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Ian McDonald’s MOON RISING Available in Hungary!

Posted on Tuesday, May 18th, 2021

MOON RISING, the third novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series, is available now in Hungary! Published by Gabo as HOLDKELTE, and translated by Tamás Gábor, here’s the synopsis…

Száz évvel a jövőben háború dúl az Öt Sárkány – a Hold vezető ipari vállalatait irányító öt család – között. Mind az öt klán foggal-körömmel igyekszik a tápláléklánc csúcsára jutni, és ehhez bevetnek érdekházasságokat, ipari kémkedést, emberrablást és tömeges merényleteket is.

Lucas Corta, a családfő zseniális politikai machinációi és akaratereje révén a veszteségből győzelmet kovácsol, és magához ragadja a Hold feletti uralmat. Az egyetlen, aki útjába állhat, páratlan ügyvéd húga, Ariel.

Ian McDonald Luna-trilógiájának lélegzetelállító fináléjában a Sárkányok ismét összecsapnak a végső hatalomért.

Gabo has also published the first two novels in the Luna series — NEW MOON and WOLF MOON — in Hungary, as ÚJHOLD and ORDASHOLD.

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz and Tor Books in North America. A prequel novella, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE, is published by Tor.com.

Here’s the English-language synopsis for MOON RISING…

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons — five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain — marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the series has received so far…

‘McDonald concludes his Luna space opera trilogy in triumphant style… The political intrigue never feels too abstract or removed from 21st-century Earth. Readers will appreciate the care McDonald takes with both worldbuilding and characterization, and will enjoy little touches such as giving an assassin the job title of Corporate Conflict Resolution Officer… fans of the prior books will find this wrap-up rewarding.’ — Publishers Weekly on MOON RISING

‘McDonald’s richly imagined Lunar culture and interplanetary poleconomy make for a superb backdrop for literally dozens of richly realized human dramas, and it’s hard to say which is more fascinating. McDonald’s wildly imaginative worldbuilding (present since his debut novel, the utterly wonderful standout OUT ON BLUE SIX) and his ability to spin out intrigues are both in full flight in this final volume.’ — Boing Boing on MOON RISING

‘… cinematic set-pieces… so much fun to read… these entertaining, and intelligent novels, capped off by the very satisfying Luna: MOON RISING, have been about establishing a society, a community, a family that looks to the future, that lives and prospers in an environment that must always be treated with respect.’ — Locus (Ian Mond)

‘Smart, funny, passionate and at times quite dark, McDonald brings the touch we’ve seen in RIVER OF GODS and DERVISH HOUSE to an entirely new culture as it evolves in a distant hostile place where business or family rules all… it’s terrific. My only complaint: it leaves you wanting the second book right now!’ — Jonathan Strahan on NEW MOON

‘McDonald… begins his superb near-future series… scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next year’s award ballots.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on NEW MOON

‘Mafia-style mining families clash in a compelling fantasy that offers up all the pleasures of a cut-throat soap opera in space… That McDonald is able to spin a compelling story from this unforgiving set-up is testament to his skill as a writer… One thing Luna does exceptionally well is to puncture Old Heinlein’s assumption that a frontier society based on the primacy of the family and a disregard of conventional laws would end up like idealised smalltown America. Luna argues that any realistic future colonisation of the moon will be much more The Sopranos than The Waltons. LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian on NEW MOON

‘No one writes like Ian McDonald, and no one’s Moon is nearly so beautiful and terrible… Ian McDonald’s never written a bad novel, but this is a great Ian McDonald novel… McDonald has ten details for every detail proffered by other sf writers. Not gratuitous details, either: gracious ones. The fashion sense of William Gibson, the design sense of Bruce Sterling, the eye for family drama of Connie Willis, the poesie of Bradbury, and the dirty sex of Kathe Koja and Samuel Delany… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing. As the family saga of the Cortas unravels, we meet a self-sexual ninja lawyer, a werewolf who loses his mind in the Full Earth, a family tyrant whose ruthlessness is matched only by his crepulance, and a panoply of great passions and low desires. LUNA: NEW MOON is the first book of a two-book cycle. Now I’m all a-quiver for the next one.‘ — BoingBoing

‘… powerful sequel… compelling throughout. Each of McDonald’s viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated. Fans of the first volume will love this one and eagerly look forward to the next.‘ — Publishers Weekly on WOLF MOON

‘NEW MOON was one of the most interesting sci-fi novels of 2015, with smart ideas on humanity and economies matched by street smarts, political brawls and murder in the streets. LUNA: WOLF MOON turns that up to eleven – it’s a fascinating story, which is also a tense, enthralling read.’ — Sci-Fi & Fantasy Review

‘The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice. McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once. Starting with his debut novel, 1988’s Desolation Road, McDonald has used his intense, finely crafted and small personal stories of his vast casts of characters as the pixels in an unimaginably vast display on which he projects some of the field’s most audacious worldbuilding — never worldbuilding for its own sake, either, but always in the service of slyly parodying, critiquing or lionizing elements of our present-day world.’ — Boing Boing on WOLF MOON

‘Luna: NEW MOON was a “magnificent bastard of a book,” as I put it in my review. Part two, it’s my pleasure to tell you, is just as awesome, and just as masterfully nasty.’ — Tor.com on WOLF MOON

Ian McDonald’s ORDASHOLD out now in Hungary!

Posted on Friday, October 4th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s second Luna novel, WOLF MOON, is out now in Hungary! Published by Gabo as ORDASHOLD, here’s the synopsis…

A Corta Hélio, a Holdat uraló öt családi vállalat egyike elbukott, vagyonát ellenségei osztották fel egymás között, túlélői szétszóródtak a világban. Tizennyolc hónappal a tragédia után az életben maradt Corta gyerekek közül Lucasinho és Luna az Aszamóa család védelme alatt áll, míg Robson lényegében túsz a Mackenzie-k kezében. Az örökös, Lucas Corta pedig eltűnt a Hold színéről.

Gabo has also published the first novel in the series, NEW MOON, as ÚJHOLD.

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Corta Helio, one of the five family corporations that rule the Moon, has fallen. Its riches are divided up among its many enemies, its survivors scattered. Eighteen months have passed.

The remaining Helio children, Lucasinho and Luna, are under the protection of the powerful Asamoahs, while Robson, still reeling from witnessing his parent’s violent deaths, is now a ward – virtually a hostage – of Mackenzie Metals. And the last appointed heir, Lucas, has vanished from the surface of the moon.

Only Lady Sun, dowager of Taiyang, suspects that Lucas Corta is not dead, and – more to the point – that he is still a major player in the game. After all, Lucas always was a schemer, and even in death, he would go to any lengths to take back everything and build a new Corta Helio, more powerful than before. But Corta Helio needs allies, and to find them, the fleeing son undertakes an audacious, impossible journey – to Earth.

In an unstable lunar environment, the shifting loyalties and political machinations of each family reach the zenith of their most fertile plots as outright war between the families erupts.

Here are just a few of the reviews the novel has received so far…

‘… powerful sequel… compelling throughout. Each of McDonald’s viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated. Fans of the first volume will love this one and eagerly look forward to the next.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘NEW MOON was one of the most interesting sci-fi novels of 2015, with smart ideas on humanity and economies matched by street smarts, political brawls and murder in the streets. LUNA: WOLF MOON turns that up to eleven – it’s a fascinating story, which is also a tense, enthralling read.’ — Sci-Fi & Fantasy Review

‘The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice. McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once. Starting with his debut novel, 1988’s Desolation Road, McDonald has used his intense, finely crafted and small personal stories of his vast casts of characters as the pixels in an unimaginably vast display on which he projects some of the field’s most audacious worldbuilding — never worldbuilding for its own sake, either, but always in the service of slyly parodying, critiquing or lionizing elements of our present-day world.’ — Boing Boing

‘No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does. Piece by piece and brick by brick. Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be…, deep and meaty when he wants to be…, he does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. There are no wasted moves, nothing that isn’t vital because, in the end, everything is vital. Everything matters… it is fascinating, all of it. Because McDonald has made a world that is ruthless in its consistency and living, breathing reality, and then made characters who are not just living in it, but wholly and fully of it… Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR

‘Luna: New Moon was a “magnificent bastard of a book,” as I put it in my review. Part two, it’s my pleasure to tell you, is just as awesome, and just as masterfully nasty.’ — Tor.com

Ian McDonald’s LUNA: ÚJHOLD available in Hungary!

Posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed first Luna novel, NEW MOON is now available in Hungary! Published by Gabo as LUNA: ÚJHOLD, here’s the synopsis…

A Holdon meg kell küzdened minden talpalatnyi helyért.

És Adriana Corta pontosan ezt tette.

A Hold legfiatalabb uralkodócsaládjának fejeként Adriana kicsavarta a Hold hélium-3 iparát a Mackenzie vállalat kezéből, és új státuszt vívott ki a családjának. Élete alkonyán azonban Adriana vállalatát számos ellenség támadja, akiket üstökösszerű felemelkedése során szerzett. A Corta család csak úgy maradhat fent, ha Adriana öt gyermeke megvédi az anyjuk birodalmát a támadóktól… és egymástól is.

„Hajunkban virágok, kezünkben gyertyák. Vártuk a pillanatot, amikor a Hold pereme kibukkan a tenger fölött. És meg is jelent: az elképzelhető legapróbb szegélye, olyan vékony, akár a körömnyesedék. Mintha átvérzett volna a láthatáron. Hatalmas volt. Annyira hatalmas. Aztán már másként érzékeltem, és azt láttam, hogy nem a világ peremén túl emelkedik: a tengerből formálódik éppen. Szóhoz sem jutottam. Egyikünk se. Csak álltunk ott ezrével, mozdulatlanul. Fehér-kék sor Brazília szegélyén. Aztán felemelkedett a Hold, tisztán és teljesen, és a tengeren át ezüst vonal ért el tőle egészen hozzám. Yemanja ösvénye. Az út, amit az Úrnő bejárt, hogy eljusson a mi világunkig. És emlékszem, ahogy azt gondolom, hogy az utak mindkét irányban járhatók. Én is végigjárhatom, egészen a Holdig.”

NEW MOON is published in the UK by Gollancz, in the US by Tor Books, and has been published widely elsewhere in translation (see below for a selection of covers). The sequel, WOLF MOON, is also published by Gollancz and Tor Books, and has a growing number of international editions as well. Here’s the English-language synopsis for NEW MOON…

The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family’s status in the Moon’s vicious political atmosphere.

The Moon wants to kill you.

Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations — the Five Dragons — in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation — Corta Helio — confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Here are some of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘Smart, funny, passionate and at times quite dark, McDonald brings the touch we’ve seen in RIVER OF GODS and DERVISH HOUSE to an entirely new culture as it evolves in a distant hostile place where business or family rules all… it’s terrific. My only complaint: it leaves you wanting the second book right now!’ — Jonathan Strahan

‘McDonald… begins his superb near-future series… scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next year’s award ballots.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Mafia-style mining families clash in a compelling fantasy that offers up all the pleasures of a cut-throat soap opera in space…That McDonald is able to spin a compelling story from this unforgiving set-up is testament to his skill as a writer… LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian

‘No one writes like Ian McDonald, and no one’s Moon is nearly so beautiful and terrible… Ian McDonald’s never written a bad novel, but this is a great Ian McDonald novel… The fashion sense of William Gibson, the design sense of Bruce Sterling, the eye for family drama of Connie Willis, the poesie of Bradbury… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing… Now I’m all a-quiver for the next one.’ — BoingBoing

‘Fans of cerebral, high-concept science fiction will love this exploration of society on the moon many decades after it has been colonized. The focus is more on concept and plot than on character, but the former are compelling enough to make this an addictive page-turner. Including the stories of many characters gives the reader important insights into different facets of society, and although the book starts at a slow pace, it accelerates into a mesmerizing political thriller.’ — RT Book Reviews

‘LUNA: NEW MOON is the best moon novel I’ve seen in many years, but it’s also something of a piece with the recent movement on the part of Paul McAuley, Kim Stanley Robinson, and others to confine novels to the solar system, out of a realistic assessment that this is likely all we’ll have to work with – but McDonald takes this a step further. Possibly the most chilling lines in the book for an SF reader come from Adriana herself, in her own narrative: ‘‘There was no law, no justice,’’ she writes, ‘‘only management. The moon was the frontier, but it was the frontier to nothing. There was nowhere to run.’’ Inasmuch as it challenges one of the cherished master narratives of SF, in which the moon is only a stepping-stone, and despite what it owes to the tropes of ’70s-era social melodrama, McDonald’s novel has some formidable SF stingers not far beneath its densely textured surface.’ — Locus

‘Heralds the welcome return of one of western science fiction’s foremost globally oriented authors. Bristling with the energy and action… Nestled within a narrative of lunar colonization driven by STEM developments and a decimated, post-oil Earth economy, LUNA burns with the desperate anxieties of the late-capitalist, financialized age: the universalization of debt, the demand for contingent and flexible labor, and the resulting polarized wealth gap… one of McDonald’s greatest strengths: an ability to think through the uneven development and cultural diffusion of global economic and technological change… McDonald’s worlds, whether grim, hopeful, or — as is often the case — both, feel lived in rather than culturally depleted or used up… With an action narrative driving this political commentary, LUNA is actually a fantastically fun read as well as an important one.’ — LA Review of Books

Hungarian Edition of LUNA: NEW MOON out next month!

Posted on Monday, May 15th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s Luna series continues its conquest of the globe, with the fast-approaching release of the first novel in Hungary! Published in June by Gabo as ÚJHOLD, here’s the synopsis…

A Holdon meg kell küzdened minden talpalatnyi helyért.

És Adriana Corta pontosan ezt tette.

A Hold legfiatalabb uralkodócsaládjának fejeként Adriana kicsavarta a Hold hélium-3 iparát a Mackenzie vállalat kezéből, és új státuszt vívott ki a családjának. Élete alkonyán azonban Adriana vállalatát számos ellenség támadja, akiket üstökösszerű felemelkedése során szerzett. A Corta család csak úgy maradhat fent, ha Adriana öt gyermeke megvédi az anyjuk birodalmát a támadóktól… és egymástól is.

„Hajunkban virágok, kezünkben gyertyák. Vártuk a pillanatot, amikor a Hold pereme kibukkan a tenger fölött. És meg is jelent: az elképzelhető legapróbb szegélye, olyan vékony, akár a körömnyesedék. Mintha átvérzett volna a láthatáron. Hatalmas volt. Annyira hatalmas. Aztán már másként érzékeltem, és azt láttam, hogy nem a világ peremén túl emelkedik: a tengerből formálódik éppen. Szóhoz sem jutottam. Egyikünk se. Csak álltunk ott ezrével, mozdulatlanul. Fehér-kék sor Brazília szegélyén. Aztán felemelkedett a Hold, tisztán és teljesen, és a tengeren át ezüst vonal ért el tőle egészen hozzám. Yemanja ösvénye. Az út, amit az Úrnő bejárt, hogy eljusson a mi világunkig. És emlékszem, ahogy azt gondolom, hogy az utak mindkét irányban járhatók. Én is végigjárhatom, egészen a Holdig.”

The novel is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Tor Books, as well as in a number of other territories. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Moon wants to kill you.

Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations — the Five Dragons — in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation — Corta Helio — confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

LUNA: WOLF MOON, the sequel, is also published by Gollancz and Tor Books.

WHISPERS UNDERGROUND Now Available in Hungary

Posted on Monday, June 27th, 2016

WHISPERS UNDERGROUND, Ben Aaronovitch‘s third Peter Grant novel, is out now in Hungary. Published by Gabo as FÖLD ALATTI SUTTOGÁS, here’s the synopsis…

A londoni rendőrök holttestre bukkannak a Baker Street-i metróállomás távoli végénél: az áldozat egy amerikai cserediák, James Gallagher, akinek politikailag befolyásos családja érthető módon mielőbb a végére akar járni a hátborzongató gyilkosságnak. A probléma csak az, hogy senki sem tudja, ehhez milyen mélyre kell ásniuk – senki, kivéve a közrendőr és mágustanonc Peter Grantet. Nightingale főfelügyelő, Anglia utolsó bejegyzett varázslójának támogatásával Peter neki is áll feltérképezni a legnagyobb, legrégibb, és újabban legveszedelmesebb metróhálózat bugyrait. Ráadásul segítséget is kapnak az FBI-tól Kimberley Reynolds különleges ügynök személyében, aki azonban nem repesne az örömtől, ha tudná, mi minden zajlik a felszín alatt.

Gabo have also published the first two novels in the series, RIVERS OF LONDON (LONDON FOLYÓI) and MOON OVER SOHO (SOHO FELETT A HOLD). WHISPERS UNDERGROUND is published in the UK by Gollancz (who publish the whole series), and in the US by Del Rey. It has also been published widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Peter Grant is learning magic fast. And it’s just as well – he’s already had run-ins with the deadly supernatural children of the Thames and a terrifying killer in Soho. Progression in the Police Force is less easy. Especially when you work in a department of two. A department that doesn’t even officially exist. A department that if you did describe it to most people would get you laughed at. And then there’s his love life. The last person he fell for ended up seriously dead. It wasn’t his fault, but still.

Now something horrible is happening in the labyrinth of tunnels that make up the tube system that honeycombs the ancient foundations of London. And delays on the Northern line is the very least of it. Time to call in the Met’s Economic and Specialist Crime Unit 9, aka ‘The Folly’. Time to call in PC Peter Grant, Britain’s Last Wizard.

The Peter Grant series, to date, includes: RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDERGROUND, BROKEN HOMES, FOXGLOVE SUMMER and the upcoming THE HANGING TREE. It also includes the comic series RIVERS OF LONDON: BODY WORK and NIGHT WITCH, published by Titan Comics.

Ian McDonald’s PLANESRUNNER Available in Hungary

Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015

Ian McDonald‘s first YA novel, PLANESRUNNER, is available in Hungary! It is the first novel in the Everness series — a briskly-paced, action-packed, dimension-hopping science fiction adventure. Published by Gabo as SÍKVÁNDOR, here’s the synopsis…

Mind részei vagyunk az univerzumok sokaságának a párhuzamos dimenziókban – és Everett Singh apja éppen most találta meg az odavezető utat. Csakhogy elrabolták, és most úgy tűnik, mintha Everett édesapja soha nem is létezett volna. Egyetlen nyom bukkan fel, amelyet fia követhet, egy titokzatos program: az Infundibulum – egy térkép, és nemcsak a Tíz Ismert Világ térképe, hanem az egész multiverzumé.

PLANESRUNNER is published in the US by Pyr Book and in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books — both also publish the sequels, BE MY ENEMY and EMPRESS OF THE SUN. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

There is not just one you, there are many yous. We’re part of a multiplicity of universes in parallel dimensions – and Everett Singh’s dad has found a way in.

But he’s been kidnapped, and now it is as though Everett’s dad never existed. Yet there is one clue for his son to follow, a mysterious app: the Infundibulum.

The app is a map, not just to the Ten Known Worlds, but to the entire multiverse – and there are those who want to get their hands on it very badly. If Everett’s going to keep it safe and rescue his dad, he’s going to need friends: like Captain Anastasia Sixmith, her adopted daughter and the crew of the airship Everness.

The series has been critically-acclaimed by many journalists, reviewers and Ian’s peers. All three books are out now in the UK and US. PLANESRUNNER has also been published in France by Gallimard Jeunesse, and in Russia by Эксмо.

Cover: Ben Aaronovitch’s MOON OVER SOHO in Hungarian

Posted on Friday, June 5th, 2015

Today, we have the Hungarian cover for Ben Aaronovitch‘s MOON OVER SOHO (above). Published by Gabo as SOHO FELETT A HOLD, it is the second novel in Ben’s best-selling and critically-acclaimed Peter Grant urban fantasy crime series. Here’s the synopsis…

Peter Grant közrendőr hamar rájön, hogy a dzsessz-szaxofonos Cyrus Wilkinson nem szívroham áldozata lett. Valaki vagy valami a londoni Soho utcáit járja, és az a különleges képesség vonzza, amely elválasztja a nagy zenészeket az átlagosaktól…

And, in English (published by Gollancz)…

Peter Grant is not just a lowly Detective Constable, he’s also apprenticed to the last wizard in Britain: policing will never be the same again!

I was my dad’s vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that’s how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it’s why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn’t the first.

No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene. I didn’t trust the lovely Simone, Cyrus’ ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens’ portrait, but I needed her help: there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.

And as I hunted them, my investigation got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard ‘Lord’ Grant – my father – who managed to destroy his own career, twice. That’s the thing about policing: most of the time you’re doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you’re doing it for justice. And maybe once in a career, you’re doing it for revenge.

The Peter Grant series currently includes: RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDERGROUND, BROKEN HOMES, FOXGLOVE SUMMER and the upcoming THE HANGING TREE. All of the novels are published in the UK by Gollancz, and Del Rey (books 1-3) and DAW Books (books four onwards) in the US. The series has been published widely in translation. In July, Titan Comics will publish the first issue in RIVERS OF LONDON: BODY WORK, a mini-series set between books four and five.

New International Editions of ALAN TURING: THE ENIGMA

Posted on Monday, March 9th, 2015

Above are the covers for two more international editions of Andrew Hodges‘s critically-acclaimed ALAN TURING: THE ENIGMA. Respectively, Italian, published by Bollati Boringhieri; and Hungarian, published by Gabo. As is clear from the covers, the biography was the inspiration behind the Oscar-winning movie, THE IMITATION GAME.

Here’s the English-language synopsis…

A dramatic portrayal of the life and work of Alan Turing, Britain’s most extraordinary unsung heroes, and the world’s greatest innovators.

Alan Turing was the mathematician whose cipher-cracking transformed the Second World War. Taken on by British Intelligence in 1938, as a shy young Cambridge don, he combined brilliant logic with a flair for engineering. In 1940 his machines were breaking the Enigma-enciphered messages of Nazi Germany’s air force. He then headed the penetration of the super-secure U-boat communications.

But his vision went far beyond this achievement. Before the war he had invented the concept of the universal machine, and in 1945 he turned this into the first design for a digital computer.

Turing’s far-sighted plans for the digital era forged ahead into a vision for Artificial Intelligence. However, in 1952 his homosexuality rendered him a criminal and he was subjected to humiliating treatment. In 1954, aged 41, Alan Turing took his own life.

ALAN TURING: THE ENIGMA is published in the UK by Vintage Books and in the US by Princeton University Press, and has been published widely in translation.