Ian McDonald‘s award-winning novel THE DERVISH HOUSE is now available in Bulgaria! Published by Altera as Дервишката къща, here’s the synopsis…

Дервишката къща преплита съдбите на няколко изключително любопитни персонажа в Истанбул през 2027 г. Ала основният герой в романа е самият град – изобразен от Макдоналд като древна и същевременно с това свръхмодерна сцена, на която богатите и мъдри традиции на Изтока влипат във взривоопасен контакт с динамичното развитие на нанотехнологиите, с борбата за газово надмощие, с мрачните сенки на тероризма, с крехтите и все по-размити граници между Европа и Азия.

The novel is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Pyr Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

It begins with an explosion. Another day, another bus bomb. Everyone it seems is after a piece of Turkey. But the shock waves from this random act of twenty-first-century pandemic terrorism will ripple further and resonate louder than just Enginsoy Square.

Welcome to the world of The Dervish House — the great, ancient, paradoxical city of Istanbul, divided like a human brain, in the great, ancient, equally paradoxical nation of Turkey. The year is 2027 and Turkey is about to celebrate the fifth anniversary of its accession to the European Union, a Europe that now runs from the Arran Islands to Ararat. With a population pushing one hundred million, and Istanbul alone swollen to fifteen million, Turkey is the largest, most populous, and most diverse nation in the EU, but also one of the poorest and most socially divided. It’s a boom economy, the sweatshop of Europe, the bazaar of central Asia, the key to the immense gas wealth of Russia and central Asia.

The Dervish House is seven days, six characters, three interconnected story strands, one central common core — the eponymous dervish house, a character in itself — that pins all these players together in a weave of intrigue, conflict, drama, and a ticking clock of a thriller.

The novel has been published widely in translation. More info can be found on his author page and by getting in touch with Gollancz, who have World Rights. Here are just some of the reviews the novel has enjoyed…

‘A lush, complex and hugely entertaining novel.’ — Guardian

‘The florid descriptions that regularly course through his novels are merely colourful bonuses decorating detailed examination of what might just come to pass and even denser prose fuelling narrative journeys.’ — Globe & Mail

‘… broad vistas, intricately imagined futures, poetic language that transports and delights, a blend of mysticism and science that thrills and moves… I am always, always startled and thrilled by the exciting, moving epic story… To read McDonald is to fall in love with a place and to become drunk with it… I you’ve never read him, you’re in for a treat. If you’re a fan like me, you’ll be delighted anew. What a wonderful, wonderful book.’ — BoingBoing

‘… an audacious look at the shift in the power centers of the world and an intense vision of one possible future.’ — New York Times