Ben Smith, Publishing Manager of Solaris Books, has acquired rights to three backlist titles by fantasy novelist Paul Kearney: THE WAY TO BABYLON, RIDING THE UNICORN and A DIFFERENT KINGDOM. They will be published as an omnibus early in 2014. The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal was for UK/US rights.

Solaris have previously published Kearney’s MONARCHIES OF GOD series in two omnibuses, and his Macht fantasy series – THE TEN THOUSAND, CORVUS and KINGS OF MORNING.

Solaris is proud to announce a 2013 debut novel that brings the Dark Ages crashing into the 21st Century.

Geoffrey Gudgion’s historical supernatural thriller, Saxon’s Bane, will be published in September 2013.

A contemporary novel with a thrilling historical heart, Gudgion’s first novel is set in the 21st century but grounded in the Dark Ages, with a Saxon legend at its heart.

The past invades the present in this beautiful, lyrical and frightening tale, inspired by Gudgion’s love of ancient, ethereal places, and his eye for signs of the distant past in the English landscape of today.

“It’s a rare occasion when a submission comes in that I have to read right the way through in one go,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. “Saxon’s Bane was such a book. Discovering a new writer is always a thrill, and Geoffrey’s novel is of such a high calibre that I can’t wait for people to read it.”

Fergus Sheppard’s world changes forever the day his car crashes near the remote village of Allingley. Traumatised by his near-death experience, he returns to thank the villagers who rescued him, and stays to work at the local stables as he recovers from his injuries. He will discover a gentler pace of life, fall in love ¬ and be targeted for human sacrifice.

Clare Harvey’s life will never be the same either. The young archaeologist’s dream find – the peat-preserved body of a Saxon warrior – is giving her nightmares. She can tell that the warrior had been ritually murdered, and that the partial skeleton lying nearby is that of a young woman. And their tragic story is unfolding in her head every time she goes to sleep.

Fergus discovers that his crash is uncannily linked to the excavation, and that the smiling and beautiful countryside harbours some very dark secrets.

As the pagan festival of Beltane approaches, and Clare’s investigation reveals the full horror of a Dark Age war crime, Fergus and Clare seem destined to share the Saxon couple’s bloody fate.

New York Times best-seller James Lovegrove’s ‘cop of the damned’ returns and he’s on the trail of the ultimate ‘cold case’.

They live among us; marginalised, despised. They are vampires, they are Sunless. And Captain John Redlaw is London’s most feared and respected officer of the Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive.

The eastern seaboard of the USA is experiencing the worst winter weather in living memory, and John Redlaw is in the cold white thick of it. He’s come to America to investigate a series of vicious attacks on vampire immigrants – targeted kills that can’t simply be the work of amateur vigilantes.

Full of intrigue, visceral terror, and hard-nosed detective work, Lovegrove’s Redlaw rescues the vampire genre from sparkling lovelorn teens and puts them back into a world of horror, blood, and danger!

Redlaw returns to the darkness in Redlaw: Red Eye on 11th October.

StarShipSofa‘s latest podcast (#252) is available now with fiction from Adam Roberts along with a look at the anthology Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction.

Download the podcast HERE

Meanwhile, Tales To Terrify have a new podcast ready for download (#32) containing works by Steven Savile and Laurel Winter.

EXILE by Rowena Cory Daniells.

Solaris. p/b £7.99.

Reviewed by Elloise Hopkins.

King Charald is in a temper again, pacing and demanding his Warrior’s-voice, but Sorne is still recovering after the ritual to seek out his last vision for the king, and his choice-brother Zabier does not have Sorne’s skills in calming the raging monarch. With the king ever more prone to bouts of madness and irrational fury, Sorne knows Charald is losing grip on the kingdom and it is only a matter of time before the hungry barons that surround him learn the truth.

Imoshen is all-mother now, surveying the damage in the aftermath of attack, and with theCelestialCitybesieged it is clear the hatred of the Wyrds runs deep. The ever-separate brotherhoods and sisterhoods realise their only choice against King Charald is to elect a causare to unite them. With three candidates in the running Imoshen is looking favourite for the role, but Gift-tutor Vittoryxe is still close by, still watching Imoshen’s rise through the sisterhood.

Like Imoshen, Ronnyn and Aravelle have been raised by their parents outside of the usual boundaries of the T’En society, but their peaceful solitude cannot last. Ronnyn is a T’En boy born to Malaunje parents and is close to coming into his powers. As his gift begins to manifest in uncomfortable ways the family knows it will not be long before they have to return to the life they once fled and give him up to the brotherhoods for training.

Exile is the second instalment in The Outcast Chronicles and this book takes place in a much narrower time span than its predecessor. The result is a story that is tension-filled from the start with none of the pacing issues that hindered Besieged. The introduction of some new and highly admirable characters really lifts the story and solidifies this series as an impressive fantasy epic. The exploration of gender and hierarchy continues in a society that is brutal and unforgiving.

The magic system is still one of this world’s greatest strengths and we are granted new insight into the vast powers available to the T’En, this time through such intimacies as sharing and reliving memories as well as experiencing untamed gift power and its effects through Ronnyn’s storyline. On the other hand we are also shown what life is like for the True-Men and can begin to understand a little more the misconceptions they live under and why they so fear the T’En.

There are four main threads to the story, following the action in both the magic and non-magic communities, and the plot is handled expertly always placing the protagonists for each thread in the midst of the action and switching between them at appropriate points so that the reader always had a clear understanding of the issues each of them face. The four threads of course converge and lead to an immense climax that has laid the tracks for a fantastic conclusion to the story in book three.

BESIEGED by Rowena Cory Daniells.

Solaris. p/b £7.99.

Reviewed by Elloise Hopkins.

When Oskane is witness once again to a political cover up at the expense of innocent lives, he does the only thing possible and sacrifices power and position to become protector of the king’s unwanted half-blood son. Oskane has played court politics well all these years, but this time he did not read the others’ moves fast enough and it has cost him. He may be estranged from the king until the boy comes of age, but with him safe for now he can begin to plot his revenge on those who crossed him.

To all-father Rohaayel’s Brotherhood a child is birthed, but this is a T’En female and that spells disaster for the men. The strict ways of life among the T’En mean that males and females are raised apart to ensure they do not become addicted to the others’ gifts and destroy themselves. Rohaayel is set on a plan that will mean this child does not have to be given away to the Sisterhood, but it will mean bringing the displeasure of all the T’En down on him if he goes through with it.

Sorne has overcome the odds and claimed high esteem amongst the True-men to have the ear of the king himself. Using his visions from the gods he is able to rise in status, but when he sees first hand how deep the hatred for the T’En runs his loyalty begins to waver. Imoshen has lived all her life outside the traditions of her people, but it is not until she grows into her power that she realises how very wrong their lives have been. Now the truth has become clearer will Sorne and Imoshen be able to change things or has hatred run too deep across the kingdoms?

The events in Besieged span decades, following the progress of the two young protagonists and the many allies and antagonists that cross their paths. This really is a sprawling epic and time is handled well for the most part with events jumping forward into the future fairly frequently, particularly in the early part of the book. Occasionally the time shifts seemed slightly too abrupt, characters being propelled into their future without warning, and thus feeling momentarily disorientating, but without these shifts in time the plot would be nowhere near as complex or impressive as it is.

The magic system is unique and adds a great underlying sense of danger throughout the narrative, mostly because the reader is only given a surface-level understanding of how things are and why; as the characters learn and explore, so do we. The empyrean plane is only accessible using gift magic and it takes skill and talent to survive there. Skill and talent which the characters have to varying degrees. The Outcast Chronicles give us a world that is so segregated and so set in following ancient rules and beliefs that it is as frustrating as it is fascinating, and is a great study of loyalty and belief.

Power is a main theme here and within each hierarchy there are those who crave power for their own advancement rather than for the good of all. The conflict and tension caused by their actions is rendered well throughout the book, but there are so many characters with conflicting goals that as a result there is extensive exposition and background information to be delivered, which inevitably slows the pace.

Once the intricacies of the relationships between the different races and genders have been explained sufficiently, however, we are left with a book that becomes addictive and really ups the ante towards the end, building to a conclusion that has set this up to be an expansive and fulfilling trilogy. If you like epic fantasy it does not disappoint.

Solaris is delighted to announce that author Gaie Sebold is to follow up her fantastically well-received debut, Babylon Steel.

With a bold frankness that eschews fantasy’s usual reluctance to deal with sex and gender politics, Sebold has conceived one of the most stunning and well-realised female characters in the genre – ex-mercenary turned brothel owner Babylon Steel.

And Babylon is set to return in Dangerous Gifts, which will be published in February 2013.

Babylon Steel runs the best brothel in Scalentine, city of portals. She’s escaped her past and it’s all going pretty well. Apart, that is, from the racial conflict and economic misery boiling up in Scalentine.

Her lover, Chief Bitternut of the City Militia, is trying to keep the lid on, while hunting a killer whose real target is a lot closer than he knows. Just as things are getting really tense, Babylon is forced to take another job.  Bodyguard to Enthemmerlee Entaire: symbol of hope or object of disgust for most of her country’s population, and a prime target for assassination, along with anyone who happens to be in the way. Such as her bodyguard.

Unintentionally dragging a very annoyed government employee along in her wake, Babylon struggles to turn Enthemmerlee’s squabbling household guard from liability into security, dodge the rigid Moral Statutes of Incandress, and keep both herself and her client alive.  She soon realises that the situation is far worse than she thought, her past hasn’t quite let go of her yet, and she will be driven to a choice that will have far-reaching consequences…

“Babylon Steel was one of the most assured and brilliantly written fantasy debuts of 2012,” said Solaris editor-in-chief, Jonathan Oliver. “Gaie’s characters are vivid and brilliantly realised. She is also one of the finest writers on sex and sexual politics in fantasy that I’ve read. I’m delighted to welcome her back to Solaris and discover more about Babylon Steel’s exciting and mysterious past. Gaie’s star is fast rising in the fantasy firmament.”

Time is running out for the Wyrds in the second in the latest thrilling trilogy from Rowena Cory Daniells, the creator of the best-selling Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin.

Solaris is releasing the three volumes of The Outcast Chronicles, each with a stunning cover from award-winning artist Clint Langley, over three months in what will be the fantasy event of the summer!

In the second title, Exile, the increasingly insane King Charald has passed his verdict on the mystic Wyrds: banishment, by the first day of winter. Their leader, Imoshen, believes she has found a new home for her people, but many are still stranded amidst violence and turmoil.

Whether the ships are ready or not, the Wyrds must battle to leave; those who remain behind will be hunted down and executed. Time is running out for all of them.

Daniells has spun another web of golden fantasy with a series that will keep fans of George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb or Gail Z. Martin enthralled over the summer of magic.

Unalloyed greed, markets dictating the will of humanity – when The Crash comes, nothing will be left standing.

In a topical science-fiction take on the world’s current economic woes, breakthrough author Guy Haley envisages a society in utter thrall to commerce, which must constantly expand to sustain itself. When a mission to the stars begins to go wrong, the fragility of human society and progress is exposed.

The Crash is due for release in July 2013. It is Haley’s second book for Solaris.

His first, Champion of Mars, was released in May this year and was described by SF legend Stephen Baxter as “a novel with an ambition on the scale of Olympus Mons itself, and it delivers. Recommended.”

“Guy Haley’s SF invokes in me the same excitement I had when reading Ray Bradbury, Robert Silverberg and Arthur C. Clarke’s works for the first time,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. “His fiction is packed full of ideas while maintaining a very human voice. Haley’s work is complex, exciting and vastly entertaining and I’m delighted to welcome him back to the Solaris fold.”

The Market rules all, plotting the rise and fall of fortunes without human intervention. Mankind, trapped by a rigid hierarchy of wealth, bends to its every whim. To function, the Market must expand without end. The Earth is finite, and cannot hold it, and so a bold venture to the stars is begun, offering a rare chance at freedom to a select few people.

But when the colony fleet is sabotaged, a small group finds itself marooned upon the tidally locked world of Nychthemeron, a world where one hemisphere is bathed in perpetual daylight, the other hidden by eternal night. Isolated and beset, the stricken colony members must fight for survival on the hostile planet, while secrets about both the nature of their shipwreck and Nychthemeron itself threaten to tear their fragile society apart.

A new gun-slinging fantasy series mixing the Wild West, Steampunk, angels, and a town that exists for only a day is set to begin its epic story next year, courtesy of Solaris.

Guy Adams’ The Good, The Bad and The Infernal is a weird western, a gun-toting, cigarillo-chewing fantasy built from hangman’s rope and spent bullets!

The Good, The Bad and The Infernal will be the first book in the exciting new Heaven’s Gate Chronicle series, debuting in April 2013. Details of the second title in the series will be announced in the near future.

“Guy’s writing is fresh, exciting and laced with a wicked sense of humour,” said Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. “I love a good Western, but Guy’s new series is so much more than that. The Heaven’s Gate Chronicles promises to be a hell of a ride, and heaven to read.”

Roughly every one hundred years a town appears. From a small village in the peaks of Tibet to a gathering of mud huts in the jungles of South American, it can take many forms. It exists for twenty-four hours then vanishes, but for that single day it contains the greatest miracle a man could imagine: a doorway to Heaven.

It is due to appear on the 21st September 1889 as a ghost town in the American Midwest. When it does there are many who hope to be there: Travelling preacher Obeisance Hicks and his simple messiah, a brain-damaged Civil War veteran; Henry and Harmonium Jones and their freak show pack of outlaws; the Brothers of Ruth and their sponsor Lord Forset (inventor of the Forset Thunderpack and other incendiary modes of personal transport); finally, an aging gunslinger who lost his wings at the very beginning of creation and wants nothing more than to settle old scores.