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Category Archive: PS Announcements

More Cemetery Dance titles at PS, and free samples in the next newsletter…

Posted by Peter Crowther on August 24th, 2010 at 15:06

Hi all;

Two things, both important. (You can tell they’re important cos Paul doesn’t usually let me within a country mile of the website!) [Indeed - I'm quite capable of breaking it without Pete's help... - PGR]

First off, following the success of our first three Cemetery Dance titles, Mike has just put up a new batch… all of them crackers.

There’s titles from Kealan Patrick Burke, Simon Clark, James Newman, F. Paul Wilson, Ronald Kelly, Tom Piccirilli and, from Hans-Ake Lilja, The World Of Stephen King. For over a decade now, Lilja has been one of the leading voices on the internet when it comes to covering and reporting on Steve’s books and movies. His website, Lilja’s Library, is the die-hard fan’s source for information about new King projects and breaking news, but Lilja has also featured his own in-depth reviews and interviews with the most important people in King’s world, including the Big Guy himself.

As before, we have a limited supply of each and I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to get extras… so check them out now without delay.

#

Secondly, it’s coming up to FantasyCon time again (Hurrah!), and PS will be there in force this year with Mike popping in on the Saturday to strong-arm ditherers into buying books. Which is a fine idea, seeing as how we’ll be launching the following titles… with all authors (except for Nick Gevers) present, alongside many of the contributors to Catastrophia, Cinema Futura and The Company He Keeps — and we’ll be tying them to a signing table with a drink… just for you.

• Catastrophia edited by Allen Ashley
  
• The Seven Days Of Cain by Ramsey Campbell
  
• The Company He Keeps edited by Crowther & Gevers
  
• The House Of Canted Steps by Gary Fry [order page pending!]
  
• Tales From The Fragrant Harbour by Garry Kilworth
  
• Cinema Futura edited by Mark Morris
  
• End Times by Rio Youers

And get this! Anyone fancying finding out in advance whether they’re going to like the new titles needs only to look out for the next PS email newsletter (due next week, so that slavedriver Paul tells me), which will be carrying samples from all seven books.

What’s that? You don’t get the newsletter? You are so missing out, Chauncy…

So sign up pronto — aside from the samples, it’s, like, totally free (and we never spam you or sell your addresses or anything nasty like that)! Plus you get entered into a prize draw every newsletter… to win books, simply by receiving an email once a month or so. Hey, what’s not to like?

Gee whiz… some people!

Pete

Summertime means special offers…

Posted by Peter Crowther on August 9th, 2010 at 12:30

Hi gang!

Well, summer finally happened and, as I type this latest missive to pee-essers everywhere, the sidewalks and pavements outside PS Towers are ringing to the sound of a million excited youngsters heading seawards armed with buckets, spades and balls of varying sizes and dragging behind them a motley and bedraggled band of weary parents. Ah, what fun!

We’ve been having fun here, too. Mike has pretty much spent the past few weeks incarcerated in our storage unit making some sense of it all. And I have to say he’s done a damn fine job.

At the same time, Mike and Paul — under Paul’s leadership ["leadership" is a rather strong word in this context, to be honest - PGR.] — have been making good progress on the brand-new website, to be unveiled later this year. There were a few glitches on the initial changeover and, for a day or two, customers were unable to order books. (I had to be heavily sedated at the time, while someone had to remove Paul’s belt and shoelaces and stay with him lest he try to take the easy way out.) But all’s well now… touch wood!

Down to business.

Tomorrow Revisited nears completion

I’m delighted to say that the long and complex lead-up to our sending the first PS ArtBook to print — namely Alastair Crompton’s Tomorrow Revisited, the sumptuous and lavishly illustrated biography on Frank Hampson, creator of Dan Dare — is almost done. This book is absolutely gorgeous and the uber-limited edition is well on the way to selling out… so don’t delay in ordering if you fancy it.

• Tomorrow Revisited – bookshop edition (£26.99 until publication)
• Tomorrow Revisited – deluxe leatherbound traycased edition (£265.50 until publication)

To make things extra attractive (and to acknowledge that this project has moved forward a little slower than any of us would have liked), we’re going to give each person who orders the book up to the end of September special vouchers against other PS titles — one £5 voucher for everyone who orders the standard edition and three £5 vouchers for everyone who orders the deluxe edition (and yes, this includes everyone who has ordered already). Pretty good value when you bear in mind that the two editions are already discounted by some 10%… but do remember that the offer expires on 1 October. And please note that only one voucher may be used against any single item. Those who have already ordered this title need do nothing: we’ll be writing to you in due course with your voucher details.

Of course, that’s not the only offer we’re running… as the eagle-eyed amongst you will already have noticed from the website. Take a look…

Summer Sizzlers: special offers a-go-go

You can snare five standard edition novels and/or collections (of our choosing) for £69 including free postage, or you can choose five books from our list of 15 titles for £75, also inclusive of P&P.

Meanwhile, novella-wise, we’re offering a set of five unsigned books (picked by us) for £30 including free postage or, once again, you can choose your own five novellas from our list of 15 alternatives for £35 inclusive of P&P.

Our TRAY, TRAY GENEROUS offers were such a hit we’ve decided to slip (yes, sorry about that) into a still higher gear and extend that fabulous deal to include pre-2010 slipcased editions… so now you have 20 titles to make your selection from. These are the three current slip/traycased offers:

• FABTASTIC FOUR – £100  (£115 inc P&P)
• MAGNIFICENT SEVEN – £170  (£195 inc P&P)
  
• TOP TEN - £240  (£275 inc P&P)

(The titles were Mike’s idea, by the way – thank God we steered him clear of The 300!)

Please note: These three offers apply only to the following titles, all of which are signed hardcover novels or collections in either a slipcase (SC) or a traycase (TC).

• Black Heart (TC) – Patrick O’Leary
• Creatures of the Pool (TC) - Ramsey Campbell
• Timeswitch (TC)  - John Gribbin
  
• Template (SC) - Matthew Hughes
• Banquet for the Damned (SC) – Adam Nevill
• Omega (SC) – Christopher Evans
• Random Walk (SC) - Lawrence Block
• The Painting and the City (SC) – Robert Freeman Wexler
• The Pilo Family Circus (SC) – Will Elliott
• Cage of Night (SC) – Ed Gorman
• The Grin of the Dark (SC) – Ramsey Campbell
• Crack’d Pot Trail (TC) – Steven Erikson
• Grazing The Long Acre (TC) – Gwyneth Jones
• Impossible Stories II (TC) - Zoran Zivkovic
• Passing For Human (TC) - Michael Bishop / Steven Utley (eds.)
• Just Behind You (TC) – Ramsey Campbell
• Where or When (SC) – Steven Utley
• Everland & Other Stories (SC) – Paul Witcover
• The Overnight (SC) – Ramsey Campbell
• Past Magic (SC) – Ian R. Macleod

The minimum book-value of the Fabtastic Four will be £185; the minimum for the Magnificent Seven will be £335; and for the Top Ten it’ll be £485. Just so’s you know. And of course, these deals are on a strict “first come, first served” basis — and when the stocks are gone, they’re gone.

Four new titles as a special offer bundle

You may have noticed that new novellas from Jay Lake (The Baby Killers), Lavie Tidhar (Cloud Permutations), and Matt Hughes (Quartet & Triptych), along with the new Showcase collection from Rjurik Davidson (The Library of Forgotten Books) have hit the stands the past few days. Well, being the softies that we are, we’re doing a special deal for anyone who springs for all four — just £45 post paid anywhere for the unsigned editions, and £90 post paid anywhere for the signed ones. The offer will last until the end of the month so don’t delay.

And finally, but by no means last, Mike has added another section to the site, called IMPERFExIONS. This relates to a few copies of various titles that in some way are not perfect – as in scuffed or slightly torn dust-jackets, dinked slipcases or traycases, incomplete sets, missing signature sheets or signature sheets bound in upside down and so on. You get the picture. The cost of these books is a fraction of the published price, and the slight imperfexion will not affect the reading of the book in any way.  And watch out next week, because Mike will be adding a new folder for ARCs (advance reading copies) at super-low prices.

New titles in the PS pipeline

Meanwhile, just in case you’ve been thinking we’re slowing down, new projects signed up include, for our poetry imprint Stanza Press:

• The Charmed Pot, edited by Howard Watson, plus
• A Woman On Mars by Helen Patrice, and
• collections from Charles De Lint and Brian Lumley, and
• a collaborative book from Garry Kilworth and the late and hugely-missed Rob Holdstock.

For PS, we’ve bought:

• Showcase volumes from Kelly Barnhill (Untitled) and Darren Speegle (A Haunting In Germany and Other Stories);
• Richard Parks’s new novel, To Break The Demon Gate;
• The Metanatural Adventures of Dr. Black (collection) and The Architect (novella) from Brendan Connell;
• two more Starship novellas from Eric Brown;
• an as-yet untitled collection from Paul Kane.

Then there’s more novellas:

• The Moment of Panic from Steve Duffy;
• Dogs With Their Eyes Shut from Paul Meloy;
• Ghosts Doing The Orange Dance by Paul Park;
• The Pit of Despair by Simon R. Green.

And some collections:

• Ursula Pflug’s Harvesting The Moon;
• Kit Reed’s What Wolves Know;
• Christopher Fowler’s The Horrors;
• Paul Di Filippo’s Wikiworld And Other Imaginary Latitudes;
• a bumper collection of Carol Emshwiller’s war and non-war stories (as yet untitled); and
• Haunted Histories edited by Brian J. Showers

And there will be even more novellas from Catherynne M. Valente (The Ice Puzzle) and Matt Hughes (The Yellow Cabochon), plus Joe R. Lansdale’s fantastic story extravaganza, Trapped In The Saturday Matinee: Lansdale Reloaded… and while we’re on the subject of Joe, don’t forget his special winter novelette Christmas With The Dead, which will be sent out free to all subscribers to our twice-yearly anthology series. Here’s the cover from PS fave ‘Gore-some’ Glenn Chadbourne:

We’ve got even more stuff to tell you, but that should clear the decks for the summer. Are we having fun? Well, what do you think!

Newsletter giveaway winners

Two out of three ain’t bad: of the trio of emails we sent out last month, we got replies from Jack Baldwin of Garden City, Michigan, and Kevin Johnson of Saint Paul, Minnesota, both of whom should by now (transAtlantic postal services permitting) have received three rare PS ARCs each.

And how did they qualify for these wonderful free gifts? Why, they just signed up to receive our newsletters, of course… and you can do the same, if you’ve not already. Paul will draw this month’s three winners – who will each get three ARCs, provided they respond to the emails – on Thursday 19th August, so get yourself and your friends signed up by then for your chance to win!

More next time. Look after each other… and happy reading!

Pete

… and the Webstore rides again!

Posted by Paul Raven on July 23rd, 2010 at 20:59

But aren’t you all glad it got sorted out after my grovelling apology, eh?

Yes, the PS Publishing webstore is back in action! It turns out that twenty four hours of utter panic on my part could have been avoided by one person somewhere in London doing their job properly… which is something any British taxpayer probably understands at a very emotional basic level.

(For the techies in the audience: it turns out the new server hadn’t had CGI scripting – a basic default option – activated on it, which explains quite thoroughly why the CGI scripts weren’t running. And yes, I’ll be considering a change of webhost in the very near future.)

So, please, ladies and gents – shop at will. Nay, shop with impugnity!

(Though if you spot any hiccups or oddities with the store, don’t hesitate to let us know.)

PS webstore temporarily out of action; please order by email or through Amazon

Posted by Paul Raven on July 23rd, 2010 at 18:39

Hi folks – just a quick note from the broom cupboard PS Publishing Datacenter. I’m afraid that due to unforseen circumstances the PS webstore is currently broken, and we can’t take any orders for books through that channel at the moment. Team PS are doing everything we can to get it up on its feet again, but we currently have no idea how soon the fix will be in.

So, in the interim, please accept my sincere apologies, and remember that you can buy our books through our storefront on Amazon UK. Furthermore, if you’re interested in any special offers we’ve mentioned here at the Newsroom, feel free to email us and enquire about how to arrange an order – use the address “enquiriesATpspublishingDOTcoDOTuk”, and we’ll get back to you just as soon as we possibly can.

***

For those of you curious about how one comes to break a webstore, I should hold my hand up and raise the ugly leaden banner of mea culpa. I’m currently in the process of building an all-new singin’-and-dancin’ combined website and store for PS, and one of the steps I needed to take in order to progress was to move the hosting of the sites onto servers under my own control. This was put into action yesterday, and I thought – naive fool that I am – all had gone smoothly. Indeed, there’s no reason that I (nor anyone else I know who has worked with the software in question) can think of that explains why the store shouldn’t be working perfectly well, and a whole day of fiddling and double-checking has granted no revelation as yet .

But the evidence is overwhelming – in that, where there should be a working webstore, there is a not-working one*. So we’re at the “support tickets to the hosting company” phase of proceedings… and that’s a sentence that has probably just produced a physical flinch reaction in any among you who’ve worked on the web for a living. Will they come up with a solution? Will they even reply before you’ve sent your twentieth email and seriously considered mailing them your own severed little fingers in a jiffy bag as an indication of the fact that you’d reeeeeeaaaaally appreciate some of the attention implied by the “24/7 support” their promotional material promises? Stay tuned for the resolutions (or continuations) of these and yet more exciting dilemmas in the rollercoaster world of web development!

Sarcasm aside, this is very frustrating for me: to have accidentally banjaxed the old webstore while enacting a minor step toward the building of a new and much improved one is an irony I’d appreciate far better at the distance of a lightyear or two. So please accept my sincere apologies, and my solemn promise that this is a temporarily troublesome obstacle in the road toward far, far better things. The new store is gonna be awesome, and with any luck the old one will be back in business before too long.

I’ll update you all here on the Newsroom as soon as I have any idea when the webstore will be working again. In the meantime, feel free to browse the Amazon UK storefront, or get in touch using the email address above.

Thanks for listening.

- PGR (shamefaced PS webgeek)

[ * Actually, even the webstore isn't there at the moment, as I've set the subdomain it lives on to redirect to this post. But you get the point I was trying to make, I hope. ]

Cemetery Dance titles now available, and summer sale insanity begins…

Posted by Peter Crowther on July 5th, 2010 at 13:00

Hi folks;

Gee whiz, it’s hot! Did I ask for this heat? If I did, then I need to go wash out my mouth with soapy water. Roll on winter, I say!

Join us for la Danse Macabre: Cemetery Dance Books at PS Publishing

First off, say Hi to the gang over at Cemetery Dance/CD Books. Because of the high cost of mailing something from the US to the UK or mainland Europe (it’s much cheaper the other way around — go figure) we’re making some of CD’s titles available through the PS website. Click here to look at the selection so far.

To start this new arrangement, we’re offering 10 copies of the now sold-out first printing of Stephen King’s new baseball novella, Blockade Billy; plus 10 copies of Glenn Chadbourne’s remarkable and lavishly illustrated collection of King stories, The Secretary Of Dreams — absolutely gorgeous and, again, the sold-out first edition — plus a big 19-story collection from Tim Lebbon entitled Last Exit For The Lost.

I haven’t read all of this yet (just the first half-dozen, all of which are exactly as good as you’d expect) but I have flicked through all the opening lines and I have to repeat (ad nauseum, I know) that Tim is the Guv’nor of the Killer Opening Sentence. For my money, if you can’t be suckered into a Tim Lebbon story with the opening line then… well, you and me are going to have to sit down someplace for a little chat. Great stuff.

But do remember that we have just 10 copies each of Blockade Billy and The Secretary Of Dreams, and 30 copies of Last Exit For The Lost… so it’ll strictly be a case of first come, first served. And be prepared to have your payment refunded if you’re not one of the first ones off the blocks.

Supplementary chapbook for deluxe editions of Horns

Next up, our printers messed up on sixty-two copies of the deluxe edition of Joe Hill’s Horns. Here’s the problem: the deluxe edition should have an extra piece of artwork (after page 395) and then an additional eight pages, beginning page 397, which forms a sample chapter from Joe’s abandoned novel The Surrealist’s Glass. Unfortunately, on these few copies, only the extra artwork is present and not the additional eight pages.

The good news is we reckon we’ve tracked down most (around 90%) of these copies and we’ve been in touch already with some of the customers concerned. But it is worth checking your copy to make sure the text is there (pages 397 through to 404 inclusive)… though please note that this refers only to the traycased edition. The slipcased edition isn’t meant to have that extra artwork or that additional chapter.

Anyway, that was the problem: here’s the solution.

We’ve arranged to print up a little card-covered chapbook comprising colour covers plus the missing chapter. We’ll send this out to those folks who have ended up with a duff copy of the traycased edition and that chapbook can then be housed in the traycase in front of the actual book.

As a nice postscript to this whole sorry affair, the first thing Joe said when we told him about it was, “Hey that sounds really cool — can *I* have a copy?” Oh, okay then!

And while we’re on the subject of reparations, I just posted the first slew of certificates for those customers who bought unsigned copies of Stephen King’s “One For The Road” (as mentioned here). We’ll send others out as they’re requested.

The heat is on: new special offers every Friday

With this heat, of course, it has to mean summer is upon us… and summer being upon us means I need to go berserk with another super-duper sale.

So how about this: every Friday all through the summer, we’re going to be putting up special deals… and the first one is there already. Five regular novellas of our choice for just £30 (post-free to anywhere), or five of your choice for just £35 — yes, just a five-spot extra and you get to pick your own titles.

Are we crazy? Yeah, maybe a little, but Mike Smith just got back from a three-day incarceration in our storage depot and, aside from discovering supplies of some titles we thought had long gone (not many, so check through the site super-fast), he identified an urgent need to cut back on the miles of racking (it currently looks like the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark!).

So he’s dreamed up some neat offers to entice you (feel that hand in your change pocket? it’s us!)… and he won’t even tell me what they are. So do remember to check the site every Friday evening as we move sluggishly through this damn heat!

Newsletter giveaway winners

Now, what have I forgotten? Oh yeah — last month’s giveaway winners! Kieran McGee of County Donegal, Mr. Keiichirou Iwama of Tokyo and one Mark Kelly (who you might know as editor and webmaster of Locus Magazine) each scored themselves three rare ARCs from the PS backlist.

This month’s prizes will be just the same: three newsletter subscribers will each receive three Advance Reading Copies from the PS warehouse. So make sure you (and your friends) are all signed up for the newsletter before Friday the 16th of July, when Paul the PS webmonkey will pick the winners!

That’s it for now.

Look after each other… and happy reading.

Pete

Waltzing through the boneyard: Cemetery Dance books at PS Publishing

Posted by Peter Crowther on June 18th, 2010 at 11:38

Hi Folks!

A quick note about a new initiative aimed specifically at our British and European customers, but also for those living in the farrest flung areas… like the Russian Federation, Japan, Australia and so on.

Do you know how much is costs to post a book from the US to somewhere outside the US? Well, the answer is “A lot!” According to Tim Lebbon, someone was quoted $33 for the postage on his new Cemetery Dance collection, Last Exit For The Lost. And that’s not the publisher’s fault, it’s the US postal system that’s to blame.

Anyway, that got us to thinking. Maybe we could help out by providing an ‘outside the US’ shopfront for some of these books, charging just our usual postal rates (£2.49 per book within the UK or £4.99 a book outside the UK, with those charges capped at £6 and £12 respectively for three books or more… no matter how many)?

So we had a chat with the folks at Cemetery Dance and we’re all of us up to give it a try, testing the waters with just three titles to start off with… two of which are already out of print. Namely, Stephen King’s wonderful new baseball novella, Blockade Billy (I read it as soon as copies arrived — we only have ten, mind you, so if you want it then you’ll have to be quick); Stephen’s The Secretary of Dreams big-size slipcased collection of stories, lavishly illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne (once again, just ten copies available); and, last but most certainly not least, the aforementioned Last Exit For The Lost collection from Tim Lebbon (thirty copies, but we can get more).

I’ve also ordered — just for myself (a publisher’s life is hell, ladies and gentlemen… pure hell) — single copies of some other titles, and it could be we might take supplies of those as well.

This is very much an experiment. If it doesn’t work out then fair enough, we’ll just move on. But if it helps non-US readers to get hold of US publishers’ titles and it helps US publishers to service interests outside the US, then it’s good for everyone. So do let us have your thoughts… and let us know of other titles (and even other publishers!) you might be interested in, and we’ll do a little investigating.

Do note, however, that only the first nine orders for Blockade Billy and the first ten for Secretary of Dreams will bag the goods. Once that’s happened then we’ll take down those two titles (though Rich at CD tells us there’s a second printing coming up for Blockade Billy — hey, big surprise there, eh!) and immediately refund any payment made.

[Webgeek note: we know that this is a rather janky method of stock level control, and we're working on a much better solution for the long term... stay tuned, and thanks for your patience! - PGR]

That’s it for now. We’ve bought some new titles but we’ll tell you about those in the next newsletter (only two weeks away — good grief!). However, just space to draw your attention to two new low-stock warnings and two more impending: the traycased edition of Lucius Shepard‘s Viator Plus and the special signed edition of Stephen Jones’s Brighton Shock are now down to fewer than twenty copies apiece.

Meanwhile, PS-fave Ramsey Campbell’s two 2009 titles (Just Behind You, shortlisted for this year’s British Fantasy Award for Best Collection, and the novel Creatures of the Pool) are down to just twenty-three and twenty-five copies respectively.

You’ve been warned, gang.

Look after each other… and happy reading!

Pete

Wednesday reviews roundup for 16th June

Posted by Paul Raven on June 16th, 2010 at 15:31

There’s three reviews in the PS intray this week, covering two different titles. David Moles nets a brace of pieces for his just-released alt-history novella Seven Cities of Gold, the first of which is from Craig W Anderson at Tangent Online:

David Moles’ “Seven Cities of Gold” is an interesting and intriguing alternate-history adventure containing metaphysical and symbolic overtones that, fortunately, don’t get in the way of the story.

And a fascinating story it is of Doctor-Lieutenant Chie Nakada, a physician with the Relief Ministry of the Regency of Japan who is assigned the apparently suicidal mission of locating what the government says is a terrorist nun – Clara Dos Orsos – and when found, assassinating her.

[...]

I wanted more. The feeling persists that there was a great deal more to the story: more character detail, background, locations, politics, history, society and the like. It is ironic that despite all the detail contained in “Seven Cities of Gold” I felt mildly cheated that more interesting stuff wasn’t available, information that would have fleshed out the story. Perhaps this story is the centerpiece of, say, a much larger book yet to be written, a book wherein Moles will provide all those absent goodies. We can hope.

And the second is from no less august a publication than the Financial Times:

Good alternative-history fiction often echoes something in our present-day lives. Seven Cities of Gold centres on the search for a weapon of mass destruction wielded by a zealot with an apocalyptic agenda. The backdrop is a world fissured by longstanding religious conflict, particularly between Christianity and Islam.

South America, however, and not the Middle East, provides the setting, as a Japanese “Doctor-Lieutenant”, Chië Nakada, sets off upriver to find the deranged cult leader Clara Dos Orsos and put an end to her eschatological ambitions. En route, Nakada has many hideous and haunting encounters, the rainforest as festering and claustrophobic as Conrad’s Congo.

Moles has been accruing himself a reputation as an SF up-and-comer to watch, and this novella is a cracker. Measured, complex and unpredictable, it riffs on Heart of Darkness to great effect and delivers a bracing ironic commentary on the purpose and uses of faith.

High praise indeed – congratulations, Mr Moles!

The final leg of our triumvirate comes from Dave at Hellnotes, in the form of high praise for Andy Duncan‘s The Night Cache:

Duncan’s writing is assured and frequently humorous, and his characters are compelling. He makes good use of the mysterious side of geocaching as a metaphor for the ultimate mystery of life – death – and provides plentiful and entertaining examples of the cryptograms Jen must solve. If his climax offers up a supernatural suggestion that it (sadly) never really explores, Duncan nevertheless provides a last half that moves briskly and provides both tension and nicely observed melancholy.

The Night Cache is a fast, wry little tale for readers who are willing to forego the usual tropes of horror fiction in favor of something less easy to define.

How’s about that, then?

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

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

Certificates of authenticity for “One For The Road”, and a chance to raid Pete’s book collection

Posted by Peter Crowther on June 14th, 2010 at 16:50

Hello again, folks;

I had a lot to say this month [No change there, then! - PGR], so we’ve decided to do a second supplementary newsletter, which you’re now reading…

Certifying “One For The Road” as a limited edition

Here’s a good point from one Luc Charron. Luc, over to you:

“I have received the book (ONE FOR THE ROAD) this morning and it is in perfect condition…tks for that. The book is very nice but there is a point that is bothering me. I have paid 125$ for the book which its very expensive. You are saying that this edition has been printed in 500 copies only. My point is how do we know there is only 500 copies printed?? My copy is not numbered and you have sent no certificate proving that there are only 500 copies…When I buy a book at that price I am also thinking that maybe one day i will have to sell it. The only problem is, I have no proof that there are only 500 copies.”

Well, that set me to thinking. And my conclusion is that Luc is absolutely right. So, anyone who has bought one of the standard editions of Steve’s story should drop me an email with their mailing address and I’ll send them a signed letterheaded sheet confirming that the print run was indeed restricted to just 500 copies. This sheet can then be kept inside the book should you ever decide to sell it.

Fast take-up on traycase offers- get your orders in now!

Talking of selling — which, after all, is the whole point of this newsletter thing — I need to re-mention our special offer on traycased editions. Take-up has been brisk and a couple of titles are running low… so now would be a good time to get your orders in. Here are the links, in case you need reminding:

• Two pre-2010 traycases of our choosing = £80 (saving at least £20);
• Three pre-2010 traycases of our choosing = £90 (saving at least £60); and
• Four pre-2010 traycases of our choosing = £100 (saving at least £100)!
• Or you can have all 11 eligible titles for £250 — that’s a saving of almost £400!

(Postage will be charged at a flat £4 per book, anywhere in the world.)

The great Crowther book collection fire-sale

And finally, I’ve decided to sell some of my own books. Yes, after many years — and I do mean many! — I’ve finally gotten around to making the decision to part with the bulk of my collection. No, there’s no sinister reason… just a growing realisation that if I have to move again (or rather when I have to move again, like to someplace smaller… say, for instance, to Nicky’s and my own version of Travis McGee’s “The Busted Flush”) then, unless I do something now, I’ll probably jump out of a window… except there’s piles of books in front of most of them.

Nah, I’m joshing you. But I need to do it. So, slowly but surely, Mike Smith is putting them all up on Amazon. If you’re curious, then check out my very own bookstore page – click here and have a browse.

What can you expect to see there? Well, there are some 40-50,000 items for me to go at (though I won’t be getting rid of them all) including pulps, digests, signed first editions, comicbooks, magazines, paperbacks, hardcovers and so on.

For instance, I have large runs of the British Black Mask, many near mint (truly!) Weird Tales from the 1930s with Howard stories in them, a good long run of Boardman paperbacks with McLaughlin covers, most of the King signed limiteds, long runs of Dell mapbacks in remarkable condition, lots of pre-paperback paper-covered noir titles, lots of Gnome Press, Shasta Press, Fantasy Press, Arkham House and so on. Keep checking it out – more items are being added all the time.

Okay, that’s the lot, at least until next month.  Look after one another, enjoy the summer (but don’t forget the sun creme!) and… happy reading!

Pete

Brighton Shock commemorative collection, and the return of Ian Cameron Esslemont

Posted by Peter Crowther on June 7th, 2010 at 12:00

As unbelievable as it may seem, I’m slightly better organised than usual… hence this newsletter being written just a few days after the last one went out. Yes, it’s still May here on this side of the temporal fence that separates us while, for you, it’s June. I wonder what it’s like over there? Time alone will tell…

Brighton Shock is ready to rock

First off is the news that our special signed and slipcased edition of Stephen Jones’s uber-book, Brighton Shock, the 420-page extravaganza that appeared in the goodies-bags for attendees at the recent World Horror Convention in Brighton, is almost ready for mailing out.

It’s hard to know how to describe this one: it’s remarkable even by Steve’s heady standards… stories, appreciations, bibliographies and biographies, lavishly illustrated throughout, with eight-page full-colour sections from the two Artist Guests of Honour, Dave Carson and Les Edwards.

There are thirty-three signatures already in place with additional lines for the six people we didn’t manage to get… so it’s a volume you need to carry around with you for the rest of your life just in case you run into Messrs. John Burke, Gary Gianni, Glen Hirshberg, Stephen King, John Picacio, and Gahan Wilson when they’ve got a pen in their hand. (Hey, I may even be in the same line with my copy!)

Meanwhile, we’ve taken care of signatures from the following on your behalf: Mike Ashley, Randy Broecker, Pat Cadigan, Ramsey Campbell, Dave Carson, David Case, Vincent Chong, Basil Copper, Mary Danby, Les Edwards, Bob Eggleton, Jo Fletcher, Amanda Foubister, Christopher Fowler, Neil Gaiman, James Herbert, Stephen Jones, Nancy Kilpatrick, Allen Koszowski, Hugh Lamb, Joel Lane, Tim Lebbon, Tanith Lee, Brian Lumley, Johnny Mains, Kim Newman, Reggie Oliver, Sarah Pinborough, Ingrid Pitt, John Llewellyn Probert, Robert Shearman, Michael Marshall Smith, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Believe me, it was quite a task… and there are some signatures there that you don’t come across very often, so this is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss!

There are just 100 copies for sale at £95 plus postage – so click here and order a copy now, before the opportunity passes.

(And please note that, being essentially a collaborative project between PS and the World Horror Convention, these books will not be included in any existing Lifetime Membership arrangements.)

The Return of Esslemont

Remember the debacle of the PS edition of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Return of the Crimson Guard? The one where we managed to miss picking up umpteen mis-spellings? I still have nightmares about that: it seemed for a while like the only word we spelled correctly was PS!

Anyway, to his eternal credit, Cam has buried the hatchet (and not in the back of our proofreader’s head… where, alongside the one I put there,  it would have made for a nice pair of bookends!) and agreed to PS once again producing the limited edition of his new epic, Stonewielder, which we’ll be doing as a strictly limited slipcased two-book set of just 300 signed copies priced at £99.

I don’t need to tell you this but I will: you can bet your sweet bippy we’ll be doing our damnedest to make sure there are no screw-ups this time. Finished copies are expected in October. We’re expecting a fairly frisky response, so this (much like the Brighton Shock collection) is a project you really do need to move quickly on.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Click here and pre-order now to secure yourself a copy.

In the pipeline…

Nick Gevers and I have bought some wonderful stories for our twice-yearly anthology series (formerly known as Postscripts), plus a collection from Christopher Fowler, a few more poetry projects for our Stanza line… and a couple of other things I’m going to keep schtum on for a little while.

The debut PS ArtBook (Tomorrow Revisited, a celebration of the life and work of Dan Dare artist extraordinaire, Frank Hampson) is now laid out and edited. It’ll go to the printers first week of June and should be going out to customers in early August. This has taken longer than we hoped or expected, and I do apologise. The delay isn’t completely down to us, of course, but the buck stops here. But believe me, you will not be disappointed: it looks superb.

Coming up any day now is Ray Bradbury’s The Machineries of Joy, which recently received a big plug in the British Times newspaper courtesy of Neil Gaiman, who also provided the book’s Introduction. Advance orders have already accounted for more than half of the signed copies, so anyone still weighing up whether to buy or not needs to make a decision soon – click here to make sure you get one!

Newsletter giveaway winners

Two out of three ain’t bad – of last month’s prizes, only one went unclaimed. So, Ted Adams of San Diego scored himself a traycased copy of The Machineries of Joy, and Steve “Screaming Dreams” Upham of Mid Glamorgan (a small press publisher who says PS inspired him to start his own business – sorry, Steve!) copped a slipcased edition of our version of Stephen King’s “One For The Road”… just by merit of being signed up for the PS Publishing email newsletter.

And if you (or anyone else) are signed up within the next week (before Monday 14th June 2010), you could be one of three lucky readers to receive three rare PS advance reading copies. Yes, that’s right: three winners, three books each. Go sign up, and tell your friends!

Finally, I’ll be emceeing the upcoming Alt Fiction convention in Derby (Saturday June 12th), so maybe I’ll see some of you there. I hope so; we’ve got some great things lined up.

Until either then or the next newsletter, look after each other… and happy reading!

Pete

Wednesday reviews round-up for 12th May

Posted by Paul Raven on May 12th, 2010 at 14:33

For those of you not glued to the in-the-moment coverage of the coalescing coalition between the Lib Dems and Conservatives here in the UK (to which I’ve been far too busy working to pay any attention, honestly), how’s about we take a look at the last week’s worth of PS Publishing book reviews?

First up, Stephen Theaker reviews Steven Erikson, as Crack’d Pot Trail gets a look-in at both Theaker’s Quarterly and the British Fantasy Society:

Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, the Nehemoth, “quarry of ten thousand stone-eyed hunters”, travel the Crack’d Pot Trail across the Great Dry to the city of Farrog, but we travel instead with a motley group in hot pursuit: hunters of the Nehemoth, pilgrims to the Shrine of the Indifferent God, and poets heading for the Festival of Flowers and Sunny Days, in hope of being crowned The Century’s Greatest Artist (an annual event). On the twenty-third day of a twenty-two day journey the more muscular members of the party decide to start eating the artists in the party, forcing them into a competitive Scheherazade.

[...]

When the reader is asked, “Am I slave to your expectations, sir? Does not a teller of tales serve oneself first and last?” it’s hard not to be reminded of songs like the Stereophonics’ Mr Writer or Nirvana’s In Bloom, where bands rounded on the critics (“snarky homunculi”, per this book) and fans who didn’t understand them, and at times you may wonder if Erikson is taking his Amazon reviews a little too seriously. Yet he offers good advice: “To be a living artist is to be driven again and again to explain oneself, to justify every creative decision, yet to bite down hard on the bit is the only honourable recourse, to my mind at least. Explain nothing, justify even less.” Thematically and philosophically rich, exquisitely written, and extraordinarily tense: this was my favourite sword and sorcery book in years.

In the glamorous ink-on-paper world of Booklist, Ray Olson gets all caught up in Escher’s Loops with Zoran Zivkovic:

An old pro at the circularity that is the single largest distinction of Joyce’s outré masterpiece Finnegans Wake, Zivkovic has written much in the spiraling, overlapping form of this book’s four “loops.” Never before, though, has his technical intent been so obvious. The similar incidents and dialectic procedures of each story in a loop essentially displace linear narrative suspense. Not that the pleasures of getting from here to there are entirely absent. Each story features a protagonist or two in a predicament that he or she or they inspect and propose to alter before either one of them or a new character diverts attention by beginning to tell the next story in the loop. Characters and situations in one loop’s tales tangentially recur in stories in the other loops in no easily predictable manner, and that binds all four loops. Whereas there’s a way out in earlier examples of Zivkovic’s circularity (e.g., “The Square” in Impossible Stories II, 2009), no such luck here. Leavening and lightening the experiment is plenty of laugh-out-loud absurdist humor.

Elsewhere, Gav of NextRead takes on a tale from Postscripts #20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein for his Short Story Month project. The author selected is Ian Sales, for “Killing The Dead”, which is…

… a quick clever tale that asks a serious question about what is important to humanity when traveling across the stars for journeys that will take unknown generations to complete.

Hopefully we’ll get some more reviews of Postscripts tales, whether from Gav or others – short fiction is where fresh ideas get tested out in genre, and Nick and Pete spend a lot of time scanning the horizon for great new work by old hands and newcomers alike. If you want to keep an eye on what’s happening at the cutting edge, Postscripts is – we humbly suggest – a great place to start. :)

And finally, another laudatory mention for R B Russell‘s Literary Remains, which looks like it could be our runaway success of the year… here’s wandering reviewer Mario Guslandi popping up at BookGeeks.co.uk with his thoughts on the collection:

If you’re not familiar with Russell as a writer (he is the proprietor of a renowned small imprint) then you’re certainly missing an author whose work is devoted to introspective, exquisite tales featuring gentle ghosts and quiet horror. One could compare his fiction to that of the late Charles L Grant, but Russell’s narrative style, albeit equally unassuming, is much more elegant and fluid.

[...]

… all the stories are elegantly written, clever, classy tales apt to delight the reader throughout the whole volume without a single moment of boredom.

I think we can chalk that up in the “success” column, don’t you?

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

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

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

Clowns At Midnight, discounted traycased editions and more!

Posted by Peter Crowther on May 11th, 2010 at 16:00

Yay, spring has sprung — and, finally, we’ve emerged from beneath a veritable mountain of book orders and the ensuing chaos and carnage of World Horror…

Announcing Clowns At Midnight by Terry Dowling

We’re very excited about Terry Dowling’s Clowns At Midnight — so much so that we’re almost having to sedate designer dynamique Mike Smith and editor emeritus Nick Gevers, both of whom worked extensively on the project (and who are still unable to sleep with the lights off).

For those who don’t know Terry or his work, let’s just say he is without doubt one of Australia’s most acclaimed short story scribblers and Clowns — amazingly his debut full-length novel — is one of PS’s finest dark fantasy/suspense titles, attracting plaudits from advance readers as a masterpiece of Gothic fiction and brilliantly sustained psychological tension.

We asked Nick to stop jumping up and down for a minute and tell you what it’s about. Here goes:

“Residing in a comfortable house in the Australian countryside, a somewhat naive novelist confronts, and takes perverse pleasure in, his fear of clowns and everything resembling them: masks, marionettes, painted faces. His neighbours seem friendly, with a kindly interest in his unusual phobia; but why is it that they are so oddly knowledgeable about its symptoms and background history? And why are the writer’s digital galleries of terrifying clown-moments being rearranged and augmented by invisible intruders? These questions lead him into an emotional and archetypal maelstrom in which serene exaltation and unmitigated fear are irretrievably mixed; are death and happiness identical?”

Thanks, Nick – so, there you have it! Terry has woven an astonishing tapestry of subtle, and at times subliminal, horror; we’re confident that Clowns At Midnight will be regarded as one of the best genre books of the year, perhaps even of the decade… and we’re expecting pre-orders to be brisk, so don’t say we didn’t warn you.

There’ll be 700 copies — that’s 200 traycased signed copies at £60 and 500 trade hardcovers at a measly £25, with free postage — to anywhere! — on all pre-orders for both editions. Place your order now!

Meanwhile, to tie in with this, we’re giving away a copy of the Clowns ARC to one lucky newsletter subscriber (see below), which will enable someone (maybe you!) to read it pretty much before anyone else in the whole world. Do we love ya? Hey, you know we do!

Tray, tray generous!

Filled with the inevitable bluster of spring-cleaning in the cavernous storage facility close to the main PS offices, we’ve hit on a ruse to maybe clear a little more shelf-space and tie it in with a good deal for customers. We’re looking to make it just a little more attractive for Pee-Essers to fill in a few gaps on their pre-2010 traycase shelves. So, for a limited time only, we’re sweetening the pot thus:

• Two pre-2010 traycases of our choosing = £80 (saving at least £20);
• Three pre-2010 traycases of our choosing = £90 (saving at least £60); and
• Four pre-2010 traycases of our choosing = £100 (saving at least £100)!

(Postage will be charged at a flat £4 per book anywhere in the world.)

Please note that this offer applies only to the following titles:

• Counting Tadpoles by Uncle River
• Crack’d Pot Trail by Steven Erikson
• Creatures Of The Pool by Ramsey Campbell
• Postscripts #20/21:Edison’s Frankenstein – normally £60
• Grazing The Long Acre by Gwyneth Jones
• Impossible Stories 2 by Zoran Zivkovic
• Just Behind You by Ramsey Cambell
• Passing For Human by Lawson and Utley [eds.]
• Spook City by Angus Mackenzie [ed.] – normally £125!
• Timeswitch by John Gribbin
• Viator Plus by Lucius Shepard

Please also bear in mind that these traycases usually retail at £50 (though a couple are usually £60 and Spook City is £125), so the offer does not apply to The Black Heart, which actually retails at only £35. This will be on a strict first-come, first-served basis — when they’re gone, they’re gone. And, as I already said (but, as experience tells me, it’s always worth repeating), titles will be chosen by us.

And you can have all 11 of them for £250 — that’s a saving of almost £400! (Nurse, my medicine… quickly!)

Literary Remains and One For The Road ready to ship

Looking around the posting area, I reckon we’re pretty much up-to-speed with orders. The final two books of that 15-title extravaganza (namely Stephen King’s “One For The Road” and R. B. Russell’s Literary Remains) have successfully touched down and, by the time you read this, will be winging their way across the globe to their buyers.

And by the way, the full-colour King storybook has been a huge success… and the 100-copy signed edition (signed only by the artist, don’t forget, though you do also receive a bonus copy of the unsigned state free of charge) is dwindling mighty fast. Place your orders now to avoid disappointment.

Newsletter giveaways

While we’re being insanely generous, the giveaway prizes this time are three hard-to-find PS ARCs (that’s “advance reading/review copies” to you and me)… just for being signed up to the newsletter. Are we absolutely crazy here? Yeah, mebbe… but kinda cute, too. [Not to mention modest. - PR.]

As mentioned above, one ARC will be Terry Dowling’s Clowns At Midnight; the other two will be Paul Di Filippo’s Roadside Bodhisattva and Stephen Palmer’s Urbis Morpheos… so if you’re not a newsletter subscriber yet, sign yourself up! And if you are a subscriber, tell a friend, why don’tcha?

(Because things are a little out of sync at the moment, we don’t yet have confirmed names for all of last month’s winners — so we’ll round them up in our next newsletter.)

That’s it for this time… though there’s just space to recommend Chris Fowler’s wonderful autobiography, Paperboy. They don’t come any better than this, folks — so treat yourself (once you’ve bought a few PS titles, of course). You can find it on Amazon.co.uk, or the Book Depository.

Look after each other… and happy reading!

Pete

One For The Road ready to ship, Stanza poetry special offer extended, Machineries of Joy and more!

Posted by Peter Crowther on April 16th, 2010 at 13:00

Hi, folks;

Well, this one’s a little late, isn’t it? What can I say: the run-up to World Horror in Brighton was insane — what with trying to successfully launch fifteen books in one month — but we pulled it off. After World Horror, of course, we had to get home and start mailing out copies of those books to the people who’d placed orders for them — no rest for the wicked, I guess!

One For The Road – highly collectable illustrated Stephen King storybook ready to ship

A few words about One For The Road, our very special Stephen King storybook. Due to many requests from folks who simply couldn’t afford to stump up the loot for a five-year sub to our twice-yearly anthology, we’ve offered copies for sale individually, albeit at a pricepoint that wouldn’t annoy those who forked out for the sub.

This special landscape jacketed hardcover features 18 brand new full-page and full-color illustrations from PS favourite James Hannah, whose work has already graced the covers for Elizabeth Hand’s Illyria, Mark Samuels’s The Face Of Twilight, Graham Joyce’s TWOC, and Ray Bradbury’s classic triptych of The October Country, The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

The book will be in two states: an unsigned jacketed hardcover (500 copies) and a 100-copy slipcased hardcover signed by James. Take up has been brisk on the 100-copy signed edition, so be warned – these won’t sit in the warehouse for long!

And until the end of the month we’ll be throwing in an extra standard edition to everyone who stumps up for the top state. (And yes, that offer applies to everyone who has already pre-ordered.)

• One For The Road by Stephen King – unsigned jacketed hardback (£75)
• One For The Road by Stephen King – slipcased hardback, signed by the artist (£175)

Stanza Poetry bargain bundle still available

They said we couldn’t bring it off — and quite a few said we shouldn’t even try to bring it off — but we never were much good at running scared. And thank goodness for that. Because the simple fact is that punters at the World Horror Convention were mightily impressed with the first offerings from our new poetry imprint, Stanza Press… and so they should be!

A trio of volumes from three of the great masters of our field, featuring all of their Weird Tales poetry; a volume from Donald Sidney-Fryer; plus Off The Coastal Path, an anthology of specially commissioned and personally chosen works picked by Jo Fletcher and featuring new work from Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee and many others . . . hey, what’s not to like!

Each collection is available individually at the advertised price plus postage . . . or you can snap up all five for the bargain price of £55, post-free to anywhere in the world.

• Off The Coastal Path edited by Jo Fletcher (£15)
• Not Quite Atlantis by Donald Sidney-Fryer (£12)
• Halloween in a Suburb by H. P. Lovecraft (£12)
• Song of the Necromancer by Clark Ashton Smith (£12)
• The Singer in the Mist by Robert E. Howard (£12)
• Stanza Press 5-book bargain bundle, postage free worldwide (£55)

Forthcoming attractions: another Ray Bradbury collection gets the full PS treatment, and more

Yes, hot on the heels of our edition of Ray’s Long After Midnight set, we’re queueing up his delightful The Machineries of Joy, available once again in three states: a £20 unsigned edition; a £50 slipcased edition signed by Ray; and a deluxe £95 traycased edition of just 100 copies, all signed by Ray and Neil Gaiman.

• The Machineries of Joy by Ray Bradbury – unsigned hardback edition (£20)
• The Machineries of Joy by Ray Bradbury – signed slipcased edition (£50)
• The Machineries of Joy by Ray Bradbury – limited signed traycased edition (£95)

Also on the stocks is Clowns at Midnight, the blistering debut novel from Terry Dowling (and be warned — this one will fly out), plus One Who Disappeared, the third book in David Herter’s acclaimed novella sequence (except this one is a full-blown novel) and more!

• Clowns at Midnight by Terry Dowling – hardcover edition (£20)
• Clowns at Midnight by Terry Dowling - traycased edition (£50)
• One Who Disappeared by David Herter – hardcover edition (£20)
• One Who Disappeared by David Herter - traycased edition (£50)

And just in case you thought we’d be resting on our laurels after releasing fifteen books in a month, there’s more new stuff in the pipeline. Nearing the end of the production process for a summer release are The Company He Keeps (the latest 160,000-word anthology-extravaganza that used to go under the title of Postscripts); Stephen Palmer’s Urbis Morpheos, in which a future Earth has become a manufactured environment; Paul DiFilippo’s Kerouacian (is that a word? it is now!) coming-of-age road novel, Roadside Bodhisattva; and Lavie Tidhar’s mesmerising planetary romance, Cloud Permutations.

And don’t forget that postage is free on pre-ordered top states of any title, and that we’ve capped our postage rates to anywhere in the world. So what are you waiting for?

• Pre-order Urbis Morpheos by Stephen Palmer – hardcover edition (£20)
• Pre-order Urbis Morpheos by Stephen Palmer – traycased edition (£50)
• Pre-order Roadside Bodhisattva by Paul Di Filippo – hardcover edition (£20)
• Pre-order Roadside Bodhisattva by Paul Di Filippo – slipcased edition (£50)
• Pre-order Cloud Permutations by Lavie Tidhar – hardcover edition (£12)
• Pre-order Cloud Permutations by Lavie Tidhar – jacketed hardcover (£25)

Triple newsletter give-away lunacy

Robert Stathopulos of Boonton, New Jersey was the lucky subscriber who bagged last month’s give-away – we hope you’re enjoying the ARC of What Will Come After, Robert!

This month, though, in a fit of flat-out generosity, I decided to go completely ape — so, instead of offering two give-aways, we’re offering three! And all you have to do is be a subscriber to our newsletter… so that we can insidiously cloud your minds and inveigle you into parting with even more of your hard-earned cash for yet more fine PS titles. (Yes, it’s always best to tell the truth, we find.)

And so, up for grabs are one each of the following:

• a deluxe traycased edition of Ray Bradbury’s Long After Midnight, signed by Ray and Ramsey Campbell;
• a top-state slipcased edition of Stephen King’s One For The Road, signed by James Hannah; and
• a bundle of all five Stanza Press poetry collections.

All you have to do to be in the running for one of these prizes is to be signed up for the PS Publishing newsletter before the end of April . . and to keep an eye on the inbox of the address you signed up with! (One randomly chosen prize per randomly-drawn email address; winning emails unanswered after seven days forfeit the prize, and a new winner will be drawn.)

Anyway, that’s about all for this time. I could tell you about upcoming poetry collections from Brian Lumley, Charles deLint and Marly Youmans, or about the first two PS titles from Joe R. Lansdale (one of which will be Christmas With The Dead, this year’s Winter chapbook) or even about Ramsey Campbell’s latest full-length fear-fest, The Seven Days Of Cain… but I won’t. Better leave something for next time!

Until then, look after one another… and happy reading!

Pete

The final word on Catastrophia

Posted by Paul Raven on March 19th, 2010 at 7:40

A short email in my inbox from Allen Ashley:

That’s it! I’ve put everything in the same font, stuck with the running order, written a pompous editorial and sent it electronically to Pete. There’s no turning back now -  Catastrophia is raring to go!

He sounds almost relieved, doesn’t he? But then he’s been working on that book for close to a year and a half… must be nice to get a bit of closure before awaiting the physical item itself, I’m thinking. Treat yourself to a large cold drink, Mr Ashley! I suspect you’ve earned it.

Meanwhile, Allen, me, you and everyone else will get to see Catastrophia when it is launched at this year’s FantasyCon at Nottingham in September… we’ll let you know as soon as pre-ordering is available. :)

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

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

Hi, folks;

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

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

Stanza Press poetry – introductory offers

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

Stanza Press

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

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

Six-of-the-Best bargain bundles

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

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

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

Here’s how it works:

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

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

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

Tomorrow Revisited: The Complete Frank Hampson Story

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

PS ArtBooks

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

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

New releases for March 2010

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

First, the two late-comers:

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

Now the rest of the new stuff:

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

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

February giveaway winner

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

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

Pete

Announcing Tomorrow Revisited: The Complete Frank Hampson Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you on the Space Lanes!

PS Publishing to release debut novel from Terry Dowling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Ian R MacLeod novel coming soon from PS Publishing!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hi gang;

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

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

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

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

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

Bargain bibliography; prices slashed on Powers: Secret Histories

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

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

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

Special editions – production update

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

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

New titles to launch at World Horror Con

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Newletter giveaway winner for December

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

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

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

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

Best

Pete

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

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

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

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

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

Hi all;

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

Imminent releases: Erikson, Shepard, Resnick and more

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

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

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

Three-for-two on all current titles!

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

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

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

Remembering Rob Holdstock

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

Give-away winner for November

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

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

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

Pete

Wednesday reviews round-up for 25th November

Posted by Paul Raven on November 25th, 2009 at 16:22

Things seem to be slowing down on the reviewing front, possibly thanks to the looming holiday season… only a week until December! Where has the year gone, I ask you? I guess that’s the upside of being busy…

Speaking of being busy, did you know that we here at PS Publishing have been busy reinventing the future? Well, we sure have, along with a bunch of other super-cool independent publishing houses as profiled by big-hitting science fiction blog io9. Go read about the others (but beware the rather creepy opening image… *shudder*).

We can expect to see plenty more “list posts” like that at this time of year, along with the inevitable best-of-the-year (and, this time round, best-of-the-decade) round-up lists. But hey, if we get even a quarter as many books mentioned in them as in Charles Tan’s best-of-2009 list at Jeff VanderMeer’s Ecstatic Days, we’ll be happy people indeed! Charles has recommended loads of other good stuff there, some of which I know, and some of which I don’t; he reads widely and with eclectic taste, so he’s an interesting man to follow.

And now a couple of reviews, the first of which sees Aimee of the My Fluttering Heart blog impressed and perplexed in equal measure by Paul Jessup‘s Glass Coffin Girls Showcase collection:

I would be lying if I said I understood it all. There seems to be more layers to this sort of work than a wedding cake. And maybe it’s a bit Forer Effect, where I’m just seeing the symbolism I like where there might just be randomness. I’m utterly confused, a little bit dazed and a little bit unused to light right now.

Definitely though, there are parts to each story that link up. The cruelty and fragility of human beings, the mirrored halves of the soul. Freedom and domesticity. Animal behaviours and model citizens. Wolves and dogs and rats and foxes. They’re all there.

[...]

Of course, this book won’t be for a lot of people. Some might be a little offended, some might be confused, some might be unmoved. If, however, you like things that are perversely pretty, like I do, then you might find yourself thoroughly enjoying this book, and perhaps even feeling guilty for it. I know, I know, I haven’t given you much to go off. But it really is a collection that deserves to be speak and be discovered for itself. And quite frankly, no matter how hard I try, I can’t explain it. It might be beyond my comprehension.

The best way I can describe Glass Coffin Girls? Like Cinderella walking over the shards of her own glass slipper, broken…the blood looks positively gorgeous against the crystalware, don’t you think?

And to finish off, The Baryon Review recounts an encounter with Gilbert & Edgar On Mars, courtesy one Mister Eric Brown:

Imagine a meeting of three of Britain’s greatest writers, George Bernard Shaw, Herbert George Wells and Gilbert K. Chesterton (GK to his friends) finishing a night of discussion at the Athenaeum and heading home. Chesterton is approached by an autograph seeker and discovers along the way that he is believed to be Wells. He thinks this will be a good story for their next meeting when is apparent something more sinister is afoot.

[...]

This is a very enjoyable tale and would make a great present for your friends who enjoy the pulpish tales of yesteryear.

Indeed – buy now to ensure things arrive in time for the Festive Season! As always, click on the cover art to be taken directly to the catalogue page for the book in question, or just pop over to the PS webstore to have a browse.

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

Preview of Horns cover art, Postscripts subscriptions and more!

Posted by Peter Crowther on November 5th, 2009 at 14:00

Hi, folks;

Fresh from a flurry of trick-and-treaters plus the now almost obligatory re-watching of a few fave movies (Forbidden Planet, Hallowe’en, the Disney Something Wicked, the original Thing From Another World plus, of course, the old TV adaptation of M. R. James’s “Oh, whistle and I’ll come to you, my lad”) and then curling up with a couple of volumes of the EC Archives, we’re reluctantly turning on the central heating and at least considering consigning shorts to the drawer until next spring. But the smoky air and short days do so lend themselves to spooky stories that it’s hard to be too fed up. And speaking of spooky stories…

Horns cover art preview – pre-order now to avoid disappointment!

Joe Hill’s epic — and, be assured, it really is epic — second novel, Horns has gone down well with PS punters… so much so, in fact, that we’re now down to just 32 traycased copies not spoken for, plus around 170 of the slipcased edition. I think it’s pretty fair to say that this title will be sold out considerably prior to publication. (Check out Vinny Chong’s first of seven illustrations, below – click through on the image to see it in a larger size).

And Steven Erikson’s Crack’d Pot Trail is heading the same way, so get your pre-orders in as soon as possible… when they’re all gone, they’re all gone!

• Pre-order Horns by Joe Hill – signed traycased edition
• Pre-order Horns by Joe Hill – slipcased edition
• Pre-order Crack’d Pot Trail by Steven Erikson – signed traycased edition
• Pre-order Crack’d Pot Trail by Steven Erikson – hardcover edition

New titles shipping, plus standing order offers under development

Meanwhile, we’ve been chin-deep in mailing out orders for the recent batch of new releases: Creatures of the Pool, Just Behind You, Grazing The Long Acre, Spook City, The Black Heart, Passing For Human, Impossible Stories II, Ars Memoriae, Old Man Scratch, Gilbert and Edgar on Mars and Enemy of the Good (aka Postscripts #19).

The early feedback on our new traycased editions has been unanimously positive — no, nix that: it’s been euphoric. So much so that we’ve fielded several requests from folks who were unable to stump up the financial commitment for the Lifetime Subscriber packages but are now interested in a discounted standing order for our titles — both standard and deluxe editions — on an ongoing basis. It’s a good idea (in fact, why didn’t we think of it?) so we’re busy running up some figures. We’ll look to make an announcement on this before Christmas.

Postscripts to get bigger, go biannual… with no change in subscription prices!

And talking of announcements… after some lengthy consideration we’ve decided on another change for the creature formerly known as Postscripts. Now approaching its seventh year, PS’s flagship publication — having already established itself as one of the premier magazines in horror, fantasy and SF short stories — has settled into life as a full-blown, bona-fide, state-of-the-art, no-questions-asked, tell-it-like-it-is, cutting-edge, where-it’s-at hardcover anthology containing all that’s exceptionally fine in the field of genre fiction.

But putting it out four times a year is taking its toll on us… so we’re going to reduce the frequency to twice-yearly but, at the same time, double the contents. Thus the only thing that readers will be short of is two sets of boards every year. So, starting with the next volume (issues 20/21), we’re dropping Postscripts to two 150,000-word books per year — each one with its own title — instead of four 65,000-word issues. But worry not — it’s not going to cost you any more for your fix.

1,2, 3, 4 and even 5-year annual subscriptions (post & packing included) are available. And while individual copies will cost £30 for the unsigned edition and £60 for the signed traycased edition (yes, the top state will now be traycased), subs will still set you back just £50 and £100 for a one-year commitment, post-free. And, as a subscriber, you’ll also receive our signed winter hardcover chapbook (priced at £15) free of charge. (Past authors in this series are Gene Wolfe, Elizabeth Hand, Joe Hill, Ramsey Campbell and, this year, Andy Duncan.)

Plus, from here on in, subscribers will receive a PS novella — of our choosing — completely free of charge as soon as they sign up. And these books will be one per year of the subscription — so if you sign up here and now for five years then you’ll receive five novellas… unsigned books for unsigned subscriptions and signed books for signed subscriptions.

So what are you waiting for? Click through below and get someone (maybe even yourself!) a Christmas gift that’ll last all year…

• One year Postscripts subscription – unsigned editions
• Two year Postscripts subscription – unsigned editions
• Three year Postscripts subscription – unsigned editions
• Four year Postscripts subscription – unsigned editions
• Five year Postscripts subscription – unsigned editions
• One year Postscripts subscription – signed traycased editions
• Two year Postscripts subscription – signed traycased editions
• Three year Postscripts subscription - signed traycased editions
• Four year Postscripts subscription – signed traycased editions
• Five year Postscripts subscription – signed traycased editions

And please note that if you want to go for five years (£250 and £500 respectively) you’ll also receive a copy of our upcoming lavishly-illustrated hardcover edition of Stephen King’s One For The Road completely free of charge (though please note that the author will not be signing any copies).

Newsletter give-away winner

Last month saw us sending copies of Forever Twilight volumes 1 and 2 to Antti Vaisanen of Finland, who tells us that our email brought a happy ending to a week of battling with swine flu… hope you’re on the mend, Antti!

This month, one lucky newsletter subscriber will net themselves a copy of The Black Heart by Patrick O’Leary, just for the privilege of receiving our monthly emails. We’ll draw the winner on Monday 16th November, so you’ve got until then to sign yourself up (if you’re not already, naturally).

Okay, that’s about it for now. We’re all-hands-to-the-pump preparing our new poetry line and the two massive short story celebrations being helmed by Steve Jones… and, of course, we’ve got a few more surprises up our sleeves.

But more stuff next time, which will be our final newsletter of the year.

Until then, look after each other . . . and happy reading.

Pete

Old Man Scratch, Ramsey Campbell special offer and Joe Hill pre-orders

Posted by Peter Crowther on October 6th, 2009 at 13:00

Autumn is really with us now… at least it is here on the Yorkshire coast. But, though the weather may be cooling a little, we’re still working up a lather here at PS.

We seem to have been out and about a fair bit recently, first at the ever-wonderful FantasyCon – where we launched eight titles and celebrated PS’s first ten years and managed to pick up the Award for Best Magazine into the bargain (with Steve Jones receiving the Best Non-Fiction Award for his Basil Copper: A Life in Books, a few copies of which are still available) – and then the big multiple-author PS signing at London’s Forbidden Planet store. But, as pleasant as it is, being away from the office takes its toll so we’re going to be tied to the office for a few weeks to try resurrect some semblance of order on the schedule.

Recommended read: Old Man Scratch by Rio Youers

One of our books that really seems to be kicking up a storm is Rio Youers‘s Old Man Scratch, a far-from-everyday tale of lawnmowers, grumpy neighbors and roadkill.

Following reactions to his delightful “This Is The Summer Of Love” in the first new-look Postscripts anthology (#18), we were already expecting big things from Mr. Youers… but the take-up of his new novella at FantasyCon and Forbidden Planet (yes, he flew over just to meet his fans) has surprised even me. Be advised – buy your copy now.

Special offer on new Ramsey Campbell titles

And while you’re in a buying mood, why not treat yourself to one of our two new Ramsey Campbell books – the new collection, Just Behind You, and his latest novel Creatures of the Pool… or even Spook City, for which – in addition to his own stories and tales by fellow scousers Peter Atkins and Clive Barker – the great man penned a brand-new 30-page piece recalling his move to the wonderful city of Liverpool.

In fact, as a very special October Offer, you can buy the trade editions of all three titles and receive 23% discount (that means you’ll have to pay just £50 plus postage instead of £65 plus postage) or order all three deluxe traycased editions and enjoy a 30% reduction (that’s £157.50 plus postage instead of £225 plus postage!). We’ve created a special ordering page to enable you to do just that – see how we’re always trying to make things easy for you?

Prepare to pre-order Joe Hill’s Horns on October 11th!

We’ve got lots more goodies coming up but we’ll fill you in on these as we move along. Dirk Berger is hard at it on the artwork (wraparound cover plus three full colour interiors) for Steve Erikson’s Crack’d Pot Trail (which is available for pre-order right now, by the way) while Vinny Chong is chained to his desk working on Joe Hill’s Horns (two wraparound covers and five interiors).

We’ll show you some progress as soon as we’re able – meanwhile, please note that the order page for Horns will go live on Sunday 11 October 2009 at 6 pm UK time. Remember – there’ll be two states: slipcased, signed by Joe, containing four interior colour plates, plus a deleted chapter, priced at £65 until the end of the year when it’ll go to £75; traycased, signed by Joe and Vinny Chong, containing five interior plates, the deleted chapter plus a little extra something from Joe, priced at £175 until the end of the year when it’ll go to £200.

World Horror by the sea, plus new poetry imprint

Of course, it’s now less than six months to the World Horror Convention, to be held this year in the delightful southern England coastal town of Brighton (for which, I’m sure, you have already booked, yes?!). Well, as usual, we’re going to be launching some great new books there and we’ll pass along progress updates as soon as we have them.

But the big news is that we’re aiming to add a poetry imprint to the PS stable, and we’ll be doing a second launch event specifically for those. The flagship book will be Jo Fletcher’s as yet untitled anthology, a baker’s dozen celebrating the dark side of the seaside.

This will be supported by a triptych of volumes compiled and edited by Steve Jones and containing the complete Weird Tales poetry of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith… and all of them priced at just £9.99 each. Watch this space!

Newsletter give-away: win Forever Twilight volumes 1 and 2!

Of our three randomly chosen email addresses from last month’s list, only David Tubby of Ilfracombe, Devon replied to our congratulatory message, netting himself a rare ARC copy of Spook City in the process. This month we’re going to shake down the roll-overs and start afresh: we’ll pick one winner only, and the owner of that email address will receive a copy of the first two volumes of my Forever Twilight series.

So keep an eye on your inbox – if you miss the email, you’ll miss out on the prize! We’ll do this month’s draw on Monday 19th October, so if you aren’t yet signed up to the PS newsletter, be sure to amend the situation pronto…

More next time. Until then, look after each other… and happy reading!

Pete

Full Catastrophia ToC announced

Posted by Paul Raven on September 28th, 2009 at 10:14

As promised, Allen Ashley has been in touch with the final line-up for his Catastrophia anthology, to be published by us here at PS some time next year. The selection includes some big names and some new faces – take it away, Allen!

I am pleased to confirm the final line-up for this forthcoming anthology. Please note that the contributors are listed in alphabetical order and that the running order of the book will be markedly different. So, we have:

• “Hapless Humanity” by Brian Aldiss
• “The Phoney War” by Nina Allan
• “Nanoamerica” by David John Baker
• “Steven’s Boat” by Billie Bundschuh
• “Happy Ending” by Simon Clark
• “Something for Nothing” by Joe Essid
• “Check” by Robert Guffey
• “Fade” by David Gullen
• “Trouble with Telebrations” by “J. B. Harris”
• “Up” by Andrew Hook
• “A Hard Place” by Carole Johnstone
• “Scalped” by Jet McDonald
• “Noose” by Adam Roberts
• “In the Face of Disaster” by Ian Sales
• “Pixels on a Screen” by Patrick Shuler
• “The Long Road to the Sea” by James L. Sutter
• “Gravity Wave” by Douglas Thompson
• “Crashes” by Stuart Young

Plus a short introduction by myself.

This is not the end of the Catastrophia postings as I hope soon to announce a provisional launch date and venue, at which we hope to have many of the authors attending with biro or fountain pen in hand. Also, I will no doubt want to waffle on a little more about how great this anthology is going to be. So, keep checking in!

You heard the man – we’ll keep you posted with further developments.

But while I’m here, have you enjoyed following along with the development of this anthology here at the PS Newsroom? We thought it might be a fun thing to do for future projects, so let us know what you think!

PS Publishing at the British Fantasy Awards 2009

Posted by Paul Raven on September 22nd, 2009 at 14:24

Pete and Nicky are probably still working off their FantasyCon hangovers (and I’m not jealous in the slightest, oh no), but for those of you who weren’t there, the British Fantasy Society website has a full listing of this year’s BFA winners (plus videos of some of the acceptance speeches, no less).

This year was the first in which PS has sponsored the Small Press Award, which went to Andrew Hook for the (now sadly defunct) Elastic Press – a well-deserved win, I think we can all agree.

Pete and Nick Gevers took the gong for Best Magazine/Periodical for their work on Postscripts, which continues to gather strength as it mutates from a magazine into a periodical anthology, and we’re also very pleased to note that the Best Non-Fiction award went to Stephen Jones for editing Basil Copper: A Life In Books – a few copies of which are still available on the catalogue.

As always, our hearty congratulations to all the winners and nominees alike. PS is founded first and foremost on a love of genre fiction in all its forms, and it’s wonderful to see the scene still thrives – here in the UK, and across the world – thanks to the hard work of publishers, editors and authors alike, as well as the continued passion of the reading public. Our sincere thanks to you all. :)

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