I’m thrilled to announce that a new client has joined the agency with an exciting, original and massively imaginative fantasy novel.
I met Pablo on a Jericho Writers’ call for a submission assessment last year. It’s difficult, sometimes, on those calls, to express everything that you want to about the submission in just 15 minutes, and it was even more difficult with Pablo as there was so much I wanted to talk to him about with the worldbuilding and characters. His five thousand words really made me want to read more, so I requested the full script. After having read it, I thought there was a huge amount to like, but it needed some further work. I suggested some editorial actions to take and asked him to resubmit once he’d had another look at it. When it came back in I was thrilled to read it again.
I used to edit and publish China Miéville and Alan Campbell – and Pablo’s novel has that same mix of great writing, incredible imagination and darkly complex and intriguing fantasy world that I adored so much about those authors. So I was hugely excited when he accepted my offer of representation and I can’t wait to get Dream of a Jet-Black City out to editors in a few months’ time.
With intricate worldbuilding, political twists and turns, a magic system based on dreams and nightmares being twisted into reality, a mythic storm overshadowing a dark and shaded city - and secrets from the past that threaten an entire nation – this is an exciting and innovative fantasy that’s sure to make fans of those readers who enjoy Seth Dickinson, China Miéville and Scott Lynch.
With the power to form dreams and nightmares into reality, will those in control choose to shape a better world – or destroy it…?
Lightning-Hunter, Ash, chases living lightning over the dark rooftops. This energy the jet-black city depends upon, is all that stands between him and starvation. When a monstrous nightmare attacks his gang, death is all but certain – until Ash manages to dream a shadow creature to protect him. But this new power comes with a price and will see him either sent to the harrowing Academy to weaponize his gift or under the thumb of an Archdreamer patron who will use him to their own ends.
Geil is a Nightmare-Hunter and Dream-mutt; half-human, half-dream creation. Torn between the desires of her violent dragon’s heart and a need to pacify the guilt she feels for her lover’s death she seeks a balance to bring her peace. But upon returning to the city, she stumbles across a plot by her old master and nemesis to unseat the Archdreamers. She must find a way to accept the dragon within her to stop a nightmare being unleashed that will destroy her home and everything she cares about.
The Motherstorm rages eternal over the city and only the Wailers, a devout sisterhood of singers, can calm it. When Daerna’s order insists on ignoring the mysterious Wilting plague that is infecting the city’s populace, Daerna chooses to find the root of the disease even if it leads her into the darkest heart of the city – and her own death.
As each draws closer to their goals, they discover a connection between the plague, the city and those who have been manipulating the dreaming power for their own ends. If they can’t find a way to learn from the secrets the city has buried within its past, then their whole world will turn into a living nightmare.
Pablo tells us a little about what inspired him to write this novel: ‘I’ve always been fascinated by the power of imagination and believed that our fantasies and utopias are the guiding stars that help society chart its course. Inspired by that, this book emerged at the crossroads of Neil Gaiman’s lyrical exploration of the power of dreams in The Sandman and the imaginative societies envisioned by both China Miéville in his Bas-Lag series and Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.
What happens in a society that prizes dreaming above all else? If education and art are ways of shaping imaginations, then influencing either is a way to control the population. Controlling what we fear, too, allows others to harness the power of our nightmares. Ultimately, this is a book about dreaming as an act of rebellion, about dreaming big, yes, but also about the power of envisioning a different world and fighting for it.’
About the Author: Pablo Valcarcel grew up in a bilingual household in the Canary Islands. He studied law but currently teaches entrepreneurship and innovation in Madrid. In 2016 he attended the Odyssey Writing Workshop in New Hampshire. Dream of the Jet-Black City is his first novel.