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Ian McDonald: WorldCon Guest Of Honour (Part 1)

Posted on Friday, August 2nd, 2019

Ian McDonald is a Guest of Honour at this year’s WorldCon, to be held in Dublin from August 15-19. We thought this would be a great time, therefore, to highlight some of his amazing, critically-acclaimed and award-winning novels. His most recent series, Luna, has been getting a lot of attention as new translation editions are released. (Ian’s conquest of the world continues at quite the impressive pace!)

Given how substantial his backlist is, we’re going to split this into two posts (the second will go up next Friday). Today, we’ll take a look at Ian’s other series.

One of Ian’s most critically-acclaimed series is India 2047, which includes RIVER OF GODS and CYBERABAD DAYS. Published in the UK by Gollancz, the novels are also available as eBook in the US (via JABberwocky’s eBook Program). Here’s the synopsis for RIVER OF GODS…

August 15th, 2047. Happy Hundredth Birthday, India … On the eve of Mother India’s hundredth birthday, ten people are doing ten very different things. In the next few weeks, all these people will be swept together to decide the fate of the nation. From gangsters to government advisors, from superstitious street-boys to scientists to computer-generated soap stars, River of Gods shows a civilization in flux – a river of gods.

RIVER OF GODS is an epic SF novel as sprawling, vibrant and colourful as the sub-continent it describes. This is an SF novel that blew apart the narrow anglo and US-centric concerns of the genre and ushered in a new global consciousness for the genre.

Ian has two novels set on a future Mars: DESOLATION ROAD and ARES EXPRESS. Available now, published by the JABberwocky eBook Program.

It all began thirty years ago on Mars, with a greenperson. But by the time it all finished, the town of Desolation Road had experienced every conceivable abnormality from Adam Black’s Wonderful Travelling Chautauqua and Educational ‘Stravaganza (complete with its very own captive angel) to the Astounding Tatterdemalion Air Bazaar. Its inhabitants ranged from Dr. Alimantando, the town’s founder and resident genius, to the Babooshka, a barren grandmother who just wants her own child—grown in a fruit jar; from Rajendra Das, mechanical hobo who has a mystical way with machines to the Gallacelli brothers, identical triplets who fell in love with—and married—the same woman.

Ian’s first series was Chaga, which includes CHAGA/EVOLUTION’S ROAD, KIRINYA, and TENDELEO’S STORY. The trilogy is now available as eBooks, published by JABberwocky. The first two books have also been published in Germany, by Heyne.

On the trail of the mystery of Saturn’s disappearing moons, network journalist Gaby McAslan finds herself in Africa researching the Kilimanjaro Event: a meteor-strike in Kenya which caused the stunning African landscape to give way to something equally beautiful – and indescribably alien. Dubbed the ‘Chaga’, the alien flora destroys all man-made materials, and moulds human flesh, bone and spirit to its own designs. But when Gaby finds the first man to survive the Chaga’s changes, she realizes it has its own plans for humankind… Against the backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, McDonald weaves a staggering tale of keen human observation and speculation, as the Kilimanjaro Event changes the course of the human race by exposure to something beyond its imagination.

Everness is Ian’s YA sci-fi trilogy: PLANESRUNNER, BE MY ENEMY, and EMPRESS OF THE SUN. First published by Jo Fletcher Books in the UK and Pyr Books in North America, the series has now been reissued through the JABberwocky eBook program (UK and US). The series offers younger readers a perfect entry point into McDonald’s work — sci-fi that is both intelligent and action-packed, this series is also accessible and thoroughly entertaining. Here’s the synopsis for the first book…

There is not one you. There are many yous. There is not one world. There are many worlds. Ours is one among billions of parallel earths.

When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer: the Infundibulum, the map of all the parallel earths, the most valuable object in the multiverse. There are dark forces in the Plenitude of Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it. They’ve got power, authority, the might of ten planets—some of them more technologically advanced than our Earth—at their fingertips. He’s got wits, intelligence, and a knack for Indian cooking.

Everett must trick his way through the Heisenberg Gate that his dad helped build and go on the run in a parallel Earth. But to rescue his dad from Charlotte Villiers and the sinister Order, this Planesrunner’s going to need friends. Friends like Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, her adopted daughter, Sen, and the crew of the airship Everness.

Can they rescue Everett’s father and get the Infundibulum to safety? The game is afoot!

The Everness series has also been published in a number of foreign territories.

Ian McDonald’s EMPRESS OF THE SUN now available in Italian!

Posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2018

Urania/Mondadori has published the Italian edition of EMPRESS OF THE SUN, the concluding novel in Ian McDonald‘s Everness series! Published as L’IMPERATRICE DEL SOLE, here’s the synopsis…

Il salto di Heisenberg ha portato la Everness su una Terra alternativa, diversa da qualsiasi luogo l’equipaggio dell’astronave abbia mai visto. Everett Singh, Sen e gli altri si trovano su una pianura sconfinata, in un mondo in cui i dinosauri non si sono estinti ma si sono evoluti acquisendo un vantaggio tecnologico di venticinque milioni di anni sull’umanità, e nel bel mezzo dello scontro tra nazioni rivali. L’equipaggio della Everness deve affrontare un mondo che sta andando rapidamente verso l’apocalisse. Per sopravvivere, e per capire quali nuovi scenari si aprono per l’umanità…

Urania has now published all three novels in the series, the other two being TERRA INCOGNITA (PLANESRUNNER) and PIANETA PARALLELO (BE MY ENEMY). Urania has also published the first novel in Ian’s latest series, Luna: LUNA NUOVA (NEW MOON).

The Everness series was first published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books and in North America by Pyr Books. The series is now available in eBook via the JAbberwocky eBook Program, and in many other territories. Here’s the English-language synopsis for EMPRESS OF THE SUN…

World-hopping, high-action adventure starring a smart boy with computer skills and a tough girl who pilots a blimp

The airship Everness makes a Heisenberg Jump to an alternate Earth unlike any her crew has ever seen. Everett, Sen, and the crew find themselves above a plain that goes on forever in every direction without any horizon. There they find an Alderson Disc, an astronomical megastructure of incredibly strong material reaching from the orbit of Mercury to the orbit of Jupiter.

Then they meet the Jiju, the dominant species on a plane where the dinosaurs didn’t die out. They evolved, diversified, and have a twenty-five million year technology head-start on humanity. War between their kingdoms is inevitable, total and terrible.

Everness has jumped right into the midst of a faction fight between rival nations, the Fabreen and Dityu empires. The airship is attacked, but then defended by the forces of the Fabreen, who offers theEvernesscrew protection. But what is the true motive behind Empress Aswiu’s aid? What is her price?

The crew of the Everness is divided in a very alien world, a world fast approaching the point of apocalypse.

Here’s what reviewers have said about the Everness series…

‘The marvelous Everness series takes readers to a world with highly evolved dinosaurs in this third voyage through parallel universes… McDonald lets his imagination run rampant without abandoning credibility, tackling real scientific concepts such as confirmation bias, a feature lacking in far too much science fiction. Fans might wish for more focus on the original Everett, but eventually, the three storylines weave themselves together nicely, setting up another sequel with hints of forthcoming romance. Endlessly fascinating and fun.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review) on EMPRESS OF THE SUN

‘I’ve rarely had as much fun with a Young Adult SF series as I have with Ian McDonald’s Everness — now up to three books with the brand new, shiny addition of EMPRESS OF THE SUN, possibly the best book of the bunch so far… this latest installment, with its sentient space dinosaurs, will delight folks who occasionally yearn for a good old-fashioned pulp adventure… through all of it, the characters continue to shine… I confess that I initially wasn’t too crazy about the whole Doppelgänger plot, but in this novel, it turns into a wonderful part of the overall picture… It was simply a treat to get back into the crazy palari and strange fashions of the Everness books. It may sound bizarre, but this is the first time I’ve read a novel that actually made me feel like writing fan-fic about its characters, just because they’re so utterly fresh and surprising. The Everness series is technically Young Adult, but I believe any science fiction fan, young or old, would get sucked into these adventures.’ — Tor.com on EMPRESS OF THE SUN

‘EMPRESS OF THE SUN revels in its pulp adventure milieu… McDonald has created an incredibly “storyable” universe for his characters to have their adventures in, and he keeps those adventures coming fast and furious… Between the adventures, the pacing, the characters, and the narrative arcs, there’s a lot to enjoy about this book and the overall series.’ — Strange Horizons on EMPRESS OF THE SUN

‘McDonald proves the concept of his world of the Infundibulum has legs, and provides some intriguing new ideas amid an entertaining adventure… Lots of ideas thrown out and explored; good development of main characters… Malevolent Nanotech. More world hopping. A solidly entertaining second volume to the series… With all of these ideas, concepts and worldbuilding, McDonald, in terms of his core characters, provides us with meaty development and growth… I was more than satisfied with the book and anyone, young adult or otherwise, who has read the first book will find much to love here, and will likely be as eager as I for the next volume in the series.’ — SF Signal on BE MY ENEMY

‘… absolutely triumphant sequel to Ian McDonald’s pulse-pounding young-adult science fiction novel PLANESRUNNER. PLANESRUNNER — a rollicking, multidimensional tale of a young boy who holds the key to infinite universes, seeking to rescue his physicist father from sinister powers — finished on a brutal cliffhanger, leaving its readers gasping and cursing for more. Now we have it. In BE MY ENEMY, there’s a lot more of what made PLANESRUNNER great — tremendous action scenes, cunning escapes, genius attacks on the ways that multidimensional travel might be weaponized, horrific glimpses of shadowy powers and sinister technologies. But BE MY ENEMY also has more of what makes McDonald’s adult fiction some of the best work I’ve ever read: a gifted ear for poesie that makes the English language sing, the unapologetic presumption of the reader’s ability to understand what’s going on without a lot of hand-holding, and a technological mysticism that never explicitly says when the literal stops and the fantasy starts… If you held off on reading PLANESRUNNER because you didn’t want to commit to a series without knowing if the author could keep up the quality, have no fear. McDonald has proven himself handily.’ — BoingBoing

‘Also appropriating airships, larger‑than-life characters and breakneck action is Ian McDonald’s PLANESRUNNER…, the opening volume in the Everness series and his first foray into Young Adult fiction. This is vintage McDonald, with beautifully drawn settings, complex characters and deft plotting. When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped, Everett’s investigations lead him to discover that his father was working to open portals between multiple worlds. Everett finds a map linking the worlds, which various sinister organisations desire – and the thrilling chase is on.’ — Guardian on PLANESRUNNER

‘The book begins with its young and likeably geeky protagonist, Everett Singh (named for physicist Hugh Everett, who came up with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics back in the ‘50s) witnessing the kidnapping of his scientist father. But why would anyone want to drag an apparently unimportant academic off the street in London? Because, it turns out, Singh Sr has created the Infundibulum, a map of all known parallel Earths. Soon, Everett heads through a gateway and into a steampunk-tinged adventure. And yes, an airship is involved. But don’t hold that against McDonald, because this is a novel that’s knowing in the way it uses SF tropes without ever coming close to being condescending towards its intended audience. Science nerds of all ages may balk at the amount of exposition in the early chapters (arguably necessary, considering we’re talking quantum here), but most will be too busy getting lost in a cracking adventure story.’ — SFX on PLANESRUNNER

Travel the multiverse with the Everness crew!

Posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2018

Great news for fans of Ian McDonald: the Everness trilogy is available again in eBook in the US! Published via the JABberwocky eBook Program, all three novels are available once again: PLANESRUNNER, BE MY ENEMY and EMPRESS OF THE SUN. Here’s the synopsis for the first novel…

When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer: the Infundibulum, the map of all the parallel earths, the most valuable object in the multiverse. There are dark forces in the Plenitude of Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it. They’ve got power, authority, and the might of ten planets at their fingertips. He’s got wits, intelligence, and a knack for Indian cooking. To rescue his dad from Charlotte Villiers and the sinister Order, this Planesrunner’s going to need friends. Friends like Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, her adopted daughter, Sen, and the crew of the airship Everness. Can they rescue Everett’s father and get the Infundibulum to safety? The game is afoot!

The trilogy is published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books. JABberwocky have also published a few of Ian’s other novels in eBooks for the US market (follow the link above for more information). We’ll post some more information about these novels on the site over the next couple of weeks.

Here’s just a small selection drawn from the incredible reviews the series has received since the novels’ publication…

‘Also appropriating airships, larger‑than-life characters and breakneck action is Ian McDonald’s PLANESRUNNER…, the opening volume in the Everness series and his first foray into Young Adult fiction. This is vintage McDonald, with beautifully drawn settings, complex characters and deft plotting. When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped, Everett’s investigations lead him to discover that his father was working to open portals between multiple worlds. Everett finds a map linking the worlds, which various sinister organisations desire – and the thrilling chase is on.’ — Guardian

‘The book begins with its young and likeably geeky protagonist, Everett Singh (named for physicist Hugh Everett, who came up with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics back in the ‘50s) witnessing the kidnapping of his scientist father. But why would anyone want to drag an apparently unimportant academic off the street in London? Because, it turns out, Singh Sr has created the Infundibulum, a map of all known parallel Earths. Soon, Everett heads through a gateway and into a steampunk-tinged adventure. And yes, an airship is involved. But don’t hold that against McDonald, because this is a novel that’s knowing in the way it uses SF tropes without ever coming close to being condescending towards its intended audience. Science nerds of all ages may balk at the amount of exposition in the early chapters (arguably necessary, considering we’re talking quantum here), but most will be too busy getting lost in a cracking adventure story.’ — SFX on PLANESRUNNER

‘A pacy book filled with tropes McDonald takes from across the genre and makes his own, whether it is AI or nanotech, unpeopled Earths or post-apocalyptic worlds. The airship which is the series home has a real three dimensionality whilst the jump gun acts as pure plot device. In softer hands these books could become a “monster of the week” series but here there are consequences, none more so than when Everett is punched in the stomach by an authority figure. This basic, personal violence is a reminder that this is not a game and that even a genius can’t get through unscathed. I can’t wait to see what happens next.’ — Strange Horizons

‘McDonald proves the concept of his world of the Infundibulum has legs, and provides some intriguing new ideas amid an entertaining adventure… Lots of ideas thrown out and explored; good development of main characters… Malevolent Nanotech. More world hopping. A solidly entertaining second volume to the series… With all of these ideas, concepts and worldbuilding, McDonald, in terms of his core characters, provides us with meaty development and growth… I was more than satisfied with the book and anyone, young adult or otherwise, who has read the first book will find much to love here, and will likely be as eager as I for the next volume in the series.’ — SF Signal

‘[A]bsolutely triumphant sequel to Ian McDonald’s pulse-pounding young-adult science fiction novel PLANESRUNNER. PLANESRUNNER — a rollicking, multidimensional tale of a young boy who holds the key to infinite universes, seeking to rescue his physicist father from sinister powers — finished on a brutal cliffhanger, leaving its readers gasping and cursing for more. Now we have it. In BE MY ENEMY, there’s a lot more of what made PLANESRUNNER great — tremendous action scenes, cunning escapes, genius attacks on the ways that multidimensional travel might be weaponized, horrific glimpses of shadowy powers and sinister technologies. But BE MY ENEMY also has more of what makes McDonald’s adult fiction some of the best work I’ve ever read: a gifted ear for poesie that makes the English language sing, the unapologetic presumption of the reader’s ability to understand what’s going on without a lot of hand-holding, and a technological mysticism that never explicitly says when the literal stops and the fantasy starts… If you held off on reading PLANESRUNNER because you didn’t want to commit to a series without knowing if the author could keep up the quality, have no fear. McDonald has proven himself handily.’ — BoingBoing

‘The marvelous Everness series takes readers to a world with highly evolved dinosaurs in this third voyage through parallel universes… McDonald lets his imagination run rampant without abandoning credibility, tackling real scientific concepts such as confirmation bias, a feature lacking in far too much science fiction. Fans might wish for more focus on the original Everett, but eventually, the three storylines weave themselves together nicely, setting up another sequel with hints of forthcoming romance. Endlessly fascinating and fun.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review) on EMPRESS OF THE SUN

‘I’ve rarely had as much fun with a Young Adult SF series as I have with Ian McDonald’s Everness — now up to three books with the brand new, shiny addition of EMPRESS OF THE SUN, possibly the best book of the bunch so far… this latest installment, with its sentient space dinosaurs, will delight folks who occasionally yearn for a good old-fashioned pulp adventure… through all of it, the characters continue to shine… I confess that I initially wasn’t too crazy about the whole Doppelgänger plot, but in this novel, it turns into a wonderful part of the overall picture… It was simply a treat to get back into the crazy palari and strange fashions of the Everness books. It may sound bizarre, but this is the first time I’ve read a novel that actually made me feel like writing fan-fic about its characters, just because they’re so utterly fresh and surprising. The Everness series is technically Young Adult, but I believe any science fiction fan, young or old, would get sucked into these adventures.’ — Tor.com

PLANESRUNNER out today in Italy!

Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed PLANESRUNNER is available from today as an eBook in Italy! Published by Mondadori as TERRA INCOGNITA, here’s the synopsis…

Tejendra Singh, il fisico che ha scoperto il modo di mettere in comunicazione le varie Terre del multiverso, viene rapito sotto gli occhi del figlio, il giovane Everett Singh. Everett è a sua volta un genio della logica e dell’informatica e decide di partire in cerca del padre. Ma partire per dove? Innanzitutto bisogna recuperare la mappa degli universi elaborata dal dottor Singh e trovare il luogo in cui tutte le realtà coesistono e le verità di ogni mondo si sommano. Everett scopre la porta che apre l’ingresso a n dimensioni e si avventura da un mondo all’altro in cerca di Tejendra. Un crocevia tra percorsi infiniti, dalla Londra che conosciamo a una teoria di città-labirinto ancora invisibili.

PLANESRUNNER is the first novel in the fan-favourite Everness trilogy, and is published in the US by Pyr Books, and in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books. The series has also been published in other territories (more details can be found on Ian’s author page). Here’s the English-language synopsis…

There is not one you. There are many yous. There is not one world. There are many worlds. Ours is one among billions of parallel earths.

When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer. Suddenly, this teenager has become the owner of the most valuable object in the multiverse — the Infundibulum — the map of all the parallel earths, and there are dark forces in the Ten Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it. They’ve got power, authority, the might of ten planets — some of them more technologically advanced than our Earth — at their fingertips. He’s got wits, intelligence, and a knack for Indian cooking.

To keep the Infundibulum safe, Everett must trick his way through the Heisenberg Gate that his dad helped build and go on the run in a parallel Earth. But to rescue his dad from Charlotte Villiers and the sinister Order, this Planesrunner’s going to need friends. Friends like Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, her adopted daughter, Sen, and the crew of the airship Everness.

Can they rescue Everett’s father and get the Infundibulum to safety? The game is afoot!

Here’s just a small selection of reviews the novel has received…

‘Also appropriating airships, larger‑than-life characters and breakneck action is Ian McDonald’s PLANESRUNNER…, the opening volume in the Everness series and his first foray into Young Adult fiction. This is vintage McDonald, with beautifully drawn settings, complex characters and deft plotting. When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped, Everett’s investigations lead him to discover that his father was working to open portals between multiple worlds. Everett finds a map linking the worlds, which various sinister organisations desire – and the thrilling chase is on.’ — Guardian

‘Boy, this book was fun… Everett Singh is a wonderful main character who balances the delicate line between normal and awesome… reading about his exploits is definitely never boring, and Ian McDonald throws in enough human touches to make Everett believable… fast, fun dialogues… PLANESRUNNER is one of those novels that grabs hold of you from the very beginning and then just never lets go until the very end… I had a blast with this novel, and I can’t wait for the next book in the Everness series. As Sen Sixsmyth would say, this book was utterly bonaroo.’ — Tor.com

‘McDonald writes with scientific and literary sophistication, as well as a wicked sense of humor. Add nonstop action, eccentric characters, and expert universe building, and this first volume of the Everness series is a winner.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘Snappy, inventive language, lively characters and world-building on an epic scale.’ — Sci-Fi Now

‘A novel that’s knowing in the way it uses SF tropes without ever coming close to being condescending towards its intended audience… a cracking adventure story.’ — SFX

‘Planesrunner is chock-full of awesome. Ian McDonald’s steampunk London blazes on a vast scale with eye-popping towers, gritty streets, and larger-than-life characters who aren’t afraid to fight for each other. The kind of airship-dueling, guns-blazing fantasy that makes me wish I could pop through to the next reality over, join the Airish, and take to the skies.’ — Paolo Bacigalupi

And here are the US and UK covers for the trilogy…

Ian McDonald’s PLANESRUNNER taking flight in Italy…!

Posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2016

Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed PLANESRUNNER is due to be released as an eBook on January 4th, 2017 in Italy! Published by Mondadori as TERRA INCOGNITA, here’s the synopsis…

Tejendra Singh, il fisico che ha scoperto il modo di mettere in comunicazione le varie Terre del multiverso, viene rapito sotto gli occhi del figlio, il giovane Everett Singh. Everett è a sua volta un genio della logica e dell’informatica e decide di partire in cerca del padre. Ma partire per dove? Innanzitutto bisogna recuperare la mappa degli universi elaborata dal dottor Singh e trovare il luogo in cui tutte le realtà coesistono e le verità di ogni mondo si sommano. Everett scopre la porta che apre l’ingresso a n dimensioni e si avventura da un mondo all’altro in cerca di Tejendra. Un crocevia tra percorsi infiniti, dalla Londra che conosciamo a una teoria di città-labirinto ancora invisibili.

PLANESRUNNER is the first novel in the Everness trilogy, and is published in the US by Pyr Books, and in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books. The series has also been published in other territories. Here’s the English-language synopsis…