Bookman Histories

In a 19th century unlike our own, the shadowy assassin known as the Bookman moves unseen. His weapons are books; his enemies are many. And when Orphan, a young man with a mysterious past, loses his love to the sinister machinations of the Bookman, Orphan would stop at nothing to bring her back from the dead. In The Bookman, World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar writes a love letter to books, and to the serial literature of the Victorian era: full of hair-breadth escapes and derring-dos, pirates and automatons, assassins and poets, a world in which real life authors mingle freely with their fictional creations – and where nothing is quite as it seems. "Pulls off the impossible." – Locus "Skillful, clever and highly enjoyable." – SFX "The Bookman is a delight, crammed with gorgeous period detail, seat-of-the-pants adventure and fabulous set-pieces." – The Guardian

In the last decade of a 19th century unlike our own, Milady de Winter is called to the scene of an impossible crime. A gruesome murder on the Rue Morgue sets her against a ghostly serial killer, and on a voyage that leads from the catacombs of Paris to the wonders of the New World – where new horrors lie in wait. In Camera Obscura, World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar combines the Victorian penny dreadful with exploitation cinema to create a wide-screen thriller of redemption: complete with mad scientists, secret societies, Shaolin monks and figures liberally borrowed from the literature of the era – as only he can. "A rollicking adventure...a maelstrom of pop culture and recursive fantasy." – Tor.com "Superb." – Fantasy Book Critic

As a 19th century unlike our own comes to a close, Mycroft Holmes is found murdered outside his London club. It is up to retired shadow executive Smith to track down the killer – only to stumble on the greatest conspiracy of his life. Strange forces are stirring into life around the globe, and in the shadow game of spies nothing is certain. In The Great Game, World Fantasy Award winning author Lavie Tidhar concludes his epic trilogy of a Victorian era that could never have been: filled with literary references galore, not to mention airship battles, Frankenstein monsters, alien tripods and death-defying acts. It is a world where nothing is certain – not even death. "A clever, superior thriller, inventive and entertaining." – SFX "Achieves moments of surprising depth and beauty, with real insights into human history and psychology as well as the immense and varied wealth of writing in the last half of the 19th century. It's a virtuoso performance." – Locus "The plot is fast-paced, the book is action-packed, the cast of characters astounding … Every scene was vivid before my mind's eye … an outstanding steampunk novel. Gripping, multi-faceted, and fascinating." – Daily Steampunk

Playfully mashing up the romantic elegance of the Victorian era with whimsically modernized technology, the wildly popular steampunk genre is here to stay. Now...long live the revolution! Steampunk Revolution features a renegade collective of writers and artists, including steampunk legends and hot, new talents rebooting the steam-driven past and powering it into the future. Lev Grossman's "Sir Ranulph Wykeham-Rackham, GBE, a.k.a. Roboticus the All-Knowing" is the Six-Million-Dollar Steampunk Man, possessing appendages and workings recycled from metal parts, yet also fully human, resilient, and determined. Bruce Sterling's "White Fungus" introduces steampunk's younger cousin, salvage-punk, speculating on how cities will be built in the future using preexisting materials. Cat Valente's "Mother Is a Machine" explores the merging of man and machine and a whole new form of parenting. In Jeff VanderMeer's anti-steampunk story "Fixing Hanover," a creator must turn his back on his creation because it is so utterly destructive. And Cherie Priest presents "The Clockroach," a new and very unsettling mode of transportation. Going far beyond corsets and goggles, Steampunk Revolution is not just your granddad's zeppelin-it's an even wilder ride.