New World SF StoryBundle Available Now!


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 Lavie Tidhar StoryBundle Now Available!


Continuing our rather Lavie Tidhar-themed week, there is a new StoryBundle available featuring up to 12 of the author’s books! Comprised of a collection of award-winning novels and novellas, available individually via Tachyon Publications and the JABberwocky eBook Program, here’s what Lavie had to say about the bundle…

The real streets of Central Station in Tel Aviv inspired the novel of that name. Living on the Mekong in Vientiane inspired much of the atmosphere of GOREL & THE POT-BELLIED GOD, and a fascination with the game of poker led to the writing of THE BIG BLIND.

The world of UNHOLY LAND was much informed by the years I spent in south and east Africa, just as my adopted home city of London was a fundamental character in THE VIOLENT CENTURY and THE VANISHING KIND.

But I cannot, in truth, claim ever to have lived in the Doinklands of THE ESCAPEMENT.

These are some of my favourite novels and novellas of the past decade or so. I wrote them variously in Laos, in Israel, in Vanuatu and in London. A key part of UNHOLY LAND was written in Korea, at the Toji Cultural Centre whose founder, the author Pak Kyongni, inspired in turn the writing of NEW ATLANTIS.

The bundle includes my earliest novella, AN OCCUPATION OF ANGELS, with a brand-new edition and a cover by artist Paul McCaffrey, who worked with me on the graphic novel Adler. It also includes an exclusive sampler of my latest work, the forthcoming SF novel NEOM, which was inspired by my visits to Egypt over the years, and my dreams of what lay on the other side of the Red Sea.

When you buy the bundle, you will also have a chance to donate a portion of the proceeds to The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees!

The novel NEOM is Lavie’s latest novel, which is due to be published by Tachyon Publications in November 2022 — the bundle includes an exclusive teaser as a bonus. Here’s the synopsis…

The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. Neom 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 Saleh has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world from Central Station. 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.

The Bundle is live/available for the rest of June.

ICYMI: The World SF StoryBundle 4 Has Launched!


The World SF StoryBundle 4 has been launched! Curated once again by Lavie Tidhar, it includes a fantastic selection of fiction from an international cast of authors…

  • Aliette de BodardON A RED STATION DRIFTING
  • Francesco VersoBLOODBUSTERS
  • Dilman DilaTHE FUTURE GOD OF LOVE
  • Xueting Ni (ed.)SINOPTICON
  • Un-Su KimTHE CABINET
  • Rokuro InuiAUTOMATIC EVE
  • Lavie TidharGOREL AND THE POT-BELLIED GOD
  • Thilde Kold HoldeNORTHERN WRATH
  • Fabio FernandesLOVE. AN ARCHAEOLOGY
  • Wole TalabiINCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS

Here’s what Lavie had to say about the new bundle

It’s hard to believe this is now the fifth annual World SF bundle I get the good fortune to curate. The first one was back in 2018!

And yet with every year it’s possible to find more great books – novels, novellas, anthologies and collections – that highlight the sheer talent and diversity of speculative fiction from around the world.

The future doesn’t need to be American anymore. Can it be Vietnamese? Italian? Nigerian? Chinese? You bet it can.

I can imagine nothing more rewarding than being able to share these books with new readers, while supporting the authors and their publishers directly through this bundle. Not to mention supporting a wonderfully worthwhile charity at the same time! So join me, if you will, into the reaches of space and deep into the South American jungles, to the distant past and to the tombs of the moon!

With writers from France, Japan, Italy, Uganda, Korea, China, Brazil, Nigeria and Denmark, you really are in for a truly international feast!

With proceeds from each bundle going to the authors and charity, this is a great way to discover great, international writing talent and also do a little bit of good.

The bundle is available for another 18 days, so make sure you check out the website for full details and to purchase the bundle!

One Week Remaining: Lavie Tidhar’s WORLD SF 3 StoryBundle!


Just a quick reminder that the Lavie Tidhar-curated World SF 3 StoryBundle is still available, but expires in one week! It has already been very popular, and we wanted to just draw your attention to it again, in case you missed it. It is a fantastic way to not only discover international authors you may not have tried before, but also contribute to a good cause. You can read Lavie’s full introduction to the bundle on his website.

Available worldwide, the StoryBundle features titles drawn from authors from around the world. For just $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format…

  • The Silence of the Wilting Skin by Tlotlo Tsamaase
  • Love and Other Poisons by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • IN THE VANISHERS’ PALACE by Aliette de Bodard (the critically-acclaimed novella!)
  • The Heart of the Circle by Keren Landsman

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus these six additional books…

  • The Simoqin Prophecies by Samit Basu
  • Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain
  • Poison Fairies by Luca Tarenzi
  • NEW ATLANTIS by Lavie Tidhar (with a gorgeous cover by Sarah Anne Langton)
  • Alphaland by Cristina Jurado
  • Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia

Lavie Tidhar launches The World SF 3 Bundle!


In case you missed its announcement yesterday: Lavie Tidhar has launched The World SF 3 Bundle! Curated by Lavie, it not only helps highlight SFF talent from around the world, but proceeds also go to a good cause. Here’s what Lavie had to say about the bundle…

I’m delighted to be launching a third World SF bundle in what I can only hope is by now an annual tradition. In the midst of some extraordinary turmoil across the globe, it takes writers from all corners of the Earth to weave profound new truths out of fantasies and paint new futures out of difficult pasts and turbulent presents.

The writers here come from Botswana and Bangladesh; Russia, Italy and France; Mexico, Spain, Israel and India. They are all of them fantastic, and I couldn’t be happier sharing their work with you.

It shouldn’t need saying, and yet it does: Black Lives Matter. I couldn’t think of a better match for this bundle than to partner up with the African Speculative Fiction Society and associated Nommo Awards for our chosen charity. The ASFS is an organization of African writers, editors, comic and graphic artists and filmmakers in the fields of speculative fiction. As spokesperson (and fantastic author) Chinelo Onwualu says on the society site, it’s there to “provide a place where writers, readers, and scholars can come together to find information, connect with each other, and act as watchdogs for their collective interests.”

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE…

  • The Silence of the Wilting Skin by Tlotlo Tsamaase
  • Love and Other Poisons by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • IN THE VANISHERS’ PALACE by Aliette de Bodard (the critically-acclaimed novella!)
  • The Heart of the Circle by Keren Landsman

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus six additional books…

  • The Simoqin Prophecies by Samit Basu
  • Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain
  • Poison Fairies by Luca Tarenzi
  • NEW ATLANTIS by Lavie Tidhar (with a gorgeous cover by Sarah Anne Langton)
  • Alphaland by Cristina Jurado
  • Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia

This bundle is available only for a limited time via StoryBundle — where you can also find more information about each of the titles included in the two bundle tiers. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other eReaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi) for all books.

The bundle will be available until August 1st.

Lavie Tidhar’s StoryBundle… (Also featuring Aliette de Bodard!)


A bonus bit of news, today: Multi-award-winning author Lavie Tidhar has set up a limited time StoryBundle! The bundle is live now, so click on that link to find out more. The bundle has been set up as part of the author’s ongoing attempts to highlight SFF from around the world. Here’s a little bit of his explanation for the project…

Over ten years ago I came up with the crazy idea of an anthology collecting speculative fiction stories from around the world. The resultant collection – The Apex Book of World SF – came out in 2009 and has since spawned a series of books, with the fifth volume coming out later this year. Over the course of that decade I encountered some brilliant writers, and was able to watch what had once seemed impossible – overseas writers flourishing in the genre world – come to seem a matter of course…

Our chosen charity for this bundle, English PEN, works tirelessly to promote translated works into English, championing literature beyond national and linguistic borders. They provide funding for translation projects, are the founding centre of a worldwide writers’ association with 145 centres in more than 100 countries, and are also a founding member of the Free Word Centre. They campaign to defend writers and readers in the UK and around the world whose human right to freedom of expression is at risk. I couldn’t think of a better partner for this bundle, and hope you help us support them and their work.

“World SF” as a term has been somewhat nebulous, encompassing a huge range of voices and approaches to the fantastic. Here is what I hope is but the first sampler of some of today’s exciting writers working in the field. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Among the initial titles included in the World SF Bundle, which you would receive for a minimum $5 purchase is SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD by Aliette de Bodard, the first book in the Obsidian & Blood trilogy. Additionally, for that minimum purchase, you would receive…

  • The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia
  • The Apex Book of World SF: Vol. 4 edited by Mahvesh Murad
  • A Small Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular titles, plus SIX more!

  • THE APEX BOOK OF WORLD SF: Vols.1-3 edited by Lavie Tidhar
  • Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
  • Prime Meridian by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw
  • Castles in Spain edited by Mariano Villarreal
  • Azanian Bridges by Nick Wood