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ICYMI: Watch the BEST OF WORLD SF Event!

Posted on Friday, June 18th, 2021

To celebrate the release of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, a superb collection of science fiction stories from around the world, edited by Lavie Tidhar, Head of Zeus CEO and publisher Nicolas Cheetham hosted Tidhar, and anthology contributors Lauren Beukes, Francesco Verso, Taiyo Fujii and R.S.A. Garcia for a discussion about the book and the international science fiction scene.

The anthology is out now in the UK and North America, published by Head of Zeus’s Aries imprint. Here’s the full synopsis…

Twenty-six new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.

The future is coming. It knows no bounds, and neither should science fiction.

They say the more things change the more they stay the same. But over the last hundred years, science fiction has changed. Vibrant new generations of writers have sprung up across the globe, proving the old adage false. From Ghana to India, from Mexico to France, from Singapore to Cuba, they draw on their unique backgrounds and culture, changing the face of the genre one story at a time.

Prepare yourself for a journey through the wildest reaches of the imagination, to visions of Earth as it might be and the far corners of the universe. Along the way, you will meet robots and monsters, adventurers and time travellers, rogues and royalty.

In The Best of World SF, award-winning author Lavie Tidhar acts as guide and companion to a world of stories, from never-before-seen originals to award winners, from twenty-three countries and seven languages. Because the future is coming and it belongs to us all.

Here’s the table of contents:

‘Immersion’ by Aliette de Bodard
‘Debtless’ by Chen Qiufan (trans. from Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks)
‘Fandom for Robots’ by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
‘Virtual Snapshots’ by Tlotlo Tsamaase
‘What The Dead Man Said’ by Chinelo Onwualu
‘Delhi’ by Vandana Singh
‘The Wheel of Samsara’ by Han Song (trans. from Chinese by the author)
‘Xingzhou’ by Yi-Sheng Ng
‘Prayer’ by Taiyo Fujii (trans. from Japanese by Kamil Spychalski)
‘The Green Ship’ by Francesco Verso (trans. from Italian by Michael Colbert)
‘Eyes of the Crocodile’ by Malena Salazar Maciá (trans. from Spanish by Toshiya Kamei)
‘Bootblack’ by Tade Thompson
‘The Emptiness in the Heart of all Things’ by Fabio Fernandes
‘The Sun From Both Sides’ by R.S.A. Garcia
‘Dump’ by Cristina Jurado (trans. from Spanish by Steve Redwood)
‘Rue Chair’ by Gerardo Horacio Porcayo (trans. from Spanish by the author)
‘His Master’s Voice’ by Hannu Rajaniemi
‘Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys’ by Nir Yaniv (trans. from Hebrew by Lavie Tidhar)
‘The Cryptid’ by Emil H. Petersen (trans. from Icelandic by the author)
‘The Bank of Burkina Faso’ by Ekaterina Sedia
‘An Incomplete Guide…’ by Kuzhali Manickavel
‘The Old Man with The Third Hand’ by Kofi Nyameye
‘The Green’ by Lauren Beukes
‘The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir’ by Karin Tidbeck
‘Prime Meridian’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘If At First You Don’t Succeed’ by Zen Cho

Here are some links to sample some of what’s included in the anthology…

An excerpt from Lavie’s introduction to the book
Tlotlo Tsamaase’s story: ‘Virtual Snapshots’
An excerpt from Chen Qiufan’s story: ‘Debtless’

Finally, here are just a few of the great reviews the collection has received…

‘Rare and wonderful’ — The Times

‘This excellent anthology proves editor Tidhar’s assertion that science fiction should no longer be thought of as “white, male, and American” with 26 exemplary stories from 21 countries… Worthwhile both as a survey of international sci-fi and on a story-by-story level, this wonderful anthology should be a hit with any sci-fi fan.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Vital and exciting, THE BEST OF WORLD SF blows the blast panels off the dusty, well-worn tropes of popular science fiction and lets in a dazzling burst of lunar light.’ — Foreword Review

‘There is not a poor story here… nice balance between light and harder stories… IMMERSION by Aliette de Bodard reads like hard Sci Fi but digs a little deeper… As a group, the stories on offer within THE BEST OF WORLD SF Volume 1 are so strong… This is a great introduction to what the rest of the world has to offer.’ — SF Book Reviews

‘Stories like these are the ones you sometimes want to foist upon readers who claim not to like SF, and The Best of World SF: Volume 1 reminds us that such stories can come from anywhere these days, if only we get to see them. I look forward to future volumes.’ — Locus (Gary K. Wolfe)

‘In addition to being an award-winning sci-fi writer, Israeli-born UK-based Lavie Tidhar is also a tireless champion of international sci-fi… an excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated.’ — Financial Times

‘Now this book exists, it feels absurd it didn’t exist sooner… hefty, beautifully presented collection… an excellent samples and delight in itself… fizzes with great ideas and wonderful writing.’ — SFX (5*)

‘[Tidhar] is really a pioneer… He was looking at writers from Malaysia, from Africa, from China, from Japan when no one was really doing that. You might get some stories here and there from other parts of the world. But the way that he constructed this global structure of science fiction and looked at science fiction not as a monoculture but as a vibrant sphere for people to speak from all over the world, and the promotion he gave that over the long term and pushing it on and on in an independent space, is exciting to see and inspiring.’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia

ICYMI: THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 Out Now in North America!

Posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2021

In case you missed it, THE BEST OF WORLD SF, VOLUME 1 is out now in North America! Published by Head of Zeus, the critically-acclaimed collection is edited by Lavie Tidhar, and contains 26 stories by authors from around the world. Here’s the synopsis…

Twenty-six new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.

The future is coming. It knows no bounds, and neither should science fiction.

They say the more things change the more they stay the same. But over the last hundred years, science fiction has changed. Vibrant new generations of writers have sprung up across the globe, proving the old adage false. From Ghana to India, from Mexico to France, from Singapore to Cuba, they draw on their unique backgrounds and culture, changing the face of the genre one story at a time.

Prepare yourself for a journey through the wildest reaches of the imagination, to visions of Earth as it might be and the far corners of the universe. Along the way, you will meet robots and monsters, adventurers and time travellers, rogues and royalty.

In The Best of World SF, award-winning author Lavie Tidhar acts as guide and companion to a world of stories, from never-before-seen originals to award winners, from twenty-three countries and seven languages. Because the future is coming and it belongs to us all.

Here’s the table of contents:

‘Immersion’ by Aliette de Bodard
‘Debtless’ by Chen Qiufan (trans. from Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks)
‘Fandom for Robots’ by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
‘Virtual Snapshots’ by Tlotlo Tsamaase
‘What The Dead Man Said’ by Chinelo Onwualu
‘Delhi’ by Vandana Singh
‘The Wheel of Samsara’ by Han Song (trans. from Chinese by the author)
‘Xingzhou’ by Yi-Sheng Ng
‘Prayer’ by Taiyo Fujii (trans. from Japanese by Kamil Spychalski)
‘The Green Ship’ by Francesco Verso (trans. from Italian by Michael Colbert)
‘Eyes of the Crocodile’ by Malena Salazar Maciá (trans. from Spanish by Toshiya Kamei)
‘Bootblack’ by Tade Thompson
‘The Emptiness in the Heart of all Things’ by Fabio Fernandes
‘The Sun From Both Sides’ by R.S.A. Garcia
‘Dump’ by Cristina Jurado (trans. from Spanish by Steve Redwood)
‘Rue Chair’ by Gerardo Horacio Porcayo (trans. from Spanish by the author)
‘His Master’s Voice’ by Hannu Rajaniemi
‘Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys’ by Nir Yaniv (trans. from Hebrew by Lavie Tidhar)
‘The Cryptid’ by Emil H. Petersen (trans. from Icelandic by the author)
‘The Bank of Burkina Faso’ by Ekaterina Sedia
‘An Incomplete Guide…’ by Kuzhali Manickavel
‘The Old Man with The Third Hand’ by Kofi Nyameye
‘The Green’ by Lauren Beukes
‘The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir’ by Karin Tidbeck
‘Prime Meridian’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
‘If At First You Don’t Succeed’ by Zen Cho

If you’d like to sample some of the anthology, check out the following links…

An excerpt from Lavie’s introduction to the book
Tlotlo Tsamaase’s story: ‘Virtual Snapshots’
An excerpt from Chen Qiufan’s story: ‘Debtless’

Here, too, are just a few of the great reviews the collection has received…

‘Rare and wonderful’ — The Times

‘This excellent anthology proves editor Tidhar’s assertion that science fiction should no longer be thought of as “white, male, and American” with 26 exemplary stories from 21 countries… Worthwhile both as a survey of international sci-fi and on a story-by-story level, this wonderful anthology should be a hit with any sci-fi fan.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Vital and exciting, THE BEST OF WORLD SF blows the blast panels off the dusty, well-worn tropes of popular science fiction and lets in a dazzling burst of lunar light.’ — Foreword Review

‘There is not a poor story here… nice balance between light and harder stories… IMMERSION by Aliette de Bodard reads like hard Sci Fi but digs a little deeper… As a group, the stories on offer within THE BEST OF WORLD SF Volume 1 are so strong… This is a great introduction to what the rest of the world has to offer.’ — SF Book Reviews

‘Stories like these are the ones you sometimes want to foist upon readers who claim not to like SF, and The Best of World SF: Volume 1 reminds us that such stories can come from anywhere these days, if only we get to see them. I look forward to future volumes.’ — Locus (Gary K. Wolfe)

‘In addition to being an award-winning sci-fi writer, Israeli-born UK-based Lavie Tidhar is also a tireless champion of international sci-fi… an excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated.’ — Financial Times

‘Now this book exists, it feels absurd it didn’t exist sooner… hefty, beautifully presented collection… an excellent samples and delight in itself… fizzes with great ideas and wonderful writing.’ — SFX (5*)

‘[Tidhar] is really a pioneer… He was looking at writers from Malaysia, from Africa, from China, from Japan when no one was really doing that. You might get some stories here and there from other parts of the world. But the way that he constructed this global structure of science fiction and looked at science fiction not as a monoculture but as a vibrant sphere for people to speak from all over the world, and the promotion he gave that over the long term and pushing it on and on in an independent space, is exciting to see and inspiring.’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia

THE LUNACY COMMISSION by Lavie Tidhar Out Now!

Posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2021

Lavie Tidhar‘s new short story collection, starring Wolf, THE LUNACY COMMISSION is out now! Published by JABberwocky, it is available in eBook and print-on-demand editions. Here’s the synopsis…

Lavie Tidhar’s ground-breaking, award winning novel A Man Lies Dreaming introduced Adolf Hitler as a down-at-heels private detective, forced to eke out a miserable living in 1930s London. Forgotten by history, the man now calling himself Wolf is the lowest of the low, suffering fresh humiliations at every turn.

Now Wolf is back, in five darkly comic new stories that see him take on blackmail, murder, and theft – not to mention his old comrades.

A brilliant alternate history noir with a heart, these stories are in turn shocking, horrifying and comic, as could only come from the mind of World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar.

Wolf is also the protagonist from Tidhar’s critically-acclaimed, award-winning A MAN LIES DREAMING, which is also published by JABberwocky in North America. The novel will be re-issued in the UK by Head of Zeus, on April 15th.

Both of the superb JABberwocky editions’ covers are by Sarah Anne Langton.

The eBook edition of THE LUNACY COMMISSION is available from all major retailers (POD edition via Amazon and Barnes & Noble):

UK: Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Google
US: Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble
Canada: Kobo

Lavie Tidhar: Writer in Residence!

Posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2021

We’re very happy to share the news that Lavie Tidhar has been appointed Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer-in-Residence at Richmond, the American International University in London! Lavie will be teaching for Richmond’s MA Film: Science Fiction & Fantasy storytelling classes.

Lavie is a prolific author of short fiction and novels, and has received an incredible number of awards and nominations across his work. His upcoming 2021 titles include THE LUNACY COMMISSION, THE HOOD, and THE ESCAPEMENT — published by JABberwocky, Head of Zeus (UK), and Tachyon Publications, respectively.

Other recent novels include CENTRAL STATION, UNHOLY LAND, and THE VIOLENT CENTURY — all published by Tachyon Publications.

The first novel in the author’s Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet, BY FORCE ALONE is out now, published by Head of Zeus (UK) and Tor Books (North America).

Coming Soon: New UK Edition of Lavie Tidhar’s Award-Winning OSAMA!

Posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2021

This September, Head of Zeus is due to published a new edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s World Fantasy Award-winning OSAMA! Here’s the synopsis…

A private detective is hired by a mysterious woman to find a man…

The quarry? An obscure author of pulp fiction novels featuring one Osama Bin Laden: Vigilante… Our detective pursues his quarry from the backwaters of Asia to the Capitals of Europe, the New World, and into a realm of shadows. Here he finds the refugees, ghostly entities haunting reality. Where do they come from? And what do they want?

In addition to winning the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, OSAMA has been acclaimed far and wide by critics and fans alike. Here are just a few examples of the reviews it’s received…

‘He is a political writer, an iconoclast and sometimes a provocateur … OSAMA is a remarkable and ambitious work.’ — China Mieville

‘… deserves to be widely read.’ — Adam Roberts

‘Not a writer to mess around with half measures … brings to mind Philip K Dick’s seminal science fiction novel The Man in the High Castle.’ — The Guardian

‘A provocative and fast moving tale that raises good questions not only about the heritage of Al Qaeda, but about the slippage between reality and sensational fiction that sometimes seems to define our own confused and contorted experience of the last couple of decades.’ — Gary K. Wolfe, Locus

‘A roller-coaster ride… [a] fabulous opium-soaked political thriller… pulls out all the stops.’ — Rolling Stone (Germany)

‘Moving seamlessly between intense realism and equally intense surrealism, OSAMA is a powerful and disturbing political fantasy by a talent who deserves the attention of all serious readers.’ — Strange Horizons

‘OSAMA is written with both an obvious affection for genre fiction and a sense of wild-eyed disbelief at the insanity of a world where people fly planes into skyscrapers. 4.5/5 stars.’ — SFX

‘Offers perhaps the weirdest fictional take yet on Osama Bin Laden in this offbeat and enigmatic thriller.’ — Publishers Weekly

Here are some of the covers for the various other editions of the novel that have been published so far…

Lavie Tidhar’s Acclaimed BY FORCE ALONE Now Available in North American Paperback Edition

Posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2021

A new paperback edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s acclaimed BY FORCE ALONE is now available in North America! Published by Tor Books, here’s the synopsis…

A retelling of Arthurian myth from World Fantasy Award-winner Lavie Tidhar…

Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.

The fact is they don’t know sh*t.

Arthur? An over-promoted gangster.
Merlin? An eldritch parasite.
Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer.
Britain? A clogged sewer that Rome abandoned just as soon as it could.

A savage and cutting epic fantasy, equally poetic and profane, By Force Alone is a magical adventure and a subversive masterwork.

BY FORCE ALONE is the first in the Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet. The novel is published in the UK by Head of Zeus. The second book in the quartet, THE HOOD, is due to be published in the UK in October 2021, also by Head of Zeus.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘Drawing on everything from wushu movies to The Wire by way of Tarkovsky and Tarantino, BY FORCE ALONE is wild, surprising and entertaining, and a hugely immersive read.’ — M.R. Carey

‘A twisted Arthur retelling mixing the historical and the magical with a very modern eye. Brutal and vicious, funny, Peaky Blinders of the Round Table.’ — Adrian Tchaikovsky

‘Profane, hilarious, brutal… kills as both sheer entertainment and canny political statement. To my fellow writers: the Arthurian Revision category is now closed. Take your ball and go home.’ — Daryl Gregory

‘Tidhar turns King Arthur’s court into a gangster’s paradise, full of wheelings and dealings, and true grit. If the tale didn’t go down like this, it should have.’ — Silvia Moreno-Garcia

‘Uther is a chancer and a shagger… [Arthur] is ruthless in pursuit of power… His Lancelot… is a ninja warrior, his Guinevere a killer — the writer is clearly having fun… Tidhar never lands direct political punches… but the very tone and shape of the book are a reminder that we need to treat national myths with caution… this is a novel that demands your attention and proves that sometimes when a writer has the audacity to revisit stories that others would avoid for fear of over-familiarity, they can steal the power of the oldest tales.’ — SFX (4.5*/5)

‘Tidhar saturates this epic adventure with profanity, dark humor, sword-sharp twists, and unexpected moments of pathos. Readers who hold King Arthur dear to their hearts will be gratified by Tidhar’s attention to detail amidst the innovation. This dark, imaginative take on a classic is sure to impress.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘One of the most purely enjoyable novels of the year, Lavie Tidhar’s BY FORCE ALONE, which reads very much like an Arthurian fantasy by someone who’s lost patience with Arthurian fantasies. With its punk, post-Brexit sensibility, its cavalier anachronisms, and genre-hopping that takes us everywhere from kung fu movies to Beowulf to the Strugatskys’ Roadside Picnic, it might well upset Arthurian purists, but is marvelous example of the anarchic possibilities of post-postmodern fantasy.’ — Locus

‘The novel is a bloody, bravura performance, which Tidhar pulls off with graphic imagery and modern vernacular… a salutary antidote to the more romantic glossings of recent modern fantasy.’ — Guardian

‘Tidhar’s previous work is filled to the brim with new and interesting takes on history and myth, and the results are always mesmerising. And of course, he’s taken something that’s been done way too many times and found a way to make it look new and interesting while still keeping its classic appeal… some truly staggering writing… if you’re looking for a new take on King Arthur and chums, then check this out.’ — Starburst

Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION Wins Chinese Nebula (Xingyun) Award!

Posted on Sunday, April 25th, 2021

We’re very happy to report that Lavie Tidhar‘s CENTRAL STATION has won another award! This time, it is for the Chinese translation, which has won the Chinese Nebula (Xingyun) Award for Best Translated Fiction! Translated by Chen Yang, and published in China by Citic, as 中央星站, here’s the synopsis…

基因孩子、节点人类、增强元人类、数据吸血鬼、机械改造人、弃物之王、造神艺术家…

特拉维夫、中央星站、耶路撒冷、汤圆城、月球港、波吕港…

地球、火星、美茹河星、谷神星、土卫六、初始太空、混沌宇宙…

在不太遥远的未来，一场世界范围内的大离散过后，二十五万人滞留中央星站。

城市破败，科技失控，生命廉价，数据泛滥，地球沦为宇宙中的垃圾场。

在遭受战争、离散、数据和科技入侵、“人”的定义饱受质疑。

生活在这里的各色“人类”继续着他们的进化…

CENTRAL STATION has won a tremendous number of awards (always room for more, though), including John W. Campbell Award (2017) and
the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award in Speculative Fiction (2018). It also landed on many end-of-year best of lists. The English-language cover, but Sarah Anne Langton, also won the Chelsey Award for Best Cover Illustration.

CENTRAL STATION is published in English by Tachyon Publications. 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.

Tachyon also publishes Lavie’s acclaimed UNHOLY LAND and THE VIOLENT CENTURY (North America edition).

If Chinese-speaking fans of Lavie’s work would like to know more about the book and the author, you can read two great interview with the author here:

Lavie’s latest novel is BY FORCE ALONE, the first novel in the author’s Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet, is published by Head of Zeus (UK) and Tor Books (North America). The second novel in the tetralogy is THE HOOD, which is due to be published later this year by Head of Zeus.

New North American Audio Editions of THE VIOLENT CENTURY and A MAN LIES DREAMING!

Posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2021

There are new North American audiobook editions of Lavie Tidhar‘s acclaimed novels THE VIOLENT CENTURY and A MAN LIES DREAMING available now! Published by Tantor Media, here are some details…

Published in print and eBook by Tachyon Publications, THE VIOLENT CENTURY is a superb reimagining of history if superheroes had been employed by global governments since World War II. The audiobook is narrated by Alex Wyndham. 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.

‘A brilliantly etched phantasmagoric reconfiguring of that most sizzling of eras – the twilight 20th… This book has it all: time travel, political intrigue, hellacious history… You’ve got superheroes in the guise of regular humans, you’ve got World War II … THE VIOLENT CENTURY is a torrid tour de force!’ — James Ellroy

‘Vintage Lavie, and also I think his most fully accomplished novel yet. Nobody rides that fast-rolling wave separating schlocky pulp and serious literary sensibilities so deftly as Tidhar. He manages to make serious points about the benighted twentieth-century and its obsession with ‘supermen’ without ever letting the narrative slacken or the adventure pale. If Nietzche had written an X-Men storyline whilst high on mescaline, it might have read something like THE VIOLENT CENTURY.’ — Adam Roberts, author of Jack Glass

‘Tidhar folds up history, translating fiction into reality and back, presenting it to the reader like a closely guarded secret… THE VIOLENT CENTURY ruminates on the concept of the superhero—a term which never appears in the novel—by pondering the question of heroism itself… a brilliant novel of ideas.’ — Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award-winning A MAN LIES DREAMING is published in North America by JABberwocky, and has been recently re-issued in the UK by Head of Zeus…

Since its original 2014 publication, A Man Lies Dreaming has been translated into multiple languages and gained a cult following for its dark humor, prescient politics, and powerful exploration of the impossibility of fantasy.

1939: Adolf Hitler, fallen from power, seeks refuge in a London engulfed in the throes of a very British Fascism. Now eking a miserable living as a down-at-heels private eye and calling himself Wolf, he has no choice but to take on the case of a glamorous Jewish heiress whose sister went missing.

It’s a decision Wolf will very shortly regret.

For in another time and place a man lies dreaming: Shomer, once a Yiddish pulp writer, who dreams lurid tales of revenge in the hell that is Auschwitz.

Prescient, darkly funny, and wholly original, the award-winning A Man Lies Dreaming is a modern fable for our time that comes “crashing through the door of literature like Sam Spade with a .38 in his hand” (Guardian).

‘Wild, noir-infused alternative history from genre-bender Tidhar… A wholly original Holocaust story: as outlandish as it is poignant.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘…savagely funny… A MAN LIES DREAMING, by the Israeli-born novelist Lavie Tidhar, has not been published with the fanfare bestowed on Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest or Howard Jacobson’s J, but it is their equal for savage humour… Those who enjoy laughter in the dark will relish Tidhar’s parade of mordant ironies… This novel is weird, upsetting, unmissable.’ 5* — Telegraph

‘No one can accuse Lavie Tidhar of being risk-averse… Tidhar reveals – as he did earlier in OSAMA and to some extent in THE VIOLENT CENTURY – that he’s really less interested in the mechanistic ‘‘what-ifs’’ of conventional alternate history than he is in the interpenetration of real and invented histories, or perhaps more grandiosely in the interpenetration of art and life – even the often-demeaned art of sensational fiction or (as in the case of THE VIOLENT CENTURY) comic books. This is what makes him such an interesting writer, and what makes A MAN LIES DREAMING quite a bit more complex than it at first appears… the novel is not without a fair amount of humor, and that might well be the boldest risk Tidhar is taking here…’ — Locus

‘The best book I read last year is A MAN LIES DREAMING by Lavie Tidhar, a form of fictional historiography based on a’ what if ‘principle. I love that, if it is done well and intelligently… It sounds ridiculous and it has certainly been written down with a great sense of irony, but at the same time it is so cleverly constructed and such a spectacular conclusion unfolds that you are going to take it all very seriously.’ — Sting (yes, that one) to Volksrant

New UK Edition of Lavie Tidhar’s A MAN LIES DREAMING out now!

Posted on Thursday, April 15th, 2021

A new edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s acclaimed, Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award-winning novel, A MAN LIES DREAMING is out now in the UK! Published by Head of Zeus (via the AdAstra imprint), here’s the synopsis…

1939. In a grotty corner of London, in a flat above a shop, a private eye known as Wolf keeps his office. The city is in the throes of a very British Fascism, and Wolf is far from the life he left behind in Germany, before the Fall. Business hasn’t been good, so when a glamorous Jewish heiress comes through his door, he has no choice but to take on her case.

It’s a decision Wolf will soon regret.

For in another time and place, a man lies dreaming. Once a Yiddish pulp writer, but now imprisoned in a hell of humanity’s making, Shomer creates lurid tales of revenge in his sleep…

Prescient, darkly funny and wholly original, the award-winning A Man Lies Dreaming is a modern fable for our time.

The novel is also available in North America, published by JABberwocky (with a great cover by Sarah Anne Langton).

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received since it was first published…

‘The best book I read last year is A MAN LIES DREAMING by Lavie Tidhar, a form of fictional historiography based on a’ what if ‘principle. I love that, if it is done well and intelligently… It sounds ridiculous and it has certainly been written down with a great sense of irony, but at the same time it is so cleverly constructed and such a spectacular conclusion unfolds that you are going to take it all very seriously.’ — Sting (yes, that one) to Volksrant

‘…savagely funny… A MAN LIES DREAMING, by the Israeli-born novelist Lavie Tidhar, has not been published with the fanfare bestowed on Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest or Howard Jacobson’s J, but it is their equal for savage humour… Those who enjoy laughter in the dark will relish Tidhar’s parade of mordant ironies… This novel is weird, upsetting, unmissable.’ 5* — Telegraph

‘Comes crashing through the door of literature like Sam Spade with a .38 in his hand. This is a shocking book as well as a rather brilliant one, and it treats the topic of genocide with a kind of energetic unseriousness… Tidhar’s novel treats its grim theme not as a comedy, although there is plenty of caustic humour, but instead as a pulp-noir tale of seamy city streets, gumshoes and lowlifes… Tidhar gets the outre tone just right: outrageous sex and violence related in a briskly workmanlike style. And Tidhar’s Hitler is a striking reimagination of that endlessly reimagined individual: twisted with hatred, doing good almost by accident… Tidhar, who cut his teeth in the world of genre SF, understands how eloquent pulp can be… [OSAMA] won the World Fantasy award. I wouldn’t be surprised to see A MAN LIES DREAMING repeat that achievement… Like Tarantino, Tidhar may find that some people don’t take him seriously. But the joke’s on them. Seriousness is the least of it: A MAN LIES DREAMING is a twisted masterpiece.’ — Guardian

‘Wild, noir-infused alternative history from genre-bender Tidhar… A wholly original Holocaust story: as outlandish as it is poignant.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘No one can accuse Lavie Tidhar of being risk-averse… Tidhar reveals – as he did earlier in OSAMA and to some extent in THE VIOLENT CENTURY – that he’s really less interested in the mechanistic ‘‘what-ifs’’ of conventional alternate history than he is in the interpenetration of real and invented histories, or perhaps more grandiosely in the interpenetration of art and life – even the often-demeaned art of sensational fiction or (as in the case of THE VIOLENT CENTURY) comic books. This is what makes him such an interesting writer, and what makes A MAN LIES DREAMING quite a bit more complex than it at first appears… the novel is not without a fair amount of humor, and that might well be the boldest risk Tidhar is taking here…’ — Locus

‘How does one write the Holocaust? This high-wire act of a book is his attempt. Does it work as pulp? Yes. It’s nasty, clever, waspish and witty. It finds room for guest appearances from Leni Riefenstahl, Ian Fleming and Evelyn Waugh and quotations from everyone from Chandler to Ukip… You turn the pages avidly. You read it for the pulp story. And you read it for the frame that surrounds it. And you can’t stop reading.‘ — Herald Scotland

Coming Soon: THE HOOD by Lavie Tidhar!

Posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2021

Announced recently by BookBrunch, we’re happy to report that Head of Zeus will be publishing Lavie Tidhar‘s THE HOOD — the second novel in his planned Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet. The fantastic cover is above. Due to be published on October 7th, 2021, here’s the synopsis…

A viscerally entertaining, ominously subversive and poetically profane remixing of the myths and legends that shaped our nation.

God bless you, England, on this glorious Year of Our Lord, 1145.

Don’t cross the Templars. Everybody knows that. But Will Scarlet, back from the crusades, hopped up on khat and cider, did. Stabbed thrice in the belly but somehow still alive, he’s heading home to Nottingham.

And things are not right in Nottingham.

It’s the wood, you see. Sherwood. Ice-age ancient, impenetrable, hiding a dark and secret heart. As the ancient sages say, If you go into the woods today, you may not come out tomorrow, and the person who comes out may not be you…

The Hood is Lavie Tidhar’s narcotic remix of an ancient English myth, a tale knotted from legends lost to time, shredded and restitched for each passing century. A tale for today.

So, what is the Anti-Matter Quartet of Britain? In the publisher’s announcement, we also got a little bit more information about the series as a whole…

The quartet explores the history and mythology of Britain through its most significant (and self-aggrandising) stories. Following the bloodied Dark Ages of King Arthur (BY FORCE ALONE, 2020), the second novel in the quartet focuses on an England in the grip of Norman rule, enmeshed in foreign wars, internal turmoil and battle between church and state. In such a world the people turn to yet another myth – of the lord of the Greenwood and his eternal May Queen. But myths will always let you down…

Playful, subversive, profane and hugely ambitious, the “Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet” is modern fantasy hacked and reinvented as only Lavie Tidhar can conceive it…

The first book in the series, BY FORCE ALONE, is out now — published by Head of Zeus in the UK, and Tor Books in North America.

Here are just a few of the reviews BY FORCE ALONE has received since it was first published…