Steampunk - Zeno Agency Ltd.

Cover Reveal: THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN

Posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Above is the UK cover for Mark Hodder‘s latest steampunk adventure! THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN is published in the UK by Del Rey UK, on August 7th, 2014. Here’s the synopsis…

Spring Heeled Jack is jumping back!

It’s 9 p.m. on February 15, 1860, and Charles Babbage, the British Empire’s most brilliant scientist, performs an experiment. Within moments, blood red snow falls from the sky and Spring Heeled Jack pops out of thin air in London’s Leicester Square. Though utterly disoriented and apparently insane, the strange creature is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton!

Spring Heeled Jack isn’t alone in his mental confusion. Burton can hardly function; he’s experiencing one hallucination after another – visions of parallel realities and future history. Someone, or something, is trying to tell him about … what?

When the revelation comes, it sends Burton and his companions on an expedition even the great explorer could never have imagined – a voyage through time itself into a twisted future where steam technology has made a resurgence and a despotic intelligence rules over the British Empire!

THE RETURN OF THE DISCONTINUED MAN is the author’s fifth novel in the Burton & Swinburne series, following: THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK, THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN, EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON and THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI. The series is published by Pyr Books in the US.

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

Sidewise Award Nomination for Mark Hodder!

Posted on Monday, June 9th, 2014

We are delighted to report that Mark Hodder‘s THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI has been nominated for a 2013 Sidewise Award!

The Awards, presented in recognition of excellence in alternate history, are named after Murray Leinster’s 1934 short story ‘Sidewise in Time’. Each year, there are two categories, Long- and Short-Form, and Mark’s novel has been nominated in the long-form category. The winners in the two categories will be announced at Loncon 3, in London, on August 14th, 2014.

This is the second year in a row in which a Zeno client has been nominated for a Sidewise Award! Last year, Ian R. MacLeod‘s WAKE UP AND DREAM won in the long-form category, too. Ian also won twice for THE SUMMER ISLES – in 1999 for the original short story, and in 2006 for the full-length version. Let us hope that Mark takes home the prize this year!

THE SECRET OF ABDU EL YEZDI, the latest novel in the author’s popular Burton & Swinburne Adventures series, was published in the UK by Del Rey, and in the US by Pyr Books. Here is the synopsis…

Having successfully discovered the source of the Nile, Captain Richard Francis Burton returns to London expecting to marry his fiancé, Isabel Arundell, and be awarded the consulship of Damascus. However, when he’s unexpectedly knighted by King George V, his plans go awry. The monarch requires an agent to investigate a sequence of disappearances, and Burton, whether he likes it or not, is the man for the job.

Engineering and medical luminaries – such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Florence Nightingale – are among the missing, but the most significant absence is that of Abdu El Yezdi, an inhabitant of the Afterlife who, in the two decades since the assassination of Queen Victoria, has been Prime Minister Disraeli’s most trusted advisor.

The search for the missing ghost soon becomes the least of the explorer’s concerns, for it quickly becomes apparent that he himself is at the centre of increasingly bizarre and interconnected events, and that someone – or something – is intent not only on meddling with history, but also on harming the people Burton values the most.

Mark is currently working on the next novel in the series.

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

Cover Reveal: BENEATH LONDON by James P. Blaylock

Posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014

Above you will see the brilliant, eye-catching cover for James P. Blaylock‘s BENEATH LONDON! The novel, the fourth in the author’s Langdon St. Ives steampunk series, is due to be published by Titan Books in May 2015.

We don’t have a full synopsis for the novel just yet, but we’ll be sure to share it with you as soon as we do, and again closer to the book’s publication. In the mean time, here are just some of the things fellow authors and reviewers have said about the series…

‘… the fastest, funniest, and most colorful and grotesquely horrifying novel that could ever be written about Victorian London.’ — Tim Powers on HOMUNCULUS

‘Blaylock is a true one-of-a-kind original.’ — Neil Gaiman

‘St. Ives has to be one of the most fleshed out Victorian characters ever written, and I’m sincerely hoping that Blaylock isn’t finished with this scientist adventurer. THE AYLESFORD SKULL can easily stand alone without any knowledge of Blaylock’s previous steampunk stories, but you’ll want to hunt down additional St. Ives tales, I’m for certain.’ — Wired.com

‘This is steampunk at full power and it’s a heady, thrilling read as a result. Packed with high adventure, mad science and derring do, THE AYLESFORD SKULL is a perfect place to start the Langdon St Ives books and, with Titan re-releasing the other books in the series, there’s plenty to keep you and St Ives busy. Which is, I suspect, just how he likes it.’ — SFX.co.uk

‘Nerve-wrenching, deeply moving, and sparked with comic touches… brilliantly achieved.’ — Locus (1992) on LORD KELVIN’S MACHINE

‘St. Ives’s journey through time is very well handled, at once playful and thoughtful’ — Publishers Weekly on LORD KELVIN’S MACHINE

We think you’ll agree that this will look fantastic on your bookshelves alongside the other Titan editions…

Lavie Tidhar’s THE GREAT GAME Arrives in Japan (Cover Reveal)

Posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

This is the Japanese cover for the third novel in Lavie Tidhar‘s Bookman Histories, THE GREAT GAME! It is due to be published by Hayakawa Shobo, on April 24th, 2014. In case you were interested, here’s the short-but-sweet Japanese synopsis…

権謀術数渦巻く欧州大陸に巨大機械が出現、壮絶な攻防戦が幕を開ける! 三部作完結篇

(Rough translation: Gigantic machines appear in continental Europe, and a fierce battle kicks off in the action-packed third Bookman History.)

And the English language synopsis…

When Mycroft Holmes is Murdered in London, it is up to retired shadow executive Smith to track down his killer – and stumble on the greatest conspiracy of his life.

Strange forces are stirring into life around the globe, and in the shadow game of spies nothing is certain. Fresh from liberating a strange alien object in Abyssinia – which might just be the mythical Ark of the Covenant – young Lucy Westerna, Holmes’ protégé, must follow her own path to the truth while, on the other side of the world, a young Harry Houdini must face his greatest feat of escape – death itself.

As their paths converge the body count mounts up, the entire world is under threat, and in a foreboding castle in the mountains of Transylvania a mysterious old man weaves a spider’s web of secrets and lies.

Airship battles, Frankenstein monsters, alien tripods and death-defying acts: The Great Game is a cranked-up steampunk thriller in which nothing is certain – not even death.

The Bookman Histories are published individually and as part of an omnibus in the UK and US by Angry Robot Books.

Author Spotlight: Lavie Tidhar

Posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

Lavie Tidhar‘s most recent novel is the critically-acclaimed THE VIOLENT CENTURY, which was published by Hodder Books late last year. A re-telling of the 21st Century if super-heroes existed, it blends a Watchman-like comics noir feel with a tense, intimate espionage tale akin to John le Carre. He is also the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning OSAMA (PS Publishing, Solaris), a daring, boundary-pushing alternative reality thriller featuring the eponymous character as a private detective.

‘The most interestingly adventurous writer of the year was Lavie Tidhar, who came into 2013 with a fresh World Fantasy Award for OSAMA and extended his gonzo explorations of history, textuality, and pop culture with the relatively little-seen MARTIAN SANDS and the more widely hyped super-hero fantasia THE VIOLENT CENTURY, each of which took decided risks with the question of how freely SF methods can appropriate sensitive historical material… Tidhar plots like a mad paintballer, sometimes missing the mark but always making a splash, but since his Bookman novels he’s perhaps done more than any recent author to liberate the interdisciplinary steampunk aesthetic form…’ — LOCUS Recommended Reading List 2013

Speaking of steampunk, we thought we’d draw your attention to Lavie’s debut trilogy – the steampunk Bookman Histories, published by Angry Robot Books – and also some of her novellas. Certain rights are available, so please inquire for details. Continue reading “Author Spotlight: Lavie Tidhar” →

James P. Blaylock WFC eBook Promotion!

Posted on Friday, October 25th, 2013

In celebration of James P. Blaylock‘s UK trip (his first in years!), we thought it would be a randomly nice idea to offer the eBooks of THE ELFIN SHIP and THIRTEEN PHANTASMS at a special low-price to readers in the US! Blaylock’s eBooks are published by the JABberwocky eBook program.

Blaylock-WFCeBookPromotionCovers

THE ELFIN SHIP is Blaylock’s debut, originally published in 1982, and is the first novel in his Balumnia fantasy trilogy. It is followed by THE DISAPPEARING DWARF and also THE STONE GIANT (which is actually a prequel). Here is the synopsis for THE ELFIN SHIP…

Trading with the elves used to be so simple. Every year Master Cheeser Jonathan Bing would send his very best cheeses downriver to traders who would eventually return with Elfin wonders for the people of Twombly Town. But no more First the trading post at Willowood Station was mysteriously destroyed. Then a magical elfin airship began making forays overhead; Jonathan knew something was definitely amiss. So he set off downriver to deliver the cheeses himself, accompanied by the amazing Professor Wurzle, the irrepressible Dooly, and his faithful dog Ahab. It would have been a pleasant trip, if not for the weeping skeleton, mad goblins, magic coins, an evil dwarf, a cloak of invisibility – and a watch that stopped time. However, the return trip would not be so simple.

THIRTEEN PHANTASMS is a collection of short stories that shows Blaylock at his very best. We really can’t recommend this enough – for fans of Blaylock and the short story form.

The first short story collection from Philip K. Dick Award-winning author James Blaylock features sixteen thought-provoking forays into the fantastic-from a tale of alien influence on an ordinary neighbourhood to the story of one man’s self-destructive obsession with a dragon.

Both of these great titles will be $2.99 for a limited period only (the end of November) – a great way to try James’s beloved first fantasy series and his critically-acclaimed short fiction.

– THE ELFIN SHIP – Amazon iTunes Kobo B&N

– THIRTEEN PHANTASMS – Amazon iTunes (Kobo and B&N links on the way!)

Welcome to the Bookman Histories

Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2013

Lavie Tidhar‘s trilogy of unashamedly gonzo steampunk novels, comprising THE BOOKMAN, CAMERA OBSCURA and THE GREAT GAME has just been released by Angry Robot Books in a single giant-sized (1000 pages) omnibus edition. THE BOOKMAN HISTORIES contains a new introduction by the author exclusive to the omnibus edition.

An omnibus edition of the most exciting steampunk series of recent years.

Lizard Kings and swashbuckling pirates, secret government agencies and scuttling automata, tripods and airships.

There’s never been a series with quite so much adventure crammed between two covers!

The magnificent cover art is by John Coulthart, who won the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist this year – alongside Lavie himself, who picked up this year’s Best Novel award.

Steampunk Master Returns!

Posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

James P Blaylock, one of the ‘Founding Fathers’ of Steampunk, returns to the genre in his first full-length steampunk novel in over two decades… and what can we say except that it is well worth the wait!

THE AYLESFORD SKULL is published today by Titan Books. It features Blaylock’s evergreen hero, Langdon St. Ives pitted in a new adventure against his old nemesis the mad scientist, Dr. Ignacio Narbondo.

It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer is at home in Aylesford with his family. However a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay, the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives. When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race into London in pursuit…

io9 has an exclusive extract from the novel, and The Machine Stops has a fascinating in-depth interview with the author and be sure to check out brillaint Huffington Post article by Blaylock entitled ‘On Steampunk‘ in which he all but admits it’s all his fault!