New Deal - Zeno Agency Ltd.

Ben Aaronovitch signs Seven-Figure deal with Gollancz!

Posted on Wednesday, April 10th, 2019

We are extremely delighted to report that Ben Aaronovitch has signed a new seven-figure deal with Orion! ‘Orion have built Ben’s brand up brilliantly over the last nine years,’ says Ben’s agent, John Berlyne, ‘and we’re delighted to see that continue with this headline grabbing deal.’

The deal, negotiated and struck between Berlyne and Katie Espiner (Managing Director of Orion) is for four new books in Ben’s Peter Grant/Rivers of London series!

‘I’m excited to be taking Peter Grant forward into another four books,’ Ben says of the deal. ‘His adventure isn’t nearly finished yet and I’m looking forward to working with Orion to introduce him to an even wider audience.’

Per the press-release, Espiner commented:

‘Ben is simply one of the most imaginative writers working today. His novels are a fully immersive, joyous ride and I am absolutely thrilled we have concluded this deal to bring four more novels to Folly fans everywhere. Ben’s sales across all formats are absolutely stellar – readers want to consume these books however they can get their hands on them, and I am thrilled that this deal will extend such a beloved series.’

Gollancz has published all of Ben’s Peter Grant books in the UK, each of which has been a Sunday Times bestseller, and sale across the series have exceeded 2,000,000! The audiobook editions, narrated by the always-excellent Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, have sold more than 265,000 copies, too. (In January, Ben received a Nielsen Silver Bestseller Award.)

The next, new full-length novel in the series, FALSE VALUE, is scheduled for autumn 2019.

You may have also noticed that Ben’s next book is THE OCTOBER MAN, due to be published in June. Set in the same universe as the best-selling Peter Grant series, the novella features a new protagonist and location: Tobias Winter in Germany! (The audiobook edition will also receive a new narrator — Sam Peter Jackson — to coincide with the new protagonist.) Here’s the book’s synopsis…

Trier is famous for wine, Romans and for being Germany’s oldest city. So when a man is found dead with, his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth.

Fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything.

Enter Investigator Tobias Winter, whose aim is to get in, deal with the problem, and get out with the minimum of fuss, personal danger and paperwork. With the help of frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, he’s quick to link the first victim to a group of ordinary middle aged men – and to realise they may have accidentally reawakened a bloody conflict from a previous century. But the rot is still spreading, literally and with the suspect list extending to people born before Frederick the Great solving the case may mean unearthing the city’s secret magical history.

… so long as that history doesn’t kill them first.

Join us in congratulating Ben on this incredible (and well-deserved) achievement and milestone!

The Peter Grant series is also published by Del Rey and DAW Books (North America), DTV (Germany), J’ai Lu (France), and in many other territories across the globe.

Gollancz Acquires William Gibson’s NEUROMANCER in New Four-Book Deal

Posted on Friday, November 20th, 2015

Gollancz has acquired William Gibson’s Sprawl series, for publication in the UK and Commonwealth. The series includes NEUROMANCER, COUNT ZERO, MONA LISA OVERDRIVE, and the short fiction collection BURNING CHROME.

Chairman of Gollancz Malcom Edwards acquired the rights to the four book deal from John Berlyne at the Zeno Agency, on behalf of Martha Millard at Sterling Lord Literistic. Edwards was also Gibson’s first editor in the UK.

‘I’m delighted to see NEUROMANCER and its two sequels, plus BURNING CHROME, return to Victor Gollancz, my first UK publisher, and still more so under the excellent auspices of Malcolm Edwards, their original acquiring editor,’ said Gibson.

Malcolm Edwards said: ‘Acquiring NEUROMANCER and Gibson’s other early works was one of the high points of my years at Gollancz in the 1980s, and I’m delighted to bring them back where they belong. They remain absolutely key titles in any account of late 20th century SF.’

NEUROMANCER, Gibson’s acclaimed debut, launched the cyberpunk generation. It was the first novel to win the holy trinity of science fiction – the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Award – and has gone on to sell more than six million copies worldwide. The novel was also included in Time magazine’s list of 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and was featured in David Pringle’s seminal Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels. The second and third novels in the Sprawl Trilogy, were also nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards. BURNING CHROME collects ten of Gibson’s best short stories, including ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ (adapted into the film starring Keanu Reeves) and title story, both of which were nominated for the Nebula Award; the collection also includes the Hugo and Nebula-nominated stories ‘Dogfight’ and ‘The Winter Market’.

The series is due to be published as new Gollancz paperbacks on July 14th, 2016. A new hardback edition of NEUROMANCER is also due to be published on September 8th, 2016, as part of the SF Masterworks series. (We will, of course, share covers and any more details as they become available.) In case you haven’t read it, here’s the synopsis for NEUROMANCER…

The novel that launched the cyberpunk generation, heralded the coming of the internet, and won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K Dick awards.

The Matrix: a world within a world, a graphic representation of the databanks of every computer in the human system; a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate users in the Sprawl alone. And by Case, computer cowboy, until his nervous system is grievously maimed by a client he double-crossed. Japanese experts in nerve splicing and microbionics have left him broke and close to dead.

But at last Case has found a cure. He’s going back into the system. Not for the bliss of cyberspace but to steal again, this time from the big boys, the almighty megacorps. In return, should he survive, he will stay cured.

And, finally, just a small selection of reviews these fantastic books have received…

‘Set for brainstun…one of the most unusual and involving narratives to be read in many an artificially induced blue moon!’ – The Times

‘A masterpiece that moves faster than the speed of thought and is chilling in its implications.’ – New York Times

‘Brilliant… a delight to read. No one can ever hope to out-Gibson Gibson… A true original.’ – Sunday Times

‘Gibson can spin a gripping yarn. He builds up a great head of steam within the first few pages and doesn’t relax until the end.’ – Times Literary Supplement.

Tidhar and Adaf sell first non-fiction collaboration, ART AND WAR

Posted on Friday, July 10th, 2015

World Fantasy Award and Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize winner Lavie Tidhar has sold debut non-fiction book, ART AND WAR: POETRY, PULP AND POLITICS IN ISRAELI FICTION, to Repeater Books for a 2016 release. The book is a collaboration with premier Israeli author Shimon Adaf, winner of the Sapir and Yehuda Amichai prizes.

ART AND WAR is a book-length conversation between the two authors, covering their approach to writing, their struggle with self-doubt, their views on awards, and the conflict between art and commerce that is at the heart of modern publishing. They discuss their approach to writing the fantastic, the sometimes obscure writers which jointly influenced their work, and question how to write about Israel, about Judaism, about the Holocaust, and about childhoods and their end.

Closing the book are a pair of twinned short stories, written as part of the conversation between the authors, addressing the political reality of Israel through the lens of the fantastic, in which each appear as a minor character in the other’s story.

Lavie Tidhar said: ‘I am beyond delighted to see this book come out next year. Shimon Adaf is one of the great writers of my generation, and it has been a privilege for me to work with him on this book. I am grateful to Etan Ilfeld and Tariq Goddard at Repeater for allowing us the opportunity to see it in print, and wait in nervous but excited anticipation!’

The book is planned for early 2016 in paperback and e-book editions, and will be available in all English-language territories. The deal was negotiated by John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency.

Lavie Tidhar is the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning OSAMA, the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered-winning A MAN LIES DREAMING (Hodder), critically-acclaimed THE VIOLENT CENTURY (Hodder and Thomas Dunne), The Bookman Histories (Angry Robot), and numerous acclaimed short stories and novellas.

Gollancz Acquires Two New Aliette de Bodard Novels!

Posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2014

Gollancz have acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to two new novels by multi-award-winning author Aliette de Bodard! The deal was negotiated by Gollancz Publisher Gillian Redfearn, and encompasses HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS and an as-yet-untitled sequel, both set in Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War.

Gillian Redfearn had the following to say about the deal and Aliette’s writing: ‘I’ve long admired Aliette’s writing from afar and it’s a dream to be able to publish HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS. It blew me away from the first paragraph, with a rich and wonderful new world, evocative writing and an utterly gripping story. De Bodard is an exceptional and tremendously original writer and we are so proud to be publishing her work.’

‘I’m deliriously excited to be joining the Gollancz list,’ Aliette de Bodard said. ‘HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS is a book very dear to my heart – mingling my love of Paris, the Vietnamese tales I read as a child, and my fondness for dark magic with terrible prices – and it couldn’t be in better hands! I can’t wait to work with Gillian and the team.’

Here’s a preliminary synopsis for the first novel…

In HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS, Paris’s streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. De Bodard’s rich storytelling brings three different voices together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel, an alchemist with a self-destructive addition, and a young man wielding spells from the Far East.

HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS is due to be published in hardback and eBook on the 20th August, 2015.

Aliette de Bodard is the winner of two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award and a BSFA Award — and has been nominated for many others, for her short and long fiction, often multiple years in a row. A writer by night, by day she is a qualified engineer, specialising in applied mathematics. Her most recent novels were the Obsidian & Blood trilogy, published by Angry Robot Books.

New US Deal for Charlie Human’s APOCALYPSE NOW NOW!

Posted on Friday, January 24th, 2014

We are very happy to report that those across the pond in the US will not have to wait much longer to get their hands on Charlie Human‘s bombastic and twisted APOCALYPSE NOW NOW! Titan Books have picked up the US rights for Charlie’s debut and its forthcoming sequel, KILL BAXTER. Here’s the synopsis…

I love the smell of parallel dimensions in the morning…

Baxter Zevcenko’s life is pretty sweet. As the 16-year-old kingpin of the Spider, his smut-peddling schoolyard syndicate, he’s making a name for himself as an up-and-coming entrepreneur. Profits are on the rise, the other gangs are staying out of his business, and he’s going out with Esme, the girl of his dreams.

But when Esme gets kidnapped, and all the clues point towards strange forces at work, things start to get seriously weird. The only man drunk enough to help is a bearded, booze-soaked, supernatural bounty hunter that goes by the name of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Ronin.

Plunged into the increasingly bizarre landscape of Cape Town’s supernatural underworld, Baxter and Ronin team up to save Esme. On a journey that takes them through the realms of impossibility, they must face every conceivable nightmare to get her back, including the odd brush with the Apocalypse.

APOCALYPSE NOW NOW was published in the UK by Century and Umuzi/Random Struik in South Africa, to rave reviews. Here is just a small sample of the praise that has been justifiably heaped on the novel…

‘It’s mad, dark, irreverent and wonderfully twisted in all the right ways.’ — Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls

‘I don’t even know how to describe reading this book, so just look at my wide eyes and my silently mumbling mouth and take my shell-shock as a good sign that you need to read this book right now.’ — Chuck Wendig, author of Blackbirds

‘With a wild imagination and savage glee, Charlie Human throws us into a school yard battle zone that’s part teenage wasteland, part Lovecraft fever dream. Rock and Roll High School meets the apocalypse.’ — Richard Kadrey, author of Sandman Slim

‘… a riot – a firebomb of a novel, exploding with sick humour, violence and depravity… it’s never less than very funny, and the ongoing question of Baxter’s sanity adds a degree of mystery. There’s warmth here, too – you’ll likely feel sympathy for Bax by the end.’ — SFX Magazine

‘… wonderfully detailed scenarios, it’s fantastic… APOCALYPSE NOW NOW is often hilarious and tremendous fun… its target audience will have a blast.’ — SciFi Now

‘Human effortlessly mixes Baxter’s psychiatrist’s comments on him with lurid scenes of Cape Town’s supernatural clubland. It’s quick, amusing and widely referenced, and the reader gets no help on which reality to take seriously.’ — Mail & Guardian

‘… a bowl of fireworks… It has porn-peddling adolescents, ginger bearded monk ninjas, killer crows and zombie-filled sex dungeons ruled over by parasitic mega-spiders. What’s not to love!?!’ — J For Jetpack

‘Cruel and unusual as it is, APOCALYPSE NOW NOW‘s setting is pitch perfect for the wicked fun forthcoming… [A] breakneck pace and mad imagination… make APOCALYPSE NOW NOW such an addictive experience.’ — Speculative Scotsman

A Major New Deal for Ben Aaronovitch

Posted on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014

We are delighted to announce that Gollancz, in a major deal, has purchased publishing rights for the seventh and eighth books in Ben Aaronovitch‘s hugely successful Peter Grant/Rivers of London series!

John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency had this to say about the deal: ‘This is a very exciting move by Orion. Ben’s books have been a monster hit and it’s great news for Ben’s many fans that the future of this brilliant series is assured.’

There will thus be at least four more titles in the series following on from the fourth novel, BROKEN HOMES, which was released last July. The fifth book in the series, FOXGLOVE SUMMER, is due out in the UK this summer. The provisional title for book six is THE HANGING TREE. We’ll announce titles for the newly contracted books six and seven in due course. In the unlikely event that you have missed this critically-acclaimed series, here is the synopsis for the first book, RIVERS OF LONDON…

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 (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 audiobooks, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, have also been a smash hit. And, just to remind fans, RIVERS OF LONDON has also been optioned for television, and a comic book adaptation is also in the works – to be published by Titan Comics! (More details on both of these adaptations as soon as they come in.) These are exciting times indeed for Ben and his fans.

Ben’s Rivers of London/Peter Grant series is published by Gollancz in the UK, Del Rey (#1-3) and DAW Books (#4-6) in the US, DTV in Germany, and J’ai Lu in France. RIVERS OF LONDON has also been published in 10 other markets, including China (Cite Publishing), Czech Republic (Laser Books), Hungary (Agave/GABO), Italy (Fanucci), Japan (Hayakawa), Korea (Hyundaemunhak), Poland (MAG), Portugal (Casa de Palavra), Russia (Fantastika) and Spain (Editorial Planeta).

New UK Deal for Melinda Snodgrass’s EDGE Series!

Posted on Monday, January 20th, 2014

We are delighted to announce that UK and Commonwealth rights to Melinda Snodgrass‘s Edge series have sold to Titan Books!

The series – which comprises THE EDGE OF REASON, THE EDGE OF RUIN, and an as-yet-untitled third novel – is a contemporary fantasy that explores the tensions between science and rationality, religion and superstition. It is an intelligent blend of Dante’s Inferno and Urban Fantasy.

Melinda has had many varied careers — she studied opera at the Conservatory of Vienna; has been a practicing attorney; she has written multiple novels and screenplays, working in Hollywood on Star Trek: The Next Generation (best known for the episode ‘Measure of a Man‘), and numerous other shows. She coedits the Wild Card series with George R.R. Martin, and has recently turned in the Wild Cards screenplay to Universal. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Here is the synopsis for THE EDGE OF REASON…

Richard Oort is a cop. He’s also the last Paladin: a reluctant hero, fated to defend the world against demonic forces that threaten to plunge us into another Dark Age.

Richard is on patrol one night when he leaps to the defense of a terrified young woman fleeing something impossible: beings that can only be described as monsters. Beings that can only have been created by magic. But in saving the beautiful Rhianna, he gets drawn into the machinations of a mysterious billionaire who just might be Prometheus and Lucifer. And who claims to be waging a millennia-old war on the side of reason and light, defending humanity from others of his kind who want nothing more than to see us destroy ourselves with superstition, religion, darkness, fear.

But when Richard discovers he’s a Paladin — product of a genetic fluke that enables him to wield Lucifer’s sword — he becomes a central figure in the battle between Light and Darkness. But is he strong enough to bear the burden?

Here are some great blurbs about the novels…

‘If H.P. Lovecraft and H. L. Mencken had ever collaborated, they might have come up with something like The Edge of Reason. This one will delight thinkers — and outrage true believers — of all stripes.’ — George R. R. Martin

‘[A] gritty narrative of a war between light and dark… Balanc[es] a harsh critique of organized religion with touches of humor and a good-hearted priest who grounds his faith in the Golden Rule…’ — Publishers Weekly on THE EDGE OF REASON

‘Interesting religious arguments aside Snodgrass crafted a tightly paced supernatural thriller that manages to stay interesting and thrilling from beginning to end.’ — King of the Nerds

‘I really enjoyed this book. It’s thought-provoking and certainly memorable, with an intriguing concept and a cast of characters begging for further exploration. I’d love to see more of this world’ — Green Man Review

‘Peopled with a richly drawn cast of characters… the story is a big, complex and ambitious tale that rarely rests and demands the reader’s full attention. Thee ideas are provocative, strongly so… Readers looking for a thoughtful, action-packed and fascinating story, this one is for you. Strongly recommended.’ — SF Revu on THE EDGE OF RUIN

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

New Client, New Deals – Simon Unsworth

Posted on Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

We are delighted to announce two new deals for one of Zeno’s newest clients, Simon Unsworth. Simon is already very much established in the field of gothic fiction, and he’s now stepping into a wider arena with THE SORROWFUL, a gripping, supernatural thriller set in Hell, pitched as ‘The Wire meets Clive Barker’.

THE SORROWFUL along with a second untitled novel has been acquired by both Robert Bloom at Doubleday (North American rights) and Michael Rowley at Del Rey UK (UK & Commonwealth). The deals were negotiated by John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency. Publication is planned for Spring 2015. Translation rights will be handled by Zeno.

Rob Bloom says ‘I knew I had to publish Simon Kurt Unsworth’s THE SORROWFUL after reading the first scene, and then that scene was topped, and then topped again and again. THE SORROWFUL is chock-full of intense and vivid Hell-fire imagery, yes, but more than that it is a tautly crafted and suspenseful thriller of the highest caliber. It’s a stunning and immersive novel that will be a rare treat for readers across genres—from horror, to fantasy, to thrillers.’

UK editor Michael Rowley adds, ‘Simon’s vision is astounding; his central character is a wonderful re-interpretation of the world weary, dedicated cop, the setting as captivating as it is unsettling, and the writing itself leaves you desperate for more. We can’t wait to see THE SORROWFUL published as part of the Del Rey list.’

Simon Unsworth is a British author, born in Manchester in 1972. His most recent collection is the critically acclaimed QUIET HOUSES, which was long-listed for the Edge Hill Short Story Collection prize. His short story “The Church on the Island” was nominated for the 2008 World Fantasy Award. His work has been published in a number of anthologies including Dark Horse’s Lovecraft Unbound, PS Publishing’s Postscripts and Gray Friar Press’s WHERE THE HEART IS. And here is taste of what you can expect from THE SORROWFUL…

An unidentified, brutalised body. A cowed and fearful populace. A society on the edge of collapse. No support from the authorities. Internecine political intrigue. More defiled bodies. Lies and rumours and false trails. An investigation under these conditions would be a tough proposition at the best of times. But it’s all the harder when it takes place in Hell…

THE SORROWFUL follows Fool, one of Hell’s ‘Information Men’, as he attempts to discover the identity of a vicious killer. But how do you investigate murder in a place where death, torture, and slavery are commonplace? Or when your main suspect-pool is a legion of demons? With no memory of his past, and no idea why this case matters to him so much, Fool determines to solve the mystery. His search will lead him to the man whose roots reach deep into every circle of Hell. He will visit the darkest places where the oldest demons live, where they jealously guard their privacy, and where things exist that have no name.

Welcome to Hell, where skinless demons patrol the lakes, gardens of flame burn things into existence, and the waves of Limbo wash against the outer walls with the souls of the Damned floating on their surface, waiting to be collected. Hell is evolving, and Fool is caught in the middle…

Simon is currently at work on the sequel to THE SORROWFUL, tentatively titled THE DISAPPEARED.

New Deal! Dave Bara’s LIGHTSHIP CHRONICLES go to Del Rey UK

Posted on Monday, October 7th, 2013

We’re delighted to announce a new book deal! Editor Michael Rowley of Del Rey UK has picked up three books in Dave Bara‘s Lightship Chronicles, a military science fiction trilogy. The first two books are IMPULSE and STARBOUND (TBC), while the third book has yet to be christened. Here’s a little bit about the series…

A millennia into the future, human kind is emerging from a prolonged dark age. Led by young heroes like Commander Peter Cochrane of the planet Quantar, a fragile new Union is being formed, taking the first steps to rediscovering their lost human heritage among the stars. These intrepid explorers navigate the galaxy in the Lightships, special vessels designed by the Historian Order of Earth to link together far-flung colonies and create a fabric for a new human civilisation to be rebuilt from the ashes of a collapsed empire.

Zeno represents Dave Bara in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the JABberwocky Literary Agency in New York. The Lightship Chronicles will be published in the United States by DAW Books.

Rivers of London Optioned for Television…

Posted on Monday, June 24th, 2013

Today we can finally bring you the exciting news that Ben Aaronovitch‘s RIVERS OF LONDON has been optioned for television by Feel Films. Genre fans will be excited to learn that this is the same production company behind the highly-anticipated, forthcoming BBC adaptation of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL.

‘In RIVERS OF LONDON,’ says Nick Hirschkorn, Managing Director and Executive Producer of Feel Films, ‘Ben has brilliantly fused the worlds of procedural crime and fantasy to create something undeniably unique. His wit and tone grabbed me from the very first page and I am hugely honoured to be entrusted to bring Peter Grant, Nightingale and their London to life.’

Ben, naturally, is thrilled with the deal, and says, ‘I’m looking forward to this with the mixture of mad anticipation and stark fear that is the only rational response to developing your own work forTelevision…Me and Nick will be looking to put something on TV that will blow the audiences’ socks off out through their ears.‘

In the event that you have not yet tried Ben’s brilliant and highly-entertaining series (shame on you!), here is the synopsis for book one…

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.

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 Rivers of London series comprises RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, and WHISPERS UNDER GROUND. The fourth volume, BROKEN HOMES, will be published on July 25th, 2013, by Gollancz.