The Hyena

Coming soon from Emmy Award winner David Quantick, exclusively via Stars and Sabers Publishing.

The Hyena is the story of Deborah Parkinson, the greatest artist you never heard of. Artist, lover, mother, friend–but never muse–Deborah is a woman whose story spans cities and continents, legends and geniuses.

From Paris to New York and from Kahlo to Dali,  this is the story of a woman who didn’t fit in… and liked it that way.

“The Hyena is a surreal and playful journey from Plymouth to Paris to Mexico and back, asking questions about feminism, identity, who gets to be a muse, and who gets to be an artist. Witty, wise, and joyful – I loved this book.”

—Una McCormack, New York Times bestselling author of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Peacemakers


“THE HYENA is a mind-bending alt-version of our world on the other side of a thin veil! Mysterious, twisty, and utterly fascinating! This one will take your brain on a long, strange trip!”

— Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Red Empire and Ghosts of the Void

“Quantick’s The Hyena plummets us into art at its most surreal. The novel twinkles with moments of brilliance as the reader navigates the jagged line between reality and the illusions of a forked-tongue narrator. Through Deb, the tale becomes an exquisite, exotic tapestry inhabited by Picasso, Dalí, Kahlo, even Trotsky, culminating in a trio of unconventional appendices.
The true brilliance of the novel lies in Quantick’s genius to trek a likable antihero across each  stage of her existence—a child, a young woman, a mother, an elder—proffering full immersion in the many lives of Deborah Parkinson.”

—Eugen Bacon, Solstice, British Fantasy, Locus and Ignyte Award winner and Philip K. Dick Award finalist. Full review in Aurealis Issue 195.



“I couldn’t put this book down. The Hyena has an urgency to its telling, taking hold of you and carrying you along with it. There’s a constant, tantalising sense of almost, as Deborah Parkinson finds herself drawn into the orbit of various glittering, bohemiam figures from art history. Her story is one with a twist in its tail that is both unexpected and entirely earned.”

— Anne Corlett, author of The Theatre of Glass and Shadows and Witchwater


“The Hyena takes us on a surreal journey through questions of identity and reality and the nature of art and creativity.”

— Ruth Frances Long, author of The Feral Gods trilogy


“A breathless, engrossing and often very funny art-world picaresque that takes so many unpredictable turns – the last few being the most surprising of all.”

— Eddie Robson, author of Painting With A Dead God’s Blood


“Deborah is a delightfully quirky character, full of mordant whimsy and burning wit.”

— J.L. Worrad, author of Pennyblade and The Keep Within

Additional preorder links (including for paperback and hardcover) forthcoming.

Cover Art by Ernie Chiara.