foreign rights catalogue 2019
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
Host has long been one of the most prestigious Czech publishers, especially in the area of contemporary Czech fiction, translated fiction, crime novels and thrillers, poetry, non-fiction and specialist literature. Now Host publishes children’s, SF, fantasy and YA literature, too.
The roots and interests of Brno based Host Publishers are linked with the magazine of the same name, which first appeared, in samizdat, in 1985. On the Czech book market Host now has the profile of a prac tically unique phenomenon. This is thanks to its well established editorial series, authors whose names are among the most prestigious and successful in Czech litera ture and the Host monthly magazine, which reflects on and enriches the Czech literary scene. Host has introduced to Czech read ers the crime novels of Stieg Larsson, David Lagercrantz, Lars Kepler, J ussi Adler -Olsen, Peter May and Henning Mankell, which have been quick to occupy the top of the sales charts. Books by Czech authors Kateřina Tučková, Alena Mornštajnová, Petra Soukupová, Jan Balabán, Jiří Hájíček and Bianca Bellová have also become bestsellers. But Host can of course take pride
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in more than just its leading role in the sales charts. The content of its catalogue of pub lications is of remarkably high quality and includes many leading writers from abroad, including Jeffrey Eugenides, Olga Tokarczuk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Muriel Barbery, Fredrik Backman, Elena Chizhova and Czech writers including Antonín Bajaja, Radka Denemarková, Jakuba Katalpa, Jan Němec, Ivana Myšková, Petra Dvořáková and Viktorie Hanišová. Host provides opportunities for début authors, too, be they poets, prose writers or scholars of literature (e.g. Matěj Hořava, Dita Táborská, Vladimíra Valová). Host has also provided a home for the prestigious Czech Library / Česká knižnice series of high-quality editions of classic Czech works. Since 2009 Host has published annually a volume en titled The Best Czech Poetry / Nejlepší české básně.
Contents
Alena Mornštajnová Years of Silence / Tiché roky novel; 7
Jan Němec Ways of Writing about Love / Možnosti milostného románu novel; 8
Viktorie Hanišová Reconstruction / Rekonstrukce novel; 9
Petra Dvořáková The Surgeon / Chirurg novel; 10
Jakub Dotlačil When We Put Out the Lights / Až zhasneme novel; 11
Přemysl Krejčík Little NY / Malej NY novel / thriller; 12
Simona Bohatá They’re All So Embarrassing / Všichni sou trapný novella; 13
Martin Skořepa The Turin Horse Ritual / Rituál Turínského koně novella; 14
Jiří Padevět Dreams and Axes / Sny a sekyry book of short prose; 15
Miloš Doležal Čurda from Hlína / Čurda z Hlíny documentary short stories; 16
Jiří Hájíček Man on the Point of Ignition / Muž na pokraji vzplanutí poetry; 17
Pavel Bareš Children of Cronos / Kronovy děti fantasy novel; 18
Petra Slováková Fragments of Time / Střípky času fantasy YA novel; 19
Jan‑Marek Šík, Lenka Šíková The Ritual / Rituál fantasy YA novel; 20
Petra Machová The Bond of Shadow / Pouto stínu fantasy YA novel; 21
Vilém Koubek Organic Noose / Organická oprátka post‑apocalyptic novel; 22
Alena Mornštajnová
Years of Silence / Tiché roky
7
Alena Mornštajnová (born 1963) is a prose writer, the author of five books. She is currently No. 1 bestselling author in the Czech Republic, with more than 230,000 copies of her books sold. Her novel Hana / Hana is being trans‑ lated into twelve languages, including English and Italian. For this novel, the author received the 2017 Czech Book Award (both the main prize and the Students’ Award) and the Databáze knih Award (2017 Book of the Year and New Book of 2017). Film rights have been sold to Happy Celluloid.
Unlike Alena Mornštajnová’s previous novels, Years of Silence is an intimate family drama; here, the main role is played by chance and human character rather than a great theme of history.
published in April 2019
novel hardback 296 pages isbn 978-80-7577-911-3
There are many things we don’t know about those closest to us. Bohdana is an introverted young girl who lives with her morose father and the kind‑hearted, submissive Běla. She is troubled by tension at home and a question she can’t get out of her head: On her last visit to the hos pital, why did her gravely‑ill grandmother address her as “Blanka”? In a parallel story, Svatopluk Žák has dedicated his life to the building of socialism and his love for his wife and daughter, whose future will be as brilliant as a star on the red flag. If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans, as the saying goes. When the two sto ries meet, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seemed, and that things certainly aren’t as they should be. Like Hana / Hana, Mornštajnová’s most successful work to date, it is a powerful, rousing tale that holds the reader in thrall from first page to last.
Jan Němec
Ways of Writing about Love / Možnosti milostného románu
8
Jan Němec (born 1981) is a writer, journalist, script writer and editor, the author of four books. His novel A History of Light / Dějiny světla has been published in eleven languages. For this novel, the author received the European Union Prize for Literature and the Czech Book Award and was shortlisted for a Magnesia Litera in the Prose category and the Josef Škvorecký Prize (all in 2014). Film rights have been sold to Negativ Film Productions. Jan Němec is editor of Host literary monthly and a freelance contributor to Deník N daily.
What chance does the love story have these days? In the age of Tinder do we still believe in love? And in an age of serials do we still believe there are things that only literature can say?
published in September 2019
novel hardback 420 pages isbn 978-80-7577-920-5
There is life’s truth and there is literature’s truth. Unique experience and the desire to find its meaning. There is little we can say about love that hasn’t been said already, yet each generation feels it in its own way. The author himself says of this novel: “It’s about love and writing in an age of digital despondency, examining a five‑year love affair and another two years in which I was writing about it. There’s a lot of passion in it, quite a few tears and several revelations too. It’s a novel about why we actually go with each other, what we love about each other and why we still leave each other. In it I am all for myself, just as one is all for oneself in love and in everything else worth talking about. It’s actually a tragic story, even though the tragedy plays out without tragic events, making do with mere human infatuation. But I want to believe that insomuch as I touch on the essentials in this story, they include catharsis and epiphany.” In this novel the author examines the key love affair of his life after it has ended. He tells the story of this relationship and at the same time he ponders what it is like to tell this kind of story. Hence the novel actually ranges not only over the boundary between autobio graphy and auto‑fiction, but also between prose fiction and essay work.
Viktorie Hanišová
Reconstruction / Rekonstrukce
9
Viktorie Hanišová (born 1980) is a prose writer, the author of three books. Her novels have been very well received, and more than 15,000 copies have been sold. Her books have been published in German, Spanish, Catalan and Bulgarian; rights have been sold to Poland and Macedonia. She is a graduate in English and German from Charles University, Prague, and she works as a translator and language teacher.
Mere survival is no kind of life… Hanišová writes of the attraction of empty places. Some times, even an attempt to find stability in life can take you to the cliff edge.
published in May 2019
novel hardback 311 pages isbn 978-80-7577-817-8
“When I was born, I was nine years, ten months and seven days old.” With these words, Eliška, protagonist of the novel Reconstruction, begins her story. She spends her childhood in her reclusive aunt’s dark villa, of no interest to anyone. At least, this is how it seems, judging by the reactions of those around her. Eliška has her origins in murder. Her mother killed her younger brother and then herself, leaving no letter of farewell. Those who saw Eliška’s mother on the day of the tragedy noticed nothing unusual. Eliška has grown up in ten years of emptiness. When she is an adult, she has decided, she will find answers to the questions that nag her. What truly happened? Why did her mother do it? And why didn’t she take Eliška with her… Like Hanišová’s previous novels Anežka / Anežka and The Mushroom Gatherer / Houbařka, Reconstruction deals with the question of the extent to which it is possible to extract oneself from a traumatic past. In this third novel we again come up against complex family relations; indeed this is a book which opens up an exceptionally grave issue — murder and suicide in the family. Hence it is being described as Hanišová’s darkest novel yet.
Petra Dvořáková
The Surgeon / Chirurg
10
Petra Dvořáková (born 1977) is a prose writer and script writer, the author of two books of non‑fiction, three books for children and three books of fiction for adults. The novel The Vil lage / Dědina has become a bestseller. Her books have been published in Slo‑ venia and Albania; rights have been sold to Poland. She won the Magnesia Litera prize for a work of journalism in 2007 and her first book for children Julie and Words / Julie mezi slovy was awarded the Golden Ribbon prize and the Teachers’ Prize.
In the operating theatre and beyond, it is sometimes difficult to tell who is playing what game, who wins and who loses, and where the next path will lead.
published in September 2019
novel hardback 352 pages isbn 978-80-7577-967-0
“I can’t do right for doing wrong. My life has broken in two and I’ve no lifeline left to cling to,” muses Dr. Hynek Grábl, a hospital surgeon in the borderlands, who is losing hope of ever getting his life back on track. Grábl’s career as an elite surgeon at a Prague clinic was ended by an alcohol‑fuelled disaster, the conse quences of which are borne by his disgruntled wife and teenage children as well as by himself. Not only is his life in bad shape, so are his finances. All the symptoms of a mid‑life crisis seem to be heading Grábl’s way, and the rollercoaster ride by which he swerves from its path often ends in a hangover. What could possibly help him? His beloved profession? A lover? An interesting new opening with the promise of career growth? All Hynek G. can do is trust that he will not sink to the very bottom.
Jakub Dotlačil
When We Put Out the Lights / Až zhasneme
11
Jakub Dotlačil (born 1979) is the author of two books. He studied Czech and Slovak at Charles University in Prague but didn’t graduate. Currently he lives in the Netherlands, where he teaches linguistics. His debut work The Other Lives of Hynek Harr / Jiné životy Hynka Harra — about the First Czech Society of Parapsychology and the mathe matics teacher Hynek Harr — was published by Host in 2014.
Maybe you wanted to play in an avant ‑garde rock band, study literature and make love. But all you are now is a stone in a marketing pyramid.
published in November 2019
novel hardback 300 pages isbn 978-80-7577-970-0
This novel returns to the 1990s, often mythologized as a time of wild parties. Dotlačil’s Nineties, however, aren’t the shiny, happy kind; in fact, they are pretty rough. Protagonist Jan is a student of Czech at a time when study means nothing and grabbing every oppor tunity that comes your way is everything. Jan’s uncle, a partner in a meat‑processing business in an unnamed town in northern Bohemia, knows this very well. Jan joins the company for the summer vacation. With live cows at one end of its process and frankfurters at the other, the Meat Mill is far more than a metaphor for dramatic social change in the years of transfor mation. The storyline touches on high‑profile cases of a time whose naivety and illusions are reflected in the stories of several individuals. As well as high lighting the economic situation of the Czech Nineties, the thrilling, well‑worked plot is a gloomy testament of a generation and the mark made by the ambitious citizenry of a capitalist state. Dotlačil opens a cupboard containing a skeleton known as the Nineties. Rather than being lined with pos sibilities, the road to transformation in his small town in northern Bohemia is littered with negatives. The thin ice of the financial transaction is forever cracking under the strain.
Přemysl Krejčík
Little NY / Malej NY
12
Přemysl Krejčík (born 1991) is the author of two volumes of poetry, a collec‑ tion of SF stories and a novel; he is also co‑author of a team‑written novel. In 2017, he edited an anthology of poems called Distinct Point of Frac ture / Zřetelným místem nalomení. He is editor‑in‑chief of Partonyma, a literary magazine. Přemysl Krejčík comes from Nymburk and he is working towards a PhD. in History at the University of Pardubice. In 2004 he founded the hip‑hop band Cosmic Crew, and he has been a member of the rap‑metal band Soundflip since early 2017.
Nymburk may not be New York, but that doesn’t mean no one gets killed… A gloomy, self‑deprecating, tragic novel about Czech hip ‑hop, love and tribes that hang out in clubs and on the street.
published in August 2019
novel / thriller paperback 280 pages isbn 978-80-7577-964-9
Little NY is not New York but Nymburk, a town in cen tral Bohemia not far from Prague, where weed and beer are going down, not hard drugs. On the street, you won’t get taken down by a nigga from another clan, but you may get a slap from a “nazi” or a “punk”. Especially if you’re wearing a hip‑hoppa’s baseball cap. Little NY is a novel about being a teenager with a hip‑hop band in 2005. About how your fast and frantic life has such tragic consequences that a few years later you find yourself on a therapist’s couch, plotting a path through your wild past to your true self. (This is the point at which Krejčík’s story begins.) With the benefit of hindsight, however, past events show up in a new light — not least after you receive a text from a dead friend. How can you tell a bad joke from a se rious threat? The guys from your old community have changed out of all recognition. As people are unreada ble, only memories seem to hold the key — to knowledge that the death of your first girlfriend certainly wasn’t an accident. Little NY is the only contemporary novel about the hip‑hop community, and its playlist is like a time machine. And in central Bohemia as in New York City, death is a constant presence that can strike in a second.
Simona Bohatá
They’re All So Embarrassing / Všichni sou trapný
13
Simona Bohatá (born 1965) is the author of two books. Her first fruit Máňa and the Rest of Us / Máňa a my druzí (2017) is a gently ironic description of her child‑ hood and adolescence in 1980s Žiž kov. She graduated from a high school of economics. Just as she was starting her first job, she got a place to study Song Lyrics and Scriptwriting at the Jaro‑ slav Ježek Conservatory. She has worked at many places including the National Library as well as for a number of private companies. For many years, she wrote for her own eyes only, song lyrics among other things.
Joys and troubles in 1980s Žižkov, the famous Prague suburb, when it was all too easy to ruin a life. Not least your own.
published in August 2019
novella hardback 208 pages isbn 978-80-7577-971-7
Teens Bóža and Růža are inseparable. Martin speaks with no one and is as mysterious as the proverbial Carpathian Castle. The girls nudge one another and compete to be the most embarrassing — or so the boys think. Still, they would like more to do with them. Simo na, for instance — she’s even got a video player at home! All in the same class at school, under the watchful eye of Jura the teacher, they are doing their best to grow up. All this against a backdrop of 1980s Žižkov, a world of its own against the big, wide world of Prague, where they rarely go. Secret police, hookers and money changers may cross the border in both directions, but kids, cripples and abused animals are at home only in Žižkov. Simona Bohatá’s acute work of prose has a distinc tive atmosphere. The place is the periphery, the time is the limbo of the Normalization years, the protagonists are children. The language is that of the Prague tene ment, its galleries, passages and yards. Out of the frag mentary narrative emerges a picture of a special world which barely exists today. Yet in this work there is no nostalgia for Normalization.
Martin Skořepa
The Turin Horse Ritual / Rituál Turínského koně
14
Martin Skořepa (born 1961) graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, Prague. Having been a teacher at a secondary school and vocational college, he became a guide for German tourists. In 1990, he under‑ went a personal conversion, although he couldn’t avoid his coming‑out. Four years ago, he underwent treatment for cancer. He worked as a translator for a while and is an occasional contributor to various periodicals. The Turin Horse Ritual / Rituál Turínského koně is his first book.
When your nearest and dearest can no longer subtract seven from a hundred…
published in February 2019
novella hardback 152 pages isbn 978-80-7577-811-6
In the TV ads, ageing is depicted as a time when you may get the odd grey hair but, with the right supple ments to your diet, you can go climbing in the Alps and play tag with a whole bunch of rosy‑cheeked grandkids. Martin Skořepa knows a different kind of ageing. The autobiographical novella The Turin Horse Ritual shows the kind of worry typically experienced by people in their fifties, brought about principally by the dying of parents and one’s own deterioration. The life together of a son who has recently under gone surgery for cancer and a mother with Alzheimer’s is awash with banalities and tragi‑comic situations. The author is not asking for our compassion; indeed, he constrains his emotions with self‑deprecating hu mour. The basic storyline is complemented by the theme of homosexuality and questions of personal faith. This book is something of a rollercoaster ride. Before its co ordinates are reset, it confronts the reader with physical and mental disintegration and the twilight world of gays.
Jiří Padevět
Dreams and Axes / Sny a sekyry
15
Jiří Padevět (born 1966) is a writer, bookseller and publisher. He is the author of several guides to history, including A Guide to Prague under the Protectorate / Průvodce protek torátní Prahou (2013), The Bloody Finale / Krvavé finále (2015) and Bloody Summer of 1945 / Krvavé léto 1945 (2016), and the books of short prose Notes on History / Poznámky k dějinám (2014) and Barbed Wire and Nooses / Ostny a oprátky (2018). He has won Magnesia Litera awards for Book of the Year and Best Work of Nonfiction.
The apparently dull and familiar can have fateful consequences. Mosaic of situations by the two‑time Magnesia Litera laureate.
published in October 2019
book of short prose hardback 117 pages isbn 978-80-7577-965-6
Certain moments are thorny — we can prick ourselves on them. It is as though time has stood still for a mo ment so that it can gather speed before using its kinetic energy to unleash forces of history. Such moments can be evaluated and explored in detail only from a distance. Some people come upon these moments more or less by chance, others seek them out. Some succumb to their power, others hold firm. With no idea of how it would all end, how would we have behaved? Jiří Padevět has long been breathing new life into such moments and the human stories they contain. In his new book of apparently everyday micro‑stories that precede well‑known turning points in the twentieth century history, he describes in original sketches events in the lives of ordinary people whom history turned into great names.
Miloš Doležal
Čurda from Hlína / Čurda z Hlíny
16
Miloš Doležal (born 1970) is a poet, prose writer, documentarist, scriptwriter, researcher and editor. From 1998 to 2018 he was a literary editor and dramaturg at Czech Radio in Prague. He has written and co‑written many radio programmes and documentaries about war‑time and the communist terror of the 1950s, and conducted many book‑based interviews. His best‑known book is As If We Should Die Today / Jako bychom dnes zemřít měli, a monograph about Fr. Josef Toufar, a martyr of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
What it is like to fall into the “murky sewer” of history. Three documentary stories from the Protectorate years.
published in May 2019
documentary short stories hardback 224 pages isbn 978-80-7577-803-1
How does a person react in extreme situations? What are the consequences of working with an occupying force, or making a contract with the devil? Not only is our recent history paved with heroism, self‑sacrifice and high principles, it is also addled with failure, treachery and collaboration. Miloš Doležal, who has long had a professional interest in the priest Josef Toufar, a martyr to communism, now turns his attention to the Protectorate years. Blood stains left by the main figures in this book are still with us today. In unravelling fateful moments, the author judges neither people nor history but tries to understand inner motives and see inside the tragic game Evil plays with humanity. These three documentary stories are not histori cal studies but lively, highly readable portraits of in dividuals shrouded in darkness: Bohuslav Bušta, alias “Zwirna”, a tailor from the Vysočina region, who be came a proficient informer for the Gestapo; Oskar “Kari” Felkl, a policeman in pre‑war Czechoslovakia who be came a member of the Gestapo and one of the archi tects of the murderous actions in Lidice and ultimately its torching, together with his wife; and the parachutist Karel Čurda, a member of the Out Distance group planted in the Protectorate in spring 1942, who murdered friends and colleagues and also became a Gestapo collaborator.
Jiří Hájíček
Man on the Point of Ignition / Muž na pokraji vzplanutí
17
Jiří Hájíček (born 1967) is a prose writer and poet, the author of nine books. More than 90,000 copies of his books have been sold in the Czech Republic alone. His books have been published in ten languages. He has won many prizes — most recently his novel The Rainstick / Dešťová hůl was voted the Book of the Year 2016 in the prestigious Lidové noviny poll and received the 2017 Czech Book Prize. In September 2016, a feature film based on the novel The Green Horses Rustlers / Zloději zelených koní was premiered in the Czech Republic.
Haiku from the diaries, 2017—2018. An intimate collection of the author’s “occasional” poetry in his chosen form of haiku.
published in January 2019
poetry paperback 68 pages isbn 978-80-7577-808-6
Best known to us as a novelist and short‑story writer, in recent years Jiří Hájíček has written poetry, too. “I write my first words of the day on a slip of paper. To exercise their brains, some people solve sudoku puzzles; I write haiku,” the author says of his work. “First thing in the morning, the mind is in a special state of unfocused agitation. It tends to be miserly with words, which is just the thing for this kind of writing.” Impressions and fleeting moments. Fragments of the day and miniature stories from it. Atmospheres. Lines that comment on train departures and readings; comments on “departures in love”. Life concentrated in finely honed images. This poetry shows a different Hájíček, but one whose basic chords make its author easy to recognize. It is informal, unostentatious, with a deep sense of the personal. In a collector’s edition with colour illustrations by acclaimed artist Matěj Lipavský and graphics by Host publishers’ designer Lucie Zajíč ková, it will appeal to fans of the author and readers new to the genre alike.
Pavel Bareš
Children of Cronos / Kronovy děti
18
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. He teaches English, and by night he fronts the rock band The Jay. An avid video gamer and reader of comics, he is also a traveller and yachtsman.
A continuation of the successful SF novel The Cronos Project
published in May 2019
fantasy novel hardback 752 pages isbn 978-80-7577-819-2
Downtown is in a state of collapse. Families are being taken from their homes. The mafia has taken control of the city and the City Hall Guard patrol the streets with a single instruction — to keep Downtowners on a tight rein until the Contagion completes its dirty work. Civil war is imminent. And if Downtown falls, the whole of Attiona City falls with it. In its darkest hour, the city turns for help to the three people who represent its last hope — David Fox, a special agent prepared to do anything to discover the truth about the death of his friend, orphan Luco Scarpa, who has fled from the world’s most powerful organization, and Jason Blake, the last Downtowner, who doesn’t want to see his city in flames.
Petra Slováková
Fragments of Time / Střípky času
19
Petra Slováková (born 1987) comes from Ostrava. Her previous books are the collection of short stories The Iron ‑Night and Other Oddities / Železonoc a jiné podivnosti (2012), the book of two cyberpunk novellas The Cricket in a Box / Cvrček v krabičce (2012) and the steampunk novel The De mon of the East End / Démon z East Endu (2015), which was shortlisted for the Aeronautilus prize. Abroad, her work has appeared in the antholo gies Dreams from Beyond (2016) and Steampunk Writers around the World (2017).
An imaginative YA novel in which wizards and time travel are an inseparable part of dark Ostrava.
published in June 2019
fantasy YA novel paperback 320 pages isbn 978-80-7577-812-3
If Jana didn’t have the power of time travel, she could have been an ordinary schoolgirl. Because of problems within her family, Jana must take care of herself. She makes a little extra money selling antiques brought back from the past. More than once her travels have ruptured the fabric of time, so attracting the attention of the beings who watch over temporal continuity. One such time shift almost costs her her life. She is rescued by a police officer, who offers her work in a special department. Jana must integrate herself into a team of strangers and gain full mastery over her special power. Then she learns that there are others with far greater gifts than hers — wizards. Having conquered a city, they are waging a secret war against each other. Jana becomes involved in a dangerous game. Whoever can change the natural order is a valuable ally but also a mighty foe. Things get even more complicated when a certain wizard saves her life. The problem isn’t just that he happens to be the right‑hand man of her archenemy. It turns out that although Jana has never seen Peter before, he knows her very well. In time, of course, anything can happen…
Jan‑Marek Šík, Lenka Šíková
The Ritual / Rituál
20
Jan‑Marek Šík (born 1988), a graduate in Swedish and Finnish, is currently at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University, where he is writing a thesis on narrative theory and lecturing on Finnish literature. Very active in the world of culture, he is an occasional translator and reviewer. Like her husband, Lenka Šíková (born 1988) has been a writer since childhood. Since completing her studies in French, Linguistics and Phonetics at the Faculty of Arts of Charles Univer‑ sity, she has worked in these areas and brought up a family.
The Ritual — a mysterious ceremony in which the celebrant becomes an adult from one day to the next. After the Judge’s ruling, nothing will ever be the same…
published in August 2019
fantasy YA novel hardback 408 pages isbn 978-80-7577-821-5
In a world where magic is an everyday occurrence, forests have ancient secrets and even rocks have a will of their own, Edra and her friends are about to turn six teen. They are worried less about their school‑leaving exams than about the Ritual and the matter of who they will become. Because something is not quite right here. No one wants to say what the Ritual comprises and to what extent the celebrant can control its course. But the girls do not intend to wait to find out, and they mount an investigation of their own. Their journey leads them to questions fundamental to their lives and brings them face to face with menacing, hostile forces that are trying to break into their world.
Petra Machová
The Bond of Shadow / Pouto stínu
21
Petra Machová’s (born 1988) stories have appeared in several anthologies. Her story Star Rangers / Strážci hvězd, which appeared in the col‑ lection The Whimsical Fantasic / Rozmarná fantastika, was shortlisted for the Prize of the Academy of SF, Fantasy and Horror. She debuted with the novel Dragontown / Dračí město (2018), the first part of a trilogy of the same name.
The second part of the trilogy Dragontown, in which cheerless reality shades into a suspenseful, fantastical, original YA scenario.
published in October 2019
fantasy YA novel hardback 544 pages isbn 978-80-7577-990-8
Jana is training to be a Mystery warrior deep in the ocean. But not everything goes according to plan. She is still recovering from the Battle of Zarn, and her animal self has disappeared to be replaced by fear and nightmares. Friendship, love and her life’s purpose are disintegrating before her eyes. Lianea is struggling, too. She knew that one day her past would catch up with her. Will she have the strength to do battle with it? And will she even want to? Jana and her friends discover that nothing is black and white, and that there are creatures even scarier than monsters. And still the dragon gods are silent.
Vilém Koubek
Organic Noose / Organická oprátka
22
Vilém Koubek (born 1988) has been involved in video‑games journalism since he was a boy. He is co‑author of the graphic novel The Corrector / Korektor (2014). Although his debut novel The Blade of Entropy / Čepel entropie (2018), a carnage replete with black humour and cynicism, declares allegiance to Splatterpunk, in places it reminds us of H. P. Lovecraft; it also has elements of Bizarro horror fiction.
An action‑packed, post‑apocalyptic joy ride by the author of The Blade of Entropy
published in October 2019
post‑apocalyptic novel paperback 320 pages isbn 978-80-7577-980-9
In a world devastated by conflict between humans and machines, the only certainty is death. At least that’s what war veteran Rust thought when he became a gravedigger. But some decades after the war, his tranquil burying of corpses begins to get complicated: mechanical nightmares that once brought humanity to the brink of extinction are emerging from mysterious hiding pla ces. So terrible are these beings that settlements which have voluntarily given up technology have no chance against them. Rust can defend villagers’ homes, but instead of asking for his help, in their panic they hang him and bury him in a grave he himself has dug. In compounding their foolish act with a death sentence, they condemn the gravedigger to a murderous resurrection which sees him confronted with ancient cults, robotic horror, love and crazy machine deities.
Highly recommended
Kateřina Tučková
250,000 copies sold books published in 15 languages (German, Italian, Arabic, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Belarusian, Serbian, Greek), rights sold to USA, Lithuania and Latvia
Jan Němec
10,000 copies sold novel A History of Light / Dějiny světla published in 11 languages (German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Latvian), rights sold to United Kingdom and Albania
+2
to be published
+2
to be published
+3
to be published
Petra Soukupová
130,000 copies sold books published in 10 languages (German, Russian, Polish, Italian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Bosnian, Macedonian), rights sold to Serbia and Albania
Alena Mornštajnová
250,000 copies sold novel Hana / Hana published in Slovenian, rights sold to United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Latvia and Syria
Jiří Hájíček
90,000 copies sold books published in 10 languages (English, German, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Belarusian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian), rights sold to Serbia and Albania
+8
to be published
+5
to be published
+11
to be published
Selected backlist Antonín Bajaja Burying the Season / Na krásné modré Dřevnici novel; 2009
Pavel Bareš The Cronos Project / Projekt Kronos fantasy novel; 2017, 2019
Stanislav Beran The Vyšehrad Riders / Vyšehradští jezdci novel; 2016
The Iron‑breaking Woman and the Fire Eater / Žena lamželezo a polykač ohně short stories; 2013
Days of Clay / Hliněné dny novel; 2009
When You Die, No One’ll Want to Touch Your Breast / Až umřeš, nikdo ti nebude chtít sahat na prsa short stories; 2007
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
František Čech Wild Deal / Divoký obchod legal thriller; 2018
Jakub Dotlačil The Other Lives of Hynek Harr / Jiné životy Hynka Harra novel; 2014
Petra Dvořáková The Village / Dědina novel; 2018
Everyone Has a Line to Hold / Každý má svou lajnu children’s book; 2017
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The Net / Sítě triptych of short stories; 2016
Flouk and Lila / Flouk a Líla children’s book; 2015
Julie and Words / Julie mezi slovy children’s book; 2013
I am Hunger / Já jsem hlad non‑fiction; 2009, 2013
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 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
Football Diaries / Fotbalové deníky novella; 2007
Rustic Baroque / Selský baroko novel; 2005, 2009, 2013
The Wooden Knife / Dřevěný nůž short stories; 2004
Mainstream Adventurers / Dobrodruzi hlavního proudu novel; 2002
The Green Horse Rustlers / Zloději zelených koní novel; 2001, 2016
Jan Hamouz The Half‑King / Poloviční král fantasy novel; 2018
Viktorie Hanišová The Mushroom Gatherer / Houbařka novel; 2018
Anežka / Anežka novel; 2015
Matěj Hořava Distilled Spirit (Stories from the Banat) / Pálenka (Prózy z Banátu) short stories; 2014
Jan Jícha The Headmaster and the Hydra / Ředitel a hydra humorous novel; 2018
Lidmila Kábrtová Places in the Dark / Místa ve tmě short stories; 2018
Whom Foxes Drink Up / Koho vypijou lišky short stories; 2013
Jakuba Katalpa The Den / Doupě novel; 2017
Germans / Němci novel; 2012, 2014
Hana Kolaříková Real Leopard‑skin Coat / Pravý leopardí kožich novel; 2017
Vilém Koubek The Blade of Entropy / Čepel entropie horror / humorous novel; 2018
Martina Leierová House With a Borrowed View / Dům s vypůjčeným výhledem novel; 2017
Eugen Liška The Creation / Stvoření novel; 2017
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Roman Ludva Forgery / Falzum detective short stories; 2012
Martin Pecina Books and Typography / Knihy a typografie non‑fiction; 2011, 2012, 2017
Petra Machová Dračí město / Dragontown fantasy YA novel; 2018
Daniel Petr Nurse Death / Sestra smrt detective novel; 2018
Vratislav Maňák Rubik’s Cube / Rubikova kostka novel; 2016
Polythene Clothes / Šaty z igelitu short stories; 2011
The Magpie on the Gallows / Straka na šibenici novel; 2015
Michal Přibáň Only Twice for Everything / Všechno je jenom dvakrát novel; 2016
Alena Mornštajnová 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
Nela Rywiková Children of Anger / Děti hněvu detective novel; 2016
House No. 6 / Dům číslo 6 detective novel; 2013
Petra Soukupová Who Killed Snowy? / Kdo zabil Snížka? children’s book; 2017
Best for Everybody / Nejlepší pro všechny novel; 2017, 2018
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, 2019
Jan Němec A History of Light / Dějiny světla novel; 2013, 2014
Jiří Padevět Barbed Wire and Nooses / Ostny a oprátky book of short prose; 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 triptych of short stories; 2009, 2011
To the Seaside / K moři novella; 2007
Petra Stehlíková Faja / Faja fantasy novel; 2017
The Listener / Naslouchač fantasy novel; 2016
Michal Sýkora 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
Jiří Šimáček A Small Night‑Time Fest / Malá noční žranice novel; 2014
Character / Charakter novel; 2012
Martin Šmaus A Chair for Štefan / Židle pro Štefana novel; 2008
Sára Vybíralová Trigger / Spoušť short stories; 2015
Dita Táborská Běsa / Běsa novel; 2018
Malinka / Malinka novel; 2017
Kateřina Tučková The Žítková Goddesses / Žítkovské bohyně novel; 2012, 2013
The Expulsion of Gerta Schnirch / Vyhnání Gerty Schnirch novel; 2009, 2010
Vladimíra Valová To the Interior / Do vnitrozemí short stories; 2017