Solaris announces the acquisition of Seven Deaths of an Empire, a grimdark fantasy by G. R. Matthews
5th May 2020
Solaris is delighted to announce the acquisition of Seven Deaths of an Empire by G. R. Matthews, coming summer 2021.
Editor Kate Coe acquired World English rights in Matthews’ new novel from Jamie Cowan at The Ampersand Agency.
About the book:
The Emperor is dead. Long live the Empire.
General Bordan has a lifetime of duty and sacrifice behind him in the service of the Empire. But with rebellion brewing in the countryside, and assassins, thieves and politicians vying for power in the city, it is all Bordan can do to protect the heir to the throne.
Apprentice Magician Kyron is assigned to the late Emperor’s honour guard escorting his body on the long road back to the capital. Mistrusted and feared by his own people, even a magician’s power may fail when enemies emerge from the forests, for whoever is in control of the Emperor’s body, controls the succession.
Seven lives and seven deaths to seal the fate of the Empire.
Editor Kate Coe on the acquisition:
“I was sent this book as part of our #ShootYourShot open pitches, and it blew me away from the first page – a mix of historical fantasy and politics, with characters you want to succeed and a nasty way of turning everything around just when you think it’s going to go right; a perfect grimdark for when you just need your faith in everything shattered.”
Author bio
G. R. Matthews began reading in the cot. His mother, at her wits end with the constant noise and unceasing activity, would plop him down on the soft mattress with an encyclopaedia full of pictures then quietly slip from the room. Growing up, he spent Sunday afternoons on the sofa watching westerns and Bond movies after suffering the dual horror of the sounds of ABBA and the hoover (Vacuum cleaner) drifting up the stairs to wake him in the morning. When not watching the six-gun heroes or spies being out-acted by their own eyebrows he devoured books like a hungry wolf in the dead of winter. Beginning with Patrick Moore and Arthur C Clarke he soon moved on to Isaac Asimov. However, one wet afternoon in a book shop in his hometown, not far from the standing stones of Avebury, he picked up the Pawn of Prophecy and started to read – and soon Sci-Fi gave way to Fantasy.
You can follow him on twitter @G_R_Matthews or visit his website at www.grmatthews.com.
For review copies, information, or interviews please contact Hanna Waigh, Fiction – PR & Marketing Manager: hanna.waigh@rebellion.co.uk.