the tour poster, with the complete schedule…

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Here are the links to the blogs, so you can bookmark them in preparation: Fantasy Book Critic, Falcata Times, A Fantastical Librarian, SF Signal, Civilian Reader, Fantasy Book Review, J for Jetpack, Speculative Scotsman, and Pornokitsch

Tim Powers – Corvus Cover Art…


As now listed on Amazon.co.uk, Corvus have pushed back their publication of the new Tim Powers novel, HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES to early September.

This delay has allowed for some extra special attention to be paid to their cover art and also to that of  their forthcoming reissue of THE STRESS OF HER REGARD – and seen side by side, they make for an impressive and eye-catching bit of author branding, no?

 

In The Post Today…


…a shiny new copy of the shiny new edition of ON STRANGER TIDES – perhaps my favourite Tim Powers novel of all. This is a new reissue comes courtesy of Corvus, and just in time for a certain Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides film which is to be released next month. I can reveal that the similarities in the titles of these projects is not entirely coincidental.

Here is  the new Corvus edition placed against the original artwork for the first UK edition which just happens to hang in our office!

TWO Zeno Authors on Clarke Award Shortlist…


We’re delighted to announce that two Zeno authors are on the short-list (of six) for this year’s coveted Arthur C. Clarke Award

Not a bad hit rate for us! Ian has been on this shortlist in previous years and THE DERVISH HOUSE, listed in countless year’s best lists, is  already winner of the SciFi Now award for best novel is a book on everyone’s lips as a definite contender for this year’s Hugo.

DECLARE is an interesting addition to the Clarke shortlist, not least because it was first published in the US back in 2000, when it won both the World Fantasy Award and the International Horror Guild award.  It has taken a lamentably long time for British publishing to see the value in Powers’ work, but with the backing, support and vision of Corvus, DECLARE is now available directly to UK readers, with other books in the pipeline.

Award administrator Tom Hunter said ‘For me this list is a great indication of just how deep, rich and complex the literature of science fiction can be. I think this list is a definite keeper, as they say, and my hope is that twenty-five years from now people will still be coming back to it as a representation of everything that’s best about the diversity and strength of our genre

October News Round-Up…


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 THE BOOKMAN has just sold to Rani Graff at Graff Publishing in Israel.
  • Lavie’s CLOUD PERMUTATIONS, published by PS Publishing has been receiving some nice coverage and we’ve just done a deal with Peter Crowther at PS for a new Tidhar collection – more news on this anon.
  • And whilst we’re patting him on the back, congrats to Lavie for being winning the Last Drink Bird Head award for International Activism… follow that link to find out more.

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.

Declare Review In The Guardian


Over at The Guardian Online, author Eric Brown has reviewed the new Corvus edition of DECLARE by Tim Powers.

Brown calls the book ‘… big in every sense: vast in scope, philosophically deep and satisfying in terms of characterisation.’ And ‘… an immense hybrid of classic spy novel and supernatural thriller, impeccably wrought cold war period detail combining with the brooding sense of evil that Powers does so well. ‘

Read the full piece here… or better still, read the book!

DECLARE, If Thou Hast Understanding…


Happy Publication Day to Tim Powers!!! His brilliant novel DECLARE finally receives its British publication today ten years after it was first published in the US with the release of a very smart mass market paperback edition published by Corvus.

DECLARE is a supernatural spy novel, described by Dean Koontz as ‘A Tour de Force, a brilliant blend of Le Carré spy fiction with the otherworldly, packed with historical fact, dazzling flights of imagination , and wonderful suspense,’ and William Gibson says that ‘DECLARE‘s occult subtext for the deeper Cold War is wonderfully original and brilliantly executed‘.

And don’t just take their word for it – DECLARE won the 2001 World Fantasy Award for best novel and the International Horror Guild Award in the same year. It was also voted number two fantasy novel (just behind George R.R. Martin’s A STORM OF SWORDS, but well ahead of Philip Pullman and Robert Jordan!) in the 2001 LOCUS poll, and was also nominated for the Nebula and Mythopoeic awards.

Needless to say I am beyond delighted to have played a part in bringing this brilliant novel and brilliant author to a new audience. In fact, I think I’ll just nip off and read it again!

Zeno Lands Tim Powers A UK Deal!


secret historiesHere at Zeno towers, I have been quietly working away for some months on something of pet project. Anyone who knows me also knows that my favourite author nonpareil is the American genre writer Tim Powers. I won’t waste time repeating all the reasons why his work has thrilled and fascinated me for over twenty years, except to say that it did so enough for me to spend the last ten of them writing a book on the subject!

SECRET HISTORIES is now available from PS Publishing, and one significant thing that occured to me whilst I was working on it was that, with only minor exceptions, Powers remained out of print here in the UK for almost the entire time I was writing about him –  a project I began in the previous century!

Given my expert knowledge on this particular subject, I decided to set about addressing the issue and it is with tremendous personal and professional pride that I am delighted to be able to announce that Zeno, in association with Russell Galen of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, has just completed on a FOUR book deal for Tim with Nicholas Cheetham at Corvus Books, the new imprint at Grove Atlantic.

Corvus is a perfect home for Powers, who has for many year’s been confined to the genre ghetto. However, the wider readership is nowadays far more receptive to genre-friendly, mainstream-cross-over novels in the wake of the Dan Brown phenomenon and the runaway success  in recent years of novels such as The Historian and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.  Publishing Director Nic Cheetham says of the imprint “Corvus takes a particular delight in patrolling those fertile zones of convergence at genre borders, where the best stories are to be found, where entire worlds – historical, psychological, fantastical – are built just to tell stories,” which makes things sound pretty much tailor made for Powers!

corvus declareThe Corvus deal sees publication both backlist and frontlist titles, bringing Powers back to a British and Commonwealth  audience with a fanfare that this extraordinary author truly deserves. Their programme begins with a mass market paperback edition of DECLARE – Tim’s 2000 World Fantasy Award winner, described as a “…transcendent thriller that re-writes the espionage fiction rule book as it reveals the terrible secret at the heart of the Cold War…” and scheduled for publication in June 2010. It’s hard to believe that this will be the first UK publication of this novel. Note that the image to the right is merely a design rough from the Corvus catalogue and may well change in due course. (I like it though!)

Nic Cheetham: “Everyone is a Tim Powers fan, but just not everybody knows it… yet. We’re looking forward to changing that in June with the publication of Tim’s World Fantasy Award-winning spy novel DECLARE.”

Following DECLARE will be another first UK publication, this time of THREE DAYS TO NEVER (format to be confirmed) currently scheduled for a January 2011 release, though subject to change. Corvus and will then publish a brand new Powers novel sometime later in that year. THE LIGHTS ALONG THE SHORE is set some years after the events of THE STRESS OF HER REGARD, to which it is a loose sequel.  STRESS will also be reissued as part of the deal.

So, there you have it folks – Powers is back in the UK with a new publisher, a new book and ready to find a new audience. Happy days!

Everyone is a Tim Powers fan, but just not everybody knows it… yet. We’re looking forward to changing that in June with the publication of Tim’s World Fantasy Award-winning spy novel DECLARE.