Solaris are delighted to announce the publication of The Human Son by #1 bestselling author Adrian J. Walker, which will be released April this year. The Human Son is a startling, emotional, and beautiful book – to be enjoyed widely by all science fiction fans, and more!
Editor Michael Rowley acquired World English rights in Walker’s new novel from Sam Copeland of RCW (Rogers, Coleridge & White).
About the book:
500 YEARS IN THE FUTURE, EARTH IS A PARADISE… WITHOUT US.
The Earth was dying, and only the Erta could save it. Created to be genetically superior, hyper-intelligent and unburdened by the full range of human emotions, they succeeded by removing the cause: humans.
Now the Erta are faced with a dilemma—if they reintroduce the rebellious and violent Homo sapiens, all of their work could be undone.
They decide to raise one child: a sole human to decide if we should again inherit the Earth.
But the quiet and clinical Ima finds that there is more to raising a human than she had expected; and there is more to humanity’s history than she has been told.
Author Adrian J. Walker on the book:
“I’m beyond thrilled that Rebellion are publishing The Human Son, and I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves. Human ingenuity fascinates me, and for some time I’ve been obsessed by the idea that we might one day delegate our fate to an intelligence of our own making.This story is about how that might work out for us. But it is also about humanity’s triumphs and frailties, about parenthood, and about how the act of caring for another being can awaken our senses.”
Editor Michael Rowley had this to say:
“I’ve long been a fan of Adrian J. Walker’s books, and it was fantastic to be able to acquire The Human Son. It’s a novel of great insight and compassion, with a thrilling plot that had me hooked from the start. The Human Son does what all great science fiction books strive to do: imagines the future and our place on it, while commentating on our present. “
The Human Son with be out in paperback and eBook 28 April (US) and 30 April (UK).
For review copies of The Human Son and author interviews please contact Hanna Waigh, PR & Marketing Manager: hanna.waigh@rebellion.co.uk.
We’re very excited to share news on the upcoming book Phoenix Extravagant by the magnificent Yoon Ha Lee. Publishing in hardback June this year, Phoenix Extravagant showcases Lee’s extraordinary imagination in this new standalone title mixing vivid fantasy with commentary on colonialism.
Editor David Thomas Moore acquired World English rights in Lee’s new novel from Jennifer Jackson at the Donald Maass Literary Agency, identifying it as a “standout title for the summer”.
About the book:
Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. Just an artist.
One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.
But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics.
What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…
Author Yoon Ha Lee on Phoenix Extravagant:
“I never thought that taking up watercolor painting would result in a book about a nonbinary painter, colonialism, and a pacifist mecha dragon, but here I am! Phoenix Extravagant takes place in a fantasy version of Korea during the Japanese occupation–I hope you find it as intriguing to read as it was to write.”
Editor David Thomas Moore on the book:
“This book is stunning. It has profound beauty, it has (literally) earthshaking magic, it has family both birth- and found-, it has a great heaping helping of revolution, and it has a frickin’ dragon. Yoon’s told a remarkable story about a gentle, thoughtful person who has to do desperate things and why; more than anything, it’s about the human spirit.”
Phoenix Extravagant is out in hardback on the 9th June 2020 (US) and 11th June 2020 (UK), and will follow in paperback in 2021.
For review copies of Phoenix Extravagant and author interviews please contact Hanna Waigh, PR & Marketing Manager: hanna.waigh@rebellion.co.uk
We’re beyond thrilled to reveal that Chuck Wendig’s enthralling magnum opus WANDERERS is coming soon to paperback in the UK for the first time on May 14th!
Wanderers, which released in hardback last year to rave reviews, was named “One of the best books of the year” by The Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, and more!
The book will be available for pre-order soon, but in the meantime why not follow us on Twitter for all the latest news and to find out when pre-orders go live, and give Chuck a follow too!
About Wanderers:
A decadent rock star. A deeply religious radio host. A disgraced scientist. And a teenage girl who may be the world’s last hope. From the mind of Chuck Wendig comes “a magnum opus . . . a story about survival that’s not just about you and me, but all of us, together” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.
For as the sleepwalking phenomenon awakens terror and violence in America, the real danger may not be the epidemic but the fear of it. With society collapsing all around them—and an ultraviolent militia threatening to exterminate them—the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart—or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.
Praise for Wanderers:
“This career-defining epic deserves its inevitable comparisons to Stephen King’s The Stand.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A suspenseful, twisty, satisfying, surprising, thought-provoking epic.”—Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Run Away
“A true tour de force.”—Erin Morgenstern, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus
“A masterpiece with prose as sharp and heartbreaking as Station Eleven.”—Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M
“A magnum opus . . . It reminded me of Stephen King’s The Stand—but dare I say, this story is even better.”—James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crucible
“An inventive, fierce, uncompromising, stay-up-way-past-bedtime masterwork.”—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World
“An American epic for these times.”—Charles Soule, author of The Oracle Year
Solaris, the multiple award-winning publisher of cutting-edge science fiction and fantasy, is pleased to announce that it has acquired world rights to Grave Secrets by Alice James, to be released in autumn 2020.
The deal was negotiated by Simon Kavanagh at Mic Cheetham Agency and acquired by Editor Kate Coe.
Kate Coe had this to say about the book:
“I was sent ‘Grave Secrets’ with the simple addition of “zombies!!!” and read it end-to-end in an afternoon. It’s amusing, light-hearted, action-packed and nail-bitingly suspense-filled by turns, and also filled with a coffin-load of all the things you want to be real for your life – zombie best friends, amazing cream cakes, beautiful vampire boyfriends, witty come-backs for arrogant jerks, and hair that occasionally does what you want it to. And it also involves croquet: who could want more?”
About Grave Secrets:
An adventure with zombies. And vampires. And romance. And croquet.
Toni Windsor is trying to live a quiet life in the green and pleasant county of Staffordshire. She’d love to finally master the rules of croquet, acquire a decent boyfriend and make some commission as an estate agent. All that might have to wait, though, because there are zombies rising from their graves, vampires sneaking out of their coffins and a murder to solve. It’s all made rather more complicated by the fact that she’s the one raising all the zombies – oh, and she’s dating one of the vampires. It can’t be the best decision she’s ever made, but he’s so pretty. Really, what’s a girl meant to do?
About the author:
Alice James was born in Staffordshire, where she grew up reading novels and spending a lot of time with sheep. She was lucky enough to have a mother who was addicted to science fiction and a father who was fond of long country walks, so she grew up with her head in the stars and her feet on the ground. After studying maths at university and training to be a Cobol programmer (!), she began writing novels to get the weird people in her head to go somewhere else. She now lives in Oxfordshire with a fine selection of cats, fulfilling her teenage gothic fantasies by moving into a converted chapel with an ancient spiral staircase—and gravestones in the garden. Her go-to comfort dish is a big plate of dumplings, her number one cocktail is a Manhattan and her favourite polygon is a triangle, though she has a soft spot for concave rhomboids. Find out more at http://www.alicejames.co.uk/.
For review copies and author interviews please contact Hanna Waigh, PR & Marketing Manager: hanna.waigh@rebellion.co.uk
Great news, Derek fans! We’re bringing you a brand new novel from the bestselling author of sci-fi thrillers The Quantum Magician and The Quantum Garden.
Before we release the wonderful new hardcover into the wild, though, the champion team at Analog magazine will be serialising the novel. The House of Styx will run for three issues, beginning in the March / April edition. Analog is known for housing the writings of some pioneering SF authors, including Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, and Frank Herbert, so we’re delighted our Derek will be in good company.
This isn’t the first time Derek’s writing has been featured in Analog. The Quantum Magician was also serialised in the magazine, and has gone on to be nominated for a whole host of awards, including the Locus, Aurora, and Chinese Nebula Awards, and longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association and Sunburst Awards. It has also been translated into various languages, including Chinese, Japanese, French, and Russian.
The House of Styx, the first book in the Venus Ascendant series, is a prequel to the events in The Quantum Magician and The Quantum Garden and will introduce fans to the rise of the Venusian Congregate. A second book, The House of Saints, is scheduled for 2022.
Here’s the synopsis:
Life can exist anywhere. And anywhere there is life, there is home.
In the swirling clouds of Venus, the families of la colonie live on floating plant-like trawlers, salvaging what they can in the fierce acid rain and crackling storms. Outside is dangerous, but humankind’s hold on the planet is fragile and they spend most of their days simply surviving.
But Venus carries its own secrets, too. In the depths, there is a wind that shouldn’t exist.
And the House of Styx wants to harness it.
Analog’s editor Trevor Quachri said of the serialisation: “We’re thrilled to be able to present the next installment in Derek Künsken’s hard SF future history. Readers who enjoyed the nuanced characters, hard science, and imaginative world building in Persephone Descending and The Quantum Magician will no doubt treasure The House of Styx.”
Our very own Michael Rowley continued: “Derek has that rare ability to weave action, adventure, science and story together in a way that not just entertains, but makes the reader think about the world around us, as well as the future landscape he has crafted so magnificently. It’s a wonderful opportunity for both new readers and existing fans to jump in and enjoy the ride.”
We’ll be bringing you the novel in its entirety in August 2020, so keep your eyes peeled!
For review copies of The House of Styx and author interviews please contact Hanna Waigh, PR & Marketing Manager: hanna.waigh@rebellion.co.uk
With Christmas officially under a month away (where did that come from…), it’s probably time to start thinking about presents. Yeah yeah we know we know, for some that can cause a minor headache, but fear not, festive adventurer, because we’ve compiled a list of some of the best books you can gift your loved ones this year.
From intense adventures in deep space, to a nightmare epidemic right here on planet Earth, our gift guide has something for everyone to open on Christmas day.
WANDERERS – Chuck Wendig
Look at any ‘Best Books of 2019’ list from the past few months and there’s a very good chance Wanderers will be on it, and for good reason. This chunky 800-page hardback is the ideal book to unwrap this Christmas, and will keep whoever reads it enthralled over a few of those cold winter nights!
Chuck Wendig’s magnum opus is an epic tapestry of humanity, told in a chorus of disparate voices, including Shana, a young girl who wakes up one morning to discover her sister in the grip of a strange malady.
She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and are sister are not alone.
Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead. For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it.
Waterstones says – “A mighty, apocalyptic epic, Wanderers takes the reader on a journey through a crippled, collapsing America, where an army of sleepwalkers may hold the key to a mysterious epidemic that is claiming the lives of millions. Wendig’s writing is astonishingly consistent throughout the novel’s 800 pages, with the humanity he brings to his huge cast complementing the disturbing twists and turns of the narrative in the most rewarding fashion.”
A critically acclaimed smash hit in the US, nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards, a World Fantasy Award finalist AND one of Unbound World’s 100 Best Fantasy Novels of All Time, The Goblin Emperor has finally been brought to the UK for the first time! With it’s gorgeous UK exclusive cover art, The Goblin Emperor is the perfect gift this Christmas, mixing court intrigue and dark magic all in a vividly imagined fantasy world!
Maia, the youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.
Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.
Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favour with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the spectre of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor.
“Challenging, invigorating, and unique.” Scott Lynch, bestselling author of The Lies of Locke Lamora.
THE CALCULATING STARS/THE FATED SKY – Mary Robinette Kowal
Mary Robintette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars has well and truly taken 2019 by storm, winning the rare trio of Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best sci-fi novel, amongst others, and with the second book in the Lady Astronaut series – The Fated Sky – releasing a few short months ago, we’re sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of her in 2020! The Calculating Stars is the perfect book for any sci-fi fan, and tells the story of one woman’s mission to go in to space, in the face of not only a cataclysmic event, but prejudice as well.
It’s 1952, and the world as we know it is gone. A meteorite has destroyed Washington DC, triggering extinction-level global warming. To save humanity, the world unites to form the International Aerospace Coalition. Its mission: to colonise first the Moon, then Mars.
Elma York, World War Two pilot and mathematician, dreams of becoming an astronaut – but prejudice has kept her grounded. Now nothing – and no man – will stop her from reaching for the stars.
One woman. One mission. One chance to save the world.
“This is what NASA never had, a heroine with attitude.” The Wall Street Journal
Last, and by no means least, our final gift recommendation is The Quantum Magician and The Quantum Garden, the first two books from the Quantum Evolution series by the insanely talented Derek Kunsken! The number one best-sellerThe Quantum Magician is sure to be a hit with not just sci-fi fans, but those who love a good heist story! Pop these in a stocking or under the tree and you’re on to a winner.
Belisarius is a Homo quantus, engineered with impossible insight. But his gift is also a curse an uncontrollable, even suicidal drive to know, to understand. Genetically flawed, he leaves his people to find a different life, and ends up becoming the galaxy’s greatest con man and thief.
But the jobs are getting too easy and his extraordinary brain is chafing at the neglect. When a client offers him untold wealth to move a squadron of secret warships across an enemy wormhole, Belisarius jumps at it. Now he must embrace his true nature to pull off the job, alongside a crew of extraordinary men and women.
If he succeeds, he could trigger an interstellar war… or the next step in human evolution.
“An audacious con job, scintillating future technology, and meditations on the nature of fractured humanity” – Yoon Ha Lee
We’re over the moon to announce three re-issues coming in 2020, all of which have been given a makeover and a gorgeous new cover!
First to launch on January 7th is Dave Hutchinson’s Europe in Autumn – a thriller of espionage and the future which reads like the love child of John le Carre and Franz Kafka – followed later in the month by Not So Stories, David Moore’s anthology of short works from culturally diverse writers in reaction to Kipling’s Just So Stories!
E. J. Swift’s Paris Adrift – The Time Machine meets Midnight In Paris – launches early February!
Whether you haven’t read these before, or you’re due a re-read, keep an eye out for these books early next year!
EUROPE IN AUTUMN
Europe as we know it is gone.
Devastated by a flu pandemic and crippled by economic collapse, the continent has fractured into countless tiny nations, a fragile web of shifting alliances seething with espionage and strange new technologies.
In a small restaurant in Krakow, chef Rudi is drawn into a new career with Les Coureurs des Bois, a shadowy organisation that will move anything across any state line – for a price.
Soon, Rudi is in a world of high-risk smuggling operations, where kidnappings and double-crosses are as natural as a map that constantly redraws itself.
Once upon a time, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories—fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places—bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling’s writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism.
In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different. Something that belongs to us all.
Paris was supposed to save Hallie. But Paris has other ideas.
She’s linked to a hole in time and chosen by fate to prevent a terrible war. Tumbling through Paris’ turbulent past and future, Hallie changes the world—and falls in love.
But with every trip, she loses a little of herself, and every change she makes ripples through time, until the future she’s trying to save suddenly looks nothing like what she hoped for…
Like the supernatural creature that has been hiding in your garage, waiting for you to turn the lights off and get in to bed, Halloween is fast approaching, and what better way to celebrate this spooky season than curl up with a good book (after you’ve barricaded yourself in the bathroom that is).
We’ve put our collective heads together to form some sort of horrendous many-eyed beast, and while we may look like something from one of Lovecraft’s dreams, our book knowledge has combined, and we’ve created a list of some of the best horror-filled books we can think of in our collection!
So grab yourself a book or two, board up your windows, nail the doors shut and get ready for a bloody great Halloween!
Nyctophobia
Newly-married architect Callie and her wealthy husband Mateo move to Hyperion House, a grand old home in southern Spain. It’s an eccentric place built in front of a cliff: serene and beautiful, but eerily symmetrical, and cunningly styled so that half the house is flooded with light, and half locked up and neglected is shrouded in darkness. Unemployed and feeling isolated in a foreign country, Callie determines to research the history of the curious building. But the past is sometimes best left alone. Uncovering the folklore of the house’s strange history, Callie is drawn into darkness and delusion. As a teenager Callie was afraid of the dark, and now with her adolescent nyctophobia returning she becomes convinced there’s someone in the darkened rooms. Somewhere in the darkness lies the truth about Hyperion House…
Three standalone novellas, telling three chilling ghost stories, by three of the finest new voices in fiction. A full-time medium and part-time cook is recruited by the nightmarish Boneman to hunt down and destroy a monster… Two children of warring houses, in a city-state ruled by the noble houses long-dead ancestors, fall in love… In a hidden college in America, a man and the shade of his wife seek out the answers behind her death…
You wouldn’t like Coburn. People don’t, as a rule. And that’s okay, because he doesn’t like people much either. People are food. Five years ago, Coburn went to sleep wasn’t exactly planned and he’s just woken up to find most everybody in the world dead. Not dead like him; he looks human, drinks blood. He’s smart. They’re… none of those things. They outnumber him by about a million to one, and their clotted blood cannot sustain him. Now he’s starving, and on the run. He has to find blood, soon, and like it or not he’s gonna have to keep an eye on the frail flesh-bags he finds it in. Time for the wolf to turn shepherd. No, Coburn doesn’t like people. But he’ll have to learn to. The Complete Double Dead collects Chuck Wendig’s debut novel and the follow-up novella, Bad Blood. Follow Coburn as he runs a gauntlet of supermarket cannibals, juggalos, super-zombies, and a ketamine-trip cult of zombie-worshipping New Age weirdos. On the way, he’ll become something entirely new.
We live our lives in the daylight. Our stories take place under the sun: bright, clear, unafraid. ,This is not a book of those stories. These are the stories of people who live at night; under neon and starlight, and never the light of day. These are the stories of poets and police; writers and waiters; gamers and goddesses; tourists and traders; the hidden and the forbidden; the lonely and the lovers. These are their lives. These are their stories. And this is their time: The Outcast Hours.
Trained To Kill. Haunted By The Past. Fighting For Their Souls. Everything is dangerous in Afghanistan, nothing more so than the mission of a Tactical Support Team or T.S.T. All veterans, these men and women spend seasons in hell, to not only try and fix what’s broken in each of them, but also to make enough bank to change their fortunes. But seven months later, safely back on American soil, they feel like there’s something left undone. They’re meeting people who already know them, remembering things that haven’t happened, hearing words that don’t exist. And they’re all having the same dream… a dream of a sky that won’t stop burning.
Daniel is trapped in Ubo. He has no idea how long he has been imprisoned there by the roaches. Every resident has a similar memory of the journey: a dream of dry, chitinous wings crossing the moon, the gigantic insects dropping swiftly over the houses; the creatures, like a deck of baroquely ornamented cards, fanning themselves from one hidden world into the next.
And now each day they force Daniel to play a different figure from humanity’s violent history, from a frenzied Jack the Ripper to a stumbling and confused Stalin, to a self-proclaimed god executing survivors atop the ruins of the world. As skies burn and prisoners go mad, identities dissolve as the experiments evolve, and no one can foretell their mysterious end.
Schneider Wrack was never a dissident. He doesn’t think. But he’s been convicted as a dissident, and in the ancient city of Lipos-Tholos, at the heart of the star-spanning Lemniscatus, the sentence for sedition is death. Death, and then reanimation, shipped out to vast whaling ships on the terrible world of Ocean, to work until you fall apart – or something gets you. And now Schneider has woken up, trapped in rotting limbs and a fading brain, arm-deep in the fat and stinking meat of a colossus, and he’s not happy. From its unsteady start in the stench and brine of Ocean to its perilous quest through the jungle world of Grand Amazon, Schneider’s revolution will never be particularly fun or easy, but sometimes a zombie’s gotta do what a zombie’s gotta do. It’s time to bring Hell to the City.
In the Lancashire town of Kempforth, people are vanishing. Mist hangs heavy in the streets, and in those mists move the masked figures the local kids call the Spindly Men. When two year old Roseanne Trevor disappears, Detective Chief Inspector Renwick vows to stop at nothing until she finds her. In Manchester, terrifying visions summon TV psychic Allen Cowell and his sister Vera back to the town they swore they’d left forever. And local historian Anna Mason pieces together a history of cruelty and exploitation almost beyond belief, born out of the horrors of war while in the decaying corridors and lightless rooms of a long abandoned hospital, something terrible is waiting for them all.
Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio’s peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror’s House Of Horrors… Four passengers meet on a train journeying through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the Arkangel races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out: What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of? What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them? Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men? And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself? Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel.
Good morning, heist lovers! Have we got news for you! Derek Künsken’s The Quantum Garden is available for Pre-order now! That’s right, if you loved Künsken’s imaginative, highly-ambitious and gloriously bonkers Quantum Magician (those puppets, I’m I right?), then The Quantum Garden is one you don’t want to miss!
The Quantum Garden, the hotly anticipated sequel to Derek’s critically-acclaimed, bestselling debut is out in October—that’s only three months away—and if you thought you’d seen everything Belisarius had up his sleeve, then friend do you need to think again!
The Quantum Garden follows Belisarius, the genetically modified con-man we’ve all come to love on yet another impossible mission—and this time, it’s personal.
Days ago, Belisarius pulled off the most audacious con job in history. He’s rich, he’s back with the love of his life, and best of all, he has the Time Gates, arguably the most valuable things in existence. Nothing could spoil this…
…except the utter destruction of his people and the world they live on. To save them, he has to make a new deal with the boss he just double-crossed, to travel back in time and work his quantum magic once again, tracking down the source of the wormholes.
If he can avoid detection, dodge paradox and stay ahead of the eerie, relentless Scarecrow, he might just get back to his own time alive.
