City of All Seasons

“A surreal and engaging magical fantasy from two talented writers.”
The Guardian


“Deeply different, strange and fascinating – a study of hope against all odds of environment or society.”
Adrian Tchaikovsky


“A moving ode to the power of creativity, and its ability to connect us as humans across space and time. It’s also a cleverly-painted portrait of a family whose creations divide as well as unite. Rich and imaginative, this novel brings together two of the best voices in modern speculative fiction. I loved it.”
Lucy Holland


“An excellent read. A strange and atmospheric tale that immerses you so thoroughly you wake up in a different world altogether.”
T. L. Huchu


“Vividly hopeful while set within a frighteningly real post-apocalyptic world, CITY OF ALL SEASONS is a poignant, heartrending, and haunting read of a family’s love and trauma, coloured with a mysterious enduring magic. This is a deeply humane work, a reminder of community and societal repair, that stayed with me long after I put it down.”
Kritika H. Rao, author of THE SURVIVING SKY and THE LEGEND OF MENEKA


“A lyrical and kaleidoscopic novel reminiscent of both Piranesi and Gormenghast. The mysteries of summer and winter, love and loss, fiction and reality in this evolving landscape pulled me in and wouldn’t let go. As inventive as its cast of characters, City of All Seasons will stay with me for a long time.”
Eliza Chan


“A heartfelt and well-executed story to enjoy.”
Ancillary Review of Books


“Dark and twisty … The result is as lovely as it is bizarre.”
Publishers Weekly


“This must-buy novel … feels like a cousin to Trip Galey’s A Market of Dreams and Destiny and Aimee Pokwatka’s Self-Portrait with Nothing, offering readers a mug of cocoa from one hand and a cool glass of lemonade from the other.”
Library Journal – Starred review


“City Of All Seasons is even better than the forecasters could have predicted. It’s thoughtful, unique, genre-busting, and mesmerising — one of those books that creeps under your skin and stays with you. The partnership of Whiteley and Langmead is truly inspired, and I hope they’ll keep writing together for many more seasons to come.”
FanFiAddict


“Deeply rendered and mysterious, meditative and unexpectedly comforting … the experience is quite wonderful.”
Booklist Starred Review


“City Of All Seasons is even better than the forecasters could have predicted. It’s thoughtful, unique, genre-busting, and mesmerising — one of those books that creeps under your skin and stays with you. The partnership of Whiteley and Langmead is truly inspired, and I hope they’ll keep writing together for many more seasons to come.”
FanFiAddict


“A lush and dazzling fantasy. A story full of wonder and magic, about family, hope, and fighting to repair what’s been broken. Langmead and Whiteley have truly created something special and unique.”
A. C. Wise


“A masterclass in dual worldbuilding, its overlapping locations echoing each other yet remaining entirely distinct. The novel is riddled with portals in surprising places, so that even a flickering cinema screen might lead from one world to another, from one author to another. Whatever the season, the warmth of Whiteley’s and Langmead’s characters stand out. Highly recommended for readers who relish the worlds within worlds of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.”
Tim Major


“Deamy and tender, City of All Seasons is a beautifully written story about Jamie Pike and Esther Pike’s quest to restore what is lost. The worldbuilding is an endless delight! Perfect for fans of the Letters of Enchantment duology and a Darker Shade of Magic trilogy.”
Julia Vee, author of EBONY GATE


“Elegantly woven and alive with fascinating characters, City of All Seasons is a novel whose secrets – familial and fantastical – are a joy to uncover. Aliya Whiteley and Oliver K. Langmead have long since earned their reputations for inventive fiction; writing together, they might well be unstoppable.”
M. T. Hill




PRAISE FOR LANGMEAD


Langmead’s ambitious, original fiction is always something to savour, and Calypso contains some of his very best writing. Full of arresting imagery, emotional complexity and startling narrative turns, it’s a thoughtful, elegant, exciting — a really unique read. I loved it.
Sarah Waters


Perfectly balanced between timely and timeless, Calypso challenged my perceptions of what science fiction could be. The result is nothing short of iconic. A stunning work of epic imagination and outstanding craftsmanship. Langmead stretches language and form to create beautiful verse and a sizzling story.
T.L. Huchu


Langmead stands at the cutting edge of science fiction. He has taken on the monumental task of novelty in a jaded world and succeeded admirably. His work is gutsy in both thesis and execution, and he’ll absolutely be on my list of stars to watch.
Alex White


Calypso is many things. It’s highly inventive, delicately crafted, and an elegant tale. It is both a written work and a work of art, using the kind of formal experiment which, when considered with the narrative, enhances the whole. I enjoyed it immensely.
Tade Thompson


Calypso is an evocative and visionary novella that reshapes the cold, scientific story of human colonisation into a lyrical song, reminiscent of ancient epic poems.
Sunyi Dean


This is very cool. The story of an interstellar colony mission rendered as an epic poem, rich with imagery and allusion. And it looks lovely. I really enjoyed this.
David Hutchinson


Far more than a literal Space Odyssey, Oliver Langmead’s Calypso is a breathless high wire act of a novel. A rich, reckless, gravity-defying marvel.
Malcolm Devlin


I love everything about it. I love the structural play of it; I love that it’s so beautiful, there’s such wonderful language, those sections pulsing as waveforms are incredible; it’s presented in such a beautiful way that I was honestly absolutely flabbergasted. It’s extraordinary. It’s so stylish, and powerful. And it’s so absolutely, utterly assured, it totally understand itself and what it’s trying to say and do. I loved it.
James Smythe


Bloody hell, it’s brilliant! Seriously, I’m happy something like this exists. It’s fantastic. A sense of wonder pervades every line and every chapter; the characters are memorable, warm, heartbreakingly human. Give as many people as possible a chance to go on this strange, savage journey.
Francesco Dimitri


Calypso is a brilliant, consistently amazing and utterly original piece of science fiction: intensely readable and absorbing not despite being in verse but because of it, expertly handled and thought-provoking.
Adam Roberts


Vivid, mind-bending and utterly unique, Langmead is a writer at the very forefront of genre fiction.
Stark Holborn


Carried along on the undulations of the text, you sink into the narrative, subsumed, seduced by the beauty of flora-fauna-funga body horror; the splendour of becoming more-than-human. Calypso is a stunning piece of work that made me feel as one with all the glorious magnificence and horror of the world.
Ever Dundas


PRAISE FOR WHITELEY


“Intense and consuming writing, constantly challenging expectations.”
Adrian Tchaikovsky


“Whiteley’s self-deconstructing quest narrative is a puzzle box full of delights, perils and strange wonders. Haunting.”
Mike Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts and The Book of Koli


“Whiteley takes the reader on a cryptic journey of trust, identity and knowing your place in the world.”
Starburst Magazine


“Whiteley’s trademark subtle surrealism shines.”
Publishers Weekly


“A melancholy and compellingly weird tale of identity in crisis.”
SFX


“A unique work of literary and speculative excellence.”
SciFiNow


“One of the most original and provocative voices in contemporary science fiction.”
Nina Allen


“A hero’s journey stripped back to its essence, remixed with spaceships and conspiracies, masquerade and menace. Is it an allegory pretending to be an adventure story? An adventure masquerading as a secret history of the world? A new kind of wisdom literature for the digital age? Whatever it is I loved every second of it. Truly Aliya Whiteley is one of the most original and interesting writers in the field.”
Helen Marshall, author of The Migration


“There’s nothing like a new Aliya Whiteley novel, and no Aliya Whiteley novel is like any other. Three Eight One may be her most enigmatic work to date, a parable of maturation and the milestones of life that is at once mythical and down-to-earth. I adored every moment of it, and I found it overwhelming in its scope, honesty and emotional impact. It’s certainly one of the best novels I’ve read this year.”
Tim Major, author of You Don’t Belong Here and Snakeskins


“A brain-charging voyage through the present and the future, a novel that shepherds the reader out and then brings her back in, changing her in the process. It’s like Kafka rewrote Pale Fire as a science-fictional novel. A Pilgrim’s Progress through a godless world where the pilgrim is Patrick McGoohan’s ‘Prisoner.’ A dream of a book, in several senses: enigmatic, marvellous, utterly original. Whiteley really is one of the most striking and brilliant writers working today.”
Adam Roberts, author of The Thing Itself


“Masterfully written and rich with meaning, Three Eight One confirms Aliya Whiteley as one of our most ingenious — and important — storytellers. Travelling the Horned Road is a wild and unique experience: funny and thoughtful, frightening and joyful. I already want to go back.”
Matt Hill, author of Lamb and The Breach


“Like watching a magic trick happen… I’m going to be thinking about Three Eight One for a long time.”
Fiona Barnett, author of The Dark Between the Trees


“Three Eight One celebrates the art of storytelling with every clever twist and turn in this exquisitely crafted, beautifully realized voyage of discovery.”
E. J. Swift, author of The Coral Bones and Paris Adrift


“Slippery and whip-smart, this is a novel profoundly perceptive of the human condition. It has a disorienting ebb and flow – elegantly elusive and dream-like at times, while also being finely-tuned and precise. A mediation, perhaps, on the fallacies of history, and the futility of searching for meaning.”
Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them and Dead Relatives