I’m beyond thrilled to congratulate my friend and fellow WOTFian Aliette de Bodard on her three-book publishing deal with Angry Robot, a new imprint from HarperCollins dedicated to the best in modern adult science fiction, fantasy and everything in between.

Aliette has turned her WOTF-winning story “Obsidian Shards” into a novel, titled Servant of the Underworld–a fantasy mystery set in Aztec times. In this alternate world, the gods are real and stalk the temples, demanding sacrifice. Amidst the bloodletting, a serial killer appears to be getting away with murder–but how do you find a murderer in a world where the streets themselves are awash with blood? Aliette promises that the book contains “ghostly jaguars, bloodthirsty gods, and fingernail-eating monsters.”

Servant of the Underworld will publish in the UK, Canada, the United States and Australia in Spring 2010. The other two books, both set in the same world, will follow in due course.

Perhaps the wildest thing about the deal is how it all came together:

Stuck an extra day in at the Calgary airport after last November’s World Fantasy, Aliette happened to meet fellow strandees John Berlyne and Marc Gascoigne. They got talking and the pair had Aliette pitch her novel right there. Well, in the best traditions of a Hollywood movie it worked, because she landed an agent–from the new literary agency Zeno–and a publisher in Angry Robot thanks to that meeting.

I couldn’t be more thrilled for her. If you’re attending WorldCon in Montreal this weekend (alas, I have a friend’s wedding and can’t go) be sure to look for her–she’ll be the one walking on air 🙂

– S.