A Brief History of Lenayin

I've written a post on my blog about the world building that went into the land of Lenayin, from my novel 'Sasha'. Rather than posting the whole thing here, I've put in a link, and an excerpt.

'I can’t think of many fantasy novels where the people live beneath the rule of a king, but are ambivalent toward him and his authority. Because fantasy novels tend to be in love with the power of kings, and in love with the feudal system that sustains it... and sure, there is a lot of romance surrounding a position of such extreme authority. But the reality of such systems, of course, is that much of what we perceive as romance from that period of European history (picture glamorous king in crimson cloak on prancing white steed), was in fact propaganda by those kings who wanted to make themselves look good, and semi-divine, for obvious reasons.

Though power itself can be glamorous, much of the romance surrounding that power was in reality bullshit, and much of the manner in which kings actually ruled was cruel, arbitrary and unenlightened, to put it mildly. A good king could certainly be better than a bad king, but the system itself doesn’t allow much of what we would consider today ‘liberal open mindedness’ -- you’re either loyal, or you’re dead, and that applies to those living beneath good kings and bad kings alike. George RR Martin is one fantasy author who grasps this extremely well in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. But a lot of fantasy, sadly I think, tends to swallow the propaganda whole, because the propaganda is pretty. Perhaps this just goes to illustrate that there is a statue of limitations on the offense caused by nasty political systems. Fantasy writers glorifying Nazism would get into trouble. Feudalism, not so much.

And yes, I am just stirring.

Tom Lloyd and James Enge Podcasts

Tom Lloyd, author of The Grave Thief,is the latest guest on the Dragon Page Cover to Cover podcast, episode #379A. Tom talks about the politics and religion of his fantasy quintet, as well as what it's like to begin your writing career with such a mammoth undertaking. The pocast is on iTunes and also has a direct link.

Meanwhile, This Crooked Wayauthor James Enge is interviewed on The Sci-Fi Guys Book Review. Enge talks about Morlock's origins in Tolkien and HG Wells, and his dislike of elves. This one isn't on iTunes that I can find, but has a direct link.

PRESS RELEASE –TWO-BOOK US RIGHTS DEAL FOR BRITISH NOVELIST

From the press release:

Helen Edwards, Rights Director at Transworld UK, has sold US rights in two historical vampire novels by UK novelist Jasper Kent for a good five-figure sum in US dollars.

World rights in the novels, which open with Jasper’s debut TWELVE, published very successfully in the UK by Transworld in January 2009 (it is the second-highest-selling trade paperback debut novel right across UK publishing in 2009), were acquired by Simon Taylor from John Jarrold in 2008. The sequel, THIRTEEN YEARS LATER, will appear in the UK in March 2010.

‘I'm thrilled to be welcoming Jasper Kent into the Pyr fold,’ says editorial director Lou Anders. ‘TWELVE is a magnificent blend of a historical novel and a dark fantasy novel, that could appeal equally to readers both in and out of genre. Jasper is a skilled storyteller, whose compelling prose had me hooked from his opening chapter. The book is "un-put-downable," and I love that he has brought back a real sense of threat and danger to the classic monsters, something that has been lacking with too many vampires lately. I cannot wait to spring this on US readers.’

‘Jasper and I are delighted with this deal, and looking forward to working with Lou and his colleagues,’ said John Jarrold. ‘Pyr is a terrific company, who publish many of my favourite authors, and Lou’s enthusiasm has to be seen to be believed!’

Contact Helen Edwards or John Jarrold for further information:

Helen Edwards: e-mail: H.Edwards@transworld-publishers.co.uk phone: 020 8579 3652

John Jarrold: e-mail: j.jarrold@btinternet.com phone: 01522 510544.

29th October 2009

Introducing Burton & Swinburne

I'm thrilled to report that I've just acquired a fantastic new steampunk tale, Mark Hodder's Burton & Swinburne in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, the first of a planned new series. It's also the first Victorian-set steampunk I've acquired, (as opposed to Weird West, 1920s era America, or a secondary-world fantasy settings). I have been looking for a Victorian novel that would stand out from the crowd, and I was immediately drawn to the way in which Mark justified the steampunk elements of his uchronia, which all descend from a certain key change in our own history (rather than simply being used as set dressing). The worldbuilding is exceptionally well thought out, and I can't wait to, pardon the pun, spring it on the US in fall 2010 (or thereabouts; it's not scheduled yet). Here's the book description:

It is 1861, and the British Empire is in the grip of conflicting forces. Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labour; Libertines oppose restrictive and unjust laws and flood the country with propaganda demanding a society based on beauty and creativity; while The Rakes push the boundaries of human behaviour to the limits with magic, sexuality, drugs and anarchy.

Returning from his failed expedition to find the source of the Nile, explorer, linguist, scholar and swordsman Sir Richard Francis Burton finds himself sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, employs him as “King's Spy.” His first mission: to investigate the sexual assaults committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack; to find out why chimney sweeps are being kidnapped by half-man, half-dog creatures; and to discover the whereabouts of his badly injured ex-friend (and new enemy), John Hanning Speke.

Accompanied by the diminutive and pain-loving poet, Algernon Swinburne, Burton's investigations lead him back to one of the defining events of the age: the brutal assassination of Queen Victoria in 1840; and the terrifying possibility that the world he inhabits shouldn't exist at all!

Mark Hodder is the creator and caretaker of the BLAKIANA website (www.sextonblake.co.uk), which he designed to celebrate and revive Sexton Blake, the most written about detective in English publishing history (thought to be the second most written about character in the English language). It was on this website that he cut his teeth as a writer of fiction; producing the first new Sexton Blake tales to be written for forty years. A former BBC writer, editor and web producer, Mark has worked in all the new and traditional medias and was based in London for most of his working life until 2008, when he relocated to Valencia in Spain to de-stress, teach the English language, and write novels. He has a degree in Cultural Studies and loves history, delusions, gadgets, cult TV, Tom Waits, and assorted oddities.

The Quiet Postwar

To those of you enjoying the Pyr edition of Paul McAuley's incomparable The Quiet War, I say this: "ner ner n'ner ner, I've read the sequel". It's called Gardens of the Sun, and I've blogged an instant review too. If The Quiet War deserves to sweep all before it in America (and it does) then Gardens of the Sun deserves to do just as well: it makes a coherent whole with the first book, and together they constitute "a very major work of contemporary science fiction, amongst the great genre achievements of the noughties, a long novel that will still be being read and remembered fifty years from now ... If you have any interest in SF today you’ll need to read both books." Or that, at least, is what I think. [AR]

For Your Viewing Pleasure: The Dervish House

The Dervish House© Ian McDonald
Cover Illustration © Stephan Martiniere
Design by Jacqueline Cooke

In the sleepy Istanbul district of Eskiköy stands the former whirling dervish house of Adem Dede. Over the space of five days of an Istanbul heatwave, six lives weave a story of corporate wheeling and dealing, Islamic mysticism, political and economic intrigue, ancient Ottoman mysteries, a terrifying new terrorist threat, and a nanotechnology with the potential to transform every human on the planet.

Coming July 2010

The Man Behind the Magic

AgeofMisrule and forthcoming The Silver Skull (Swords of Albion)author Mark Chadbourn is the latest guest on Shaun Farrell's magnificent podcast, Adventures in SciFi Publishing. Mark and Shaun discuss spy-fantasy, Mark’s love of history and mythology, and how Mark balances a fulltime television career with novel writing demands.

Morlock comes to the Inner Worlds

Last night, Blood of Ambrose author James Enge participated via phone call with the Inner Worlds Sci-Fi/Fantasy Reading and Discussion Group.

Enge talked via phone to a group of about 11 folks, who meet once a month in Barnes & Noble. While there, he spilled some beans about the direction his novel-in-progress The Wolf Age is taking:

"It's getting a little dark. I thought it would be a lighthearted romp--Morlock, werewolves, ghost-powered zeppelins--how could you lose? And I think it will be. Well, I don't want to go into too many details because I'm still in the thick of it, but there are some very dark passages in that book so far."

This lead to a discussion about authors who can be funny and horrific in the same context (as he can):

"I was thinking of Dorothy L. Sayers just the other day. She does that in the Lord Peter Wimsey books. They are about murder--she takes murder as a moral act very seriously; some of those sections about the murders are really grim--but its awfully laugh out loud funny. It's like PG Wodehouse sometimes, and Raymond Chandler, I think, is the same way in the US though. In the middle of this dark case where everything is evil and everyone is bad and Philip Marlowe just got beat up again, he makes some wisecrack that just makes you laugh out loud. Detective novels are good at that sometimes."

From there they went on to discuss crows as Enge's favorite bird.

"They are the only bird that will talk back to me. I can imitate a crow pretty well, and they'll talk back to me. I don't know what they are saying, of course."

Good time had by all.

Earth And Moon As Seen From Mars

Snapped by HiRise. Howdy, neighbour!

Xposted to Pyr-o-mania

Babel Clash: Matthew Sturges and James Enge

Matthew Sturges (Midwinter, The Office of Shadow) and James Enge (Blood of Ambrose, This Crooked Way) are the next guests on Borders' Babel Clash, which kicks off tomorrow.