Peter Grant Series - Zeno Agency Ltd.

A Musical Rendition of Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON…

Posted on Monday, January 20th, 2014

There is almost no better sign of the strength of an author’s fanbase, than some form of adaptation of their work – be it a graphic novel, a television series, a feature-length movie, or, as can sometimes happen, something more musical. Ben Aaronovitch‘s fan-favourite urban fantasy novel RIVERS OF LONDON will soon be receiving a graphic novel/comics adaptation, and the television rights have been optioned by Feel Films. The novel has also become the subject of a song.

Ben’s nephew, Mikis Michaelides is a composer and musician of some note, who works with Doc Brown on their hugely successful 4 O’Clock Club for the BBC. After reading RIVERS OF LONDON, which both Doc and Mikis loved, they (in concert with Ben) decided that a rap based on the book would be a very fine thing. You can now listen to the result here. [We at Zeno, and a handful of Gollancz and publishing peeps were lucky enough to hear a live rendition in London late last year. Not that we’re bragging. Much…]

The first four books in Ben’s Rivers of London/Peter Grant series have been published in the UK, by Gollancz: RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDER GROUND and BROKEN HOMES.

We’re hoping to have some very good news to announce in the near future regarding what’s coming next for Peter Grant…

Two International Cover Reveals for Ben Aaronovitch’s BROKEN HOMES!

Posted on Monday, December 16th, 2013

We’re delighted to be able to share with you two great new covers for Ben Aaronovitch‘s BROKEN HOMES. The fourth in Ben’s Peter Grant/Rivers of London urban fantasy series, BROKEN HOMES now has covers for the French and German editions!

Published already by Gollancz in the UK, BROKEN HOMES is due to be published by DAW in the US (Feb.2014), J’ai Lu in France (Feb.2014) and DTV in Germany (May 2014). Here’s the synopsis…

A unique blend of police procedural, loving detail about the greatest character of all, London, and a dash of the supernatural.

A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil; an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common or garden serial killer?

Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the case a town planner going under a tube train and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case-load.

So far so London.

But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on an housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate.

Is there a connection?

And if there is, why oh why did it have to be South of the River?

Full of warmth, sly humour and a rich cornucopia of things you never knew about London, Aaronovitch’s series has swiftly added Grant’s magical London to Rebus’ Edinburgh and Morse’s Oxford as a destination of choice for those who love their crime with something a little extra.

Ben Aaronovitch’s BROKEN HOMES sets a new record!

Posted on Wednesday, August 7th, 2013

BROKEN HOMES, the fourth novel in Ben Aaronovitch‘s hugely popular PC Peter Grant series of supernatural London-based crime novels, has set an Orion Books Group record! As reported on Book Trade, the novel, published by Gollancz (Orion’s SFF imprint), has ‘sold 8,064 eBooks in the week of publication against 5,194 hardbacks (Nielsen BookScan), taking it to number three on The Sunday Times bestseller charts. The sales trend has continued in its second week with 2,500 physical copies sold (Nielsen BookScan) compared to 3,500 eBooks. The book this week is at number 6 on The Sunday Times bestseller lists.’

The success is just the latest bit of great news for the series. As we reported recently on the website, the series has also been optioned for TV by the company behind an upcoming adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for the small screen (Feel Films). All four titles from the Peter Grant series – RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDER GROUND, and BROKEN HOMES – have now sold over 400,000 copies across all formats and turned Ben, a former London bookseller and Doctor Who scriptwriter (REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS), into one of Gollancz’s most popular authors.

‘All four novels have appeared in the Sunday Times hardback bestseller lists, but the digital sales for BROKEN HOMES are incredible,’ said Lisa Milton, Managing Director of Orion General. ‘With higher digital sales than physical in the first two weeks of publication are we starting to see a new trend develop? That said, however anyone reads Ben’s books we don’t mind; we just want everyone to try him. With London appearing as a major character and all the best elements of police procedurals combined with a healthy serving of the supernatural, Ben Aaronovitch delivers perfect escapist fiction with each novel.’

Ben Aaronovitch’s BROKEN HOMES hits Best Seller list!

Posted on Wednesday, July 31st, 2013

Congratulations to Ben Aaronovitch on a superb first week for his new novel BROKEN HOMES, published by Gollancz, the fourth title in his supernatural crime series featuring Peter Grant, apprentice to the last wizard in the Met.

We just got news that BROKEN HOMES will chart in this week’s hardcover best seller list at number three – an extraordinary achievement!

On Monday, Ben appeared as a guest on BBC Breakfast. As well as publicising the new book, we’ve seen a fabulous spike in sales of RIVERS OF LONDON which has been steadily climbing the Amazon UK rankings. The BBC has just shared the clip, so we recommend you head over for a look…

New US Deal for Ben Aaronovitch…

Posted on Thursday, June 6th, 2013

We’re delighted to announce that DAW Books have picked up US rights for books four, five and six in Ben Aaronovitch‘s massively successful RIVERS OF LONDON series.

For those out there who have been living under a rock for the past few years, the series follows the adventures of Peter Grant, a London police constable and apprentice wizard. The books were acquired for DAW by publisher Betsy Wollheim, in a deal negotiated by Joshua Bilmes at JABberwocky in New York, on behalf of Zeno.

The first title in this deal, BROKEN HOMES, is scheduled to be published in the United States in February 2014. Gollancz continue to publish inthe UK and Commonwealth.

Aaronovitch-PG4-BrokenHomes-Blog

Here is the synopsis…

A unique blend of police procedural, loving detail about the greatest character of all, London, and a dash of the supernatural.

In the new novel DC Peter Grant must head south of the river to the alien environs of Elephant and Castle. There’s a murderer abroad and, as always when Grant’s department are reluctantly called in by CID, there is more than a whiff of the supernatural in the darkness.