The Corpse-Rat King by Lee Battersby

The Corpse-Rat King by Lee Battersby is published in September by Angry Robot (£7.99):

“Marius don Hellespont and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When they stumble upon the corpse of the King of Scorby, and Gerd is killed, Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers and is transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead.

Just like the living citizens, the dead need a King — after all, the King is God’s representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are. And so it comes to pass that Marius is banished to the surface with one message: if he wants to recover his life he must find the dead a King. Which he fully intends to do. Just as soon as he stops running away.”

Strange Chemistry launches...

Angry Robot’s new YA imprint, Strange Chemistry (edited by Amanda Rutter) launches in September this year with two titles.

First off is Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (£7.99): “On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.”

The second is Shift by Kim Curran (£7.99): “When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he’s not so average after all. He’s a ‘Shifter’. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences.”

New books from Angry Robot

Coming soon from Angry Robot: Andy Remic’s Soul Stealers, Book II of the Clockwork Vampire Chronicles, will be published on 7 October for £7.99. “They came from the North and the city fell. Now it is time for Kell to organize the resistance. But there are vampire assassins on his trail.” Remic has been described as “the Tarantino of fantasy” – so it should be fun.

Also due on 7 October is Damage Time by Colin Harvey (at £7.99). This SF novel is set in 2050, where the USA has been sold (it says) to the highest bidders. “Detective Pete Shah is a Memory Association Specialist with the NYPD. When he is arrested for murder, the secrets he brings to light threaten to bring the city to its knees.”

According to C C Finlay, Damage Time is for SF readers “who love The Wire, a gritty cop drama set in a future New York on the verge of collapse.”

Then on 4 November Angry Robot publishes Amortals by Matt Forbeck (at £7.99). Another SF novel set in another future USA: “For some, death is a thing of the past. But then they brought Secret Service agent Ronan ‘Methusaleh’ Doonan back with a new clone body, to hunt his own killer. That was their first mistake.”

Angry Robot sign up Jo Anderton

New Australian author Jo Anderton has signed with Angry Robot for at least two novels in her Veiled Worlds series. The worldwide deal, covering physical books and eBooks, was done by agent Anni Haig-Smith and Angry Robot’s publishing director, Marc Gascoigne. Debris will be published in the autumn of 2011, with direct sequel Suited to follow in 2012.

Series opener Debris introduces Tanyana, leader of a energy-harvesting team. Following an accident, she’s demoted to little more than a garbage collector, but it soon becomes obvious she’s been manipulated into that role by the faceless faction she calls the Puppet Men, to uncover a world-shattering secret.

Angry Robot’s Marc Gascoigne said, “With the ever-increasing popularity of Japanese and Korean anime, manga and computer games, it’s been surprising that there hasn’t been more SF and fantasy showing its influence. Debris’s mix of SF and fantasy themes, exotic future-medieval settings, Dune-esque warring factions, and a fabulous kick-ass heroine is exactly the sort of on-trend science fiction Angry Robot was set up to publish. We’re damned pleased to have Jo on board.”

New signing at Angry Robot

Angry Robot has signed new British science fiction author Guy Haley for two books in his Richards and Klein series. The first book in the series will be published by Angry Robot in autumn 2011, in both the UK and USA. The deal includes worldwide physical and eBook rights.

In Reality 36, readers are introduced to investigators Richards and Klein – the Holmes and Watson of the 22nd Century. Except that Richards is a highly advanced artificial intelligence,
and Klein his German ex-military cyborg partner. Their first case takes them into the renegade digital realm known as Reality 36 and through the Great Firewall of China in search of a missing Artificial Intelligence Rights activist.

More press releases can be found here.

Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon

Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon is due this November from Angry Robot (£7.99); for the electronically minded, it will also be available as an ebook. Q: What's it about? A: Thomas Usher, a man who can see the dead.

Thomas Usher, a normal, average man, is involved in a tragic accident and his wife and daughter are killed. But then: "Usher is no longer normal. Or average. Now he can see the dead, and the dead can see him. They seek him out to help them, to usher them to the next level so they might face whatever comes next. The lost. The lonely. The departed. They never speak to him; they only ever demand his attention. [And] he is compelled to help them in the hope that he might once again see his family. But sometimes, just sometimes, it isn’t enough and his efforts make things worse.

His name is Thomas Usher. He is an usher for the dead. It’s who he is. It’s what he does."

Christopher Fowler says: "Pretty Little Dead Things is a very disturbing read. Gary McMahon seems intent on taking readers through the looking glass and tearing down the walls between the living and the dead. He creates dark, hallucinatory images that burn in your brain forever."