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Ian McDonald’s THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE out today!

Posted on Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s latest novella is out today! Set in the same series as the author’s acclaimed Luna series, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE is published by Tor.com in the UK and North America. Here’s the synopsis…

In The Menace from Farside, Ian McDonald returns to his elegantly wound solar system of the twenty-second century, full of political intrigue and complicated families.

Remember: Lady Luna knows a thousand ways to kill you, but family is what you know. Family is what works.

Cariad Corcoran has a new sister who is everything she is not: tall, beautiful, confident. They’re unlikely allies and even unlikelier sisters, but they’re determined to find the moon’s first footprint, even if the lunar frontier is doing its best to kill them before they get there.

The Luna series of novels is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is also available in an ever-growing number of translated editions.

‘Mafia-style mining families clash in a compelling fantasy that offers up all the pleasures of a cut-throat soap opera in space…That McDonald is able to spin a compelling story from this unforgiving set-up is testament to his skill as a writer… One thing Luna does exceptionally well is to puncture Old Heinlein’s assumption that a frontier society based on the primacy of the family and a disregard of conventional laws would end up like idealised smalltown America. Luna argues that any realistic future colonisation of the moon will be much more The Sopranos than The Waltons. LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian on NEW MOON

‘A Howling Good Read… No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does. Piece by piece and brick by brick. Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be…, deep and meaty when he wants to be…, he does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. There are no wasted moves, nothing that isn’t vital because, in the end, everything is vital. Everything matters… it is fascinating, all of it. Because McDonald has made a world that is ruthless in its consistency and living, breathing reality, and then made characters who are not just living in it, but wholly and fully of it… McDonald’s corporate war is a gorgeous thing, fought with every tool available… McDonald is able to wrap the biggest events in constellations of the smallest so that a cocktail party here, a discussion of ’80s retro fashion (all mall-hair and WHAM! T-shirts), a love story and a day at work for a guy who cleans solar panels all build and coalesce to form the background radiation of life in this unstable future. Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR on WOLF MOON

‘McDonald’s richly imagined Lunar culture and interplanetary poleconomy make for a superb backdrop for literally dozens of richly realized human dramas, and it’s hard to say which is more fascinating. McDonald’s wildly imaginative worldbuilding (present since his debut novel, the utterly wonderful standout OUT ON BLUE SIX) and his ability to spin out intrigues are both in full flight in this final volume.’ — Boing Boing on MOON RISING

Looking for more, shorter fiction by Ian? Tor.com also publishes Ian’s Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novella TIME WAS.

‘[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 on TIME WAS

Also, because we can’t share this news enough: Ian was recently named a European Grand Master of Science Fiction!

Next Month: Ian McDonald’s new novella, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE!

Posted on Monday, October 21st, 2019

Today, we’re very happy to share with you the cover and details for Ian McDonald‘s next book! Set in the same series as the author’s acclaimed Luna series, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE is due to be published by Tor.com on November 12th, 2019. Here’s the synopsis…

In The Menace from Farside, Ian McDonald returns to his elegantly wound solar system of the twenty-second century, full of political intrigue and complicated families.

Remember: Lady Luna knows a thousand ways to kill you, but family is what you know. Family is what works.

Cariad Corcoran has a new sister who is everything she is not: tall, beautiful, confident. They’re unlikely allies and even unlikelier sisters, but they’re determined to find the moon’s first footprint, even if the lunar frontier is doing its best to kill them before they get there.

The Luna series of novels is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is also available in an ever-growing number of translated editions.

Tor.com has also published Ian’s Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novella TIME WAS.

Also, because we can’t share this news enough: Ian was recently named a European Grand Master of Science Fiction!

Ian McDonalds NEW MOON out now in Croatia!

Posted on Thursday, October 17th, 2019

The first novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series, NEW MOON, is out now in Croatia! Published as MLADI MJESEC by Vorto Palabra, and translated by Kristian Vlasic, here’s the synopsis…

Mjesec je, bez sumnje, novo i uzbudljivo mjesto za život. Ne postoji kriminalno ni građansko pravo, već samo ugovorno i sve je, od braka i rastave pa do ubojstva, podložno pregovorima. Kultura Mjesečevih elita premrežena je (seksualnim) vezama koje ne pitaju za spol, a sve je začinjeno koktelima, dizajnerskim drogama i visokom modom isprintanom u 3D-u. No, Mjesec vas želi i ubiti. Svake sekunde u danu. Ne samo svojim negostoljubivim okolišem, iako je i on sam po sebi zastrašujuće i opasno mjesto za život. Račun za vodu, prostor, podatke i kisik svake sekunde raste, mjeri i naplaćuje svaki gutljaj i svaki san, svaku misao i udah. A možda se uz sve to nađete i usred sukoba vladajućih dinastija, poznatih pod nazivom Pet zmajeva. Morate se krvavo boriti kako biste se snašli u ovom gotovo feudalnom društvu. A to je upravo ono što je Adriana Corta i učinila.

Kao vođa najnovijeg, petog Mjesečevog Zmaja, Adriana je uspostavila čvrstu kontrolu nad industrijom helija koja daleku Zemlju opskrbljuje prijeko potrebnom električnom energijom. Ali za taj se status krvavo izborila. Sada, na zalasku života, Adriana otkriva kako je njezina korporacija, Corta Hélio, okružena mnogim neprijateljima koje je stekla tijekom svog meteorskog uspjeha. Ako joj posao i obitelj želi preživjeti, njezino petero djece mora obraniti majčino carstvo od tih neprijatelja… ali i obraniti se jedni od drugih.

NEW MOON and the other novels in the series — WOLF MOON and MOON RISING — are published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and in a growing number of translations. Here’s the English-language synopsis for the first novel…

The scions of a falling house must navigate a world of corporate warfare to maintain their family’s status in the Moon’s vicious political atmosphere.

The Moon wants to kill you.

Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations-the Five Dragons-in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon’s newest “dragon,” Adriana has wrested control of the Moon’s Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family’s new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation-Corta Helio-confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana’s five children must defend their mother’s empire from her many enemies… and each other.

Ian’s forthcoming new novella, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE (Tor.com, November 11th), is also something of a prequel to the series.

NEW MOON (and the series as a whole) has been met with a tremendous amount of praise and good reviews. Here are but a handful, to give you an idea…

‘Smart, funny, passionate and at times quite dark, McDonald brings the touch we’ve seen in RIVER OF GODS and DERVISH HOUSE to an entirely new culture as it evolves in a distant hostile place where business or family rules all… it’s terrific. My only complaint: it leaves you wanting the second book right now!’ — Jonathan Strahan

‘McDonald… begins his superb near-future series… scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next year’s award ballots.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Mafia-style mining families clash in a compelling fantasy that offers up all the pleasures of a cut-throat soap opera in space…That McDonald is able to spin a compelling story from this unforgiving set-up is testament to his skill as a writer… One thing Luna does exceptionally well is to puncture Old Heinlein’s assumption that a frontier society based on the primacy of the family and a disregard of conventional laws would end up like idealised smalltown America. Luna argues that any realistic future colonisation of the moon will be much more The Sopranos than The Waltons. LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian

‘No one writes like Ian McDonald, and no one’s Moon is nearly so beautiful and terrible… Ian McDonald’s never written a bad novel, but this is a great Ian McDonald novel… McDonald has ten details for every detail proffered by other sf writers. Not gratuitous details, either: gracious ones. The fashion sense of William Gibson, the design sense of Bruce Sterling, the eye for family drama of Connie Willis, the poesie of Bradbury, and the dirty sex of Kathe Koja and Samuel Delany… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing. As the family saga of the Cortas unravels, we meet a self-sexual ninja lawyer, a werewolf who loses his mind in the Full Earth, a family tyrant whose ruthlessness is matched only by his crepulance, and a panoply of great passions and low desires. LUNA: NEW MOON is the first book of a two-book cycle. Now I’m all a-quiver for the next one.‘ — BoingBoing

‘Fans of cerebral, high-concept science fiction will love this exploration of society on the moon many decades after it has been colonized. The focus is more on concept and plot than on character, but the former are compelling enough to make this an addictive page-turner. Including the stories of many characters gives the reader important insights into different facets of society, and although the book starts at a slow pace, it accelerates into a mesmerizing political thriller.’ — RT Book Reviews

Ian McDonald’s ORDASHOLD out now in Hungary!

Posted on Friday, October 4th, 2019

Ian McDonald‘s second Luna novel, WOLF MOON, is out now in Hungary! Published by Gabo as ORDASHOLD, here’s the synopsis…

A Corta Hélio, a Holdat uraló öt családi vállalat egyike elbukott, vagyonát ellenségei osztották fel egymás között, túlélői szétszóródtak a világban. Tizennyolc hónappal a tragédia után az életben maradt Corta gyerekek közül Lucasinho és Luna az Aszamóa család védelme alatt áll, míg Robson lényegében túsz a Mackenzie-k kezében. Az örökös, Lucas Corta pedig eltűnt a Hold színéről.

Gabo has also published the first novel in the series, NEW MOON, as ÚJHOLD.

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

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 from 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 a 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 between the families erupts.

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

‘… powerful sequel… compelling throughout. Each of McDonald’s viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated. Fans of the first volume will love this one and eagerly look forward to the next.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘NEW MOON was one of the most interesting sci-fi novels of 2015, with smart ideas on humanity and economies matched by street smarts, political brawls and murder in the streets. LUNA: WOLF MOON turns that up to eleven – it’s a fascinating story, which is also a tense, enthralling read.’ — Sci-Fi & Fantasy Review

‘The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice. McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once. Starting with his debut novel, 1988’s Desolation Road, McDonald has used his intense, finely crafted and small personal stories of his vast casts of characters as the pixels in an unimaginably vast display on which he projects some of the field’s most audacious worldbuilding — never worldbuilding for its own sake, either, but always in the service of slyly parodying, critiquing or lionizing elements of our present-day world.’ — Boing Boing

‘No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does. Piece by piece and brick by brick. Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be…, deep and meaty when he wants to be…, he does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. There are no wasted moves, nothing that isn’t vital because, in the end, everything is vital. Everything matters… it is fascinating, all of it. Because McDonald has made a world that is ruthless in its consistency and living, breathing reality, and then made characters who are not just living in it, but wholly and fully of it… Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR

‘Luna: New Moon was a “magnificent bastard of a book,” as I put it in my review. Part two, it’s my pleasure to tell you, is just as awesome, and just as masterfully nasty.’ — Tor.com

Ian McDonald’s LUNE MONTANTE is out now in France!

Posted on Thursday, September 12th, 2019

MOON RISING, the third novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series, is out now in France! Published as by Denoël, as LUNE MONTANTE, here’s the synopsis…

Lucas Corta, que tout le monde croyait mort, a réussi l’impossible : survivre, lui, le natif de la Lune, à un long séjour sur la Terre. Revenu en orbite pour se venger, il a triomphé. Désormais la Lune lui appartient. Mais il a également beaucoup perdu, à commencer par son fils Lucasinho, plongé dans le coma et atteint de lésions cérébrales irréversibles. Sans compter que les Mackenzie rescapés n’ont pas dit leur dernier mot et espèrent bien rendre à Lucas la monnaie de sa pièce. Les Sun, quant à eux, fourbissent toujours leurs armes pour éliminer tous leurs concurrents. Plus que jamais, sur la Lune, la guerre entre les Cinq Dragons fait rage.

Denoël has also published the first two books in the series: NOUVELLE LUNE and LUNE DU LOUP (in addition to a handful of Ian’s other novels).

Ian’s Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is available in a growing number of translated editions. Here’s the English-language synopsis for MOON RISING…

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons — five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain — marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

‘McDonald concludes his Luna space opera trilogy in triumphant style… The political intrigue never feels too abstract or removed from 21st-century Earth. Readers will appreciate the care McDonald takes with both worldbuilding and characterization, and will enjoy little touches such as giving an assassin the job title of Corporate Conflict Resolution Officer… fans of the prior books will find this wrap-up rewarding.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘… cinematic set-pieces… so much fun to read… these entertaining, and intelligent novels, capped off by the very satisfying Luna: MOON RISING, have been about establishing a society, a community, a family that looks to the future, that lives and prospers in an environment that must always be treated with respect.’ — Locus

‘McDonald’s richly imagined Lunar culture and interplanetary poleconomy make for a superb backdrop for literally dozens of richly realized human dramas, and it’s hard to say which is more fascinating. McDonald’s wildly imaginative worldbuilding (present since his debut novel, the utterly wonderful standout OUT ON BLUE SIX) and his ability to spin out intrigues are both in full flight in this final volume.’ — Boing Boing

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights

Ian McDonald’s LUNE MONTANTE is out later this month in France!

Posted on Monday, September 2nd, 2019

The third novel in Ian McDonald‘s acclaimed Luna series — MOON RISING — is due to be published in France later this month! Published as LUNE MONTANTE by Denoël, here’s the synopsis…

Lucas Corta, que tout le monde croyait mort, a réussi l’impossible : survivre, lui, le natif de la Lune, à un long séjour sur la Terre. Revenu en orbite pour se venger, il a triomphé. Désormais la Lune lui appartient. Mais il a également beaucoup perdu, à commencer par son fils Lucasinho, plongé dans le coma et atteint de lésions cérébrales irréversibles. Sans compter que les Mackenzie rescapés n’ont pas dit leur dernier mot et espèrent bien rendre à Lucas la monnaie de sa pièce. Les Sun, quant à eux, fourbissent toujours leurs armes pour éliminer tous leurs concurrents. Plus que jamais, sur la Lune, la guerre entre les Cinq Dragons fait rage.

Denoël has also published the first two books in the series: NOUVELLE LUNE and LUNE DU LOUP (in addition to a few of Ian’s other novels).

Ian’s Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and is available in a growing number of translated editions. Here’s the English-language synopsis for MOON RISING…

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons — five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain — marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

‘McDonald concludes his Luna space opera trilogy in triumphant style… The political intrigue never feels too abstract or removed from 21st-century Earth. Readers will appreciate the care McDonald takes with both worldbuilding and characterization, and will enjoy little touches such as giving an assassin the job title of Corporate Conflict Resolution Officer… fans of the prior books will find this wrap-up rewarding.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘… cinematic set-pieces… so much fun to read… these entertaining, and intelligent novels, capped off by the very satisfying Luna: MOON RISING, have been about establishing a society, a community, a family that looks to the future, that lives and prospers in an environment that must always be treated with respect.’ — Locus

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights

Ian McDonald’s LUNA: WOLF MOON available now in paperback in the US

Posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019

A new trade paperback edition of Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed second Luna novel, WOLF MOON, is out today in the US! Published by Tor Books, 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 from 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.

WOLF MOON was nominated for the Locus Award, and was an NPR Best Book of the Year.

Tor Books has published all three novels in the Luna series in North America. The trilogy is published in the UK by Gollancz, and is available in an ever-growing number of translated editions around the world.

Here is just a small selection taken from the novel’s aforementioned critical acclaim…

‘… powerful sequel… compelling throughout. Each of McDonald’s viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated. Fans of the first volume will love this one and eagerly look forward to the next.‘ — Publishers Weekly

‘A Howling Good Read… No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does. Piece by piece and brick by brick. Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be…, deep and meaty when he wants to be…, he does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. There are no wasted moves, nothing that isn’t vital because, in the end, everything is vital. Everything matters… it is fascinating, all of it. Because McDonald has made a world that is ruthless in its consistency and living, breathing reality, and then made characters who are not just living in it, but wholly and fully of it… McDonald’s corporate war is a gorgeous thing, fought with every tool available… McDonald is able to wrap the biggest events in constellations of the smallest so that a cocktail party here, a discussion of ’80s retro fashion (all mall-hair and WHAM! T-shirts), a love story and a day at work for a guy who cleans solar panels all build and coalesce to form the background radiation of life in this unstable future. Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR

‘The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice. McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once. Starting with his debut novel, 1988’s Desolation Road, McDonald has used his intense, finely crafted and small personal stories of his vast casts of characters as the pixels in an unimaginably vast display on which he projects some of the field’s most audacious worldbuilding — never worldbuilding for its own sake, either, but always in the service of slyly parodying, critiquing or lionizing elements of our present-day world.’ — Boing Boing

‘Luna: New Moon was a “magnificent bastard of a book,” as I put it in my review. Part two, it’s my pleasure to tell you, is just as awesome, and just as masterfully nasty.’ — Tor.com

‘NEW MOON was one of the most interesting sci-fi novels of 2015, with smart ideas on humanity and economies matched by street smarts, political brawls and murder in the streets. LUNA: WOLF MOON turns that up to eleven – it’s a fascinating story, which is also a tense, enthralling read.’ — Sci-Fi & Fantasy Review

Ian McDonald’s third LUNA novel out now in Spain!

Posted on Thursday, July 4th, 2019

MOON RISING, the third novel in Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed Luna series is out now in Spain! Published by Nova in Spanish as LUNA ASCENDENTE, here’s the synopsis…

Luna ascendente, la esperada continuación de Luna, por uno de los mejores autores de ciencia ficción del mundo.

Un centenar de años en el futuro se libra una guerra entre los Cinco Dragones, las cinco familias que controlan las principales empresas industriales de la Luna. Todos los clanes se desviven por trepar hasta lo más alto de la cadena alimentaria con estrategias como matrimonios de conveniencia, espionaje industrial, secuestros y asesinatos masivos.

Gracias a su ingeniosa manipulación política y a su fuerza de voluntad, Lucas Corta consigue emerger de las cenizas de su empresa destruida y hacerse con el control de la Luna. Y la única persona que puede pararlo es una célebre abogada lunar: su hermana Ariel.

Ian MacDonald nos hace partícipes de la última batalla de los Dragones por la soberanía absoluta en el trepidante final de la trilogía «Luna».

Nova has also published the first two novels in the series in Spanish: NEW MOON and WOLF MOON, as LUNA NUEVA and LUNA DE LOBOS.

The series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and widely elsewhere in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis for MOON RISING…

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons — five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain — marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons’ final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald’s heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.

Here are just a few of the reviews the series has received since it started…

‘Mafia-style mining families clash in a compelling fantasy that offers up all the pleasures of a cut-throat soap opera in space…That McDonald is able to spin a compelling story from this unforgiving set-up is testament to his skill as a writer… One thing Luna does exceptionally well is to puncture Old Heinlein’s assumption that a frontier society based on the primacy of the family and a disregard of conventional laws would end up like idealised smalltown America. Luna argues that any realistic future colonisation of the moon will be much more The Sopranos than The Waltons. LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian on NEW MOON

‘Smart, funny, passionate and at times quite dark, McDonald brings the touch we’ve seen in RIVER OF GODS and DERVISH HOUSE to an entirely new culture as it evolves in a distant hostile place where business or family rules all… it’s terrific. My only complaint: it leaves you wanting the second book right now!’ — Jonathan Strahan on NEW MOON

‘McDonald… begins his superb near-future series… scintillating, violent, and decadent world. McDonald creates a complex and fascinating civilization featuring believable technology, and the characters are fully developed, with individually gripping stories. Watch for this brilliantly constructed family saga on next year’s award ballots.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on NEW MOON

‘Luna: New Moon was a “magnificent bastard of a book,” as I put it in my review. Part two, it’s my pleasure to tell you, is just as awesome, and just as masterfully nasty.’ — Tor.com on WOLF MOON

‘The fights and vengeance that follow are more vicious and intricate than anything in Game of Thrones, full of great acts of self-sacrifice and viciousness alike, brave cavalry charges and last stands, cowardice and avarice. McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once. Starting with his debut novel, 1988’s Desolation Road, McDonald has used his intense, finely crafted and small personal stories of his vast casts of characters as the pixels in an unimaginably vast display on which he projects some of the field’s most audacious worldbuilding — never worldbuilding for its own sake, either, but always in the service of slyly parodying, critiquing or lionizing elements of our present-day world.’ — Boing Boing on WOLF MOON

‘A Howling Good Read… No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does. Piece by piece and brick by brick. Spare, simple, elegant when he needs to be…, deep and meaty when he wants to be…, he does his work like an artisan pulling a sculpture from stone. There are no wasted moves, nothing that isn’t vital because, in the end, everything is vital. Everything matters… it is fascinating, all of it. Because McDonald has made a world that is ruthless in its consistency and living, breathing reality, and then made characters who are not just living in it, but wholly and fully of it… McDonald’s corporate war is a gorgeous thing, fought with every tool available… McDonald is able to wrap the biggest events in constellations of the smallest so that a cocktail party here, a discussion of ’80s retro fashion (all mall-hair and WHAM! T-shirts), a love story and a day at work for a guy who cleans solar panels all build and coalesce to form the background radiation of life in this unstable future. Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR on WOLF MOON

‘… cinematic set-pieces… so much fun to read… these entertaining, and intelligent novels, capped off by the very satisfying Luna: MOON RISING, have been about establishing a society, a community, a family that looks to the future, that lives and prospers in an environment that must always be treated with respect.’ — Locus (Ian Mond) on MOON RISING

‘McDonald concludes his Luna space opera trilogy in triumphant style… The political intrigue never feels too abstract or removed from 21st-century Earth. Readers will appreciate the care McDonald takes with both worldbuilding and characterization, and will enjoy little touches such as giving an assassin the job title of Corporate Conflict Resolution Officer… fans of the prior books will find this wrap-up rewarding.’ — Publishers Weekly on MOON RISING

‘The Luna trilogy is a masterpiece of worldbuilding. Ian McDonald has created an incredibly developed, complex and astonishingly plausible future for the Moon… What stands out, though, are its threads of gorgeous storytelling… as a whole, this is an extraordinary trilogy. Ian McDonald always writes beautifully. I love what he has to say. I’ll always remember his vision of the Moon, which at times is horrifying and violent and yet at others is so heartwarming and wondrous.’ — For Winter Nights on MOON RISING

Ian McDonald’s MOON RISES coming soon in Spain!

Posted on Monday, June 3rd, 2019

Next month, Nova are due to publish the Spanish edition of MOON RISING, the third novel in Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed Luna series. Published in Spain as LUNA ASCENDENTE, here’s the synopsis…