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OUT NOW: Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor

We’re so excited that Zabé Ellor’s fabulous Silk Fire is OUT NOW in the US! UK readers, you only have two more days to wait.

Politics meets passion in this fantasy tale of vengeance, power and love, in which courtesan Koré sets out on a quest to destroy his father and becomes a hunted man when he is imbued with the powers of one of his city’s sacred dragons.

In the world-sized city of Jadzia, magic and ancient science merge into something dark and wondrous.

Koré’s life is consumed by power, politics, sex and vengeance, and as courtesan to the wealthy and powerful, he is privy to all manner of secrets. He knows meddling in politics is dangerous─still, he is willing to risk everything to stop his father from seizing the Imperial Throne of the War District. But Koré soon finds the corruption runs far deeper than just one man.

During a tryst in an ancient tomb─in the pursuit of political influence─Koré encounters a dying god, who imbues him with the powers of one of the city’s sacred dragons. Suddenly Koré finds himself a hunted man, threatened with becoming a pawn by whoever finds him first.

If the wrong person discovers his secret and lays claim to his powers they would plunge their world into war, unleash untold horrors and destroy the city─and the two people he has come to love.

‘An exquisite world fascinatingly textured by political intrigue and vibrant characters, Silk Fire is a powerful, resonate upheaval of traditional fantasy that fan’s of Kushiel’s Dart won’t want to miss.’ — Ashley Shuttleworth, author of A Dark and Hollow Star

‘Ambitious, complex, political, queer as hell and monstrously imaginative.’ — Foz Meadows, author of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

‘Decadent, intricate, and enthrallingly original, Silk Fire breathes life into a city-planet brimming with twisted magic, treacherous politics, and queer romance. Sure to be one of the year’s most explosive fantasies.’ — Claire Winn, author of City of Shattered Light

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Here’s what the Rebellion team recommend this Pride…

Apparently, it’s June – yes, we’re also shocked by how fast 2022 is flying past us. Luckily, June is Pride Month!

Pride Month pays homage to the 1969 Stonewall Riot, which paved the way for LGBTQ+ folk everywhere, and celebrates the queer community across the world. As a publisher, we’ve always been looking for new ways to elevate queer voices and we’re lucky enough to have an LGBTQ+ story for every reader*.

(*Psst! Don’t forget to treat yourself to the fantastic novels in our Celebrating LGBTQIA+ SFF eBook sale!)

Here’s what the Rebellion team recommend this Pride…

Amy | Editor

I just finished The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow and absolutely loved everything about it – the folksy writing style, the bonds of three sisters each with their unique magical strength, the historical setting in mythical early 20th century New York, and the love story between the eldest sister, Bella, and Cleo, the Black journalist revolutionary. I loved that their relationship was messy, often challenged by racial, class and gender politics of the period, and that it was essential to the plot. They’re all such wonderful, vivid characters and I loved being so taken in by the entire world.

Jess | PR and Marketing Manager – Fiction and Non Fiction

I’m a history nerd and a sucker for fantasy tales set in the past, so She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan was destined to be a favourite of mine. It’s juicy and political and so unapologetically queer, bringing a version of 14th century China to life that’s brimming with revenge and characters who are truly morally grey. I adored its exploration of gender and power, and now I want to watch every C-drama I can find.

Casey | Senior Digital Marketing & Social Media Executive

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri raises the bar for what epic queer fantasy should be. Tasha Suri has created a beautiful, ferocious world alongside an intimate study of the characters who will burn it all down. It is an intricate, feminist, political novel with a large cast of characters, Sapphic representation and really interesting world-building inspired by the history and epics of India. Easily the best fantasy of 2021 for me!

Gemma | Junior Graphic Designer

I’m currently reading Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin, a modern fantasy about siblings Rossa and Mae who visit their great aunt witch Rita and her apprentice Bevan for the summer, unknowing that Bevan has been seduced by a demon in the walls of the house. It’s a wonderful surreal mix of haunted house horror and fluffy romance. I feel the characters’ emotions, longings and their pain, and know I will struggle to find another book that will have the same effect on me again. It is truly magical, please read it!

Charlotte | Copywriter

As a queer woman, I know better than most that we’re often relegated to minor roles within fantasy and sci-fi stories, so this new wave of queer MCs is very welcome! I’m a sucker for love stories of any kind, so Someone in Time ed. by Jonathan Strahan is my current favourite read. From tear-jerking goodbyes to the search for love in the space-time continuum, Someone in Time has managed to rewrite time-travel tropes through a more diverse lens. *chef’s kiss*

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OUT NOW: The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston!

We’re delighted that Alex Livingston’s brilliant The Knave of Secrets is OUT NOW!

The Lies of Locke Lamora meets Casino Royale in this twisty tale of con artists and card games, following a group of misfits who are old enough to know avoiding trouble is the wise choice—but the greatest risks reap the greatest rewards.

Never stake more than you can afford to lose.

When failed magician turned cardsharp Valen Quinol is given the chance to play in the Forbearance Game—the invitation-only tournament where players gamble with secrets—he can’t resist. Or refuse, for that matter, according to the petty gangster sponsoring his seat at the table. Valen beats the man he was sent to play, and wins the most valuable secret ever staked in the history of the tournament.

Now Valen and his motley crew are being hunted by thieves, gangsters, spies and wizards, all with their own reasons for wanting what’s in that envelope. It’s a game of nations where Valen doesn’t know all the rules or who all the players are, and can’t see all the moves. But he does know if the secret falls into the wrong hands, it could plunge the whole world into war…

‘A fast-paced action story steeped in magic, history, political intrigue, and suspense.’ — Booklist

‘Intrigue and magic aplenty’ — Publishers Weekly

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Solaris to publish Jewish fantasy trilogy by Ariel Kaplan for the UK

Solaris is delighted to announce the acquisition of The Pomegranate Gate and its sequels by Ariel Kaplan, with the first book to be published in Summer 2023.

Set in a mythical Spain at the height of the Inquisition, The Pomegranate Gate follows Toba Peres and Naftaly Cresques who are forced to flee their home after the Queen orders all Jews to convert or leave. Their fates are inextricably bound together when Naftaly finds himself in possession of a book he’s forbidden to open and Toba stumbles through a magical gate into another realm, home of the fabled, square-pupiled immortals known as the Maziks, whose own Inquisition are on the hunt.

UK/BC and Europe English-language Rights were acquired by Amy Borsuk from Hannah Bowman at Lisa Dawson Associates.

Author Ariel Kaplan on the acquisition:

“I’m thrilled that Rebellion will be publishing the UK editions of The Pomegranate Gate and its sequels! I’m very much looking forward to working creatively with the entire staff.”

Acquiring Editor Amy Borsuk:

“Ariel Kaplan’s The Pomegranate Gate blends the realities of Sephardic Jews in exile with a fantastical world full of ancient secrets, curses and demons. It’s lyrical, enchanting and clever, and I love that this epic tale is Jewish at its very core. I am absolutely thrilled to be the UK editor and cannot wait to see it on bookshelves and in readers’ hands.”

Ariel Kaplan is the author of several books for teens and adults, including Grendel’s Guide to Love and War and We Regret to Inform You. She was raised in Virginia and has a B.A. in History and Religious Studies from the College of William and Mary. The Pomegranate Gate is her adult debut.

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

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Solaris acquires queer science fantasy debut by Meredith Mooring

Solaris is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Redsight by Meredith Mooring, a queer science fantasy debut of priestesses, pirates and power with a blind heroine, for publication in Spring 2024.

Redsight follows a blind priestess who powers warships for the galactic military by manipulating spacetime. When the captain of her ship is murdered by a pirate with a dark past, she must choose between a painful life of service or a chance at freedom with the galaxy’s most wanted criminal.

World All Languages Rights were acquired by Amy Borsuk from Ernie Chiara at Fuse Literary.

Author Meredith Mooring on the acquisition:

“I’m excited to share a story from my perspective as a blind writer. Fiction by authors with disabilities isn’t common in the science fiction and fantasy genre, and I hope this book will introduce readers to new concepts and experiences.”

Acquiring Editor Amy Borsuk:

“Space pirates, queer love, a powerful mythos, a blind witch protagonist – REDSIGHT is a richly packed world with compelling characters. I’m so excited to be working with Meredith to bring this unique story to sci-fi and fantasy fans alike.”

Meredith Mooring is an employment discrimination attorney from North Carolina and a graduate of The Seeing Eye guide dog school. In her spare time she serves on the board of directors for a non-profit that pairs guide dogs with blind children.

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

For rights enquiries please contact Reitha Pattison, Rights Manager: reitha.pattison@rebellion.co.uk

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OUT NOW: The Void Ascendant by Premee Mohamed!

We’re thrilled to be wishing the third book in Premee Mohamed’s fantastic Beneath the Rising trilogy, The Void Ascendant, a very happy book birthday!

All the Birds in the Sky meets Lovecraft Country in the epic conclusion to this fresh cosmic horror trilogy of gods, monsters and science experiments gone terribly, terribly wrong…

SURVIVAL HAS CONSEQUENCES

Seven years ago, the last survivor of Earth crashed through uncountable dimensions to a strange new world. Nick Prasad found shelter, and a living, as a prophet for the ruling family—servants of the Ancient Ones who destroyed his home.

Now, he’s been offered a chance to rid the multiverse of the Ancient Ones, past and present and forever, although he’ll have to betray his new masters to do it.

The first step is jailbreaking a god—and that’s the easy part…

“A mind-bending and thoroughly satisfying conclusion to a truly singular series.” — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Every reveal is gasp-out-loud astonishing.” — Charlie Jane Anders on Beneath the Rising

“A perfect balance of thriller, horror and humour.” — Adrian Tchaikovsky on Beneath the Rising

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OUT NOW: Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney!

We’re overjoyed to be wishing Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney a very happy book birthday!

For fans of Gideon the Ninth and Hogfather, C.S.E. Cooney’s whimsical, tender and just-a-little-bit-bonkers debut is an exuberant and heartwarming love letter to life, death, and everything inbetween.

Nothing complicates life like Death.

Lanie Stones, the daughter of the Royal Assassin and Chief Executioner of Liriat, has never led a normal life. Born with a gift for necromancy and a literal allergy to violence, she was raised in isolation in the family’s crumbling mansion by her oldest friend, the ancient revenant Goody Graves.

When her parents are murdered, it falls on Lanie and her cheerfully psychotic sister Nita to settle their extensive debts or lose their ancestral home—and Goody with it. Appeals to Liriat’s ruler to protect them fall on indifferent ears… until she, too, is murdered, throwing the nation’s future into doubt.

Hunted by Liriat’s enemies, hounded by her family’s creditors and terrorised by the ghost of her great-grandfather, Lanie will need more than luck to get through the next few months—but when the goddess of Death is on your side, anything is possible.

“Saint Death’s Daughter is a tumultuous, swaggering, cackling story, a gorgeous citrus orchard with bones for roots. Miscellaneous Stones’ journey into adulthood and power, sorting knowledge from wisdom and vengeance from justice, has an ocean’s breadth and depth, its storms and sparkles and salt. Soaring with love and absolutely fizzing with tenderness and joy–I have never read anything so utterly alive.” — Amal El-Mohtar

“Wildly inventive” — Buzzfeed

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OUT NOW: Seven Deaths of an Empire by G. R. Matthews in Paperback!

We’re delighted to be wishing the paperback of Seven Deaths of an Empire by G. R. Matthews a very happy book birthday!

For fans of Anna Smith Spark and George R.R. Martin, Seven Deaths of an Empire is a standalone grimdark fantasy of politics and power that will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night…

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 was assigned to the late Emperor’s honour guard escorting his body on the long road back to the capital.

But even a magician’s power may fail when enemies emerge from the forests intent on seizing their precious cargo.

Whoever controls the Emperor’s body, controls the Empire…

“This is fantasy at its finest.” — Grimdark Magazine

“Refreshingly original” — SFX Magazine

“It’s been a long time since a book made me swear out loud in horror” — Set the Tape

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Thilde Kold Holdt: The historical inspiration behind the women of The Hanged God Trilogy

This March we’re celebrating Women’s History Month with Thilde Kold Holdt, author of the brilliant Hanged God Trilogy, who’s sharing the legendary, archaeological and historical influences behind the women in her Viking Age fantasy series.

We’ve already met Alvilde and the skeleton in Grave C 22541, but there’s no one quite like Auðr…

When talking about strong Viking Age women, many will likely think of female warriors like Lagertha, known from the TV show Vikings, Alvilde whom we heard about previously, or even Hilda from the Hanged God Trilogy, but female strength does not necessarily have to take the form of physical violence.

To me, it’s older women like Auðr who truly show the strength and influence of Viking Age women. Therefore it is the stories of women like Auðr who brought to life Siv and Tyra in the Hanged God Trilogy.

Auðr the Deep-minded was an independent woman and is recorded as one of the four most influential settlers in early Iceland. To begin with Auðr was born as the second daughter of Ketill Flat-nose, a great Chieftain in Norway. Her story as we know it began ever so timidly when Auðr married Olaf the White, the self-proclaimed Norse King of Dublin. Following her husband, Auðr moved to Ireland and birthed their son Thorstein the Red. (Yes, Vikings were really into colours.)

When Auðr’s husband died in battle, Auðr took her son to Scotland where he gained a wife of his own, had seven children and became a proper warrior. Until the tragic event that forced Auðr into the history books as the strong grandmother she was.

For when Thorstein was betrayed and slain in battle, Auðr became the head of the household and had little time to mourn the loss of her son. Stranded in the hostile British Isles which betrayed and killed her son, Auðr knew that her kin would only be safe by leaving those shores. In Norway too, feuds had risen against her father and their kinsmen, but two of her brothers were said to have settled in Iceland. Surely, they would welcome her and her family with open arms.

In secret Auðr commissioned a ship to be built deep in the forest and gathered a crew of twenty men loyal to her. When the large ship was finally sea-ready, Auðr took all of her granddaughters, as well as her widowed daughter-in-law, all of their kin and all of their thralls on a seafaring journey towards the newly discovered Iceland.

Auðr first commanded the ship safely to the Orkney Islands, where she arranged a marriage for one of her granddaughters before pushing off from shore to steer the ship the last of the way to Iceland.

By the time Auðr’s ship arrived on the Icelandic coast, winter was already beginning to set in and her large retinue were in dire need of shelter. Arriving at the house of Auðr’s elder brother, they naturally expected appropriate hospitality, but were instead turned away.

The whole family, a crew of twenty and all of their thralls, were too many people to house, her eldest brother said. He could only house half of them, but this refusal of proper hospitality offended Auðr so much that she left with the entire retinue to instead overwinter with her second brother.

As soon as spring came around, Auðr left her brother’s house to find a place on the Western coast to settle. In Iceland Auðr freed the thralls who journeyed with her from Scotland and gave them, as well as all of her crew and kinsmen, land to farm. Then they built a homestead in Hvammur, from which Auðr arranged prosperous marriages for all her granddaughters.

When Auðr became frail and realised that her time in Midgard was up, she gathered all of her kinsmen at her side and arranged a great feast. For three days and nights straight they drank and laughed and sung while Auðr gave gifts and advice to all of her kinsmen and friends. On the third night she announced that the feast needed to continue for another three nights so that it could also be her funeral feast, and then she passed away.

The high attendance of the feast became a final testament to the strength and respect this woman earned in life, but although Auðr may have passed on, her presence is still very much felt on the western coast of Iceland.

Today you will still find the remains of Auðr’s house in Hvammur, where her kinsmen lived for generations, and where the famous Icelandic historian Snorri Sturleson, who wrote the Prosa Edda, was born. Nearby her home, Auðr raised a Christian cross to pray, and thus that place too gained a name. Today it is still known as Krosshólaborg (literally: Cross-Hill-Town) and a stone cross has been raised in Auðr’s memory. Travel west from here to the cape and you will find Dagverðarnes (literally: Breakfast-Ness), named as such because when Auðr and her loyal men left her brother’s house to search for a place to build, they stopped to eat breakfast there. Travel further north and you will come across Kambsnes (literally: comb-headland) where Auðr is said to have lost her comb, once upon a time.

All throughout the landscape of Western Iceland Auðr has left her mark, and as such, the legendary tale of Auðr lives on to this day. Auðr may not have been a female warrior who roared and ran into battle, nor did she truly begin her own story until she was already a grandmother, but by Skadi, that did not hinder her from leaving behind an impressive legacy. And is that not precisely what marks a Viking of worth?

As the Alfather said:

“Cattle Die,
Kinsmen die,
We must die likewise,
I know one thing which never dies,
The reputation each gains in life.”
-Hávamál-

Slaughtered Gods, the third and final book in The Hanged God Trilogy, is out this October.

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OUT NOW: The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge!

We’re thrilled to be wishing The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge a very happy book birthday!

The Carnival of Ash is a lyrical, literary alternate history set in a Renaissance Italian city of poets and librarians that never was…

Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter.

Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city’s poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present. A war that threatens not only to destroy Cadenza but remove it from history altogether…

‘A gorgeous, immersive triumph of Renaissance-flavored worldbuilding’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘Ingenious and intricate’ — Katherine Addison