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Archive for June, 2007
Wayne Blackhurst posts ‘And a Place for Everything’ artwork
Posted by Darren on June 29th, 2007 at 14:03
We published a number of illustrations by freelance illustrator Wayne Blackhurst in our World Horror Convention Special Postscripts issue #10.
Wayne has posted one of those illustrations - that originally accompanied Michael Marshall Smith's story 'A Place for Everything' - on his blog, two sides to a piece of paper. Check it out.
Cliff Burns’ ‘Kept’ optioned for Hollywood by Twisted Pictures
Posted by Darren on June 28th, 2007 at 20:55
PS author Cliff Burns writes on his blog that his novella, Kept has been optioned for film by Twisted Pictures / Lion's Gate.
'Kept' was published as one half of our 2003 double-novella publication, Righteous Blood (along with Living With the Foleys which is also currently being adapted into a screenplay) and we described it at the time as "...nothing less than a high-octane thrill-ride, a knowing homage to the work of David Cronenberg and David Lynch and a no-holds-barred assault on our conception of good guys and bad guys, justice, morality and retribution."
If that doesn't sound like prime-quality movie material, I don't know what does. Many congratulations to Cliff, and here's hoping that the project will go into full production as soon as possible. We'll be sure to keep you posted...
Novella Acquisition: ‘The Language of Dying’ by Sarah Pinborough
Posted by Darren on June 22nd, 2007 at 11:45
PS publishing is thrilled to announce that we've bought the rights to publish British author Sarah Pinborough's brand new novella, The Language of Dying.
Sarah was represented by her UK agent, John Jarrold, who had the following to say in his press release announcing the deal: "Sarah has had four novels published by Leisure Books in the US to-date and is now writing new fiction in the crime and horror fields. The Language of Dying tells the story of five adult siblings dealing with the death of their father, from the point of view of one of his daughters. A fantastical element is present, very much in the background.
"I was knocked out by this one. The writing is extremely powerful and involving – it's Sarah's best work so far."
We'll announce a publication date, cover artist and so on as soon as we've worked out the details and slotted everything into the schedule.
Brian W. Aldiss interviewed by Del Rey Books
Posted by Darren on June 17th, 2007 at 10:57
Spotted this interview with Brian W. Aldiss (Sanity and the Lady) on the Del Rey website, in which he discusses his latest novel, Harm.
June 2007 News round-up
Posted by Peter Crowther on June 16th, 2007 at 13:00
I know, I know... it's been far too long since we sat down and chatted about what's happening in the wild and wacky world of PS Publishing. But here we are, with a few things to report and craving your forgiveness for the lapse in communications.
First off, Postscripts #10: this 352-page monster has been a huge success and we're hoping that folks will subscribe or at least pick up copies when the mag is its more usual (and more modest) 144 pages.
Its launch - and our appearance - at the World Horror Convention in Toronto in March went down extremely well, as did the first glimpse of the trade edition of Stephen King's The Colorado Kid plus debuts for the first two volumes in our complete short story cycle from Ed Gorman, Steve Erikson's The Lees of Laughter's End and the special 100-copy volume The Collected Stories of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Vol #1 (which is sold out already), Conrad Williams's The Scalding Rooms, Richard Parks's Hereafter, And After and Robert Edric's The Mermaids.
My thanks go to Raymond Alexander for representing PS in the bookroom and for handling the launch at the Merril Collection; and to Rodger Turner, who was a constant source of help, advice and good companionship throughout the whole event.
There have been a few glitches with Postscripts #10, though only because of my scatterbrained forgetting to send the list for slipcased copies down to the mailing house. That's all done now and I think we're pretty much there and everyone should now have - or soon will have - whatever it was that they ordered. As of right now, the slipcased and PPC semi-Hardcover signed editions are sold out and the paperback edition is running very low. We may decide to do a reprint and we may not - watch this space.
All of you people who ordered - and paid for! - copies of The Colorado Kid deserve medals for your patience and forebearance as the original publication date of late March drifted into April, and then into May and here we are in June with nary a sign of the darned thing. Well, no... that's not true. We just received word that copies of all editions will be at the mailing house on Tuesday 19th June and we're hoping to get all the orders sent out by the end of the month (the month of June that is, unbelievers!)... or as close to it as jazz.
Also coming up are Jack Dann's Promised Land and Philip José Farmer and Danny Adams's The City Beyond Play, both available next month, plus Lucius Shepard's Dagger Key and Other Stories. We're a little behind where we'd ideally like to be on Lucius's book but it's for a very understandable reason: China Miéville, who's doing the Introduction, is presently spending as much time as possible with his mother, who's very seriously ill. I'm sure you'll all join with us in sending your thoughts and best wishes to China and his mum. (We have managed to produce a special limited paperback edition - sans Intro, of course - of the book for ReaderCon... just 50 copies, so it'll be a case of first come, first served at the event.)
We must also ask you to spare a thought for Michael and Jeri Bishop on the loss of their son, Jamie... and to Jamie's widow, Stefanie. Jamie was killed by the gunman at Virginia Tech in April - one more senseless slaying in a world that seems filled to bursting with them. I can only guess as to how that loss must feel. (For those who don't know, Jamie was a marvellous artist and designer... as can be seen from his work on the cover of his dad Mike's book of essays A Reverie for Mister Ray that PS put out a couple of years back.)
Okay, other stuff: Harlan Ellison has just finished signing the tip sheets for our anniversary edition of Ellison Wonderland and Bob Silverberg is, even as we speak, writing the Introduction with one hand and signing HIS tip sheets with the other. We'll soon be sending sheets out to Lawrence Block and his Introducer, Spider Robinson for Random Walk, and we've just got back in the edited files for Dandelion Wine and Summer Morning, Summer Night (the companion book to the two-volume deluxe slipcased edition).
Also just finished are the sheets for Eric Brown's Starship Summer (by the way, have you read Eric's new novel from Solaris Books, HELIX? It's a gem) and Justice & Wilbanks's Dead Earth: The Green Dawn.
New purchases include new novellas from Steven Erikson (Revolvo, a 30,000-word everyday tale of octopids, neanderthals and cigarettes) Steve Baxter (Starfall), Beth Bernobich (Ars Memoriae) and Eric Brown (Gilbert and Edgar on Mars) and novels from Robert Wexler (The Painting and the City), John Gribbin (Time Switch) and, from Ian Cameron Esselmont, the limited edition of the 260,000-word follow-up novel to Night of Knives entitled Return of the Crimson Guard.
We've also bought Darkness on the Edge, edited by Harrison Howe; a new anthology of dark tales inspired by the music of Bruce Springsteen and featuring work (bought so far!) by Lee Thomas, Michael A. Arnzen, Lorne Dixon, Gerard Houarner, Tom Piccirilli and Elizabeth Massie.
There are other things to tell you about but this should do it for now. The new website design is imminent now so we'll leave a few things - and a couple of special announcements - for that.
It's been good chatting with you - we'll do it again soon, Meanwhile, look after each other... and happy reading!
Pete
Jonathan Strahan on Lucius Shepard’s ‘Dagger Key and Other Stories’
Posted by Darren on June 15th, 2007 at 6:39
Over at his Notes From Coode Street blog, Jonathan Strahan makes mention of the arrival of the latest batch of PS proof copies (you're welcome, Jonathan!) and singles out Lucius Shepard's Dagger Key and Other Stories for particular attention.
Jonathan says: "I hope that there might be a trade edition of the book. It’s long for a trade collection, I know, but I'd like to think that a book like this could come out in an edition of more than seven hundred copies."
As it happens, this exact subject was raised and discussed at a recent PS power lunch in Manchester. The general consensus (between Pete, myself, Michael Rowley of Waterstone's and George Mann of Solaris Books was that yes, there really should be a trade edition, or even a mass-market edition, of this title and many more.
But that alas, the conclusion was that PS probably wasn't of the required operational size and distribution clout to get that edition out into the marketplace effectively. Well, not quite yet, anyhow, but it's something we're working on. Watch this space.
In the meantime, don't forget to grab your copy of Dagger Key and Other Stories while we still have one of those 700 copies (500 jacketed hardcover and 200 slipcased) in stock...
Clock King Lolbooked! (We has a spooff!)
Posted by Darren on June 12th, 2007 at 8:20
Unless you've been hiding under a giant online rock for the past six months or so, you'll have heard of LOLCats by now, surely?
Well, author Jim Hines has put a neat twist on the idea with LOLBooks - book covers with a touch of added LOLlery. Yesterday's LOLBook was inspired by the cover of Vera Nazarian's The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass, with original artwork by the mysterious and reclusive Edward Miller.
M.J. Ewing on Ramsey Campbell’s ‘The Grin of the Dark’
Posted by Darren on June 6th, 2007 at 12:11
Blogger M.J. Ewing has some very complimentary things to say about Ramsey Campbell's latest PS publication The Grin of the Dark, over at his mjewing.co.uk blog.
Things like:
"Ramsey Campbell's latest novel is the best thing I've read in some time."
and:
"Campbell constantly challenges himself as a writer, stretching his boundaries while retaining a consistent level of readability & quality."
It's a good, analytical review, with plenty of attention on the role of Campbell as stylist, a crafter of prose that embraces "the horror of the idea (as opposed to merely visceral horror)". Well worth a read.
Paul DiFilippo on Postscripts #10
Posted by Darren on June 2nd, 2007 at 9:58
Over on the Inferior 4+1 blog, author Paul Di Filippo had some very nice things to say about the latest, 10th issue of our Postscripts magazine.
Alas though, the version of Postscripts #10 that Paul singles out as being particularly worthy of praise - the $25.00 PPC semi-Hardcover edition - is actually completely sold out here at PS Towers.
You could always try to hunt down a dealer in collectable editions, or try to find a second-hand copy, but it might cost you a wrist and an ankle at the very least; we saw the PPC edition offered for £200 on eBay.co.uk recently... and that's not even the slipcased copy!
We do have plenty of copies of the extremely reasonable (nay, let's be honest, insanely good value-for-money) £12.00 PPC semi-Hardcover edition in stock, although those are selling fast...
Our suggested remedy for the missing-out-on-Postscripts blues would be to take out a Subscription, at the earliest opportunity!