We are delighted to announce début deals for not just one, but two of our talented young authors – namely Aliette de Bodard and Lavie Tidhar, both of whom have  just been snapped up by the exciting new genre imprint Angry Robot.

Aliette’s SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD is the first of three books sold to Angry Robot and Publishing Director Marc Gascoigne describes it thus : “… a wild mix of fantasy and crime novel, set in Aztec times. In this alternate world, though, the gods are real and stalk the temples, demanding sacrifices from the people. Amidst the bloodletting, a serial killer appears to be getting away with murder – but how do you find a murderer in a world where the streets themselves are awash with blood?”

SERVANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD is due for publication in Spring 2010 and two further novels set in the same world will follow in due course.

Aliette’s is  a name already known to many through her wonderful short fiction (she was a nominee for this year’s Campbell Award and is a Writers of the Future winner) and her deserved good fortune came about through a curious incident of her being in the wrong place at the right time.  Stuck in Calgary an extra night due to a flight delay following last year’s World Fantasy Convention, she found herself passing time at with an equally delayed agent – Zeno’s own John Berlyne –  and Angry Robot‘s Marc Gascoigne. “It was a bit cheeky of us to cajole her into pitching there and then,” says Gascoigne, ” but I’m very glad she did. We’re always looking for interesting new books to publish, but that day it was like the ancient gods themselves had all conspired to bring us to that spot! These are wonderful books, full of wild fantasy and cunning detection, and I’m so proud and pleased we’ll be publishing them.”

Angry Robot have also acquired via John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, three books from rising star Lavie Tidhar, an author described by LOCUS as “an emerging master”.

Tidhar’s THE BOOKMAN is a steampunk adventure described by Angry Robot‘s Marc Gascoigne as an “… exciting mix of Victorian culture and anachronistically advanced technology. In THE BOOKMAN, a shadowy terrorist of that name brings London society practically to a standstill by placing bombs inside books. After several atrocities against London’s theatres, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack on the blessing of the launch of the first expedition to Mars. For young poet Orphan, whose girlfriend is killed in that blast, it is the start of an epic adventure that will bring him face-to-face not only with the master-criminal but his own lost past.” THE BOOKMAN will be published by Angry Robot in Spring 2010 and will run to at least two further volumes.

Tidhar looks to have a busy year ahead with a number of short stories in the pipeline for publication and a novella, CLOUD PERMUTATIONS due from the award winning British small press PS Publishing, these following in the footsteps of his recently released collaboration with fellow Israelli author Nir Yaniv, THE TEL AVIV DOSSIER which was published to enthusiastic reviews by ChiZine.