This Week: Ben Aaronovitch Event at Waterstones Canterbury!


This Friday, October 29th, Waterstones Canterbury will be hosting Ben Aaronovitch for an event celebrating the 10th Anniversary of RIVERS OF LONDON! The event will see Ben chatting with Mark Stay, and begins at 6:30pm. More details can be found, and tickets bought here.

Ben’s fantasy police procedurals set in a reimagined London have a Pratchett level of subversive wit. They have sold millions. Come and get any of his books signed. He will be interviewed by Mark Stay, whose Crow Folk is a tale of witches, demons, and bellringers in wartime Kent. Think Dads Army, with paranormal activity.

RIVERS OF LONDON is the first novel in Ben’s internationally best-selling, critically-acclaimed Peter Grant/Rivers of London series, published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Del Rey (as MIDNIGHT RIOT), and widely in translation. Here’s the synopsis…

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit – we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to – and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I’m a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden … and there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it’s falling to me to bring order out of chaos – or die trying.

RIVERS OF LONDON optioned by Simon Pegg & Nick Frost’s Stolen Pictures!


We are delighted to be able to share the news that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s production company, Stolen Picture has optioned Ben Aaronovitch‘s Peter Grant/Rivers of London series for TV!

Ben is currently working on the adaption of the first novel in the series, RIVERS OF LONDON (MIDNIGHT RIOT in North America). He will also serve as an Executive Producer on the series alongside Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and Stolen Picture CEO, Miles Ketley.

Announced on Deadline, here’s what Nick Frost said about the novel:

“Suddenly we were in a position where I said ‘there’s this book that I loved’ and it became available, more or less. I was chuffed to bits that I could get the rights to make it into a TV show,” he said. “Everyone wants to potentially find the next Game of Thrones and the chance to turn Rivers of London into an eight-hour movie and hopefully find someone who will financially back that is a real draw.”

Here’s what Ben had to say on the prospect of working with Stolen Picture:

‘Nick Frost and Simon Pegg asked me if I wanted to make Rivers of London with them — you think I was going to say no? Stolen Picture have a reputation for making creator led TV with the minimum of corporate bollocks and the maximum of fun. It’s an opportunity I would be bonkers to say no to.’

Pegg, a writer himself, had the following to say about working with Ben on the project, per Deadline:

‘Often as a writer, you are the absolute bottom of the food chain and treated like scum. As a writer, I understand what it’s like for someone to use you as a springboard rather than use your vision and it’s good to have writers involved as producers because they get it and we want to make a faithful adaptation that is a true reflection of the book.’

Stolen Picture was founded in 2017 by Pegg and Frost. Miles Ketley, CEO of Stolen Picture said,

‘Ben’s Rivers of London universe is the perfect project for Stolen and the perfect show for now: it’s a suspenseful, funny, scary and magical world but is rooted in the everyday with devious plots, fully drawn characters, river gods and riots. The franchise is going to be a wonderful confluence of Simon’s and Nick’s ambition and humour and Ben’s masterful story-telling to create a truly magical global show.’

I’m sure you’ll all join us in our excitement about seeing Peter Grant, Nightingale et al realized on the screen! We can’t wait!

The series is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Del Rey (1-3), DAW Books (4-) and Subterranean Press (novellas). The series has also been published widely in translation (the first novel is available in more than 15 countries).

RIVERS OF LONDON Now Available in Czech!


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RIVERS OF LONDON, the best-selling first novel in Ben Aaronovitch‘s Peter Grant urban fantasy series, has been published by Kosmas in Czech. Published as ŘEKY LONDÝNA, here is the synopsis…

Jmenuji se Peter Grant. Ještě nedávno jsem byl obyčejný četnický zelenáč v řadách londýnské Metropolitní policie. Jedné noci jsem se ale při vyšetřování jisté vraždy pokusil získat svědeckou výpověď od muže, který byl sice mrtvý, ale jinak znepokojivě výřečný, což mi zajistilo pozornost vrchního inspektora Nightingalea, posledního čaroděje Anglie. A právě tehdy začal můj příběh.

Nyní jsem policejní detektiv a čarodějův učeň, první učedník za padesát let, a můj svět už není zdaleka tak jednoduchý, jak býval.

The cover design is by Ktaiwanita, who has posted a selection of variants online. Here’s the full-cover wrap…

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RIVERS OF LONDON (and the rest of the series) is published in the UK by Gollancz and Del Rey in the US (as MIDNIGHT RIOT). The novel has been published widely in translation, too — see Ben’s author page for details. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit — we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to — and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I’m a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden… and there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it’s falling to me to bring order out of chaos — or die trying.

The Peter Grant series includes: RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDERGROUND, BROKEN HOMES, FOXGLOVE SUMMER and THE HANGING TREE. There is also a comic series published by Titan Comics, RIVERS OF LONDON: BODY WORK, which takes place between books four and five.

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Pats On The Back All Round…


There are all sorts of exciting goings on around here at the moment… We’ve had the staggeringly wonderful news that Ben Aaronovitch‘s novel RIVERS OF LONDON (a.k.a. MIDNIGHT RIOT over in the US, where Del Rey have just published)  will appear at number eight in this week’s Sunday Times Bestseller list for hardcover fiction – a truly amazing achievement for Ben, who, we’re told, is the first début that Gollancz have ever had on this list. Extra big pats for our Ben!

No less vigorous pattage for Mister Ian McDonald, whose novel THE DERVISH HOUSE (also a Gollancz title – and Pyr in the States) has been nominated for the 2010 BSFA award for best novel. The shortlist is impressive, but Ian is widely regarded as a favourite. We’d be very surprised if this was only shortlist this wonderful novel makes this year. Also on the shortlist for the best short fiction is our own Aliette de Bodard, for her story The Shipmaker, which appeared in issue #231 of Interzone – congrats to both authors.

THE DERVISH HOUSE has also made this year’s LOCUS Recommended Reading List, which serves as a guide for the very best material our field has to offer. Here are the Zeno authors whose work has been listed…

Novels, Science Ficition – THE DERVISH HOUSE by Ian McDonald
Novels, Fantasy – THE DESERT SPEAR by Peter V Brett
Novels, Fantasy – HESPIRA by Matthew Hughes
First Novels – THE BOOKMAN by Lavie Tidhar
Collections – JOURNEYS by Ian MacLeod
Novellas – CLOUD PERMUTATIONS by Lavie Tidhar
Novellettes –BUTTERFLY AND THE BLIGHT AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD by Lavie Tidhar (Daily Science Fiction 9/3/10)
Short Stories – SECOND JOURNEY OF THE MAGUS by Ian R. MacLeod (Subterranean Winter ’10)
Short Stories – TONIGHT WE FLY by Ian McDonald (Masked)
Short Stories – THE NIGHT TRAIN by Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons 6/14/10)
Short Stories –THE SPONTANEOUS KNOTTING OF AN AGITATED STRING by Lavie Tidhar (Fantasy 5/17/10)

… a pretty good haul by anyone’s standards! More pats to all those who made the list, but particularly to Lavie Tidhar who scored a quite remarkable FIVE mentions!

More Audio Delights…


… this time in the unmissable guise of Ben Aaronovitch, whose RIVERS OF LONDON (or MIDNIGHT RIOT, if you’re in the US) continues to garner some spectacular reviews.

Ben will be appearing on The Radio 2 Book Club segment of the Simon Mayo Show on Monday 24th January, discussing RIVERS OF LONDON and generally being amusing, witty and wry. The BBC web site is offering the first chapter online, so follow that link above. UK residents who miss the broadcast can catch up with it on the BBC iPlayer.

Ben signing at London’s Forbidden Planet store on Jan 15th, 2011