Luna Welcomes Tade Thompson’s Historical Fiction novel, Antara.

Author Tade Thompson

We are delighted to welcome Tade Thompson to the Luna family, and the superb Antara, an historical fiction novel, on the pre-Islamic warrior poet of renown. We have acquired WEL rights from Alexander Cochran at Greyhound Literary Agents, with Kay Farrell acquiring the audio rights for W. F. Howes, which will be released simultaneously with the print edition.

One century before Islam…

The Arabian Peninsula teems with tribes embroiled in conflict.

Out of this cauldron comes an insistent romance...

Antara is planned to be released in April 2027, with the cover art created by the fabulous Alison Sampson.

Tade is a most versatile writer. With Antara he takes us on a journey of discovery in the realm of history and folklore. His inimitable style applied to deeply thoughtful research, have created an incredible novel, certain to awaken the sense of adventure in all of us.

Kay Farrell, from W. F. Howes, says:

‘I have long admired Tade's imagination and stunning prose. I'm delighted to be working on his first historical novel, highlighting a figure who deserves to be better known and understood in the west. Antara will bring to life the adventure, romance and poetry of this figure surrounded by contradictory legend." 

Tade Thompson comments:

Somewhere between legend, myth, folklore, and history, sits Antara ibn Shaddad.

Antara is the story of a warrior, a poet, a diaspora African, driven by a forbidden love in a world that reveres his talents but reviles his skin.

In the century before Islam, in the harshest environment in the known world, this greatest of Arabian warriors struggles to ascend from slavery to the heights of his society, blasting through prejudice with the quickness of his sword, the incandescence of his temper, and the transcendence of his verse. But there is a cost for everything. Can he gain the whole world for himself and his family while keeping his soul?

Largely forgotten in the English-speaking world, Antara is a folk hero in the land of his birth, with his narrative retold and remixed in a variety of media, and his poetry recited in public spaces.

But his story is also the story of an African away from his homeland and I couldn’t resist retelling it.

Praise for Antara

"Marvelous, thoughtful, epic and deeply engaging. I was completely sucked into Antara's world of violence, strife and adventure. Thompson skillfully uses the legend of a flawed and fascinating character as a prism to scatter and examine present day issues. I'm tempted to describe it as Spartacus meets Chaka Zulu by way of Conan The Barbarian but it's so much more than that, it's richly textured, meticulously researched, unexpectedly humorous, full of kinetic action, and keenly insightful. If you enjoy sword-and-sorcery-shaped historical fantasy with a lot to say about how we forge our identities, you'll love this one."

--Wole Talabi, Author of Shigidi And The Brass Head Of Obalufon and The Fist Of Memory.

"The word epic gets bandied around a lot. Then a book comes along that reminds you what it really means. Antara is that book."

--Mike Carey, Author of The Girl With All the Gifts

“A perfect ending, readable and fast paced, love the evocation of the ancient world… religion, spirituality, mysticism, and plurality are interwoven so seamlessly.”

--Kate Elliott, Author of The Witch Roads and Unconquerable Sun.

About the Author

Tade Thompson is the author of numerous novels, including the critically acclaimed sci-fi novel Rosewater, the first in his award-winning Wormwood Trilogy, Making Wolf, and most recently Far From the Heaven, as well as the Molly Southbourne series of novellas and several short stories.

He has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Nommo Award, the Kitschies Golden Tentacle award, and the Julia Verlange award, and been shortlisted for the Hugo Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the Shirley Jackson Prize, among others. Many of his titles are currently in development for film and TV adaptation. Born in London to Yoruba parents, he lives and works on the south coast of England where he battles an addiction to books.