New limited edition of Lavie Tidhar’s UNHOLY LAND available this month!


Last week, PS Publishing announced their new limited edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s critically-acclaimed UNHOLY LAND! The novel has found its way onto a number of Best Of 2018 lists already (we’ll post a round-up of these in the near future, before the year is out), and we think there will be a lot of interest in this edition. Here’s the synopsis, followed by some photos of the beautiful edition…

Lior Tirosh is a semi-successful author of pulp fiction, an inadvertent time traveler, and an ongoing source of disappointment to his father.

Tirosh has returned to his homeland in East Africa. But Palestina―a Jewish state founded in the early 20th century―has grown dangerous. The government is building a vast border wall to keep out African refugees. Unrest in Ararat City is growing. And Tirosh’s childhood friend, trying to deliver a warning, has turned up dead in his hotel room.

A state security officer has now identified Tirosh as a suspect in a string of murders. A rogue agent is stalking Tirosh through transdimensional rifts―possible futures that can only be prevented by avoiding the mistakes of the past.

From the bestselling author of Central Station comes an extraordinary new novel recalling China Miéville and Michael Chabon, entertaining and subversive in equal measures.

The ‘regular’ edition of UNHOLY LAND is published by Tachyon Publications in the US and UK.

Here are just some of the great reviews UNHOLY LAND has amassed so far…

‘[W]ill leave readers’ heads spinning with this disorienting and gripping alternate history… Readers of all kinds, and particularly fans of detective stories and puzzles, will enjoy grappling with the numerous questions raised by this stellar work.’ — Publishers Weekly (PW Picks: Books of the Week, October 15, 2018)

‘Lavie Tidhar is a genius at conjuring realities that are just two steps to the left of our own — places that look and smell and feel real, if just a bit hauntingly alien. UNHOLY LAND develops slowly. It begins with banal strangeness (this Palestinia, so like and unlike modern-day Israel) and leans gently into it… This is a story that gets weirder the deeper you get into it; that cultivates strangeness like something precious. It has three narrators: Investigator Bloom, Tirosh and a woman, Nur, who works as a field agent for the Border Agency. There are echoes of Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union in it, wild strains of P.K. Dick and Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. But UNHOLY LAND is its own thing. Something that no one but Tidhar could’ve written. Gorgeous in its alienness, comfortingly gray in its banality, and disquieting throughout.’ — NPR

‘[O]ne of those lovely books that starts out presenting itself as one thing, and mutates into another almost without you seeing it… a game-player of a writer who uses the spectrum of science fiction canon for his pieces… a grand game of alternate worlds cast like jewels on the sand. The long second act is all dust and blood and madness and glory, and the fast third act comes down on you like a sharpened spade… Lavie Tidhar is a clever bastard, and this book is a box of little miracles.’ — Warren Ellis

UNHOLY LAND starts out hard-boiled and comes at you sideways with the speculative elements. Tidhar has blended alternative history with murder in hotel rooms, missing women, an honest-to-god Fedora and mysterious borders in a tale that evokes Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Cassablanca and Mieville’s The Cty & the City. Political and pulpy, with distinct metafictional elements, Tidhar adroitly pulls off this fantastical tale of an occupied territory.’ — Tade Thompson

‘[A]dventurous readers will appreciate this well-written and ambitious book. It should find a place at any library that offers high-quality literary fiction.’ — Booklist

‘Tidhar has turned a suspenseful adventure tale into a complex meditation on the possible paths of modern Jewish history.’— Chicago Tribune

Tachyon Publications has also published Lavie’s award-winning, critically-acclaimed CENTRAL STATION — which, incidentally, was also released as a special edition by PS Publishing (since sold out).

Ian R. MacLeod’s RED SNOW available in eBook!


Ian R. MacLeod‘s 2018 Locus Award-finalist RED SNOW is available more widely now as an eBook! Published through the JABberwocky eBook Program, the novel is now available from most eBook retailers. Here’s the synopsis…

In the aftermath of the last great battle of the American Civil War, a disillusioned Union medic stumbles across a strange figure picking amid the corpses, and his life is changed forever…

In the cathedral city of Strasbourg in the years before the French Revolution, a church restorer is commissioned to paint a series of portraits that chart the changing appearance of a beautiful woman over the course of her life, although the woman herself seems ageless…

In Prohibition-era New York, an idealistic young Marxist is catapulted into the realms of elite society, and forced to assume the identity of someone who never existed…

Red Snow is a novel of love and violence, ideas and dreams, and revolves around the mystery of a monster drawn from humanity’s darkest myths which still somehow survives, and thrives, and kills, in this modern age.

The novel was first published as a limited edition by PS Publishing (a few copies left), and has also been published in Poland by MAG. Here are just a couple of the reviews the novel has received so far…

‘… always manages to take us somewhere unexpected… by turns western adventure, Renaissance horror, political intrigue, dysfunctional family drama, and more.’ Locus

‘By turns horrifying and hauntingly beautiful, this epic vampire story is the stuff of real nightmares.’ Tim Powers

‘A rich, beautifully written, deftly plotted vampire novel’ — Goodreads

Zeno clients among the 2018 Locus Awards Finalists!


It’s that time of year again: the Locus Award Finalists have been announced! We’re very happy to report that a number of our clients and their work appear in the various categories. Here are the details…

Ian McDonald‘s LUNA: WOLF MOON is a finalist for Best Science Fiction Novel. Published by Tor Books in the US and Gollancz in the UK, here’s the synopsis…

A Dragon is dead.

Corta Helio, one of the five family corporations that rule the Moon, has fallen. Its riches are divided up among its many enemies, its survivors scattered. Eighteen months have passed .

The remaining Helio children, Lucasinho and Luna, are under the protection of the powerful Asamoahs, while Robson, still reeling from witnessing his parent’s violent deaths, is now a ward — virtually a hostage — of Mackenzie Metals. And the last appointed heir, Lucas, has vanished of the surface of the moon.

Only Lady Sun, dowager of Taiyang, suspects that Lucas Corta is not dead, and more to the point — that he is still a major player in the game. After all, Lucas always was the Schemer, and even in death, he would go to any lengths to take back everything and build a new Corta Helio, more powerful than before. But Corta Helio needs allies, and to find them, the fleeing son undertakes an audacious, impossible journey — to Earth.

In an unstable lunar environment, the shifting loyalties and political machinations of each family reach the zenith of their most fertile plots as outright war erupts.

Aliette de Bodard‘s THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS is among the finalists for Best Fantasy Novel. Published in the US by Roc Books and in the UK by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

Paris endures the aftermath of a devastating arcane war…

As the city rebuilds from the onslaught of sorcery that nearly destroyed it, the great Houses of Paris, ruled by Fallen angels, still contest one another for control over the capital.

House Silverspires was once the most powerful, but just as it sought to rise again, an ancient evil brought it low. Phillippe, an immortal who escaped the carnage, has a singular goal — to resurrect someone he lost. But the cost of such magic might be more than he can bear.

In House Hawthorn, Madeleine the alchemist has had her addiction to angel essence savagely broken. Struggling to live on, she is forced on a perilous diplomatic mission to the underwater dragon kingdom — and finds herself in the midst of intrigues that have already caused one previous emissary to mysteriously disappear…

As the Houses seek a peace more devastating than war, those caught between new fears and old hatreds must find strength — or fall prey to a magic that seeks to bind all to its will.

Aliette’s CHILDREN OF THORNS, CHILDREN OF WATER, a novelette set in the same Dominion of the Fallen series as the above novel, is also nominated for Best Novelette. You can read the story here.

Ian R. MacLeod‘s RED SNOW, published by PS Publishing, is a finalist for Best Horror Novel. Here’s the synopsis…

In the aftermath of the last great battle of the American Civil War, a disillusioned Union medic stumbles across a strange figure picking amid the corpses, and his life is changed forever…

In the cathedral city of Strasbourg in the years before the French Revolution, a church restorer is commissioned to paint a series of portraits that chart the changing appearance of a beautiful woman over the course of her life, although the woman herself seems ageless…

In Prohibition-era New York, an idealistic young Marxist is catapulted into the realms of elite society, and forced to assume the identity of someone who never existed…

Red Snow is a novel of love and violence, ideas and dreams, and revolves around the mystery of a monster drawn from humanity’s darkest myths which still somehow survives, and thrives, and kills, in this modern age.

Winners will be announced during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 22-24, 2018.

A RED SNOW falls on Poland…


Ian R. MacLeod‘s latest novel, RED SNOW, is now available in Poland! Published by MAG as CZERWONY ŚNIEG, here’s the synopsis…

Na pobojowisku po ostatniej wielkiej bitwie Wojny Secesyjnej rozczarowany życiem unionista-lekarz natrafia na obrabiającą trupy dziwną postać i jego życie zmienia się na zawsze…

W Strasburgu, parę lat przed Rewolucją Francuską, konserwator obrazów dostaje zlecenie namalowania cyklu portretów pięknej kobiety w różnych fazach jej życia, choć sama kobieta najwyraźniej się nie starzeje…

W Nowym Jorku z czasów prohibicji młoda marksistka pojawia się nagle wśród elit, w dodatku podszywając się pod osobę, która nigdy nie istniała…

Czerwony śnieg to powieść o miłości i krwi, o ideach i snach, a wszystko wiąże w całość tajemnicze stworzenie wywiedzione z najmroczniejszych przedwiecznych ludzkich mitów, które cudem przetrwało do dzisiejszych czasów, wciąż rośnie i wciąż zabija…

RED SNOW is also published by PS Publishing. The novel has been described as ‘a rich, beautifully written, deftly plotted vampire novel’ on Goodreads, and Locus said the novel ‘always manages to take us somewhere unexpected… by turns western adventure, Renaissance horror, political intrigue, dysfunctional family drama, and more.’ Here’s the English-language synopsis…

In the aftermath of the last great battle of the American Civil War, a disillusioned Union medic stumbles across a strange figure picking amid the corpses, and his life is changed forever…

In the cathedral city of Strasbourg in the years before the French Revolution, a church restorer is commissioned to paint a series of portraits that chart the changing appearance of a beautiful woman over the course of her life, although the woman herself seems ageless…

In Prohibition-era New York, an idealistic young Marxist is catapulted into the realms of elite society, and forced to assume the identity of someone who never existed…

Red Snow is a novel of love and violence, ideas and dreams, and revolves around the mystery of a monster drawn from humanity’s darkest myths which still somehow survives, and thrives, and kills, in this modern age.

A RED SNOW falls next month in Poland…


Next month, MAG are due to publish Ian R. MacLeod‘s latest, ambitious novel, RED SNOW. A novel about an ancient evil that is somehow able to survive into the modern age, it is published in Polish as CZERWONY ŚNIEG. Here’s the synopsis…

Na pobojowisku po ostatniej wielkiej bitwie Wojny Secesyjnej rozczarowany życiem unionista-lekarz natrafia na obrabiającą trupy dziwną postać i jego życie zmienia się na zawsze…

W Strasburgu, parę lat przed Rewolucją Francuską, konserwator obrazów dostaje zlecenie namalowania cyklu portretów pięknej kobiety w różnych fazach jej życia, choć sama kobieta najwyraźniej się nie starzeje…

W Nowym Jorku z czasów prohibicji młoda marksistka pojawia się nagle wśród elit, w dodatku podszywając się pod osobę, która nigdy nie istniała…

Czerwony śnieg to powieść o miłości i krwi, o ideach i snach, a wszystko wiąże w całość tajemnicze stworzenie wywiedzione z najmroczniejszych przedwiecznych ludzkich mitów, które cudem przetrwało do dzisiejszych czasów, wciąż rośnie i wciąż zabija…

RED SNOW was first published by PS Publishing. MacLeod described it as ‘featur[ing] vampires, the Wild West, the French Revolution, the Wall Street Crash, and a fair amount of mysticism.’ Here’s the English-language synopsis…

In the aftermath of the last great battle of the American Civil War, a disillusioned Union medic stumbles across a strange figure picking amid the corpses, and his life is changed forever…

In the cathedral city of Strasbourg in the years before the French Revolution, a church restorer is commissioned to paint a series of portraits that chart the changing appearance of a beautiful woman over the course of her life, although the woman herself seems ageless…

In Prohibition-era New York, an idealistic young Marxist is catapulted into the realms of elite society, and forced to assume the identity of someone who never existed…

Red Snow is a novel of love and violence, ideas and dreams, and revolves around the mystery of a monster drawn from humanity’s darkest myths which still somehow survives, and thrives, and kills, in this modern age.

Tim Powers described the novel as, ‘By turns horrifying and hauntingly beautiful, this epic vampire story is the stuff of real nightmares.’

RED SNOW Trailer and Interview with Ian R. MacLeod!


Above you can watch the trailer for Ian R. MacLeod‘s latest novel, RED SNOW. Published by PS Publishing, here’s the synopsis…

In the aftermath of the last great battle of the American Civil War, a disillusioned Union medic stumbles across a strange figure picking amid the corpses, and his life is changed forever…

In the cathedral city of Strasbourg in the years before the French Revolution, a church restorer is commissioned to paint a series of portraits that chart the changing appearance of a beautiful woman over the course of her life, although the woman herself seems ageless…

In Prohibition-era New York, an idealistic young Marxist is catapulted into the realms of elite society, and forced to assume the identity of someone who never existed…

Red Snow is a novel of love and violence, ideas and dreams, and revolves around the mystery of a monster drawn from humanity’s darkest myths which still somehow survives, and thrives, and kills, in this modern age.

As a bonus, PS Publishing have shared this two-part interview with MacLeod, also about RED SNOW

Ian R. MacLeod’s RED SNOW is out now!


Ian R. MacLeod‘s highly-anticipated new novel, RED SNOW, is out now! Published as a limited edition by PS Publishing, here’s the synopsis…

In the aftermath of the last great battle of the American Civil War, a disillusioned Union medic stumbles across a strange figure picking amid the corpses, and his life is changed forever…

In the cathedral city of Strasbourg in the years before the French Revolution, a church restorer is commissioned to paint a series of portraits that chart the changing appearance of a beautiful woman over the course of her life, although the woman herself seems ageless…

In Prohibition-era New York, an idealistic young Marxist is catapulted into the realms of elite society, and forced to assume the identity of someone who never existed…

Red Snow is a novel of love and violence, ideas and dreams, and revolves around the mystery of a monster drawn from humanity’s darkest myths which still somehow survives, and thrives, and kills, in this modern age.

Here’s the eye-catching full cover wrap…

Ian R. MacLeod is the award-winning author of a number of science fiction and fantasy novels. In 2013, Open Road Media published seven of his novels in eBook:

CENTRAL STATION Ltd.Ed. available now!


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The gorgeous limited edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s critically-acclaimed CENTRAL STATION is now available! Published by PS Publishing, here’s the synopsis…

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of Central Station, an interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation — a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness — are just the beginning of irrevocable change. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality.

The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper. But at Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive… and even evolve.

The equally-attractive ‘regular’ edition of the novel is published by Tachyon Publications, and is also out now.

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Here’s a selection from the many glowing reviews the book has received…

‘Magnificently blends literary and speculative elements in this streetwise mosaic novel set under the towering titular spaceport… Tidhar gleefully mixes classic SF concepts with prose styles and concepts that recall the best of world literature. The byways of Central Station ring with dusty life, like the bruising, bustling Cairo streets depicted by Naguib Mahfouz. Characters wrestle with problems of identity forged under systems of oppression, much as displaced Easterners and Westerners do in the novels of Orhan Pamuk. And yet this is unmistakably SF. Readers of all persuasions will be entranced.’ Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘It is just this side of a masterpiece — short, restrained, lush — and the truest joy of it is in the way Tidhar scatters brilliant ideas like pennies on the sidewalk.’ NPR

‘The stories include some of Tidhar’s most beautiful prose, and his future Tel Aviv is among the most evocative settings in recent SF… Somehow, CENTRAL STATION combines a cultural sensibility too long invisible in SF with a sensibility which is nothing but classic SF, and the result is a rather elegant suite of tales.’ Locus

‘Tidhar’s prose draws the reader in, bringing this world to life with ease… Not only intelligent, it’s emotional too, telling of loves lost and those only just begun, of those wishing to escape their past and those hoping to bring it back… Tidhar is reminiscent of an early William Gibson… cement[s] Lavie Tidhar as one of science fiction’s great voices, an author who creates scenarios and characters that feel destined to become classics, ones that readers will be happy to revisit time and time again. It’s a compelling collection that mixes the epic and the intimate, one that succeeds at being profound, incredibly moving and, quite simply, stunning.’ (10/10) Starburst 

CENTRAL STATION is without question the best assemblage of short stories I’ve read in recent memory. Sublimely sensual, emotionally moreish, and composed with crystalline clarity irrespective of its incredible complexity.’ Tor.com

‘[Tidhar] has created a textured and original future that echoes real historical and economic tensions while satisfying veteran readers with deliberate echoes of classic science fiction… Deeply humane.’ Chicago Tribune

‘Powerfully imagined and beautifully rendered… capture[s] profound emotional truths…’ Interzone

CENTRAL STATION Limited Edition available to order now!


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Lavie Tidhar‘s critically-acclaimed CENTRAL STATION is getting the limited edition treatment! Due to be published by PS Publishing, the novel will be available with new artwork (above) and slipcase.

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of Central Station, an interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation — a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness — are just the beginning of irrevocable change. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality.

The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper. But at Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive… and even evolve.

The ‘regular’ edition of CENTRAL STATION is published by Tachyon Publications, and is out now. Here’s a selection of reviews the novel has received thus far…

‘Magnificently blends literary and speculative elements in this streetwise mosaic novel set under the towering titular spaceport… Tidhar gleefully mixes classic SF concepts with prose styles and concepts that recall the best of world literature… Readers of all persuasions will be entranced.’ Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘It is just this side of a masterpiece — short, restrained, lush — and the truest joy of it is in the way Tidhar scatters brilliant ideas like pennies on the sidewalk.’ NPR

‘The stories include some of Tidhar’s most beautiful prose, and his future Tel Aviv is among the most evocative settings in recent SF… Somehow, CENTRAL STATION combines a cultural sensibility too long invisible in SF with a sensibility which is nothing but classic SF, and the result is a rather elegant suite of tales.’ — Locus

‘If you want to know what SF is going to look like in the next decade, this is it.’ Gardener Dozois

‘Beautiful, original, a shimmering tapestry of connections and images – I can’t think of another SF novel quite like it. Lavie Tidhar is one of the most distinctive voices to enter the field in many years.’ Alastair Reynolds

‘A fascinating future glimpsed through the lens of a tight-knit community. Tidhar changes genres with every outing, but his astounding talents guarantee something new and compelling no matter the story he tells.’ Library Journal (starred review)

‘A dazzling tale of complicated politics and even more complicated souls. Beautiful.’ Ken Liu

Lavie is also the author of the award-winning OSAMA and A MAN LIES DREAMING (Hodder/Melville House), and the critically-acclaimed THE VIOLENT CENTURY (Hodder/Thomas Dunne) and Bookman Histories (Angry Robot).

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Aliette de Bodard and Elizabeth Hand Nominated for Locus Awards!


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The Locus Awards were announced last week, and we’re very happy to report that Zeno clients Aliette de Bodard and Elizabeth Hand have both been nominated!

Aliette de Bodard’s latest novel, THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS has been nominated for best fantasy novel. Published in the US by Roc Books, and in the UK by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

A superb murder mystery, on an epic scale, set against the fall out of a war in heaven

Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black, thick with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation; or the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

Last month, THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS won the BSFA Award for best novel. In addition, Aliette’s THE CITADEL OF WEEPING PEARLS (Asimov) has been nominated for best novella, and THREE CUPS OF GRIEF, BY STARLIGHT (Clarkesworld) has been nominated for best short story — it also won the BSFA Award for best short fiction.

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Elizabeth Hand’s WYLDING HALL, published in the UK by PS Publishing, has also been nominated for best fantasy novel. Here’s the synopsis…

After the tragic and mysterious death of one of their founding members, the young musicians in a British acid-folk band hole up at Wylding Hall, an ancient country house with its own dark secrets.

There they record the classic album that will make their reputation — but at a terrifying cost, when Julian Blake, their lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen again.

Now, years later, each of the surviving musicians, their friends and lovers (including a psychic, a photographer, and the band’s manager) meets with a young documentary filmmaker to tell his or her own version of what happened during that summer — but whose story is the true one?

And what really happened to Julian Blake?

The Locus Award winners will be announced during the Locus Award Weekend in Seattle, between June 24-26th.

Zeno represents Elizabeth Hand in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of Martha Millard at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Tidhar’s THE VIOLENT CENTURY Nominated for Award in Japan!


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Lavie Tidhar‘s critically-acclaimed THE VIOLENT CENTURY has been nominated for the 2016 Seiun Award for Best Translated Novel in Japan! Published as 完璧な夏の日 by Tokyo Sogensha (東京創元社) in Japan (in two parts), here’s the synopsis…

第二次世界大戦の直前、世界各地に突如現れた異能力者たちは各国の情報機関や軍に徴集され、死闘を繰りひろげた。そして現在。イギリスの情報機関を辞して久しい異能力者のひとりフォッグは、かつての相棒と上司に呼び出され、過去を回想する。突然の能力発現、仲間との初めての出会い、終わりなき闘いの日々…

THE VIOLENT CENTURY is published in the UK by Hodder, and in the US by Thomas Dunne Books. PS Publishing have also released a limited edition. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

For seventy years they guarded the British Empire. Oblivion and Fogg, inseparable friends, bound together by a shared fate. Until one night in Berlin, in the aftermath of the Second World War, and a secret that tore them apart.

But there must always be an account… and the past has a habit of catching up to the present.

Now, recalled to the Retirement Bureau from which no one can retire, Fogg and Oblivion must face up to a past of terrible war and unacknowledged heroism — a life of dusty corridors and secret rooms, of furtive meetings and blood-stained fields — to answer one last, impossible question: What makes a hero?

Here is just a small selection from the many great reviews the novel’s received…

THE VIOLENT CENTURY… may be his best yet: a blistering alt-historical retelling of a 20th century lousy with superheroes.’ — The Guardian, Best SFF of 2013

‘Lavie Tidhar’s latest is at once a love story, a tragedy, a spy novel, a memoir of a friendship, an exposé of the horrors of war, and a very serious study of the superhero: the origins of the concept as well as its relative relevance. THE VIOLENT CENTURY is a difficult text, yes, but one that gives as good as it gets.’ — Tor.com

‘[A] new masterpiece… a tremendous, unforgettable read… This study in heroism, love, revenge and violence will be in demand by lovers of complex, intelligent sf and alternative history. Anyone who enjoys stories of people with supernatural abilities will thrive reading Tidhar’s world.’ Library Journal

THE VIOLENT CENTURY is about legacy and how heroics play into it, a deeper message than defining what heroics mean: The actions of Fogg and Oblivion have lasting consequences, while at the same time, we can see the weight of the world they’ve helped to build grow on their shoulders. By the end of the book, it’s clear that their own journeys are defined by the actions which they’ve undertaken because it’s what they felt was right, rather than what their orders were.’ — io9.com

‘At the centre of this is the question, ‘What makes a hero?’ The supermen of Tidhar’s novel are forced to commit terrible acts in the name of the greater good, and stand by and watch as terrible acts are committed for the same reason. As well as being a wonderfully drawn and detailed historical espionage tale, THE VIOLENT CENTURY is ultimately a very human story. It’s gripping, imaginative and, finally, moving.’  —  SciFi Now

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(UK, Ltd., US)

Cover & Details: THE BEST OF IAN McDONALD


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Due out next month, PS Publishing has unveiled the cover and details for the upcoming THE BEST OF IAN McDONALD anthology! Here’s the synopsis…

Ian McDonald, the author of such landmark novels as Desolation Road, Chaga, River of Gods, and The Dervish House, has long been regarded as one of Britain’s finest SF writers. Just like those full-length works, his shorter fiction has commanded much admiration, and now, in this massive retrospective volume, the best McDonald tales are assembled in glittering array.

Represented here are all the phases of McDonald’s career: the poetic early retro-visions that in the late Eighties signalled the arrival of a marvellously fluent new stylistic voice; the virtuoso Nineties riffs on themes such as the Irish Troubles, nanotechnology, alternate history, and alien sexuality; the bold post-millennial ventures into the futuristic politics of Third World countries such as Kenya, India, and Brazil, as well as far afield to alien solar systems; and recent, dazzlingly conceived variations on the Arab Spring, the nature of superheroes, and Mars as pulp SF writers once fondly imagined it to be. The treasures are abundant, each presented in McDonald’s addictive, immersive prose — language at once elegantly timeless and edgily contemporary.

As the synopsis says, Ian McDonald is a highly-respected author. His most recent novel is LUNA: NEW MOON, which is published by Gollancz in the UK and Tor Books in the US. Gollancz publishes a number of his other novels in the UK. Open Road Media has also published a selection of Ian’s backlist in eBook.

Ian’s fans in the United States can also rejoice, for Subterranean Press has acquired some copies of the book for sale in North America.

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Lavie Tidhar’s WOLF Out Now in Italy!


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Lavie Tidhar‘s award-winning A MAN LIES DREAMING is out now in Italy. Published as WOLF by Frassinelli, here’s the synopsis…

In un altro tempo e luogo, un uomo dorme e sogna.

Londra, 1939. Herr Wolf è un investigatore privato, tedesco. Viene assoldato per ritrovare una ragazza scomparsa. La ragazza è ebrea. Wolf accetta il caso perché ha un disperato bisogno di soldi, ma Wolf odia gli ebrei. È colpa degli ebrei, infatti, se nel 1933 ha dovuto lasciare la Germania; è colpa degli ebrei se i comunisti hanno preso il potere a Berlino e da qui in quasi tutta l’Europa; è colpa degli ebrei se il partito nazista, che avrebbe portato ordine e disciplina, è stato sconfitto e distrutto; è colpa degli ebrei se Wolf e molti dei suoi vecchi camerati sono finiti così, dispersi e braccati. L’indagine porterà Wolf a ripercorrere il suo passato e precipitare nelle sue nevrosi, e condurrà invece il lettore in un gioco di continui spiazzamenti. Niente è come sembra, in questo romanzo, che è a un tempo una grande prova di narrativa ucronica, un noir, un libro perversamente erotico, e un avvincente spaccato della psicologia «nera» e malata del Novecento.

A MAN LIES DREAMING is published in the UK by Hodder, as a Limited Edition by PS Publishing, and is due to be published in the US by Melville House in March 2016. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Deep in the heart of history’s most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world – a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London’s grimiest streets.

An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption, A Man Lies Dreaming is the unforgettable testament to the power of imagination.

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Here are some of the rave reviews the novel has received…

‘Like Tarantino, Tidhar may find that some people don’t take him seriously. But the joke’s on them. Seriousness is the least of it: A MAN LIES DREAMING is a twisted masterpiece.’ — Guardian

‘Savagely funny… Those who enjoy laughter in the dark will relish Tidhar’s parade of mordant ironies… This novel is weird, upsetting, unmissable.’ 5* — Telegraph

‘Wild, noir-infused alternative history from genre-bender Tidhar… A wholly original Holocaust story: as outlandish as it is poignant.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘Lavie Tidhar wrote a novel in which the world has taken a different path, and Hitler, the ruthless executioner, found himself a loser. Just like in a Tarantino movie, the effect is powerful and liberating… Rewriting history, even as a product of imagination, requires a lot of freedom and courage. Those who attempt to do it are often rewarded. In WOLF, Tidhar is not afraid to tell an alternate reality.’ — Rolling Stone (Italy)

‘When Tidhar writes of the Holocaust it is with brutal accuracy and a deep sensitivity… it’s poetic and terrible… To top it all of course is Tidhar’s voice itself — at times humorous, at times grim but never frivolous and always taught and controlled… As with his previous novels, Tidhar knows how to say a great deal in very little. There is eloquence and gravitas in the sparseness and brevity of noir fiction when it is good, and Tidhar’s is quite incredible.’ — Tor.com

Cover & Details: US Edition of A MAN LIES DREAMING


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In March 2016, Melville House are due to publish Lavie Tidhar‘s award-winning A MAN LIES DREAMING. Above is the cover, and here is the synopsis…

A noir thriller with a twist and a Holocaust novel infused with the spirit of shund—the dark Israeli pulp fiction that thrived in the years after World War II — the British Fantasy Award-shortlisted A Man Lies Dreaming is a radical literary experiment that brings alternate history to life.

Lavie Tidhar has reimagined the rainy, atmospheric energy of London in the 1930s, and the troubled private detective with an unspeakable secret who roams its streets. As A Man Lies Dreaming unfolds and more of its mysteries come to the surface, we find ourselves drawn into a novel at once gripping and profoundly unsettling.

A MAN LIES DREAMING won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize earlier this year, and (as we shared on Monday) has been nominated for the Dublin Literary Award. The novel is published in the UK by Hodder; and by PS Publishing as a Limited Edition (cover below).

Here’s just a small selection from the praise that A MAN LIES DREAMING has enjoyed…

‘Theodor Adorno said that to write poetry after Auschwitz was barbaric. To which I would say, yes, but you can still write an excellent novel. A MAN LIES DREAMING is that novel.’ — Philip Kerr

‘One of the most powerful books I’ve read this year thanks to its combination of alternate history noir and the harsh reality of life in the concentration camps. Tidhar doesn’t just describe situations, both real and fictional; he makes you feel them, with writing that stimulates all your senses… A MAN LIES DREAMING once again combines Tidhar’s love of alternate realities with insights into what it means to be human. It will haunt your dreams and is his best novel yet. Highly recommended. 9/10′ — SciFi Bulletin

‘Wolf’s story is interesting, well-plotted… tightly structured… Wolf is a fantastic character, reprehensible, but somehow piteous, hilarious, oddly likeable for all his terrible traits, and the ability to make the reader sympathise with Adolf Hitler, for god’s sake, cannot be underestimated. Tidhar is a masterful writer… he is perhaps the UK’s most literary speculative fiction writer, and we should celebrate A MAN LIES DREAMING as more a masterful work of literary fiction than of speculative fiction. But it is exactly that: masterful.’ — Strange Horizons

‘When did he become one of our best and most adventurous writers?’ — Jonathan Strahan in Locus (Feb.2015)

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Cover & Details: A MAN LIES DREAMING by Lavie Tidhar Ltd.Ed.


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PS Publishing have released a limited edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s most recent critically-acclaimed and award-winning novel, A MAN LIES DREAMING. Here’s the synopsis…

Deep in the heart of history’s most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world – a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London’s grimiest streets.

An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption, A MAN LIES DREAMING is the unforgettable testament to the power of imagination.

The Limited Edition comes with an exclusive, previously unpublished novella, LUST OF THE SWASTIKA. Here’s the cover…

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A MAN LIES DREAMING, which won the Jerwood Undercover Fiction Prize this year, was published in the UK by Hodder, and is due to be published in the US next year by Melville House (cover and more details soon). It is also due to be published in Italy (details next week).

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

‘Like Tarantino, Tidhar may find that some people don’t take him seriously. But the joke’s on them. Seriousness is the least of it: A MAN LIES DREAMING is a twisted masterpiece.’ — Guardian

‘…savagely funny… A MAN LIES DREAMING, by the Israeli-born novelist Lavie Tidhar, has not been published with the fanfare bestowed on Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest or Howard Jacobson’s J, but it is their equal for savage humour… Those who enjoy laughter in the dark will relish Tidhar’s parade of mordant ironies… This novel is weird, upsetting, unmissable.’ 5* — Telegraph

‘When Tidhar writes of the Holocaust it is with brutal accuracy and a deep sensitivity… it’s poetic and terrible… Many will find elements of this story deeply disturbing, not the least of which is a possible sympathy to Wolf… To top it all of course is Tidhar’s voice itself — at times humorous, at times grim but never frivolous and always taught and controlled… As with his previous novels, Tidhar knows how to say a great deal in very little. There is eloquence and gravitas in the sparseness and brevity of noir fiction when it is good, and Tidhar’s is quite incredible.’ — Tor.com