Sci-Fi - Zeno Agency Ltd.

Aliette de Bodard’s THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE is a Clarke Award Finalist!

Posted on Friday, June 9th, 2023

We’re very happy to report that Aliette de Bodard‘s THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE is a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award! The latest novel in the author’s acclaimed Xuya setting, it has also been long-listed for the BSFA Award for Best Novel, and is a finalist for the Locus Award for Best Novel as well! Here’s the synopsis…

Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates’ enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.

Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si’s help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si’s technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.

But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together…

THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America by JABberwocky.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE is a fizzingly inventive space opera, quite unlike anything I’ve encountered before, and told with style, grace, and a big dose of heart. SF is lucky to have Aliette de Bodard.’ — Alastair Reynolds

‘Confident, sexy, and touching – THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “star-crossed lovers”!’ — Max Gladstone

‘Pirates, politics, sentient ships and unlikely romance all collide in Aliette de Bodard’s sapphic space opera THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE… With more tense political and social manoeuvring than rip-roaring action, events progress at a pace that maintains momentum while allowing plenty of time to revel in the texture and wonder of this rich, fascinating setting… With a unique world, a thought-provoking plot and a fragile, achingly believable relationship forming against the odds in the midst of rampant inequality and ever-present danger, this is a perfect novel for readers wanting emotional complexity, warmth and heartache in their space opera.’ — BSFA

‘A top-notch science fiction romance… THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE spins a thrilling yarn about pirate rivalries and epic battles, while proving a more-than-worthy addition to the canon of post-human space opera. And the romance is really, really hot. You’ll want to read this one twice: First to hold your breath as these two wives discover each other. And second to soak up all the clever ideas and lovely moment that feel totally human, even in this star-spanning context.’ — Washington Post

‘[W]hen she subtitles THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE “a Xuya Universe Romance” we can reasonably expect some of the high passions, miscommunications, betrayals, heartbreaks, sex, and reconciliations that seem to be checkboxes of that genre, and de Bodard delivers on all of them… de Board places the melodrama against the backdrop of flat-out space opera, which she excels at… The last third of the novel, with its space battles, navigational trickery, ship-boardings, sabotage, and desperate last-minute negotiations, is as colorful and satisfying as anything from the classic examples of the form.’ — Locus

‘Aliette de Bodard summons the spirit of HG Wells… in some far-flung future galaxy, love blossoms between two lesbian space pirates, one human, the other a sentient ship… Soon the pair are navigating the tricky waters of mutual attraction and virtual sex but must also deal with shifting allegiances among the pirate clans and rescue Xich Si’s daughter Khanh from slavery.’ — Financial Times (Best New Science Fiction Novels, January 2023)

‘What made this truly stand out to me was Aliette’s writing. As mentioned above, Aliette’s prose is outstanding. It is descriptive and evocative without being overwrought, it is witty and full of emotion. Every character, every scene comes to life immediately and plastically, drawing the reader into this world of space pirates, family biological and found and relationships of all sorts. It is at times delicate, and at other times matter of fact and then again it will make you laugh out loud with dry wit. The characters’ maturity makes them stand out in a market saturated with coming-of-age stories across young adult and adult publishing, and it is a true breath of fresh air to read about protagonists coming into their story after a life well-lived, with attachments and history, knowing who they are and what they want. I could not recommend THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE more.’ — Grimdark Magazine

‘THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE takes you on an exhilarating dive into space piracy with passion, politics, dazzling settings, and-even better-a profound core of love transcending hopelessness that rings throughout the story.’ — Everina Maxwell, author of WINTER’S ORBIT

‘An epic tale of piracy and romance.’ — Gareth L. Powell, award-winning author of Stars and Bones

In case you missed it, the UK cover for Aliette’s next Xuya novel — A FIRE BORN OF EXILE — was revealed last week; it’s another fantastic cover by Alyssa Winans (who is also responsible for the gorgeous THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE cover). The book is due to be published in the UK by Gollancz, in October 2023.

Ukrainian Edition of ROADMARKS Out Now!

Posted on Monday, May 22nd, 2023

A new, Ukrainian edition of Roger Zelazny‘s ROADMARKS is out now! Published by Богдан/Bohdan, as Дороговкази, it was translated by Denys Dömin (Денис Дьомін). Here’s the synopsis…

Чи можна змінити минуле? Так, якщо знати дорогу. Точніше, Дорогу, єдину і неповторну — крізь час, від динозаврів і стародавніх цивілізацій аж у космічно-футуристичну добу. Обрані з різних століть уміють її долати. Тасують події, маніпулюють історією… або просто буденно собі заробляють на прожиття. Кого тут тільки не стрінеш: і горезвісних диктаторів, і славетних письменників, і безіменних пропащих відлюдників у позачассі. А серед інших їздять Дорогою двоє: батько і син, прямують назустріч долі — зльоту або загибелі. За штурманів же у тих водіїв незвичні, але поетичні, високотехнологічні та норовливі супутниці. Обидва екіпажі долають перешкоди й ворогів, шукаючи відповіді на життєво важливу загадку. Усе вирішиться при останньому повороті на Вавилон — і не обійдеться без драконів, таких любих серцю Джорджа Мартіна, що він аж екранізацію обіцяє.

The Ukrainian cover is by Олега Кіналя (Oleg Kinal).

ROADMARKS is also available in the UK, published as part of Gollancz’s SF Masterworks series. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Road can go Anywhere.

The Road can go Anywhen.

Almost.

Red Dorakeen has been on the Road for a very long time. For all of time, in fact. It stretches infinitely into the future and past, with exits that take him wherever, or whenever, he wants to go.

But he can’t find the place he wants to be.

He’s not the only one who can travel the Road, and as people join and leave, they can alter the past, or the future, to suit their whims. Exits close off, become overgrown, and working out what to change back to return to old timelines could take, well . . . forever.

Fortunately, Red has all the time he could ever need.

Roadmarks is a fantastically mind-bending novel from one of SFF’s most influential authors. It weaves together linear and non-linear narratives in a compelling tale full of mystery and magic.

New UK Audiobook Edition of THE PERIPHERAL Out Now!

Posted on Friday, May 19th, 2023

William Gibson‘s THE PERIPHERAL is now available in a new audiobook edition in the UK! Published by W. F. Howes, and narrated by Katie Leung, here’s the synopsis…

In the near future in a broken down rural America, Flynne Fisher scrapes a living as a gamer for rich players. One night, working a game set in a futuristic but puzzlingly empty London, she sees a death that’s unnervingly vivid. Soon after she gets word that it isn’t a game after all — the future she saw is all too real, she’s the only witness to a murder and someone from that unreal tomorrow now wants her dead.

The story of a young woman caught between two worlds, The Peripheral interweaves two futures — pre-apocalypse USA and post-apocalypse London — to tell a story which gets right to heart of the way we live now.

The novel, which is the first in the author’s Jackpot series, is available in print and eBook, published by Penguin in the UK. It has also been adapted into a limited series, by Amazon Studios (check it out on Prime!).

Here are just a few of the great reviews THE PERIPHERAL has received since it was first published…

‘His writing has been refined over the years, but Gibson still maintains that sparse, edgy style that has been a characteristic of his work from the very beginning… Ultimately, THE PERIPHERAL is a story about people; their hopes, their fears and frustrations. Despite advances in technology, the worlds still consist of the “haves” and “have-nots”, making Gibson’s protagonists and their companions constant battlers against the system, striving for change, for something better, something they deserve. Gibson remains as unnervingly prophetic as ever, making his futures feel like they’re just around the corner, products of humankind’s inability to act when necessary, transforming a sci-fi whodunit into a work of fiction that feels both ahead of its time and frighteningly relevant to today’s world.’ 9/10* — Starburst

‘Seminal cyberpunk author Gibson, who has spent the last several years writing the more-or-less present-day Zero History series of novels, returns to the future with this slow-burning thriller, ambitiously structured on either side of an economic and ecological collapse… All of Gibson’s characters are intensely real, and Flynne is a clever, compelling, stereotype-defying, unhesitating protagonist who makes this novel a standout.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘In THE PERIPHERAL, William Gibson’s first futuristic novel since 1999’s ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES, we experience the fantastic synthesis of a 20th century writer — the Gibson of NEUROMANCER, eyeball-kicks of flash and noir; and the Gibson of PATTERN RECOGNITION, arch and sly and dry and keen… A perfect fusion of Gibson’s pulp heritage with his fine-tuned design and social sensibilities… From the microscale word choices to the macroscale plot, structure and themes, the book is strange and contemporary in a perfectly futuristic way.’ — Boing Boing

‘Dramatic, scary, creepy,violent, and finally satisfying… like any really well-designed thrill ride or mystery tour (or sonnet or string quartet), as soon as you get off, you want to get right on for another go-round.’ — Locus

‘A smart, nuanced twist on time travel… THE PERIPHERAL is a fast-paced murder investigation and political thriller… compelling… the worlds are compelling in their own right as well, despite their desolation. Flynne’s town is dominated by big-box stores, the economy fueled by a combination of service jobs and 3D printing piracy. Netherton’s London is a rehabilitated disaster area, where you’re more likely to see telepresence robots outside than real people. But they’re as full of personality as any crowded city, described in Gibson’s pithy, poetic prose. THE PERIPHERAL also feels more accessible than his last several books.’ — The Verge

‘While placed firmly in the sci-fi genre of his earlier works, Gibson’s latest retains the social commentary from his more recent novels… This is quintessential Gibson: gonzo yet cool, sharp-edged, sophisticated…’ — Kirkus

‘William Gibson is one of the smartest writers around… THE PERIPHERAL starts off by throwing the reader into the deep end of a complex story set in a future world rich in highly-advanced technology. Or, actually, two future worlds. Only gradually do the pieces fall into place and you begin to understand what is going on… Gibson is not a difficult writer but he is demanding, and here those demands are well rewarded. THE PERIPHERAL is intellectual entertainment of the first order, a pop SF thriller that will make you think.’ — Toronto Star

The second novel in the Jackpot series is AGENCY, which is out now in the UK, published by Penguin.

Zeno represents William Gibson in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of Nell Pierce at Sterling Lord Literistic.

ICYMI: Roger Zelazny’s LORD OF LIGHT Available in UK eBook for the First Time!

Posted on Tuesday, May 16th, 2023

We’re very happy to report that Roger Zelazny‘s classic, Hugo Award-winning LORD OF LIGHT is now available in the UK as an eBook — this is the first UK digital edition of the novel! Published by Gollancz, as part of their SF Masterworks series, here’s the synopsis…

Imagine a distant world where gods walk as men, but wield vast and hidden powers. Here they have made the stage on which they build a subtle pattern of alliance, love, and deadly enmity. Are they truly immortal? Who are these gods who rule the destiny of a teeming world?

Their names include Brahma, Kali, Krishna and also he who was called Buddha, the Lord of Light, but who now prefers to be known simply as Sam. The gradual unfolding of the story — how the colonization of another planet became a re-enactment of Eastern mythology — is one of the great imaginative feats of modern science fiction.

Gollancz has also published Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber series and ROADMARKS, also as part of their SF Masterworks series.

Two New French eBook Editions: LORD OF LIGHT and DILVISH, THE DAMNED

Posted on Friday, May 12th, 2023

We’re very happy to report that two classic Roger Zelazny novels have been published in France as new eBook editions, both published by Denoël!

LORD OF LIGHT, one of Zelazny’s best-loved stand-alone novels, is available now as SEIGNEURS DE LUMIÈRE. Translated by Luc Carissimo, Mélusine Claudel, and Claude Saunier, here’s the synopsis…

Mondialement connu pour sa saga d’Ambre, Roger Zelazny ne s’est pas contenté de réinventer la mythologie celtique, comme le prouvent brillamment les trois romans au sommaire de ce volume, tous proposés dans des traductions révisées.

Dans Seigneur de lumière (prix Hugo 1968), sans doute son roman le plus ambitieux, Zelazny revisite le panthéon hindou ert replace la quête mystique de Siddhartha sur une planète extraterrestre dirigée par une caste d’immortels.

Dans Royaumes d’ombre et de lumière, il décrit loin dans le futur la lutte d’Osiris et Anubis,la vengeance d’Horus et les visions d’apocalypse d’Isis.

Dans L’Œil de Chat, un de ses romans les plus sous-estimés, il lance un pisteur navajo à la poursuite de la plus dangereuse des créatures intelligentes – Chat – un extraterrestre télépathe capable de changer de forme à volonté.

Winner of the 1968 Hugo Award (also nominated for the Nebula Award), LORD OF LIGHT is available in the UK as part of Gollancz’s SF Masterworks series. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Their names include Brahma, Kali, Krishna and also he who was called Buddha, the Lord of Light, but who now prefers to be known simply as Sam. The gradual unfolding of the story – how the colonization of another planet became a re-enactment of Eastern mythology – is one of the great imaginative feats of modern science fiction.

DILVISH, THE DAMNED is published as DILVISH LE DAMNÉ, and was translated by Michelle Charrier. Here’s the synopsis…

Il s’appelle Dilvish de Sélar, mais les vieilles chansons parlent plutôt de lui comme de Dilvish le Libérateur. Vaincu par Jélérak, il a été exilé plusieurs siècles durant aux enfers. Un séjour qu’il a mis à profit pour apprendre les douze Abominables Formules de la magie noire. Chevauchant un sombre cheval d’acier capable de cracher du feu, chaussé de bottes d’elfe qui ne laissent aucune empreinte derrière elles, armé de l’Épée Invisible, Dilvish est de retour. Et la route qui le mène de la résurrection à la vengeance lui fera traverser un monde magique où derrière chaque rencontre se cache un danger mortel ou un faux-semblant.

Dans ce volume est publiée pour la première fois en France l’intégralité des aventures de Dilvish le Damné, soit onze nouvelles et un roman. Au carrefour de la sword & sorcery classique et de l’hommage à H. P. Lovecraft, Dilvish le Damné fait partie des fantasies les plus assumées de Roger Zelazny.

First published in 1982, here’s the English-language synopsis for DILVISH, THE DAMNED…

Dilvish, the Damned is a collection of fantasy stories first published in 1982. Its contents were originally published as a series of separate short stories in various fantasy magazines.

The protagonist, Dilvish, was sent to Hell by the dark sorcerer Jelerak when he interrupted one of Jelerak’s rituals. The stories recount his adventures after he escapes Hell two hundred years later, with a handful of awesome, but impractical destructive spells and a sapient Steed named Black, and sets out for revenge on Jelerak.

Ian McDonald’s TIME WAS Available in Japan

Posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2023

Ian McDonald‘s BSFA Award-winning novella TIME WAS is available in Japan! Published by 早川書房/Hayakawa as 時ありて, here’s the synopsis…

時を超えて彷徨う二人の男の物語。英国ＳＦ協会賞受賞作戦記ノンフィクションを専門に扱う古書ディーラーが、即売会で手にした一冊の詩集『時ありて』。彼は詩集に挟まれた手紙に書かれた事実を追ううちに、第二次大戦の戦火を生きた二人の男をめぐる迷宮を彷徨うことになる。英国SF界のレジェンドによる傑作時間SF

TIME WAS is published in North America and in the UK by Tor.com. In addition to winning the 2019 BSFA Award for Short Fiction, that year it was also a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and Philip K. Dick Award; it also placed 6th for the Locus Award for Best Novella. The novella is also available in France, published by Le Bélial’.

Here’s the English-language synopsis…

A love story stitched across time and war, shaped by the power of books, and ultimately destroyed by it.

In the heart of World War II, Tom and Ben became lovers. Brought together by a secret project designed to hide British targets from German radar, the two founded a love that could not be revealed. When the project went wrong, Tom and Ben vanished into nothingness, presumed dead. Their bodies were never found.

Now the two are lost in time, hunting each other across decades, leaving clues in books of poetry and trying to make their desperate timelines overlap.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novella has received…

‘[E]ntrances readers with this multigenerational novella of two time-crossed lovers who can only meet for brief moments separated by several years… beautiful writing… Fans of science fiction who enjoy a dash of history and legend will savor this tender story.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘With echoes of H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine and replete with the inimitable scent of used bookstores, TIME WAS weaves an exquisite spell of love, war and quantum physics that is timeless in its appeal. A scientific romance in the most evocative sense of the word.’ — Nina Allan

‘[A] character-based story about the impact of a pair of time travelers on those who discover their existence. A full-length novel might have been consumed with the temporal mechanics and incidents in the lives of time-lost lovers; by eliding those details, this shorter work is, paradoxically, able to slow down and luxuriate in the story’s elegiac themes… an impressively challenging book for its length, both in McDonald’s use of language, and in its timey-wimey overlapping narratives. A story from the point of view of poets and book lovers would fall flat if the novel’s language weren’t a match for the inner monologues you’d expect from people whose interior lives are so full of words. McDonald succeeds in doing several seemingly incompatible things at once, and doing them well. TIME WAS is a time travel story that’s also, and primarily, a love story. Science fiction is typically plot-driven, occasionally to the exclusion of other elements, but this one luxuriates in characters and language. It’s a work that looks to the past, but speaks to the future of science fiction.’ — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

‘Throughout his career, Ian McDonald has demonstrated a remarkable versatility of style and language. His recent fiction has ranged from the YA sense-of-wonder exuberance of his parallel-world Everness series to the efficient social melodrama narration of the Luna novels, but he’s always been equally capable of great lyricism, and his new novella, TIME WAS, is a persuasive and gorgeous example of it. Essentially a timeslip romance in which the romance is evoked not by dramatic clinches but by a heightened sensuality, an acute awareness of nature, and a haunting sense of imminent loss, it nevertheless introduces enough chatter about quantum indeterminacy to work as SF. In a fascinating way, the two “time-crossed lovers,” Ben and Tom, come to represent the dual aesthetic of any good SF romance: Ben is a physicist working on a complex new experiment with his “Uncertainty Squad,” while Tom is a poet and part-time amateur actor who, when we meet him, is working for the Signal Corps. Early on, Ben confesses that he doesn’t have the soul of a poet, and Tom admits he doesn’t “have the soul of a scientist,” but, as McDonald well knows, you need both to tell a story like this… one of the most purely beautiful pieces of writing McDonald has given us in years.’ — Gary K. Wolfe (Locus)

‘This slender, poignant queer romance incorporates time travel and hints of hard science into a story as devastatingly sad—which isn’t to say bleak—as anything you’ll read this year.’ — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog (Best SFF Books of the Year So Far, 2018, Honourable Mention)

‘TIME WAS… a peculiar story of time, mystery, books, love, and war, compact as a parable, layered like a complex metaphor… and in some ways, strikingly unsettling… very well put together, and gorgeously written.’ — Tor.com

Ian’s latest novel is HOPELAND, out now in the UK (Gollancz) and North America (Tor Books).

Lavie Tidhar & Nir Yaniv Tackle A.I. & Creativity

Posted on Monday, April 24th, 2023

Lavie Tidhar has teamed up with Nir Yaniv have teamed up to work on a new project that examines the ways in which A.I. could affect creativity and creative industries.

What do you do when artificial intelligence starts taking over your life? Should you fear these new technologies, or should you embrace them? With the rise of ChatGPT, MidJourney and their cousins, it can feel like A.I. is taking over the world. What place is there still for the human creative spark? And can we learn to live with, or must we fight against these new creations?

With more questions than answers, the creative team of award-winning writer Lavie Tidhar (Central Station, Neom) and animator Nir Yaniv (LiftOff, The Voice Remains) decided to tackle the question by making a movie about A.I. while using it. Because what if the new machines just want to help? What could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to your A.I. future!

The project has recently been featured in New Scientist. More information on the project can be found here. You can also watch the short film below.

Here’s what Lavie had to say about the project:

‘We’ve been very focused on a human-centric, do-it-yourself creation process. So we were intrigued by the A.I., but also very conscious of the discourse around it right now. We wondered how we could play with these new toys while addressing what they represent. Nir was inspired by the classic French film La Jetée, and called me up to ask if we could do something like that with MidJourney. I immediately said we could only do it if the film we made was about the A.I. – and something sparked. The result, I think, is quite unsettling. The rabbits really freak me out, and I’m the one who wrote them in!’

Lavie’s latest novels are MAROR (Head of Zeus) and NEOM (Tachyon). His next novel is THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD, due to be published by Tachyon Publications, in September 2023.

Bulgarian Edition of Roger Zelazny’s ROADMARKS Out Now!

Posted on Friday, April 14th, 2023

The Bulgarian edition of Roger Zelazny‘s ROADMARKS is out now! Published by Бард as Хронобандити, here’s the synopsis…

ПЪТЯТ може да води навсякъде. ПЪТЯТ може да води до всеки момент. Почти!

Ред Доракийн отдавна кръстосва Пътя, построен от драконите на Бел’куинит. Път, който се простира безкрай от миналото към далечното бъдеще, с изходи, които водят навсякъде и до всякога.

Но Ред все не може да намери мястото, където иска да бъде.

И не е единственият, който пътува по Пътя, а хората, които идват и си отиват, могат да променят миналото или бъдещето както им хрумне. Изходите се затварят, обрастват и да измислиш какво да промениш, за да се върнеш в някой предишен момент, отнема, ами… цяла вечност.

За щастие, Ред разполага с цялото време на света.

ХРОНОБАНДИТИ е главозамайващ фантастичен роман от един от най-значимите автори в жанра. Той заплита линейни и нелинейни сюжети в един завладяващ разказ, пълен с мистерия и магия!

ROADMARKS is available in the UK as part of the SF Masterworks series, published by Gollancz. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Road can go Anywhere.
The Road can go Anywhen.
Almost.

Red Dorakeen has been on the Road for a very long time. For all of time, in fact. It stretches infinitely into the future and past, with exits that take him wherever, or whenever, he wants to go.

But he can’t find the place he wants to be.

Fortunately, Red has all the time he could ever need.

Roadmarks is a fantastically mind-bending novel from one of SFF’s most influential authors. It weaves together linear and non-linear narratives in a compelling tale full of mystery and magic.

UK Paperback Edition of Adam Oyebanji’s DAY BRAKING Out This Week!

Posted on Tuesday, April 11th, 2023

The paperback edition of BRAKING DAY, Adam Oyebanji‘s acclaimed and Canopus Award-finalist debut science fiction novel, is out this week in the UK! Published by Jo Fletcher Books, on April 13th, here’s the synopsis…

Interstellar Vehicle Archimedes has been hurtling through space for more than five generations, an oasis of heat and light in the middle of absolutely nowhere. But now the ageing starship is preparing to brake, for it is arriving at Destination Star: Tau Ceti, the new home for the space-born descendants of the First Crew.

For trainee engineer Ravinder MacLeod, the world he knows is coming to an end. Once Archimedes succumbs to the gravitational pull of the Destination Star and its (hopefully) habitable planet, there will be no going back – or anywhere else. As Braking Day approaches, Ravi finds himself caught between the rigid requirements of the officer class to which he aspires and his blue-collar, ne’er-do-well family. Unfortunately for Ravi, Boz, his brilliant ex-con cousin, seems determined to make his life difficult – not least by her experiments with forbidden technology.

Then Ravi is assigned to routine maintenance deep in the massive engines of the Archimedes, where, alone and out of contact, he comes face to face with something impossible – mind-breakingly impossible.

Plagued by nightmares and visions and worried that his grip on reality is slipping, Ravi turns to Boz for help. Their search for answers takes them to the jagged place where the ship’s future intersects with its long past. For not everyone is excited to be reaching journey’s end, and the ghosts of the First Crew may not have been fully laid to rest.

Here are just a handful of the reviews the novel has received so far…

‘Oyebanji’s brilliant debut […] builds intrigue upon intrigue through the novel’s first half and pays off the suspense with a series of jaw-dropping revelations. Innovative worldbuilding, a plot packed with surprises, and Oyebanji’s nuanced exploration of social and cultural shifts make this a must-read for space opera fans.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Engaging, fast-moving, and inventive. The characters and the space environment feel totally real, as do the life and death challenges that never miss a step.’ — Jack Campbell, New York Times bestselling author of the Lost Fleet series

‘Adam Oyebanji’s BRAKING DAY blows the airlocks off the science fiction mainstay of generation ships with a vibrant world within bulkheads that’s as convincing as it is fresh. The characters are fabulous, the world-building impeccable yet never in-your-face, and the plot is breathtaking. All I can say is this is the best SF novel I’ve read in decades and it may be the best I’ve ever read. This author is now a must-read for me, and I’m sure he will be for you. Bravo!!’ — Julie E. Czerneda, Aurora Award-winning author

‘Oyebanji crafts an amazing lived-in world aboard a sprawling generation ship, and a twisty mystery that’ll keep you guessing to the very end.’ — Dan Moren, author of the Galactic Cold War series

‘BRAKING DAY is an outstanding debut novel that features exceptional world-building and a really well-realized generation ship society. Filled with twists and turns, it kept me guessing in the best way right up until the end.’ — Michael Mammay

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

German Edition of Roger Zelazny’s ROADMARKS Out in Three Weeks!

Posted on Friday, April 7th, 2023

A new German edition of ROADMARKS by Roger Zelazny is due out in three weeks! Due to be published by Piper Verlag on April 27th, as STRASSE NACH ÜBERALLHIN, here’s the synopsis…

Red Dorakeen hat sich einen mächtigen Feind gemacht. Kreuz und quer flieht er vor dessen Attentätern durch die Epochen der Menschheitsgeschichte – denn die „Straße nach Überallhin“ ermöglicht es ihm, von der unvorstellbar fernen Vergangenheit bis in die weite Zukunft zu reisen.

Dieser vergessene Schatz der Science-Fiction lässt seine Leser:innen auf jeder Seite von Neuem staunen, rätseln und mitfiebern – Zelaznys besondere Erzählweise bietet ein absolut außergewöhnliches Leseerlebnis.

The novel has been translated by Jakob Schmidt.

ROADMARKS was first published in 1979, the novel is also published as part of Gollancz‘s SF Masterworks series. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Road can go Anywhere.
The Road can go Anywhen.
Almost.

Red Dorakeen has been on the Road for a very long time. For all of time, in fact. It stretches infinitely into the future and past, with exits that take him wherever, or whenever, he wants to go.

But he can’t find the place he wants to be.

Fortunately, Red has all the time he could ever need.

Roadmarks is a fantastically mind-bending novel from one of SFF’s most influential authors. It weaves together linear and non-linear narratives in a compelling tale full of mystery and magic.

New World SF StoryBundle Available Now!

Posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2023

Lavie Tidhar has curated a new World SF StoryBundle! Available until mid-April, the bundle features 10 books selected from a variety of countries and cultures, showcasing the diversity of the science fiction genre. Here’s Lavie’s introduction to the bundle…

It’s been my great privilege over the past [mumble mumble] years to edit several anthologies devoted to international speculative fiction in all its forms, beginning with the first volume of The Apex Book of World SF back in 2009, done on a budget of chewing gum-and-string, and culminating this year with The Best of World SF: Volume 3 from Head of Zeus, the third in a series of huge, handsome hardcover volumes. Along the way I got to publish the World SF Blog for four years, and write about many international titles in a regular column for the Washington Post. But perhaps the most fun of these has been putting together these annual bundles for StoryBundle – a direct opportunity to offer readers a selection of wonderful books from around the world, at one low price, while directly benefiting the authors and their publishers. It is a reality of today’s publishing environment that the most exciting titles usually come from smaller presses, that in a crowded field it is hard to stand up, and that even a small bundle like this can often make a real difference to a book and its author.

The titles included are as follows:

SIGNAL TO NOISE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
HADITHA & THE STATE OF BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION by Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis
UNTO THE GODLESS WHAT LITTLE REMAINS by Mário Coelho
ION CURTAIN by Anya Ow
OF DRAGONS, FEASTS AND MURDERS by Aliette de Bodard
& THIS IS HOW TO STAY ALIVE by Shingai Njeri Kagunda
NOVA HELLAS: STORIES FROM FUTURE GREECE edited by Francesca T Barbini and Francesco Verso
HEBREWPUNK by Lavie Tidhar
THE LOVE MACHINE & OTHER CONTRAPTIONS by Nir Yaniv
AND WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU TONIGHT by Premee Mohamed

Lavie is also the editor of the Best of World SF series of anthologies, published by Head of Zeus; he is also the multi-award winning author of many novels, novellas, and short stories.

New BRIDGE OF ASHES Audiobook Out Now!

Posted on Friday, March 17th, 2023

Roger Zelazny‘s BRIDGE OF ASHES is available in a new audiobook edition! Published by Tantor Media, and narrated by TJ Clark, here’s the synopsis…

Mankind has been manipulated over the millennia by an alien race that seeks to use it to transform our planet into a world that they can live on. They’ve patiently encouraged us to adapt technologies that would bring on climate change making our world hotter and more hospitable to them all the while making it less hospitable for mankind.

Dennis Guise the most powerful telepath every born is a thirteen-year-old boy, and humanities only hope of escaping oblivion. He is a bridge to our future and a bridge to our past. But can that be enough to save us and our planet?

BRIDGE OF ASHES was first published in 1976.

UK Paperback Edition of SKYWARD FLIGHT Out Now!

Posted on Thursday, March 16th, 2023

The paperback edition of Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson‘s SKYWARD FLIGHT is out now in the UK! Published by Gollancz, the book collects the Skyward novellas: SUNREACH, REDAWN, and EVERSHORE. Here’s the synopsis…

In Sunreach, after a planet-destroying Delver suddenly appears in the sky of Detritus and vanishes just as suddenly, FM knows that the last free human society got lucky. Her Skyward Flight companion Spensa figured out how to draw this Delver away, but it won’t be so easy next time. Humanity has to be prepared…

In ReDawn, Alanik has recovered from the shock of answering a distress call and finding a planet of humans making a stand against the Superiority, only to be dismayed to discover they’re considering a peace overture from their enemy. Worse, when she returns to her home planet of ReDawn, she find her own people falling into exactly the same trap. With her mentor captured, she turns to her new friends to help: can Alanik, FM, Jorgen and Rig coax an ancient technology into life in time to save both their planets from disaster?

And in Evershore, the government of Detritus is still in disarray following Superiority treachery, and no word has come from Spensa, on her mission deep in the Nowhere, leaving Alanik, Jorgen, FM and Rig to pick up the pieces. So when the Kitsen send word from the planet Evershore, saying they have some humans and wish to return them, they have to decie if the strange message can be trusted…

A gripping collection of novellas, told from the perspectives of three different characters, these superb adventures are essential Skyward reading!

‘Hot pilots slug it out with the galactic overlords in a collection that will please series fans.’ — Kirkus

Brandon’s three Skyward novels are also published in the UK by Gollancz: SKYWARD, STARSIGHT, and CYTONIC.

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

New Audiobook Edition of THIS IMMORTAL Out Now!

Posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2023

THIS IMMORTAL, Roger Zelazny‘s acclaimed first novel, is now available in a new audiobook edition! Published by Tantor Media, and read by Peter Berkrot, here’s the synopsis…

Conrad Nomikos has a long, rich personal history that he’d rather not talk about. And, as Arts Commissioner, he’s been given a job he’d rather not do. Escorting an alien grandee on a guided tour of the shattered remains of Earth is not something he relishes — especially when it is apparent that this places him at the center of high-level intrigue that has some bearing on the future of Earth itself!

First published in 1966, THIS IMMORTAL went on to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Geffen Award for best SF Book, and also Japan’s Seiun Award for Best Foreign Novel.

ICYMI: Lavie Tidhar & Mysterious Galaxy!

Posted on Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

A little while ago, Mysterious Galaxy hosted Lavie Tidhar for an event to celebrate the release of NEOM, the second novel set in the Central Station universe. Lavie was joined by Samit Basu, and you can watch the video, above!

NEOM is out now, published by Tachyon Publications. Here’s the synopsis…

Today, Neom is a utopian dream — a megacity of the future yet to be built in the Saudi desert. In this deeply imaginative novel from the award-winning universe of Central Station, far-future Neom is already old. Sentient machines roam the desert searching for purpose, works of art can be more deadly than weapons, and the spark of a long-overdue revolution is in the wind. Only the rekindling of an impossible love affair may slow the inevitable sands of time.

The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. It is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful, an urban sprawl along the Red Sea, and a port of call between Earth and the stars.

In the desert, young orphan Elias has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.

In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business. Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose—especially when that robot is in search of lost love.

Lavie Tidhar’s (Unholy Land, The Escapement) newest lushly immersive novel, Neom, which includes a guide to the Central Station universe, is at turns gritty, comedic, transportive, and fascinatingly plausible.

Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘World Fantasy Award winner Tidhar takes readers back to the fascinating far-future world of 2016’s CENTRAL STATION in this gentle narrative about self-fulfillment and one robot’s quest to reunite with a lost love… Tidhar offers a heartfelt exploration of artificially intelligent beings’ struggles to find existential meaning while being restrained by both coding and form. Fans of literary sci-fi are sure to be enchanted by the imaginative worldbuilding and tenderly wrought characters.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘Tidhar’s narrative takes on a gentle, ruminative air, and while that helps establish the atmosphere of a convincing, lived-in city, veteran SF readers will also find plenty of playful and affectionate Easter eggs… Neom easily joins the list of SF cities we’d like to visit.’ — Locus

‘[A] delightful journey through a fantasy of outer space and a future Middle East. Tidhar’s world contains likable characters who work together (sometimes accidentally, sometimes begrudgingly) to tell a story full of adventure, mystery, hope, and love… Tidhar writes science fiction with real-world parallels and comedic timing, if also a bit of a tendency toward hopeful romanticism… NEOM is a wonderful read for any lover of science fiction. For someone who has not yet visited the world of CENTRAL STATION — Tidhar’s novel from 2016 — it is easy to catch on to the colloquialisms and customs of the story universe. But after reading NEOM, new Tidhar fans will surely want to go back for more.’ — Jewish Book Council

‘Extraordinary and compassionate.’ – Foreword (starred review)

‘… hauntingly beautiful… Written in a straightforward but luminous style… NEOM is a treasure… a compelling chapter in this future history that reflects so much about who we are and the basic things we yearn for.’ — SciFi Mind

‘This was superb and I’m in awe of Tidhar’s vision. He’s conjured up a futuristic city that feels simultaneously ultramodern and also run down. The rich histories of the region and its cultures are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of this fully-realized world.’ — The Speculative Shelf