Updated 18 June: CLOSED. Please don’t query us or send in your submission until this status changes. Subscribe to our RSS feed which is provided to help you in this respect. When this status does change (and it’s does… occassionally!) make sure you’ve carefully read through and followed our Submission Guidelines. Folks who send stuff in without having done this are wasting their time and ours.
Further to our post of June 10th, we’re delighted to announce that Ian MacLeod’s extraordinary novel SONG OF TIME has won this year’s John W. Campbell Award, tying for the prize with Cory Doctorow’s LITTLE BROTHER - only the third time in its 35 year history that the award has had joint winners.
Ian adds this honour to the Arthur C. Clarke Award that he won for SONG OF TIME in April. The Campbell Award will be presented at this year’s Campbell Conference, which is taking place July 10 - 12, 2009 in Lawrence, Kansas and we understand that the author will be on hand to receive the award in person.
Genre web site BSC has a fascinating interview with our man John Meaney, in which he discusses at length his two most recent novels, Bone Song and Dark Blood conducted by one ‘Professor Crazy’! Under the circumstances, JM talks a lot of sense!He also gives us some hints about his forthcoming works…
“No definite plans for another TristopolisWhite Bones. So it’ll happen at some point, I hope. book, though I’ve created an outline for one, called
Well, I thought I’d been ambitious with some of my previous books, but I’m really going for it this time. The book in progress is called Absorption, being book 1 of the Ragnarok trilogy. The trilogy ends a million years after the earliest storyline begins.
All right, for most of the story, the different timelines only span a couple of dozen centuries…
It’s set in the Pilots future history, but totally subsumes the previous four books in that setting, and you can read Absorption with or without knowledge of the other books.“
There’s a very nice Publishers Weekly crit for Freda Warrington’s wonderful new fantasy novel, ELFLAND - a Tor hardcover to be published this coming August. It’s only a short piece, and so worth quoting in full…
“Prolific British author Warrington (the Jewelfire Trilogy), mostly unknown in the U.S., puts a distinctive spin on human/nonhuman relations in this sensuous, relationship-driven story, the first of the Books of the Silver Wheel. The feylike Vaethyr regularly travel between the Spiral and our world until the gates are summarily and permanently closed by Lawrence Wilder, the Gatekeeper. He warns of danger, but the Vaethyr on Earth need to return to the Spiral to survive. Much of the book is devoted to describing the turbulent life of Rosie, daughter of Vaethyr king Auberon, and her love triangle with Sam and Jon, Wilder’s troubled sons, as long years without reconnecting to their aetherial selves slowly drive the Vaethyr mad. Solid wordplay, great pacing and a thrilling conclusion will definitely earn Warrington some new American fans.”
Benedetto, over at Iain Sinclair’s Official Unofficial web site has dropped us a line to say that he’s now got a mailing list to keep fans (and us!) up-to-date with Iain’s events diary.
We delighted to be representing Brandson Sanderson in the UK on behalf of JABberwocky- and their latest newsletter, they offer up the following on Brandon’s new novel WARBREAKER…
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WARBREAKER by Brandon Sanderson is #24 on the NY Times Hardcover Fiction list for the week ending June 13, 2009.
This is the second straight book from Brandon’s to make the NY Times list following THE HERO OF AGES (Mistborn #3) which was #21 in November. The performance of WARBREAKER is in some ways more impressive because it’s a single-volume stand-alone fantasy in a series dominated market, while the previous book was the concluding and eagerly-awaited final volume of a trilogy.
WARBREAKER is published by Tor in the US. It is a Main Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club and is forthcoming in audio from both Recorded (unabridged non-dramatic) and Graphic Audio (abridged dramatic). It sold in the Czech Republic (Talpress) and Poland (MAG) ahead of publication, and with other books by Brandon selling in some 16 languages we look forward to many more sales for WARBREAKER in upcoming months.
Warbreaker received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly (’extraordinary and highly entertaining’) and Library Journal (’essential reading for fantasy fans’) and was a 4 1/2* Top Pick for Romantic Times (’compelling, superb, highly entertaining’) and other good reviews have come in from Booklist, The Onion/AV Club, The Deseret News and all the major sf review sites.”
We hope to have some news on Brandon’s UK dealing before too long! Watch this space!! And watch the space underneath to see Brandon discussing WARBREAKER and hinting about his nest solo project (via SFSignal).
Thanks to all who sent in their fantasy novel submissions during the recent brief window of opportunity. We opened for a exactly a week and received just under fifty fantasy submissions. Of those fifty I have called for maybe eight samples (which I’m now working through) and so far have only requested one full manuscript. Tough odds, huh?
Interestingly, I was surprised at how few of the submissions we received fell into the area I’m looking for - **and specifically requested**. Not a single submission hit the nail exactly in the head (as outlined in my previous post) - which is worrying. There was also a disproportionately high number (I’d say about 80%!) of stories that centered on angels, or some sort of fight between angels and demons, or a conflict between heaven and hell. This a kickback from the urban fantasy trend which shows no sign of abating - but my feeling is that the market is already saturated with this stuff as it is - and publishers are currently buying up books for publication in 2011 and 2012 when it will be even more saturated. I may be wrong, but at some point the bottom will drop out of the market for this type of fiction and - from what I’ve seen this last week - they’ll be nothing to fill the gap!
Gimme something else, folks! But only when we re-open, please.
This by way of Benedetto @ Iain Sinclair’s Official Unofficial Website…
Ledbury Poetry Festival - July 4th 2009, at 19.45 : Iain Sinclair and Brian Catling will give a Live Reading at this year Ledbury Poetry Festival, at the Burgage Hall
“Iain Sinclair and Brian Catling were both connected to the British avant-garde poetry scene in the 60s and 70s and they are reunited again at Ledbury for what will be a fascinating and perspective-shifting event. Iain Sinclair’s works include Lud heat: A Book of the Dead Hamlets, Downriver, Lights out for the Territory and London Orbital. Brian Catling is a poet, sculptor, performance artist, filmmaker, academic. His work ‘Antix’, was described as, “Uncompromising, its imaginative density and sinister ire pushed the shifting relationship between performer and audience into an uneasy space” (Frieze Magazine). He is also known for his very black sense of humour. His new book of poetry Resurrecting Bobby Awl is published this year.”
Please check the festival website for more details and for changes to the schedule.
From our Submissions Guidlines page…
As of June 10th, we are currently ONLY looking at novels that fit comfortably into the fantasy genre. By this we mean traditional, high, heroic, dark, historical, or urban. Do some research if you don’t know what these subdivisions are.
Carefully note that we’re not looking for anything that attempts to redefine the genre or reinvent the wheel. Nor do we want derivative rehashes of your favourite Sword and Sorcery stories. Be aware that the tale of the great quest to recover the ancient, lost ring of hochty-mochty and thus bring harmony to the warring dwarf kingdoms is extremely unlikely to excite.
In short we want intelligent and commercial fantasy fiction. Need examples? Look at some of the recent market leaders, both in critical and commercial terms… THE FIRST LAW TRILOGY by Joe Abercrombie, Brent Week’s NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY, Patrick Rothfuss’s THE NAME OF THE WIND, Brandon Sanderson’s MISTBORN sequence, Peter Brett’s THE PAINTED MAN, Steven Erikson’s THE MALAZAN BOOKS OF THE FALLEN - all of these are excellent examples of what I want to see … and if you’ve not heard of any of these, don’t bother contacting us! Note no mention here of classics like Tolkien, Brooks, Donaldson or even GRRM. We are looking for submissions from folks familiar with the current, cutting edge of market. So, if yours is the next name on this stellar list of fantasy talent, drop us a line.
Having already scooped the 2009 Arthur C. Clarke Award for best novel - “the most prestigious award for science fiction in Britain” - Ian MacLeod’s SONG OF TIME deservedly marches on towards further possible honours.
The LOCUS web site has just announced the nominees for the John W. Campbell Award and SONG OF TIME once more does literary battle with the mighty ANATHEM by Neal Stephenson. Also nominated are Cory Doctorow’s LITTLE BROTHER, James Morrow’s THE PHILOSOPHER’S APPRENTICE, CITY AT THE EDGE OF TIME by Greg Egan and VALLEY OF DAY-GLO, but Nick Di Chario - the only author on the list whose work is new to me.
It’s a tough shortlist certainly, but we at Zeno have our fingers crossed! Best of luck Ian.
Yes, we’ve finally got a permanent landline number. It’s 0207 096 0927 (+44 207 096 0927 if you’re calling from abroad!). It’s the same general number for clients, queries, and especially offers. If neither John is available, it’ll go to answerphone and we’ll get back you.
Here’s a link to a really excellent web site dedicated to Iain Sinclair and his work. Iain has given his blessing to this instructive online resource which is run and maintained by Sinclair fan extraordinaire, Benedetto.
If you want up-to-date information on Iain’s public engagements, this is the place to visit…
The New Statesman web site is carrying a fascinating review by Sue Hubbard on the Diane Arbus exhibition that is currently at London’s Timothy Taylor Gallery (until 27th June).
“‘I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them.” Diane Arbus’s photographs of people, many of whom were on the margins of life, were rooted in an understanding of the relationship between photographer and subject. Attuned to the small tragedies of contemporary life, she was to photography what Raymond Carver was to literature. As John Szarkowski, organiser of the Museum of Modern Art’s landmark 1967 “New Documents” exhibition, said: “The portraits of Diane Arbus show that all of us – the most ordinary and most exotic of us – are on closer scrutiny remarkable.’”…
Chris Schuler recently had his review of Hans Fallada’s novel Alone in Berlin (recently published in the Penguin Hardback Classics series in a new translation by Michael Hoffman) published in the Independent on Sunday (click through to read this review online.)
“It is June 1940. In a Berlin apartment, Old Persicke, a drink-sodden retired publican, and his ambitious Nazi sons celebrate the fall of France. Their quiet, middle-aged neighbours, Otto and Anna Quangel, have just learnt that their only child has been killed in that campaign. On the top floor, an elderly Jewish lady tries to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, while in the rear tenement, Emil Borkhausen, blackmailer and pimp, is sniffing around for a chance to turn a quick profit…“
A well deserved pat on the back goes to Anna Ridley, the publicist at Hamish Hamilton who steered the excellent campaign behind Iain Sinclair’s recent book Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire. Check out this recent press release…
“Congratulations to Anna Ridley who has won the Publishers Publicity Circle Quarterly Award for her campaign for Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair at today’s PPC meeting. The prize was awarded by Alice O’Keefe of The Bookseller, who singled out Anna’s quick response in turning the potentially negative ‘Hackney library controversy‘ into a positive news story to generate new levels of coverage for the book, and the focussed work Anna did with Hackney’s independent bookshops to coordinate a diverse range of events, and maximise sales as remarkable factors. The first quarter award is for any book published in December, January or February. Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair was published by Hamish Hamilton on February 26th, 2009.”