You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Head of Zeus to publish Tchaikovsky's 'triumphant return' to fantasy
Head of Zeus has landed Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fantasy novel City of Last Chances, "a darkly inventive portrait of a city under occupation and on the verge of revolution".
Nicolas Cheetham, chief executive officer and publisher, acquired world English rights from Simon Kavanagh at Mic Cheetham Associates. The novel will be published under the Head of Zeus imprint Ad Astra on 8th December 2022.
The synopsis reads: "There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. And in this world of chaos, what will be the flame that lights the conflagration? The catalyst – despite the city’s refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves – will always be the Anchorwood: that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
"Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world. And the gateway to a thousand worse places…"
Cheetham commented: "Adrian’s science fiction has taken the planet by storm with world-class invention and out-of-this-world adventure. These traits are never more on display than in his long-awaited return to fantasy. City of Last Chances is his best book yet – a riot of dark creativity, intricate world-building and urgent relevance. Adrian’s mastery of both fantasy and science fiction is unmatched, marking him as one of the most interesting writers in Britain today and marking City of Last Chances as a book no fan of either genre can afford to ignore this Christmas."
Tchaikovsky added: "I might just have had more fun writing this book than any other in years. The tangled lives of the people of Ilmar – crooks and liars, revolutionaries and tyrants, gutter sorcerers, students and labourers – became a real personal project, taking me to places I hadn’t gone before in my writing. A dash of Les Misérables, a bit of ’Casablanca’, a little Maltese Falcon, all set in a city where magic is woven through every aspect of life, and somehow only contrives to make things worse. It’s a story about the power of the occupier, the bitterness of resistance and the difficulty of just trying to live a life between those two interacting blades. I’m delighted that Head of Zeus is bringing it into being in such a beautiful edition."
