Zeno Clients at Nine Worlds Geek Fest 2014


NineWorlds2014-LogoToday marks the start of the 2014 Nine Worlds Geek Fest, and we’re happy to share with you our clients’ schedules. So, in alphabetical order, here is where you can find some of our great authors. Information is presented thusly: day, date – time – subject (venue). After each client name, we have linked to the digital schedule, for your convenience.

Aliette de Bodard (schedule)

Author of the Obsidian & Blood trilogy – SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD, HARBINGER OF THE STORM and MASTER OF THE HOUSE OF DARTS (Angry Robot), and multiple multi-award winning short stories and novellas

  • Sunday, August 10 – 11:45am – ‘Writing Historical Fiction and Fanfic: is RPF okay when the person is dead?’ (County B)
  • Sunday, August 10 – 1:30pm – ‘Food in Science Fiction’ (Room 32)

Edward Cox (schedule)

Author of the upcoming debut fantasy THE RELIC GUILD (Gollancz)

  1. Friday, August 8 – 10:00am – ‘Urban Fantasy: Cities of Angels & Demons & Bug-Monsters’ (County C&D)
  2. Friday, August 8 – 11:15am – ‘Ed Cox & Benedict Jacka’ (Comm West)
  3. Saturday, August 9 – 1:30pm – ‘Food In Fantasy: A panel discussion with Esther Saxey, Ed Cox, Mark Newton and Gail Carriger’ (Room 32)
  4. Saturday, August 9 – 8:00pm – ‘#PROMNADO: The Gollancz Prom Party!’ (County C&D)

Kari Sperring (schedule)

Author of THE GRASS KING’S CONCUBINE and LIVING WITH GHOSTS (DAW)

  1. Friday, August 8 – 5:00pm – ‘Nine Fanwork Recs: nine people tell us about their favourite fanwork’ (County B)
  2. Saturday, August 9 – 3:15pm – ‘Slash And Feminism: how can slash be a feminist activity?’ (County B)
  3. Saturday, August 9 – 5:00pm – ‘How To Be A Better Beta: beta-reading, and teaching writing, in fandom’ (County B)

E.J. Swift (schedule)

Author of critically-acclaimed OSIRIS and CATAVEIRO (Del ReyUK)

  1. Friday, August 8 – 10:00am – ‘Urban Fantasy: Cities of Angels & Demons & Bug-Monsters’ (County C&D)

David Tallerman (schedule)

Author of the Tales of Easie Damasco trilogy – GIANT THIEF, CROWN THIEF, and PRINCE THIEF (Angry Robot)

  1. Friday, August 8 – 6:45pm – ‘Writing for Transmedia: ideas that cross formats and boundaries’ (County A)
  2. Saturday, August 9 – 6:45pm – ‘Blurred Lines: boycotting & buying in’ (Royal A)
  3. Sunday, August 10 – 3:15pm – ‘More-Than-Mild Peril: beyond sidekicks’ (Royal A)

You can find the full programme for the convention here. Are you attending? If you take photos with our authors, be sure to tag out Twitter feed, and we’ll share the best ones.

Zeno-NineWorldsGeekFestAttendees-Blog

Happy Release Day, David Tallerman – PRINCE THIEF


Tallerman-ED3-PrinceThief-BlogToday, Angry Robot Books publishes PRINCE THIEF, the final book in David Tallerman‘s Easie Damasco trilogy. The series has been well-received, with Adrian Tchaikovsky describing it as ‘A fast-paced, witty and original fantasy, reminiscent of Scott Lynch and Fritz Leiber.’

Here is the synopsis…

Altapasaeda, capital of the Castoval, is under siege by its own King.

Far to the north, rebels have set a bastard prince up as a figurehead.

Yet again, Easie Damasco finds himself roped into a desperate scheme to preserve the Castoval, And kidnapping the Prince seemed like such a good idea at the time…

The Easie Damasco Series: GIANT THIEF, CROWN THIEF, and PRINCE THIEF. Here’s what critics have been saying…

‘Breathless pace… Damasco resembles a landlocked version of Jack Sparrow… The atypical backdrop, self-aware style and downplaying of magics bring to mind the contemporary fantasies of Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie.’  ––  SFX Magazine

‘David Tallerman’s first novel is a gripping yarn, one that is difficult to put down once started, and this reviewer is eagerly awaiting the next tale of Easie Damasco.’  —  Starburst Magazine on GIANT THIEF

‘Tallerman’s charming, devil-may-care hero has plenty of swashbuckling roguishness to carry him through the planned sequels.’  ––  Publishers Weekly

‘[Easie] Damasco is the kind of vivacious, irreverent character who will steal your affections, and any book with him in it is too short.’  ––  WarpCoreSF

[Translation Rights for the trilogy, excluding Germany, are available – please contact us for details.]

Cover Reveal: David Tallerman’s PRINCE THIEF


The third installment in David Tallerman‘s Easie Damasco fantasy series now has a cover! Unveiled yesterday in a blogosphere-wide campaign, here it is…

Tallerman-ED3-PrinceThief-Blog

Also, the synopsis…

Altapasaeda, capital of the Castoval, is about to be besieged by its own king – and where else would luckless, somewhat reformed thief Easie Damasco be but trapped within the city’s walls? Faced with a war they can’t win and a populace too busy fighting amongst itself to even try, the Castovalian defenders are left with one desperate option. Far in the northern lands of Shoan, rebels have set up the young prince Malekrin as a figurehead in their own quest to throw off the king’s tyrannical rule. One way or another, the prince must be persuaded to join forces.

Once again, all hope lies with Damasco and his sticky-fingered approach to problem solving, along with his long suffering partner, the gentle giant Saltlick. But this time it’s a human being that needs stealing, with his own desires and opinions, and events only grow more complicated as Damasco realises that he and the rebellious young prince have more in common that either would admit.

PRINCE THIEF is due to be published in September 2013 by Angry Robot Books. It was proceeded by GIANT THIEF and CROWN THIEF.

News From Planet Eastercon…


Zeno clients triumphed at the BSFA awards, which were held at this year’s Eastercon, at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham over the Easter weekend.

First up was Aliette de Bodard, who was on hand to collect the award for Best Short Fiction for her story The Shipmaker, which appeared in Interzone issue #231. I managed to snap this pic of her being dwarfed by David Weber, who was on hand the present the award. (The homeless man to the rear is Paul Cornell prior to the removal of his comedy charity beard – for which he raised an impressive amount of money for, ironically, Shelter!)

No sooner had the applause for Aliette died down than our own Ian McDonald took to the stage to accept for the award for Best Novel for THE DERVISH HOUSE (not ‘The Dervish Nights’ as the convention newsletter later reported!), his 2010 novel published by Gollancz in the UK and by Pyr in the US.

A further layer of coolness was added to these wins when we later learned that both Ian and Aliette have been nominated for this year’s Hugo Awards – this news adding to Aliette’s previously reported Nebula nomination for the same story, and Ian’s Arthur C. Clarke Award nomination.

Huge congratulations to both authors.

There were lots of other Zeno authors at Eastercon – I got to meet our latest clients Anne Lyle and David Tallerman, albeit all too briefly, and the mass signing of Angry Robot authors at Waterstones in the centre of Birmingham was almost a mini ‘Zenocon’ of its own. Present were Aliette, Colin Harvey, John Meaney – or was it Thomas Blackthorn? – and, in a rare UK appearance, one Lavie Tidhar (pictured here next to a banner proclaiming his novels in all their steampunky glory.)

Elsewhere at the con, at readings, on panels and if truth must be told, in the bar, one could find Freda Warrington, Susan Boulton, Michael Cobley and last but by no means least Ian R. MacLeod.

I did a panel called ‘Writing 102: Finding an Agent‘, which was well attended and along with Gollancz Editorial Director Gillian Redfearn, Gollancz author Stephen Deas and author Martin Owton, we fielded a number of excellent questions from the audience. Hope those who were there found it helpful.

Angry Robot buys Two Zeno Authors…


We’re delighted to announce debut deals with independent genre publisher Angry Robot for two of our newest clients, Anne Lyle, and David Tallerman.

Anne’s Elizabethan fantasy series entitled Night’s Masque features the adventures of disreputable swordsman Mal Catlyn. ‘Explorers have returned from the New World bearing strangely primitive natives – and their uncanny elders, regal beings straight out of the Norse myths who call themselves skraylings. Hired to protect these strangers … Mal … soon finds himself dragged into a world of conspiracy and dark magic. The first of the series, THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS, is an irresistible combination of dashing swordplay and cunning alternate history from a natural born storyteller. It will be published simultaneously in the US and UK in March 2012.’

David’s novels focus on the notorious Easie Damasco, ‘a rogue and a thief and a scoundrel, who somehow always lives to see another day. In the first of his outlandish adventures, GIANT THIEF Damasco somehow manages to steal the wrong treasure and ends up with an entire army on his tail. Riotous swashbuckling adventure in the popular tradition of recent fantasy successes Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie, the Easie Damasco adventures will run to at least three books.’

Both deals are for three books and include ebook and audio rights. They were negotiated with  Angry Robot‘s Publishing Director Marc Gascoigne by John Parker and John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, who represent all translation rights.

Marc Gascoigne says, ‘These are two very different fantasy series, but they share a common quality – thoroughly engaging storytelling. Both these authors have the that rare skill of grabbing the reader in an opening paragraph and taking them off on a wild, wild ride full of magic, swordplay and adventure.’

Congratulations to all.

New Zeno Clients….


In the wake of our recent submissions window and to prove that it does actually happen, we are delighted to announce that the following authors are now represented worldwide by Zeno. Welcome one and all …

Watch this space for exciting announcements for some of these folks in next few days and weeks.