International Editions - Zeno Agency Ltd.

Charlie Human’s APOCALYPSE NOW NOW Arrives Tomorrow in Japan

Posted on Friday, March 20th, 2015

Tomorrow, Charlie Human‘s mind-bending, gonzo debut urban fantasy novel, APOCALYPSE NOW NOW, is released in Japan. Published by Tokyo Sogensha as 鋼鉄の黙示録, here’s the Japanese synopsis, followed by the English-language synopsis…

ケープタウンに住む高校生のバクスターは失踪した恋人を探すうちに、超常現象専門の賞金稼ぎローニンと出会う。どうやら恋人は、この街に実在する異形の怪物たちにさらわれたらしい。しかも事件にはバクスターの血筋に連なる異能者や、政府の秘密諜報機関までもが関わっているという。調査を進めるバクスターたちの行く先々で、銃弾と呪術が乱れ飛び、ゾンビやロボットが大暴れ……　イギリスＳＦ界を騒然とさせたデビュー作！

I love the smell of parallel dimensions in the morning…

Baxter Zevcenko’s life is pretty sweet. As the 16-year-old kingpin of the Spider, his smut-peddling schoolyard syndicate, he’s making a name for himself as an up-and-coming entrepreneur. Profits are on the rise, the other gangs are staying out of his business, and he’s going out with Esme, the girl of his dreams.

But when Esme gets kidnapped, and all the clues point towards strange forces at work, things start to get seriously weird. The only man drunk enough to help is a bearded, booze-soaked, supernatural bounty hunter that goes by the name of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Ronin.

Plunged into the increasingly bizarre landscape of Cape Town’s supernatural underworld, Baxter and Ronin team up to save Esme. On a journey that takes them through the realms of impossibility, they must face every conceivable nightmare to get her back, including the odd brush with the Apocalypse.

APOCALYPSE NOW NOW is published in the UK by Century Books; South Africa by Umuzi/Random Struik; and is due to be published in the US by Titan Books soon (cover reveal next week). The sequel, KILL BAXTER, is also published or due to be published by the same publishers.

Here’s just a small selection of the incredible reviews APOCALYPSE NOW NOW has received…

‘It’s mad, dark, irreverent and wonderfully twisted in all the right ways.’ — Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls

‘Brilliantly entertaining.’ — British Fantasy Society

‘… a riot – a firebomb of a novel, exploding with sick humour, violence and depravity… it’s never less than very funny, and the ongoing question of Baxter’s sanity adds a degree of mystery. There’s warmth here, too – you’ll likely feel sympathy for Bax by the end.’ — SFX Magazine

‘Think Lauren Beukes meets Neil Gaiman, with bounty hunters.’ — Wired (UK)

Two More Zelazny Novels Coming to China!

Posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2015

Today we can share two more Chinese-language covers, this time for Roger Zelazny‘s LORD OF LIGHT (above) and CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS (below). Both books will be published later this year by the Beijing Publishing United Co., Ltd.

LORD OF LIGHT won the Hugo Award and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 1968. The novel is published in the UK by Gollancz, as part of the SF Masterworks series. Here’s the synopsis…

One of the very best must-read SF novels of all time.

Imagine a distant world where gods walk as men, but wield vast and hidden powers. Here they have made the stage on which they build a subtle pattern of alliance, love, and deadly enmity. Are they truly immortal? Who are these gods who rule the destiny of a teeming world?

Their names include Brahma, Kali, Krishna and also he who was called Buddha, the Lord of Light, but who now prefers to be known simply as Sam. The gradual unfolding of the story — how the colonization of another planet became a re-enactment of Eastern mythology — is one of the great imaginative feats of modern science fiction.

Here’s the synopsis for CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS, which is currently published in English by Eos…

Two gods, two houses, one quest, and the eternal war between life and death

To save his kingdom, Anubis, Lord of the Dead, sends forth his servant on a mission of vengeance. At the same time, from The House of Life, Osiris sends forth his son, Horus, on the same mission to destroy utterly and forever The Prince Who Was a Thousand.

But neither of these superhuman warriors is prepared for the strange and harrowing world of mortal life, and The Thing That Cries in the Night may well destroy not only their worlds, but all mankind.

As Zelazny did with the Hindu pantheon in the legendary, groundbreaking classic Lord of Light, the master storyteller here breathes new life into the Egyptian gods with another dazzling tale of mythology and imagination.

Both novels were first published by Doubleday – LORD OF LIGHT in 1967, and CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS in 1969. We’ve included the original covers for the two novels, and also the most recent English-language editions, below.

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

German eBook Cover for Lavie Tidhar’s THE BOOKMAN

Posted on Monday, July 7th, 2014

Continuing our coverage of our clients’ foreign editions, today we have the German cover for Lavie Tidhar‘s THE BOOKMAN in eBook. Published by Fahrenheit Books, it is the first novel in Lavie’s Bookman Histories, published in the UK and US by Angry Robot Books. Here’s the German synopsis…

Als die Frau, die er liebt, in seinen Armen stirbt, beschließt Orphan, seine Lucy zu rächen und aus dem Reich der Toten zurückzuholen. Doch seine Reise in die viktorianische Unterwelt ist mehr als riskant: Dort herrscht der Bookman, der gefährlichste Terrorist Londons. Er ist schuld an Lucys Tod und steht kurz davor, das englische Königshaus zu stürzen und eine vernichtende Rebellion über das Reich zu bringen. Orphan beschließt, den Bookman aufzuhalten – und deckt dabei die unglaublichste Verschwörung auf, die das Ewige Empire je gesehen hat … Lavie Tidhar schöpft aus allem, was Literatur, Steampunk und Science-Fiction zu bieten haben, und schafft damit ein atemberaubendes phantastisches Abenteuer!

The eBook is also, currently, available for just €0.99!

Lavie’s latest novel is THE VIOLENT CENTURY, published in the UK by Hodder Books. His next opus is A MAN LIES DREAMING, coming later this year also from Hodder Books.

New International Covers for Ian Tregillis!

Posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2014

Ian Tregillis‘s Milkweed Triptych has been praised far and wide – by critics, contemporaries and almost everyone at his publisher! We are very pleased, therefore, to share with you information about and artwork for the growing number of international editions. All three novels in the trilogy – BITTER SEEDS, THE COLDEST WAR and NECESSARY EVIL – are out now in the UK, published by Orbit Books.

First, we have a complete set of German covers, published by Festa Verlag, an acquisition we announced back in February…

Next, here are the French, Polish and Latvian covers for BITTER SEEDS…

BITTER SEEDS is published in France by Eclipse, Poland by MAG, and Latvia by Ventspils Biblioteka. We’ll share the next covers for these territories as soon as they are unveiled.

And, finally, we have an Italian cover for Ian’s supernatural noir thriller, SOMETHING MORE THAN NIGHT, published by Asengard…

Ian’s next novel, THE MECHANICAL, is due out in the UK in November 2014, and will also be published by Orbit Books. It is the first in a new, exciting fantasy-steampunk series.

Zeno represents Ian Tregillis in the UK/Commonwealth and translation, on behalf of Kay McCauley at Aurous, Inc.

Two New International Editions of Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON

Posted on Monday, June 16th, 2014

Ben Aaronovitch‘s conquest of the literary world continues! Today, we share with you two more international covers for his debut Peter Grant novel, RIVERS OF LONDON – this time, for the Korean and Russian markets. As you can see, they are two very different takes on the novel, but are both striking and eye-catching.

RIVERS OF LONDON is published in Russia by Fantastika as Реки Лондона; and is due to be published in Korea by Hyundae Munhak as 런던의 강들, in 2015. The novel has been widely published around the world. In the UK, it (and the rest of the series so far) has been published by Gollancz. The novel was published in the US as MIDNIGHT RIOT, by Del Rey Books.

In the unlikely event that you have somehow managed to miss this series, here is the synopsis for RIVERS OF LONDON…

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 (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 voluable, 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.