International Editions - Zeno Agency Ltd.

You can now take a ride through DAMNATION ALLEY in Poland!

Posted on Tuesday, May 28th, 2019

DAMNATION ALLEY, the classic dystopian thriller by Roger Zelazny is out now in Poland! Published by Dom Wydawniczy REBIS as ALEJA POTĘPIENIA, here’s the synopsis…

Klasyka literatury postapo. Kultowa powieść wielokrotnego zdobywcy nagród Hugo i Nebula

Wojna nuklearna spustoszyła świat. W Ameryce Północnej ocalali ludzie usiłują przetrwać w niewielkich enklawach, pozostałościach dawnych stanów. Hell Tanner, brutalny członek gangu motocyklowego, otrzymuje szansę odkupienia swych win. Na wschodzie wybuchła epidemia i ktoś musi dostarczyć szczepionkę z Los Angeles do Bostonu. Tanner rusza Aleją Potępienia, by mierzyć się z promieniowaniem, gniewem natury, zmutowanymi zwierzętami i jeszcze gorszymi niż one ludźmi.

First published in 1968, the book took third place Hugo Award for Novella. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Hell Tanner isn’t the sort of guy you’d mistake for a hero: he’s a fast-driving car thief, a smuggler, & a stone-cold killer. Facing life in prison for his various crimes, he’s given a choice: Rot away his remaining years in a tiny jail cell, or drive cross-country & deliver a case of antiserum to the plague-ridden people of Boston, Mass. The chance of a full pardon does wonders for getting his attention.

And don’t mistake this mission of mercy for any kind of normal road trip — not when there are radioactive storms, hordes of carnivorous beasts, & giant, mutated scorpions to be found along every deadly mile between LA & the East Coast. But then, this is no normal part of America, you see.

This is Damnation Alley.

Zeno represents Roger Zelazny in Translation, on behalf of the Zelazny Estate.

DIE GLOCKE VON WHITECHAPEL ring today!

Posted on Friday, May 24th, 2019

Fans of Ben Aaronovitch‘s Peter Grant series in Germany can rejoice! The wait is finally over: LIES SLEEPING is out today! Published in Germany by DTV as DIE GLOCKE VON WHITECHAPEL, here’s the synopsis…

Constable und Zauberlehrling Peter Grant steht vor seiner größten Herausforderung: Das Schicksal Londons steht auf dem Spiel. Der gesichtslose Magier, verantwortlich für grauenvolle übernatürliche Verbrechen, ist zwar endlich demaskiert und auf der Flucht. Doch er verfolgt einen perfiden Plan, der ganz London in den Abgrund stürzen könnte. Um den Gesichtslosen zu stoppen, muss Peter all seine magischen Kräfte aufbieten – und einen bösen alten Bekannten kontaktieren: Mr. Punch, den mörderischen Geist des Aufruhrs und der Rebellion.

This is the seventh novel in Ben’s Peter Grant/Rivers of London series, all of which have been published in Germany by DTV (including the novellas).

The novel and series is published in the UK by Gollancz. The series is published in North America by Del Rey (1-3), DAW Books (4-) and Subterranean Press (novellas). Here’s the English-language synopsis…

London under threat, and the scent of magic in the air… it must be a new Rivers of London mystery…

Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run.

Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan.

A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter’s going to need help from his former best friend and colleague – Lesley May – who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch…

CENTRAL STATION Nominated for Award in Spain!

Posted on Tuesday, May 21st, 2019

Lavie Tidhar‘s critically-acclaimed novel CENTRAL STATION has garnered another award nomination! This time, the Spanish-language edition (translated by Alexander Páez) has been nominated for Spain’s Kelvin 505 Award! The winner will be announced at the Celsius 232 convention on July 14th, 2019.

Published in Spain as ESTACIÓN CENTRAL, by Alethé, here’s the synopsis…

Una diáspora mundial ha dejado un cuarto de millón de personas a los pies de una estación espacial. Las culturas chocan en la vida real y en la virtual. La vida apenas tiene valor, y la información tiene incluso menos.

Mucho ha cambiado cuando Boris Chong vuelve de Marte a Tel Aviv. La examante de Boris está criando a un extraño y familiar niño que puede meterse en el torrente de información con el simple roce de un dedo. Su prima está enamoradísima de un robotnik: un soldado ciborg destrozado que necesita mendigar piezas de repuesto. Su padre tiene una enfermedad terminal, una plaga mental multigeneracional. Y una atormentada vampira informática ha seguido a Boris a un lugar al que tiene prohibido volver.

Alzándose sobre todos ellos está la Estación Central, el núcleo interplanetario en medio de todo: la Tel Aviv con sus constantes cambios; una potente arena virtual y las colonias espaciales donde la humanidad se ha marcado para escapar de los estragos de la pobreza y la guerra. Todo está conectado por los Otros, poderosas entidades alienígenas que, a través de la Conversación (un torrente inestable de conciencia) suponen el inicio de un cambio irreversible.

En la Estación Central, los humanos y las máquinas siguen adaptándose, prosperando e incluso… evolucionando.

The novel has the following award wins and nominations…

2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner
2018 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award Winner
2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award, Shortlist
2016 British Science Fiction Award, Longlist
2017 Geffen Award nominee, Best Translated Science Fiction Book
2019 Premio Italia, Best International Novel, Finalist (Italy)
2019 Kurd Laßwitz Preis Shortlist (Germany)

CENTRAL STATION is published in English by Tachyon Publications, and has been published widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper.

When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris’s ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik — a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return.

Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation — a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness — are just the beginning of irrevocable change.

At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive… and even evolve.

The cover is by Sarah Anne Langton, and it also has racked up some awards and nominations…

2016 British Science Fiction Award Best Cover Illustration
Chesley Award, Best Cover Illustration
2017 British Fantasy Society – Shortlist for Best Artist

Anne Griffin’s WHEN ALL IS SAID now available in Lithuania!

Posted on Monday, May 20th, 2019

WHEN ALL IS SAID, Anne Griffin‘s best-selling, critically-acclaimed and award-nominated debut novel, is available now in Lithuania! Published by Tyto Alba as KAI VISKAS PASAKYTA, here’s the synopsis…

Tikriausiai dėl pasakotojo, kuriam neįmanoma atsispirti, – Moriso Henigeno, išdidaus 84 metų airio. Tai ne pasigailėtinas senukas, o žmogus, nugyvenęs ilgą ir garbingą gyvenimą. Gyvenimą, vertą istorijos.

Jis sėdi prie baro viešbutyje, vienas kaip visuomet. Šis vakaras ypatingas. Šiandien Morisas turi tikslą ir planą. Bet pirmiausia mes turime išgirsti jo istoriją.

Prisėskite šalia.

Šį vakarą Morisas penkis kartus pakels savąjį stiklą už žmones, kurie jo gyvenime buvo svarbiausi. Penki tostai – penkios istorijos apie laimę, kuri taip ir liko neišsakyta, apie netektis, apie kerštą ir neapykantą, visą gyvenimą rusenusią po pelenais, apie meilę, apie ištikimybę. Apie godumą, turtą ir atleidimą.

Moriso Henigeno gyvenimas buvo ilgas ir turiningas. Tai gyvenimas stipraus vyro, mokėjusio mylėti ir neapkęsti, gailėtis ir valdyti, iškęsti vargą ir nepriteklius. Nemokėjo jis tik vieno – kalbėti apie tai, ką jaučia, bet šiandien jo žodžiai liete liejasi.

WHEN ALL IS SAID is published in the UK by Sceptre, in North America by St. Martin’s Press, and is also available in a growing number of translated editions. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime.

‘I’m here to remember – all that I have been and all that I will never be again.’

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual -though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories – of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice – the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare.

Heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said.

Here’s just a small selection taken from the aforementioned critical acclaim the novel has enjoyed since release…

‘A hugely enjoyable, engrossing novel, a genuine page-turner.’ — Donal Ryan

‘An extraordinary novel, a poetic writer, and a story that moved me to tears.’ — John Boyne

‘Griffin is a magical storyteller whose prose is effortless and clear. She conjures an intimate, poignant and ultimately enthralling portrait of a man who has battled loneliness and other demons throughout his life.’ — Fanny Blake

‘Anne Griffin’s debut novel is a must read. Beautifully observed, masterful story telling – stunning!’ — Graham Norton

‘[An] impressively confident debut … Maurice Hannigan emerges as an engaging, compassionate creation’ — Guardian

‘Pitch-perfect prose… Moving and beautifully written, this is a wonderfully assured debut.’ — Mail on Sunday

‘It’s all beautifully done; a tale told in the plain but poetic prose of a man who recognises the tragic truths gleaned from a life of love and loss. A gem of a book.’ 5* — Sunday Express

‘A proper tear-jerker, but one that will ultimately leave you feeling hopeful.’ — Grazia

‘Griffin’s portrait of an Irish octogenarian provides a stage for the exploration of guilt, regret, and loss, all in the course of one memorable night.’ — Kirkus

‘Maurice’s humor, his keen observations on class and family, and his colloquial language, as well as Griffin’s strong sense of place, create the feeling of a life connected to many others by strands of affection and hatred.’ — Publishers Weekly

Ian McDonald’s MOON RISING out now in Italy!

Posted on Thursday, May 9th, 2019

MOON RISING, the third novel in Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed Luna series, is out now in Italy! Published by Urania/Mondadori as LUNA CRESENTE, here’s the synopsis…

Alla fine del penultimo capitolo di questa appassionante space opera, abbiamo lasciato Lucas Corta, dato per morto ma ritornato sulla Luna dopo aver stretto alleanze sulla Terra, deciso più che mai a reclamare la propria vendetta e il controllo del satellite.

L’unica persona in grado di fermarlo non sarà uno degli altri “dragoni”, i clan che si contendono il dominio lunare, ma sua sorella Ariel…

I recensori internazionali hanno plaudito anche a questo ultimo capitolo della saga, non risparmiandosi lodi per l’abilità di “creatore di mondi” di McDonald, e facendogli un unico appunto: il libro fa fatica a stare in piedi da solo e può essere apprezzato pienamente solo da chi si è goduto i precedenti volumi della serie.

Urania has also published the first two novels in the series: LUNA NUOVA (NEW MOON) and LUNA PIENA (WOLF MOON).

The series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in the US by Tor Books, and widely in translation. 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 Luna 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

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights on MOON RISING

‘… 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

‘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

‘No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does… 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… McDonald’s corporate war is a gorgeous thing, fought with every tool available… Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR 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

‘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

‘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 on NEW MOON

Ian is also the author of the Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novella TIME WAS, published by Tor.com.

Czech edition of RIVERS OF LONDON now available from Audible

Posted on Friday, May 3rd, 2019

The Czech translation of Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON is now available as an audiobook from Audible! Published by Tympanum as ŘEKY LONDÝNA, here’s the synopsis…

Jmenuji se Peter Grant. Ještě nedávno jsem byl obyčejný četnický zelenáč v řadách londýnské Metropolitní policie. Jedné noci jsem se ale při vyšetřování jisté vraždy pokusil získat svědeckou výpověď od muže, který byl sice mrtvý, ale jinak znepokojivě výřečný, což mi zajistilo pozornost vrchního inspektora Nightingalea, posledního čaroděje Anglie. A právě tehdy začal můj příběh.

Nyní jsem policejní detektiv a čarodějův učeň, první učedník za padesát let, a můj svět už není zdaleka tak jednoduchý, jak býval. Jedna z nejúspěšnějších městských fantasy uplynulého desetiletí vás zavede do Londýna, ve kterém u policie slouží čarodějové a po ulicích se prohánějí zlovolní duchové či božstva na válečné stezce.

The novel is also published in print in Czechia by Argo, as are books 2-6 in the series (more to come!).

RIVERS OF LONDON and the other novels in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London series are published in the UK by Gollancz; in the US by Del Rey (1-3), DAW Books (4-) and Subterranean Press (novellas); and widely in translation around the world.

In case you haven’t had the chance to read RIVERS OF LONDON, yet, here’s the English-language synopsis…

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit – we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to – and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I’m a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden… and there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it’s falling to me to bring order out of chaos – or die trying.

And last but by no means least: don’t miss the news that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have option the Rivers of London series!

A new French ISLE OF THE DEAD!

Posted on Thursday, May 2nd, 2019

Today, Mnémos publishes a new French edition of Roger Zelazny‘s classic ISLE OF THE DEAD! Available in France as L’ÎLE DES MORTS, here’s the synopsis…

Bien que son corps soit celui d’un homme jeune, Francis Sandow est le doyen de l’espèce humaine. Il a exercé la fascinante profession d’astro-façonneur, devenant l’un des hommes les plus fortunés de la galaxie. Mais surtout, il est l’un des vingt-six Noms vivants, car en lui réside la personnalité du dieu Shimbo.

Sur un monde qu’il a façonné, Francis Sandow a édifié un étrange sanctuaire : l’Île des Morts. Depuis ce lieu, un inconnu rappelle à la vie plusieurs de ses amis et ennemis trépassés. Contraint d’abandonner son monde de luxe et d’oisiveté, il prend conscience qu’il devra affronter le danger le plus mortel de sa très longue existence…

Nominated for the Nebula Award for best novel when it was first published (in 1969), here’s the English-language synopsis for ISLE OF THE DEAD…

Centuries in the future, Francis Sandow is the only man alive who was born as long ago as the 20th century. His body is kept young and in perfect health by advanced scientific methods; he has amassed such a fortune that he can own entire planets; and he has become a god. No, not a god of Earth, but one of the panetheon of the alien Pei’ans: he is Shimbo of Darktree, Shrugger of Thunders. Yet he doesn’t believe that his personality has merged with the ancient consciousness of Shimbo, that he really can call down the skies upon his enemies.

The time comes, however, when Francis Sandow must use these powers against the most dangerous antagonist in the universe: another Pei’an god — Shimbo’s own enemy, Belion. And Belion has no doubt whatever of his own powers…

Zeno represents Roger Zelazny in Translation, on behalf of the Zelazny Estate.

This July, the DRACHENMOND rises in Germany!

Posted on Thursday, April 25th, 2019

In July, Heyne are due to publish the German edition of Ian McDonald‘s third Luna novel, MOON RISING! Here is the synopsis for DRACHENMOND…

Einhundert Jahre in der Zukunft: Die fünf Drachen, die einflussreichen Familienclans, haben die Herrschaft über den Mond unter sich aufgeteilt. Aber jedes Haus will noch ein wenig mehr Macht, ein wenig mehr Einfluss an sich reißen – und dazu ist ihnen jedes Mittel recht: Eheschließungen, Verschwörungen, Erpressung und sogar Mord. Doch dann taucht ein neuer Spieler auf dem politischen Parkett der Mondgesellschaft auf – und aus im Verborgenen geführten Scharmützeln wird offener Krieg…

Heyne has also published the first two novels in the series in Germany: LUNA and WOLFSMOND.

The critically-acclaimed Luna series — NEW MOON, WOLF MOON and MOON RISING — is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis for the third novel…

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 is just a small selection taken from the fantastic 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

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights on MOON RISING

‘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

‘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

‘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

‘A Howling Good Read… 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… McDonald’s corporate war is a gorgeous thing, fought with every tool available… McDonald is able to wrap the biggest events in constellations of the smallest so that a cocktail party here, a discussion of ’80s retro fashion (all mall-hair and WHAM! T-shirts), a love story and a day at work for a guy who cleans solar panels all build and coalesce to form the background radiation of life in this unstable future. Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR 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

This May, the Bells of Whitechapel will ring… in Germany

Posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2019

We’ve had a lot of Ben Aaronovitch news recently, including the announcement of a mega new deal with Orion for four more books in the Peter Grant series. However, there are also great things to announce for Ben’s non-English-speaking fans. Today, as you can see above, we have the details and cover (above) for the German edition of LIES SLEEPING, the sixth novel in the series!

Due to be published on May 24th by DTV, here’s the synopsis for DIE GLOCKE VON WHITECHAPEL…

Constable und Zauberlehrling Peter Grant steht vor seiner größten Herausforderung: Das Schicksal Londons steht auf dem Spiel. Der gesichtslose Magier, verantwortlich für grauenvolle übernatürliche Verbrechen, ist zwar endlich demaskiert und auf der Flucht. Doch er verfolgt einen perfiden Plan, der ganz London in den Abgrund stürzen könnte. Um den Gesichtslosen zu stoppen, muss Peter all seine magischen Kräfte aufbieten – und einen bösen alten Bekannten kontaktieren: Mr. Punch, den mörderischen Geist des Aufruhrs und der Rebellion.

LIES SLEEPING is already out in the UK and North America — published by Gollancz and DAW Books, respectively. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run.

Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan.

A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter’s going to need help from his former best friend and colleague – Lesley May – who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch…

DTV has published all of Ben’s Peter Grant books in Germany.

Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION nominated for Kurd Laßwitz Preis in Germany!

Posted on Friday, April 12th, 2019

Hot on the heels of the CENTRAL STATION nomination for the Premio Italia Award, Lavie Tidhar‘s novel has also been nominated for the Kurd Laßwitz Preis for Best Foreign Science-Fiction!

The novel is published by Heyne in Germany. Here’s the synopsis…

Die Menschheit ist ins All aufgebrochen. Der Mars wurde besiedelt, der Asteroidengürtel wird ausgebeutet, und virtuelle Spielewelten haben sich zu Paralleluniversen entwickelt. Die Menschheit ist fortschrittlicher, schillernder und kaputter denn je. In dieser Zukunft kommt Boris Chong nach langjähriger Abwesenheit vom Mars zurück auf die Erde zur Central Station — um einen seit Generationen andauernden Familienfluch abzuwenden, um einer alten Liebe wiederzubegegnen, und um vielleicht sein Schicksal zu finden.

This is just the latest nomination for CENTRAL STATION, which has been praised far and wide. Just look at this list of commendations…!

2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner
2018 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award Winner
2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award, Shortlist
2016 British Science Fiction Award, Longlist
2017 Geffen Award nominee, Best Translated Science Fiction Book
2019 Premio Italia, Best International Novel, Finalist
2019 Kurd Laßwitz Preis Shortlist

NPR Best Books of 2016
Amazon Featured Monthly Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
Barnes and Noble Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016
2016 Locus Recommended Reading List Winner

The novel is published in English by Tachyon Publications. Here’s the synopsis…

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper.

When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris’s ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik — a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return.

Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation — a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness — are just the beginning of irrevocable change.

At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive… and even evolve.

The English-language cover, but Sarah Anne Langton, has also racked up some nominations and wins…!

2016 British Science Fiction Award Best Cover Illustration
Chesley Award, Best Cover Illustration
2017 British Fantasy Society – Shortlist for Best Artist

WHEN ALL IS SAID out now in the Netherlands!

Posted on Tuesday, April 9th, 2019

Already a best-seller in Ireland, and a critical success on both sides of the Pond, Anne Griffin‘s debut novel, WHEN ALL IS SAID is now available in the Netherlands! Published in Dutch by Harper Collins as ALS ALLES IS GEZEGD, here’s the synopsis…

Als je vijf mensen zou moeten opnoemen die het belangrijkst zijn geweest in je leven, wie zou je dan kiezen? Als je op ieder van hen een toost zou uitbrengen, wat zou je dan zeggen? En wat zou je over jezelf te weten komen als alles is gezegd en gedaan?

Op een avond in juni bestelt de vierentachtigjarige Maurice Hannigan vijf drankjes aan de bar van een hotel. Met elk drankje heft hij het glas op iemand die belangrijk voor hem is geweest. Zijn jonggestorven broer, zijn complexe schoonzus, zijn dochtertje dat slechts vijftien minuten oud werd, zijn zoon in het verre Amerika en zijn geliefde vrouw. Door deze mensen, die hem inmiddels allemaal hebben verlaten, vertelt hij zijn levensverhaal, met alle spijt, ruzies, vreugde en liefde die erbij horen.

Maurice Hannigan heft nog vijf keer het glas op zijn leven.

Published in the UK by Sceptre and in North America by St. Martin’s Press, here’s the English-language synopsis…

Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime.

‘I’m here to remember — all that I have been and all that I will never be again.’

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual -though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories — of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice — the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare.

Heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said.

We’re pleased to re-state, also, that there are more editions of the novel on the way. Keep your eyes on our news- and Twitter feeds for more information. We’ll share it as soon as we have it.

Here is just a small selection of that praise that the novel has enjoyed since it was made available to readers, reviewers and fellow authors…

‘Griffin’s portrait of an Irish octogenarian provides a stage for the exploration of guilt, regret, and loss, all in the course of one memorable night.’ — Kirkus

‘Anne Griffin’s debut novel is a must read. Beautifully observed, masterful story telling – stunning!’ — Graham Norton

‘An extraordinary novel, a poetic writer, and a story that moved me to tears… There is something special here.’ — John Boyne

‘Maurice’s humor, his keen observations on class and family, and his colloquial language, as well as Griffin’s strong sense of place, create the feeling of a life connected to many others by strands of affection and hatred.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘Beautiful. Intimate. Tearful. Aching and lyrical. So simply and beautifully told.’ — Louise Penny

‘Pitch-perfect prose… Moving and beautifully written, this is a wonderfully assured debut.’ — Mail on Sunday

‘The most impressive aspects of this first novel from the pen of prize-winning short-story writer Anne Griffin are its rich, flowing prose, its convincing voice, and its imaginative and clever structure. She has complete mastery of her quite complex plot, and manages to imbue her sizeable cast of diverse characters with life and energy… Griffin is a writer of unusual confidence and authority, and a welcome arrival to the literary scene.’ — Irish Times

‘It’s all beautifully done; a tale told in the plain but poetic prose of a man who recognises the tragic truths gleaned from a life of love and loss. A gem of a book.’ 5* — Sunday Express

‘A proper tear-jerker, but one that will ultimately leave you feeling hopeful.’ — Grazia

Anne Griffin’s TOUTE UNE VIE ET UN SOIR out now in France!

Posted on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019

Anne Griffin‘s debut novel, WHEN ALL IS SAID is out now in France! Published by Delcourt as TOUTE UNE VIE ET UN SOIR, here’s the synopsis…

Dans une bourgade du comté de Meath, Maurice Hannigan, un vieux fermier, s’installe au bar du Rainsford House Hotel. Il est seul, comme toujours – sauf que, ce soir, rien n’est pareil : Maurice, à sa manière, est enfin prêt à raconter son histoire. Il est là pour se souvenir — de tout ce qu’il a été et de tout ce qu’il ne sera plus. Au fil de la soirée, il veut porter cinq toasts aux cinq personnes qui ont le plus compté pour lui. Il lève son verre à son grand frère Tony, à l’innocente Noreen, sa belle-soeur un peu timbrée, à la petite Molly, son premier enfant trop tôt disparu, au talent de son fils journaliste qui mène sa vie aux États-Unis, et enfin à la modestie de Sadie, sa femme tant aimée, partie deux ans plus tôt. Au fil de ces hommages, c’est toute une vie qui se révèle dans sa vérité franche et poignante…

WHEN ALL IS SAID is out now in the UK, published by Sceptre; and in North America, published by St. Martin’s Press. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime.

‘I’m here to remember — all that I have been and all that I will never be again.’

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual -though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories — of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice — the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare.

Heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said.

Be sure to keep your eyes on our news- and Twitter feeds for information about other upcoming translations of the novel.