A new omnibus of THREE GREAT NOVELS by R.A. Lafferty coming soon in the UK


In August, Gollancz is due to published an omnibus edition collecting THREE GREAT NOVELS by R.A. Lafferty! Here’s the volume’s official synopsis…

Three early masterpieces from one of science fiction’s great stylists.

Acclaimed, as one of the most original voices in modern literature, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty drew more from traditional oral storytelling techniques than from the usual pulp roots of SF. His inventive style and fondness for tall tales marked him out from his contemporaries, and writers of the calibre of Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe acknowledge him as a major influence and force in the field. His fiction has garnered numerous award wins and nominations and he has been given the prestigious SFWA Grand Master Award and the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This volume contains three of his early novels: the Hugo- and Nebula-shortlisted Past Master, space opera re-telling of The Odyssey, Space Chantey, and Fourth Mansions, also shortlisted for the Nebula.

Here are some more details for each of the novels included in the book. Let’s start with SPACE CHANTEY, which was first published in 1968…

Set in the far future, Space Chantey chronicles the adventures of Space Captain Roadstrum and his crew, on a journey through galaxies resonant with myth and peril as Roadstrum valiantly battles to return across the cosmos to Big Tulsa, the Capital of the World, and to his wife and young son Tele-Max.

First published in 1969, FOURTH MANSIONS was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel…

Seven very special people blending to create a higher form of humanity…

A laughing man living alone on a mountain top, guarding the world…

The returnees, men who live again and again, century after century…

A dog-ape plappergeist who can be seen only from the corner of the eye…

And a young man named Foley, very much like you or me, who begins to find out about these people and these things, and how they are shaping the destiny of the world…

PAST MASTER, also originally published in 1968, was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Best Novel awards…

The golden planet of Astrobe, made in the image of Utopia, now faced a crisis which could destroy it forever; and yet, no one could understand it: In a world where wealth & comfort were free to everyone, why did so many desert the golden cities for the slums of Cathead and the Barrio? Why did they turn away from the Astrobe dream and seek lives of bone-crushing work, squalor and disease?

The rulers of Astrobe didn’t know, so they sought in humankind’s past for a leader who could give them the answers. They brought to life the one man out of history who would most want to destroy Astrobe!

Many of Lafferty’s novels have also been published in the UK by Gollancz’s SF Gateway project (as eBooks).

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

Cover Reveal: Randall Garrett’s LORD DARCY


GarrettR-LordDarcyFMW2014-Blog

How great is this cover for Randall Garrett‘s LORD DARCY? The book has been selected for the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks series, and is due to be published March 13, 2014. Here’s the synopsis…

In a world where the Plantagenets never fell, Lord Darcy is Chief Investigator for the Duke of Normandy…

Welcome to a world where the Plantagenet kings survived, the laws of magic were discovered and the physical sciences never pursued. In the resulting Anglo-French Empire, a detective like Lord Darcy needs more than a keen mind and an observant eye. Luckily, Darcy can call on the aid of Master Sean O’Lochlainn, forensic sorcerer.

This omnibus contains all of the Lord Darcy stories as well as the only Lord Darcy novel, TOO MANY MAGICIANS, and has a new introduction by Michael Dirda.

Here is a selection of reviews for Garrett’s work…

‘Some of the finest fantasy ever written … will certainly guarantee him a lasting place in the genre.’ — SF Chronicle (a Best Fantasy of 2002)

‘Garrett’s writing style is as elegant and charming as his setting, and his mastery of atmosphere is admirable … Garrett’s series is in fact one of the best of the genre-benders, which have proliferated so madly since these tales were first published. The stories deftly combine elements of mystery, espionage, suspense, Tolkienesque fantasy, science fiction, the techno-thriller, CSI-style forensic mystery, and swashbuckling historical romance.’ — National Review

‘He has combined the best of the fantasy and detective genres — and made them work as science fiction.’ — Marion Zimmer Bradley

‘Randall Garrett’s most satisfying and enduring literary accomplishment is the Lord Darcy series.’ — Robert Silverberg

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

Publication Day – Algis Budrys Gateway Omnibus!


BudrysA-GatewayOmnibus2014-BlogToday marks the publication of the first omnibus of the late, great Algis Budrys re-issues from Gollancz‘s SF Gateway project. The omnibus collects three of Budrys’s novels: THE IRON THORN, MICHAELMAS, and HARD LANDING.

Algis Budrys (1931-2008) is one of the golden age Grand Masters of Science Fiction. Between 1954 and 1993, he published eight novels, and multiple collections of short stories and essays. For a short period in the middle of his writing career, he stepped back to focus on a career in advertising and also mentoring – he developed an excellent reputation as one of the best manuscript doctors of the time. His work ranged from science fiction of all stripes – from hard science-fiction, to dystopian future novels. Perhaps his best-known novels are ROGUE MOON (1960) and MICHAELMAS (1977). His writing is widely available as eBooks, and ROGUE MOON is available in print as part of Gollancz’s SF Masterworks series.

Here are the synopses for the novels contained within the omnibus. First, THE IRON THORN (sometimes also known as THE AMSIRS AND THE IRON THORN)…

Honor White Jackson was a human being. But his planet was not Earth, nor his time Now. His world was dominated by a giant Iron Thorn. Beyond the reach of this tower there was supposedly nothing – except a frozen, airless desert where huge winged beasts called Amsirs roamed.

MICHAELMAS

Michaelmas and Domino, man and computer, were linked to each other, and to the complete database of Earth. There they virtually ruled the world. For by making the right subtle manipulations, they had the power to change the course of human destiny.

And last, but by no means least, HARD LANDING

The body was found dead on the tracks, electrocuted. The autopsy confirmed what some had always feared, that we are not alone in the universe – and that even now, some visitors are still at large.

Here’s what critics have said about MICHAELMAS in the past (reviews of his other novels are a little hard to come by online)…

‘Budrys is incapable of writing anything less than a deeply thoughtful book. This one is sometimes a bit aridly written, sometimes fiercely charged, always full of fine invention. One of the season’s more important offerings.’  —  Kirkus on MICHAELMAS (Starred Review)

‘… his three major novels [including] MICHAELMAS — are an achievement of central importance to the SF field, all the more because each tries to do something different, with an approach and structure reshaped each time.’  —  Locus

‘… a tight, taught thriller packed full with wonderful ideas and it’s beautifully written… a great plot and a sense of wonder…’  —  SF Reviews on MICHAELMAS

eBook – James Maxey’s DRAGON APOCALYPSE…


Maxey-CompleteDragonApocalypse-BlogSolaris Books has collected James Maxey‘s critically-acclaimed Dragon Apocalypse trilogy in an eBook omnibus. The omnibus is now available in both the UK and US, and collects GREATSHADOW, HUSH, and WITCHBREAKER.

Here is the synopsis for book one…

The warrior known as Infidel (Princess Innocent Brightmoon, to a very, very few) is legendary – as much among the drunkards of Commonground as among heroes and bards – for her superhuman strength and skin tough as mail. Stagger, her long-time friend and closest companion, is a wastrel and a sot, but a gifted scholar. Sorrow, a powerful and possibly deranged witch, will stop at nothing – including mutilating her own body – in her pursuit of a fairer, more just world.

Once, dragons covered this world, warring with each other for dominance over great territories. In aeons past, however, their numbers dwindled, and the few that remained withdrew from mundane affairs, claiming the very primal forces of the world – fire, cold, storms, plants, the sun, wild beasts, even the principle of decay itself – as their own. Now the powerful Church of the Book has set its sights on destroying the primal dragons and freeing humanity of their supposed ‘tyrrany’ forever. Wearying of the mercenary life after Stagger’s death, Infidel – with an eye on the dragons’ celebrated wealth – agrees to take part in their first expedition.

But the primal dragons are not to be tackled lightly. In the most hectic, touching romp since The Princess Bride, Infidel, Stagger (or his ghost) and Sorrow will find their lives, and the world around them, changing beyond their grasp as the Church’s hubris reaps its rewards…

Here is but a fraction of what critics have been saying in praise of the Dragon Apocalypse series…

‘A magnificently entertaining romp bursting with charm.’  —  SFX

‘It’s very rare to find a novel packed to the brim with heart-pumping action, laugh out loud humour, and a protagonist who wants cake. GREATSHADOW is a brilliant book… It has a great premise, great characters, great secondary world, great world-building, great pacing, great everything. This is pretty much a perfect book for me, because I loved everything about it, and hated nothing.’  —  Founding Fields

GREATSHADOW was a fabulous read, which kept me turning pages and just finishing one more chapter before doing whatever I was supposed to do. Besides, any story that can legitimately clothe its main character in a chain mail bikini and make it functional can only be genius! If you like straight up adventure novels, kick ass heroines and dragons – lots of dragons – then you can’t miss GREATSHADOW. I know I’m already impatient for the second book in the series called HUSH.’  —  Fantastical Librarian

GREATSHADOW is a clever, funny, goofy read… This isn’t your bog-standard intro quest: GREATSHADOW is a skip-to-the-back-of-the-book epic-level adventure … level 30+ adventure is charming, not po-faced, with a group of flawed, sarcastic, quick-witted and oddball adventurers that are equally comfortable with set-piece battle and rapid fire sarcasm.’  —  Pornokitsch

‘… the most original and colorful fantasy world I have encountered in recent memory… Maxey has talent and just as importantly (and even more rare) is that he can generate truly novel ideas. As a sequel, HUSH expands upon the world introduced in the first book.’  —  Elitist Book Reviews

‘There is a growing trend for fantasy novels to be grim, gritty and filled with knights who swear and monsters so evil that they take all the joy out of being scary and are simply nasty. Luckily, HUSH isn’t one of those books; it’s a fun, well-thought out fantasy romp which is packed with clever one-liners and plenty of action… Maxey proves that fantasy doesn’t have to be po-faced and serious in order to be fun, whilst at the same time tells a story with depth and emotion… intelligent fantasy that doesn’t waste it’s time trying to prove how smart it is… feeds the reader with plenty of fuel for the imagination whilst delivering on its promise of action and fun…  it’s an exceptionally well done example of its genre, and a breath of fresh air for anyone sick of swords and sorcery stories covered in mud, blood and misery.’  —  Starburst