Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce that Ellen Datlow has acquired Kelly Robson’s newest novella High Times in the Low Parliament, a lighthearted romp through 18th-century London featuring flirtatious scribes, irritable fairies, and a fraying Parliamentary government. The deal for World English rights was brokered by Hannah Bowman at Liza Dawson Associates.
Lana Baker is Aldgate’s finest scribe, with a sharp pen and an even sharper wit. Gregarious, charming, and ever so eager to please, she agrees to deliver a message for another lovely scribe in exchange for kisses and ends up getting sent to Low Parliament by a temperamental fairy as a result.
As Lana transcribes the endless circular arguments of Parliament, the debates grow tenser and more desperate. Due to long-standing tradition, a hung vote will cause Parliament to flood and a return to endless war. Lana must rely on an unlikely pair of comrades—Bugbite, the curmudgeonly fairy, and Eloquentia, the bewitching human deputy—to save humanity (and maybe even woo a few lucky ladies), come hell or high water.
In the words of Kelly Robson:
When times are dark, I write light. During lockdown, I should have been writing something Serious and Important, but all I wanted to do was write a lesbian stoner buddy comedy with fairies—about Brexit. Lana and Bugbite’s hijinks got me through some tough months, and I hope High Times in the Low Parliament will bring a lot of laughs into the world.
In the words of Ellen Datlow:
I’m so excited to once again work with Kelly Robson—a versatile writer who shifts with equal ease between science fiction, horror, and fantasy—as she knocks it out of the park with her utterly charming, sexy, funny, and moving fantasy High Times in the Low Parliament.
Kelly Robson is a Canadian short fiction writer. Her novelette “A Human Stain” won the 2018 Nebula Award, and she has won both the 2019 and 2016 Aurora Awards for best Short Story. She has also been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon, Locus, Astounding, Aurora, and Sunburst Awards. Kelly consults as a creative futurist for organizations such as UNICEF and the Suncor Energy Foundation. After twenty-two years in Vancouver, she and her wife, writer A. M. Dellamonica, now live in downtown Toronto.
High Times in the Low Parliament will arrive from Tordotcom Publishing in 2022.
