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PS titles by Christopher Evans and Zoran Zivkovic reviewed in Booklist
Posted by Paul Raven on May 15th, 2008 at 7:51
Booklist is the magazine produced by the American Library Association, so we can assume that they know a thing or two about good books. We certainly think so, anyway - as they seem very taken with two recent PS Publishing titles in the reviews section of their current issue, a special edition devoted to science fiction and fantasy.
Here's what Keir Graff had to say about Christopher Evans' Omega:
Alternate histories positing unusual twists to World War II aren’t themselves unusual, but Evans’ particular scenario might still be unique [...] a fascinatingly imagined wartime London—in the twenty-first century.
In this reality, Hitler died in a plane crash, the Germans and the English are allies, and an endless, grinding conflict has reduced the world to a polluted, underpopulated place where technological advancement coexists with extreme deprivation—it’s Blade Runner meets the Blitz. [...] Evans handles his tricky premise with a sure hand; not for alternate-history fans only.
"Blade Runner meets the Blitz"! That's the sort of pull-quote a publisher (and an author) dreams of. Secure your copy of Omega by clicking through below:
- Signed, limited, slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Reviewer Ray Olson gave The Last Book by Zoran Zivkovic a starred review, which indicates "a work judged to be outstanding in its genre":
When one person dies in a bookshop, it’s sad; although it requires calling in the police, it’s nothing more, especially since the deceased was old. But when two further deaths occur in the same shop within two days, and the coroner can ascertain no cause of death in all three cases, suspicion seems justified. [...] Two more die; the possibilities that a killer inspired by Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose or powerful forces (governmental? corporate?) possessing secret, traceless poisons may be responsible are considered; the involvement of a secretive, apocalyptic cult is established; and a green volume entitled The Last Book contains or is the key to the mystery.
Serbian master fantasist Zivkovic has written what may be the most delicious mystery by a speculative-fiction specialist since Stanislaw Lem’s mind-boggling The Investigation (1974). Unlike Lem’s novel, it is also a discreet, witty love story.
Compared favourably with Stanislaw Lem? Literary accolades don't come much weightier than that. Order your copy by clicking on the links below:
- Signed, limited, slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Finished cover: The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliot
Posted by Paul Raven on May 12th, 2008 at 7:12
Another piece of artwork from the PS Publishing intray to brighten your Monday! Or perhaps not - I notice that I've subconsciously put this one off for a few days, and I reckon it's probably more than a little to do with my not-so-latent coulrophobia.
But nonetheless, here's Christopher Roberts' eye-catching artwork:
Doubtless it's that very phobia that Will Elliot plays on in The Pilo Family Circus, which has a plot seemingly tailor-made to creep me out:
"Somewhere just above the searing flames of hell, The Pilo Family Circus is playing at a town near you. This darkest of carnivals has preyed on the souls of its audience for centuries and young Jamie has unfortunately just come the attention of the star turns - the baddest, most psychotic clown troupe you could never hope to meet.
What's more, they want him to join up ... and these are not the kind of folks who take no for an answer."
That's nightmare-inducing stuff from where I'm sat. Of course, those of you less petrified by clowns than myself may well be quite tempted by Will Elliot's surreal conceit, not to mention Roberts' artwork - in which case you should click through below and pre-order your copies.
- Slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Finished cover: ‘Template’ by Matthew Hughes
Posted by Paul Raven on May 7th, 2008 at 7:13
I guess I got lucky and joined PS Publishing on a particularly good month, because I've seen more quality artwork pass through my inbox than I'd ever had expected in such a short space of time. Point in case: Chris Erkmann's simple yet striking cover image for Template by Matthew Hughes.
It's arresting, isn't it? In which case it matches Robert Sawyer's opinion of the novel itself:
"Matthew Hughes's Template is many things - including a template others should follow to produce outstanding writing. Hughes has been the best-kept secret in SF for far too long: he's a towering talent, and Template is his best work to date. Bravo!"
- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids.
With an introduction by prolific maestro of the short story Jay Lake, what more could you wish for? Click through to pre-order your copy of Template right away in one of two formats:
- Slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Finished covers: Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont
Posted by Paul Raven on May 6th, 2008 at 7:19
We've received the final versions of the cover art for the two-volume set of Ian C. Esslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard, and I think you'll agree that Edward Miller has done a spectacular job - read the blurb alongside, and you can see that he has really caught the atmosphere of Esslemont's Malazan Empire:
The return of the mercenary company the Crimson Guard could not have come at a worse time for the Malazan Empire; drained by warfare, weakened by betrayal and rivalries, many see the grip of Empress Laseen weakening.
Conquered kingdoms and principalities test their old independence. Into this gathering civil war on Quon Tali - the Empire's homeland - comes the Guard. And with their return comes the memory of their hundred year old vow: undying opposition to the existence of the Empire.
Yet rivalries and betrayal stalk the Guard as well; for elements of its elite, the Avowed, scheme to open paths to even greater power. Ancient potent entities, Ascendants, also lend a hand exploiting all sides to further their own arcane ends.
Meanwhile, a swordsman, Traveller, and his companion Ereko, move from one strange encounter to another in a mysterious dance meant ultimately to bring the swordsman to a final confrontation from which none have ever returned.
As the Crimson Guard gathers itself from around the globe, Empress Laseen faces more immediate threats.
To feed her wars she has bled dry provincial garrisons across Quon Tali and now regional nationalists see their chance. Behind their insurrections stand the veteran commanders of Laseen's predecessor, Emperor Kellanved.
These generals and powerful mages, the "Old Hands," have lost patience with what they see as Laseen's mismanagement and have selected their own replacement.
Yet there are hints that Laseen may be using the uprisings to draw out and finally eliminate these last irksome survivors of her predecessor's rule...
Return of the Crimson Guard will be out very soon as a luxurious slipcased two-volume set - click through to the PS Webstore to pre-order your copy.
- Slipcased two-volume hardcover - £75 ($150 approx.), 300 copies
Out now: ‘Conscientious Inconsistencies’ by Nancy Jane Moore
Posted by Paul Raven on May 5th, 2008 at 10:28
The latest arrival in the PS Publishing warehouse is the second of our PS Showcase mini-collections.
Nancy Jane Moore's Conscientious Inconsistencies will be making its way to the post-boxes of pre-order customers over the coming week, and is available for immediate purchase from the PS Webstore right now.
Here's the jacket blurb to whet your appetite for this challenging and genre-smashing collection of short fiction:
“Break all rules, including these.” So advises Nancy Jane Moore in one of the stories in this collection.
Moore tends to break rules. As these stories demonstrate, she doesn’t confine herself to any one genre or style. The stories jump among fantasy, science fiction, and slipstream—sometimes in the same story—and subvert history, the present, the future, and readers’ expectations of gender roles.
The fantasy (science fiction? slipstream?) story “Three O’Clock in the Morning” (a tale of strange and indestructible walls) was described by Charles Coleman Finlay on Tangent Online as an “emotionally affecting story of the relationship between love, loneliness, marriage, and society.”
“A Mere Scutcheon” plays with the world of Alexandre Dumas, where swordswomen guard the queen and swordsmen guard the king, while “Homesteading” provides a glimpse into future history. “The First Condition of Immortality” slides into that uneasy realm between fantasy and real life, where death takes an unexpected form.
One story even breaks the basic rules of storytelling. “Thirty-One Rules for Fulfilling Your Destiny” is an epic fantasy (or maybe a space opera) told in a list of aphorisms.
However, this collection shows consistency in one area: the protagonists in these stories are women. Moore has written stories about men, and is noted for stories in which the main character is a combination of male and female, but she remains an unapologetic feminist who explores gender issues even when she’s writing fight scenes...
Conscientious Inconsistencies is ready to ship - click on through to secure your copy.
- Jacketed hardcover - £25.00 ($50.00 approx.) 100 copies
- Hardcover - £10.00 ($20.00 approx.) 300 copies
Multiple PS Publishing titles nominated for Shirley Jackson Awards
Posted by Paul Raven on May 3rd, 2008 at 10:17
The category shortlists for this year's Shirley Jackson Awards have been released, and we're immensely proud to see PS Publishing titles making a good showing in the nominations.
The Shirley Jackson Awards were set up to recognise "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic", and are voted for by a jury of academics, writers, editors and other industry professionals - so they are very prestigious prizes indeed.
While we at PS Publishing aren't averse to patting ourselves on the back for our part, it's the authors themselves who deserve the greatest acclaim, for without their stories the books would be blank and the awards pointless - so many congratulations to everyone nominated.
You can catch the whole list of finalists at the Shirley Jackson Awards blog, but here are the PS Publishing titles that made the cut:
Novella:
- 12 Collections, Zoran Zivkovic [hardcover, jacketed hardcover]
- Illyria, Elizabeth Hand [hardcover, paperback]
- The Mermaids, Robert Edric [hardcover, jacketed hardcover]
- The Scalding Rooms, Conrad Williams [hardcover, jacketed hardcover]
Novelette:
- "Thumbprint", Joe Hill (from Postscripts #10) [hardcover]
Congratulations, one and all! Click through on the links above to purchase copies of these acclaimed works at the PS Publishing Webstore.
Out now: ‘Thieving Fear’ by Ramsey Campbell
Posted by Paul Raven on May 2nd, 2008 at 8:45
Good news, horror fans! A brand new novel from home-grown head honcho of British horror Ramsey Campbell is about to be unleashed - PS Publishing has taken delivery of Thieving Fear, and copies should be making their way into the postboxes of pre-order customers within a week or so.
Here's the jacket pitch:
Charlotte Nolan and her cousins may not have ended up in the jobs they hoped to have when they were teenagers, but they've made their way in life. Charlotte works for a London publisher, Ellen cares for the elderly, Hugh has left teaching to work in a supermarket while his brother Rory is a controversial artist.
Then more than their jobs begin to go wrong as something reaches out of the past for them.
What has it to do with the summer night they spent on Thursaston Common? If the dreams they had that night are catching up with them, how is the Victorian occultist Arthur Pendemon involved? Before the nightmare ends more than one of them will have to enter what remains of Pendemon's house and confront what still lives there in the dark.
Sound spooky enough for you? Then click through below and buy your copy right away!
- Slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Finished cover: ‘The Economy Of Light’ by Jack Dann
Posted by Paul Raven on April 29th, 2008 at 6:40
Vincent Chong is a rising star of the genre fiction jacket art scene, with a distinctive and eye-catching style of his own. So, while it's been on display over in the PS Webstore for a week or so already, when I found Vinnie's cover art for the forthcoming Jack Dann novella The Economy Of Light in my backlogged inbox, I thought I should share it with the world at large:
Striking, isn't it?
The Economy Of Light will be released later this year in two formats - click through below to pre-order your copy!
- Jacketed hardcover edition - £25 (approx. $50); 200 copies only
- Hardcover edition - £10 (approx. $20); 500 copies only
Matthew Hughes is sf’s best-kept secret, says Robert Sawyer
Posted by Paul Raven on April 28th, 2008 at 9:15
Award-winning Canadian sf supremo Robert Sawyer is a big fan of Matthew Hughes, whose new novel Template is due out from PS Publishing later this year.
Says Sawyer:
"Matthew Hughes's Template is many things - including a template others should follow to produce outstanding writing. Hughes has been the best-kept secret in SF for far too long: he's a towering talent, and Template is his best work to date. Bravo!"
That's about as glowing as glowing reviews can get!
Template will be published as a slipcased hardback in a print run of 200, with an introduction by Jay Lake and a cover illustration by Chris Erkmann - click through to place a pre-order right now over in the PS Publishing Store.
Damien G Walter loves hardbacks
Posted by Paul Raven on April 22nd, 2008 at 8:30
Hello there, PS fans - this is my first post from the Newsroom hotseat, and I'm very proud to be here, too.
Which makes it all the nicer that I can point us to Damien G Walters' blog at Guardian Unlimited where, after receiving a care package from PS Publishing, he came out in support of boutique hardback editions:
"The part of me that loves books - that wants to own them, or lend them to friends, or give them as gifts - is far more satisfied by a quality hardback than a cheap paperback."
I'm with Damien on that one - hardbacks have the kudos of the precious for me, because I mostly read paperbacks in my youth. However, there's a vigorous (and occasionally snippy) debate in the comments thread that shows not everyone likes the reassuring weight and flash dust-jacket of a good hardback in their hand.
Which just leaves more of them for those of us that do, right? :)
A change of PS Personnel
Posted by Peter Crowther on April 18th, 2008 at 9:52
Just a quick note to let our regular readers and customers know that our former press, publicity, marketing etc. guy, Darren Turpin, is no longer with us, having taken on a full-time position as a marketing exec with Orbit Books.
Our new press, publicity, marketing etc. guy is Paul Raven (of Velcro City Tourist Board and Futurismic fame) and he's currently in the process of finding his feet whilst hitting the ground running (and reading through a couple of hundred handover-related emails from Darren).
So please do bear with us during this transitional phase, especially if you've emailed us recently with regard to anything press, publicity or marketing-related and we'll be in touch as soon as we possibly can.
Cheers!
Peter Crowther, Publisher, PS Publishing.
Out Now: ‘Random Walk’ by Lawrence Block
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:28
We're delighted to announce that copies of our re-issued edition of veteran crime scribe Lawrence Block's mystery novel Random Walk are currently being delivered to our despatch warehouse and should be winging their way to our pre-order customers early next week.
Heres' the teaser text from the book, to whet your appetite:
In Rosburg, Oregon, a bartender named Guthrie Wagner responds to an inner prompting by quitting his job, walking out of town, and heading east, over the Cascades.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a woman named Sara Duskin realizes she’s losing her eyesight; her inner vision leads her to board a series of buses, taking her in turn to Chicago and Salt Lake City and Portland.
In Littleton, Colorado, a real-estate investor named Mark Adlon lures a clerk into the rear section of a convenience store, knocks her out with a blow to the head, then waits for her to regain consciousness before strangling her.
These and other lives connect and collide in a rich narrative that is magical and mystical and vividly real.
Lawrence Block has never written another book like Random Walk.
Neither has anybody else.
Random Walk is available to order from the PS Webstore in two editions:
- Signed, limited, slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Out Now: ‘Omega’ by Christopher Evans
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:22
Omega is Christopher Evans' first adult science fiction novel for over ten years. It's a story of cross-multiverse alternate history and one man's struggle to come to terms with his crumbling identity:
Omega: an apocalyptic rumour from the Eastern Front.
Omega: something that will alter all the strategic calculations of the Earth's great military blocs.
Omega: the code name for a weapon that may well bring doomsday with it.
But if Omega is indeed the agent that will destroy the world, that world is not our own. For this is a timeline in which World War Two never truly ended: a timeline in which Hitler died in a plane crash, Britain joined Germany in its battle against Communist Russia, and the present is an age of intermittent, but deadly, armed conflict between the USSR, the European Alliance, and the USA. The frontier regions are radioactive wastelands, nuclear winter threatens catastrophe, global confrontation could erupt again any time - and that's before Omega is taken into account...
This is the reality experienced by Owen Meredith when an accident forces his consciousness from the England we know into the mind of his cognate self in that other darker, Europe. Switching back and forth between being plain Owen Meredith and troubled Major Owain Maredudd, Owen is faced not only with a Cold War going Hot, but with a deep crisis of identity. Who is he? Whose twisted destiny is he treading? Did the ordinary domestic life he remembers ever even take place? Perhaps the universe of Owain and Omega is merely a symptom of mental illness - but if so, why is it so urgently tangible?
Omega can be ordered in one of two editions from the PS Webstore:
- Signed, limited, slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
The hardcover is in stock and will be shipping imminently. But we're sorry to have to report that the slipcased edition will be delayed by a couple of weeks; a printing error has meant that the whole run will have to be re-done. Watch this space, we'll keep you posted!
Out Now: ‘The Last Book’ by Zoran Zivkovic
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:19
The Last Book is the brand new novel by multiple award-winning Serbian author Zoran Zivkovic and tells the tale of a mysterious tome that seems to be responsible for the demise of a number of unfortunate bibliophiles:
A series of mysterious deaths in the Papyrus Bookstore brings literature-loving police inspector Dejan Lukic to investigate. Here he meets the attractive owner, Vera Gavrilovic, and learns that the only thing the victims have in common is that in the moments before their deaths they were reading an elusive and unidentified volume - the Last Book.
As the plot thickens and the seemingly causeless deaths multiply, the National Security Agency, a secret apocalyptic sect and an exotic teashop become involved, while Dejan and Vera's growing attachment is threatened by nightmares and ever-encroaching danger...
Is a literary madman on the loose, murdering readers according to the method laid down in The Name of the Rose? In a final race against time, Inspector Lukic must discover the secret of the Last Book and the reason why he feels as though he has already read everything that is happening to him. The extraordinary denouement reveals hidden truths about the clash of realities and the awesome power of the creative imagination.
The Last Book is available to order from the PS Webstore in two editions:
- Signed, limited, slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Dare you read it?
Finished Cover: ‘PS Showcase #2 - Conscientious Inconsistencies’ by Nancy Jane Moore
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:15
Here's the artwork for Conscientious Inconsistencies by Nancy Jane Moore; the second volume in our 'PS Showcase' series of mini-collections of brand new short stories by some of the best and brightest new writers on the genre fiction scene.
The instantly-recognisable style will tell you that this piece is by PS favourite Edward Miller.
PS Showcase #2: Conscientious Inconsistencies will be published in the next month or so, in two editions:
- Signed, jacketed hardcover - £25.00 / $50 (approx.) 100 copies
- Hardcover - £10.00 / $20.00 (approx.) 300 copies
Finished Cover: ‘Shrike’ by Quentin S. Crisp
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:12
Another gorgeous piece of work by Vincent Chong will be gracing our edition of Quentin S. Crisp's novella Shrike when we publish later in the year. Here it is in all its glory:
Two editions are available to pre-order from the PS Webstore:
- Signed, jacketed hardcover - £25.00 / $50 (approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £10.00 / $20.00 (approx.) 500 copies
Finished Cover: ‘Postscripts #14′ ed. by Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:07
Here's the riotously colourful cover for the next edition of our award-winning Postscripts Magazine, which we're expecting to ship to subscribers and pre-order customers in early April. The artwork - a mind-bending blend of surrealism, cubism and probably a couple more -isms besides - is by PS regular James Hannah.
Our fourteenth issue contains brand new fiction from Rhys Hughes, Paul Jessup, Guy Immega, Sarah Monette, Barry Wood, Robert Reed, William Alexander, Jetse de Vries, Jeff VanderMeer and Robert Weston.
It's available in two editions:
- Signed, limited hardcover - £25.00 / $50 (approx.) 200 copies
- Paperback - £6.00 / $12.00 (approx.)
And don't forget that four issue subscriptions are also available and every current and paid-up subscriber will receive a copy of our seasonal chapbook, round about the end of the year.
Finished Cover: ‘The Last Book’ by Zoran Zivkovic
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:03
A deceptively simple, minimalist cover for this brand new novel by one of Serbia's finest literary sons, Zoran Živkovic:
The Last Book is just back from the printers and will be shipping to pre-order customers in the next few days in two editions:
- Signed, limited, slipcased hardcover - £50 / $100.00 (approx.) 200 copies
- Hardcover - £20 / $40.00 (approx.) 500 copies
PS Current Catalogue and Forthcoming Titles Update
Posted by Darren on March 29th, 2008 at 17:00
We've been working away here at PS Towers to bring our Webstore catalogue and forthcoming title schedule for the rest of 2008 bang up-to-date.
Low Stock Warnings
The first change you'll notice when checking the Current Catalogue page of the Webstore is the addition of a number of low and very low stock warnings.
Following our first ever sale last Autumn that ran through to the end of a very busy holiday season, we've carried out a full stock-check. As a result, a number of titles which are now sold out have been moved to the archive. In addition, any titles with between 11 and 20 copies in stock have been marked low stock and any title with 10 or fewer copies in stock has been marked very low stock.
So if there's a title you've had your eye on for a while that's now marked 'very low', you might want to get an order in sooner rather than later...
Forthcoming Schedule Update
We've also been through our schedule for the rest of 2008 with a fine-tooth comb and have made a few necessary adjustments. Thieving Fear by Ramsey Campbell has been brought forward and will now be published earlier than we were originally anticipating. Alas though, a few titles have suffered from what we in the trade technically term 'slippage' for one reason or another and will now be published a little later than we originally hoped (although having said that, they may well end up being moved forward again... these things can happen when you're an independent publisher).
- The Babylonian Trilogy by Sébastien Doubinsky
- The City in These Pages by John Grant
- Planet of Mystery by Terry Bisson
- Harsh Oases by Paul DiFilippo
- The Painting and the City by Robert Freeman Wexler
- The Book, The Writer, The Reader by Zoran Zivkovic
- Living With the Dead by Darrell Schweitzer
- The Song of Time by Iain R. MacLeod
- Camp Desolation and an Eschatology of Salt by Uncle River
- Blue Canoe by T.M. Wright
- The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane
- Billy's Book by Terry Bisson
- Counting Tadpoles by Uncle River
We've also added four new titles to the forthcoming titles page of the webstore, which of course means they're now available to pre-order:
- The Pilo Family Circus (a Novel) by Will Elliott
- PS Showcase #3: Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal by Robert Jeschonek
- PS Showcase #4: Glyphotech by Mark Samuels
- Grazing the Long Acre (a Collection) by Gwyneth Jones
Please click the book title to visit the relevant catalogue page for more information.
If you have any questions about any of the information in this article, please get in touch via the Contact Page of the Webstore.
Farewell, Sir Arthur C Clarke
Posted by Peter Crowther on March 19th, 2008 at 19:28
I got the news about Arthur C. Clarke's death first thing this morning. 'Today' started (on Radio 4) and one of the announcers - it might have been John Humphreys - mentioned it just as I was spreading marmalade on my toast. I thought of all the homes that that news would be drifting into and about how tragic it is... and yet how calmly most listeners would receive it. It's always sad when someone dies, of course, but there are certain people who, to the members of any close-knit community, should really be given an exemption card to show the Reaper when he appears at their door with that damn scythe. Arthur was one of them.
Ken Slater, much loved book dealer (Fantast Medway and, latterly, Operation Fantast) and, I seem to recall, a founder member of the British Fantasy Society and a member of First Fandom (that rare and exclusive band of SF-ers who were around at the genre's Big Bang) was another; Ken died last month. Both of them were 90 years old; not a bad innings, as they say... but I hated being 'out' when I played cricket, no matter how many runs I'd notched up.
In the early 1960s I could be found tramping around the corridors of Leeds Grammar School, age 12 or so, with a paperback stuffed into my blazer pocket. The paperbacks - mostly Ballentines and Pyramids, and Corgis and Panthers (Pan seemed to have only Charles Chilton and C. S. Lewis... curious bedfellows when you think about it) - were pretty much all SF, though Ballentine did a lovely line in 'horror' (Fritz Leiber's Night's Black Agents, John Kier Cross's The Other Passenger and Zacherley's two anthologies, Midnight Feast and Vampire Stew being good examples). Anyway, two of the writers whose work would so enthrall me were Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke.
Not surprisingly, then, this past few years have been particularly rewarding for me here at PS. First we republished Ray's R is for Rocket and S is for Space, with a new Intro by Arthur (we're currently doing several more of Ray's finest works) and then - just a few months ago, in fact - we re-published an all-time fave of mine, Arthur's Tales From the White Hart... with a brand new story from Arthur and Stephen Baxter. Alas, it's the last White Hart story that'll carry Arthur's byline.
All of us here at PS wish him well on that final journey. I trust it's as exciting and as enigmatic in reality as it was on the big screen. And when he gets there - wherever 'there' may be - I'm sure Ken will buy him a drink.
Out Now: ‘The Situation’ by Jeff VanderMeer
Posted by Darren on March 19th, 2008 at 19:20
Our limited edition of Jeff VanderMeer's brand new chapbook novelette, The Situation is back from the printers, in-stock at our despatch warehouse and is shipping now to pre-order customers.
As you will probably have heard, we recently teamed up with Wired.com's GeekDad blog to give away a pdf copy of the entire text of The Situation and if you're interested in trying before you buy, that download is still available over at blog.wired.com/geekdad.
As a result of the coverage, the book has been selling very strongly indeed, particularly the 200-copy only signed, numbered, jacketed hardcover edition, so we're really not kidding when we say that if you want to secure a copy you'll need to get your order in fast!
And now, a quick note from our publisher, Peter Crowther:
It's mea culpa time, folks. We've just noticed, with a fair degree of embarrassment, that the signing sheet for the limited edition of The Situation states that there will be '200 slipcased signed hardcovers of this book, plus 500 unsigned hardcovers'. Well, the truth is that we mixed up the text from a signing sheet for a different PS title, and the signed hardcovers will not be slipcased... just as it has said all along on the website.
Of course, right now, everyone is happy with that - nobody is expecting a slipcase - but, of course, as soon as the pre-ordered books start plopping onto hallway mats and into creaky old tin rfd mailboxes, everywhere from here (just a couple of streets away is a brand-new regular customer), to all over the USA, to Australia, to North Korea (I kid you not! PS straddles the globe...) then people are going to be phoning wondering where their darn slipcase is.
Well, now you know: there weren't any. Looks like I ducked out of too many lectures on that 'Publishing 101' course! Note to self: must do better in future. Apologies for any confusion caused!
Best wishes
Contrite Crowther
Out Now: ‘The Luminous Depths’ by David Herter, plus PS acquires ‘One Who Disappeared’
Posted by Darren on March 18th, 2008 at 14:59
David Herter's new novella - The Luminous Depths, sequel to his 2006 PS debut On the Overgrown Path is now available and shipping to pre-order customers in two editions:
- Hardcover, £10.00 ($20.00 approx.)
- Signed, Jacketed Hardcover, £25.00 ($50.00 approx.)
The novella features as one of its main characters the Czech writer and 1936 Nobel Prize Nominee Karel Čapek. In a recent blog post, David has compiled a sampling of Čapek's work, and he also presents extracts from the selected pieces in further posts.
We're also delighted to announce that PS Publishing has acquired the final book in this superb trilogy. One Who Disappeared will be a novel rather than a novella and will be published in 2010. Full details will be added to the catalogue in due course.
PS Publishing acquires new steampunk novella ‘The Baby Killers’ by Jay Lake
Posted by Darren on March 18th, 2008 at 14:25
PS Publishing is delighted to announce our first acquisition of 2008: The Baby Killers by US author Jay Lake, a brand new novella that we've scheduled for publication in 2010.
PS commissioning editor Nick Gevers said of the book: "With The Baby Killers, Jay Lake puts the 'punk' back in steampunk (never fear, there's quite a bit of steam as well...)
"Written in a style which recalls the Victoriana-that-never-was spirit of the steampunk movement, this novella offers a wild ride through the streets of Philadelphia in 1907, when that city serves as the seat of the British Dominion of the Americas.
"Villains and heroes, for the most part indistinguishable from one another, battle over a restaging of the Fall of Innocence. The strangest parts of this story are straight from the history books – only Lake could combine Doukhobors and Le Pétomane, fartiste extraordinaire of the French stage, into one raging, rampaging explosion of technology, morality and clanking good fun."
We'll be adding details to the catalogue in due course.
Win a proof / ARC of ‘The Return of the Crimson Guard’ with Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
Posted by Darren on March 16th, 2008 at 10:19
We've teamed up with top fantasy blogger Pat St Denis of the legendary Pat's Fantasy Hotlist to give away one ultra-rare proof / advanced reading copy of our forthcoming Ian Cameron Esslemont novel, The Return of the Crimson Guard, sequel to his debut Night of Knives.
Both Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard are set in the same world made hugely popular by Steven Erikson's Malazan Books of the Fallen, which Esslemont and Erikson co-created.
Return of the Crimson Guard has such a huge page count that we're publishing our limited, true first edition in a two-volume slipcased edition, priced £75.00 (£150.00 approx.) and proof copies will be incredibly rare, so make sure you enter the competition sooner rather than later...