Tag: fantasy

Posted on by

Solaris to publish swashbuckling queer historical fantasy by Emma Sterner-Radley

Solaris has acquired queer Scandinavian historical fantasy Snowblooded by Emma Sterner-Radley.

State-sanctioned assassins Valour and Petrichor were plucked from the streets of 18th century Vinterstock as children and raised to be rivals. When brash butch Valour and uptight dandy Petrichor are given the job of co-assassinating their city’s elusive seller of illegal magic tonics, they must quell their bickering long enough to buy their way out of the abusive order that reared them and into a normal life.

Snowblooded will be released in Summer 2024.

World All Language Rights excluding North America were acquired by Amy Borsuk from Abner Stein in association with Speilburg Literary Agency.

Emma Sterner-Radley on the acquisition:

“I am beyond thrilled to be working with the great team at Solaris and to get a chance to not only share my love of the history and mythology of my native country, but also to write the LGBTQIA characters that mirror my own experiences!”

Editor Amy Borsuk:

“Emma has created an absolutely uproarious romp with characters that will warm your heart and then break it. Her writing is several parts wit and swashbuckle with a beautiful helping of rich worldbuilding and intriguing storytelling. I can’t wait for readers to meet our assassins Petrichor and Valour, and the indomitable Ingrid!”

Emma Sterner-Radley is an ex-librarian turned fantasy author. Originally Swedish, she now lives with her wife and two grumpy old cats in the U.K. She spends her time writing, reading, daydreaming, lifting weights, and watching whatever is the most gay on TV.

For press enquiries please contact Jess Gofton, PR & Marketing Manager: jess.gofton@rebellion.co.uk.

Posted on by

Solaris to publish debut novella by Em X. Liu

Solaris is thrilled to announce the acquisition of If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu, the second of the 2023 Solaris Satellites novellas, to be published in June 2023.

Being an intern at One Wizard sounds magical on the page, but in practice mostly means getting yelled at by senior mages and angry clients alike. And so, after receiving a frantic call from a young man who’s awoken to a talisman on his bedroom wall—and no memory of how it got there—Journeyman Wen jumps at the chance to escape call-center duty and actually help someone for once.

But the case ends up being more complicated than Wen could ever have anticipated. The client has been possessed by a demon prince from Hell, and he’s not interested in leaving.

World English Language Rights were acquired by David Moore from Penelope Burns at Gelfman Schneider.

Author Em X. Liu on the acquisition:

“If Found, Return to Hell is an attempt to rediscover the magic in mundanity: carving out satisfaction in your work, how to balance a helping instinct with your own happiness, living with the guilt of not calling your mom for weeks, a warm meal, friends that turn into family, etc. I am so excited to bring it to you with the help of the Solaris Satellites program; I hope it will be the perfect size to dig into, but not too hearty—a nourishing meal in these trying times.”

Acquiring Editor David Moore:

“Em could hardly have found a more susceptible editor! As an immigrant myself I delighted in the found family storyline, and as a parent I ached with the impulse to protect someone a little bit helpless; but the frustration and tedium of the call centre? That I felt right in the bottom of my crusty old Gen-X soul. If Found, Return to Hell is strange, lovely, incredibly humane and utterly delightful.”

Em X. Liu is a writer and recent biochemistry graduate, which means they love stories about artificial intelligence and Shakespeare in equal measure. Since immigrating to Canada, they never go long without hopping on a plane to wander new places. But out of all the cities they’ve been to, they still love their home in Toronto the most. Their debut novel, The Death I Gave Him, will be published by Solaris in September 2023.

For press enquiries please contact Jess Gofton, PR & Marketing Manager: jess.gofton@rebellion.co.uk

You might also be interested in:

Posted on by

Solaris to publish luscious Cornish fantasy by Sam K. Horton

Solaris is delighted to announce the acquisition of historical folk fantasy Gorse, and its sequel Ragwort, by debut author Sam K. Horton.

Poldark meets The Bear and the Nightingale in a tale of the battle between folk belief and religion in 18th century Cornwall. Pelagius Hunt – a Keeper responsible for mediating between the worlds of men and fey – and his one-time friend Revered Cleaver battle for the village of Mirecoombe’s soul as death stalks the moor. Only Pel’s ward, changeling Nancy Bligh, can unroot the darkness threatening to swallow them all.

Gorse will be released in Fall 2024.

UK/BC English Language Rights were acquired by Amy Borsuk from John Baker and Julie Gourinchas at the Bell Lomax Moreton Agency.

Sam K. Horton on the acquisition:

“I’m thrilled to be working with Amy and Solaris to bring Gorse, and Nancy and Pel’s world, to life. I can’t wait to share these moors filled with monsters and folklore.”

Editor Amy Borsuk:

“I’m so excited to be working with Sam on this magnificent book! His lush writing, the fight of old gods versus new ones, immersive Celtic folklore at the heart of the story, and the dark magic lurking in the moors is what drew me to this book and will captivate readers craving more dark folkloric fantasy.”

Sam K. Horton lives above the moor in Cornwall, drawing on its wild landscape, wide skies and windblown folklore for his work. He trained as a costume designer before moving into visual art. It was during his last creative project that he discovered his talent for writing. This came as a surprise, despite a lifelong love of reading anything within reach, but a welcome one.

For press enquiries please contact Jess Gofton, PR & Marketing Manager: jess.gofton@rebellion.co.uk.

Posted on by

Revealing the UK cover of The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang!

This International Women’s Day we’re beyond excited to reveal the gorgeous UK cover of S. L. Huang’s forthcoming queer wuxia fantasy, The Water Outlaws!

Inspired by the Chinese classic Water Margin, The Water Outlaws is a rich epic fantasy for fans of Shelley Parker-Chan, Ken Liu and Fonda Lee. It’s out in the UK this August and will be available to pre-order very soon!

In the jianghu, you break the law to make it your own.

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor’s soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job.

Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away.

Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice―for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats.

Apart, they love like demons and fight like tigers. Together, they could bring down an empire.

Posted on by

Solaris to publish S.L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws for the UK

Solaris has triumphed at auction for The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang, a queer wuxia fantasy epic inspired by the Chinese classic, Water Margin.

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor who believes in keeping her head down and doing her job—until a powerful man with a vendetta rips her carefully-built life away. Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal and on the run, she’s recruited by the Bandits of Liangshin who proclaim a belief in justice for women and the downtrodden. Together, they could bring down an empire.

The Water Outlaws will be published in August 2023.

UK/BC Rights were acquired by Michael Rowley from Danny Baror at Baror International Inc.

Author S.L. Huang on the acquisition:

“I could not be more thrilled that The Water Outlaws landed with Solaris, who have published some of my favorite books in science fiction and fantasy. The enthusiasm of Solaris’s team is just amazing, and I can’t wait for them to bring my queer, feminist martial arts bandits to the United Kingdom!”

Acquiring Editor Michael Rowley:

“As an editor, finding a book like The Water Outlaws hitting your desk is like a dream come true. A wonderful concept brilliantly realised. This gender-flipped retelling of a great, perhaps the great, Chinese epic that is a joy to read. Compassionate, thrilling and at times heartbreaking, then joyous, I am beyond excited to welcome S. L. Huang and The Water Outlaws to Solaris.”

S.L. Huang is a Hugo-winning and Amazon-bestselling author who justifies an MIT degree by using it to write eccentric mathematical superhero fiction. Huang is the author of the Cas Russell novels from Tor Books, including Zero Sum Game, Null Set, and Critical Point, as well as the new fantasies Burning Roses and The Water Outlaws. In short fiction, Huang’s stories have appeared in Analog, F&SF, Nature, and more, including numerous best-of anthologies. Huang is also a Hollywood stunt performer and firearms expert, with credits including “Battlestar Galactica” and “Top Shot.” Find SL Huang online at www.slhuang.com or on Twitter as @sl_huang.

For press enquiries please contact Jess Gofton, PR & Marketing Manager: jess.gofton@rebellion.co.uk.

Posted on by

Romance recommendations from the Rebellion team!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Whether you’re loved up, mourning a relationship that’s ended or just looking forward to tomorrow when all the Valentine’s chocolate will be on sale, we the Rebellion team want to share some of our favourite literary romances with you—just in case you’re looking for something book-shaped to curl up with…

Amanda Rutter, Commissioning Editor | Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

The romance between Phèdre nó Delaunay and Joscelin Verreuil is a slow burn, escapees-to-lovers, forbidden affair, and it took my breath away the first time I read it—indeed, every time I read it! What I found masterful about Carey’s writing was that, no matter Phèdre’s affairs with others or her role as a courtesan, it felt as though she would only fit with Joscelin, that his was the only soul that truly matched hers. And the other romantic element of this novel that bowled me over was the freedom, respect and gentleness of ‘Love As Thou Wilt’, a central concept of the whole series. Love is celebrated in whatever form it comes.

Amy Borsuk, Editor | Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

Even though it’s a horror novel, there’s a heartfelt romance at the centre of this story. Witch Marlinchen falls in love with the prima ballerina Sevas after sneaking out of her father’s creepy, decrepit home and seeing him at the opera. I’m so used to the gorgeous male love interest turning out to be the monster, the source of the woman protagonist’s downfall, particularly in horror/fantasy novels. So it was refreshing to have the romance be the protagonist’s source of safety and salvation! Their shared bond, and their wild passion, make for an exhilarating read in the midst of a very dark story.

Ben Smith, Head of Film, TV & Publishing | The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

Good romance is hard to do, and mainstream science fiction spent a long time trying to avoid it. Happily in the present day we’re in a golden age for genre romance. One of my favourite authors writing about relationships now is Mary Robinette Kowal, because she tells stories not of romance being found between two strangers, but romance being an ongoing well-spring for her couples. In both The Calculating Stars and The Spare Man, she has couples who have already gotten together before the book begins, and whose relationships are into the ‘ever after’ part of the story that few care to write. That she makes the romance real and vital is wonderful to read, and is possibly even more inspiring than any meet-cute about the first flush of romance.

Casey Davoren, Senior Digital Marketing & Social Media Executive | Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

This book is wonderfully enamoured with hope, love and every other cute, light-hearted feeling one can come up with. But most importantly, it’s a tale about strength and healing, about enduring despite everything that life throws your way. That no matter how many heartbreaks or failures you endure, no matter how many of those moments-that-will-blow-your-composure exist or how many times you’re thrown off balance, they’ll soon evaporate and things will move in a better direction. Love & Gelato has so much charm, heart and romance at its core that I flew through the book.

Jess Gofton, PR and Marketing Manager – Fiction and Non Fiction | Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

As cliché as it is, I’m a sucker for a romance starring someone who has to return to the small town they grew up in. When I’m feeling slumpy or a bit down I can always count on a contemporary romance to cheer me up, and this book is one of so many sapphic romances now available for readers to dive into. I love the relationship between Delilah and Claire, but I also love the wider relationships this novel explores, from Delilah’s prickly interactions with her stepfamily to Claire’s determination to prevent her unreliable ex from breaking their daughter’s heart. Definitely one to consider picking up as we head into spring!

Olivia Hicks, Graphic Novel Editor | Jem and The Holograms by Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell

An oldie but a goldie. One of the greatest comics gems and possibly the greatest comic book adaptation ever? If you’re into romance comics, then Jem and the Holograms is a landmark series. This is the editorial team that launched Kelly Thompson as a mainstream name, gave us gag-worthy visuals from Sophie Campbell, and provided early comics work for the now legendary Jen Bartel and Yoshi Yoshitani, among others. Alongside all of the truly outrageous fashions, songs and high stakes drama that is familiar to fans of the original 1980s tv show, this comic had a truly delightful queer romance develop between Stormer and Kimber (they’re members of rival bands! They couldn’t possibly!), just for those of us who have shipped those two since the “Kimber Goes Solo” episode. It’s just a nonstop super sweet ride, coloured perfectly by Victoria M. Robado, and you can find it all in the first two volumes of the series.

You might also be interested in:

Posted on by

Solaris to publish Natania Barron’s feminist Arthurian fantasy trilogy, Queens of Fate

Solaris is delighted to announce the acquisition of Natania Barron’s Queen of None, previously published by Vernacular Books, and its companion sequels, Queen of Fury and Queen of Mercy.

For fans of Circe and The Witch’s Heart, the Queens of Fate trilogy reveals the world of Arthurian myth through the eyes of the people behind the legends, including King Arthur’s oft-forgotten sister, Anna Pendragon, and her son, Gawain. Queen of None and Queen of Fury will be published in 2024, with Queen of Mercy to follow in 2025.

World All Languages Rights were acquired by David Moore from Stacey Graham at 3 Seas Literary Agency.

Author Natania Barron on the acquisition:

“I am absolutely delighted to work with the Solaris team to bring these stories to publication. I often say that these tales represent the thesis I never got to write, melding my lifelong love of all things King Arthur with a deep desire to elevate hidden voices in the narrative. Having the opportunity to continue the saga in such good hands is truly wonderful.”

Acquiring Editor David Moore:

“I love Arthuriana – Gawain, Parzival and the Morte sit with Chaucer and Shakespeare at the top of my literary pantheon. Barron’s trilogy is beautiful, sumptuous and thoughtful, of course, and you should read it for those reasons alone; but it’s also an absolute geeky delight for devotees of this most strange and many-headed of cultural legacies.”

Natania Barron is an award-winning fantasy author long preoccupied with mythology, monsters, and magic. Her often historically-inspired novels are filled with lush description and vibrant characters. In 2020, Barron’s Queen of None was hailed as “a captivating look at the intriguing figures in King Arthur’s golden realm” by Kirkus, and won the Manly Wade Wellman award the following year. Her shorter works have appeared in Weird Tales, EscapePod, and various anthologies, RPG, and game settings. In addition, she’s also known for her ThreadTalks, which dive deep into the unseen, and often forgotten, world of fashion history. Barron lives in North Carolina, USA, with her family and two dogs. When she’s not writing, you can find her wandering the woods, tending her garden, and collecting rocks.

For press enquiries please contact Jess Gofton, PR & Marketing Manager: jess.gofton@rebellion.co.uk.

Posted on by

OUT NOW: Homecoming’s Fall by Mark de Jager

We’re wishing Homecoming’s Fall by Mark de Jager a very happy book birthday!

The After the War series continues in this new instalment from the author of The Chronicles of Stratus, in which a band of elite warriors who missed the fall of the Kinslayer are tasked with stopping a new evil…

BUY EBOOK
BUY PAPERBACK

Orec Blackblade missed the fall of the Kinslayer, tasked instead with leading his elite band of warriors on a diversionary battle where he split the head and pulsating crown of the enemy’s sorcerer, causing a blast that killed almost everyone in a 100-meter radius.

Just four months later the broken circlet finds its way to Doctors Catt and Fisher, collectors of rare artefacts, and their innate curiosity and tinkering with the crown unleashes a new terror on the land. Only Orec and his surviving men can stop it, but will the black sword he carries be enough to stop the coming darkness?

Posted on by

OUT NOW: Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

We’re delighted to be wishing Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse a very happy book birthday!

Angels and demons run the world in this fantasy western from the author of the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, where anything can be bought or traded—even your soul…

BUY EBOOK
BUY PAPERBACK

In the mining town of Goetia, the world is divided between The Fallen, descendants of demonkind, and The Virtues, the winners in an ancient war. Celeste and Mariel are two Fallen sisters, bound by blood but raised in separate worlds.

Celeste grew up with their father, passing in privileged society, while Mariel stayed with their mother in Goetia’s slums. Celeste is wracked by guilt for leaving her sister behind, and when their father dies, she becomes Mariel’s fiercest protector. But their lives are upended when Mariel is arrested for the murder of a Virtue.

Determined to save her sister and prove her innocence, Celeste turns to her ex-lover, a former general in the armies of Hell, for help. Soon Celeste is making her own deals with devils and angels alike to prove her sister’s innocence. However the journey to discover the truth threatens to become more than Celeste ever bargained for.

‘A compelling, dark fantasy mystery’ — BuzzFeed News

‘Rebecca Roanhorse is known for her incredible worldbuilding, diverse inspirations, and complex reinterpretations of tropes, and all her talents are perfectly on display in her latest.’ — CrimeReads

You might also be interested in:

Posted on by

Revealing the cover for Charming by Jade Linwood

We’re delighted to share the stunning cover for Charming by Jade Linwood!

Shrek meets John Tucker Must Die in this tale of three fairy tale princesses seeking revenge on their shared ex, Prince Charming…

Charming will be released in July 2023.

PRE-ORDER NOW

Brave, Resourceful, Deceitful, Double-Crossing… Charming.

Prince Jean-Marc Charming Arundel, known to friends and enemies alike as “Prince Charming,” is handsome, well-mannered, brave, a peerless swordsman, a cunning tactician – and a liar, a con man and a fraud. For years he has been travelling from one kingdom to the next, rescuing endangered princesses and maidens, securing their troths and his place in their fathers’ palaces, then looting their treasuries and having it away before dawn.

Until a chance meeting of three of his victims – raven-haired Marie Blanche de Neige, the sorceress Doctor Emilia Rapunzel and the long-slumbering Bella Lucia dei’ Sogni – suggests a course of revenge…

You might also be interested in: