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Archive for August, 2008
Proposed changes to Postscripts - from magazine to quarterly anthology
Posted by Peter Crowther on August 28th, 2008 at 9:00
We're aiming to make some changes to Postscripts... but we'd like to gauge our customers' opinions before we go ahead. So do let us have some feedback. Here's the plan:
Starting with issue #18 (ie. the first issue of 2009... the intended all-crime special issue), we're considering changing the paperback edition to hardcover and increasing the page-count from 144 to 160 -- or occasionally 176 and even 192. (This will mean that huge 400-page extravaganzas such as #10's all-horror beanfeast and the current all-SF #15 will cease. They're simply too expensive... great fun to do but, at more than three times the usual contents, a drain on finances and resources.) The price for the limited signed edition will remain at £25/$50 while the unsigned edition will increase to £12/$25.
Please note that if we do go ahead with this then there will be no change to existing subscriptions (ie. we won't be going to subscribers and asking them for more money for their existing subs). Once the changes have been implemented, then the subscription rates would be as follows (but please note that all prices will be inclusive of first-class UK or airmail postage anywhere in the world -- plus we'll be continuing our popular free winter chapbook series for subscribers... a signed copy to signed edition subscribers and an unsigned copy to unsigned edition subscribers):
UNSIGNED EDITION
- four issues -- £40 post-free (instead of £48 plus postage -- the paperback edition is currently £26 in the UK and £30 outside the UK)
- eight issues -- £72 post-free (instead of £96 plus postage -- not currently available)
- twelve issues -- £96 post-free (instead of £144 plus postage -- not currently available)
SIGNED EDITION
- four issues -- £100 post-free (instead of £120 plus postage -- no change)
- eight issues -- £190 post-free (instead of £240 plus postage -- not currently available)
- twelve issues -- £270 post-free (instead of £360 plus postage -- not currently available)
And finally on this subject, some readers have suggested we change Postscripts's title (or classification, if you like) from 'magazine' to 'quarterly anthology'. We're kind of warmed to this idea which, be assured, would have absolutely no effect on the contents (though we would probably abandon the two-column page layout for the standard full-width of all our other books). The advantage -- or so we tend to believe -- is that such a move may well increase still further the title's already healthy take-up by (and recognition of) readers and pundits in our field of literature.
But, like I said, let us know what you think - drop us an email, or leave a comment below.
- Pete
“What I Did On My Summer Holidays” by Peter Crowther
Posted by Peter Crowther on August 27th, 2008 at 11:57
Our summertime trip to the US was the usual mix of business and pleasure... mainly caused by the fact that our business is our pleasure.
An overnight stop in Hyannis just hours after landing was followed by another in Sandwich before settling down for three nights in Ogunquit, where we were really able to unwind. Then it was up to Northern midcoast Maine to spend a few days with Liz Hand in the magical setting of her lakeside cottage.
She made us feel wonderfully welcome and, among the many pleasurable events she lined up, introduced me to a barn the size of a car-production factory that was filled to the rafters with books. It took me around a half-hour just to stop shaking.
(From left to right: Christopher Golden, Nicky Crowther, Joe Hill, Connie Golden and Peter Crowther)
From Liz's place it was back to Ogunquit for another three days of beach-'n'-books (and food! my goodness!!) with the second night seeing us drive down to Portsmouth NH to meet up with Connie and Chris Golden and Joe Hill for dinner. We were barely out of the cars when we all managed to buy books... which, to be fair, seemed about par for the entire holiday.
As many of you probably know already, Chris is one of the Guests of Honour at this year's FantasyCon and we've commissioned a special story from him ("The Hiss of Escaping Air"... and, believe me, it's every bit as delightful as the title suggests) for PS Publishing's first small chapbook -- the book will be priced at £6/$12 and it'll be available at the convention (as well as, of course, by mail order in the usual way). We also have a Joe Hill-related announcement to make but, for the moment, you're going to have to wait. Watch out for full details, maybe next month.
We made it to our second NeCon, joining up with Mike Marshall Smith (one of this year's Guests of Honor) and touching base with many friends including PS authors Darrell Schweitzer (watch out for his upcoming Living With The Dead), Rick Hautala (whose Reunion is due out from us in 2010) and Chris Golden again (in addition to the chapbook I mentioned above, watch out for a special PS Publishing edition of Chris's wonderful time-travel novel, The Boys Are Back In Town) plus many many more friends, new and old.
The four days were chock-full of highlights but the one which truly stands out (aside from a team of paramedics from the local fire service being called out to cut off my wedding ring because my mosquito-bitten finger had swollen to twice its normal size and looked about ready to drop off -- I kid you not!) is a small-but-perfectly formed (a few seconds over eight minutes) movie called Peekers.
Based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, adapted by Rick Hautala and directed by Mark Steensland, Peekers is a pure joy and I recommend it to you without reservation. Zero special effects and 100% unsettling, it restores my confidence in an industry which seems increasingly hell-bent on excess. The film has now been included in the visual entertainments scheduled for FantasyCon, so there's yet another reason to attend.
It seems wholly appropriate here to pay tribute to Dan Booth and the rest of the NeCon Crew -- and the attendees themselves, as crazy and as loveable a bunch of people you could ever wish to meet -- for putting on another fantastic event. NeCon really is unlike any other convention I've ever attended and Nicky and I are already looking forward to another visit... maybe in a couple of years.
It was but a short drive from the NeCon site to downtown Providence to catch up again with our good friends Paul Di Filippo and Deborah Newton for a few more fun-filled days of eating, drinking, swimming and, of course, book-buying... kicking off with a visit to the splendid Wes's Ribs eating emporium, where we met up with Scott Edelman. (Paul, incidentally, is about ready to begin work on the sequel to his award-winning novella A Year In The Linear City, so watch this space.)
(Left to right: Paul Di Filippo, Nicky Crowther, Deborah Newton, Scott Edelman and Pete Crowther outside Wes's Ribs, Providence)
But now, of course, the dust is all just about settled on our summer adventures and we're thinking about turning on the central heating again for the start of the long autumn/winter chill. I guess the good thing -- if you can call it that -- is that we've got so much work scheduled and under negotiation (well through into 2010 now, with a couple of projects already earmarked for 2011!) that we're likely to be kept so busy that we just won't feel the cold. That's the plan, anyhow!
- Pete Crowther
Cover art for Steven Erikson’s Revolvo
Posted by Paul Raven on August 25th, 2008 at 13:05
So, let's start the week with some more cover pr0n. PS Publishing has a new novella in the pipeline from Steven Erikson, titled Revolvo. Here's what you'll see on the front of the finished book, based on artwork by Ben Baldwin:
And here's the blurb for Revolvo, which sounds like it will be a wry read:
In the fictitious country of Canada the arts scene is ruled by technocrats, who thrive in a secret, nepotistic society of granting agencies, bursaries, awards and peer review boards, all designed to permit self-proclaimed artists to survive without an audience.
In Revolvo, self-proclaimed "hack genre writer" Steven Erikson provides a daring expose of creative skulduggery in the wilds of a country suffering an interminable identity crisis. The names of plenty of real people have been changed and all specific details of the setting have been messed with, so if anyone guesses a certain prairie city in the middle of Canada where the author used to live, well, you'd be plain wrong.
Besides, it was a long time ago and his memory isn't so good.
Intriguing - and a definite change from Erikson's usual output, which should make for an interesting contrast. Steve is an incredibly popular author, and his PS Publishing titles don't hang about in the warehouse for long... so, with that in mind, click through below to make a pre-order if you want to be certain of completing your collection:
- Revolvo (jacketed hardcover) - £25.00 ($50.00 approx.)
- Revolvo (hardcover) - £10.00 ($20.00 approx.)
Matthew Hughes Interviewed by Charles Tan
Posted by Paul Raven on August 22nd, 2008 at 8:51
If you've been over to the swish new Nebula Awards website recently, you might have noticed an interview with Matthew Hughes - author of numerous science fiction novels, the most recently published of which is Template from us here at PS Publishing.
In the interview, Matt explains how he originally came to create the Archonate universe in which Template takes place:
"I came up with it entirely on the spur of the moment. In 1982, I heard about a novel-in-a-weekend contest run in Vancouver over the Labor Day weekend. I had just got myself a brand new IBM Selectric correctable and I thought, “What the hell, I’ll write a novel.” With not much forethought (I only heard about the contest on the Thursday afternooon before the weekend), I set out to write a text that was something like a collaboration between Jack Vance and P.G. Wodehouse producing an update of Gulliver’s Travels
...
The funny thing is, I set out to be a crime writer. The flukey sale to Jaime Levine has set me on a course that has led to my becoming a midlist science-fantasy author. But I’m not complaining."
Write a novel in a weekend? Crikey - no shortage of ambition, then! Serendipitous for us that it sold, too, because Hughes' science fiction novels are rich and strange creatures, and the scene is all the better for having him in it.
You can see what I mean when you grab yourself a copy of Template by clicking through on the links below:
- Template (slipcased hardcover) - £50.00 ($100.00 approx.)
- Template (hardcover) - £20.00 ($40.00 approx.)
Free Paul McAuley fiction from Postscripts #15
Posted by Paul Raven on August 20th, 2008 at 7:15
If you've a hunger for some free science fiction, you're in luck - Paul McAuley has posted up another story on his webspace. "A Brief Guide To Other Histories" is one of the stories featured in Postscripts #15, and is set in the same universe as his recent novel Cowboy Angels. Here's how it begins:
My platoon had been in the American Bund sheaf for two weeks before it suffered its first major incident. It was gruesome and it robbed us of our innocence, but it was only the beginning of something stranger and deeper.
We'd come through the Turing gate at Brookhaven with the rest of the Third Brigade, First Armor Division, second battalion, as part of the ongoing operation to bring peace and reconciliation to that particular version of America's history. Seventeen PFCs and Spec 4s, and me, their commanding officer. We were all kids. I was the oldest, and I'd just turned twenty-four. Most of us hadn't been through the mirror before, and it put the zap on our heads. This was America, but it wasn't our version of America. New York, but not our version of New York. There were buildings I recognised from my visits to the city back in the Real. The Chrysler Building. The Empire State. St Patrick's Cathedral. Yellow taxis jostled on the streets, manholes vented plumes of steam, and Central Park was right where it should have been, although it had been stripped of trees by people desperate for firewood in the last days of the war, and there was a refugee camp sprawled across Sheep Meadow. But although the Statue of Liberty stood out in the Hudson, she was holding up a sword instead of a torch. The sword was a hundred feet long, and forged out of stainless steel that shone like cold flame. The skyline was different, too. Lower. Instead of glass and steel skyscrapers, brutal chunks of marble and white stone hunched like giant toads: monumental railroad stations, government buildings, and palaces. Some were burnt out or shattered by bombs. The rest were holed by artillery shells and pockmarked by small-arms fire.
I'll bet you didn't have "explore alternate histories of the United States" on your list of things-to-do today (not in this universe, anyway), but if you've a spare half hour, where better to spend it than in a Paul McAuley story?
If you develop a taste for his work in the process, there's more of McAuley's fiction - and lots of other great science fiction stories - in Postscripts #15, so click through below and buy one:
- Postscripts #15 - multi-autograph slipcased hardcover [£75 / US$150 approx.]
- Postscripts #15 - signed hardcover [£30 / US$60 approx.]
- Postscripts #15 - hardcover [£15 / US$30 approx.]
Interview with Mark Samuels at Southern Literary Messenger
Posted by Paul Raven on August 19th, 2008 at 7:57
Thanks to the magical properties of the intertubes, I hear that the Southern Literary Messenger blog has an interview with Mark Samuels, whose PS Publishing Showcase collection, Glyphotech, is due to be launched at FantasyCon in September.
Here's a snippet from the interview, wherein Samuels pooh-poohs literary movements in general:
SLM: The past century has seen realism, modernism, post-modernism, and fiction’s division into and partial re-integration from genre and literary work. But where on earth is literature headed now?
Mark Samuels: I have to confess that I don’t know. Moreover, I don’t care. I believe a writer only has an obligation to be true to his own vision, and schools of critical theory don’t interest me except as idle diversions. Writers should just write and let critics make of the result what they will. I’ve not been a part of any movement in writing. I’m quite happy to call myself a “horror writer” though, especially since it’s the most disreputable of genres and, as an eminent Latin American author put it, a gentleman only ever fights for lost causes.
You too can get your hands dirty with an example of the most disreputable of literary genres - if you're not going to be at FantasyCon, the quickest way to get yourself a copy of Glyphotech is to click through below and place a pre-order:
- Glyphotech - hardcover [£10 / $20 approx.]
- Glyphotech - jacketed hardcover [£25 / $50 approx.]
PostScripts at WorldCon with Scott Edelman
Posted by Paul Raven on August 18th, 2008 at 9:12
Unfortunately for me, the PS Publishing budget doesn't extend to being able to pack me onto an international flight for a week of gallivanting around at WorldCon, no matter how vital to our public profile I insist such a move would be. :(
But other PS personnel were there, as was some of our product - here's a very happy Scott Edelman with a copy of PostScripts #15:
Edelman's pretty stoked to be a part of the magazine, too:
"... on being handed a copy of the latest PostScripts, well, I was thrilled. I'm honored to be alongside writers I love, and I'm tickled that the whole thing is gift-wrapped in Al Feldstein's painted reproduction of one of my favorite EC comic-book covers. Everyone I showed this to in Denver was impressed with the quality...
I'm also grateful that being published in this particular issue of PostScripts meant that I was able to do more than just go all fanboy over Al Feldstein when we chatted at the San Diego Comic-Con two weeks earlier, as you can see here:
What a magnificent issue of PostScripts this is! You should send money for your own copy (hey, why stop there, make it multiple copies) right now!"
You heard the man - click through below right away to snare a copy of PostScripts #15, and help ensure that more writers will get to meet their idols on an equal footing in the future!
- Postscripts #15 - multi-autograph slipcased hardcover [£75 / US$150 approx.]
- Postscripts #15 - signed hardcover [£30 / US$60 approx.]
- Postscripts #15 - hardcover [£15 / US$30 approx.]
[All images © Scott Edelman; used with permission and thanks.]
More Bradbury cover art - The Day It Rained Forever
Posted by Paul Raven on August 15th, 2008 at 7:49
Following on from Mark Chadbourne's lusting for Dandelion Wine, here's some more cover art from forthcoming PS Publishing special editions of Ray Bradbury classics.
First of all, the beautifully arid landscape that will adorn the jacket of The Day It Rained Forever:
And next, the excitingly abstract cover of Medicine For Melancholy, which is the extra volume that comes with the deluxe edition of the above:
Quite a contrasting pair, wouldn't you say? I particularly like the desert landscape - I'd quite like a copy of it to hang on my kitchen wall. What that says about my psychological state is anyone's guess...
In case you're wondering why we're bundling these two books together in the deluxe edition, here's Pete Crowther to explain:
"... Medicine and Rained were essentially the same book re-titled for the split between UK and US audiences ... but with four stories different in each title (ie. there are four in Rained that are not in Medicine and four in Medicine that are not in Rained). This 100-copy special two-book set will be signed by Ray Bradbury and Caitlin Kiernan, who has written the Introduction."
Ideal for the completist collector, then! Only one hundred copies of the deluxe two-volume edition will be released near to the end of the year, and it'll cost you £250 [$500 approx.] to place a pre-order and ensure you get one of them. If you're of more modest means, you can click through below to snare a single-volume version of The Day It Rained Forever:
- The Day It Rained Forever - hardcover [£20 / $40 approx; 500 copies only]
- The Day It Rained Forever - slipcased hardcover [£50 / $100 approx; 200 copies only]
Mark Chadbourne says: sf makes you crazy
Posted by Paul Raven on August 13th, 2008 at 9:24
Novelist Mark Chadbourne has a guest post over at the Pyr-o-mania blog where he fingers fans of speculative fiction for being... well, for being a little unhinged by comparison to normal people.
This is no "fans are slans!" argument, though; Chadbourne points out that if you stumble across science fiction at the right age, it does something transformative to you. The end result being that you'll spend the rest of your life doing things that won't make any sense to people without the same affliction.
Once you've tasted it, your brain is screwed and you're hooked for life. Then you spend the rest of your days trying to hang on to the feeling, recapture it, buy it and bottle it - even if it means spending a small fortune on a limited edition book, or going to see movies that everyone tells you are bad, bad, bad...you know, just in case.
One of Chadbourne's examples is that he's considering buying PS Publishing's special slipcased two-volume edition of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, simply because he has such a soft spot for the book and its author. Of course, that's not an easy decision... £375 isn't cheap, but we like to think you're getting something truly worth the price, considering the second volume contains every story ever set in Greentown - even the previously unpublished ones. Oh, and artwork like this:
Chadbourne says he's starting a collection on his own behalf so he can afford it; you could always donate, or help him out by buying one of his novels. Alternatively, you could keep hold of your money in an effort to snap up a special edition Dandelion Wine for yourself...
[Disclosure: Mark Chadbourne is one of my clients.]
Cover art for James Barclay’s Vault of Deeds
Posted by Paul Raven on August 12th, 2008 at 8:12
You lucky people - I have more cover art pr0n for you! This dramatic landscape will be adorning the front of Vault Of Deeds, the forthcoming James Barclay novella from PS Publishing:
Here's the jacket pitch for Vault Of Deeds to whet your appetite:
The status quo is being upset so much it feels distinctly queasy. You see, in the land of Goedterre, good always triumphs over evil. Or that's how it should be. But something is wrong.
Across the land, invincible heroes are meeting their dooms at the hands of opponents who have clearly practiced beforehand. It simply will not do. Too many books are closing for good in the Vault of Deeds. Too many scribes are looking for new heroes. The spectre of invasion raises an ugly head on which altogether too much expectancy is plastered.
Naturally, people want to know what's going on and eyes inevitably turn to the school that produces Goedterre's heroes. After all, without heroes, how on earth can you possibly defeat the forces of evil?
Curiously, Principal Kettifer seems delighted with how his academy is running but Grincheux the Scribe is not. Something smells bad. Really bad. Worse than the latest hero eau de toilette, that's how bad. Student heroes are nervous and their scribes are watching the lifeblood flow from their once very lucrative careers. Literally.
Grincheux, with his gangly student hero in tow, decides to investigate and in a way, he is right and courageous to take that decision. In every other way, but principally the ones involving mortal danger and loss of bowel control, it is a very stupid decision indeed.
There's a certain hint of Pratchett there, wouldn't you say? I think I may have to make space in my reading schedule for this one when it rolls off the presses at the end of the year next month...
If you'd like to be among the first to get their sweaty mitts on this exclusive James Barclay novella, click through below to place a pre-order:
- Vault Of Deeds - hardcover [£10 / $20 approx; 500 copies only]
- Vault Of Deeds - jacketed hardcover [£25 / $50 approx; 300 copies only]
Cover art for PS Showcase #4 - Glyphotech by Mark Samuels
Posted by Paul Raven on August 11th, 2008 at 9:44
Hardly have we started shipping our third PS Showcase volume than we start finalising the next in the series! Just arrived in my inbox is the, er, in-your-face artwork by Jason Van Hollander for Mark Samuels's collection, Glyphotech:
Now there's a man who looks just like I feel on a Monday morning! Here's the short-but-sweet jacket blurb:
In the introduction to this collection Ramsey Campbell states that the two modern masters of urban weirdness are Thomas Ligotti and Mark Samuels. Inside this book you will find weird things indeed, not least the likes of:
- The fungus-riddled mannequin in the lunatic asylum
- The reconstruction company that works with life and death
- The legal nightmare where the sane are guilty
- A horror writing convention taken over by black magic cannibals
- The Punch and Judy show broadcast live after death
- The strange fate of the reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft
Now, some of those sound pretty tempting... especially the third in that list, the legal nightmare where the sane are guilty. Who else but Mark Samuels would have thought to write a horror story about local government, eh? ;)
If you're tempted too (and if not, why not?), click through below and secure yourself a pre-ordered copy of Glyphotech:
- Glyphotech - hardcover [£10 / $20 approx.]
- Glyphotech - jacketed hardcover [£25 / $50 approx.]
PS Publishing titles nominated for British Fantasy Awards
Posted by Paul Raven on August 8th, 2008 at 8:37
Crikey - we'd hardly stopped patting ourselves on the back over yesterday's World Fantasy Award nominations when the British Fantasy Awards shortlist hit my inbox, including some more nods to PS Publishing.
You can check out the full shortlist at the British Fantasy Awards website, but here are the PS nominations with links to the relevant books:
Best Novel: [The August Derleth Award]
- Ramsey Campbell - THE GRIN OF THE DARK [slipcased hadcover - £50/$100 approx]
Best Novella
- Eric Brown - STARSHIP SUMMER [hardcover - £10/$20; jacketed hardcover - £25/$50; slipcased hardcover £50/$100]
- Conrad Williams - THE SCALDING ROOMS [hardcover - £10/$20; jacketed hardcover - £25/$50; last few of each format remaining!]
Best Short Fiction
- Joe Hill - "Thumbprint", from Postscripts #10 [unsigned hardcover only - £12/$24]
- Tim Lebbon - "Discovering Ghosts", also from Postscripts #10
Small Press
- Peter Crowther, PS Publishing
- Peter Crowther, Postscripts
Insert your preferred spin on the "it's an honour just to be nominated" line here - because as well-worn a phrase as that is, it's absolutely true. It's super to see that people like PS Publishing titles enough to not just buy them for themselves but to commend them to other people as well - it makes all the hard work worthwhile!
Hearty congratulations to all the other nominees - and it's great to see lots of other small press titles in the running for the various awards, too. A thriving scene is a benefit to everyone: readers, writers and publishers alike.
PS Publishing nominations for World Fantasy Awards
Posted by Paul Raven on August 7th, 2008 at 8:36
Awards season rolls ever onwards in the world of genre... which is fine by me, because it distracts me from getting too jealous of all the people currently having a ball at WorldCon!
But here's some news that more than compensates for being stuck in the UK - PS Publishing makes some appearances in the list of nominees for this year's World Fantasy Awards. The full list is up at SF Signal, so I'll just snip out the ones from the home team:
BEST NOVELLA
- The Mermaids by Robert Edric [ hardcover - £10/$20 approx.; jacketed hardcover - £25/$50 approx. ]
- Illyria by Elizabeth Hand [ paperback - £10/$20 approx.; hardcover - £25/$50 approx. ]
BEST COLLECTION
- Dagger Key and Other Stories by Lucius Shepard [ jacketed hardcover - £25/$50 approx. ]
SPECIAL AWARD--PROFESSIONAL
- Peter Crowther for PS Publishing
On behalf of PS Publishing as an outfit, I'd like to say we're very pleased to receive these nominations - not just for ourselves but for the authors, without whom there would be no publishing houses, awards or conventions in the first place.
And on behalf of myself, I'd like to congratulate Peter - as our customers, you get to see the quality of product he insists on, but since joining the team a few months ago I've been able to see the almost inhuman amount of work that he and the rest of the PS Publishing crew put in to make it happen. I'm half-convinced that Peter doesn't actually sleep like normal people...
As the links indicate, we still have some copies of the nominated works available to purchase, so click on through to snare one - we're finding that nominations for awards tend to provoke an uptick in sales, so you may want to move fast to avoid being disappointed!
(The Lucius Shepard collection comes with my personal recommendation, for what that's worth - I don't usually read dark fantasy, but I absolutely loved these stories.)