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Wednesday reviews round-up for 10th March

Posted by Paul Raven on March 10th, 2010 at 10:55

Ah, the sweetness of March, as the hours of sunlight increase in number… makes us Seasonal Affective Disorder types much more fun to be around, y’know! So let’s embrace this phototropic cheeriness and look at the PS reviews inbox for the week just gone.

First up, Mark Watson of Best SF takes a look at Stephen Baxter’s XeeLee novella Starfall; there’s a fair bit of plot summary there (so possibly best avoided if you’re the sort who doesn’t like spoilers), but that seems to be an indication that he enjoyed it a fair bit, prompting the following comments:

Baxter is virtually unparalleled in the way he does far future, hard SF, and space opera. [...] Baxter’s official website has a Timeline, which serves as an indication of the breadth of scope of Baxter’s stories, and makes this reader wonder whether he has two or more brains in his head! If people of my age are ever allowed to retire from work, I’ll be setting out a couple of months to pull all the stories and novels together and work my way through this timeline!

It has to be said, the Baxter back-catalogue does grow at an alarming rate – a few years ago it felt like I’d read the bulk of ‘em, but looking at the list now it feels more like I’ve read less than half! Would that I had the time to do a catch-up binge, as Watson suggests… which is the lament of readers the world over, I guess. :)

Next up is a review from another Mark – this time it’s Mark Graham, veteran book reviewer of the Rocky Mountain News, guest-posting at Tor.com and waxing lyrical about Joe Hill’s Horns, before coming to the following conclusion:

The transitions between the present and the past are handled so deftly that they are almost seamless. Hill sprinkles a multitude of demonic references through the narrative: names, music, places, everyday items and more, and he uses horns in a variety of ways. I don’t want to mention any of them here and spoil the fun.

While the conclusion of the novel is a bit over the top, Hill somehow manages to make a protagonist with horns and supernatural powers seem not only acceptable, but normal. Horns is an addictive read. Plan on a couple of late nights glued to it and checking the mirror in the morning to make sure that nothing weird is sprouting from your noggin.

There already is something weird sprouting from my noggin… but I’m pretty sure my Mad Max crowd-scene-extra’s barnet isn’t concealing anything more demonic. Well, not yet…

Our third and final link for the week isn’t to a review as such, but Tangent Online’s list of recommended reads for 2009 contains – among dozens of other excellent stories from all sorts of venues, print and online alike – a generous handful of PS publications:

• “In Winter” by Nancy Kilpatrick, “The Hungry Heart” by Michael A. Arnazen and “Devil’s Arcade” by Mark Charan Newton, all found in Darkness on the Edge
• “The Red King Sleeps” by Marly Youmans and “The Portrayed Man” by Justin Cartaginese from Enemy of the Good (Postscripts #19)
• “The Healer” by David Hoing, “Black Fragmentaria” by Michael Cobley and the title story “Edison’s Frankenstein” by Chris Roberson from Edison’s Frankenstein (Postscripts #20-21)
• Gilbert & Edgar on Mars by Eric Brown
• Cast a Cold Eye by Derryl Murphy and William Shunn
• Shaka II by Mike Resnick

A pretty respectable showing, I think… certainly far superior to the British team’s honours list in the Winter Olypics, eh? ;)

Remember to click on the cover art (or listed links) to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

And don’t forget that we’ve capped our postage rates, and that all top state pre-orders go postage-free!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Darkness on the Edge: stories inspired by the song of Bruce Springsteen

Posted by Paul Raven on March 8th, 2010 at 9:01

Bruce Springsteen is arguably the most influential rock musician of his generation, bringing an everyday/everyman sensibility and down-to-earth storytelling to a music genre perhaps better known for flash, fakery and outright braggadocio. While I was born a little too late to really be exposed to him at his peak, The Boss looms large in my world, if only because he holds pride of place in the record collections of so many friends and colleagues.

So it was no great surprise to me when Pete told me PS Publishing would be running an anthology of stories based on Springsteen’s output… in fact, I was surprised to find no one else had done it before. But to the best of my knowledge, this is the first: Harrison Howe has spent much time and love putting together Darkness on the Edge, and it finally sees the light of day this month. It’s the perfect gift for the fiction-reading Springsteen fan in your life… even if (or perhaps especially if) that person happens to be you.

Contributor John Palisano has put together a little video trailer for Darkness on the Edge, by the way:

Aren’t you tempted now? Go on, give in and treat yourself – click through below to pre-order a copy:

• Darkness on the Edge by Harrison Howe (ed.) – unsigned edition (£20)
• Darkness on the Edge by Harrison Howe (ed.) – traycased signed edition (£50)

Introductory offers on Stanza Press poetry, new Six-of-the-Best bargain bundles, Tomorrow Revisited and many, many more…

Posted by Peter Crowther on March 6th, 2010 at 17:00

Hi, folks;

As I write this (3rd March), the weather here on the Yorkshire coast is enjoying a fourth day of clear skies. It’s still cold but there are finally some signs that we may be moving–albeit slowly–out of winter. Let’s hope so.

It’s just three weeks away now from the World Horror Convention in Brighton and to say things have been hectic would be an understatement. But we’re pretty much on track to have all of our promised new titles available at the Con, with all pre-orders going out by the middle of April. That’s the plan, anyways… and it’s always good to have a plan.

Stanza Press poetry – introductory offers

But let’s celebrate the clement weather with a couple of special offers — first off, this:

Stanza Press

• Off The Coastal Path edited by Jo Fletcher (£15)
• Not Quite Atlantis by Donald Sidney-Fryer (£12)
• Halloween in a Suburb by H. P. Lovecraft (£12)
• Song of the Necromancer by Clark Ashton Smith (£12)
• The Singer in the Mist by Robert E. Howard (£12)

And as a special introductory offer to Stanza Press poetry books, you can buy all five titles above for £60, post-free.

Six-of-the-Best bargain bundles

Secondly: with all the other new titles about to hit us, we need to make sure we’ve cleared some space. Thus, at the end of March, we’re cancelling the old Anniversary Gift Boxes and replacing them with a new quartet of Bargain Bundles under the collective title of ‘Six Of The Best’.

And better still… the great news is that, until 1st April, we’re running both deals – that’s the four Anniversary Gift Boxes and the four Six Of The Best Bargain Bundles – side by side. You already know about the Gift Boxes, so here’s the lowdown on the Bargain Bundles.

First off, unlike the Gift Boxes (which apply only to pre-2009 titles), the Bargain Bundles include all PS titles (except Secret Histories) published before this year.

Here’s how it works:

• Six randomly-chosen trade novellas (originally published at either £10 or £12) – £30 plus postage, for a saving of up to £42;
• Six randomly-chosen jacketed novellas (originally published at £25) – £75 plus postage, for a saving of up to £75;
• Six randomly-chosen trade novels (originally published at either £20 or £25) – £60 plus postage, for a saving of up to £90; and
• Six randomly-chosen slipcased/traycased novels (originally published at £35-£75) – £120 plus postage, for a saving of up to £330.

(Don’t forget we’ve also capped our postage rates, so your total postage fees will be either £6 if you live in the UK or £12 if you live elsewhere, no matter how many books you buy.)

Now, maybe a word on the debut project for our new PS ArtBooks imprint…

Tomorrow Revisited: The Complete Frank Hampson Story

This has not been the smoothest of rides, but we’re nearing a point where we just need to press the start button and printing commences. But first, the final negotiations with the Dan Dare Corporation… so why not get your advance orders in while we’re dotting the Is and crossing the Ts?

PS ArtBooks

• Tomorrow Revisited – bookshop edition (£29.99)
• Tomorrow Revisited – slipcased edition (£69.99)
• Tomorrow Revisited – deluxe leatherbound traycased edition (£295)

Order now for a 10% discount on the listed prices!

New releases for March 2010

And now it’s time to remind you what’s coming out this month… though don’t forget you can always take a look at our forthcoming titles section at the PS Webstore to see what’s coming down the pike.

First, the two late-comers:

• Postscripts # 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein – traycased signed edition (£30)
• The Night Cache by Andy Duncan – signed edition (£15)

Now the rest of the new stuff:

• A Web of Black Widows by Scott Carter – unsigned edition (£12)
• A Web of Black Widows by Scott Carter – signed edition (£25)
• One For The Road by Stephen King – slipcased signed edition (£175)
• One For The Road by Stephen King – unsigned edition (£75)
• Horns by Joe Hill – slipcased signed edition (£75) (Please note, these are the last few copies; the traycased edition is already sold out)
• Darkness on the Edge by Harrison Howe (ed.) – unsigned edition (£20)
• Darkness on the Edge by Harrison Howe (ed.) – traycased signed edition (£50)
• Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury – unsigned edition (£20)
• Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury – slipcased single-signature edition (£50)
• Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury – traycased two-signature edition (£95)
• Escher’s Loops by Zoran Zivkovic – unsigned edition (£20)
• Escher’s Loops by Zoran Zivkovic – traycased signed edition (£50)
• Black Wings by S. T. Joshi (ed.) – unsigned edition (£25)
• Black Wings by S. T. Joshi (ed.) – traycased signed edition (£60)
• What Will Come After by Scott Edelman – unsigned edition (£15)
• What Will Come After by Scott Edelman – traycased signed edition (£35)
• Pelican Cay by David Case – unsigned edition (£25)
• Pelican Cay by David Case – traycased and multiple-signature edition (£60)
• Darkness, Mist & Shadow Vol. 1 by Basil Copper – unsigned edition (£35)
• Darkness, Mist & Shadow Vol. 2 by Basil Copper – unsigned edition (£35)
• Darkness, Mist & Shadow by Basil Copper – slipcased and multiple-signature two-book set (£100)
• Literary Remains by R. B. Russell – unsigned edition (£15)
• Literary Remains by R. B. Russell – traycased signed edition (£35)
• The Sorcerer’s House by Gene Wolfe – single-signature edition (£30)
• The Sorcerer’s House by Gene Wolfe – slipcased two-signature edition (£65)

But don’t worry… we’ve got another 35-40 titles scheduled for the rest of the year. Arrrrghhhh!

February giveaway winner

Paul Eke, proprietor of thecomicbookshop.co.uk, was the lucky recipient of a rare proof copy of our forthcoming Black Wings anthology of new Lovecraftian horror. And if you’re signed up to receive the PS Publishing newsletter emails by 16th March (meaning you get an update just like this one once a month), you could be the winner of an equally rare physical ARC of Scott Edelman’s collected zombie tales, What Will Come After – so what are you waiting for?

And that’s all for this month, I think. Look after each other… and happy reading!

Pete

Wednesday reviews round-up for 3rd March

Posted by Paul Raven on March 3rd, 2010 at 15:01

This week’s round-up is only a two-fer, so let’s get straight to it. Number one, the presumably-pseudonymous Seregil of Rhiminee from RisingShadow.net heaps praise on Scott Edelman’s zombie shorts* as collected in What Will Come After:

These stories are disturbing, but they can also be called hopeful. In my opinion this is quite an achievement, because it isn’t easy to combine hopefulness and disturbing things – Scott Edelman has managed to do this and he’s done it amazingly well.

The first story, What Will Come After, is a surprisingly tender, but shocking story about love, life, death and life after death as a zombie. It’s a fine example of what a good writer do with words. The other stories are also well written, but I especially liked the Bram Stoker Award nominated stories (Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man and A Plague on Both Your Houses).

I can recommend What Will Come After: The Complete Zombie Stories of Scott Edelman to all horror readers, because it’s worth reading. If you like good zombie stories, these stories will charm you.

Four out of five stars – that’ll do nicely!

Number two, Tangent Online sets Kathleen M. Kemmerer on Postscripts #20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein. As explained before, the traditional Tangent formula with anthologies is to examine each story in turn, so excerpting isn’t very easy – but if you want to test my assertion that it’s a generally very favourable review, feel free to pop over there and check. Put it this way: the review concludes by saying “[t]his is a collection to savor. Nearly all readers will find something to love here.” Our work here is done. :)

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

And don’t forget that we’ve capped our postage rates, and that all top state pre-orders go postage-free!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

[ * That's 'shorts' as in short stories, not short trousers. For the record, I have no idea whether or not Mr Edelman possesses any zombie-related clothing. Though now I find I kind of hope he does. ]

Announcing Tomorrow Revisited: The Complete Frank Hampson Story

Posted by Peter Crowther on March 2nd, 2010 at 14:52

Back when I was just a kid– no, strike that… back when I was a younger kid, Wednesday evenings held a special double-whammy significance for me. Cos that was the day I went into Outer Space… lying on the floor like those cheesy Ovaltiney ads would have you believe all 1950s kids did (see, it’s all totally true!), listening to radio broadcasts of Charles Chiltern’s Journey Into Space (in the capable hands of Jet Morgan and his chums Lemmy, Mitch and Doc) and leafing through the latest issue of the Eagle comic, featuring the one and only Dan Dare (and the irrepressible Digby, of course). Ah, what magic! Pure Heaven!

You can find CD and cassette collections of those old radio shows (we used to call them ‘wirelesses’ in those strange bygone days) and, of course, you can buy compilations of Dan Dare’s adventures all over the place — and well worthy of your attention they truly are. But while we were treated several years back — a quarter century, as it happens — to Alastair Crompton’s The Man Who Drew Tomorrow celebration of Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson, there were more gaps in the story than was deemed ideal. And the complementary material was sparse… and where such material was included, it was in black and white.

Well, we’ve gone and added another new imprint to the PS stable — PS ArtBooks — and we’ve negotiated with Alastair Crompton (plus Hampson’s son, Peter and Colin Frewin, President of the Dan Dare Corporation) to fill in those gaps, expand that original story and add in a veritable feast of supporting material… much of it never seen before… and all of it in full colour.

Titled Tomorrow Revisited, this exquisite book will come in three states:

• a regular bookshop edition priced at £29.99;
• a 250-copy slipcased edition signed by the author and artist Andrew Skilleter, and featuring a special Dan Dare illustrated homage by Skilleter, priced at £69.99; and finally
• a 100-copy deluxe leatherbound edition in a special leather traycase, and featuring a certificate of authenticity signed by Crompton, Skilliter and legendary Eagle artist Don Harley, who will be providing a one-off personalised illustration for each copy. This one comes in at £295.

All three are currently featured on the website at the special pre-order prices of £26.99, £62.99 and £265.50, all plus postage – follow the links above.

Interest in the deluxe edition has already been high so I’m advising you to place your order right away. If you’re not sure, then I’d suggest you watch this little extract from British Pathé News, originally broadcast to cinema audiences in 1956:

My, but you’ll need to be either strong of stuff or hard of heart to ignore that. Or this, for that matter…

See you on the Space Lanes!

Joe Hill has the Horn(s).

Posted by Paul Raven on February 25th, 2010 at 16:32

Via SF Signal, here’s the mighty Joe Hill talking about his new novel, Horns:

Horns is out now as published by William Morrow in the US, and hits the UK via the good offices of the people at Gollancz in September… but we went and bought the limited edition rights for PS, because we know that Joe Hill is a writer whose books are well worth collecting, especially for connoisseurs of genre fiction – and that’s what we’re all about, after all. :)

Indeed, we’re all sold out of our luxury traycased edition, but you can still snag one of the limited slipcased hardbacks – signed by Mr Hill himself, no less – for just £75. So what are you waiting for?

Wednesday reviews round-up for 24th February

Posted by Paul Raven on February 24th, 2010 at 16:20

Yeah, I know, this is a little later than usual… but I’ve had a busy morning. And hey, at least it’s on the right day of the week!

Anyway, blather aside, it’s reviews time here at PS Towers, so let’s see what we’ve got in the virtual mailbag…

First of all, Black Static’s Peter Tennant tucks in to two recent titles in their latest issue (print only, web-heads!), with high praise for Rick Hautala’s Reunion:

There are no mixed feelings about this novella [... It’s] pretty much good enough reason to slaughter a metaphorical fatted calf or two. My only problem is that it’s ruddy awkward to review without giving away the main plot twist. I can’t even see a way to touch on the theme of the book, which is so eloquently pinned down by F. Paul Wilson in the afterword (and there’s a reason it’s an after- rather than a foreword), without slipping in a horrendous plot spoiler.

[...]Reunion is perhaps more SF than horror, but it’s a beautifully written story that manages to draw from the deepest wellsprings of human emotion to deliver a tale that is rich with melancholy and sadness for lost opportunities and wasted lives, that manages to be minatory and yet without any real sense of menace, no monster but life itself. It kept me reading to the very end in anticipation of how it would all turn out, even though I felt I already knew. Yes, there is a predictable element to the narrative (perhaps ‘feel of the inevitable’ would be a more accurate description) but that isn’t really a concern, as the tale’s chief value and appeal doesn’t lie in any plot twist, but with the things it enables Hautala to say about the human condition, of how so often in our lives wisdom speaks in a vacuum.

If you haven’t read Hautala before, start here. Start now.

That’s about as unambiguous as it gets, no? Tennant also feels good about Cast A Cold Eye by Murphy and Shunn:

This short novella does many things right. For starters, its setting is immaculately captured on the page, with a real sense of rural Nebraska in 1921 coming over thanks to a wealth of tiny details, such as the ins and outs of photography or a look inside the house of a wealthy widow. There’s a strong emotional grounding too, for both Luke and the society in which he is placed, an aching sense of despair undercut with a feeling that perhaps the worst is past, so people can look to the future with hope, an optimism confirmed in its denouement. Characterisation is spot on, with no-one who can be considered either evil or a criminal, just ordinary men and woman with all the flaws and virtues that implies.

[...]

The supernatural side of the story is suitably understated, so that we believe but also take on board the possibility that the ghosts could only exist inside the hearts and minds of the people who see them. With a subtext suggesting that the spectral world is just another aspect of life, wishing us neither good nor evil, but just there, a case could be made for Luke as the ‘I see ghosts’ boy from Sixth Sense picked up, rather like a reverse Dorothy, and put down in rural Nebraska, but that might be stretching things. In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it without reservation.

That’s two in the bag, then. Next up, Gnostalgia investigates The Night Cache by Andy Duncan, calling it…

… a diminutive 42-page ghost story that is told from the perspective of a young lesbian woman named Jenny. Jenny is a cashier at “Yarns Ignoble” (Oh come on Andy!) who is looking for love. She meets Destiny Creech, a young geocacher, and the two become a couple.

One does not need to be a prophet to anticipate what will happen to Destiny. I guess that was Destiny’s destiny. After Destiny’s quietus, Jenny is led on a series of geocaches and codes. Is Destiny speaking from the grave?

Nice cerebral ghost story with a cool ending.

Horror Drive-In’s Andrew Monge seems quite keen, too:

The thing that jumped out at me as I read THE NIGHT CACHE was how well Duncan captured the personalities and voices of the two girls. Destiny is portrayed as a free-spirit, always full of energy and on the lookout for her next adventure, whereas Jenny is left in awe of her new friend and tries her best to keep up as she’s swept along. Despite the girls’ brief time together, their relationship and conversations felt authentic and were enjoyable to read.

The other aspects I liked were the descriptions of geocaching and the various cryptography methods used to find the treasure. At various points in the story, Duncan shows the reader charts, codes, etc to illustrate what the girls are analyzing along the way. These sections get the reader more grounded in the girls’ world, and even allows him or her to take a crack at breaking the codes.

Mass Movement Magazine’s Jim Dodge Jr., however, could only get beyond the fact that the book features (gasp!) lesbian sex for long enough to describe it as…

… a little bit ghostly, a little bit erotic and quite a bit of fun to read.

Mister Dodge does better with details for less titillating fare, however, with the following tantalising summary of Scott William Carter’s Web of Black Widows:

A small town sheriff wanders onto a scene where one man is surrounded by two dead bodies and there is blood in the surf. The lone survivor is holding a shotgun. This sounds pretty straight-forward doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. It’s a little bit crazier than that.

Steven Langdon is a tattoo artist running from his grief. When he stops to eat at a diner in the middle of nowhere a pregnant housewife approaches him asking for a tattoo. She’s willing to pay whatever he asks for just one little spider on her belly. He says no. He tells her that he can’t, that he doesn’t do that anymore. She pleads. She begs. Finally he agrees, telling her to disappear when he’s done. Instead…well instead of leaving as she’s asked she becomes one of the three main characters in this sordid tale.

You may ask, who do the dead bodies belong to? Who is left holding the shotgun? Who’s the third person on the beach? You’ll have to read the story Scott William Carter has woven for us. It’s a shame to waste such a well spun yarn.

And he even has a soft spot in his heart that only Scott Edelman’s zombie stories, as collected in What Will Come After, can truly touch:

The stories collected here are sad. They’re full of tragedy and despair. Though these tales are chock-full of survivors they still manage to be really, completely…well…sad. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed anything zombie-related as much as Scott Edelman’s newest PS Publishing release but I will say I needed to make sure I got some sunshine when I was finished. He really pulled the old heartstrings with this book and I loved every minute of it!

Zombies pulling on your heartstrings… now that’d make for an interesting orchestra. :)

Last but not least, The Mad Hatter joins the chorus of praise for Beth Bernobich’s Ars Memoriae, calling it…

… a subtle Science Fiction story, which falls into place with an unexpectedly sweet and romantic ending. Adrian’s spy tactics are well thought-out, but the story meanders a little too much during his initial investigations causing a very slow start. Once another pivotal character is introduced the speed bumps even out to a strong and climatic ending. There is a steampunk/dieselpunk aspect, but it is little exploited in this novelette for me to get a grasp on, but there is quite a cool device that turns up at one point.

Fans of Kage Baker and other time twisters should definitely take note of Ars Memoriae and its associated stories.

And that’s all the reviews for this week, I’m afraid, unless there are some that my intertube spymonkeys have failed to inform me of… stupid monkeys. Always gossiping behind my back. Feh.

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

And don’t forget that we’ve capped our postage rates, and that all pre-orders go postage-free during February – so only four days left!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

PS Publishing to release debut novel from Terry Dowling

Posted by Peter Crowther on February 23rd, 2010 at 16:31

There’s always a buzz around the PS offices for our upcoming projects but it’s fair to say we’re particularly excited about Clowns at Midnight, the upcoming debut novel from Australian master of the Fantastic, Terry Dowling.

I first came across Terry’s work in a collection entitled Twilight Beach, and fell head over heels in love with the story “Larrikin Wind”. So, as soon as I had a suitable anthology project on the boil, I lost no time in contacting Terry for a new story — the result was “The Maiden Death” in Destination: Unknown [1997]. Unsurprisingly, when the opportunity arose for PS to publish Terry’s first full-length work there was absolutely no hesitation. And that was even before we’d read it. Now that we have read it, I can only say this: it’ll be an absolute ground-breaker.

Don’t just take my word for it, though; here’s what senior PS editor Nick Gevers thinks of it.

Clowns at Midnight is a masterpiece of suspense – a suspense that is multiplied, rendered all the more terrifying, by the brilliantly constructed ambiguity of the plot. This is the territory of John Fowles’s great novels, The Magus and A Maggot: a psychological landscape in which the reliability of perception, of memory, and of narration is interrogated to its uttermost limits. And Terry Dowling’s fine prose is quite the equal of Fowles’s in the bargain. Editing this novel has been a very great pleasure indeed.

Dowling was influenced early by writers such as Ballard, Vance, and Bradbury as well as by surrealist painters such as Dali, Delvaux and Ernst. In addition to writing many short stories, he has co-edited The Essential Ellison, The Jack Vance Treasury, The Jack Vance Reader and Mortal Fire: Best Australian SF.

Clowns at Midnight will be published in June 2010, with pre-ordering possible in March*. This one won’t last long on the stockroom shelves, so we’re recommending you don’t hang around – click that BUY button as soon as it appears in order to avoid disappointment.

[ * Don't forget that postage is free on the top state of any and all titles pre-ordered before publication for the foreseeable future... - PGR. ]

New Ian R MacLeod novel coming soon from PS Publishing!

Posted by Paul Raven on February 18th, 2010 at 12:18

Well, I kinda got pipped to the post on this one, but I can’t blame a literary agent for shouting from the rooftops about a special deal for one of their clients, now can I?

Certainly not! So I’ll direct you to the Zeno Agency blog, where John Berlyne announces that later this year we here at PS Publishing will be doing a limited special edition of Wake Up & Dream, the new novel from Ian R MacLeod, whose Song Of Time (also a PS publication, fact-fans!) took the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award last year.

Here’s what PS boss Pete Crowther had to say:

“After the wonderful smorgasbord of emotion that was the multiple-award-winning Song Of Time, Ian Macleod could have gone two ways: the familiar and workmanlike approach of not taking any chances, or the bold sweeping-clean of the planning table in order to come up with something set to blow readers totally out of the water. Well, Wake Up And Dream is that latter…  in spades. It’s alternate reality Hollywood steeped in film noir, Dick meets Hammett…  a truly mesmerising word-trip that melds science, history and fantasy in  equal parts — and you know, you just can’t see the joins. We’re thrilled that Ian has allowed us to publish it — it’s a book that will take the genre’s readers by storm.”

More news on Wake Up And Dream as we have it, folks. :)

Wednesday reviews round-up for 17th February

Posted by Paul Raven on February 17th, 2010 at 14:20

Hey folks, it’s reviews round-up time once again! Tally-ho!

Another review for Rick Hautala’s Reunion is first on the list, courtesy of Shroud Magazine’s reviews blog, which says it is…

… a bittersweet coming of age tale that strikes just the right notes. Though it vibrates with the melancholic truth that childhood eventually ends and that everyone changes – even beloved friends – it still holds out the hope that we can change our lives for the better…if we really want to.

[...]

It’s hard to find the right balance between too depressing and too contrived, but Hautala does it well here. His rich narrative voice gives substance to the very adult fear of leaving the best days behind us, but he doesn’t inspire hopelessness, rather a determination – however resigned – to push forward. Also, the plotting of “Reunion” is neat and tight, clever also. As a side note, like all PS Publishing titles, “Reunion” is a thing of beauty, featuring jacket art by Tomislav Tikulin.

We do our best to make the physical item as lovely as the story it contains – it’s nice to have that recognised, and get a shout-out for one of our favourite cover artists to boot. :)

Next up, a brace of brief reviews from new blog-on-the-block Gnostalgia, according to whom Scott William Carter’s Web Of Black Widows showcase collection is…

… is as powerful as a package of dynamite.

“Front Row Seats” is a must read. I know that I will think about that story the next time that I go to the movies.

I give it 4 stars out of 5.

… and who effortlessly spots the contemporary symbolism of the undead in literature while reading the complete zombie stories of Scott Edelman, What Will Come After:

What Will Come After is a collection of nine zombie short stories. No, I don’t mean the evil talking heads that you see on tv shambling from interview to interview mindlessly regurgitating their party’s talking points. I mean the type of zombie that tries to rip your brains out; although, I can see where you might be confused.

Of those stories, “What Will Come After”, “A Plague on Both Your Houses” and “Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man” are must reads.

I give it 4 stars out of 5.

And finally, an imminent review from the hallowed pages of long-running genre fiction periodical Fantasy & Science Fiction, as Charles De Lint takes a peep at PS head honcho Pete Crowther’s very own Darkness, Darkness: Forver Twilight Vol. 1:

This is an old-fashioned story written with a contemporary sensibility. Old-fashioned, because there’s a slow build, with time taken for us to get to know the characters and setting before the real drama sets in. There’s also a mood, an eerie, creeping air to the proceedings that you just don’t get in modern stories, certainly not modern horror stories where it’s one slash scene, then cut and zip on to the next one.

But it’s written in a contemporary style — tight, third person points of view that really allow the reader into the head of the character. And while there’s ample description, there’s not too much, and a brisk pace keeps the story moving.

[It's ...] a nice change of pace for Crowther in terms of setting. And the packaging is terrific. Go check out the cover online. Whenever I see a scene such as the desolate, small-town Main Street depicted here, I just know I want to read the book.

That’s two complimentary mentions for our packaging in one week! Man, anyone would think we specialised in luxury limited editions or something… ;)

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget that we’ve capped our postage rates, and all pre-orders go postage-free during February!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Catastrophia anthology update: full provisional TOC

Posted by Paul Raven on February 11th, 2010 at 9:45

It’s been a while since our last update from Allen Ashley regarding the forthcoming Catastrophia anthology, but look what I just found in my inbox! Take it away, Allen:

I have been reading back through all the accepted stories as I start to put the book together and can now announce that the provisional running order is as follows:

1. Introduction by Allen Ashley
2. “Fade” by David Gullen
3. “A Hard Place” by Carole Johnstone
4. “Up” by Andrew Hook
5. “Steven’s Boat” by Billie Bundschuh
6. “Noose” by Adam Roberts
7. “Check” by Robert Guffey
8. “Something for Nothing” by Joe Essid
9. “The Phoney War” by Nina Allan
10. “Happy Ending” by Simon Clark
11. “Nanoamerica” by David John Baker
12. “Pixels on a Screen” by Patrick Shuler
13. “Scalped” by Jet McDonald
14. “Gravity Wave” by Douglas Thompson
15. “In The Face of Disaster” by Ian Sales
16. “Trouble with Telebrations” by J. B. Harris
17. “The Long Road to the Sea” by James L. Sutter
18. “Crashes” by Stuart Young
19. “Hapless Humanity” by Brian W. Aldiss
20. Brief Author Biographies

That’s a really exciting list and we are still on course to launch the book at Fantasy Con 2010 in Nottingham, with lots of the contributors expected to be present and ready to sign the book, talk about their story, accept the offer of drink, sign a 5 book deal before anybody else snaps them up, etc!

Cheers, Mr Ashley!

It’s been interesting for me to follow the progress of Catastrophia at one remove like this, and I hope you’ve found it interesting too; maybe we’ll do more of it in the future! In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated on this project as further news arrives.

Wednesday reviews round-up for 10th February

Posted by Paul Raven on February 10th, 2010 at 10:07

Hello again! It’s been a quiet-ish week, but there’s still a handful of PS reviews to share – so let’s get straight to ‘em.

First of all, a couple more reviews for Beth Bernobich’s Ars Memoriae, which seems to be our most fêted title of the moment in the eyes of the public. Carole Ann Moleti of Tangent Online had this to say:

Ars Memoriae, Beth Bernobich’s complex but flawlessly told tale, blends mystery, crime fiction, and political intrigue with steampunk and alternate history. Éireann, an Ireland who successfully resisted English rule, finds itself enmeshed in political conflicts in the Balkans during the late 19th century. Ms. Bernobich even adds a dash of magical realism, with balloon flights to transport Commander Adrian Dee, the agent of Queen Áine Lasairona Devereaux, to sort out a messy situation.

[...]

The cleverness of this gritty, realistic novella extends to the nuances of Latin translation. Ars Memoriae could mean “a trick of memory,” “way of memory,” “realization of memory,” or “way of history”[...]

Some other excellent alternate histories and counterfactuals I’ve read include “Counterfactual” by Gardner Dozois (Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 2006) and “His Master’s Voice” by Mark Rigney (Talebones #34, Winter 2007). In these, the authors succeed in making the reader believe that events are not only subject to re-interpretation in the bright light of historical examination, but also to manipulation by forces we can only imagine, devices and abilities that push the limits of what seems possible.

I add Ars Memoriae to the list.

And esteemed veteran critic Pete Tennant is also full of praise for Ars Memoriae in a recent Interzone review:

… this is a gripping adventure story from first word to last, chock full of incident and set in a world that is a convincingly detailed distortion of our own. And, as ever with alternate history, much of the fun is in guessing at points of departure and seeing how famous characters from our past fared in this reality. There are tantalising hints, places where events seems to overlap or reverberate – echoes of the Irish Troubles, and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand – but Bernobich is too canny to be pinned down on specifics, and so we are left to our own imaginative devices. And if we don’t get scientific romance as such, there is romance of the more mundane though no less glorious kind, as Dee forges an alliance with a lady scientist, who has the potential to be so much more to him than fellow righter of wrongs.

More than anything else this book, with its Machiavellian twists and turns, reminded me of Moorcock’s novel Glorious Albion, with the added bonus of a narrator who, if not exactly unreliable, is subject to lapses in memory and confusion. Of course this is an occasion where the reader knows more than the protagonist, in that we suspect Dee’s false memories are but echoes of some other reality, just as his world is an echo of our own, wheels set within wheels.

Our third and final mention for this round-up comes from Colin “Tales From the Black Abyss” Leslie, who fell head over heels for Reunion by Rick Hautala:

The feeling that the endless summer of youth is in fact reaching a conclusion, that the freedom and carefree world of young boys is about to be lost pervades the book with a rich intensity. The only comparison I can draw on is the power of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine which has a similar tone. It’s a tone that seems to intensify with the readers age as the yearning for those nostalgic summer days increases. Given that Dandelion Wine is one of my favourite books then any book which aims for that standard is a huge success for me, when a book like Reunion not only aims for that standard but reaches it then we are in a whole new territory.

Rick Hautala has produced a deeply moving piece of work and has shown how horror has moved on in the last few years both thematically but also in the standard of the writing. I’m a fan of the ghost train full of monsters and gore as much as the next man but books like Reunion show that in the hands of a skillful writer, a few characters and a lot of emotion and the ride can be equally intense. Highly recommended.

And that’s your lot!

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget that we’ve capped our postage rates, and all pre-orders go postage-free during February!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Not-really-Wednesday reviews round-up for 4th February

Posted by Paul Raven on February 4th, 2010 at 12:23

A day late, yes, but (hopefully) not a dollar short – Wednesday was full of important announcements (new Gene Wolfe novel for pre-order, Secret Hostories at deep discount, postal rates capped, that sort of thing), and – if I’m honest – I ran out of time. But hey, running the reviews round-up on the same day as all that excitement would have just overloaded brains to bursting point, yours and mine alike. Things of joy should be paced properly, just like good fiction, right?

Well, enough retrospective self-justification on my part – let’s see what reviewers have been saying about PS Publishing titles in the last week.

Beth Bernobich’s Ars Memoriae is everywhere, or so it seems. Here it appears at Mass Movement, for example:

A finely woven tale of the mysteries surrounding the political ties and the unrest present among several nations. Commander Dee is an interesting, conflicted character. He is a man who was well educated and traveled quite a bit before apparently losing his mind, afflicted by “false” memories. After some time in an institution and under the care of a therapist in the hopes of eradicating the nightmarish visions of that untrue past, his Queen asks him to be a traveler once again. This time he will be her spy, seeking answers to the apparent conspiracies gripping Eireann and the surrounding countries.

[...]

Bernobich does a great job of building the suspense in the story. I did not think it was all that suspenseful until I realized my muscles had tensed up and I found myself wishing I had taken that mail-order course in speed reading! Although Ars Memoriae is short, the plot and character development are greater than some books several times its length. I am impressed by Bernobich and would like to read more of her work.

A copy of Ars Memoriae is doing a sort of blog tour of its own, landing on desks for review and being passed on once finished; there’s a few brief mentions here and here, plus a longer consideration from Michelle Muenzler, aka Fluffy Bunny of the Apocalypse:

You can feel the pieces of history peeking between the cracks of words, slipping between the pages and onto your fingers. The book is brimming with little tidbits that both steady this alternative reality and make me more curious of the multitude of stories which must exist within it already. So interesting are these glimpses into the greater world, that I actually found myself slightly disappointed that the book was not longer and more all-encompassing of all the smaller stories we seemed to pass by. This is especially true of Commander Dee’s odd false memories, which add such lovely flavor but feel as though they ought to have played a stronger part in the narrative. That’s a small quibble, though, in what is a very entertaining book full of political intrigue, second-guessing, and enough twists and deadly consequences to keep even the intelligent and canny Commander Dee struggling to stay ahead.

Last but not least, one Sherwood Smith (aka Oached Pish on LiveJournal) has an Ars Memoriae review/interview combo:

I compare it to Shostakovich’s 11th–deceptively slow beginning, as Dee waits upon the young queen with whom he has some sort of past, and visits each member of her inner council. Then he travels to Europe, using disguises and code words set up according to diplomatic useage . . . which gets him into trouble. Somewhere along the line, he’s been betrayed. He has no idea if he’s been sold out locally–or back at the capital, so he can trust no one. Communicate with no one.

As he travels on, using his wits and experience, he’s still pestered by weird memories. The story builds to a crashing crescendo, like the Shostakovich piece, which was inspired by politics at that very time.

There is easily enough material here for a full novel; readers might wish the climax was explored more fully, but overall I am left longing for more about this world, how it works, and above all, more about Commander Adrian Dee.

Elsewhere, Yvette Tan (presumably no relation to prodigious reviewer and commentator Charles “Bibliophile Stalker” Tan, though I may be wrong) tucks in to Rick Hautala’s novella Reunion:

Reunion starts off pleasant, two boys enjoying the last few weeks of summer, interspersed with an old guy trying to get to a party. Once you hit page 37 though, you won’t want to put the book down (I have Reunion to blame for my eye bags). This is when everything starts to make sense, everything clicks into place. And while you think you know what’s coming, you find yourself turning pages faster and faster because it’s the journey that’s fun and not the destination, and Hautala does have a way of taking a classic concept and telling it in a way that is his own.

Reunion is a different sort of coming of age book. It doesn’t so much serve you a happy ending as kind of a hopeful one. It concludes satisfyingly enough, though I couldn’t help wishing that it had gone on much longer, except to do so would probably work better on film than on paper.

Meanwhile, in the sixth issue of Dead Reckonings, Hank Wagner takes a look at three recent PS titles in order to question whether the novella is the ideal length for horror fiction. First of all, the already much-lauded Sarah Pinborough novella, The Language of Dying:

Pinborough’s tale of a daughter’s experience of her sickly father’s last days is by far the most ordinary of the lot, at least in terms of its premise, which finds the narrator tending to her father, aware that he is slowly dying and that his time is short. Her tale is a requiem of sorts for the man, and her relationship with him, darting between the past (relating events from her childhood and her abysmal marriage) and the present (where she is visited by her sister and three brothers). At the core of her story is a macabre vision she once had, which she has come to associate with death, and of which she has recently caught glimpses.

Then there’s Terry Lamsley’s R.I.P.:

Conrad has a friend, Gwillam, who tries, though computer-aided research, to learn more about the nature of death and what exactly is on the other side. Although initially supportive of Gwillam’s pursuits, Conrad soon withdraws, out of fear. When Gwillam vanishes, Conrad hires a no-nonsense investigator, Mrs. Greta Holwig, to
look into his friend’s abrupt disappearance and the mysterious inhabitants who have replaced him in his apartment. When Mrs. Holwig’s inquiries stir those tenants up, the pair find themselves squaring off against eerie foes with origins beyond the grave.

And Joel Lane’s The Witnesses Are Gone:

Lane’s tale is one of paranoia and dread, as its narrator, Martin Swann, describes a growing obsession with a film that may or may not exist. The story begins as Swann moves into an old house, discovering a box of videocassettes hidden in an old shed. One of them contains a bootleg copy of a disturbing, oblique film by a little-known French director, the enigmatic Jean Rien, a.k.a. Juan Nada (his name alone should provide an idea of the direction this story takes readers). Swann feels compelled to search out other works by the director. His search for the film alienates him from friends, family, and lovers, and leads to encounters with equally obsessive devotees and naysayers; physically, he travels to Paris, where he has a drug-induced epiphany of sorts, and finally to southern Mexico, where he hopes to meet the director himself.

Commenting on all three books, Wagner says:

Each of these tales is well constructed, well written, and well executed; Pinborough, Lamsley, and Lane show great mastery over their prose, carefully considering the effect of each word, wringing maximum tension from every sentence. All ground their work in a painful but familiar reality, all the better to rock readers when things start to get strange, which they quickly do. In each, the horror is understated, but the unease that these tales creates is palpable.

[...]

Additionally, each provides further proof of Peter Crowther’s sure instincts as an editor, publisher, and, most importantly, as a reader and fan—he knows what scares us, and he recognizes quality.

Ah, Mr Wagner, we know you speak the truth, and from the heart… but please take care, lest we’ll never be able to get Pete’s head through the stock-room door. ;)

Last of all, I hope you’ll forgive us for mentioning a different sort of accolade, namely a number of our titles that appeared on this year’s Locus Recommended Reading list – including mentions for Robert Wexler’s The Painting & The City (novels); Gwyneth Jones’ Grazing the Long Acre, Paul Witcover’s Everland, The Very Best of Gene Wolfe and the just-released Viator Plus from Lucius Shepard (collections); Postscripts 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein (original anthologies), Powers: Secret Histories (non-fiction); and a bunch of short stories, too.

They’re all in very fine – nay, august – company, and if you’re looking for a guide to some of the most popular and lauded genre books and stories of the last year, the Locus list is one of the best places to start. We’re proud to see our output there. :)

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget that we’ve capped our postage rates, and all pre-orders go postage-free during February!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

New Gene Wolfe novel for pre-order, Secret Histories price-cut, postage rates capped, and much more!

Posted by Peter Crowther on February 3rd, 2010 at 13:00

Hi gang;

First of all, a belated happy new year one and all. May 2010 be filled with good health, happiness and prosperity for you and yours… and may it leave you in such a state of near lysergically-enhanced merriment and bonhomie that all you crave is to buy more and more books (particularly those with the little PS logo on the spine!).

New Gene Wolfe novel The Sorcerer’s House; available for postage-free pre-order now!

In fact, perhaps the first such purchase could be Gene Wolfe’s remarkable new novel The Sorcerer’s House, intro’d by Tim Powers and boasting magnificent cover art from the incomparable Dirk Berger?

There are just 400 copies available (300 signed by Gene @ £37.50, and 100 signed by both Gene and Tim @ £75) and then they’re gone so don’t delay — and as a special incentive, we’re reducing those prices to £30 and £65 respectively (and offering free postage!) until actual publication (first week of March).

• The Sorcerer’s House by Gene Wolfe, signed hardcover – £30 pre-order
• The Sorcerer’s House by Gene Wolfe, signed traycased hardcover – £65 pre-order

Bargain bibliography; prices slashed on Powers: Secret Histories

And talking of Tim Powers, we’d like to free up some storage space… so for those folks who have not yet availed themselves of John Berlyne’s magnificent Secret Histories opus (which is to bibliographies what World War II was to schoolyard disagreements) we’re offering the trade edition (signed by Tim) and the two-book slipcased set (signed by all contributors) for the special prices of £25 (instead of £40) and £99 (instead of £195) plus postage. Buy now, before we change our minds!

• Powers: Secret Histories by John Berlyne, signed trade edition – £25 special offer
• Powers: Secret Histories by John Berlyne, signed 2-volume slipcased set – £99 special offer

We’re looking to come up with a special offer that’s available only to newsletter subscribers, so watch this space.

Special editions – production update

It’s now time is to thank customers awaiting the deluxe editions of various recent titles for their fortitude and perseverance — they’ve shown almost biblical patience, for which many thanks are due.

I’m pleased to say that the traycased edition of Steve Erikson’s Crack’d Pot Trail is now in, as is Uncle River’s Counting Tadpoles. We’re expecting the top states for John Gribbin’s Timeswitch and Lucius Shepard’s Viator Plus this week… and I just heard that the final two signing sheets (out of 6!) for Postscripts 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein are winging their way to our printers. So it’s probably fair to say that all orders will be with customers well before the end of the month.

New titles to launch at World Horror Con

Right now, we’re chin-deep in preparations for the upcoming World Horror Convention in Brighton, where we should have (please, God!) copies of the following titles for your delight… but they can all be pre-ordered now, and all pre-orders go post-free until the end of February!

• Darkness, Mist and Shadow: The Complete Macabre Short Fiction of Basil Copper, two massive volumes lovingly edited by Stephen Jones;
• Pelican Cay and Other Disquieting Tales by David Case (also edited by Stephen Jones);
• Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror edited by S. T. Joshi;
• Darkness on the Edge: Stories Inspired by the Work of Bruce Springsteen edited by Harrison Howe;
• What Will Come After, the complete zombie stories of Scott Edelman;
• Literary Remains, a collection of moody supernatural stories from R. B. Russell; and
• Escher’s Loops, another collection of off-the-wall tales from the Master of the Strange, Zoran Zivkovic.

Also, we’ll be launching the first titles from our new poetry imprint, Stanza Press, kicking off with Off the Coastal Path: Dark Poems from the Seaside, edited by Jo Fletcher and illustrated by Ben Baldwin, featuring contributions from Ray Bradbury, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Neil Gaiman, John Gordon, Ursula K. LeGuin, John Kaiine, Joel Lane, Tanith Lee, Brian Lumley, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, T.M. Wright, Dana Gioia, Weldon Kees and many others.

There’ll also be two new Weird Tales poetry books by H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, both of them edited by Stephen Jones, and Not Quite Atlantis: A Selection of Poems by Donald Sidney-Fryer with cover artwork by Les Edwards.

Before then, of course, we’ll have Joe Hill’s Horns (just waiting for the signing sheets now) and Stephen King’s long-awaited One For The Road ready for shipping.

Postal rates capped – maximum £6 UK, £12 international

One housekeeping message: we’ve made some changes to our postage charging system, with the new rates ensuring that UK customers will pay a maximum of £6 while our chums outside the UK will pay a maximum of £12. Here’s how it’s going to work:

• If you live in the UK, postage on the first book will be £2.49. It’s the same on the second book — so if you order two books, it’ll cost you £4.98. But if you choose a third book, it’ll be just another £1.02 . . . because the maximum postage charge on an order is now £6. So that goes for any number of books above three. The most you’ll pay is £6.
• It works exactly the same with non-UK customers. Postage for the first book will be £4.99. And £4.99 again for the second book — so two books will set you back £9.98. A third book will be a further £2.02 bringing the total to £12. And that’s the maximum. Even if you order 20 books (please… look into my eyes… ), the postage charge will be just £12.

But we’re also maintaining the system we’ve had in operation this past few weeks of making all pre-orders for the top state (note: not the ‘trade’ state) of each title completely post-free… no matter *where* you live.

And better yet, until the end of February, all pre-orders — for all states and editions — will be post-free.

Newletter giveaway winner for December

Congratulations to Tomás Sánchez Tejero of Spain, a self-described bibliophile and sf book collector who should by now be in receipt of his copy of Eric Brown’s Gilbert & Edgar on Mars; December’s other randomly-picked email address wasn’t responded to, sadly,

And there are no more roll-overs – we’ll pick a new prize every month, whether they get claimed or not! All you have to do to qualify for our free draw is be signed up for the email versions of these newsletters… and this month’s lucky winner could be getting their hands on a super-rare proof copy of Black Wings, our forthcoming anthology of Lovecraftian horror, edited by Lovecraft scholar supreme S T Joshi. We’ll pick the winning address on Monday 15th February, so keep an eye on your inbox!

And that’s about it. We’ve bought some new titles (as always) but we’ll hold off on those for another time.

There’s still damn snow on the ground here at the seaside so let’s all of us be careful walking as well as driving. Until next time, look after each other… and happy reading.

Best

Pete

Wednesday reviews round-up for 27th January

Posted by Paul Raven on January 27th, 2010 at 11:48

Well, would you look at that – January’s almost over already! Time flies when you’re having fun… so, just in case there’s a few of you out there who aren’t utterly fixated on today’s impending announcements from Steve Jobs and the iProphets of Cupertino, here are some reviews of PS Publishing titles from the past week…

Mass Movement’s Jim Didge Jr. seems pretty impressed by Mike Resnick’s alternate future history, Shaka II:

We have a winner, folks! It involves the future and the rise of the Zulu Nation! In the pages of Shaka II you’ll find ruthless executions, political intrigue and battles in space. This isn’t a book, more like a long short story, so I don’t want to give away all the fun but I will say that this tale grabbed me and held on like a crack whore waiting for her next rock.

[A somewhat gritty metaphor, perhaps, but flattering nonetheless...]

Tchaka is a Zulu, he wants to conquer, not just Earth, but also the known universe. Emotionless and effective, he turns aside the governments of our home planet repeatedly in order to achieve his goals. His subjects are safe from invasion but they’re not safe from the whims of their self-appointed king who is just as likely to order them impaled as to walk past them as if they don’t exist. They live every day in abject terror. And that’s just the way he likes it.

Next up, Ken of NethSpace heaps high praise upon Steven Erikson’s snarkily-dark Malazan comedy Crack’d Pot Trail:

As I see it, the most effective way to describe what Erikson is doing with Crack’d Pot Trail is to be blunt and a bit foul. Erikson has balls – balls that Steven Colbert would envy. Erikson has a lot to say on story telling, artistic integrity and intent, fandom, and criticism – and at least some of what he is saying is something of a big FU to his fans and critics alike. As the artists (generally poets and other verbal storytellers) tell there tales in defense of literally being eaten for dinner, the audience often interrupts and questions the artist – why are you talking about that, get to the details, more sex, more violence, etc. Additionally, there is one professional critic among the audience (literally a judge at the contest the artists are ultimately traveling to) – a critic who often jumps in and demands more details and explanations – often about completely inane aspects of the story. The picture painted isn’t pretty…and then it gets nasty.

[...]

Erikson has written something I think all authors dream of writing at one point or another but are either too scared or too smart to actually put on paper. Well, as a fan, a critic, and a far from noble knight, I have to say that I loved every juicy bit of Crack’d Pot Trail – I think I’ve developed a taste for it. 9/10

And finally, three reviews from Stephen Theaker of Theaker’s Quarterly. He compares our very own Pete Crowther’s Darkness, Darkness: Forever Twilight Vol. 1 to the highest of genre fiction benchmarks:

For me Ian Watson nails it when he says [in the cover blurbs] it “reminds me … of Stephen King’s novella ‘The Mist’”. This could easily be read as a very well done pastiche of Stephen King. The small group isolated at a radio station is reminiscent of The Fog, while the mysterious disappearance of the rest of the world and the tension between safe-in-here and dangerous-out-there reminded me of “The Mist”. Add a dash of 1950s sf cinema (think Invaders from Mars) and you have a tasty concoction.

Eric Brown’s Gilbert & Edgar on Mars presses all the right po-mo/retro buttons:

This very enjoyable little book sees G.K. Chesterton, having been mistaken for H.G. Wells, abducted by Martians. An energetic and rather unpleasant Edgar Rice Burroughs rescues him and the two head off into the Martian wilderness to find Edgar’s good friend, John Carter, dodging dinosaur attacks and battling alternative realities along the way…

This makes a nice companion piece to the same publisher’s Planet of Mystery by Terry Bisson, in which astronauts found themselves on a hallucinatory Burroughsian Venus, but where that could have been drawn from the pages of New Worlds, this is much more traditional, and slightly old-fashioned. That makes it no less enjoyable, though.

After all, this is a book which sees John Carter pointing a ray-rifle at Professor Challenger – what’s not to love?

And his reaction to Stephen Baxter’s Starfall is short but very sweet:

I’ve got about a dozen Baxter bricks on my shelves, all of them sadly unread. I really appreciated the chance to read something of his without having to dedicate an entire month to it. I thought this was fantastic, a magnificent, epic story in a mere ninety pages. I really need to make time for his other books!

So, that’s all for this week – stay braced for a new newsletter at the turn of the month as PS shakes off the holiday downtime and comes out swinging with fresh new titles for you to covet!

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget our three-for-two offer on all current titles, which ends on January 31st!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Matthew Hughes giveaway contest at Fantasy Book Critic

Posted by Paul Raven on January 22nd, 2010 at 11:20

Just a bit of a heads-up announcement here, folks: the good people of the Fantasy Book Critic blog are doing a giveaway contest to celebrate the launch of a new Matthew Hughes novel from excellent Stateside indie press Night Shade Books.

Not only could you bag yourself copies of Matthew’s new Henghis Hapthorne novel Hespira, but some deluxe rarities from Subterranean Press and ourselves, too – like a slipcased copy of the wonderful Template! Considering the price of entry is the time it takes to type out a short email, it’s too good a prize to pass up – so get on over there and enter, why don’t you? :)

Wednesday reviews round-up for 20th January

Posted by Paul Raven on January 20th, 2010 at 10:38

Another week, another batch of PS Publishing reviews in my inbox… so let’s skip my waffling for a change and get straight to the good stuff!

First of all, a couple of reviews from Adam Groves of Fright.com, who is intrigued and unnerved by the unreliable narrator of Ramsey Campbell’s Creatures of the Pool:

The first-person point of view is that of the jittery Gavin Meadows. He gives guided tours of the titular “Pool,” specifically Liverpool, which ultimately plays a more important role in this odd tale than Gavin himself. Gavin, like Liverpool native Ramsey Campbell, knows the locale inside and out, and his knowledge extends to the legends and folklore of the area–which, as he gradually discovers, may not be entirely legendary.

But then again Gavin could well be losing his mind, judging from the spectral forms he always thinks he’s seeing (“Does it send a mouse fleeing into the wall,” Gavin wonders upon opening a door, “or just a trick of light and shadow?”) and the ceaseless water imagery that pervades his reality. Everything Gavin views appears to be dripping and/or waterlogged, and the wetness comes to take on an increasingly sinister aspect, intimating something dredged up from watery depths.

Nobody does this sort of hallucinatory inversion of the ordinary like Ramsey Campbell, and the constant reality displacement is unnerving – particularly since, this being a first-person account, we have no way of objectively gauging how reliable Gavin’s viewpoint is. Obviously his paranoia, suspicion and employment hassles aren’t enough to sustain a novel, whose main thrust is provided by the disappearance of Gavin’s eccentric father. Even this development, however, is open to interpretation: is the old guy truly lost/kidnapped or is this another of Gavin’s delusions – or are they delusions?

Groves also grasps the surreal scratchings of Paul Jessup’s Glass Coffin Girls Showcase collection:

I’ll have to say that based on the nine bizarre tales collected in Glass Coffin Girls, Paul Jessup definitely has the touch. Each story reads like it was plucked directly from its author’s subconscious, with prose that’s crisp and direct. Reading this book, which its author calls “a shadow volume whose pages were written in the cracks of ancient cities and long since forgotten,” is at times akin to having one’s eyeballs scraped, but I’d say that goes with the territory. Lines like “At night, the ink on the paper crawled together, the words hooking into figures of people. Then they wandered in the literary city, taking to one another” may seem a bit clumsy (if that description was intended as a metaphor it’s an overwrought one), but for the most part the book is literate, energetic and in its own way quite readable.

Elsewhere, I E Lester recommends Mike Resnick’s Shaka II, which is…

… [s]et in the medium distant future. Mankind has started to expand into the galaxy but is far from a united race at home.

Robert Ole Buthelezi is a Zulu, one who feels that power has been away from the Zulus too long. So he sets out from very humble beginnings to gain power and through a series of clever political maneuverings (yes you can read assassinations) he gets it. But control of a small part of one continent on Earth is not enough for him. He has eyes on the stars.

Wonderful, wonderful writing. Okay, I have to admit to being a total addict of Mike Resnick’s writing here so this might be biased. He writes with such a swift pace. Even in his longer novels everything zips by. You rarely find passages which drag in his writing.

And to close, another brace of mentions at the newly-revived Tangent Online, with Lyndon Perry praising Rio Youers‘ Old Man Scratch:

“Old Man Scratch” is not a complex tale, but it is a nicely developed one. It is a slightly speculative but immanently human story of love, hate, relationships, frustration, and revenge. The mental slide from law-abiding citizen (and loving husband – the romantic element is sweet without being sugary) to murder-contemplating criminal is masterfully chronicled. Youers kept the story moving and gave the plot as many words as it deserved.

Also, Maggie Jamison dissects Postscripts #19: Enemy of the Good on a story-by-story basis, describing David Abraham’s opener “Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventures of the Emperor’s Vengeance” as a “no-holds-barred romp through Victorian London”, and suggesting that Marly Youmans’ “The Red King Sleeps” “will seize anyone with a taste for the dark and surreal.” There’s more analysis in the review, but it’s capped off with the following:

Postscripts #19: Enemy of the Good is a full and heady collection of fantasy, science fiction, and horror short stories.

We can’t argue with that. :)

Remember to click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget our three-for-two offer on all current titles!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Wednesday reviews round-up for 11th January

Posted by Paul Raven on January 13th, 2010 at 11:11

Just when I thought (or perhaps hoped) that the thaw had set in for good, it appears to be snowing outside my office window again. It’s certainly picturesque, but I rather suspect the majority of my fellow Brits would gladly see a return to the usual liquid format of falling water…

… but hey, you have to work with what you’re given, after all. So enough chit-chat about the weather – let’s have a look at this week’s selection of reviews and mentions for PS Publishing titles, shall we?

First of all, Jim Dodge Junior of Mass Movement Magazine is wowed by Derryl Murphy and William Shunn’s Cast A Cold Eye:

Luke Bryant is growing very tired of being stared at. By statues. In the graveyard. Near the graves of his parents. His aunt and uncle are raising him the best they know how to but life is one chaotic event after another. Being chased by bullies into the grave yard where statues stare at him and ending up near his parents’ graves really doesn’t cap his day off very well.

Annabelle Tucker is a photographer; a spiritual photographer. She’s rolled into town in her garishly painted truck to take pictures of the local ghosts. After making a deal with Uncle Roy, Luke becomes Annabelle’s assistant. When she realizes he has a great eye for photographing ghosts she turns most of the operation over to him. Together they search for Annabelle’s dead husband and a way to end the haunting of Luke. Yes, it’s easy to say I enjoyed reading this book. A lot. [...] Getting to read new releases from PS Publishing makes this whole ‘book reviewer’ gig really great!

Next, Michael Matthew of Belletrista casts a warm eye on Gwyneth Jones‘ short fiction collection, Grazing the Long Acre:

The stories share [Jones'] novels’ clear, chill view of human weakness, particularly of sexist oppression—a take reminiscent of stories by the late, and better‒known, Alice B. Sheldon. Avoiding easy resolutions, challenging the reader, Jones’ storytelling is subtle, indirect, dense. Crucial details can slip by in an aside for the reader to spot later, or never. Her characters are usually displaced from everyday life by travel, duty, or calamity as they move through our world, imagined futures, or to distant planets.

[...]

Some of these stories share characters and setting with some of Jones’ novels ‒ the award-winning White Queen, Divine Endurance, and Life. Grazing the Long Acre can be enjoyed without having read the novels, but the reader will want to move on to the novels anyway after this selection of stories by Gwyneth Jones — a writer who deserves to be much better known.

And to wrap up, a couple of best-of-2009 lists featuring PS titles have passed over the transom. Jason Pettus of the Chicago Centre for Literature and Photography ranks two PS novels in their “best experimental novels” selection; there’s Robert Freeman Wexler’s The Painting & The City:

Like John Crowley or Tim Powers [...] Wexler uses this milieu not to write a thriller but rather to craft a subtle, slow-moving story, in which we slowly get glimpses of an entire alternative existence that might or might not be surrounding us at all times without most of us knowing; and along the way he throws in some really inspired touches, for example like making Charles Dickens an adventure-seeking character within the actual story, who just happens to be visiting New York during the time of these events and manages to get sucked into them. One of my favorite genre authors out there right now, and it’s a shame that he’s not as well-known yet as many of his peers.

And there’s Sebastien Doubinsky’s Babylonian Trilogy:

Doubinsky essentially reimagines New York for these stories, as a place similar to but slightly more fantastical than the real thing, and including such alt-history touches as an American military quagmire in Cuba instead of Vietnam; he then sets a series of noir tales within such an environment, only with most of them containing the kinds of magical-realism details you would expect from such a project. Subtle in its otherworldliness, this is the type of genre project perfect for those who don’t read much of it, people who are perhaps fans of shows like Lost and authors like Michael Chabon, and I have to admit that this was one of my favorite fantastical reading experiences of 2009.

Doubinsky’s novel also takes pride of place as Best Novel in Charles Tan’s best-of-2009 round-up, which also features a number of other accolades and mentions for PS titles… including Sarah Pinborough’s The Language of Dying as Best Novella (followed closely by Joel Lane’s The Witnesses Are Gone).

Furthermore, Paul Witcover’s “Everland” gets an honorable mention under Best Short Story, and the collection that bears the same name takes second place in Best Short Story Collection. Charles is a voracious reader, and we’re very proud to see so many of our publications left a mark on his mind over the last year.

So maybe you’d like to let us leave a mark on you, too? In that case, why not click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget our three-for-two offer on all current titles!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Wednesday reviews round-up for 6th January

Posted by Paul Raven on January 6th, 2010 at 10:23

Happy new year to you all! Here in the UK we’re grappling with snowy weather, deploying our usual blend of ill-preparedness and stiff upper lips… though yours truly only has to commute about five metres to get to work, so I can’t complain. Especially when the view from my window is so pretty!

But enough chatter about the weather – let’s see what’s been said about PS Publishing books in the last week or so, shall we?

First of all, Ben Cooper of the Innsmouth Free Press finds himself a bit baffled by Paul Jessup’s Glass Coffin Girls Showcase collection, though he can see where Jessup was going with it:

This was a hard collection for me to review, hence my lack of focus on many of the stories. Such writing has to be experienced first-hand, and I don’t think it lends itself to analysis, at least not by myself and not within the constraints of this review. I would be doing the work a disservice. As I stated at the outset, surrealist fiction does very little for me and I often have the feeling that it is wilfully obtuse, designed for an in-group to enjoy and pat each other on the back at how clever they are. However, there’s no doubt that Jessup can write; he has genuine skill and I didn’t get the feeling that these stories were written to exclude readers, but instead to try and open their minds.

Next, Bill Capossere of Fantasy Literature describes Steven Erikson’s Crack’d Pot Trail as “a Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from hell”…

Erikson’s humor shines through here more fully than it does in the larger works and varies from slapstick to witty wordplay to social and artistic satire or sometimes all the above (not to mention one of the funniest sex scenes you’ll ever read). Sure, at times Erikson hits a bit too obviously, but mostly you’re just having a ball and imagining he had the same while writing it all.

[...] between the laugh out loud moments, the sly wordplay, the usual great Erikson characters (concisely drawn as fully as each needs to be), the examination of the relationship between the artist and the audience, or art and the public sphere, zombies (did I mention the zombies?), and even a bit of suspense over who gets eaten and what will happen at journey’s end, Crack’d Pot Trail was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, one might even say, a delectable one. Highly recommended.

Andrew Wheeler turns his attention to an older title and has high praise for Matthew Hughes‘ Template:

Hughes’s work often tends towards the Vancean, and Template is firmly in that mode; it’s set so far in the future that the planet called “Old Earth” may not even be the one we’re on now, and in a society where humanity has spread throughout an entire arm of the Milky Way. It’s a slightly old-fashioned future, pre-Sterling and Vinge, in that all of those humans are apparently physically identical to humans today, and their divergences — which are many, and one of the underlying themes of Template — are entirely cultural, not physical.

[...]

Hughes’s writing is both supple and subtle here; his dialogue is allusive and amusing in that dry, understated style that he shares with Vance, and his descriptions are precise and specific. Template isn’t a long novel — it tops out at 250 pages — but it’s full of wonders and thrills, deeply amusing and thoughtful in turns, a fine mature work from one of the best writers that SFF has today. I can only hope that his audience will increase; we need more Hughes novels, and a world with a legion of Hughes fans would be a wonderful thing.

And finally, Tangent Online’s C L Rossman is impressed by Darkness on the Edge, Harrison Howe’s forthcoming anthology of stories inspired by the songs of The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.

Rossman runs through each story individually, but ends his analysis thusly:

Overall I have to say this is a most unusual collection of tales based on how one man’s music has affected a generation. The writers excellently evoke for us those memories of the dark towns of our past, where muscle-cars roared, and the silent factories overhung our future. A superb anthology, with even the cover especially well drawn to reflect riding the road to the future, with the past forever lurking in our rear view mirrors.

Something to bear in mind as a unique surprise for the music fan in your life, perhaps? :)

As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse. And don’t forget our three-for-two offer on all current titles!

Have you read a PS Publishing book recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Wednesday reviews round-up for 30th December

Posted by Paul Raven on December 30th, 2009 at 9:50

Well, that flew past fast, didn’t it? The wrapping paper went out with yesterday’s recycling, and what little remains of the Xmas roast has reached a point where it’s no longer appealing even as a sandwich filler… which means that we’re a gnat’s breath from the turning of the year, not to mention the end of the decade. Time flies when you’re having fun, eh?

Anyway, I’m sure you’re busy, so let’s get on with this week’s reviews round-up – starting with two mentions at the newly-reanimated Tangent Online webzine. First of all, Steve Fahnestalk gets busy with Eric Brown’s Gilbert & Edgar on Mars:

… it’s a fun little book comprising one novella about the aforementioned writers [G. K. Chesterton and Edgar Rice Burroughs] and their adventures on a Mars that owes more than a little to the second author. I’m not giving anything at all away when I say you’ll get that within a couple of pages of beginning the story; in most cases, SF readers are way ahead of the writers anyhow.

Seems that there are some Philosophers on Mars who are kidnapping Earthly writers and reading their minds; not harming them in any way, but copying their dreams out of their heads in order to have what in Star Trek would be holodeck adventures—making their books into a 500-mile radius zone of what would be called “virtual reality”—except that it’s not virtual, it’s real.

[...]

Along the way from GK’s kidnapping to his eventual return to Earth, he and Edgar have adventures involving more than one reality, meet John Carter and Dejah Thoris, and even bump into Professor Challenger! All in all, a satisfying little romp. I can heartily recommend it as a light, quick read.

Next, Carl Slaughter sings the praises of Mike Resnick’s Shaka II:

Shaka II has an ambitious and increasingly sophisticated plot.  It also has well-built, consistent character development.  The writing style is clear, so the confusion level is zero.  In this reviewer’s opinion, the best feature is in Resnick’s gift for dialog.  Some conversations consume most of a chapter.  The banter is crisp and insightful.  Although I was disappointed with the lack of creativity in an early section of this novella, I was still impressed with the writing.

Shaka II is a masterpiece and I look forward to getting caught up on Resnick’s other work.

You can’t say fairer than that!

No links for the other brace of reviews, I’m afraid, but that’s because they come from the December issue of the esteemed Locus Magazine. First, Rich Horton has a high opinion of Beth Bernobich’s Ars Memoriae:

… a novella set in her somewhat steampunkish alternate history in which Queen Aíne rules in Éireann, a version of Ireland that occupies more or less the place of England as something like World War I looms. Commander Adrian Dee, still tortured by memories of another past, is sent by his queen on a mission to Central Europe to uncover plots that may lead to a war involving the Prussian Empire, Austria, Montenegro, all this involving revolutionaries in Montenegro, a traitor in Éireann, and, naturally, a strong beautiful woman whose loyalties Dee cannot at first know. It’s fun stuff [...] Bernobich remains one of the most exciting newer writers we have.

And finally, Stefan Dziemianowicz takes a stab at Terry Lamsley’s R.I.P.

R.I.P. is [Lamsley's] latest, and it’s bound to make his fans lament the infrequency of his appearances. Although less in the style of M.R. James, and other classic ghost story writers, whose influence his early supernatural stories reflected, it’s a fairly original riff on an old horror theme that can be traced back at very least to Edgar Allan Poe: the desperate need for the living to establish the existence of an afterlife.

[...]

Consistent with Lamsley’s previous work, there are no real shocks to this story; just a cumulative sense of uneasiness as the story builds to a crescendo of dread. Lamsley’s rendering of the afterlife and its prisoners is highly original without being a complete departure from familiar Gothic treatments. Above all, it conveys that unsettling conviction that is the bedrock of so much horror fiction that tries to convey the overwhelming incomprehensibility of the supernatural to those of us working from strictly human frames of reference. In Conrad’s words: ‘‘The dead are everywhere. There are untold billions of them… We the living, are just a tiny, insignificant minority.’’

Wise words indeed… and a great review to end the year with. I sincerely hope you’ll be popping back in 2010, because we’ve got more great books in the pipeline, and we’d love for you to read some of them!

In the meantime, allow me to wish you a happy new year on behalf of the whole PS Publishing gang – have fun, and I hope the hangover wears off quickly. :)

As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

Have you read a PS Publishing title recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

Wednesday reviews round-up for 16th December

Posted by Paul Raven on December 16th, 2009 at 11:01

It’s getting colder… and that’s not just because I’m feeling the effects of having moved 250 miles north, either (I think). It’s been a long old year, and all I want to do right now is draw the curtains against the grey, crank up the heating a bit and settle down with a stack of good books. But for now, duty calls – so here’s some review coverage of PS Publishing titles from the last week or so to help you choose your own holiday reading.

First of all, Richard Dansky at Green Man Review raves about Darrell Schweitzer’s Living With The Dead:

If you run into Darrell Schweitzer at a convention, you can be fairly certain that he’s going to try to sell you a book. If the book in question is Living With the Dead, I’d advise you to let him succeed.

[...]

Living With The Dead is a weird tale in the truest sense, a phantasmagoria described in dream-language. There are no explanations to be had — no lengthy exposition as to why the corpses are delivered here, or where they come from, or why they never rot — nor do there need to be. It is enough that they are there, and that the citizens of Old Corpsenburg must deal with them in their own way, and when they rise and start to dance, it is — but perhaps I’ve said too much already. Sold in a gorgeous hardcover from PS Publishing with a stunning Jason Van Hollander cover, the book also sports an introduction from Tim Lebbon. It’s a slender volume, only 65 pages, but it offers more than many books ten times its length.

Then there’s a review of Patrick O’Leary’s collection The Black Heart, at no less esteemed a publication than the Financial Times (whose target readership should doubtless be fully conversant with black heartedness, ho ho ho):

… The Black Heart plays on psychological imbalance and nightmarish imaginings. In “What Mattered Was Sleep”, a father surrenders his son to the government because the boy has tested positive for some kind of disease. What disease? What becomes of the boy? O’Leary never reveals the answers but the doom-laden, fatalistic tone of the story suggests we are better off not knowing. Similarly, “The Me After the Rock” consists of a dialogue between two quarantined astronauts who’ve returned from a mission to Mars where something went badly wrong. We’re given only teasing glimpses as to the nature of the mishap. However, the revelation that we are reading a transcript of their conversation is a chilling clue.

The flinty brilliance of The Black Heart lies in a willingness to leave its stories open-ended and ambiguous. O’Leary, a Detroit resident and former creative director of an advertising agency, hints that life today is so bewildering that it should not be entirely decoded in fiction.

Should not, or could not? ;)

The last of this week’s hat-trick sees Marly Youmans‘ Val / Orson picked as best book of the year by John Wilson of the Christianity Today website:

I quote from Catherynne Valente’s excellent introduction to this novella: “It is Shakespearean in its sensibility, with its enchanted wood, its twins, its doubling and quadrupling of couples and families, its fairy brood. It is difficult to say that it is a fantasy novel, and difficult to say it isn’t.” The word “magical” has been overused and misused to such an extent that it has perhaps lost its potency, but this tale, set among the redwoods of Northern California, is truly magical. I’m sorry it is not as easily obtained as the others on this list, but I can attest—having ordered it from the UK myself—that it is by no means inaccessible. And you will be amply rewarded. More than any other book I read in 2009, this one insistently came to mind.

So there you go! By my reckoning, we’ve one more Wednesday before Christmas… which means it’s probably high time I finished my present shopping! Hopefully the above will have given you a few ideas for last-minute gift choices of your own… and don’t forget our three-for-two offer on all current titles. As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

Have you read a PS Publishing title recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

(Belated) Wednesday reviews round-up for 9th December

Posted by Paul Raven on December 10th, 2009 at 11:15

Yeah, so I’m a day late with the reviews round-up. That’s moving house for you, I guess – but I’m not going to complain too much, as the whole process seems to have gone surprisingly well, with no major hitches or calamities that I’ve discovered so far. Though I guess I should wait until all the boxes are unpacked before getting too cocky, eh?

But better late than never – so here are the latest reviews of our titles from the far reaches of the digital domain!

First of all, the second instalment of SF Signal’s best-of-the-year round-up features (in addition to yours truly chuntering on about marginally related media, though please don’t let that put you off) two valedictory mentions of Powers: Secret Histories. Scott A Cupp says:

… I was unprepared for how complete this book is. It’s massive and heavily illustrated and a joy to behold. [...] Heavy paper, large pages, tons of pictures, more detail than you could ever really want to know about his (and, by virtue of their long association, Blaylock and Jeter’s) career. Expensive, even in the cheap edition, and beyond expensive for the truly desirable limited editions I found it to be heaven!

And Cheryl Morgan’s opinion is that…

… if you are a fan of Tim Powers then you will want a copy of Powers: Secret Histories [... it] contains everything you might want to know about Tim’s books. The appendices are about twice the length of the main text, which should tell you just how magnificently obsessive it is.

Magnificently obsessive, indeed, and a true labour of love by John Berlyne… you really have no concept of what geekdom is until you’ve spoken to him about Tim Powers.

Meanwhile, Richard Marcus of BlogCritics and EpicIndia has been dissecting Steven Erikson’s Crack’d Pot Trail and finding that there’s more to the innards of this comic fantasy than you might expect:

It’s on the pilgrim path, the Crack’d Pot Trail, that we meet up with the heroes and the others making the trek through the harsh wasteland laying between the Gates of Nowhere and the Shrine of the Indifferent God. Aside from the above named there are amongst them a mysterious noblewoman who remains enclosed within her carriage the whole time, her manservant, a rag-tag collection of poets making their way to attend the Festival of Flowers and Sunny Days to vie for title of “The Century’s Greatest Artist” awarded there each year, and one Sardic Thew who proclaims himself to be host of this erstwhile band of travelers.

[...]

Crack’d Pot Trail is a great piece of social satire which takes no prisoners, from the pompous poets who proclaim their greatness only to be revealed as thieves who’ve never written an original thought in their lives, to the warriors against evil who don’t have a problem with forcing their companions to compete against each other in order to avoid being eaten. By the end of the story the so-called villains of the piece come out looking a lot better than their reputations would have you think when compared with those who hunt them and the reader is left to ponder the exact nature of good and evil.

And last but not least, Adam Groves of Fright.com takes on two of our newer titles, finding them to be sterling tales despite some minor flaws. First of all, Cast A Cold Eye by Derryl Murphy & William Shunn:

A good book, this: well written, solidly characterized and imaginative. It’s a period novella set during an important but little-explored stretch of American history. I wasn’t too impressed by the final pages, which take the tale in a predictable and overly pat direction, but overall I like Cast A Cold Eye a fair amount.

The time and setting are well rendered and specific: rural Nebraska circa 1921, a region devastated by Spanish flu. Among the flu’s victims are the mother and father of the story’s protagonist, 15-year-old Luke Bryant, who’s having trouble adjusting to life as an orphan. He suffers from anger issues, is bullied incessantly and, worst of all, always sees graveyard statues open their stony eyes and watch him whenever he sets foot within. Luke’s mental state isn’t helped by his employment as an apprentice to Annabelle Tupper, a half-blind spirit photographer.

And Rick Hautala’s Reunion:

The tale begins simply enough in a small Northeastern town. It’s the end of August, and the introspective Jackie and his troublemaking buddy Chris are about to start junior high school. On Chris’ suggestion they set off to crash a nighttime high school reunion at a nearby country club, where Chris figures they can mooch food and beer. Jackie is apprehensive for reasons he can’t put his finger on, but Chris is insistent, and precipitates a nightmarish, danger-filled trek through the woods that comes to entail many life-changing epiphanies.

Also afoot in the area is the fiftyish John, who’s traveled all the way from California to attend the reunion. It’s clear from the start that John’s intentions involve Jackie and Chris, both of whom he somehow knows intimately. John is also aware that the boys happen to be lurking in the woods nearby.

To reveal any more would ruin the surprises that are a large part of what makes this story so effective. John, it turns out, has a definite connection with Jackie and Chris, and the year in which the tale takes place (which isn’t immediately specified) is also important. What ultimately occurs is scary, sad and thought-provoking, with a not-inconsiderable emotional impact.

And that’s all for this week. Don’t forget that Secret Histories and Cast A Cold Eye are both current titles, and hence covered by our current three-for-two offer - so get clicking to take advantage!

As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

Have you read a PS Publishing title recently? If so, let us know so we can link you back from here!

PS books as prizes at Bookspot Central and Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Posted by Paul Raven on December 10th, 2009 at 10:22

We had some requests from a couple of our most loyal blogosphere supporters for some festive give-away goodies, and so we thought we’d rise to the occasion. Bookspot Central and Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist both have four books each to give out as prize packs for some lucky reader or another; I’m a little late to announce the BSC giveaway, as they’re announcing the results today (I’ve been moving house, which necessarily kept me away from the internet for the early part of the week), but I think Pat’s contest is still running at the moment… so pop on over there and put your name in the hat, why don’t you? :)

Xmas blowout – three-for-two on all current titles during December!

Posted by Peter Crowther on December 3rd, 2009 at 14:00

Hi all;

I’m writing this the day after Thanksgiving – between turkeys, in other words… seeing as our US chums had theirs yesterday and, here in the cosy heart of PS Towers, we’re having ours in just a few weeks. And by that time, we’re aiming to have what seems to be another heap of books available.

Imminent releases: Erikson, Shepard, Resnick and more

Heading this way are Steve Erikson’s Crack’d Pot Trail, John Gribbin’s Timeswitch, Edison’s Frankenstein (the first of our bumper 150,000-word Postscripts volumes), Lucius Shepard’s Viator Plus, Uncle River’s Counting Tadpoles, Mike Resnick’s Shaka II, and Rick Hautala’s Reunion. Yeah, so what am I doing talking to you? you may well ask. Good question.

But, hey, it’s almost Christmas… a time of joy and fun and festivities. And books — let’s not forget books.

Thus, in a blatant effort to remove any money you may have left — and maybe provide a timely solution as to what to buy for someone who truly loves the very best in horror, fantasy and science fiction, we’ve come up with this:

Three-for-two on all current titles!

Yes, in a dizzying fit of seasonal generosity, we’re giving you — for two whole months, right through to the end of January — a special offer to end them all! For the next seven or eight weeks, all current titles (ie. not forthcoming titles) will be available as three for the price of two… with the cheapest-priced item being the freebie. (But do please note that postage will be charged as usual on the third book.)

There’s no special button to press. Just place your order and then, when you get to the bit where you pay, the cheapest title will automatically register as postage-only — so £2 if you live in the UK or £4 if you’re outside the UK. And if you decide to take six books then the cheapest two titles will be free, with just postage to pay; nine books and, yes, you guessed it… three freebies; twelve books and… well, figure it out for yourselves.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact us at enquiries@pspublishing.co.uk with your query and we’ll get back to you as soon as we possibly can.

Remembering Rob Holdstock

One piece of sad news at this otherwise joyous time. As some of you may have heard, the wonderful fantasy and sf author Robert Holdstock died in hospital yesterday morning (29/11) after a short illness. His wife Sarah was with him. We send our heartfelt condolences to Rob’s family in this difficult time. Let me just say this: Rob’s novel, Mythago Wood is one of that rare collection of books which should be available on the National Health. If you haven’t read it then I urge you to buy a copy. If you have read it, then buy a copy for someone who hasn’t. It would be great to have him at the top of the bestseller chart over Christmas — spread the word. Rest easy, Rob… and give our best to Ryhope!

Give-away winner for November

Matthew Weimer of Chicago was the happy winner of last month’s free give-away, netting himself a slipcased copy of Patrick O’Leary’s collection, The Black Heart.

As it’s December and we’re in a generous mood, there are two prizes to be won this time around: two randomly-drawn newsletter subscribers will win a jacketed edition each, one of Eric Brown’s Gilbert & Edgar On Mars, and one of Cast ACold Eye by Derryl Murphy and William Shunn. We’ll be doing the draw on Friday 18th December, so you’ve got until then to sign up for our monthly email newsletter and be in with a chance to win!

Okay, that’s it. If we don’t get to speak again before the holidays, seasonal best wishes from all of us and ours – that’s from me, Nicky, Nick, Robert, Mike, Paul and Theresa — to all of you and yours. Have a great time and look after each other. Happy reading!

Pete

Catastrophia launch date and venue announced

Posted by Paul Raven on December 2nd, 2009 at 14:27

We have more news from Allen Ashley regarding the Catastrophia anthology! Take it away, Mr Ashley…

I am pleased to announce that Pete Crowther, PS Publishing and I have provisionally agreed a date and venue for the official launch of the anthology Catastrophia. This is scheduled to be on the afternoon of Saturday 18^th September 2010 at the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham, UK as part of the British Fantasy Society’s FantasyCon weekend.

Last year saw the launch of several notable titles at FantasyCon from publishers such as PS, NewCon Press, Constable Robinson, etc. FantasyCon has become something of a “must-attend” for yours truly over the years. As well as book launches, it also features: guests of honour that have recently included Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman and Brian Clemens; art shows; panels and discussions; and the all-important presentation of the annual BFS awards.

It was at FantasyCon a few years back that I pitched the idea of the Catastrophia anthology to Pete Crowther, so it is especially thrilling that we are planning to launch the book at next year’s event. Currently, we are hoping to do a mass signing / dedication session in the main bar area sometime on the Saturday (18.9.2010).

Several of you will have previously attended BFS conventions so won’t really need me to convince you. For those who have been wondering what it’s all about, FantasyCon 2010 is the perfect excuse – come along, meet the editor, meet the publisher, meet the authors, get your book personally signed, and generally have a great weekend. Naturally, there’s no obligation… just a friendly invitation.

Further details can be obtained from the British Fantasy Society web site www.britishfantasysociety.org or you can email fcon@britishfantasysociety.org for more details.

Thanks, Allen! You heard the man… get your holiday booked!

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