Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce that Jonathan Strahan has acquired World English rights to Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard, in a deal by John Berlyne at Zeno Agency Ltd.
Award-winning author Aliette de Bodard returns in this fantasy novella that reads like The Goblin Emperor meets Howl’s Moving Castle in a precolonial Vietnamese-esque world.
Thanh is royalty in a beleaguered nation of scattered provinces pressured on all sides. The daughter of ancestors armed with swords and courage, she was fostered in a foreign capital to seal an alliance, and returned—to her powerful mother’s disappointment—quiet and thoughtful instead of brash and confident.
Propped up by the guns and silver of Ephteria, a far more powerful empire, her country is losing the game of power. In Eldris, an Ephterian princess, Thanh finds both romance and intoxicating risk. Eldris may desire her, but she doesn’t respect what Thanh holds dear.
Giang, Thanh’s humble handmaiden, who appeared to her the night of a terrible fire and who has deep secrets of her own, might be the one who holds the key to love, freedom, and true power.
Said author Aliette de Bodard:
Fireheart Tiger is one of those pieces very dear to my heart, a story of a fire and how it resonates, a story of coming free from the long, long shadows of the past. I’m delighted it’s found a home with Tordotcom Publishing, who have been doing stellar work with powerful and wonderful novellas.
Said editor Jonathan Strahan:
Any time you get to work with a wonderfully talented writer is a joy and delight. I’ve loved Aliette de Bodard’s fiction for some time, and have been fortunate enough to publish some of her shorter work. After her superb The Tea Master and the Detective won the Nebula and was nominated for the Hugo and World Fantasy Award in 2019, I was even more eager to work with her and I’m thrilled it’s on Fireheart Tiger, which is a stunning piece of work. I can’t wait to help it into readers’ hands.
Fireheart Tiger will be available from Tordotcom Publishing in 2021.
