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Archive for June, 2008
Final cover for Postscripts #15
Posted by Paul Raven on June 26th, 2008 at 9:19
The title says it all, folks - here's the final front cover for Postscripts #15, based on Al Feldstein's lush painting:
Maybe it's just my inner five-year-old speaking, but I think everything goes better with dinosaurs.
This bumper-sized special issue (Worldcon 2008/all-sf/Paul McAuley - three specials in one!) is going to fly off the shelves, so click through below to add your name to the growing list of pre-orders:
- Postscripts #15 (multi-autograph slipcased hardcover) - £75 (US$150 approx) - 100 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (signed hardcover) - £30 (US$60 approx) - 300 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (hardcover) - £15 (US$30 approx) - 600 copies only
Jay Lake interviewed at Fantasy Book Critic
Posted by Paul Raven on June 25th, 2008 at 9:19
The ceaseless flow of reviews and interviews from Fantasy Book Critic continues apace. Here's an interview with hirsute and prolific short fiction maestro Jay Lake, who fondly remembers his appearance in the first issue of Postscripts:
"Picking a favorite short story is a bit like picking a favorite child. Nonetheless, as I mentioned above, I'd have to say that "American, Such as She Is" is probably my strongest work to date in short fiction. As for being a part of things, my proudest moment was being included in Postscripts issue 1, alongside Brian Aldiss, Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, Gene Wolfe and a handful of other big names. Getting the signature sheets in the mail for the limited edition back in the spring of 2004 was the moment when I realized I was a real writer."
How fast things move - four years since that appearance in Postscripts, and Jay Lake is well on his way to becoming one of those big names in his own right!
Jay also has a story in the forthcoming fifteenth issue of Postscripts, alongside an awesome line-up of other contributors - pre-order your copy now:
- Postscripts #15 (multi-autograph slipcased hardcover) - £75 (US$150 approx) - 100 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (signed hardcover) - £30 (US$60 approx) - 300 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (hardcover) - £15 (US$30 approx) - 200 copies only
And I'll just take this opportunity to say how glad I was that Jay Lake's recent brush with cancer was solved successfully; I've never met the man, but I've followed his blogging for quite a while and it paints a picture of a thoroughly decent bloke. Good luck and good health, Jay!
Paul Di Filippo reviews Christopher Evans’ Omega
Posted by Paul Raven on June 24th, 2008 at 7:26
Renowned author-turned-reviewer Paul Di Filippo turns the SCI FI Weekly spotlight on Christopher Evans' most recent novel from PS Publishing, Omega - and he likes what he sees:
"Certainly [Omega] will garner deserved comparisons to recent work by Christopher Priest, Brian Aldiss and Ian MacLeod. Evans works in the same rueful, elegiac mode as his fellow Brits. Think also of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta (1988). Unlike American, Turtledovian uchronias, which always seem to be about wresting control of the timestream back toward "normality" or exploiting the altered historical conditions for fun and profit and adventures, U.K. alternate histories revel in fleshing out doomed scenarios that possess an inertia all their own, and which serve as object moral lessons. And indeed, Evans's scenario does just that.
The moody tangibility of Owain's dire circumstances—"Decades of warfare had led to pollution and ionisation of the upper atmosphere so that the skies were seldom truly dark by night or free of murkiness by day."—drives home to the reader exactly what a charmed life we lead nowadays. Despite surging gasoline prices, acts of terrorism, greenhouse effects and other global worries, our world—and thus Owen's—is a utopia by comparison to Owain's. This ability of SF to shine a light on the historical record, giving us a fresh retrospective view of our century, and exactly how lucky we've been, is an extremely useful and valuable tool that mainstream fiction cannot supply."
Another great clipping for Evans' folder - and for ours as well! I know Peter was particularly proud to be publishing Omega, and the steady stream of strong reviews has served to prove his instincts correct.
So, click through below to order your own copy of Omega and find out what all the fuss is about!
- Omega (signed, limited, slipcased hardcover) - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.)
- Omega (hardcover) - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.)
‘Postscripts #15′: the all-sf/Worldcon 2008 special issue - table of contents announced!
Posted by Paul Raven on June 23rd, 2008 at 12:45
Postscripts #15 will be the biggest issue yet of PS Publishing's award-winning short fiction magazine. Not only that, the entire issue will focus on the science fiction genre, with a positively stellar list of contributing authors and work which, now finalised, we can formally announce.
Just take a look through this table of contents - while keeping a strong focus on featured author Paul McAuley, it's like a roster of the genre's brightest lights both old and new, opening up with an introduction from the late and legendary Sir Arthur C Clarke.
- Guest Editorial — Arthur C. Clarke (1,000 words)
- "Fandom At The Palace" – Brian Aldiss (500 words)
- "A Very Private Tour Of A Very Public Museum" – Scott Edelman (7,400 words)
- "The Man Who Built Heaven" – Keith Brooke (3,700 words)
- "Atlantic Crossing" – Garry Kilworth (6,000 words)
- "Thy Saffron Wings" – Chris Roberson (9,800 words)
- "Variant" – Steven Utley (3,300 words)
- "Shad"s Mess" – Alex Irvine (8,400 words)
- "Under The Shadow Of Jonah" – Jack Dann (7,600 words)
- "The Eye Of Vann" – Matthew Hughes (6,200 words)
- "Juggernaut" – Ray Bradbury (1,140 words)
- "The Best Of Both Worlds" – Brian Stableford (6,600 words)
- "State Secret" – Eric Brown (1,000 words)
- "Test Subject" – James Lovegrove (4,000 words)
- "Let Their People Go: The Left Left Behind" – Terry Bisson (8,600 words)
- "The Men Who Live In Trees" – Kelly Barnhill (9,500 words)
- "Eagle Song" – Stephen Baxter (7,100 words)
- "The Golden Octopus" – Beth Bernobich (14,300 words)
- "Professor Fluvius"s Palace Of Many Waters" – Paul Di Filippo (8,360 words)
- "Six Foot Easy" – Robert Reed (4,800 words)
- "Skinhorse Goes To Mars" – Jay Lake (6,100 words)
- "[A Ghost Samba]" – Ian Mcdonald (7,700 words)
- "An Article Of Faith" – Mike Resnick (6,050 words)
- "Legolas Does The Dishes" – Justina Robson (9,370 words)
- "Sumptuous Dress: A Question Of Size At The End Of Time" – Michael Moorcock (6,500 words)
- "How Was The Future For You?" – Paul McAuley (essay)
- "Excerpt From The Quiet War" - Paul McAuley (2,600 words)
- "A Brief Guide To Other Histories" – Paul McAuley (5,800 words)
- "Searching For Van Gogh At The End Of The World" – Paul McAuley (4,200 words)
- "The Thought War" – Paul McAuley (2,900 words)
- "City Of The Dead" – Paul McAuley (12,200 words)
Not only is Postscripts #15 a Paul McAuley special, but it's a Worldcon 2008 special edition as well. What that means is, should you go the distance and plump for the extremely limited slipcased edition, it will come signed by not merely editors Nick and Peter, but by the majority of the contributing authors, plus all of the interior artists and cover artist Al Feldstein.
As special editions and collectable volumes are concerned, we challenge you to suggest a more special and affordable example - especially one with as much awesome fiction in it as Postscripts #15! Click through below to secure your copy ahead of the rush:
- Postscripts #15 (multi-autograph slipcased hardcover) - £75 (US$150 approx) - 100 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (signed hardcover) - £30 (US$60 approx) - 300 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (hardcover) - £15 (US$30 approx) - 600 copies only
Don't forget that four issue subscriptions to Postscripts are also available, and that every current and paid-up subscriber will receive a copy of our bonus seasonal chapbook, round about the end of the year.
PS Publishing’s Peter Crowther in the interview hotseat
Posted by Paul Raven on June 19th, 2008 at 10:22
If you've been wanting an insight into the mastermind behind PS Publishing, you should hop on over to the Shirley Jackson Awards blog, where Charles Tan puts our very own head honcho Peter Crowther to the question about the raison d'etre of PS Publishing.
Here's a snippet of Peter explaining why he loves publishing novellas:
"The novella (20,000 to 40,000 words) is, for me, the perfect length with which to develop characters. It's not as brief as the short story but it can still be read easily in one sitting. [...] I still consider the novella to be our 'bread-and-butter' work."
You can pop back to a previous post to see the flatteringly lengthy list of PS Publishing titles in the running for a Shirley Jackson Award - more news as we have it!
Rhys Hughes’ The Crystal Cosmos reviewed at SF Signal
Posted by Paul Raven on June 18th, 2008 at 9:01
SF Signal's John DeNardo got his teeth into Rhys Hughes' recent PS Publishing novella The Crystal Cosmos, and found it to be "[a] bizarre (but ultimately satisfying) reading experience."
Here's the opening paragraph of the full review, which states DeNardo's opinion quite clearly:
"I've never quite has a reading experience like the one I had with The Crystal Cosmos, a novella written by Rhys Hughes. It is simultaneously high-concept, bizarre, wonderful and a little frustrating. There were times when I was confused and times when I was enraptured; there were times when I thought it was hardly worth continuing and times I thought it was pure genius. It's a strange dichotomy that I still can't quite resolve. I ultimately liked it - and as I mull the story over I like it more and more - but it's one of those things that I would have to read again to fully appreciate."
It appears that perhaps DeNardo took a while to realise that Rhys Hughes adds more than a hint of the surreal to his fiction, but the signal came through clearly in the end - at least, as clearly as it ever can where Rhys Hughes is concerned!
If you fancy trying your luck with an exploration of The Crystal Cosmos, we still have copies available in both formats - click through below to get your hands on one:
- The Crystal Cosmos - jacketed hardcover - £25.00 ($50.00 approx.)
- The Crystal Cosmos - hardcover - £10.00 ($20.00 approx.)
PS Showcase #3 - cover art for Robert T Jeschonek’s Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal collection
Posted by Paul Raven on June 17th, 2008 at 9:27
Ladies and gentlemen, PS Publishing are proud to present the complete jacket layout (based on Tomislav Tikulin's striking artwork) for our third Showcase collection featuring fiction maverick Robert T Jeschonek - Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal.
Pretty, ain't it? Here's the jacket blurb to whet your appetite further:
Welcome to the world of Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal. Where else can you come face to face with a giant rhinoporcupine? Dream the future in a jazz tune from Hell? Hunt down outlaws who commit the crime of love? Eat a walking, talking human feast? Find passion behind the lab coat of a smoking hot mad scientist?
Only in Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal.
In these pages, Robert T. Jeschonek will take you on a tour of the wildest places and people you've never imagined. You've never met anyone quite like Dr. Hildegarde Medici, the mad scientist worshipped from afar by her twisted assistant, Glugor...or the Genebillies of Best Virginia, rip-snortin' genetic engineers in the moonshiner tradition...or Manny the Ration, an edible man who feeds more than empty stomachs in an alien landscape gone berserk.
If you're looking for something mind-blowing, you've come to the right place. In Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal, gonzo fictioneer Robert T. Jeschonek sets his wild imagination loose in five free-for-alls that set a new standard for storytelling. It's all about a cutting edge mêlée style, an in-your-face storytelling for the 21st century that mashes up genres, tones, expectations, and the most fundamental rules of stories and language. At the core of this engine of big ideas, startling imagery, and unexpected connections, you'll always find a pounding heart of love and longing and wonder, its power amplified by the revolutionary matrix roaring around it.
Take your first step into this breakthrough literary mêlée and experience a convergence of science fiction and fantasy...thrills and theories...tears and laughter...truth and lies...insanity and enlightenment. Ask yourself "What if?" and "Why not?" and "What the hell was that?" Most of all, kiss your preconceptions goodbye.
You're standing at the door to a big new treasure house, waiting for a key. And Robert T. Jeschonek just handed you a stick of dynamite.
What more can we say? To get your hands on a copy of this explosive mixture of genre tropes as soon as it becomes available, click through below to pre-order your copies right away!
- Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal - jacketed hardcover - £25.00 ($50.00 approx.) - 100 copies only
- Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal - hardcover - £10.00 ($20.00 approx.) - 300 copies only
Steven Erikson interviewed
Posted by Paul Raven on June 15th, 2008 at 14:53
Fantasy Book Critic strikes again, with another lengthy in-depth interview - this time with acclaimed fantasy author Steven Erikson, who PS Publishing are proud to have published (and will be publishing again).
Amongst masses of other revelations, Erikson hints at the freedom that writing novellas allows him:
"Novellas are just long short stories busting out at the seams, really. F*ck epiphanies and denouement. Just clobber the structural confines and ramble all over the page.
I'm actually less deliberate in the novellas, as compared to the novels. This is the only change in my approach. I'm wilder with tangents and absurd sidelights. Looser."
Indeed - Blood Follows was so popular that PS Publishing ran a second printing of the novella, and there are still a few copies left. Click through to complete your collection:
- Blood Follows - second print paperback - £10 (US$20 approx)
We also collected three novellas into one book in the shape of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: The Collected Stories Volume One. There are still a handful of hardcover copies of this title available, too:
- Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: The Collected Stories Volume One - hardcover - £20 (US$40 approx)
And there'll be more to come from Erikson and the Malazan Empire from PS Publishing in times to come ... watch this space!
British Fantasy Society Awards 2008 long-list
Posted by Paul Raven on June 10th, 2008 at 8:47
The long-lists of nominees for this year's British Fantasy Society Awards have been published in full at the BFS website - and we're very pleased to see PS Publishing titles, writers, artists and editors all making a good showing in the lists!
Here are the relevant nominations; as usual, PS Publishing titles have a dominating presence in the novella category, but we're spread around the board quite nicely:
Novel
- The Grin Of The Dark - Ramsey Campbell
Novella
- Starship Summer - Eric Brown
- The Mermaids - Robert Edric
- The Lees of Laughter’s End - Steven Erickson
- The City Beyond Play - Philip Jose Farmer and Danny Adams
- Dead Earth: The Green Dawn - Mark Justice and David T Wilbanks
- Hereafter and After - Richard Parks
- The Scalding Rooms - Conrad Williams
- Twelve Collections and the Teashop - Zoran Zivkovic
Short Fiction
- "The Familial" by Gary Fry in Sanity and Other Delusions
- "Thumbprint" by Joe Hill in Postscripts # 10
- "Discovering Ghosts" by Tim Lebbon in Postscripts # 10
- "Loki" by Matthew Rossi in Postscripts # 11
Best Artist
- Vincent Chong and Les Edwards (for multiple covers, including some PS titles)
- John Picacio for cover art, Postscripts # 10
- J.K Potter for cover art, PS Showcase # 1 - Sanity and Other Delusions
- Tomislav Tikulin for cover art, Starship Summer by Eric Brown
Best Small Press
- Postscripts, [Eds] Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers
- PS Publishing, [Ed] Peter Crowther
We're naturally pleased and flattered to be nominated so many times, but it's the hard work of the writers and artists that really makes it possible - so congratulations to all of them from PS Publishing, and to all the other nominees as well.
Click through on the links above to buy yourself a nominated title and discover what all the fuss is about - and feel free to vote for us if you're a BFS member!
Additional edit: To my shame, I didn't notice it on my initial pass through the list, but Darren Turpin (my esteemed predecessor in this very job) polled a much-deserved nomination for the currently-on-hiatus UKSF Book News website in the Best Non-fiction category. Way to go, Darren!
Extensive interview with Conrad Williams
Posted by Paul Raven on June 6th, 2008 at 7:23
Just a quickie for Friday - Fantasy Book Critic has a lengthy internet-chinwag with renowned horror author Conrad Williams, whose PS Publishing novella The Scalding Rooms is on the Shirley Jackson Awards shortlist this year. Williams has a healthy lack of false modesty on the issue of awards, it seems:
"I’m lucky to have won a few gongs and they mean more to me than they probably should, but I can’t help it. I see it as a vindication of what I’m trying to do. They are enormously encouraging things. And of course, it looks good on a book. The British Fantasy Society award was special because it was my first, voted for by my peers. And the International Horror Guild means a lot to me because it was juried, and because I beat Stephen King, a massive influence on me when I was starting out, in order to win it."
There aren't many folk who can say they've beaten Stephen King on his own turf! Let's hope Conrad Williams adds another ornament to the mantelpiece when the Shirley Jackson Awards are announced.
In the meantime, there are a last final few copies of Williams' The Scalding Rooms in the warehouse - click through now before they get away!
- The Scalding Rooms - jacketed hardcover - £25.00 ($50.00 approx.) - nearly sold out!
- The Scalding Rooms - hardcover - £10.00 ($20.00 approx.) - nearly sold out!
[Hat tip 'n' mad props to Ed Ashby - cheers, Ed!]
Template extract at Fantasy Book Spot
Posted by Paul Raven on June 3rd, 2008 at 5:49
Still unsure whether or not to try your luck with Matthew Hughes' recent PS Publishing novel, Template?
Well, if yesterday's batch of reviews weren't enough to convince you, perhaps you're just the sort of person who likes to try before they buy. In which case, you're in luck - if you click your way over to Fantasy Book Spot, they've got a hefty exclusive extract from the beginning of Template for you to get your reading teeth into.
Then, when you're all done, head back here and click through below to secure your copy of Template before they all disappear:
- Template - slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Template - hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies
Matthew Hughes live appearance, plus Template reviews
Posted by Paul Raven on June 2nd, 2008 at 7:16
You can hardly click a link on the web at the moment without bumping into Matthew Hughes, or so it seems. In addition to Matthew being profiled by John Joseph Adams at SciFi Wire, numerous reviews of Template have materialised.
SF Revu seemed particularly impressed by Template, summing up by saying:
"The balance between the theme and event is finely tuned by Hughes throughout and his setting, so well defined already in his published works, provides an endlessly fascinating backdrop."
Meanwhile, there's a round-up of "unprofessional" fan reviews of Template, as well - which are just as important to writers (and publishers!) as the more formal work of career reviewers. A few notable snippets:
You might bump into Matthew Hughes beyond the internet, as well - if you happen to be in the Yorkshire region, that is. Here's a message from the man himself:
"I'll be doing a reading and giving a talk on what life is like for a struggling-but-cheerful sf author. The event is at the Harrogate branch of the North Yorkshire County Library, on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate, on Thursday, June 12, from 7:30 p.m.
There will be light refreshments and a complementary glass of wine. Tickets cost £2. For more information, phone 0845 0349520. They want me to do another one in Ripon sometime later, but no date has been set."
If you're in the right area, why not pop along? In addition to supporting a great author, you'll be supporting the public library service, too - and as a former employee thereof, I can assure you that thanks to government incompetence at local and national levels, the public library service needs all the support it can get! Use 'em or lose 'em, folks.
Unfortunately, you're very unlikely to find a copy of Template at your local library. You can secure one by clicking the links below, though:
- Template - slipcased hardcover - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.) 200 copies
- Template - hardcover - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.) 500 copies