Metro 2034 – and you think the Northern Line’s bad…

I first came across Dimitry Glukhovsky’s Metro 2033 courtesy of a conversation with Sascha Mamzcak, the publisher of the Heyne genre list in Germany. He told me about this dark and violent post-apocalyptic SF thriller set amongst the last survivors of humankind as they battle for survival against monsters and themselves in the abandoned stations and tunnels of the Moscow Metro. The book, originally self-published by Dmitry and then taken up by a big Russian publishers had sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Russia. Sascha had bought German rights and now it was selling like the clappers in Germany as well. For many reasons the genre literary borders in mainland Europe are more porous than they are between us and European countries but I loved the sound of this. I got hold of a sample of translated material and found a gritty, doom laden and gripping thriller. And behind all the mutated monsters and countless rats there was an authentic Russian seriousness and some sharp political satire. I was sold. And in 2010 we published Metro 2033. And ever since then it has just gone on selling steadily and surely. The advent of the Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light games have provided welcome signal boosts but this is a piece of Russian Horror/SF that has entirely its own momentum. The books have sold brilliantly all over Europe in the intervening years

Publishing can be a long and slow and complex business (especially where translations are involved) but now in 2014, with only 20 years to go before the world finally does end (although we might be good for 2035), I’m delighted and proud that we are publishing Dmitry’s second novel: Metro 2034. It’s time to meet the lonely killer Hunter and the poet called Homer who hopes tell the tale of his underground odyssey. It’s a brutal ride but there is light at the end of the tunnel…

If you want the chance to discover the shadowy hope on offer in the Metro we have a competition for you…