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Archive for February, 2009
Encuentro Fractal 09 – Columbian science fiction and futurist conference
Posted by Paul Raven on February 25th, 2009 at 13:02
We had an email from Hernan Ortiz, one of the people behind Encuentro Fractal 09, a futurist conference in Columbia that will cover genre literature alongside new technologies and other artforms, in an effort to show how science fiction has the possibility to help reshape the future of Latin America.
They’ve got some proper big name speakers lined up, including James Patrick Kelly, Lucius Shepard and Bruce Sterling, but they ran into a bit of trouble when one of their sponsors pulled out on them at very short notice.
Obviously we’re a bit restricted in what we could do to help (it’s a long old swim to Columbia from the UK, after all, much as we’d all appreciate a holiday somewhere warm), but we’ve sent them one of our anniversary gift-boxes of ten trade novels or collections to auction off for funds. All of us at PS believe in the transformative power of literature – it’s why we do what we do – and we were pleased for a chance to help out those in less fortunate circumstances than ourselves.
The Encuentro Fractal website has a PayPal button, just in case you’d like to give them a helping hand yourself. Bear in mind that while times are hard for everyone, a couple of pounds or dollars is a pretty small dent in your pocket… but it could be of great assistance to Fractal’s organisers.
Or you could just pass the word on using your own blog – I’m sure they’ll be grateful for any help you’d care to give.
Wednesday reviews roundup for 25th February
Posted by Paul Raven on February 25th, 2009 at 12:48
Wednesday rolls round once again, so let’s see what’s in the reviews inbox this week, shall we?
Harrison Holtz (aka The Ostentatious Ogre) is still digging his way into the PS Publishing back-catalogue. He’s been reading Robert Charles Wilson‘s Julian:
Wilson crafts the story in such a way as we empathize with Julian as both a boy struggling with the responsibilities of his station in life and as a reluctant history changing force. It’s this juxtaposition that gives the novel a certain shimmer and it’s yet another jewel from PS Publishing.
It’s a jewel all right – so much so that we’re all sold out of it! But as Holtz points out, Wilson has expanded the story into a full novel, coming out on Tor Classics later this year. Goes to show Pete knows a good story when he reads one, eh?
Holtz has also read Gary Greenwood’s Jigsaw Men, of which a last few paperback copies remain:
On the surface this book appears to be a fairly straight forward whodunit/fantasy/science fiction/alternative history romp (if there is such a thing.) with all the trappings that make those genres great. We get tidbits of the alternative history which the writer conveys in such a way as that I’m willing to suspend my disbelief and buy into his world. We have the Jigsaw Men or Jiggers as the Brits call them fulfilling the fantasy quotient. Martian technology for the Sci-Fi. Lastly we have the classy dames and hard boiled detectives for the whodunit. What you discover as you go along though is that the novel is anything but straight forward.
While the book is an incredibly fun read with action, laughs and intrigue this book has so much depth to it. Each chapter unveils something new about the world and about the characters that inhabit it.
A little something for everyone, then – grab one now before they’re all gone!
On the other side of the world, Charles Tan has been ploughing his way through our newer releases. Here’s his take on Sebastien Doubinsky‘s Babylonian Trilogy:
Without a doubt, The Babylonian Trilogy was a real treat because I didn’t know what to expect and it exceeded what I was prepared for.
The Babylonian Trilogy is, no surprise, three sections compiled into one neat package. They are The Birth of Television according to Buddha, Yellow Bull, and The Gardens of Babylon. What’s exciting with this trilogy is that Doubinsky’s style is both familiar and varied with each section. For example, The Birth of Television according to Buddha features a variety of viewpoints, some not making immediate sense while others are relatively more comprehensible. What’s enjoyable about the author’s writing is that each viewpoint tends to be just a page long with a title at the top of the page. As the story slowly unfolds, everything starts to make more sense but never losing your interest as a reader as it’s one bizarre trip to another.
Here at PS, we like to take a chance on writers who do something different, and it looks like Charles has seen the same qualities in Doubinsky’s work that Pete and the team spotted. Why not take a look yourself?
Meanwhile, Charles also tackles Paul Witcover‘s new collection, Everland and Other Stories:
… if I didn’t look at the end of the book for Witcover’s publishing history, I would never have known that some of my favorite stories are as old as I am. The quality is certainly that of a classic, timeless and relevant and written in such a way that it captures readers of any era.
[snip]
Everland and Other Stories is a really impressive and resonating book. Thankfully PS Publishing resurrects some stories that never should have faded into obscurity in the first place and gives new readers like me the opportunity to appreciate someone as talented as Witcover.
Good storytelling never goes out of fashion.
Finally, Eric Brown uses his hotseat at The Guardian to take a look at a couple of PS titles. Here’s what he had to say about Joe Hill‘s Gunpowder:
Gunpowder is a science fiction novella set in a future where humankind has spread to the stars, terraforming planets for the voracious, never-ending colonial expansion. The twist is that the terraforming is performed not by scientists but by genetically altered children with psychic abilities. Elaine is the surrogate mother of 30 boys terraforming the world of Gunpowder; the familial stability of their regime is threatened when Earth forces order the boys’ powers to be turned to the defence of their race. Read as a cautionary tale, Gunpowder successfully depicts what happens when the needs of the many impact upon the desires of a potent few.
We’re down to the last few dozen copies of Gunpowder in standard hardback, so grab one now while you still can – sure, it’ll be a highly collectible book, but it’s also a great story from a rising star of the genre.
Brown’s other selection was Paul Di Filippo‘s Harsh Oases collection:
Paul Di Filippo has been turning out wildly inventive, linguistically complex and intellectually playful stories for more than 20 years, and his 11th collection gathers 17 of his most recent. In his introduction, Cory Doctorow says: “I don’t know if I’ve ever read a ‘serious’ Paul Di Filippo story. It seems like he’s always goofing around, rubbing two memes together to make a comedy spark.” Di Filippo’s forte is combining serious philosophical ideas with accessible narrative-driven, headlong stories. This sense of fun is most apparent in the volume’s best tale. “Pinocchia” is a picaresque rite-of-passage novella in which the eponymous heroine is a sex-toy android who, accidentally granted self-awareness, embarks on a quest to fulfil herself. Di Filippo is an inspired original, and this volume is a delight.
I’m still itching to get my copy of Harsh Oases – it’s due imminently, so place a pre-order now to get your copy as soon as possible!
As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for any of the books above, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse… there’s some great books in there just waiting for yoou to discover them!
Ending Friday: special price on Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles
Posted by Peter Crowther on February 24th, 2009 at 22:00
Hi everyone;
This is going to be a quick one.
Pre-orders for the PS Publishing/Subterranean Books edition of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles are now well past the half-way mark… and I’d hate for any PS customers to lose out — particularly in view of the fact that:
- the book features 50 stories, screenplays and an essay *plus* introductions from John Scalzi and Joe Hill, and
- the price for the limited edition features a $75 reduction (from $300 to $225)…
But that special offer is good only until midnight this coming Friday (27 February 2009)!
Click here to go to the Martian Chronicles order page at Subterranean.
As Bill Schafer points out, we’re already hard at work proofreading the stories while our designer is busy formatting the screenplays… and PS fave Edward Miller is chained to his easel and turning out a whole new batch of illustrations. Once we go past the witching hour on Friday, the offer will be withdrawn — so don’t say we didn’t warn you! Get your order in before the clock strikes midnight!
Look after each other… and happy reading!
Pete
Meet the Boss, redux: Charles Tan interviews Peter Crowther
Posted by Paul Raven on February 24th, 2009 at 12:21
Here’s another interview with PS Publishing‘s head honcho, Peter Crowther. Charles Tan quizzes Pete about PS and his ‘other’ career as a writer and anthologist, which has been held somewhat in abeyance by the former:
What’s the biggest challenge in running PS Publishing?
Oh… the fact that there’s just not enough time, I suppose. It intrudes massively on any attempts I make to keep up with my own writing. But we’re now slowly getting out from under – thanks to a lot of hard work put in by my wife Nicky, Nick Gevers and Robert Wexler – and I’m now being able to write a little almost every day.
I can exclusively reveal that Pete gets time to write by forgoing sleep with the use of arcane technologies whose origins are best left not speculated upon…
OK, so he hasn’t really made a pact with Cthulhu… but in all seriousness, I’m not entirely sure he doesn’t have some sort of time machine. I’m just looking forward to the day I’ve been with the company long enough that I get to use it myself! ;)
Paul Di Filippo interviewed at The Fix
Posted by Paul Raven on February 20th, 2009 at 12:19
In addition to their insightful reviewing work, the staff of The Fix Online knock out a good number of interviews with the great and the good of the short fiction scene. One of their latest conquests is none other than Paul Di Filippo, whose Harsh Oases collection will be ready to ship from PS HQ in the very near future.
Here’s Di Filippo talking about the genesis of the collection’s title story:
After the muted success of Ribofunk the story collection, I always wanted to do a ribofunk novel, and so had been accumulating notes towards something vaguely known to myself alone as Harsh Oases. It was to be organized around a succession of strange terrestrial environments made possible by bioengineering. It occurred to me that one way of plausibly visiting all these environments was by having the protagonist being chased from one to another. But why? After I answered that question, the story fell into focus.
But I kept putting off the writing until I was asked to contribute an original work of fiction for my keynote speech at the Monstruous Bodies Symposium at Georgia Tech. At that point, I said, “Let’s be generous and work up all these ideas into novella form.” This type of ultra-concentrated, jam-packed idea story had always impressed me when Bruce Sterling or Rudy Rucker pulled it off, and I wanted a go at the mode. It does require more focus and invention than single-idea stories, though.
But having done a credible job, I think, of getting the rudiments of this scenario into fictional form, I don’t now feel motivated to expand it to novel-length, so the novel version of Harsh Oases will probably never come to be.
I’ve bumped into a few of Di Filippo’s ribofunk pieces (including a collaboration with Sterling), and as such I’m very much looking forward to my copy of Harsh Oases turning up! You can partake in the expectation as well – just click through below to pre-order a copy for yourself:
- Harsh Oases by Paul Di Filippo – slipcased hardcover - £50 [$75 approx. ]
- Harsh Oases by Paul Di Filippo – hardcover – £20 [$30 approx. ]
Thirty-One Rules for Fulfilling Your Destiny from Nancy Jane Moore
Posted by Paul Raven on February 19th, 2009 at 13:25
Nancy Jane Moore is one of the contributors to the excellent Book View Cafe, which should be a must-visit website for fans of quality free fiction on the web.
Among her recent additions there is a reproduction of her flash-fiction piece “Thirty-One Rules for Fulfilling Your Destiny”, which is taken from the PS Showcase collection of Nancy’s short stories, Conscientious Inconsistencies.
So go take a look, then pop back and snare a copy of Conscientious Inconsistencies by clicking through on the links below!
- Conscientious Inconsistencies (hardcover) – [ £10 / $15 approx. ]
- Conscientious Inconsistencies (jacketed hardcover) – [ £25 / $37.50 approx. ]
Wednesday reviews roundup for 18th February
Posted by Paul Raven on February 18th, 2009 at 14:22
Another week, another batch of reviews to crow about!
Unsurprisingly, responses to Gunpowder by Joe Hill are still flooding in. From Dark Wolf:
Impressive too is Joe Hill’s work on the story and the action of the novella. The story thread entangled me from the beginning and kept me racing through the pages of Gunpowder until the final dot. The action is steadily built, with each chapter adding a new element in the general layout of the story and reaching its climax in a breathtaking end [...] it is impossible not to compare Joe Hill’s works with those of his father, but with pieces such as Gunpowder Hill proves that has his own path to follow and new and wonderful things to bring in the world of literature.
From HorrorWorld:
Hill uses a skilful economy of words melded with a poet’s vision to develop Elaine and her teen charges. [...] The reader may feel that Hill delivers a nod toward 21 st century politics and the follies of America’s recently-ended presidential administration, and there certainly seems to be parallels with the gung-ho, bring-it-on attitude of the days and months following 9/11.
From Fright.com:
This novella proves that Joe Hill [...] is at his best writing short pieces about children. The science fictionish Gunpowder, spanning a brisk 81 pages and focusing on a band of “gifted” kids, fulfils both requirements, so it’s no surprise that it’s a deeply affecting work.
And from Hellnotes:
Rather than focusing on the hard, nuts and bolts of Science Fiction, the author has focused on the relationships and human interactions. Gunpowder can favorably be compared to any number of classics of genre and non-genre fiction but in Joe’s capable hands it also stands alone as a short, exciting tale from the pen of a master.
Elsewhere, Black Static‘s Peter Tennant got stuck into Douglas Smith‘s Showcase collection, Impossibilia:
Smith is adept at tying together the different plot strands and filling in people’s back story in a way that doesn’t interrupt the narrative flow, and he appears to have thoroughly thought out how this form of distant viewing would work, the implications and ways to sidestep the paradoxes that might occur.
[... Impossibilia is] a book that ably demonstrates what Smith is capable of as a writer, added to which, anyone who references Springsteen songs in their titles is going to get the thumbs up from me.
Joshua Reynolds delivers one of the detailed story-by-story reviews that The Fix Online has made its speciality; this time, it’s Paul Di Filippo‘s Harsh Oases collection that gets the treatment.
From Reynolds’ introduction:
The stories [in Harsh Oases] fall mostly into the science fiction category, with a few debatable exceptions, and are, by and large, thoroughly enjoyable. There’s a wonderful and well-deserved introduction by Cory Doctorow as well, which sets the stage for the stories to come by delving into a spot of the humor which Di Filippo does so well.
And finally, Matt Hughes‘ Template is reviewed by noted Jack Vance scholar David Mead, in no less a prestigious publication than the New York Review of Science Fiction:
I am sure Matt Hughes is a little tired of being compared to Jack Vance, but I think of such a comparison as high praise. Indeed, I think that Template is better – at least in its plotting and story arc – than many of Vance’s bildungsroman [...] And I think that Hughes makes better use of his imaginary worlds and cultures than Vance – at least here, where he offers the idea that every world-culture is dominated by a particular vice or sin, such as greed, envy, pride, and so forth, and then works the theme into his plot very carefully.
Template is a well-made story, easy and interesting to read, thoughtful, and – given the narrowly-ideological, reality-free decision-making that seems to be so prevalent in our times – a timely comment on the value of tolerance, diversity, and multi-cultural perspectives. The title is meaningful, and its ending quite satisfying. Bravo, Matthew Hughes.
Quite the collection of accolades, no? And that’s not all: you may already have noticed that this year, for the first time ever, the Arthur C Clarke Award organisers have made public the longlist of works for consideration.
But you might not have noticed that there are three PS Publishing novels in said list, including the above-mentioned Template alongside Omega by Christopher Evans and Song of Time by Ian R MacLeod.
It’s a fantastic list of titles overall, and the ACCA is one of the most prestigious juried awards in UK science fiction – and so we’re very proud to see some of our titles jostling for position, and we’d like to congratulate all the authors and publishers listed.
As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for any of the books above, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse… we’re sure to have something that’ll tickle your fictional fancy!
Quentin S Crisp interview and essay
Posted by Paul Raven on February 17th, 2009 at 12:43
Quentin S Crisp is currently cropping up all over the genre fiction corners of the internet, it seems. Here’s an interview with the author of Shrike at Edmund Yeo’s Swifty, Writing blog, which includes some of the most surreal questions I’ve ever seen in an author interview. For example:
If you were a teenage girl, exactly how deeply would you be into nail art? [...]
Ah, I’m so glad you asked this question. Nail art alone would make being a teenage girl worthwhile, quite apart from the other benefits, and despite the need to menstruate and so on. I realise that there is some clash between nail art and business skills, but here’s where I’ve resolved that dilemma – I mainly work from home.
Ah, the benefits of the writerly lifestyle!
Elsewhere, Pleasure Principled has an essay by Crisp about one of his media idols, Annette Funicello:
Annette Funicello may be the idol of a receding age, but properly viewed, this only adds another dimension of sanctifying distance to Her relationship with the faithful. She is distant not only in space, but, as manifest to us in her screen and singing career, also in time. To pursue one’s suit, already hopeless, over the chasm of time, is the truest of all leaps of faith, and in direct proportion to its foolishness, so are its rewards great.
Crisp’s new novella Shrike is available for immediate shipping from the capacious PS Publishing warehouse – click through below to order your copy right away!
- Shrike – signed, jacketed hardcover – £25.00 [ US$37.50 approx. ]
- Shrike – hardcover – £10.00 [ US$15 approx. ]
Latest Catastrophia anthology update
Posted by Paul Raven on February 16th, 2009 at 15:09
Here’s the latest update from Allen Ashley on the selection process for the forthcoming Catastrophia anthology:
Things are progressing well with Catastrophia. I have had a large number of submissions recently, many of which demand a second or third reading, so please remain patient whilst I make my mind up.
I have just accepted story number six, a piece called “Fade” by Surrey-based author David Gullen. The story is approximately 4000 words long. David is a member of the well-known London and South East writing group called The T Party, whose alumni include many other excellent authors and editors such as Gary Couzens, Roseanne Rabinowitz, Martin Owton and Trevor Denyer.
Be sure to check out the original guidelines for the Catastrophia anthology if you’re thinking of submitting.
Wednesday reviews roundup for 11th February
Posted by Paul Raven on February 11th, 2009 at 11:53
It’s that time of week again! In addition to his interview with Quentin S Crisp, Charles Tan has been reviewing some of our forthcoming releases.
First of all he takes a look at Camp Desolation and an Eschatology of Salt by the mysteriously moniker’d Jungian writer-hermit Uncle River:
Camp Desolation and an Eschatology of Salt is anything but a conventional narrative, or at least what the modern reader expects. Uncle River sums it up best in one of the lines later in the book: “Yes, I know the writer’s dogma: “Show, don’t tell.” I could use that thriller to bring characters to life. but it’s still the wrong story.”
[snip]
River channels the shades of American’s current fear: economic bankruptcy. Bush’s era may be over but the threat of the weakening American dollar looms over us and the author tackles that subject matter along with global warming, the Cold War, and a host of other factors which are both scientific and agenda-driven.
A unique story from an idiosyncratic writer with a lot to say; I’m looking forward to getting my copy!
Charles also tackles the tripartite Zoran Zivkovic collection The Writer, The Book and The Reader, and finds much to enjoy in the Serbian master’s metafictional explorations:
The Writer is a novelette dealing with the trials of an author and his annoying friend (who is also a writer), The Book a humorous piece almost the length of a novel that is best described as the ultimate personification of a book, and The Reader compiles several short stories into a larger mosaic. While each one is impressive in its own right, compiling them into one book gives you much value whether you’re a die-hard fan of Zoran Zivkovic or a casual reader.
[snip]
… The Writer, The Book, The Reader is a clear winner for me and features the diverse talent of Zivkovic. The Reader I feel is the traditional if somewhat formulaic Zivkovic but the other two sections significantly vary in tone and technique that they offer something different to Zivkovic fans. The author doesn’t fail to amuse or excite and using what little he’s given, creates a vast and wondrous atmosphere.
There’s much more Zivkovic yet to come from PS Publishing (watch this space!), but The Writer, The Book and The Reader sounds like a great introduction to this underappreciated talent – why not give him a try?
Finally, while it’s not strictly a review this is probably the most appropriate time to mention that Locus Magazine featured a number of PS publications in its recommended reading list from the publications of 2008:
- Song of Time by Ian R MacLeod
- The Luminous Depths by David Herter
- “The Golden Octopus” by Beth Bernobich, “The Man Who Built Heaven” by Keith Brooke, “The Thought War” by Paul McAuley and “[a ghost samba]” by Ian McDonald – all found in the bumper-sized WorldCon All-SF edition of Postscripts, #15.
Of course, it makes us very proud when PS Publishing books appear in lists of that calibre, though we are but the curators – it’s the writers themselves who supply the magic, and hence congratulations are due to each and every one, regardless of who published their work.
Looks like the genre fiction scene’s still in rude health, doesn’t it? :)
Quentin S Crisp interviewed at Bibliophile Stalker
Posted by Paul Raven on February 10th, 2009 at 13:59
Charles Tan has an intriguing in-depth interview with the delightfully self-effacing Quentin S Crisp, whose new novella Shrike will be shipping imminently from the PS Publishing warehouse.
Tan’s question range far and wide, quizzing Crisp on his abiding love affair with Japanese literature, the inspiration behind Shrike, the writerly mind-set and much much more. Just as a taster, here’s Crisp’s advice to aspiring writers:
First of all, give up. If you really can’t give up, then keep writing. That is, don’t worry about the fate of the stories you’ve sent out to publishers and so on. Follow them up, of course, but don’t spend your energy in worrying. If you’re rejected or you get a bad review, don’t worry. Keep writing. You’re always a beginner. There’s this tremendous need to know that you’ve accomplished something, that you’re a real writer. I don’t know if that moment ever comes, although good moments may come and go. The real writers are, in the end, those who start again and again and keep writing.
It’s a fascinating look into the mind of a very complex yet surprisingly modest man – quite the eye-opener, in fact. Go and read the whole thing.
To order yourself a copy of Shrike, click through below to jump straight to the PS webstore:
- Shrike – signed, jacketed hardcover – £25.00 [ US$37.50 approx. ]
- Shrike – hardcover – £10.00 [ US$15 approx. ]
New acquisitions, One for the Road, Martian Chronicles and more
Posted by Peter Crowther on February 9th, 2009 at 14:30
Hi, everyone;
We’re well past time for the new newsletter so let’s get right on with it!
New acquisitions
The following are new stories purchased for Postscripts:
- “The Fishes Speak” – Michaela Roessner
- “Only One Ghost” – John Grant
- “Osmotic Pressure” – Jack Deighton
- “The Rescue” – Holly Phillips
- “Signs Along the Road” – Richard Parks
- “Frightened Angels” – Jeremy Adam Smith
- “The Cinema of Coming Attractions” – Rjurik Davidson
The following are newly purchased books for the PS Publishing catalogue:
- Clowns at Midnight by Terry Dowling – a novel
- Dark Eden by Chris Beckett - a novel
- Rebel at the End of Time by Steve Aylett – a novella, set in Michael Moorcock’s End of Time sequence
And last but not least there will be Black Wings, a new volume of Lovecraftian horror edited by leading Lovecraft scholar S T Joshi and featuring the following stories and writers:
- “Pickman’s Other Model (1929)” – Caitlín R Kiernan
- “Desert Dreams” – Donald R Burleson
- “Engravings” – Joseph S Pulver, Sr.
- “Copping Squid” – Michael Shea
- “Passing Spirits” – Sam Gafford
- “The Broadsword” – Laird Barron
- “Usurped” – William Browning Spencer
- “Denker’s Book” – David J Schow
- “Inhabitants of Wraithwood” – W H Pugmire
- “The Dome” – Mollie L Burleson
- “Rotterdam” – Nicholas Royle
- “Tempting Providence” – Jonathan Thomas
- “Howling in the Dark” – Darrell Schweitzer
- “The Truth about Pickman” – Brian Stableford
- “Tunnels” – Philip Haldeman
- “Violence, Child of Trust” – Michael Cisco
- “Lesser Demons” – Norman Partridge
- “Black Brat of Dunwich” – Stanley C Sargent
- “An Eldritch Matter” – Adam Niswander
- “Susie” – Jason Van Hollander
There may be a couple of tales still to be added to that line-up: S T and I will let you know in due course.
Stephen King’s One for the Road
We’ve now received seven of James Hannah‘s twenty double-page-spread full-colour illustrations for our special edition of Stephen King’s One for the Road and they’re some of his absolute best work. We were going for ten but when we saw what Jim had in mind, we doubled it.
Interest in the new subscription rates for Postscripts (now officially a quarterly anthology) is high but we still have some of the five-year options left – which is the only way to get a copy of this very special edition of One for the Road. And, if you’re outside the UK and you have funds available, now’s a very good time to buy – £1 equals around $1.45 (it was $2.05 less than one year ago); the same goes for Lifetime Subscriptions.
As a taster, here’s one of Hannah’s illustrations – click through to see a larger version:
Click below to sign up for five years of Postscripts:
- Five year sub to Postscripts in unsigned hardcover editions
- Five year sub to Postscripts in limited special hardcover editions
- Other options, including instalment payments for the above
The Martian Chronicles
We’re in the final stages of negotiating the rights to co-publish (along with Bill Schafer’s Subterranean Press) the limited edition of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. This has been complicated, given that another publisher had advertised to publish this title, accepting pre-orders dating back some considerable time. We can’t make any promises yet — as certain details are fluid — but Bill and I are making every effort to see that those who paid the other publisher for the book are not shut out.
If you prepaid for a copy of The Martian Chronicles, please drop me an email at editor [at] pspublishing [dot] co [dot] uk. You should include your name, address, the version you purchased, and at what price. We’ll certainly do all that we can to try to reach a solution that will satisfy as many of Mr. Bradbury’s readers as possible.
One thing: in order to keep things simple – and to minimise the bookkeeping chaos! – this title can be ordered only through the Subterranean Press website. We’ll be including a link to that particular order-page in due course… but be warned: Bill’s site is the ultimate toyshop window so don’t go spending all your PS money over there!
(Please note that this edition of The Martian Chronicles will not be included in either of the PS Lifetime Membership plans.)
New novella from Richard Christian Matheson
We’ve negotiated with R C Matheson to publish a new novella by him later this year. No more details are available as yet – we’ll let you know more as soon as we know it ourselves.
We’ve got a couple of other things simmering on the stove but we’ll save those until next time.
Until then, look after each other… and happy reading!
Pete
February newsletter to go out next week
Posted by Paul Raven on February 4th, 2009 at 11:56
Hi folks, just another update on the newsletter situation.
There’s some exciting announcements soon to be made, but it’s in the nature of the publishing business that we must wait until all the legal Ts are crossed and the contractual Is dotted before we let the herd out of the gate, so to speak… so I hope you’ll understand that we need to hold off the February newsletter until early next week.
Just in case you’re waiting with bated breath, the delay means that we’ll be waiting a little longer to draw the first pair of names from the mailing list for our competition winners – the picks will be made immediately after the newsletter gets mailed.
Eligibility is not affected in any other way, and this means you have another five or so days to sign yourself up if you haven’t already. Free books in return for reading an email once a month? You can’t say fairer than that!
Wednesday reviews round-up for February 4th
Posted by Paul Raven on February 4th, 2009 at 11:47
Looks like the reviewing engines are revving up for February – here’s the latest crop of coverage for PS titles from the intertubes and beyond!
Harrison Holtz (aka the Ostentatious Ogre – best nom de blog ever?) has just acquired a batch of PS titles, and the first one he got stuck into was Paul Di Filippo‘s A Year in the Linear City:
The premise of this book is what hooked me. The denizens of this moderately modern city, pulsing with music and commerce, seemingly of infinite length, yet only as broad as a wide avenue, flanked on one side by Heaven, on the other by Hell. [...] As I mentioned before di Filippo’s world building is second to none and is not as heavy handed as you see in many novel length books.
[snip]
Overall I can’t say enough good things about this novella. Its tight, focused, oddly paced and mostly importantly a great read.
Anthologist extraordinaire Jonathan Strahan is one of the first to see an advance copy of John Berlyne‘s Tim Powers bibliographical cornucopia, Secret Histories, and is deeply impressed with it:
As I skimmed through it I began to realise what an extraordinary book it is. Advance reader’s copies are typically published by presses to generate pre-publication buzz for a book, but are often simple, uninviting affairs. Powers: Secret Histories is anything but that. Running to over five hundred pages, printed in full color throughout, filled with images of books covers, scans of manuscripts, notes and so on, it’s a fascinating object.
It’s fascinating, but Powers: Secret Histories is a book that must be expensive to produce and accordingly is going to put something of a dent in your monthly book allowance should you buy it, so should you? After all, it’s a list. I think the answer to that question can be found in your answer to this one: would you buy The Collected Works of Tim Powers, if a publisher were to do a handsome uniform edition bringing together all of his novels, short fiction etc? If your answer to that question is yes, then this is a truly essential book. Why? Well, because it’s the Bonus Features DVD that goes with the boxed set. There’s extra material, some Powers commentary and so on. And if you love Powers’ work, it’s engrossing and totally worthwhile.
I think Strahan has tapped into exactly where John and Pete were aiming with Secret Histories – it’s going to be one of the genre publications of the year, and the ultimate collector’s item for Powers fans.
Over at The Agony Column, Mario Guslandi gets his teeth into Shrike by Quentin S Crisp:
… the novel appears to be similar to the work of the obscure Japanese writer Tayama Katai (extensively quoted in the book when describing Brett’s visit to the museum dedicated to that artist), founder of the I-novel, a Japanese literary form where nothing really happens. No wonder Crisp, who has been always pursuing the elegance of the literary form more than the substance of fictional events, feels a kind of affinity to his fellow writer.
Crisp‘s deep knowledge of Japanese culture provides an unusual background and an exotic atmosphere to the familiar subject of the young man struggling to face the difficulties of life, a recurring (autobiographical?) theme in his fiction.
Shrike appears to be the sort of story that leaves readers with more questions than answers, a testament to Crisp’s unique literary style – Stephen Theaker of Theaker’s Quarterly also found it challenging but rewarding:
… my opinion of the book is in the box with Schrodinger’s Cat: I both liked and disliked it. Whatever happens when that box is opened, Shrike is undeniably a stimulating and provoking piece of writing...
Theaker also took a look at Terry Bisson’s Planet of Mystery:
Two astronauts land on Venus, but it’s not the superheated sauna they expected – it’s much more like the place Carson Napier visited. And that’s impossible… They try to make sense of what’s going on, and cling to the hope of getting back to Earth. There’s an adorable robot, plus centaurs, UFOs, and disturbing orange panties.
Planet of Mystery is a playful, frivolous, serious and thoughtful book. If it has a flaw it’s that the reader may conclude early on that he or she has already seen this particular episode of Farscape (or Stargate, or Star Trek), but ignore that feeling, it’s much more interesting than that.
This is a story that operates on the subconscious level, using repetition and startling imagery to create a dream-like effect. It’s also very sexy.
You heard it here first, folks – try PS Publishing for all your sexy science fiction needs! :D
Last but definitely not least comes a review from the world of print. Carl Hays at Booklist crosses the desert to discover Paul Di Filippo’s Harsh Oases, and it’s such a generous review that I’m going to reproduce it in its entirity:
Di Filippo’s thirteenth collection in only a dozen years underscores his reputation as one of speculative fiction’s most prolific tale-spinners. Yet Di Filippo’s wide-ranging imagination, so generously on display here, doesn’t make his style any easier to pin down. In some pieces, he is almost soberly contemplative, as in the opening “Aurorae,” about an unemployed writer’s sycophantic relationship with a performance artist whose upper-atmosphere manipulations trigger the Northern Lights. In others, he pushes the envelope of black humor, as in “Leakage,” wherein today’s more violent television plotlines suddenly start infiltrating such classic shows as Leave It to Beaver. More often than not, Di Filippo’s premises veer into the absurd, as when refugees from downtrodden countries invade more prosperous nations through assorted holes in the sky. The highlight of the collection, however, is the title story, which profiles a future in which humans freely swap genes with animals and shows off Di Filippo’s rare gift for blending suspenseful storytelling with dazzling scientific extrapolation.
And there we have it, folks – click on the cover art images to go straight to the purchase page for each title, or have a browse of the PS catalogue to see what else takes your fancy.
Don’t forget that our bargain mystery gift-boxes are still available, and are proving very popular – ten trade hardback novellas for just £40 [US$60 approx.]! We must be mad…
Newsletter delayed, pending… well, more news, basically
Posted by Paul Raven on February 1st, 2009 at 13:02
Yeah, yeah, I know we promised you the monthly PS Newsletter would have been out by now, so apologies if you’ve been waiting for it with bated breath!
But we’re currently waiting on some external decisions before Pete rubber-stamps the final version, so that we can hopefully include a special announcement – the nature of which not even I am yet privy to! So thanks for bearing with us.
Look at it this way: it means there’s an extra little window of time to sign up for the newsletter and become eligible for the monthly PS prize draw this time round…
We’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned. :)