Return to the universe of CENTRAL STATION in Lavie Tidhar‘s latest novel, NEOM — out today, published by Tachyon Publications! Here’s the synopsis…
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. Neom is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful; an urban sprawl along the Red Sea; and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Saleh has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world from Central Station. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business.
Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
The highly-acclaimed CENTRAL STATION was published in 2016, also by Tachyon Publications. With an award-winning cover by Sarah Anne Langton, the novel was also the John W. Campbell Award Winner, Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award Winner, Xingyun Award Winner; it was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Kurd Laßwitz Preis; longlisted for the British Science Fiction Award; was nominated for the Geffen Award (Best Translated Science Fiction Book); and it was a finalist for the Premio Italia, Best International Novel Award.
Here are just a few of the early reviews that NEOM has received so far…
‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind
‘Lavie Tidhar’s NEOM is a stunning return to his world of CENTRAL STATION, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea.’ — Green Man Review
‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — Speculative Shelf
Tachyon also publishes Lavie’s UNHOLY LAND, THE VIOLENT CENTURY, and THE ESCAPEMENT.
Next week, readers can return to the universe of CENTRAL STATION in Lavie Tidhar‘s latest novel, NEOM! Due to be published by Tachyon Publications, on November 8th, here’s the synopsis…
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. Neom is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful; an urban sprawl along the Red Sea; and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Saleh has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world from Central Station. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business.
Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
CENTRAL STATION was published in 2016, also by Tachyon Publications. With an award-winning cover by Sarah Anne Langton, the novel was also the John W. Campbell Award Winner, Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award Winner, Xingyun Award Winner; it was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Kurd Laßwitz Preis; longlisted for the British Science Fiction Award; was nominated for the Geffen Award (Best Translated Science Fiction Book); and it was a finalist for the Premio Italia, Best International Novel Award.
Here are just a few of the early reviews that NEOM has received so far…
‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind
‘Lavie Tidhar’s NEOM is a stunning return to his world of CENTRAL STATION, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea.’ — Green Man Review
‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — Speculative Shelf
To celebrate the release of NEOM (as well as the recent publication of MAROR and THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2), Lavie will be taking part in a number of events over the next few weeks. The date are below, with links for more details and information:
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 is out now in North America! Edited by Lavie Tidhar, it is published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra (the UK edition was published back in October). Here’s the synopsis…
Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.
The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection features twenty-nine stories, including eight written exclusively for this collection. This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.
Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar in a collection which traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some the most exciting voices writing today.
Here’s the full Table of Contents…
Nadia Afifi, THE BAHRAIN UNDERGROUND BAZAAR (Bahrain)
Lavanya Lakshminarayan, THE TEN-PERCENT THIEF (India)
Frances Ogamba, AT DESK 9501 (Nigeria) *
Isabel Yap, MILAGROSO (The Philippines)
Saad Z. Hossain, BRING YOUR OWN SPOON (Bangladesh)
Yukimi Ogawa, BLUE GREY BLUE (Japan)
Xing He, YOUR MULTICOLORED LIFE (China), trans. Andy Dudak
Nalo Hopkinson, THE EASTHOUND (Jamaica)
Pan Haitian, DEAD MAN, AWAKE, SING TO THE SUN! (China), trans. Joel Martinsen *
Jacques Barcia, SALVAGING GODS (Brazil)
Edmundo Paz Soldán, THE NEXT MOVE (Bolivia), trans. Jessica Sequeira *
Dilman Dila, THE CLAY CHILD (Uganda) *
Natalia Theodoridou, TO SET AT TWILIGHT IN A LAND OF REEDS (Greece)
Bef, THE BEAST HAS DIED (Mexico), trans. Brian L. Price
Alberto Chimal, TWENTY ABOUT ROBOTS (Mexico), trans. Fionn Petch
Wole Talabi, THE REGRESSION TEST (Nigeria),
William Tham Wai Liang, KAKAK (Malaysia)
Usman T. Malik, BEYOND THESE STARS OTHER TRIBULATIONS OF LOVE (Pakistan)
Julie Novakova, A FLAW IN THE WORKS (Czech Republic), trans. by author *
Cassandra Khaw, WHEN WE DIE ON MARS (Malaysia)
Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, THE MIGHTY SLINGER (Barbados/Grenada)
T.L. Huchu, CORIALIS (Zimbabwe)
Clelia Farris, THE SUBSTANCE OF IDEAS (Italy), trans. Rachel S. Cordasco
Agnieszka Hałas, SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Poland), trans. by author *
Samit Basu, WAKING NYDRA (India) *
Neon Yang, BETWEEN THE FIRMAMENTS (Singapore)
Bo-Young Kim, WHALE SNOWS DOWN (South Korea), trans. Sophie Bowman
Hassan Blasim, THE GARDENS OF BABYLON (Iraq), trans. Jonathan Wright
K.A. Teryna, THE FARCTORY (Russia), trans. Alex Shvartsman *
(Stories indicated with an * are original for this volume.)
Here are some of the reviews the first has volume received…
‘This handsome volume from Head of Zeus is a major step on a 45-year journey to bring global speculative fiction to Anglophone attention… The print edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF: Volume 1 is truly a thing of beauty, providing gravitas and a wider audience for the authors it collects… There are many striking stories in the collection… This anthology is just the start of a whole new game for speculative fiction authors around the world’ — LA Review of Books
‘An excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated’ — Financial Times
‘Tidhar gives a cheerful, fannish introduction to the stories, drawn from 26 countries on five continents, and encompassing a dizzying range of tones and approaches’ — The Times
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is also out now, available in paperback.
Lavie Tidhar has curated a new Story Bundle! This time, the collection has a Hollywood Horror theme. Here’s Lavie’s introduction to the collection…
Ah, Hollywood! The glitz, the glamour – the monsters! For Halloween this year I thought it would be fun to collect books with some connection to Tinseltown – whether by actors, screenwriters, books about the movies or those in development to become films and TV shows. It’s a mixed bag of fabulous! But all of it unsettling in some way. As the nights draw long and the frost settles on the windows and the wind howls mercilessly outside, what better time to settle down with a blanket and read some tales dark and grim?
So join me as we take a tour through worlds of ancient rockets and the devil, black and white monsters and deep hidden fungus, of vampires, fire-breathing giant lizards, horror film survivors and, of course, a dinosaur detective. Here is a mixture of novels and intelligent non-fiction, anthologies and novellas – the full gamut of the field spelled out in stars against a silver screen.
cue lights! Camera! … Aaaaand action!
In case you are not familiar with StoryBundle: you decide what price you want to pay, with more books available at certain amounts.
With the Hollywood Horror Bundle, for $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
Who Wants to be the Prince of Darkness? by Michael Boatman
Monsters From the Vault by Orrin Grey
The Cutting Room edited by Ellen Datlow
We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus seven more books for a total of 11!
Deep State by Christopher Farnsworth
The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes
Scream Queen by Edo van Belkom
Revenge of Monsters From the Vault by Orrin Grey
Ancient Rockets by Kage Baker, edited by Kathleen Bartholomew
Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow
The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar
If you are so moved, you can allocate some of what you pay for the bundle to go to Locus magazine.
The bundle is available until November 3rd.
As you can see, the bundle includes Lavie’s own THE VIOLENT CENTURY. Published by JABberwocky, here’s the synopsis…
A bold experiment has mutated a small fraction of humanity. Nations race to harness the gifted, putting them to increasingly dark ends. At the dawn of global war, flashy American superheroes square off against sinister Germans and dissolute Russians. Increasingly depraved scientists conduct despicable research in the name of victory
British agents Fogg and Oblivion, recalled to the Retirement Bureau, have kept a treacherous secret for over forty years. But all heroes must choose when to join the fray, and to whom their allegiance is owed — even for just one perfect summer’s day.
The cover for THE VIOLENT CENTURY is by the ever-excellent Sarah Anne Langton.
Lavie’s latest novel is MAROR, which is published by Head of Zeus. He also curated and edited the new THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2, which AdAstra published yesterday.
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 is out now in the UK! Edited by Lavie Tidhar, it is published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra. Here’s the synopsis…
Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.
The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection features twenty-nine stories, including eight written exclusively for this collection. This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.
Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar in a collection which traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some the most exciting voices writing today.
The collection will be published in North America on November 1st, also by Head of Zeus/AdAstra.
Here’s the full Table of Contents…
Nadia Afifi, THE BAHRAIN UNDERGROUND BAZAAR (Bahrain)
Lavanya Lakshminarayan, THE TEN-PERCENT THIEF (India)
Frances Ogamba, AT DESK 9501 (Nigeria) *
Isabel Yap, MILAGROSO (The Philippines)
Saad Z. Hossain, BRING YOUR OWN SPOON (Bangladesh)
Yukimi Ogawa, BLUE GREY BLUE (Japan)
Xing He, YOUR MULTICOLORED LIFE (China), trans. Andy Dudak
Nalo Hopkinson, THE EASTHOUND (Jamaica)
Pan Haitian, DEAD MAN, AWAKE, SING TO THE SUN! (China), trans. Joel Martinsen *
Jacques Barcia, SALVAGING GODS (Brazil)
Edmundo Paz Soldán, THE NEXT MOVE (Bolivia), trans. Jessica Sequeira *
Dilman Dila, THE CLAY CHILD (Uganda) *
Natalia Theodoridou, TO SET AT TWILIGHT IN A LAND OF REEDS (Greece)
Bef, THE BEAST HAS DIED (Mexico), trans. Brian L. Price
Alberto Chimal, TWENTY ABOUT ROBOTS (Mexico), trans. Fionn Petch
Wole Talabi, THE REGRESSION TEST (Nigeria),
William Tham Wai Liang, KAKAK (Malaysia)
Usman T. Malik, BEYOND THESE STARS OTHER TRIBULATIONS OF LOVE (Pakistan)
Julie Novakova, A FLAW IN THE WORKS (Czech Republic), trans. by author *
Cassandra Khaw, WHEN WE DIE ON MARS (Malaysia)
Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, THE MIGHTY SLINGER (Barbados/Grenada)
T.L. Huchu, CORIALIS (Zimbabwe)
Clelia Farris, THE SUBSTANCE OF IDEAS (Italy), trans. Rachel S. Cordasco
Agnieszka Hałas, SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Poland), trans. by author *
Samit Basu, WAKING NYDRA (India) *
Neon Yang, BETWEEN THE FIRMAMENTS (Singapore)
Bo-Young Kim, WHALE SNOWS DOWN (South Korea), trans. Sophie Bowman
Hassan Blasim, THE GARDENS OF BABYLON (Iraq), trans. Jonathan Wright
K.A. Teryna, THE FARCTORY (Russia), trans. Alex Shvartsman *
(Stories indicated with an * are original for this volume.)
Here are some of the reviews the first has volume received…
‘This handsome volume from Head of Zeus is a major step on a 45-year journey to bring global speculative fiction to Anglophone attention… The print edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF: Volume 1 is truly a thing of beauty, providing gravitas and a wider audience for the authors it collects… There are many striking stories in the collection… This anthology is just the start of a whole new game for speculative fiction authors around the world’ — LA Review of Books
‘An excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated’ — Financial Times
‘Tidhar gives a cheerful, fannish introduction to the stories, drawn from 26 countries on five continents, and encompassing a dizzying range of tones and approaches’ — The Times
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is also out now, available in paperback (UK and North America).
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 is due out in the UK in two weeks! have now been unveiled! To be published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra on October 13th, the volume is edited by award-winning author Lavie Tidhar. Here’s the synopsis…
Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.
The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection features twenty-nine stories, including eight written exclusively for this collection. This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.
Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar in a collection which traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some the most exciting voices writing today.
The collection will also be published in North America, on November 1st (also by AdAstra/Head of Zeus).
Here’s the full Table of Contents…
Nadia Afifi, THE BAHRAIN UNDERGROUND BAZAAR (Bahrain)
Lavanya Lakshminarayan, THE TEN-PERCENT THIEF (India)
Frances Ogamba, AT DESK 9501 (Nigeria) *
Isabel Yap, MILAGROSO (The Philippines)
Saad Z. Hossain, BRING YOUR OWN SPOON (Bangladesh)
Yukimi Ogawa, BLUE GREY BLUE (Japan)
Xing He, YOUR MULTICOLORED LIFE (China), trans. Andy Dudak
Nalo Hopkinson, THE EASTHOUND (Jamaica)
Pan Haitian, DEAD MAN, AWAKE, SING TO THE SUN! (China), trans. Joel Martinsen *
Jacques Barcia, SALVAGING GODS (Brazil)
Edmundo Paz Soldán, THE NEXT MOVE (Bolivia), trans. Jessica Sequeira *
Dilman Dila, THE CLAY CHILD (Uganda) *
Natalia Theodoridou, TO SET AT TWILIGHT IN A LAND OF REEDS (Greece)
Bef, THE BEAST HAS DIED (Mexico), trans. Brian L. Price
Alberto Chimal, TWENTY ABOUT ROBOTS (Mexico), trans. Fionn Petch
Wole Talabi, THE REGRESSION TEST (Nigeria),
William Tham Wai Liang, KAKAK (Malaysia)
Usman T. Malik, BEYOND THESE STARS OTHER TRIBULATIONS OF LOVE (Pakistan)
Julie Novakova, A FLAW IN THE WORKS (Czech Republic), trans. by author *
Cassandra Khaw, WHEN WE DIE ON MARS (Malaysia)
Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, THE MIGHTY SLINGER (Barbados/Grenada)
T.L. Huchu, CORIALIS (Zimbabwe)
Clelia Farris, THE SUBSTANCE OF IDEAS (Italy), trans. Rachel S. Cordasco
Agnieszka Hałas, SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Poland), trans. by author *
Samit Basu, WAKING NYDRA (India) *
Neon Yang, BETWEEN THE FIRMAMENTS (Singapore)
Bo-Young Kim, WHALE SNOWS DOWN (South Korea), trans. Sophie Bowman
Hassan Blasim, THE GARDENS OF BABYLON (Iraq), trans. Jonathan Wright
K.A. Teryna, THE FARCTORY (Russia), trans. Alex Shvartsman *
(Stories indicated with an * are original for this volume.)
Here are just a couple of the reviews the first has volume received…
‘This handsome volume from Head of Zeus is a major step on a 45-year journey to bring global speculative fiction to Anglophone attention… The print edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF: Volume 1 is truly a thing of beauty, providing gravitas and a wider audience for the authors it collects… There are many striking stories in the collection… This anthology is just the start of a whole new game for speculative fiction authors around the world’ — LA Review of Books
‘An excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated’ — Financial Times
‘Tidhar gives a cheerful, fannish introduction to the stories, drawn from 26 countries on five continents, and encompassing a dizzying range of tones and approaches’ — The Times
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is out now, available in paperback.
On October 13th, Head of Zeus are due to publish the second volume in the acclaimed, Lavie Tidhar-edited THE BEST OF WORLD SF series! Here’s the synopsis…
Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.
The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection of twenty-nine stories, including eight original and exclusive additions, represents the state of the art in international science fiction.
Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Grenada, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar. Taking us into space – Mars at first, then the stars – and then back to a strange, transformed Earth via AI, gods, aliens and the undead, the collection traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some of the most exciting voices writing today.
This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.
The first volume in the series is out now in paperback, also published by Head of Zeus.
‘Just the start of a whole new game for speculative fiction authors around the world’ — LA Review of Books
‘An excellent, lovingly curated collection’ — Financial Times
‘This wonderful anthology should be a hit with any sci-fi fan’ — Publishers Weekly
‘Tidhar gives a cheerful, fannish introduction to the stories, drawn from 26 countries on five continents, and encompassing a dizzying range of tones and approaches’ — The Times
‘An outstanding assortment of international sci-fi shorts… A bold and powerful argument for non-Anglophone SF’s potential to push the genre’s boundaries’ — Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Above, you can listen to the recent, great Lavie Tidhar interview on the Better Known from a couple of weeks ago!
Back in July, Lavie was also a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book show, in the “Ethics of Crime” episode. You can listen to that, too, below.
Lavie’s latest novel is MAROR, which is published by Head of Zeus and out now. Here’s the synopsis…
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. A double murder in Los Angeles.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for a country’s soul – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
The novel has been receiving a considerable number of great reviews, and here are just a few of them…
‘Some write in ink, others in song, Tidhar writes in fire… MAROR is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, immense in its sympathies, alarming in its irreverences and altogether exhilarating.’ — Junot Díaz
‘One of the boldest, most visionary writers I’ve ever read creates both a vivid political exploration and a riveting crime epic. It’s like the Jewish Godfather!’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘MAROR blends the page-turning wit of a hard-boiled detective noir with the stirring intrigue of a multi-national political epic. An ambitious achievement that weaves a tapestry of both story and statement.’ — Kevin Jared Hosein
‘A masterpiece of the sacred and the profane … a literary triumph.’ — Guardian
‘A bloody beast of a book… MAROR is to Israeli history what Tarantino is to American movie culture’ — Daily Mail
‘Radiant with all the brutally elegant atmosphere of crime noir, and the richly nuanced complexity and style of Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings, it’s a genre-busting novel that will catch your breath … At once illuminating, thrilling and thought-provoking, this tale of corruption, killings, sacrifice and the souls that make up a nation is a symphonic feat of fiction.’ — LoveReading
‘Who can forget the savage, musical James Ellroy prose circa the L.A. Quartet books? Now we have a successor … Lavie Tidhar, a marvelous multi-genre author who never fails to delight, has now penned his noir opus. MAROR is a heady, nonstop brew of terror, violence, and mayhem, while also exuding swathes of coursing humanity.’ — Read Listen Watch
‘An unforgettably powerful saga … a sweeping portrayal of violence, corruption and chaos threaded through by veins of humanity… It is difficult to do justice to such a monumental work. So many aspects of MAROR attract superlatives but they fail to convey the range and breathtaking insight of this epic crime novel. A book for all lovers of great literature.’ — Queensland Reviewers Collective
Lavie’s next novel is NEOM, which is due to be published by Tachyon Publications, in November.
Today, Neom is a utopian dream — a megacity of the future yet to be built in the Saudi desert. In this deeply imaginative novel from the award-winning universe of Central Station, far-future Neom is already old. Sentient machines roam the desert searching for purpose, works of art can be more deadly than weapons, and the spark of a long-overdue revolution is in the wind. Only the rekindling of an impossible love affair may slow the inevitable sands of time.
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. It is is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful, an urban sprawl along the Red Sea, and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Elias has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business. Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
Lavie Tidhar’s newest lushly immersive novel, Neom, which includes a guide to the Central Station universe, is at turns gritty, comedic, transportive, and fascinatingly plausible.
NEOM is also being met with a great amount of early praise. Here’s just some of the pre-release reviews and responses…
‘World Fantasy Award winner Tidhar takes readers back to the fascinating far-future world of 2016’s CENTRAL STATION in this gentle narrative about self-fulfillment and one robot’s quest to reunite with a lost love… Tidhar offers a heartfelt exploration of artificially intelligent beings’ struggles to find existential meaning while being restrained by both coding and form. Fans of literary sci-fi are sure to be enchanted by the imaginative worldbuilding and tenderly wrought characters.’ — Publishers Weekly
‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind
‘Lavie Tidhar’s NEOM is a stunning return to his world of CENTRAL STATION, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea.’ — Green Man Review
‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — Speculative Shelf
‘This is a book of hearts and of the heart, be it human or robot, and that is something that is universal, be it ourselves or in “the other”. The “other”, in Tidhar’s work, is us, and we are the other. We are all us, and in NEOM, we feel for that other, in the personage of the robots, in the human characters, and we take them, and their stories, into us.’ — File 770
‘A new novel set in the same universe as the multi-award winning CENTRAL STATION. Tidhar is a superb author, so it really doesn’t matter to me what he writes — I’ll still happily read it.’ — Civilian Reader
‘Another downloading from Tidhar’s fertile imagination. Science Fictional ideas and references spin off this in giddy profusion…As a writer Tidhar is frequently playful, allusive and self-referential…Tidhar has of late become fairly prolific. Perhaps he’s made good use of lockdown. NEOM shows there has been no drop-off in quality.’ — ParSec
MAROR, Lavie Tidhar‘s latest epic novel is out now! Published by Head of Zeus, it has been described as ‘a kaleidoscopic masterpiece’ (Junot Diaz) and ‘like the Jewish Godfather’ (Silvia Moreno-Garcia). Check out the synopsis…
A multi-generational saga with cultural and political depth, drawing on the rich, often troubling recent history of Israel, for fans of A History of Seven Killings or The White Tiger.
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. A double murder in Los Angeles.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for a country’s soul – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
Head of Zeus has also published some of Lavie’s other novels: OSAMA, A MAN LIES DREAMING, BY FORCE ALONE, and THE HOOD , as well as the THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 and (forthcoming) Volume 2, which Lavie edited.
Check out that pair of advance reviews of MAROR in full…
‘Some write in ink, others in song, Tidhar writes in fire… MAROR is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, immense in its sympathies, alarming in its irreverences and altogether exhilarating.’ — Junot Díaz
‘One of the boldest, most visionary writers I’ve ever read creates both a vivid political exploration and a riveting crime epic.’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘MAROR blends the page-turning wit of a hard-boiled detective noir with the stirring intrigue of a multi-national political epic. An ambitious achievement that weaves a tapestry of both story and statement.’ — Kevin Jared Hosein
The wait for Lavie Tidhar‘s latest epic novel is almost over: MAROR is due to be published next week by Head of Zeus! Check out the synopsis…
A multi-generational saga with cultural and political depth, drawing on the rich, often troubling recent history of Israel, for fans of A History of Seven Killings or The White Tiger.
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. A double murder in Los Angeles.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for a country’s soul – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
Check out this pair of advance reactions to the novel…
‘Some write in ink, others in song, Tidhar writes in fire… MAROR is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, immense in its sympathies, alarming in its irreverences and altogether exhilarating.’ — Junot Díaz
‘One of the boldest, most visionary writers I’ve ever read creates both a vivid political exploration and a riveting crime epic. It’s like the Jewish Godfather!’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Head of Zeus has also published some of Lavie’s other novels: OSAMA, A MAN LIES DREAMING, BY FORCE ALONE, and THE HOOD , as well as the THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 and (forthcoming) Volume 2, which Lavie edited.
We’re very happy to report that the full details of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 have now been unveiled! Following on from the success of the first volume in the series, this one is also edited by Lavie Tidhar, and is due to be published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra in the UK (October 13th) and North America (November 1st). Here’s the synopsis…
Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.
The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection features twenty-nine stories, including eight written exclusively for this collection. This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.
Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar in a collection which traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some the most exciting voices writing today.
Here’s the full Table of Contents…
Nadia Afifi, THE BAHRAIN UNDERGROUND BAZAAR (Bahrain)
Lavanya Lakshminarayan, THE TEN-PERCENT THIEF (India)
Frances Ogamba, AT DESK 9501 (Nigeria) *
Isabel Yap, MILAGROSO (The Philippines)
Saad Z. Hossain, BRING YOUR OWN SPOON (Bangladesh)
Yukimi Ogawa, BLUE GREY BLUE (Japan)
Xing He, YOUR MULTICOLORED LIFE (China), trans. Andy Dudak
Nalo Hopkinson, THE EASTHOUND (Jamaica)
Pan Haitian, DEAD MAN, AWAKE, SING TO THE SUN! (China), trans. Joel Martinsen *
Jacques Barcia, SALVAGING GODS (Brazil)
Edmundo Paz Soldán, THE NEXT MOVE (Bolivia), trans. Jessica Sequeira *
Dilman Dila, THE CLAY CHILD (Uganda) *
Natalia Theodoridou, TO SET AT TWILIGHT IN A LAND OF REEDS (Greece)
Bef, THE BEAST HAS DIED (Mexico), trans. Brian L. Price
Alberto Chimal, TWENTY ABOUT ROBOTS (Mexico), trans. Fionn Petch
Wole Talabi, THE REGRESSION TEST (Nigeria),
William Tham Wai Liang, KAKAK (Malaysia)
Usman T. Malik, BEYOND THESE STARS OTHER TRIBULATIONS OF LOVE (Pakistan)
Julie Novakova, A FLAW IN THE WORKS (Czech Republic), trans. by author *
Cassandra Khaw, WHEN WE DIE ON MARS (Malaysia)
Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, THE MIGHTY SLINGER (Barbados/Grenada)
T.L. Huchu, CORIALIS (Zimbabwe)
Clelia Farris, THE SUBSTANCE OF IDEAS (Italy), trans. Rachel S. Cordasco
Agnieszka Hałas, SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Poland), trans. by author *
Samit Basu, WAKING NYDRA (India) *
Neon Yang, BETWEEN THE FIRMAMENTS (Singapore)
Bo-Young Kim, WHALE SNOWS DOWN (South Korea), trans. Sophie Bowman
Hassan Blasim, THE GARDENS OF BABYLON (Iraq), trans. Jonathan Wright
K.A. Teryna, THE FARCTORY (Russia), trans. Alex Shvartsman *
(Stories indicated with an * are original for this volume.)
Here are some of the reviews the first has volume received…
‘This handsome volume from Head of Zeus is a major step on a 45-year journey to bring global speculative fiction to Anglophone attention… The print edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF: Volume 1 is truly a thing of beauty, providing gravitas and a wider audience for the authors it collects… There are many striking stories in the collection… This anthology is just the start of a whole new game for speculative fiction authors around the world’ — LA Review of Books
‘An excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated’ — Financial Times
‘Tidhar gives a cheerful, fannish introduction to the stories, drawn from 26 countries on five continents, and encompassing a dizzying range of tones and approaches’ — The Times
THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is out now, available in paperback.
This winter, Lavie Tidhar returns to the setting of his multi-award-winning CENTRAL STATION! The new novel, NEOM, is due to be published by Tachyon Publications in November. Here’s the synopsis…
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. Neom is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful; an urban sprawl along the Red Sea; and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Saleh has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world from Central Station. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business.
Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
Here are just a few of the early reviews the novel has received so far…
‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind
‘Lavie Tidhar’s NEOM is a stunning return to his world of CENTRAL STATION, twinning the fates of humans and robots alike at a futuristic city on the edge of the Red Sea.’ — Green Man Review
‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — Speculative Shelf
CENTRAL STATION was published in 2016, also by Tachyon Publications. With an award-winning cover by Sarah Anne Langton, the novel was also the John W. Campbell Award Winner, Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award Winner, Xingyun Award Winner; it was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Kurd Laßwitz Preis; longlisted for the British Science Fiction Award; was nominated for the Geffen Award (Best Translated Science Fiction Book); and it was a finalist for the Premio Italia, Best International Novel Award.
Tachyon also publishes Lavie’s UNHOLY LAND, THE VIOLENT CENTURY, and THE ESCAPEMENT.
Continuing our rather Lavie Tidhar-themed week, there is a new StoryBundle available featuring up to 12 of the author’s books! Comprised of a collection of award-winning novels and novellas, available individually via Tachyon Publications and the JABberwocky eBook Program, here’s what Lavie had to say about the bundle…
The real streets of Central Station in Tel Aviv inspired the novel of that name. Living on the Mekong in Vientiane inspired much of the atmosphere of GOREL & THE POT-BELLIED GOD, and a fascination with the game of poker led to the writing of THE BIG BLIND.
The world of UNHOLY LAND was much informed by the years I spent in south and east Africa, just as my adopted home city of London was a fundamental character in THE VIOLENT CENTURY and THE VANISHING KIND.
But I cannot, in truth, claim ever to have lived in the Doinklands of THE ESCAPEMENT.
These are some of my favourite novels and novellas of the past decade or so. I wrote them variously in Laos, in Israel, in Vanuatu and in London. A key part of UNHOLY LAND was written in Korea, at the Toji Cultural Centre whose founder, the author Pak Kyongni, inspired in turn the writing of NEW ATLANTIS.
The bundle includes my earliest novella, AN OCCUPATION OF ANGELS, with a brand-new edition and a cover by artist Paul McCaffrey, who worked with me on the graphic novel Adler. It also includes an exclusive sampler of my latest work, the forthcoming SF novel NEOM, which was inspired by my visits to Egypt over the years, and my dreams of what lay on the other side of the Red Sea.
The novel NEOM is Lavie’s latest novel, which is due to be published by Tachyon Publications in November 2022 — the bundle includes an exclusive teaser as a bonus. Here’s the synopsis…
The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. Neom is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful; an urban sprawl along the Red Sea; and a port of call between Earth and the stars.
In the desert, young orphan Saleh has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world from Central Station. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.
In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business.
Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.
The Bundle is live/available for the rest of June.
Lavie Tidhar‘s novella AN OCCUPATION OF ANGELS is out now! Published by JABberwocky, it is available as an eBook and print on demand. Here’s the synopsis…
A British secret agent is caught in a plot to assassinate archangels who settled Earth after WWII in this classic thriller from the World Fantasy Award winning author!
In 1945, the Archangels materialised over the battlefields of Europe, ushering in a new Cold War. Fifty years later, they are being killed off… one by one.
But who – or what – can kill an angel?
Killarney is a shadow executive for the Bureau, British Intelligence’s most secret organisation. She is the best – and she always works alone. Sent on a desperate mission to locate a missing cryptographer who may prove the key to the murders, Killarney finds herself running for her life, from London to Paris to Moscow, leading to a confrontation with a very human evil in the frozen wastelands of Novosibirsk.
Plagued by dreams of a different world, and haunted by a swastika adorned with angel wings, it could take all of Killarney’s resources to survive, when Heaven itself may be threatened, and God herself may be walking the earth…
‘Sharp, brutal, cool — yet also stunningly imaginative and perfectly realised.’ — Michael Marshall, bestselling author of The Straw Men trilogy
The paperback edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s THE HOOD is out this week! The second novel in the author’s acclaimed Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet, it is published by Head of Zeus, and will officially arrive in shops on June 9th. (If you’re lucky, you may find some out there already…)
God bless you, England, on this glorious Year of Our Lord, 1145.
Things are definitely not right in Nottingham. Rebecca, daughter of a Jewish money-lender, has a sense for it.
A mad monk schemes to resurrect the Christ from body parts. A bone harpist murders creatures of legend for a price. A fae creature binds its wings and embraces a new God and his son.
And don’t even mention the Hood. The Man in Green. The Prince of Thieves. The tick-tock taker of the ten-toll tax.
What hope have the series of sheriffs sent to hold the peace?
It’s the forest, you see. Sherwood. Ice Age ancient, impenetrable, hiding a dark and secret heart. But hearts, no matter how black, no matter how hidden, are not immune to change. The old world is dying… and a terrifying new one is waiting to take its place.
Rebecca senses an opportunity. But how far is she willing to go, and what price – because there is always a price – will she have to pay?
The Hood is Lavie Tidhar’s narcotic reweirding of an ancient English myth, a tale stitched together from legends lost to time, a tale told and retold, reworked and renewed for each passing century. A tale, reader, for today.
Head of Zeus also publish the first book in the series, BY FORCE ALONE, in the UK. (It is published in North America by Tor Books.) Head of Zeus also publishes Lavie’s novels OSAMA and A MAN LIES DREAMING; THE BEST OF WORLD SF Volumes 1 and 2 edited by Lavie; and also the upcoming novel MAROR.
Here are just a few of the great reviews THE HOOD has received so far…
‘A wild, inventive tapestry of myth and magic, with a wry sense of humor. Tidhar’s writing is wonderfully vibrant’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia, bestselling author of Mexican Gothic
‘[THE HOOD] offers a wealth of colorful tales and memorable characters, along with the usual unexpected walk-ons and guest stars. If it sometimes feels like a bunch of legends and historical events stirred together in a big pot, isn’t that pretty much what the Matter of Britain was in the first place?’ — Locus (Gary K. Wolfe)
‘Brilliant, restless revisionist gaze’ — Daily Mail
‘Reaches impressive levels of delirium.’ — The Times
‘This is a book to experience rather than to read, as every chapter and revisionist character expands into sheer, wonderful madness. One for the ages.’ — Crime Time (Book of the Month)
