Description
Collected in a single omnibus edition, both novels set in Zachary Jernigan's critically-acclaimed, genre-bending world of fierce sensuality, dangerous alchemy, and awakening gods.
The Needle extends over the heads of all who live upon Jeroun. Composed of iron spheres massive enough to affect the tides, it is the god Adrash's ultimatum to the people on the planet below:
Prove yourselves worthy, or be destroyed.
Vedas is a member of the Black Suits, an order of men and women who show their opposition to Adrash by staging battles in the streets. After witnessing the death of a child in his care, knowing himself to be responsible, he sets off on a journey to the decennial fighting tournament in Danoor.
Traveling with him across the continent are Churls, a mercenary haunted by the ghost of her daughter, and Berun, a constructed man possessed by the soul of his creator. Both come to understand that Vedas's victory would start an all-out religious war.
Unbeknownst to these three travelers, the aristocratic outbound mage Ebn and her protege Pol use powerful alchemy to travel into space. Their plan: engage Adrash in ways that threaten to bring the god's wrath down upon the world.
Meanwhile, one of the world's deepest secrets is gradually revealed. A madman, insisting he is the link to an ancient world, a pantheon of forgotten gods, offers the most tempting lie of all...
Hope.
Jeroun collects the two novels No Return and Shower of Stones in a single new omnibus edition. Together these works combine the mythic inventiveness of early Roger Zelazny and Samuel R. Delany, the dark weirdness of China Mieville, and the dramatic scope of George R. R. Martin, creating a literary science fiction epic that defies easy categorization, resulting in one of the most critically acclaimed narratives of recent years.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
About the Author
Zachary Jernigan is a science fiction and fantasy writer whose work has been featured in Asimov's Science Fiction, Crossed Genres, and Escape Pod, among others. He is the author of the previously-published stand-alone novels No Return and Shower of Stones. Jernigan lives in Arizona.
Reviews
Praise for Shower of Stones:
"Jernigan's prose skill is sufficient to rank him among speculative fiction's rising stars. . .Those who enjoyed the intricate worldbuilding in No Return will appreciate an even greater panoramic view of Jeroun; those who preferred the gory battle scenes will not leave disappointed, either."
Publishers Weekly
Praise for No Return:
"Pure genius A visionary, violent, sexually charged, mystical novel."
David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award-winning author of the Acacia Trilogy
"The most daring debut novel of 2013."
Staffer's Book Review
"A science-fantasy epic that's as of a much perverse hybrid as it is an homage to an earlier era when those genres weren't so strictly segregated ... pulls no punches in its rich, visceral depictions of sexuality, martial arts, punk energy, and the philosophical quandaries of power and identity that speculative fiction uniquely exploits and that few up-and-coming speculative writers outside Jernigan tackle with such guts."
Jason Heller, The A.V. Club
"No Return needs to be noticed. There is so much more to it than the accoutrement would imply. Populated with a fair amount of face punching, as coded by the visceral cover, it contains a tenderness and at times overt eroticism that's often ignored in science fiction and fantasy. Zachary Jernigan has something unique to say, a voice we're not hearing from anywhere else. I dearly hope more readers, and award aficionados, take an opportunity to listen to him."
Justin Landon, Tor.com
Praise for Shower of Stones:
"Jernigan's prose skill is sufficient to rank him among speculative fiction's rising stars. . .Those who enjoyed the intricate worldbuilding in No Return will appreciate an even greater panoramic view of Jeroun; those who preferred the gory battle scenes will not leave disappointed, either."
Publishers Weekly
Praise for No Return:
"Pure genius A visionary, violent, sexually charged, mystical novel."
David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award-winning author of the Acacia Trilogy
"The most daring debut novel of 2013."
Staffer's Book Review
"A science-fantasy epic that's as of a much perverse hybrid as it is an homage to an earlier era when those genres weren't so strictly segregated ... pulls no punches in its rich, visceral depictions of sexuality, martial arts, punk energy, and the philosophical quandaries of power and identity that speculative fiction uniquely exploits and that few up-and-coming speculative writers outside Jernigan tackle with such guts."
Jason Heller, The A.V. Club
"No Return needs to be noticed. There is so much more to it than the accoutrement would imply. Populated with a fair amount of face punching, as coded by the visceral cover, it contains a tenderness and at times overt eroticism that's often ignored in science fiction and fantasy. Zachary Jernigan has something unique to say, a voice we're not hearing from anywhere else. I dearly hope more readers, and award aficionados, take an opportunity to listen to him."
Justin Landon, Tor.com
Book Information
ISBN 9781597808620
Author Zachary Jernigan
Format Paperback
Page Count 536
Imprint Night Shade Books
Publisher Night Shade Books
Weight(grams) 644g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 38mm
The Needle extends over the heads of all who live upon Jeroun. Composed of iron spheres massive enough to affect the tides, it is the god Adrash's ultimatum to the people on the planet below:
Prove yourselves worthy, or be destroyed.
Vedas is a member of the Black Suits, an order of men and women who show their opposition to Adrash by staging battles in the streets. After witnessing the death of a child in his care, knowing himself to be responsible, he sets off on a journey to the decennial fighting tournament in Danoor.
Traveling with him across the continent are Churls, a mercenary haunted by the ghost of her daughter, and Berun, a constructed man possessed by the soul of his creator. Both come to understand that Vedas's victory would start an all-out religious war.
Unbeknownst to these three travelers, the aristocratic outbound mage Ebn and her protege Pol use powerful alchemy to travel into space. Their plan: engage Adrash in ways that threaten to bring the god's wrath down upon the world.
Meanwhile, one of the world's deepest secrets is gradually revealed. A madman, insisting he is the link to an ancient world, a pantheon of forgotten gods, offers the most tempting lie of all...
Hope.
Jeroun collects the two novels No Return and Shower of Stones in a single new omnibus edition. Together these works combine the mythic inventiveness of early Roger Zelazny and Samuel R. Delany, the dark weirdness of China Mieville, and the dramatic scope of George R. R. Martin, creating a literary science fiction epic that defies easy categorization, resulting in one of the most critically acclaimed narratives of recent years.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
About the Author
Zachary Jernigan is a science fiction and fantasy writer whose work has been featured in Asimov's Science Fiction, Crossed Genres, and Escape Pod, among others. He is the author of the previously-published stand-alone novels No Return and Shower of Stones. Jernigan lives in Arizona.
Reviews
Praise for Shower of Stones:
"Jernigan's prose skill is sufficient to rank him among speculative fiction's rising stars. . .Those who enjoyed the intricate worldbuilding in No Return will appreciate an even greater panoramic view of Jeroun; those who preferred the gory battle scenes will not leave disappointed, either."
Publishers Weekly
Praise for No Return:
"Pure genius A visionary, violent, sexually charged, mystical novel."
David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award-winning author of the Acacia Trilogy
"The most daring debut novel of 2013."
Staffer's Book Review
"A science-fantasy epic that's as of a much perverse hybrid as it is an homage to an earlier era when those genres weren't so strictly segregated ... pulls no punches in its rich, visceral depictions of sexuality, martial arts, punk energy, and the philosophical quandaries of power and identity that speculative fiction uniquely exploits and that few up-and-coming speculative writers outside Jernigan tackle with such guts."
Jason Heller, The A.V. Club
"No Return needs to be noticed. There is so much more to it than the accoutrement would imply. Populated with a fair amount of face punching, as coded by the visceral cover, it contains a tenderness and at times overt eroticism that's often ignored in science fiction and fantasy. Zachary Jernigan has something unique to say, a voice we're not hearing from anywhere else. I dearly hope more readers, and award aficionados, take an opportunity to listen to him."
Justin Landon, Tor.com
Praise for Shower of Stones:
"Jernigan's prose skill is sufficient to rank him among speculative fiction's rising stars. . .Those who enjoyed the intricate worldbuilding in No Return will appreciate an even greater panoramic view of Jeroun; those who preferred the gory battle scenes will not leave disappointed, either."
Publishers Weekly
Praise for No Return:
"Pure genius A visionary, violent, sexually charged, mystical novel."
David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award-winning author of the Acacia Trilogy
"The most daring debut novel of 2013."
Staffer's Book Review
"A science-fantasy epic that's as of a much perverse hybrid as it is an homage to an earlier era when those genres weren't so strictly segregated ... pulls no punches in its rich, visceral depictions of sexuality, martial arts, punk energy, and the philosophical quandaries of power and identity that speculative fiction uniquely exploits and that few up-and-coming speculative writers outside Jernigan tackle with such guts."
Jason Heller, The A.V. Club
"No Return needs to be noticed. There is so much more to it than the accoutrement would imply. Populated with a fair amount of face punching, as coded by the visceral cover, it contains a tenderness and at times overt eroticism that's often ignored in science fiction and fantasy. Zachary Jernigan has something unique to say, a voice we're not hearing from anywhere else. I dearly hope more readers, and award aficionados, take an opportunity to listen to him."
Justin Landon, Tor.com
Book Information
ISBN 9781597808620
Author Zachary Jernigan
Format Paperback
Page Count 536
Imprint Night Shade Books
Publisher Night Shade Books
Weight(grams) 644g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 38mm
