Host foreign rights catalogue autumn 2021 / Exportní katalog nakladatelství Host podzim 2021

Host — vydava­telství, s. r. o.

Radlas 5 602 00 Brno Czech Republic www.hostbrno.cz foreign rights Dana Blatná tel.: +420 608 748 157 e-mail: blatna@hostbrno.cz

At Host, one of the largest independent publishing houses in the Czech Republic, we have focused on contemporary Czech and world writing for almost thirty years. The Host brand has become a guarantee of high-quality litera­ture in many genres. We are renowned for the care we take with our editing and the excellence of our graphic design. Our primary aim is to find the right readers for the ­outstanding books we offer. We take pains to provide ongoing care for our books and their ­authors after publication.

We currently publish about 150 titles annually, in genres including the following: general fiction, SF and fantasy, crime fiction, the thriller, children’s literature, popular science, specialist literature, poetry.

Host is proud to publish many leading Czech authors. Their popularity with readers and the wealth of literary awards to come their way confirm us in our belief that painstaking care for a book — from manuscript stage through to the last detail — makes perfect sense. Our authors include Alena Mornštajnová and Kateřina Tučková, whose best­selling works account for hundreds of thousands of copies and have been translated into many languages. Our Czech literature programme comprises all the genres mentioned above.

Our literature in translation programme, too, has a great deal to offer. The various stories we take from all over the world are characterized by readability, literary excellence and — last but not least — careful translation. Thanks to us, Czech readers are acquainted with works by authors including Olga Tokarczuk, F ­ redrik ­Backman, Chimamanda Ngozi ­Adichie, B ­ ernardine Evaristo, Nino ­Haratischwili and Muriel Barbery.

Our crime fiction programme is an integral part of what we do. In their chosen setting of criminal investigation, our authors

respond to topical issues — a matter of great importance to us. We regard the publication of the first part of Stieg Larsson’s Millen­ nium series as a significant moment in our history, for it was this that launched the Nordic noir phenomenon on the Czech market.

Our best-performing authors in this genre currently include Lars Kepler, J­ ussi ­Adler‑​ Olsen and Peter May. In recent years we have strengthened our list by adding SF and fantasy, young adult fiction and children’s literature programmes. As we have no fear of the unexplored, we delight in introducing new trends to the Czech market. The most interesting names on our SF-in-translation list include N. K. Jemisin, Ted Chiang, Anthony Ryan and Liu Cixin; our Czech SF authors, notably Pavel Bareš and Petra Stehlíková, have also performed very well. As for children’s literature, our titles include works by ­successful authors A ­ leksandra ­Mizielińska and ­Daniel ­Mizieliński, Marianne ­Dubuc, ­Emilia Dziu­bak, Oksana Bula, and ­Roberto Santiago. Another focus of ours is the high-quality Czech book for children, by which we bring together an original story with great artwork.

In terms of society, politics and art, the world is changing in all kinds of ways.

Fortunately, we will always have books to capture this change. Some of these you will find on our non­‑fiction list. In the ­Klimax series, Host publishes ori­ginal works on issues of climate change.

The history of Host is associated with the literary review of the same name, which first appeared in 1985 as a samizdat antho­ logy. The Host book-publishing house was established in the 1990s for poetry and li­terary theory, genres to which it remains true. Since the Nineties, the publishing house has been owned by Miroslav Balaštík, Tomáš Reichel and Martin Stöhr.

You can view our books and meet our au­thors and team at regular events, in­cluding author’s readings, panel discussions and book fairs. We take part every year in the interna­ tional book fairs in Frankfurt, London, Bo­logna and, of course, Prague, as well as fairs in other parts of the Czech Republic.

Contents Fiction Lidmila Kábrtová Waiting for the Trigger / Čekání na spoušť novel; 7

Dita Táborská Black Tongues / Černé jazyky novel; 8

Michal Vrba Ask the Devil / Zeptej se ďábla novel; 9

Simona Bohatá Benny Has All the Luck / Klikař Beny novel; 10

Petra Klabouchová Sources of the Moldau / Prameny Vltavy detective novel; 11

Michal Sýkora A Case for an Exorcist / Případ pro exorcistu detective novel; 12

Fantasy

Children’s books

Jan Kucin When Stars Fell / Když padaly hvězdy

Marek Baroš Stories from the Dump / Pohádky ze skládky

fantasy novel; 13

Jan Hamouz The Third Ear / Třetí ucho fantasy novel; 14

Sci-fi Pavel Bareš The Cronos Legacy / Kronův odkaz sci-fi novel; 15

children’s book; 16

Non-fiction Jan Němec, Petr Vizina Signs of the Unknown / Znamení neznámého book of interviews; 17

Zuzana jede k moři, aby vymazala děsivý sen. Jitka se stydí za faldy na břiše a nechce se s nikým srovnávat. Hana při náhodné cestě autem nalezne svoji babičku. Pavel našel klid při práci v lese a už nechce nic pokazit. Iveta obléká mrtvé a skrývá vytetovaného hada. A Libor prostě jen fotografuje… Patří k sobě, jsou svým způsobem jedna rodina, přesto se míjejí.

Povídkový román Čekání na spoušť je kronikou takového míjení, prostírající se na ploše sedmdesáti let. Kniha v koncentrované podobě ohledává, jak zdánlivě nedůležitá rozhodnutí jedněch ovlivňují životy druhých a jak se nenápadná událost může dotknout někoho, o kom to vůbec netušíme.

LIDMILA KÁBRTOVÁ

Lidmila Kábrtová (born 1971) is the ­author of Grey / Šedivák, a radio play for children with a ČRo award-winning screenplay.

She has written a number of plays for the ČRo Vltava (Czech Radio 3) project One-minute Plays / Minutové hry. Her Hrdinové a převážně hrdinky povídek nesou svůj osud statečně, first work of fiction was the experimental s určitou dávkou smíření a pochopení a mnohdy i sebeobětování, jako kdyby věřili,Foxes že na další pokolení přece jenom kdesi v budoucnu Whom Drink Up / Koho vypijou čeká onen klid a kousek štěstí, v nějž doufali pro sebe. Čtivá a pravdivá kniha Lidmily Kábrtové nabízí čtenáři potěchu z obrazů života lišky (2013), which comprises chapters namalovaných slovy a pocit, že povídky v knize jsou vlastně o nás. of exactly fifty words. Her second book Alena Mornštajnová, spisovatelka Places in the Dark / Místa ve tmě (2018) won the Czech Literary Fund Award.

299 Kč ISBN 978-80-275-0793-1

A novel in eight stories about bad decisions, misunderstandings and hope.

to be published in October

novel hardback 199 pages isbn 978-80-275-0741-2

7

LIDMILA KÁBRTOVÁ

ČEKÁNÍ NA SPOUŠŤ

Host

ROMÁN V OSMI PŘÍBĚZÍCH O ŠPATNÝCH ROZHODNUTÍCH, NEPOCHOPENÍ I NADĚJI

Waiting for the Trigger / Čekání na spoušť

ČEKÁNÍ NA SPOUŠŤ

Lidmila Kábrtová

Zuzana travels to the sea to erase a terrifying dream. Jitka is ashamed of her flabby belly and won’t be compared with anyone. When out driving, Hana happens across her grandmother. Having found peace at work in the woods, Pavel hopes he won’t make any more mistakes. Iveta dresses the dead and hides her snake tattoo. And all Libor does is take photographs… These people belong to­gether — in a way, they are family; yet they keep missing each other.

To enjoy life, we need to find meaning in the everyday — not just through spiritual fulfilment and liberation, but also when faced with stultifying banality; with those close to us and whom we love, and also with those who have wronged us. The problem is, experiences, emotions, gestures and utterances often pass each other by; where there might be understanding, there is grievance, blankness and pain. But every such missed encounter invites us to seek out empathy, perhaps even forgiveness.

Set over a period of seventy years, Lidmila Kábrtová’s novel of interconnected stories chronicles such missed encounters. Each protagonist of Waiting for the Trigger tells her / his own story while trying to make sense of it.

Fiction

Dita Táborská

Black Tongues / Černé jazyky

8

d it a táborská

Dita Táborská (born 1981) graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Prague’s Charles University. She joined the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009 and worked at the Czech Embassy in Ulaanbataar from 2009 to 2012. Since 2018, she has worked at the Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei. Her first novel Malinka / Malinka, about a family’s adoption of a child, appeared in 2017. It was followed by Běsa / Běsa (2018), which shares a temporal and thematic framework with Malinka. Both books were very well received by readers and the literary community.

A story of a search for truth and one’s own place in history, set in Taiwan.

to be published in October

novel hardback 296 pages

černé jazyky h o s t

Taiwanese Bao likes to have life under control. He has a great career, his children go to high-prestige schools, and he is apparently undisturbed by his dysfunctional relationship with ex-wife Sedrika. In Taiwan, so much is about not losing face — under any circumstances.

All this changes suddenly when Sedrika comes down with an incurable disease and Bao’s son David chooses to meet his uncle Tao, with whom Bao has quarrelled — apparently over their inheritance. Family wrongs and lies long kept in obscurity reveal themselves in layers, resulting in fundamental change in Bao’s life and the lives of those around him. Nothing is as it seems. And nothing turns out as the protagonists of this novel would wish.

The character of Bao and the story of his family reflect the experience of his severely tested homeland and the agonies of his ancestors, reaching far into the past.

Through the eyes of its various characters, the novel Black Tongues addresses the fragility of our ideas about truth, duty, honour and love, showing just how hard it is to face the outside world in a spirit of truth and sincerity.

isbn 978-80-275-0689-7

Fiction

Michal Vrba (born 1976) studied Czech Language and Civics at J. A. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. In Bohemia, he has worked as a teacher, a carpenter’s assistant and a traffic reporter. In Scotland, he has been a dock worker and a truck driver.

He now works for a small family printing firm and a fishery in Chlumec, North Bohemia. His published works are the psychological novella Sling / Prak (2016) and the short stories Around Jakub / Kolem Jakuba (2019), the latter of which was shortlisted for a Magnesia Litera award.

You can’t escape your past. It will overtake you and be waiting at the end of the world.

published in September

novel hardback

Ask the Devil / Zeptej se ďábla

9

H O S T

Michal Vrba

František Horák was nicknamed Red-hot Rage. That was under the past regime, when his methods of investigation were still feared by all, and a pair of shoes remained at the site of a strange suicide. Who on Earth removes their shoes before jumping to their death from a cliff?

All this is now forgotten. Horák lives in retirement in Ústí nad Labem, North Bohemia, glad that no one seems to recognize him. For comfort, he has his closed religious community and the Pastor who leads it. But then some strange signs appear, and it is as though the devil were not a symbolic figure but someone you might run into. The coming of the devil brings with it the return of the past. The day of reckoning is approaching.

Michal Vrba first came to readers’ attention with Around Jakub, a collection of short stories that moves about in history, from the Middle Ages to the present day. His tightly plotted new book employs techniques of detective and fantasy fiction in demonstration of an acute social awareness.

293 pages isbn 978-80-275-0782-5

Fiction

Simona Bohatá

Benny Has All the Luck / Klikař Beny

10

Odvrácená strana Rudého práva

Simona Bohatá (born 1965) spent her adolescent years in Žižkov, the famous Prague suburb. This place had a great influence on her, as did the Prague music and theatre scene of the 1980s.

For many years she wrote (song lyrics and other things) for her eyes only.

Máňa and the Rest of Us / Máňa a my druzí (2017), Simona Bohatá’s first work, is a gently ironic description of her childhood and adolescence in 1980s Žižkov. Her second book They’re All So Embarrassing / Všichni sou trapný (2019) was very well received.

389 Kč

Simona Bohatá

Ušmudlaný, rozpadající se svět dělnických kolonií, hospod a sběrných surovin osmdesátých let minulého století a živoucí svět bizarních postaviček, které jej obývají.

Mladík Beny odchází z domu před násilnickým otcem a nalézá útočiště ve sběrně svérázného Fabrikanta. Spolu s invalidou Hanym, fluktuantkou Julčou a bráchou Víťanem tvoří jakousi podivnou rodinu, v níž má každý své tajemství i temné stránky, ale také onu hrabalovskou perličku na dně. Beny se potřebuje vyvázat z vojenské základní služby, vydělat trochu peněz, najít si práci a bydlení a hlavně čas, aby se mohl věnovat své jediné vášni – fotografování. To, co se zdá být dnes banálně jednoduché, představovalo za reálného socialismu raných osmdesátých let dobrodružství na hraně, či spíše za hranou zákona. Zvlášť když je vám sotva dvacet a s ničím si moc nelámete hlavu.

atá Simona Boh

Host

isbn 978-80-275-0740-5

The grimy, crumbling 1980s world of workers’ colonies, pubs and household-waste sites, and the bizarre characters who inhabit it.

Bohata--Klikar-Beny--Potah (Conflicted copy from HVSPC031 on 2021-06-04).indd 1

published in September

Having left home to escape an abusive father, young Benny finds refuge at a dump run by the eccentric Fabrikant. Benny, the disabled Hanny, a drifter called Julča and Benny’s brother Viťan make up a strange ‘­family’, in which each has secrets and dark sides, as well as a Hrabalesque ‘pearl at the bottom’. Benny needs to avoid doing his basic military service, to earn a little money, and to find work, a place to live and — above all — time to devote to photography, his only passion. In the real socialism of the early 1980s, what appear to us now to be simple, banal matters were highrisk adventures barely within or even against the law.

And the danger was particularly acute if you were only just twenty and not ready to think things through.

The novel Benny Has All the Luck is a loose continuation of Simona Bohatá’s second book They’re All So Embarrassing.

7.6.2021 16:55:53

novel hardback 368 pages isbn 978-80-275-0740-5

Fiction

Petra Klabouchová

Sources of the Moldau / Prameny Vltavy

11

Petra Klabouchová (born 1980) worked for several years for the regional press and television. She now divides her time between Italy, the USA and the Czech ­Republic, working in the music industry as ­manager of a number of rock groups. She is author of the no­vels The Last Cuban Oranges / Poslední kubánské pomeranče (2012), The Golden Pharaoh Deception / Podvod zlatého faraona (2019) and The English Garden / Anglická zahrada (2020). For children, she has published the two-part Vampire Stories / Upíří storky series.

A frozen girl with a Star of David and never‑to‑be forgotten injustice in the Bohemian Forest.

to be published in October

detective novel hardback 303 pages isbn 978-80-275-0741-2

Locals in the borderlands with Germany are shaken by a gruesome discovery — that of the body of a student from the grammar school in Vimperk. It is as though the hills of the Bohemian Forest have spewed forth their contents. The dead girl is dressed in the ‘uniform’ of a Jew, which presents tabloid journalists with a juicy titbit and an ageing police superintendent with a new opportunity. While the super sees his chance to gain recognition from colleagues and loved ones alike, so restoring his tarnished reputation, memories of longago injustice are stirring among the locals.

Each shift in the investigation draws the story of the dead girl closer to the truth about the Sources of the Mol­ dau concentration camp. The girl’s striped pyjamas bring the unexplained fates of Soviet prisoners-of-war and Hitler’s secret factory under Table Mountain forcefully into the present. But what is the connection between the girl’s murder and the Sources of the Moldau camp?

And what secrets have the hills of the Bohemian Forest yet to reveal?

Tale of detection set in the present time against a backdrop of real historical events connected with Sources of the Moldau, a secret concentration camp.

Fiction

Michal Sýkora

A Case for an Exorcist / Případ pro exorcistu

12

„…jde o napínavou, věrohodnou a do poslední chvíle tajemnou detektivku klasického typu, ovšem obohacenou o většinu prvků, které používají současní světoví autoři, především snahu o věrohodnost prostředí i příběhu.“

PŘÍPAD PRO EXORCISTU

Revidované vydání prvního případu Marie Výrové

MICHAL JAREŠ, PAVEL MANDYS: DĚJINY ČESKÉ DETEKTIVKY

UKÁZKA Z KNIHY

MICHAL SÝKORA

Michal Sýkora (born 1971) debuted as a novelist in 2012 with A Case for an Exorcist, the first of his highly successful Marie přistoupila ke sequence dveřím do domu... featuring Ještě jednou se zhluboka nadechla, odjistila pojistku na zbrani, Commissioner Výrová.

It is zády se opřela o zeď na straně dveřních pantů a le-followed vačkou do dveří strčila. Čistý vzduch. S namířenou in the series by Blue Shadows / Modré zbraní dveře prudce rozrazila — předsíň byla prázdná, stejně jako výsek chodby, který viděla. Po schodech stíny (2013), It’s Not Over Yet / Ještě dolů někdo scházel. Z místa, kde stála, na schodiště neviděla, tak se bystře prosmýkla předsíňkou, zved- Dogs / Pět není konec (2016), Five Dead la zbraň — a vtom se do jejího zorného pole dostal Karel Karas. Scházel po schodech dolů, v ruce Worst pušku. mrtvých psů (2018) and Fears / Nejhorší obavy (2020). The prize-​ winning TV mini-series sequence Detectives of the Holy Trinity / Detektivové od Nejsvětější Trojice is based on Sýkora’s Výrová novels; it has also369been shown abroad.

Kč

MICHAL SÝKORA PŘÍPAD PRO EXORCISTU

Pouhých deset let a pět knih stačilo k tomu, aby se komisařka Výrová stala jednou z nejpopulárnějších postav současné české detektivky.

V kostele ve Štěpánově nedaleko Olomouce je nalezeno tělo mladé ženy, které vzbuzuje dojem, že se stala obětí podivného rituálu. Komisařka Výrová se v rámci rozplétání záhady, do níž jsou zapleteni místní kněz, záletný ornitolog a vyšinutý pseudoznalec náboženských sekt, pohybuje mezi typickou hanáckou vesnicí, zalidněnou svéráznými postavami, a olomouckou univerzitou. Mezitím mrtví přibývají, zatímco podezřelých neubývá…

Případ pro exorcistu naplňuje všechny znaky dobře napsané detektivky: bizarní vražda, napínavé pátrání, dramatické zvraty, zdařile dávkovaný humor, věrohodně vykreslené prostředí i postavy, a především sympatický tým detektivů. Úspěšnou seriálovou adaptaci natočila podle scénáře Petra Jarchovského Česká televize. V režii Jana Hřebejka se hlavní role zhostila Klára Melíšková.

První případ Marie Výrové ze série Detektivové od Nejsvětější Trojice

HOST

ISBN 978-80-275-0817-4

23.8.2021 16:52:19

It has taken five novels and just ten years for Police Commissioner Výrová to become one of the most popular figures in contemporary Czech thriller writing.

to be published in October

detective novel

Second, revised edition of the story of Marie Výrová’s first case.

The body of a young woman is found in a church in Štěpánov, not far from Olomouc. First impressions suggest that she was the victim of a strange ritual. In her quest to crack a case in which the local priest, a philandering ornithologist and the crazed pseudo-wiseman of a religious sect are involved, Commissioner Výrová moves between a village of classic Haná-region eccentrics and the University of Olomouc. As the body count rises, so, too, does the number of suspects…

A Case for an Exorcist bears all the hallmarks of a well-written detective story: a bizarre murder, a thrilling investigation, dramatic twists, well-placed humour, credible characters in an authentic milieu, and — above all — a likeable team of detectives.

This work has been made into a successful Czech Television series.

hardback 309 pages isbn 978-80-275-0817-4

Fiction

Jan Kucin

When Stars Fell / Když padaly hvězdy

13

P�vodní��eská�fantasy� o sv�t�﹐�z n�hož� zmizela�magie� Kerin na sebe vzal břímě temnoty, které nikdo jiný z Lovců nechtěl nést. Se šířící se temnotou se snažil bojovat i nyní.

Kráčel opatrně a neslyšně lesem. Luk nachystaný, se založeným šípem. Našlapoval tak lehce, že nepraskla ani jediná větvička. Vládlo neobvyklé ticho. Věděl proč. Stopoval šelmu. Pokoušel se ji najít už několik měsíců. Chtěl zjistit, kdo nebo co má na svědomí všechna ta ohavná úmrtí, která se stala pravidelnou součástí divočiny. S ničím takovým se dosud nesetkal. Nejprve si myslel, že je to dílo nějakého šíleného zvířete, pravděpodobně nemocného, co zabíjí pro radost či z bolesti. Nedávno mu však myslí projela vlna pochopení. Kerinovi se ten obraz před očima objevil jako hora zničehonic se nořící z ranní mlhy. Ještě ten den se rozloučil s Devou a vydal se na výpravu.

Věděl, že se nevrátí, dokud nezjistí, zda má pravdu.

když� padaly� Jan Kucin (born 1990) comes from hv�zdy Brno, where he is likely to stay forever.

He has always been a reader, and the older he gets, the more he reads.

In recent years, his love for the fantasy jan� genre in all its forms — book, film, comkucin� puter game — has inspired him to write.

The novel When Stars Fell is his first published work. He is a keen sportsman whose life is inseparable from the baseballU club Hroši Brno. Having graduated in Physical Education and Civics from Brno’s Masaryk University, he is now a grammar-school teacher.

ko runa�sn�

KÁZKA Z KNIHY

ISBN 978-80-275-0791-7

host

Před šesti sty lety se lidé vzepřeli bezohledné tyranii prastarých mágů a rozpoutali válku, po níž nenávratně zmizela ze světa kouzelná moc. Teď se však zdá, že se magie vrací, a nikdo netuší, co všechno se může navrátit spolu s ní.

Erik je synem nejbohatšího šlechtice Elisianského království. Jeho bezpečný a poklidný život, soustředěný na studia a knihy, se však ze dne na den zcela změní. S dávným otcovým přítelem, legendárním stárnoucím pirátem Solomonem Hejkem, se Erik vydává na výpravu za tajemným magickým stromem.

Cesta je zavede do pustých lesů Vrbenské vrchoviny, kterou obývají záhadní Lovci a kde se stíny minulosti noří do stále temnějších hlubin.

Mezitím se Erikův otec a starší bratr Dorian potýkají se zkaženým zločineckým podsvětím. I oni jsou však vystaveni podivným úkazům, jež naznačují příchod nové, neklidné a nebezpečné doby.

449 Kč

Fantasy fiction debut, set in a world that has lost its magic.

published in September

fantasy novel hardback

Six hundred years ago the people rose up against the ruthless tyranny of the ancient sorcerers, so unleashing a war that ended with the removal of magic powers from the world. But now the magic appears to be returning, and no one knows what will return along with it.

Erik, son of the wealthiest nobleman in the Kingdom of Elisian, is living in security and serenity, immersed in study and books, when, from one day to the next, his world is turned on its head. With the legendary ageing pirate Solomon Hejk, an old friend of his father’s, he embarks on an expedition in search of a magic tree of which little is known.

The journey takes them to the bleak woods of the Vrben­ská highlands, home of the mysterious Hunters, where shadows of the past sink to ever greater depths.

Meanwhile, Erik’s father and older brother Dorian are battling the corrupt criminal underworld. They, too, are exposed to strange phenomena that announce the coming of a new, unsettled, dangerous age.

589 pages isbn 978-80-275-0782-5

Fantasy

Jan Hamouz

The Third Ear / Třetí ucho PTAČÍ SRDCE

Jan Hamouz (born 1986) lives in Prague and makes his living designing bridges. In 2016, his short story Camel-hair Brush / Štětec z vel­bloudí srsti was a prize-winning entry in the Mercenaries of Fantasy / Žoldnéři fantazie competition; his short story The Chirper / Cvrdlikáček achieved the same distinction in 2017.

The Half-King / Poloviční král, his debut novel and the first in an extensive series called Birds’ Hearts / Ptačí srdce, was published in 2018. The Third Ear is the second book in the series.

14

KNIHA DRUHÁ

JAN HAMOUZ

HOST

The Birds’ Hearts saga is a voluptuous read with a slow, rolling force that embraces, then engulfs.

to be published in November

fantasy novel

Of twenty-one lands, only ten remain. Trat’Hys would be devastated…

Erenesia is falling apart before Dar’Hys’s eyes. But why manage a sick kingdom when you have wine and women to keep you warm? Dar’Hys can flee from his problems northwards and southwards, but his inner demons will always be with him.

After the Horn army nailed his father to the stake, young Oldenik took his place as Lord of the Iron Leaf.

But the gods can be cruel: before the boy knows what is happening, his legacy is snatched away. Having previously worried only about getting enough to eat, he must now battle to survive.

And then there is Iko, an Erenesian physician of great renown who has tended kings, princes, lords, warriors and ordinary mortals. Now he must do battle with the gods. To reach the end of the thorn-strewn path to victory he is prepared to make huge sacrifices…

paperback 800 pages isbn 978-80-275-0822-8

Fantasy

Pavel Bareš

The Cronos Legacy / Kronův odkaz

15

Pavel Bareš

Pavel Bareš (born 1994) made his literary debut in 2016 with the novel The Cronos Project / Projekt Kronos which was very well received and published in two editions. In 2019, a continuation of this book, Children of Cronos / Kronovy děti, was published. In addition to this highly successful series, he is author of the hit superhero thriller Meta / Meta (2020), which was twice shortlisted in the 2020 Humbook Awards (for Best Book for Young Adults and Best Czech Book).

Tváří v tvář skutečnosti se sen o osamělém hrdinovi stává noční můrou.

HOST

The civil war is over.

The concluding part of The Cronos Project trilogy.

to be published in November

sci-fi novel hardback

Civil war has laid waste to Attiona City and monuments to those who swore to protect it. But now the war is over. The Downtown Uprising has achieved freedom for the city under the Plateau — but at the cost of hunger, lawlessness and police tyranny. Only now that Central and Downtown are irreversibly separated is it clear that each depends on the other for survival. As the city teeters on the brink of collapse, the final powerplay is about to commence. Who will end up under the ruins?

Luco Scarpa has exchanged an opportunity to escape for a chance to inflict a last, fatal blow on the Institute. Although John Arrows knows a losing battle when he sees one, before he leaves the sinking ship, he must eliminate a few security risks. Meanwhile, Brea Kensington, just named Duquesa of the largest mafia gang this side of the Plateau, is determined to complete the work her mother was unable to finish.

Attiona is on borrowed time. Now more than ever, it has need of its protector.

The very protector it buried.

520 pages isbn 978-80-275-0823-5

Sci-fi

Marek Baroš

Stories from the Dump / Pohádky ze skládky

16

Marek Baroš (born 1973) lives and works in Valašské Meziříčí. His professional life is devoted to literature and theatre, his spare time to the visual arts.

Stories from the Dump has twice been adapted for the stage — by the author and by Kacafírek, a company of puppeteers from Chrudim.

Illustrator Ester Nemjó (born 1992) graduated from the Studio of Film and TV Graphics of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Her interests are painting, book illustration, animated film, graphic art, ceramics and music.

What happens to toys after they are thrown away?

published in September

4+ children’s book

illustrations by Ester Nemjó

Bibi is a charming blonde Barbie doll who lives happily in a tall building with a little girl called Zanda. Then one day, in the heat of the game, one of Bibi’s legs comes off, throwing Zanda into such a tizzy that she drops Bibi into the dustbin! Lying in a pizza box, missing a leg and her dress, lovely Bibi finds herself at the dump.

Is this the end of the story? Of course it isn’t! It’s just the beginning.

At the dump, the one-legged doll makes some extraordinary friends — a greedy Teddy with a kind heart, a dashing cowboy and an angular robot. As they help her make a new life for herself, Bibi realizes the great value of selfless friendship. Bibi and her new friends embark on one adventure after another. Maybe she will even succeed in getting back to Zanda’s room!

This entertaining story for young readers is a remarkable parable about ‘life after life’ in the toy world.

It radiates warmth, truth and hope.

hardback 96 pages isbn 978-80-275-0597-5

Children’s books

Petr Vizina (born 1967) is a graduate in Theology. He works at the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles Uni­ ver­sity, Prague. For seven years he headed the Culture Desk at Czech 978-80-275-0821-1 Tele­visionISBN News.

Petr Vizina is a wincena 369 Kč ner of the ­Josef Dobrovský Prize.

Conversations on spiri­ tuality. Nine stories about what has been forgotten. Nine testi­ monies about signs of the un­known among us.

rozhovory o spiritualitě

jan němec ————— petr vizina

17

host

Jan Němec (born 1981) is a graduate in Religious Studies and Sociology.

He is author of the novels A History of Light / Dějiny světla (2013), for which he was awarded an EU Prize for Literature, and Ways of Writing about Love / Možnosti milostného románu (2019), which was shortlisted for a Magnesia Litera award.

znamení neznámého

Signs of the Unknown / Znamení neznámého

znamení neznámého

Hledáme, co nelze nalézt, a ve šťastných chvílích nacházíme, co nelze hledat. Snadno by se dalo mluvit o spiritualitě, nebo dokonce o mystické zkušenosti, především jsme však sbírali příběhy vnitřní proměny. Muzikantka, kněz, malíř, překladatelka, básník, ekolog, filosofka, opat zenového kláštera a řádová sestra, ti všichni zde hovoří o tom, o čem se nejprve musí dlouho mlčet — a to může být trauma i tajemství, skutečnost před slovy i za nimi. Jaké to je, když člověk hledá sám sebe a najde něco daleko víc? Devět rozhovorů o vnitřním životě, devět příběhů o tom, na co jsme zapomněli, devět svědectví o znameních neznámého mezi námi.

shina ————— petr vacík ————— jan pražan ————— markéta crowe ————— adam borzič ————— ————— jiří zemánek ————— alice koubová ————— jiří hazlbauer ————— denisa červenková

Jan Němec, Petr Vizina

We seek what cannot be found. In our happier moments, we find what cannot be sought. To speak in this connection of spirituality, even of mystical experience, would be easy, but the main criterion for inclusion in this volume is evidence of inner transformation.

A musician, a priest, a painter, a translator, a poet, an ecologist, a philosopher, an abbot at a Zen monastery, a nun: all speak here of things they once had to be silent about; traumas and secrets; realities concealed and revealed. What is it like to go in search of oneself and then find something far greater? Nine conversations about inner life.

to be published in October

book of interviews hardback 256 pages isbn 978-80-275-0821-1

Non-fiction

Highly recommended

+19

to be published

Alena Mornštajnová

500,000 copies sold books published in 12 languages (English, German, Arabic, Polish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Croatian, Latvian, Slovak, Greek and Hungarian), rights sold to France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Turkey, The Netherlands and Serbia

Kateřina Tučková

+4

to be published

260,000 copies sold books published in 18 languages (English, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Arabic, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Belarusian, Greek and Latvian), rights sold to Lithuania

Jan Němec

20,000 copies sold books published in 12 languages (German, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Polish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Slovenian and Latvian), rights sold to Russia and Albania

Petra Soukupová

165,000 copies sold books published in 12 languages (German, Italian, Russian, Slovenian, Polish, Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Serbian, Albanian and Vietnamese), rights sold to Syria and Denmark

+13

to be published

+3

to be published

Viktorie Hanišová

40,000 copies sold books published in 6 languages (German, Spanish, Catalan, Arabic, Macedonian and Bulgarian), rights sold to Italy, Poland and Croatia

Jiří Hájíček

110,000 copies sold books published in 9 languages (English, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Belarussian, Polish, Bulgarian and Ukrainian), rights sold to Albania, Syria and Slovenia

+5

to be published

+9

to be published

Selected backlist

Julie and Words / Julie mezi slovy children’s book; 2013, 2020

Antonín Bajaja Burying the Season / Na krásné modré Dřevnici novel; 2009

I am Hunger / Já jsem hlad non-fiction; 2009, 2013

Pavel Bareš Meta / Meta fantasy thriller; 2020 Children of Cronos / Kronovy děti fantasy novel; 2019 The Cronos Project / Projekt Kronos fantasy novel; 2017, 2019 Simona Bohatá They’re All So Embarassing / Všichni sou trapný novella; 2019 Vendula Borůvková Annie and the Berleps / Annie a berlepsové children’s book; 2014 Lenka Brodecká Looking for a Star / Hledá se hvězda children’s book; 2015 Miloš Doležal To the Last / Do posledních sil documentary short stories; 2020 Čurda from Hlína / Čurda z Hlíny documentary short stories; 2019 Petra Dvořáková Crows / Vrány novella; 2020 The Surgeon / Chirurg novel; 2019, 2020

Transformed Dreams / Proměněné sny non-fiction; 2006, 2013 Jan Folný A Weekend in London / Víkend v Londýně novel; 2018 Little Queers / Buzíčci short stories; 2013 Jiří Hájíček Sailing Ships on Labels / Plachetnice na vinětách novel; 2020, 2021 The Rainstick / Dešťová hůl novel; 2016, 2017 Memories of a Village Dance / Vzpomínky na jednu vesnickou tancovačku short stories; 2014, 2015 Fish Blood / Rybí krev novel; 2012, 2014 Football Diaries / Fotbalové deníky novella; 2007 Rustic Baroque / Selský baroko novel; 2005, 2009, 2013 The Green Horse Rustlers / Zloději zelených koní novel; 2001, 2016 Viktorie Hanišová Concrete and Clay / Beton a hlína book of interviews; 2021 A Long Track / Dlouhá trať short stories; 2020 Reconstruction / Rekonstrukce novel; 2019, 2020

The Village / Dědina novel; 2018, 2020

The Mushroom Gatherer / Houbařka novel; 2018, 2020

Everyone Has a Line to Hold / Každý má svou lajnu children’s book; 2017

Anežka / Anežka novel; 2015

The Net / Sítě three short stories; 2016

Irena Hejdová Get Your Bare Foot Off Your Brother! / Nedráždi bráchu bosou nohou children’s book; 2020

Flouk and Lila / Flouk a Líla children’s book; 2015

Matěj Hořava Stopover / Mezipřistání novella; 2020 Distilled Spirit / Pálenka novella; 2014 Lidmila Kábrtová Places in the Dark / Místa ve tmě short stories; 2018 Whom Foxes Drink Up / Koho vypijou lišky short stories; 2013 Jakuba Katalpa Zuzana’s Breath / Zuzanin dech novel; 2020, 2021 The Den / Doupě novel; 2017, 2021 Germans / Němci novel; 2012, 2014 Jana Kloučková Kudrnová, Petra Tomášková One Two in the Woods / Jedna dvě v lese children’s book; 2020 Přemysl Krejčík Chocolate for the Wehrmacht / Čokoláda pro Wehrmacht diesel punk novel / alternative history; 2021 Little NY / Malej NY novel / thriller; 2019 Martina Leierová This Town, This River / Toto město, tato řeka novel; 2021 House With a Borrowed View / Dům s vypůjčeným výhledem novel; 2017 Eugen Liška The Creation / Stvoření novel; 2017 Petra Machová The Bond of Shadow / Pouto stínu fantasy YA novel; 2019 Dragontown / Dračí město fantasy YA novel; 2018 Vratislav Maňák Rubik’s Cube / Rubikova kostka novel; 2016

Polythene Clothes / Šaty z igelitu short stories; 2011 Alena Mornštajnová November Fall / Listopád novel; 2021 The Years of Silence / Tiché roky novel; 2019, 2021 Hana / Hana novel; 2017, 2018 The Little Hotel / Hotýlek novel; 2015, 2018 Blind Map / Slepá mapa novel; 2013, 2018 Ivana Myšková White Animals Are Very Often Deaf / Bílá zvířata jsou velmi často hluchá short stories; 2017 Luděk Navara New Iron Curtain Stories / Nové příběhy železné opony non-fiction; 2007 Iron Curtain Stories 2 / Příběhy železné opony 2 non-fiction; 2006 Iron Curtain Stories / Příběhy železné opony non-fiction; 2004, 2020 Jan Němec Ways of Writing about Love / Možnosti milostného románu novel; 2019, 2020 A History of Light / Dějiny světla novel; 2013, 2014 Jiří Padevět Republic / Republika book of short prose; 2020 Dreams and Axes / Sny a sekyry book of short prose; 2019 Barbed Wire and Nooses / Ostny a oprátky book of short prose; 2018 Martin Pecina Books and Typography / Knihy a typo­grafie non-fiction; 2011, 2012, 2017 Daniel Petr Nurse Death / Sestra smrt detective novel; 2018

The Magpie on the Gallows / Straka na šibenici novel; 2015 Michal Přibáň Only Twice for Everything / Všechno je jenom dvakrát novel; 2016 Nela Rywiková Children of Anger / Děti hněvu detective novel; 2016 House No. 6 / Dům číslo 6 detective novel; 2013 Petra Slováková Lord of the Wizards / Pán čarodějů fantasy YA novel; 2020 Fragments of Time / Střípky času fantasy YA novel; 2019 Petra Soukupová Things Whose Time Has Come / Věci, na které nastal čas novel; 2020, 2021 Weird Kids’ Club / Klub divných dětí children’s book; 2019 Who Killed Snowy? / Kdo zabil Snížka? children’s book; 2017 Best for Everybody / Nejlepší pro všechny novel; 2017, 2018 Under the Snow / Pod sněhem novel; 2015, 2015 Bertie and the Snuffler / Bertík a čmuchadlo children’s book; 2014 Marta in the Year of the Alien / Marta v roce vetřelce novel / diary; 2011 To Disappear / Zmizet three short stories; 2009, 2011 To the Seaside / K moři novella; 2007 Petra Stehlíková Nasterea / Nasterea fantasy novel; 2021 Faja / Faja fantasy novel; 2017 The Listener / Naslouchač fantasy novel; 2016

Michal Sýkora Worst Fears / Nejhorší obavy three detective stories; 2020 Five Dead Dogs / Pět mrvých psů detective novel; 2018 It’s Not Over Yet / Ještě není konec detective novel; 2016 Blue Shadows / Modré stíny detective novel; 2013 Tereza Ščerbová Kooki / Krtník children’s book; 2016 Jakub Špičák Jamie’s Journey / Kubíkova cesta children’s book; 2021 Dita Táborská Běsa / Běsa novel; 2018 Malinka / Malinka novel; 2017 Kateřina Tučková The Last Goddess / Žítkovské bohyně novel; 2012, 2013 Gerta / Vyhnání Gerty Schnirch novel; 2009, 2010 Vladimíra Valová To the Interior / Do vnitrozemí short stories; 2017 Lukáš Vavrečka Tesla Noir / Tesla Noir sci-fi thriller; 2020 Sára Vybíralová Trigger / Spoušť short stories; 2015