Tor Books - Zeno Agency Ltd.

Victor Milán’s DINOSAUR KNIGHTS charge out in France!

Posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2017

Today, the second novel in Victor Milán‘s Dinosaur Lords fantasy series is out in France! DINOSAUR KNIGHTS is published in France by Fleuve Éditions as GUERRE & DINOSAURES II. Here’s the synopsis…

L’heure du jugement a sonné. Mais qui est innocent?

Les Anges Gris, serviteurs des Créateurs, que l’on croyait n’être que des fables destinées à l’édification des jeunes esprits, sont bien réels. Et ils sont de retour sur Paradis pour la purger du péché.

Cependant, en ce royaume voué au fracas des armes, aux complots perfides et aux rugissements des dinosaures, qui n’est pas coupable ? Karyl et Rob n’ont rien des jeunes innocents, mais ils doivent se défendre lors de leur procès pour crime envers la communauté du Jardin. Venus en aide à la population de Providence, les voilà accusés d’avoir porté la guerre dans leur havre de paix.

C’est à que la princesse Melodía vient chercher refuge, fuyant l’abominiable machination du duc Falk von Hornberg. Celle dont l’amant est le comte Jaume dels Flors, le rival de Karyl, trouvera-t-elle un allié en ce dernier ?

Mais surtout, la Grande Armée Impériale réussira-t-elle à stopper la Croisade dévastatrice de l’Ange Gris ? L’Apocalypse est en marche et chevauche un tyrannosaurus imperator.

Fleuve has also published the first in the series. The series is published in English by Tor Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis for DINOSAUR KNIGHTS…

Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often cruel world. There are humans on Paradise but dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden, and of war. Armored knights ride dinosaurs to battle legions of war-trained Triceratops and their upstart peasant crews.

Karyl Bogomirsky is one such knight who has chosen to rally those who seek a way from the path of war and madness. The fact that the Empire has announced a religious crusade against this peaceful kingdom, the people who just wish to live in peace anathema, and they all are to be converted or destroyed doesn’t help him one bit.

Things really turn to mud when the dreaded Grey Angels, fabled ancient weapons of the Gods who created Paradise in the first place come on the scene after almost a millennia. Everyone thought that they were fables used to scare children. They are very much real.

And they have come to rid the world of sin…including all the humans who manifest those vices.

Zeno represents Victor Milan in translation, on behalf of Kay McCauley at Aurous, Inc.

DINOSAUR KNIGHTS ride out in Brazil!

Posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017

Victor Milán‘s DINOSAUR LORDS have been unleashed in Brazil! The second novel in the Dinosaur Lords series, it is published by Dark Side Books as OS CAVALEIROS DOS DINOSSAUROS. Here’s the synopsis…

O Paraíso é um mundo extenso, diversificado, muitas vezes cruel. Existem seres humanos no Paraíso, mas predominam os dinossauros: animais selvagens, monstros, animais de carga e de guerra. Cavaleiros blindados conduzem dinossauros para batalhar legiões de tricerátopos treinados pela guerra e suas equipes camponesas.

Karyl Bogomirsky é um cavaleiro que optou por reunir aqueles que buscam uma saída para a jornada de guerra e loucura. Mas o Império da Nuevaropa anunciou uma cruzada religiosa contra este reino pacífico e as pessoas que desejam viver em paz. Todos devem ser convertidos ou destruídos.

As coisas realmente desandam quando os temidos Anjos Cinzas, antiquadas armas dos deuses que criaram o Paraíso, surgem em cena após quase um milênio. Todos achavam que se tratava de fábulas para assustar crianças. Mas eles são muito reais. E vieram para livrar o mundo do pecado… incluindo todos os humanos que manifestaram esses vícios.

Dark Side Books has also published the first in the series, DINOSAUR LORDS — OS SENHORES DOS DINOSSAUROS.

DINOSAUR KNIGHTS is published in English by Tor Books. Here’s the synopsis…

Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often cruel world. There are humans on Paradise but dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden, and of war. Armored knights ride dinosaurs to battle legions of war-trained Triceratops and their upstart peasant crews.

Karyl Bogomirsky is one such knight who has chosen to rally those who seek a way from the path of war and madness. The fact that the Empire has announced a religious crusade against this peaceful kingdom, the people who just wish to live in peace anathema, and they all are to be converted or destroyed doesn’t help him one bit.

Things really turn to mud when the dreaded Grey Angels, fabled ancient weapons of the Gods who created Paradise in the first place come on the scene after almost a millennia. Everyone thought that they were fables used to scare children. They are very much real.

And they have come to rid the world of sin… including all the humans who manifest those vices.

‘Milán continues writing terrific battle scenes that make full use of the knights’ saurian mounts. Those waiting for George R.R. Martin’s next book may find a new favorite in this explosive saga of brutal warfare and mythology come to life.’ — Publishers Weekly on DINOSAUR KNIGHTS

Zeno represents Victor Milán in translation, on behalf of Kay McCauley at Aurous, Inc.

Ian McDonald’s WOLFSMOND out now in Germany

Posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s highly-anticipated second Luna novel, WOLF MOON is out now in Germany! Published by Heyne as LUNA: WOLFSMOND, here’s the synopsis…

Auf dem Mond ist der Mensch die tödlichste aller Gefahren

Achtzehn Monate sind seit dem Tod Adriana Cortas vergangen. Die Corta Helio Corporation ist zerschlagen und die mächtigste Familie des Mondes ruiniert. Die vier verbliebenen Drachen, wie die einflussreichen Clans auf dem Mond genannt werden, wittern ihre Chance und liefern sich einen erbitterten Kampf um die Vormachtstellung in der High Society des Mondes – es ist ein Machtspiel voller Verführung, Lügen und Intrigen. Ein Spiel, das die Menschen auf dem Mond schon bald an den Rand eines Krieges bringen wird…

WOLF MOON is the sequel to the critically acclaimed NEW MOON, which has also been published in German by Heyne. The series is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Tor Books. It has also been published widely in translation, with more editions on the way! (More details can be found on his author page. If you have any other questions, please do get in touch for details.) Here’s the English-language synopsis for WOLF MOON…

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 is some of the aforementioned critical acclaim for the series…

‘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 on WOLF MOON

‘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… McDonald’s great gift is to hold the micro- and macro-scale in his hand at once… 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… 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… 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… Every moment with his characters makes them precious, real and alive.’ — NPR on WOLF 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

‘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

LUNA: WOLF MOON out now in Poland!

Posted on Wednesday, April 26th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s second Luna novel, WOLF MOON is out now in Poland! Published by MAG as WILCZA PEŁNIA, here’s the synopsis…

Zabito Smoka.

Corta Hélio, jedna z pięciu rządzących Księżycem rodzinnych korporacji, została zniszczona. Rodzina się rozproszyła, wrogowie podzielili majątek między sobą. Minęło osiemnaście miesięcy.

Ocalałe dzieci Cortów, Lucasinho i Luna, uzyskały ochronę potężnego rodu Asamoah, a Robson, który nie doszedł do siebie po gwałtownej śmierci rodziców, jest teraz podopiecznym – a w istocie zakładnikiem – rodu Mackenziech. Natomiast mianowany następca tronu, Lucas Corta, zniknął z powierzchni Księżyca.

Jedynie lady Sun, głowa rodu Sunów i korporacji Taiyang, podejrzewa, że Lucas jednak żyje i wciąż jest liczącym się graczem. Przecież zawsze był królem intrygi – i nie zawahałby się zaryzykować nawet życia, by zbudować nowe Corta Hélio, jeszcze potężniejsze niż przedtem. Potrzebuje jednak sojuszników – aby ich zyskać, porywa się na podróż na Ziemię, wyprawę niewykonalną dla urodzonego na Księżycu człowieka.

W niestabilnym księżycowym klimacie zwieńczeniem intryg, zmieniających się sojuszy i politycznych machinacji wielkich rodów staje się otwarta, krwawa wojna.

MAG has also published the first novel in the series, NEW MOON (LUNA: NÓW), as well as Ian’s BRASYL and RIVER OF GODS (RZEKA BOGÓW).

The Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Tor Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis for WOLF MOON…

A Dragon is dead.

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

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

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

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

Here are some of the reviews the novel has received so far…

‘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

‘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… it is fascinating, all of it… 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

‘… 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

LUNA: WOLF MOON available in audio!

Posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed second Luna novel, WOLF MOON is available in audio! Published by Blackstone Audio, here’s the synopsis…

Corta Hélio, 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 Hélio children, Lucasinho and Luna, are under the protection of the powerful Asamoahs, while Robson, still reeling from witnessing his parents’ 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 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 Hélio, more powerful than before. But Corta Hélio 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.

Blackstone Audio has also published the first novel in the series, NEW MOON, in audio.

Both NEW MOON and WOLF MOON are published in the UK by Gollancz and in the US by Tor Books. The novels have also been published, or are due to be published, widely in translation. Here is a selection of reviews the series 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 on WOLF MOON

‘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 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… 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…’ — NPR on WOLF 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

‘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

‘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

This weekend: Ian McDonald is a Guest of Honour at Norwescon!

Posted on Tuesday, April 11th, 2017

This weekend, best-selling author Ian McDonald is a Guest of Honour at Norwescon! Here’s his con schedule…

Thursday, 13th

5:00-6:30pm — Guest of Honour Banquet (Grand 2)
7:00-8:00pm — Opening Ceremonies (Grand 3)

Friday, 14th

11:00am-noon — Guest of Honour Reading (Grand 2)

Saturday, 15th

noon-1:00pm — Interview and Q&A with Ian McDonald (Evergreen 1&2)
2:00-3:00pm — autographing session 1 (Grand 2)
3:00-4:00pm — autographing session 2 (Grand 2)

Sunday, 16th

4:00-5:00pm — closing ceremonies (Evergreen 3&4)

Ian’s latest series is the critically-acclaimed Luna series: NEW MOON and WOLF MOON. The series is published by Gollancz in the UK and Tor Books in the US. The series has also been published in a number of other languages (more on the way!). Here’s the synopsis for the first novel…

A corporate SF thriller and the deepest evocation yet of the terrors and rigours of life on the moon.

Luna is a gripping thriller about five corporate families caught in a bitter battle for supremacy in the harsh environment of the moon. It’s very easy to die on the moon, but with its vast mineral wealth it’s also easy to make your fortune.

Following the fortunes of a handful of disparate characters, from one of the lowliest workers on the moon to the heads of one of the most powerful families, LUNA provides a vast mosaic of life on this airless and terrifying new home for humanity.

‘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 LUNA: NEW MOON

‘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 LUNA: NEW MOON

‘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 LUNA: NEW MOON

‘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

‘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 on LUNA: WOLF MOON

‘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

‘A Howling Good Read… No one builds a world like Ian McDonald does… 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… 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 LUNA: WOLF MOON

Ian McDonald’s WOLF MOON out tomorrow in the US!

Posted on Monday, March 27th, 2017

Ian McDonald‘s second Luna novel, WOLF MOON, is out tomorrow 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 of the surface of the moon.

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

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

WOLF MOON is published in the UK by Gollancz. The first in the series, NEW MOON, is out now in paperback — published by Tor Books and Gollancz, and has also been released in a number of other languages.

‘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

A WOLF MOON has risen of the UK!

Posted on Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

The highly-anticipated sequel to NEW MOON, Ian McDonald‘s LUNA: WOLF MOON is out today in the UK! Published by Gollancz, here’s the synopsis…

A Dragon is dead.

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

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

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

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

WOLF MOON is due to be published by Tor Books in North America on March 28th. NEW MOON is also published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Tor Books — it has also been published widely in translation (see below for a selection of covers).

Here are just a few of the great reviews the series 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 on WOLF MOON

‘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

‘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

‘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… 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… 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 on NEW MOON

Upcoming Event: Ian McDonald is a Guest of Honour at Norwescon!

Posted on Monday, March 20th, 2017

Critically-acclaimed, best-selling science fiction author Ian McDonald is going to be a Guest of Honour at Norweson 40 next month! The con takes place at SeaTac, Washington, from April 13th-16th, 2017.

Ian’s next novel, LUNA: WOLF MOON, is due out later this month, and will be published by Gollancz in the UK and Tor Books in the US. Here’s the synopsis…

A Dragon is dead.

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

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

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

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

WOLF MOON is the sequel to the critically-acclaimed NEW MOON, which is out now, also published by Gollancz and Tor Books.

Aliette de Bodard and Ian McDonald included in Amazon’s Spring Editors’ Picks!

Posted on Monday, March 6th, 2017

We’re very happy to report that Amazon US has selected the next novels by Aliette de Bodard and Ian McDonald to be among their Spring Editors’ Picks!

Aliette’s THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS is the second novel in her Dominion of the Fallen series, and is due to be published by Roc Books in the US on April 4th, 2017. Here’s the synopsis…

Paris endures the aftermath of a devastating arcane war…

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

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

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

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

Both novels in the series are published in the UK by Gollancz. The series has been praised far and wide. Here is just a small selection from the reviews the novels have received…

‘Meddling gleefully in the affairs of devils and dragons, this affective sequel to 2015’s THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS touches the heart as often as it cuts throats… Having fully crafted her world, de Bodard is now completely in control: she can move swiftly from gentle poetic touches to bloody Grand Guignol gestures, and she sure-handedly holds the reader…’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS

‘de Bodard’s people feel real to me… There is hope even in the darkest of places, and there is a desire for love, for trust, for harbor, that takes root no matter how often it’s destroyed. This is a stronger, more certain novel than THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS, and if reading it is sometimes walking the unfenced edge of a cliff, the vista is dizzying and beautiful. It is well worth the wait, and if you haven’t read the first novel, I urge you to do so. But have THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS in hand before you reach the end.’ — Fantasy & Science Fiction (Mar/Apr 2017)

‘Amazing writing and the phenomenal characters. de Bodard will sweep you up into the dark and dirty world Paris has become… The writing style rendered the characters’ feelings and emotional turmoil beautifully… There’s so much going on, and every character has their own past, their own tragic history. It’s a whirlwind, it’s heartbreaking and it’s one of the best fantasy novels of 2015.’ — RT Book Reviews (Top Pick August 2015) on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS

‘De Bodard… has spun a fascinating Paris of decay and cruelty. Phillippe is a marvel of a character, unreliable as a narrator but compelling in his flaws and his deep well of homesickness.’ — Library Journal (Starred Review) on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS

‘A beautifully crafted novel full of complex characters, set in a post apocalyptic Paris – the image of which is truly haunting… vivid and fast-paced battles and intense political manoeuvrings… with carefully crafted characters both with layers and depth, De Bodard reflects the best and worst of human nature in her novel… an intriguing mystery, elegantly written… Something any avid fantasy reader with an open mind will devour!’ — Guardian on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS

Ian’s LUNA: WOLF MOON is the sequel to LUNA: NEW MOON, and is due to be published in the US by Tor Books, on March 28th, 2017. Here’s the synopsis…

A Dragon is dead.

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

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

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

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

Both of the Luna novels are published in the UK by Gollancz. Here are a few reviews the series 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 on LUNA: WOLF 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 LUNA: NEW MOON

‘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’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing… I’m all a-quiver for the next one.‘ — BoingBoing on LUNA: NEW MOON

‘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 on LUNA: NEW MOON

‘LUNA: NEW MOON is the best moon novel I’ve seen in many years… Inasmuch as it challenges one of the cherished master narratives of SF, in which the moon is only a stepping-stone, and despite what it owes to the tropes of ’70s-era social melodrama, McDonald’s novel has some formidable SF stingers not far beneath its densely textured surface.’ — Locus

New paperbacks: smaller, but just as much of a punch

Posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2017

This week, two our clients have new paperbacks available: Will Elliott‘s THE PILGRIMS and Charlaine Harris‘s NIGHT SHIFT!

THE PILGRIMS is the first novel in Elliott’s Pendulum trilogy, and is published in the US by Tor Books. Here’s the synopsis…

Eric Albright is a twenty-six-year-old journalist living in London. That is to say he would be a journalist if he got off his backside. But this luckless slacker isn’t all bad — he has a soft spot for his sometimes friend Stuart Casey, the homeless old drunk who mostly lives under the railway bridge near his flat. Eric is willing to let his life just drift by…until the day a small red door appears on the graffiti-covered wall of the bridge, and a gang of strange-looking people — Eric’s pretty sure one of them is a giant — dash out of the door and rob the nearby newsagent. From that day on Eric and Case haunt the arch, waiting for the door to reappear.

When it does, both Eric and Case choose to go through…to the land of Levaal. A place where a mountain-sized dragon with the powers of a god lies sleeping beneath a great white castle. In the castle the sinister Lord Vous rules with an iron fist, and the Project, designed to effect his transformation into an immortal spirit, nears completion. But Vous’s growing madness is close to consuming him, together with his fear of an imaginary being named Shadow. And soon Eric may lend substance to that fear. An impossibly vast wall divides Levaal, and no one has ever seen what lies beyond. Eric and Casey are called Pilgrims, and may have powers that no one in either world yet understands, and soon the wall may be broken. What will enter from the other side?

SHADOW and WORLD’S END, the other novels in the series, are also published in the US by Tor Books (out now in hardcover). The whole trilogy is available in the UK, published by Jo Fletcher Books.

The third novel in the bestselling Midnight, Texas urban fantasy series, Harris’s NIGHT SHIFT is published in the UK by Gollancz…

Welcome to the most intriguing mystery you’ll read this year.

Welcome to Midnight, Texas.

At Midnight’s local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves-only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town.

Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There’s a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place.

And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose — which just might happen — it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be…

Gollancz has also published the first two novels in the series in the UK: MIDNIGHT CROSSROADS and DAY SHIFT.

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

LUNA: WOLF MOON coming to Germany in May!

Posted on Monday, January 30th, 2017

Above is the German cover for Ian McDonald‘s highly-anticipated second Luna novel, WOLF MOON! Due to be published in May 2017 by Heyne as LUNA: WOLFSMOND, here’s the synopsis…

Auf dem Mond ist der Mensch die tödlichste aller Gefahren

Achtzehn Monate sind seit dem Tod Adriana Cortas vergangen. Die Corta Helio Corporation ist zerschlagen und die mächtigste Familie des Mondes ruiniert. Die vier verbliebenen Drachen, wie die einflussreichen Clans auf dem Mond genannt werden, wittern ihre Chance und liefern sich einen erbitterten Kampf um die Vormachtstellung in der High Society des Mondes – es ist ein Machtspiel voller Verführung, Lügen und Intrigen. Ein Spiel, das die Menschen auf dem Mond schon bald an den Rand eines Krieges bringen wird…

LUNA: WOLF MOON is due to be published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Tor Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

A Dragon is dead.

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

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

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

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

LUNA: WOLF MOON has received it’s first starred review, from Publishers Weekly: ‘… 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.‘

The critically-acclaimed first novel in the series, NEW MOON, is out now in paperback, also published by Gollancz, Tor and Heyne. It has also been published in a number of other territories (more details can be found on Ian’s author page). Here’s just a small sample taken from the flood of reviews the book received upon publication…

‘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… 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… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing.’ — BoingBoing

‘A mesmerizing political thriller.’ — RT Book Reviews

‘A refreshing and complex science fiction of the best kind – one that is universally clever and thought provoking, and one that stays with you long after you close the final page.’ — Upcoming4Me

THE DINOSAUR LORDS have arrived in Hungary!

Posted on Monday, November 21st, 2016

Victor Milán‘s critically-acclaimed epic fantasy novel THE DINOSAUR LORDS is out now in Hungary! Published by IPC Könyvkiadó as DINOSZAURUSZURAK, here’s the synopsis…

A Paradicsomot, az örök élet békés világát ellentétek feszítik: gyanús, új vallási nézetek terjednek, Terraroja lázadozik, hűbérurak túlkapásaitól szenved a nép. A császár ellen merényletet kísérel meg egy orgyilkos, és lánya sem elégedett a kormányzásával. Azt beszélik, Providenciában már megjelent egy Szürke Angyal, hogy figyelmeztesse a birodalom lakóit az Egyensúly felbomlására…

Felipe – a fiatalok legnagyobb bánatára – lánya, Melodía jegyesét küldi megleckéztetni Vörösföldet. Míg Jaume, a birodalom hős dinoszauruszlovagja, a Virággróf távol vívja csatáit, az újra hűséget tettető korábbi áruló, Falk herceg ármánykodása egészen átszövi a palotát – Melodía csak kishúgára, barátaira és hűséges komornájára számíthat.

Közben a halottnak hitt Karyl vojda, a rettegett hadúr különös szövetségre lép egykori ellenfelével, a dinoszauruszmester és vándor énekes Rob Korrigannal: együtt indulnak a háborúzást elítélő, ám szorongatott helyzetbe került providencek megsegítésére. Egyetlen esélyük a maroknyi, szedett-vedett csapat harcosokhoz méltó kiképzése, a ravaszság és dinoszauruszaik ereje.

The series — which also includes THE DINOSAUR KNIGHTS and the upcoming THE DINOSAUR PRINCESS (pictured below) — is published in English by Tor Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis for book one…

A world made by the Eight Creators on which to play out their games of passion and power, Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often brutal place. Men and women live on Paradise as do dogs, cats, ferrets, goats, and horses. But dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden–and of war. Colossal plant-eaters like Brachiosaurus; terrifying meat-eaters like Allosaurus, and the most feared of all, Tyrannosaurus rex. Giant lizards swim warm seas. Birds (some with teeth) share the sky with flying reptiles that range in size from bat-sized insectivores to majestic and deadly Dragons.

Thus we are plunged into Victor Milán’s splendidly weird world of The Dinosaur Lords, a place that for all purposes mirrors 14th century Europe with its dynastic rivalries, religious wars, and byzantine politics…except the weapons of choice are dinosaurs. Where vast armies of dinosaur-mounted knights engage in battle. During the course of one of these epic battles, the enigmatic mercenary Dinosaur Lord Karyl Bogomirsky is defeated through betrayal and left for dead. He wakes, naked, wounded, partially amnesiac – and hunted. And embarks upon a journey that will shake his world.

THE DINOSAUR LORDS has also recently been released in Brazil, France and Poland.

Zeno represents Victor Milán in translation, on behalf of Kay McCauley at Aurous, Inc.

Ian McDonald’s LUNA out in Germany next month!

Posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2016

Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed LUNA: NEW MOON is due to be published in Germany next month! The novel will be released by Heyne on December 12th. Here’s the synopsis…

Kampf der Fünf Drachen

Die Zukunft: Schon lange ist der Mond den Menschen zu einer zweiten Heimat geworden. Doch auf dem Erdtrabanten geschieht nichts, ohne dass die dort ansässigen, rivalisierenden Wirtschaftsgiganten – die sogenannten Fünf Drachen – davon erfahren. Einer davon ist die Corta Helio Corporation unter dem Vorsitz der Patriarchin Adriana Corta. Als junge Frau musste sich Adriana in der brutalen Mondgesellschaft nach oben kämpfen – und hat sich dabei eine Menge Feinde gemacht. Feinde, die Adriana und ihren Clan nun zu Fall bringen wollen…

The novel has been published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America by Tor Books. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

The Moon wants to kill you. Whether it’s being unable to pay your per diem for your allotted food, water, and air, or you just get caught up in a fight between the Moon’s ruling corporations, the Five Dragons. You must fight for every inch you want to gain in the Moon’s near feudal society. 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, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded 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.

And also, just a small taste of the aforementioned critical acclaim…

‘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… this is a great Ian McDonald novel… The fashion sense of William Gibson, the design sense of Bruce Sterling, the eye for family drama of Connie Willis, the poesie of Bradbury… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing… 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

‘Almost monolithic in its ambition. In its gravitas and tension and, alas, tragedy, it’s damn near Shakespearian… a setting so brilliantly built and deftly embellished that buying into it isn’t ever an issue; a vast cast of characters as satisfying and sympathetic individually as they are as part of McDonald’s elaborate ensemble; and a plot composed of so many threads that you never know where it’s going to go — except that when it ends, it’s destined to end terribly… a world as wicked as it is convincing… only a matter of time before CBS sets about broadening the appeal of this magnificent bastard of a book.’ — Tor.com

Ian McDonald’s LUNA: NEW MOON out in US paperback tomorrow

Posted on Monday, September 12th, 2016

Ian McDonald‘s critically-acclaimed latest novel, LUNA: NEW MOON, is out tomorrow in paperback in the US. Published by Tor Books, here’s the synopsis…

In Ian McDonald’s Luna: New Moon, 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.

LUNA: NEW MOON is published in the UK by Gollancz, and has been published in translation (with more editions to come!).

Here’s just a selection from the great aforementioned critical acclaim…

‘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… LUNA is as gripping as it is colourful, and as colourful as it is nasty.’ — Guardian

‘With an action narrative driving this political commentary, LUNA is actually a fantastically fun read as well as an important one.’ — LA Review of Books

‘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

‘No one writes like Ian McDonald, and no one’s Moon is nearly so beautiful and terrible… McDonald’s moon is omnisexual, kinky, violent, passionate, beautiful, awful, vibrant and crushing… 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

‘The way that Ian McDonald flawlessly adapts his writing to the relevant culture and country at hand is ingenious… McDonald certainly shows off the well-developed Cortas to illustrate his knack for creating dynamic human relationships that encompass the whole Moon… LUNA: NEW MOON is a world that has been intricately woven together by its author. It’s compelling and thought-provoking, and all without relying on overbearing sci-fi clichés. Brilliantly done.‘ — SciFiNow

‘LUNA: NEW MOON is the best moon novel I’ve seen in many years… Possibly the most chilling lines in the book for an SF reader come from Adriana herself, in her own narrative: ‘‘There was no law, no justice,’’ she writes, ‘‘only management. The moon was the frontier, but it was the frontier to nothing. There was nowhere to run.’’ Inasmuch as it challenges one of the cherished master narratives of SF, in which the moon is only a stepping-stone, and despite what it owes to the tropes of ’70s-era social melodrama, McDonald’s novel has some formidable SF stingers not far beneath its densely textured surface.’ — Locus

The next novel in the series, LUNA: WOLF MOON, is due to be published next year by Tor Books and Gollancz.