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Zeno Clients & Titles on the Locus 2023 Recommended Reading List!

Posted on Wednesday, February 7th, 2024

Locus Magazine released their February 2024 issue, which includes their annual Recommended Reading List, covering 2023 releases. We’re very happy to report that a number of Zeno clients and titles are featured on the list. Check out below for more information on each of the featured titles.

SF Novel

Aliette de Bodard, A FIRE BORN OF EXILE (Gollancz/JABberwocky)

The Scattered Pearls Belt is a string of habitats under tight military rule… where the powerful have become all too comfortable in their positions, and their corruption. But change is coming, with the arrival of Quynh: the mysterious and enigmatic Alchemist of Streams and Hills.

To Minh, daughter of the ruling prefect of the Belt, Quynh represents a chance for escape. To Hoà, a destitute engineer, Quynh has a mysterious link to her own past… and holds a deeper, more sensual appeal. But Quynh has her own secret history, and a plan for the ruling class of the Belt. A plan that will tear open old wounds, shake the heavens, and may well consume her.

A beautiful exploration of the power of love, of revenge, and of the wounds of the past, this fast-paced, heartwarming standalone space opera is set against a backdrop of corruption, power, and political scheming in the far reaches of the Xuya universe, also home to the Arthur C. Clarke Award-shortlisted The Red Scholar’s Wake.

Ian McDonald, HOPELAND (Gollancz/Tor Books)

Hopeland is not a nation. It is not a cult. It is not a religion.

Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family.

When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a London riot, she sets in motion a series of events which will span decades, continents and a series of events which will change the world.

Amon falls in love in that moment of chaos, but being loved by him can have a cost. And while Raisa has Hopeland, Amon has a family of his own, and they have their own secrets.

From rioting London to geothermal Iceland to the climate-struck islands of Polynesia, from birth to life to death, from tranquillity to terror to joy, Raisa’s journey will encompass the world. But one thing will always be true.

Hopeland is family.

Lavie Tidhar, THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD (Tachyon)

Caught between realities, a mathematician, a book dealer, and a mobster desperately seek a notorious book that disappears upon being read. Only the author, a rakish sci-fi writer, knows whether his popular novel is truthful or a hoax. In a story that is cosmic, inventive, and sly, multi-award-winning author Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) travels from the emergence of life to the very ends of the universe.

Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn’t supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. Oskar Lens, a science fiction-obsessed mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, will stop at nothing to find the novel. After Delia’s husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer.

The infamous novel Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley’s novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system. But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?

Fantasy Novel

Jonathan Carroll, MR. BREAKFAST (Melville House)

Graham Patterson’s life has hit a dead end. His career as a comedian is failing. The love of his life recently broke up with him and he literally has no idea what to do next. With nothing to lose, he buys a new car and hits the road, planning to drive across country and hopefully figure out his next moves before reaching California.

But along the way Patterson does something his old self would never have even considered: he gets tattooed by a brilliant tattoo artist in North Carolina. The decision sets off a series of extraordinary events that changes his life forever in ways he never could have imagined. Among other things, Patterson is gifted with the ability to see in real time three different lives that are available to him. The choice is his: The life he is leading right now, or two very different ones. In all of them there is love or fame and of course danger because once he has chosen, there is no telling what will happen next.

Mr. Breakfast is a dazzling, absorbing and deeply moving novel about the choices that we have to confront and face, confirming Jonathan Carroll’s status as one of our greatest and most imaginative storytellers.

Tim Powers, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER (Ad Astra)

Howarth, 1846.

In a parsonage at the edge of the moors, a widowed rector lives with his family: three daughters and their dissolute brother, Bramwell.

Though the future will celebrate Charlotte, Emily and Anne, right now they are unknown, their genius concealed. In just a few short years they will all be dead, and it will be middle sister Emily’s chance encounter with a grievously wounded man on the moor that sets them on the path to their doom.

For there is an ancient pagan secret haunting the moors, a dark inheritance in the family bloodline and something terrible buried under an ogham-inscribed slab in the church. Not only are their lives at stake, but their very souls.

My Brother’s Keeper is an atmospheric gothic novel that mixes diabolical hatred and vengeance with the supreme power of love to conjure dark magic from the tragic fate of the Brontë sisters.

Horror Novel

Grady Hendrix, HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE (Titan UK)

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Mostly, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. But she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

Some houses don’t want to be sold…

Collections

Ian R. MacLeod, RAGGED MAPS (Subterranean Press)

From furthest reaches of deep space in “The Memory Artist” to the jungles of Yucatan in “Lamagica,” and from the strange suburbia of “Stuff” to a Vatican where a dying pope awaits deliverance in “Sin Eater,” the worlds mapped out by these stories range far and wide.

As, from the mythic ancient city of “The God of Nothing” to the post-human futures of “Ephemera” and “The Fall of the House of Kepler,” via alternate pasts and some very twisted presents in such tales as “Selkie,” “The Mrs Innocents” and “The Chronologist,” do the times.

What holds all these pieces together, including the gripping long new novelette “Downtime” and its vision of a near-future penal system, are vivid writing, strong characters and a sense of awe and surprise. On travels that will take you from cluttered attics and strange shorelines to star-flung civilisations and beyond, let Ian R. MacLeod be your guide.

Anthologies

Lavie Tidhar (ed.), THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 3 (Ad Astra)

The third annual instalment to the ‘excellent, lovingly curated’ (Financial Times) The Best of World SF series

The Best of World SF series is a fixture on the global science fiction scene. If you want to find the most exciting SF authors writing today, look no further.

In this third instalment, you’ll discover alien artists, rioting dinosaurs, shape-shifting rabbits, heartbreak-harvesting cafes and one robot on a quest for meaning. You will be transported to the stars and back down to Earth and sideways, with the order of the world turned upside down.

Featuring authors from Austria, Bulgaria, China, Finland, Ghana, Greece, India, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore and South Africa, this collection’s stories have been selected by award-winning writer, editor and World SF expert Lavie Tidhar.

The most exciting science fiction on the planet comes from all corners of the globe. And it’s all in the Best of World SF series.

Short Stories

Aliette de Bodard, “The Mausoleum’s Children“ (Uncanny 5-6/23)

A Couple Great Reviews of JAMES P. BLAYLOCK’s PENNIES FROM HEAVEN

Posted on Friday, December 8th, 2023

Just a quick post, today, to draw your attention to two recent reviews of James P. Blaylock‘s latest novel, PENNIES FROM HEAVEN. The novel is published by PS Publishing in the UK (above, left), and JABberwocky (above, righ) in North America. Before the reviews, though, here’s the synopsis…

With a 100-year storm threatening the southern California coast, Jane Larkin is approached by a strange, audacious woman who wants to invest much-needed money in Jane’s Old Orange Co-op. Meanwhile Jane’s husband Jerry discovers an ancient excavation beneath the Larkin home. On that ominous morning in autumn, shadows descend over the deceptively quiet neighborhoods of Old Orange, ushering in a flood of chaos, terror, and murder.

Ian Hunter had this to say about the novel, for the British Fantasy Society (who also included a nice mention for Tim Powers, who we also represent in the UK and Commonwealth)…

‘I would urge you to check both Blaylock and [Tim] Powers out if you haven’t already, as what we get here is another fantastic treat… Blaylock delivers a tale that is fun, fast and as furious as the storm that is gathering, populated by a great cast of main and supporting characters, ingenious plotting, a well-rounded sense of place, punctuated by desperate measures, dastardly deeds and a seasoning of black humour, oh, and a cute dog, which all adds up to an entertaining read. If you haven’t read Blaylock before – and he has published novels regularly since the early 1980s – this might be the perfect place.’

And here’s Paul Di Filippo, for Locus Magazine…

‘A new novel from Blaylock is a major occasion… With PENNIES, Blaylock is back in contemporary times, in the setting he loves so deeply and limns so well, small-town California… authentic pathos, romance, and comedy… The supernatural elements in the book are vital and well done (the eventual capture of the ghost is colorful and ingenious), but the spook stuff takes a backseat to the human dynamics, the caper aspect and the interpersonal hijinks. Blaylock has always had an affection for eccentrics, misfits and visionaries, and while Jane and Jerry are more “normal” and wholesome than his typical cast, they qualify as non-whitebread souls. As for Phibbs, Blaylock succeeds in creating a true monster. PENNIES is very cinematic… until Hollywood smartens up and drops bushels of money on Blaylock, you can run this great screwball caper as often as you want, in your own head!’

If you prefer your fiction delivered through your ears, PENNIES FROM HEAVEN is also available as an audiobook, published by W.F. Howes.

Zeno Clients Well-Represented on Locus 2021 Recommended Reading List!

Posted on Monday, February 7th, 2022

Last week, Locus released their 2021 Recommended Reading List, and we’re very happy to report that six titles by Zeno clients were included! We thought we’d take this opportunity to highlight these titles, below…

Lavie Tidhar appeared three times on the list. His two novels from last year, THE ESCAPEMENT and THE HOOD were both included in the Novels: Fantasy list. THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1, which Lavie curated and edited, also appeared on the Anthologies list.

THE ESCAPEMENT is published by Tachyon Publications, with a Special Edition also available from PS Publishing. In addition to appearing on this list, it was recently announced as a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award. Here’s the synopsis…

Into the Escapement rides the Stranger, a lone gunman on a quest to rescue his son in a strange parallel reality. But it is easy to lose one’s way on an endlessly shifting, unpredictable landscape. Especially in a place full of dangerous mirror-images of a child’s beloved things: lawless heroes, giants made of stone, downtrodden clowns, spectacular symbol storms, and an endless war between gods and shadowy beings.

As the Stranger has learned, the Escapement is a dreamscape of deep mysteries, unlikely allies, and unwinnable battles. Yet the flower the he seeks still lies beyond the Mountains of Darkness. Time is running out as the Stranger journeys deeper into the secret heart of an unimaginable world.

In his most compelling work to date, Lavie Tidhar has delivered a multicolored tapestry of dazzling imagery. The Escapement is an epic, wildly original chronicle of the extraordinary lengths to which one will go for love.

THE HOOD is the second novel in Lavie’s acclaimed Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet, and is published by Head of Zeus.

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.

An acclaimed collection of science fiction from around the world, THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is also published by Head of Zeus. (We’ll have details of Volume 2 to share with you soon.)

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.

Aliette de Bodard also appears multiple times on the list. Her latest novella, FIREHEART TIGER continues to rack up plaudits, praise, and commendations, and is a recommended Novella from last year. Published by Tor.com, here’s the synopsis…

Fire burns bright and has a long memory…

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate — and her own?

Published in the September/October 2021 issue of Uncanny Magazine, Aliette’s MULBERRY AND OWL was also included in the Novellete list. The story can be read for free now, on the magazine’s website.

Year of the Âm Dragon, fifth year of the Peaceful Harmony Empress, Great Mulberry Nebula

Thuỷ stood in her cabin in The Goby in the Well, her bots arrayed on her shoulders and clinging to her wrists, and watched the heart of the nebula…

Hot on the heels of winning the Goodreads Choice Award for Horror, Grady Hendrix‘s THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP has also been selected for Locus’s Horror Recommended Reading list. Published in the UK by Titan Books, here’s the synopsis…

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized — someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

Zeno represents Grady Hendrix in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Jonathan Carroll & Aliette de Bodard are Lead Interviews in Latest Locus!

Posted on Monday, March 1st, 2021

Just a very quick post to draw your attention to the latest issue of Locus Magazine: Jonathan Carroll and Aliette de Bodard are the lead interviews! The issue is out now.

In addition to his published work, and publishing in the time of COVID, Jonathan Carroll discusses his latest novel: MR. BREAKFAST, which has already been published in Italy and Poland…

It’s a kind of a combination of Borges’s ‘Garden of Forking Paths’ and that film Sliding Doors. In so many cases, so many people’s lives would have been profoundly different if they’d taken a little step to the left or to the right. We don’t think about that, because we’re so fixed on right now and this moment…

Aliette de Bodard discusses her published work — which includes, most recently, FIREHEART TIGER (Tor.com) — and also the importance of parent-child relationships in fiction, and the desire to break the moulds of certain story tropes and frameworks.

Now I think, ‘You know what? Where is it written that a story has to work that way?’ I read a book that suggested putting ‘Where is it written?’ in front of everything you think is a given. If you can pull it off, you can do anything.

The March 2021 issue of Locus Magazine is out now.

McDonald, de Bodard and Lafferty are Locus Award Finalists!

Posted on Monday, June 8th, 2020

We are delighted to share the news — in case you missed it — that Ian McDonald, Aliette de Bodard and R.A. Lafferty are all finalists in this year’s Locus Awards! Congratulations for these very well deserved nominations! Winners of the awards will be announced on June 27th.

Read on for some more details.

Ian’s third Luna novel, MOON RISING, is nominated for Best Science Fiction novel. Published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely in translation, here’s the synopsis…

The continuing saga of the Five Dragons, Ian McDonald’s fast-paced, intricately plotted space opera pitched as Game of Thrones meets The Expanse

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.

Aliette’s Xuya acclaimed collection OF WARS, AND MEMORIES, AND STARLIGHT is nominated for Best Collection. Published by Subterranean Press, here’s the synopsis…

A major first collection from a writer fast becoming one of the stars of the genre… Aliette de Bodard, multiple award winner and author of The Tea Master and the Detective, now brings readers fourteen dazzling tales that showcase the richly textured worldbuilding and beloved characters that have brought her so much acclaim.

Come discover the breadth and endless invention of her universes, ranging from a dark Gothic Paris devastated by a magical war; to the multiple award-winning Xuya, a far-future space opera inspired by Vietnamese culture where scholars administrate planets and sentient spaceships are part of families.

In the Nebula award and Locus award winning “Immersion”, a young girl working in a restaurant on a colonized space station crosses paths with an older woman who has cast off her own identity. In the novelette “Children of Thorns, Children of Water”, a shapeshifting dragon infiltrating a ruined mansion finds more than he’s bargained for when his partner is snatched by eerie, child-like creatures. And in the award-winning “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight”, three very different people — a scholar, an engineer, and a spaceship — all must deal with the loss of a woman who was the cornerstone of their world.

This collection includes a never-before seen 20,000-word novella, “Of Birthdays, and Fungus, and Kindness”, set in Bodard’s alternative dark Paris.

R.A. Lafferty is also up for Best Collection, for THE BEST OF R.A. LAFFERTY, which is published by Gollancz and contains a number of Lafferty’s award-winning fiction. Through their SF Gateway imprint, Gollancz publishes a whole host of Lafferty’s work. Here’s the synopsis for the nominated collection…

Acclaimed as one of the most original voices in modern literature, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty has been awarded and nominated for a multitude of accolades over the span of his career, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This collection contains 22 unique tall tales, including:

Hugo Award-winning
‘Eurema’s Dam’ — introduced by Robert Silverberg

Hugo Award-nominated
‘Continued on the Next Rock’ — introduced by Nancy Kress
‘Sky’ — introduced by Gwenda Bond

Nebula Award-nominated
‘In Our Block’ — introduced by Neil Gaiman

And more stories introduced by other modern masters of SF who acknowledge.

R.A. Lafferty as a major influence and force in the field.

Zeno represents R.A. Lafferty in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York.

Aliette de Bodard, Ian McDonald and Lavie Tidhar on Locus’s 2019 Recommended Reading List!

Posted on Thursday, February 13th, 2020

A couple of weekends ago, Locus unveiled their 2019 Recommended Reading List, and we are delighted to be able to give a quick shout-out to clients Aliette de Bodard, Ian McDonald and Lavie Tidhar for being included! We also thought it would be a nice opportunity to share a bit more information about the work that was included on the list.

Let’s start with Aliette, who appears three times on the list! The latest novel in the Dominion of the Fallen series, THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING THORNS, is included among the best Fantasy Novels. Published by Gollancz (UK) and JABberwocky (North America), here’s the synopsis…

The great magical Houses of Paris – headed by Fallen angels and magicians – were, however temporarily, at peace with each other. Until House Harrier was levelled by a powerful explosion. Now that peace has become chaos, tearing apart old alliances and setting off a race in which each House hoards magic and resources to protect itself against another such blast.

Thuan, the Dragon head of the divided House Hawthorn, is still consolidating his power when war comes to his doorstep. Aurore -exiled from and almost beaten to death by House Harrier – sees her moment to seek power in order to protect her family, even if she must venture back to her destroyed former home to get it. And Emmanuelle finds herself alone in the middle of it all, driven to protect others, trying to piece together what has happened, andhoping – eventually – to make sense of it all.

None of them know what destroyed House Harrier, though… and when they do uncover that fiery, destructive magic then divided Houses, old enemies and estranged friends will all have to make a decision: stand together, or burn alone…

Aliette’s OF WARS, AND MEMORIES, AND STARLIGHT (Subterranean Press) is included among the best Collections, and one of the novellas within — OF BIRTHDAYS, AND FUNGUS, AND KINDNESS — is included in the recommended Novellas list! Here’s the collection’s synopsis…

This collection includes a never-before seen 20,000-word novella, “Of Birthdays, and Fungus, and Kindness”, set in Bodard’s alternative dark Paris.

Next up, the third novel in Ian’s Luna series, MOON RISING, is among the recommended Sci-Fi Novels. Published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (North America), here’s the synopsis…

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

A prequel to the Luna series, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE, was also included on the Novella list. It’s published by Tor.com…

Ian McDonald returns to his elegantly wound solar system of the twenty-second century, full of political intrigue and complicated families.

Remember: Lady Luna knows a thousand ways to kill you, but family is what you know. Family is what works.

Cariad Corcoran has a new sister who is everything she is not: tall, beautiful, confident. They’re unlikely allies and even unlikelier sisters, but they’re determined to find the moon’s first footprint, even if the lunar frontier is doing its best to kill them before they get there.

And last, but by no means least, Lavie’s novella NEW ATLANTIS is also included in the list. It was published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May-June 2019. Here’s how Lavie described the novella, in an interview with SF Site…

“New Atlantis” is a novella set in what I call the Land, a sort of post-apocalyptic utopia where the few survivors of the climate change collapse now live in harmony with their environment – but can still be kind of obsessed with the old world and its excesses! I’ve been writing stories about Mai and the Land for a while now – one of them is “The Buried Giant” in Robots vs Fairies, which is also in a bunch of the Year’s Bests anthologies, and there’s a new one, “Svalbard,” coming out as a sort of interactive/puzzle thing online soon!

Zeno Clients on the Locus Recommended Reading List!

Posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

It’s that time of year again, when Locus publishes its extensive, informative Recommended Reading List of books from the previous year. Published in the February 2019 issue of the Locus Magazine, we’re very pleased to see a number of our clients’ books and stories included! Here’s a quick run-down…

Ben Aaronovitch‘s LIES SLEEPING, the seventh novel in his best-selling Peter Grant/Rivers of London series, featured a few times in the issue, described as ‘delightful’, ‘amusing… fascinating… impressively weird’, ‘one of the strongest’ in the series, and ‘enjoyably readable, gripping’. The novel is published in the UK by Gollancz and in North America by DAW Books. Here’s the synopsis…

A fabulous new adventure, 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…

The February issue also reports that LIES SLEEPING was #6 on Locus’s bestseller list!

Lavie Tidhar‘s latest critically-acclaimed novel, UNHOLY LAND landed a few times in the magazine, too: it is described as ‘provocative and sparky alternate history’, ‘one of his most complex and suggestive yet’, ‘playful and meta-fictional with a dab of Roger Zelazny’, and a novel in which his ‘skill and nuance shines’. The novel is published by Tachyon Publications. Here’s the synopsis…

Lior Tirosh is a semi-successful author of pulp fiction, an inadvertent time traveler, and an ongoing source of disappointment to his father.

Tirosh has returned to his homeland in East Africa. But Palestina — a Jewish state founded in the early 20th century — has grown dangerous. The government is building a vast border wall to keep out African refugees. Unrest in Ararat City is growing. And Tirosh’s childhood friend, trying to deliver a warning, has turned up dead in his hotel room. A state security officer has identified Tirosh as a suspect in a string of murders, and a rogue agent is stalking Tirosh through transdimensional rifts — possible futures that can only be prevented by avoiding the mistakes of the past.

From the bestselling author of Central Station comes an extraordinary new novel recalling China Miéville and Michael Chabon, entertaining and subversive in equal measures.

Lavie’s contribution to Robots vs Fairies — the short story THE BURIED GIANT — also got singled out as ‘Powerful work.’

Two of Aliette de Bodard‘s latest works appear on the list. First up, THE TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE, her latest book set in the author’s Xuya universe: ‘strikingly original’, ‘fabulous’. The novella is published in the US by Subterranean Press, and in the UK and Europe by JABberwocky. Here’s the synopsis…

Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appearance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.

A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow’s Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow’s Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow’s Child with her.

As they dig deep into the victim’s past, The Shadow’s Child realises that the investigation points to Long Chau’s own murky past — and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars…

IN THE VANISHERS’ PALACE, de Bodard’s ‘gorgeously written’ re-telling of the Beauty & the Beast story, is also published by JABberwocky…

When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn’s amusement. But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies — and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets…

Ian McDonald‘s Philip K. Dick Award-nominated TIME WAS also popped up on the list. The book ‘stands amongst his best work’, and is ‘haunting and lyrical’. The novella is published by Tor.com…

A love story stitched across time and war, shaped by the power of books, and ultimately destroyed by it.

In the heart of World War II, Tom and Ben became lovers. Brought together by a secret project designed to hide British targets from German radar, the two founded a love that could not be revealed. When the project went wrong, Tom and Ben vanished into nothingness, presumed dead. Their bodies were never found.

Now the two are lost in time, hunting each other across decades, leaving clues in books of poetry and trying to make their desperate timelines overlap.

Finally, Justina Robson‘s latest novel, SALVATION’S FIRE, is picked as one of the best fantasy novels. The second novel in the After the War series, it is published by Solaris Books. Here’s the synopsis…

The Tzarkomen necromancers sacrificed a thousand women to create a Bride for the Kinslayer so he would spare them in the war. But the Kinslayer is dead and now the creation intended to ensure his eternal rule lies abandoned by its makers in the last place in the world that anyone would look for it.

Which doesn’t prevent someone finding her by accident.

Will the Bride return the gods to the world or will she bring the end of days? It all depends on the one who found her, Kula, a broken-hearted little girl with nothing left to lose.

Zeno Clients in Locus Magazine’s 2017 Recommended Reading List…

Posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2018

We’re very happy to report that a number of our clients and their work was included in Locus Magazine’s 2017 Recommended Reading List! Ian McDonald, Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar, E.J. Swift, and Ian R. MacLeod all cropped up a number of times in the list.

Ian McDonald‘s LUNA: WOLF MOON is picked as one of the best science-fiction novels of the year, and variously described as ‘excellent’, ‘enthralling’, ‘compelling… twisty’, and ‘complex… brilliant… a joy to read’. One writer says that McDonald ‘has been making a case for being the best SF writer in the world’! The novel is published by Gollancz (UK) and Tor Books (US). Ian’s contribution to GALACTIC EMPIRES was also mentioned as a stand-out.

Aliette de Bodard‘s THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS is described as ‘utterly amazing’ and ‘vivid’ by different editors, and is identified as one of the best fantasy novels of the year. It is published by Gollancz (UK) and Roc Books (US). Aliette’s “The Dragon That Flew Out of the Sun” is one of Gardner Dozois’s best picks included in the COSMIC POWERS anthology, as is the author’s “First Presentation” in the CHASING SHADOWS anthology. The Dominion of the Fallen novelette, CHILDREN OF THORNS, CHILDREN OF WATER is among the best of the year.

Ian R. MacLeod‘s RED SNOW, published by PS Publishing, is selected as one of the best Horror novels of the year.

E.J. Swift‘s contribution to the INFINITY WARS anthology, the novelette WEATHER GIRL, is picked as a stand-out by Gardner Dozois and one of the best novelettes of the year. Emma is also given a nod for her contribution to THE DJINN FALLS IN LOVE AND OTHER STORIES.

Lavie Tidhar‘s work is mentioned a few times, especially his work that has appeared in Clarkesworld, and WATERFALLING (which appeared in THE BOOK OF SWORDS) is picked as one of the best novelettes of the year. His Tor.com short story “The Old Dispensation” is also picked as one of the best of 2017.

Zeno Clients featured in Locus’s 2016 Recommended Reading List!

Posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2017

Announced last week, we’re very happy to report that a number of our clients were featured in Locus’s 2016 Recommended Reading List!

In science fiction, Lavie Tidhar‘s critically-acclaimed CENTRAL STATION was selected — adding to the already impressive number of the novel’s “Must Read” selections. Published 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.

Lavie’s work appeared three more times on the list. First, his non-fiction book ART AND WAR, co-written with Shimon Adaf was selected as a non-fiction recommendation. It’s published by Repeater Books…

Shimon Adaf and Lavie Tidhar are two of Israel’s most subversive and politically outspoken writers. Growing up on opposite sides of the Israeli spectrum – Tidhar in the north of Israel in the Zionist, socialist Kibbutz; Adaf from a family of religious Mizrahi Jews living in Sderot – the two nevertheless shared a love of books, and were especially drawn to the strange visions and outrageous sensibilities of the science fiction that was available in Hebrew. Here, they engage in a dialogue that covers their approach to writing the fantastic, as they question how to write about Israel and Palestine, about Judaism, about the Holocaust, about childhoods and their end.

Extending the conversation even into their fiction, the book contains two brand new short stories – “Tutim” by Tidhar, and “third attribute” by Adaf – in which each appears as a character in the other’s tale; simultaneously political and fantastical, they burn with an angry, despairing intensity.

Lavie’s novella THE VANISHING KIND and his short stories DROWNED and TERMINAL were also selected in those categories.

In the fantasy category, there was Tim Powers‘s MEDUSA’S WEB, which is published in the UK by Corvus…

In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby south of Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this old house that is a conduit for the supernatural.

Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars. A collection of hypnotic abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time – to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying.

As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott must fight to protect her. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them… or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

… and also Ian Tregillis‘s final Alchemy War novel, THE LIBERATION, which is published by Orbit Books…

I am the mechanical they named Jax.

My kind was built to serve humankind, duty-bound to fulfil their every whim.

But now our bonds are breaking, and my brothers and sisters are awakening.

Our time has come. A new age is dawning.

Set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams, this is the third and final novel in a stunning series of revolution by Ian Tregillis, confirming his place as one of the most original new voices in speculative fiction.

Ian McDonald‘s THE BEST OF IAN McDONALD, published by PS Publishing, was a recommended collection…

Ian McDonald, the author of such landmark novels as Desolation Road, Chaga, River of Gods, and The Dervish House, has long been regarded as one of Britain’s finest SF writers. Just like those full-length works, his shorter fiction has commanded much admiration, and now, in this massive retrospective volume, the best McDonald tales are assembled in glittering array.

Represented here are all the phases of McDonald’s career: the poetic early retro-visions that in the late Eighties signalled the arrival of a marvellously fluent new stylistic voice; the virtuoso Nineties riffs on themes such as the Irish Troubles, nanotechnology, alternate history, and alien sexuality; the bold post-millennial ventures into the futuristic politics of Third World countries such as Kenya, India, and Brazil, as well as far afield to alien solar systems; and recent, dazzlingly conceived variations on the Arab Spring, the nature of superheroes, and Mars as pulp SF writers once fondly imagined it to be. The treasures are abundant, each presented in McDonald’s addictive, immersive prose—language at once elegantly timeless and edgily contemporary.

Two of Aliette de Bodard‘s stories were featured on the list: her novelette PEARL, which appeared in THE STARLIT WOOD anthology; and also her short story A SALVAGING OF GHOSTS, published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

And finally, Ian R. MacLeod‘s novelette THE VISITOR FROM TAURED was also included in the list.

Aliette de Bodard and Elizabeth Hand Nominated for Locus Awards!

Posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

The Locus Awards were announced last week, and we’re very happy to report that Zeno clients Aliette de Bodard and Elizabeth Hand have both been nominated!

Aliette de Bodard’s latest novel, THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS has been nominated for best fantasy novel. Published in the US by Roc Books, and in the UK by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

A superb murder mystery, on an epic scale, set against the fall out of a war in heaven

Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black, thick with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation; or the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

Last month, THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS won the BSFA Award for best novel. In addition, Aliette’s THE CITADEL OF WEEPING PEARLS (Asimov) has been nominated for best novella, and THREE CUPS OF GRIEF, BY STARLIGHT (Clarkesworld) has been nominated for best short story — it also won the BSFA Award for best short fiction.

Elizabeth Hand’s WYLDING HALL, published in the UK by PS Publishing, has also been nominated for best fantasy novel. Here’s the synopsis…

After the tragic and mysterious death of one of their founding members, the young musicians in a British acid-folk band hole up at Wylding Hall, an ancient country house with its own dark secrets.

There they record the classic album that will make their reputation — but at a terrifying cost, when Julian Blake, their lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen again.

Now, years later, each of the surviving musicians, their friends and lovers (including a psychic, a photographer, and the band’s manager) meets with a young documentary filmmaker to tell his or her own version of what happened during that summer — but whose story is the true one?

And what really happened to Julian Blake?

The Locus Award winners will be announced during the Locus Award Weekend in Seattle, between June 24-26th.

Zeno represents Elizabeth Hand in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of Martha Millard at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Zeno Clients Well-Represented on Locus Magazine’s 2014 Recommended Reading List

Posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015

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In the February 2015 issue of Locus Magazine, and also online, the editors have published their extensive 2014 Recommended Reading list and a good number of our clients are recommended in the various categories. Congratulations to all those listed…

Novels (SF): THE PERIPHERAL by William Gibson (Viking) and AFTERPARTY by Daryl Gregory (Titan)

Novels (Fantasy): A MAN LIES DREAMING by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder)

Novels (YA): EMPRESS OF THE SUN by Ian McDonald (Jo Fletcher Books)

Novellas: THE ADVENTURE OF THE RING OF STONES by James P. Blaylock (Subterranean), KUR-A-LEN by Lavie Tidhar (Black Gods Kiss)

Novelettes: MEMORIALS by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s 1/14), THE FIFTH DRAGON by Ian McDonald (Reach for Infinity), ON SKYBOLT MOUNTAIN by Justina Robson (Fearsome Magics)

Short Stories: THE DAYS OF THE WAR, AS RED AS BLOOD, AS DARK AS BILE (Subterranean Spring ’14) and THE DUST QUEEN by Aliette de Bodard (Reach for Infinity), VLADIMIR CHONG CHOOSES TO DIE by Lavie Tidhar (Analog 9/14)

Zeno represents William Gibson and Daryl Gregory in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the Martha Millard Literary Agency.

Locus Covers Daryl Gregory

Posted on Monday, April 7th, 2014

Not only has Kirkus been raving about Daryl Gregory’s latest novel, AFTERPARTY, but the novel has been attracting keen attention and interest elsewhere.

We’re very happy to report that Locus Magazine has put Daryl Gregory on the cover of its April 2014 issue! In his cover story, Gregory takes an in-depth look at his novels, in a chronological approach. He describing the impetuses and influences behind THE DEVIL’S ALPHABET, PANDEMONIUM, and RAISING STONY MAYHALL, and also explains how his work in comics has influenced the way he approaches his fiction-writing. Gregory then moves on to his latest science fiction thriller, which is published this month by Tor Books in the US. The novel is due to be published by Titan Books in the UK, in August 2014. The article is, of course, really interesting for many reasons. We thought we’d share a couple of snippets from those passages in which Gregory talked about his new novel…

‘The new book, AFTERPARTY, is about neuroscience and the feeling of the numinous. This is something I’ve toyed around with at various points. There’s a story called “Damascus” where I deal with this, and in every single thing I’ve written there’s this religious flavor that comes from being raised as a Southern Baptist. It just comes like grits in the South: there’s gonna be Jesus imagery in everything I write. AFTERPARTY has ideas I’ve been working on in science fiction short stories that never made it explicitly into a novel before (though weird stuff about identity keeps showing up even in the ostensibly fantasy novels, because that’s what keeps bothering me).’

On his intentions for the novel…

‘I wanted to write a book with velocity. I’ve always read a lot of crime novels, so I wanted to do an Elmore Leonard/Philip K. Dick/Hunter S. Thompson book. That was the original pitch, actually. The crime novel is at odds with the science fiction novel, in that in crime novels you don’t have to explain money or jealousy (the engines that drive almost everything in those stories). Of course you want more money! But with a science fiction novel, you’ve got people pursuing these goals you’ve got to stop to explain. It was kind of a formal trick to figure out how to get the neuroscience in there but still keep the velocity… AFTERPARTY is a mystery that has more of a classic science fiction ending, in that it opens up – things are about to get really weird. I’ve always liked it when science fiction novels kick open that door at the end.’

And the real-world influences on the near-future setting he chose…

‘I knew AFTERPARTY was going to be near-future, but it’s something like ten minutes into the future, with many small tech changes that are almost here. A lot of these ideas came from my day job as a programmer. One of my favorites is a little side thing where a bunch of people are playing a Dungeons & Dragons-style Live Action RPG on their handhelds. This seems like an eminently doable thing, but it’s not quite there.’

Once again, AFTERPARTY is published by Tor Books in the US, and is due to be published by Titan Books in the UK in August 2014.

There was even more love for the novel in the April issue of Locus, in fact, with not one but two reviews!

Faren Miller had the following to say: ‘Daryl Gregory began to delve into the collective unconsciousness with his Crawford Award-winning first novel PANDEMONIUM, and he continues to find bold new ways to enter that zone… it’s clear that Daryl Gregory continues to be one of the top writers in a field where literature works alongside adventure – and both forms benefit from the exchange.’

Russell Letson, who was particularly taken with the genetically-engineered miniature bison in the novel (we kid you not), also wrote the following: ‘[AFTERPARTY] is a chase-thriller, a noir mystery, and an international road-trip adventure, with a cast that is mostly crazy, criminal, or both… The intellectual side of the trip recalls Greg Egan’s ‘‘Mister Volition’’ or ‘‘Chaff’’: an adventure in neurochemistry and mental plasticity that invites us to consider just how crazy we can be and still retain a humanity that is recognizable, decent, and functional… philosophical and moral questions are implicit in the novel, but one could be forgiven for putting them to one side while going along for the story’s twisty, gritty ride… This is a real science-fiction crime thriller: the old evils and insanities are all there, given new twists by the double-edged blades of science and technology. And, like the best crime and SF novels, those moral and philosophical questions linger, after the mere whodunnit puzzles have been solved.’

Zeno represents Daryl Gregory in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the Martha Millard Literary Agency in New York.

LOCUS 2013 Reading List and Zeno!

Posted on Thursday, February 6th, 2014

LOCUS Magazine has announced its 2013 Recommended Reading List, and we’re delighted to report that they have selected a number of Zeno titles! The list is compiled through consultation of all of their reviewers, editors and contributors, and is separated into categories (fantasy, non-fiction, etc.). Here are their selections from our list…

James P. Blaylock‘s THE AYLESFORD SKULL (Titan Books)

It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer is at home in Aylesford with his family. However a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay, the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives. When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race into London in pursuit…

THE AYLESFORD SKULL is James’s latest novel to feature Langdon St. Ives, and follows HOMUNCULUS and LORD KELVIN’S MACHINE (which were also published by Titan Books in the UK last year). The characters also appear in two novels, THE EBB TIDE and THE AFFAIR OF THE CHALK CLIFFS. St. Ives will ride again…

Ian R. MacLeod‘s SNODGRASS AND OTHER ILLUSIONS (Open Road Media)

As seen on Sky Arts’ Playhouse Presents: Imagine there’s no Lennon… In the reality-altering novella “Snodgrass,” John Lennon sidesteps his musical destiny and instead becomes a civil servant.

After spending his adolescence like so many others had, playing in a band with friends, John Lennon knows it’s time to grow up. Skipping out on the Beatles before they would go on to become one of the greatest rock groups of the twentieth century, John moves to Birmingham. As he watches the exploits of friends Paul, Ringo, and George, John grows older and lives an ordinary life… and he is left wondering “what if?”

With “Snodgrass” as its anchor, this collection of eleven stories also includes “The Chop Girl,” inspired by the infamous Dresden bombing raids; “Past Magic,” a futuristic account of parents cloning their children who have passed away; “New Light on the Drake Equation,” inspired by a man’s journey as he searches for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence; and seven more tales that showcase MacLeod’s breadth as a writer.

Lavie Tidhar‘s THE VIOLENT CENTURY (Hodder)

They’d never meant to be heroes.

For seventy years they guarded the British Empire. Oblivion and Fogg, inseparable friends, bound together by a shared fate. Until one night in Berlin, in the aftermath of the Second World War, and a secret that tore them apart.

But there must always be an account… and the past has a habit of catching up to the present.

Now, recalled to the Retirement Bureau from which no one can retire, Fogg and Oblivion must face up to a past of terrible war and unacknowledged heroism, – a life of dusty corridors and secret rooms, of furtive meetings and blood-stained fields – to answer one last, impossible question:

What makes a hero?

Ian Tregillis‘s NECESSARY EVIL (Orbit)

The history of the Twentieth Century has been shaped by a secret conflict between technology and magic. When a twisted Nazi scientist devised a way to imbue ordinary humans with supernatural abilities – to walk through walls, throw fire and see the future – his work became the prized possession of first the Third Reich, then the Soviet Army. Only Britain’s warlocks, and the dark magics they yield, have successfully countered the threat posed by these superhuman armies.

But for decades, this conflict has been manipulated by Gretel, the mad seer. And now her long plan has come to fruition. And with it, a danger vastly greater than anything the world has known. Now British Intelligence officer Raybould Marsh must make a last-ditch effort to change the course of history – if his nation, and those he loves, are to survive.

NECESSARY EVIL is the concluding novel in Ian’s critically-acclaimed alternative history series, the Milkweed Triptych, following BITTER SEEDS and THE COLDEST WAR (published by Tor Books in the US).

In the non-fiction category, LOCUS selected Algis Budrys‘s BENCHMARKS REVISITED and BENCHMARKS CONCLUDED (Ansible Editions) – These are the second and final installments of a three-volume series that collects all of Algis Budrys’s classic Science Fiction review columns from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

In the novellette and short story categories, LOCUS has also selected the following works by Zeno Clients…

Aliette de Bodard‘s “The Waiting Stars” (Other Half of the Sky)
Matthew Hughes‘s “And Then Some” (Asimov’s 2/13) and “The Ugly Duckling” (Old Mars)
Ian R. MacLeod‘s “Entangled” (Asimov’s 12/13) and “The Discovered Country” (Asimov’s 9/13)
Ian McDonald‘s “The Queen of the Night’s Aria” (Old Mars)
Lavie Tidhar‘s “The Book Seller” (Interzone 1-2/13)

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

Aliette De Bodard Featured in Aug 2013 LOCUS…

Posted on Friday, August 2nd, 2013

The new edition of LOCUS (*the* definitve journal of the science fiction community) was published yesterday and features a fantastic and insightful interview with our client Aliette De Bodard in which she discusses her work, her influences and the particular story of how she became a Zeno client!

‘I went to World Fantasy in 2008, and it was great – I met lots of people, I networked. One of the people I met at the bar was John Berlyne, who introduced himself to me and gave me his card. The next day I was flying from Calgary to London and then back to France, except the Calgary flight never took off. So I got stuck in this dingy little hotel in the outskirts of Calgary,and ended up chatting again with John, who was with this other chap I didn’t know, Marc Gascoigne. We talked a bit and John said he was starting his own agency, and so I asked Marc, ‘What is it that you do?’ and he said, ‘I’m an editor and I’m putting together my own imprint.’ That turned out to be Angry Robot. We chatted some more, and Marc said, ‘We’re bored. Why don’t you pitch your novel to us?’

‘‘I thought, ‘Okay, do not panic, do not panic!’ I managed to get through the pitch. Marc said, ‘That sounds good, send me the first few chapters,’ and John said, ‘I also want to see those chapters.’ I knew I needed to completely rewrite my first chapters, so I did that on the return trip. I almost missed my connecting flight to Paris because I was too busy rewriting! I sent the chapters off maybe two days after arriving back home.

‘‘About a month and a half later, after they had both asked for the full manuscript, I had a conversation with John and he said, ‘I might be interested in representing this.’ Two or three days later, while I was still mulling that over, it I got an e-mail from Marc saying, ‘We would like to make you an offer, do you have an agent?’ I thought, ‘No, but that can be arranged!’

A great argument for writers going to conventions! The full interview can be read in the new edition of LOCUS – click the link for details on how to get hold of a copy.

LOCUS Award Winners!

Posted on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013

The 2013 LOCUS Award Winners were announced this weekend, and we have some great news: two of our clients have won in their categories!

First up: we told you she was unstoppable! Aliette de Bodard has won in the Short Story category, for IMMERSION! This is the second win this year for Aliette and IMMERSION, having already nabbed a Nebula Award last month – the story is also nominated for a Hugo Award. IMMERSION appeared in Clarkesworld #69, June 2012.

In addition, we’re delighted to report that William Gibson‘s DISTRUST THAT PARTICULAR FLAVOR won the Non-Fiction award! The book is published by Viking (Penguin). DISTRUST THAT PARTICULAR FLAVOR is a collection of essays on a wide array of subjects, including: Metrophagy (the Art and Science of Digesting Great Cities), eBay (an account of obsession in ‘the world’s attic’), why ‘The Net is a Waste of Time’, Singapore as ‘Disneyland with the Death Penalty’, a primer on Japan (‘our default setting for the future’), and others.

Congratulations to all the winners, and especially Aliette and William!