China Miéville completes 1,000-page new novel

Wired has published an interview with British genre author China Miéville about his upcoming collaboration with actor-musician-icon Keanu Reeves, but also touching on his other projects.

As related previously, Miéville has joined forces with Reeves to write The Book of Elsewhere, a tie-in novel to Reeves' BRZRKR comic book franchise. Miéville agreed to tackle the project because he thought it would be interesting to work within the constraints of someone else's fictional universe whilst also delivering a satisfying narrative. The novel will be published on 23 July this year.

However, Miéville fans frustrated with his lack of output in the last decade will be pleased to hear he has a new solo novel in the works as well, and not just in-progress but completed and sent to the publisher. Miéville's last novel was Railsea, published in 2012. He did publish two novellas, This Census-Taker and The Last Days of New Paris, in 2016, and a short story collection, Three Moments of an Explosion, in 2015. However, his fans have been crying out for a new solo novel.

Miéville doesn't reveal much about the new book but at over a thousand pages, it will be his longest book to date (and books like Perdito Street Station and The Scar are not exactly slight novels). Presumably it will be published in 2025, but hopefully we'll get more news soon.

Keanu Reeves and China Miéville to collaborate on new novel

Actor/icon Keanu Reeves is to co-write his first novel with British genre author China Miéville. The novel is called The Book of Elsewhere and is set in the BRZRKR universe co-created by Reeves for a comic series, which was published in 2021.

China Miéville is one of Britain's most acclaimed science fiction and fantasy authors. He began his career with King Rat in 1998 but made his name with Perdido Street Station (2000), the start of his loosely-connected Bas-Lag series (also comprising 2002's The Scar and 2004's Iron Council). His other works include the novels Un Lun Dun (2007), The City and The City (2009), Kraken (2011), Embassytown (2011), Railsea (2012) and the novellas The Tain (2002), This Census-Taker (2016) and The Last Days of New Paris (2016).

Miéville went on a hiatus from writing fiction to focus on academic work, writing October: The Story of the Russian Revolution (2017) and A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto (2022). The Book of Elsewhere will be his first published fiction in eight years and his first novel in twelve years. I don't think anyone would have bet money on his eagerly-awaited return to fiction being in the company of Keanu Reeves.

Reeves, obviously, is an acclaimed and iconic actor best-known for playing the titular character in the John Wick franchise (now at four films and a prequel TV show), Neo in the four Matrix movies and Johnny Silverhand in the video game Cyberpunk 2077 and its recent expansion, Phantom Liberty. BRZRKR is a 12-issue limited series focusing on an enigmatic warrior character called the Berzerker, who is immortal and fights his way across time. Reeves developed the title with Matt Kindt, with Ron Garney providing the artwork. 

The Book of Elsewhere will be published on 23 July this year. BRZRKR is also in development as a live-action Netflix project and an animated show.