Books

Fighting Fantasy – The History

~ Cheryl

One of the things about getting old is that people start getting nostalgic for things they did when they were kids. Sometimes those are things that they got into heavily when they were 12 but wouldn’t be seen dead doing by the time they were 16. I was already out of college and addicted to role-playing games when The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was published, so I never played the books very much. We used to laugh at them a bit. I could see, however, that they were very popular with kids, and they held out the promise of luring more people into the hobby that I loved.

A quick look over the list of books reminds me that they had some fabulous covers. The artists used on them included Les Edwards, Chris Achilleos, Jim Burns, Brian Bolland and Rodney Matthews. And of course someone had to write them. My friend Paul Mason did four. And another member of my gaming group, a lad called Marc Gascoigne, wrote one and then went on to play a major role in editing the series. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that without Fighting Fantasy there would be no Angry Robot — Marco is a talented guy and he would have found another way to develop his career — but I’m sure that the success of the series gave him valuable experience of the ups and downs of publishing.

Now there are new books. E-books are, of course, ideal for the choose-your-own-adventure structure, and I’m sure that has helped. One of the original authors-for-hire, Jonathan Green, has done a lot of work on the new books, and is now looking to publish an history of the franchise. He has a Kickstarter project. I have just backed it.

I’ll be interested to see what Jonathan comes up with. As I understand it, he’ll be sticking to the Fighting Fantasy books, so we will be spared the horrors of HeartQuest. I have no idea whether he’ll just cover the traditional gamebooks, or if he’ll venture off into the spin-off series such as the novels, or the Advanced Fighting Fantasy books (which were proper role-playing, yay!). Of course nothing will happen at all if the project doesn’t get funded, so if you remember those books fondly, please consider helping out.

Out Of Print

~ Cheryl

While I was in the Nielsen database creating records for Archangel Protocol I also took the opportunity to mark the paper edition of Dark Spires as officially out of print. That’s not 100% true as we do have one copy left, but Jo Hall has custody of it, along with a bunch of other books we have for sale at BristolCon-related events. Besides, I’d look a bit silly if I got an order for more than one copy.

The ebook edition is, of course, still available. I’m also looking into the possibility of making a print second edition available via a POD service. It is a good trial run project as I already have print-ready copy. And if it works I’ll look at doing other print projects.

Hexslinger Omnibus Available

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Some of you may remember that I was very taken by the first volume of Gemma Files’ Hexslinger trilogy, A Book of Tongues. Well, I’m pleased to report that the full series is now available in the bookstore. What’s more, if you buy all three books together then you get a significant saving. Here’s the offer.

Sharp eyed shoppers will also noticed that I’ve done a bit of rationalization of prices on ChiZine books. Rather than try to match US prices on their website, I have a flat price of £5.99 for each volume. For most of them that’s a price reduction.

Welcome, Galley Beggar

~ Cheryl

Many of you will remember Sam Jordison who supplied some fine reviews of mainstream novels that would appeal to SF&F fans for Salon Futura. Well Sam and a couple of his friends have set up a small publishing house called Galley Beggar Press. The books they publish will probably be right on the edge of what can be classed as fantastical, but like the books he reviewed for me they will definitely be of interest. Their first book, The White Goddess: An Encounter by Simon Gough is a fictionalised memoir by a man who knew Robert Graves very well. The blurb makes it sound a little like John Fowles’ The Magus to me, though with Graves involved the magic will be very different. Sam tells me that their next book will be a collection of short stories featuring Elvis doing things that the real Elvis certainly did not do. It all sounds very interesting.

Coming Soon – Archangel Protocol

~ Cheryl ~ 6 Comments

Archangel Protocol - Lyda Morehouse, art by Bruce Jensen

It is Presidential election time in the USA, and once again the debate is dominated by religion. But this is the near future, and the candidates have good reason to trumpet their belief in God.

The LINK–an interactive, implanted computer network–transformed society. Then came the angels–cybernetic manifestations that claimed to be the working of God’s will. And if angels exist, surely God does too. The only question is, which candidate does He favor?

Deidre McMannus used to work for the NYPD. Then her partner assassinated the Pope. Deirdre has been kicked out of the force and had her LINK implant removed. An Irish catholic with a brother who is a priest, she has never believed in the angels. All that will change when a handsome young police officer named Michael Angelucci appears at her door and gives Deidre the chance to right the wrongs that have been done to her–and to the entire world….

The first volume of Lyda Morehouse’s acclaimed debut series, AngeLINK, will shortly be available in ebook form for the first time. Huge thanks to Lyda for letting me publish it, and to Bruce Jensen for letting us have updated versions of the original artwork for the series.

On it’s first release in 2001 the book won Best Original Paperback P.I. novel at the Shamus Awards given by the Private Eye Writers of America to honor excellent work in the Private Eye genre.

See the Wizard’s Tower Press website for some of the stellar reviews that the book got first time around.

Coming in 2014 from Finland

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

Talking of foreign authors, I have some good news from Finland. Tero Ykspetäjä reports that Finnish writer, Emmi Itäranta, has been signed to a two-book deal with HarperVoyager. Like Hannu Rajaniemi, Emmi lives in the UK, so she may be doing the translations herself, or they may still be looking for someone. The first book, Memory of Water (Teemestarin kirja in the original Finnish), will be published in spring 2014. According to to the official HarperVoyager press release:

The book is set in a future Scandinavian Union where clean water is in short supply and most people survive on desalinated rations from the new government. There are serious consequences for water crime: if found guilty, people simply disappear, leaving behind a mysterious blue circle which appears on their doors.

The book has already been a success in Finland. Last week Emmi was one of three writers to be awarded the €16,000 Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize for young authors.

The Dogs Are Out

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Last week I posted briefly welcoming Dog Horn Publishing to the bookstore. I’m now delighted to report that I have added 15 new books to the store, and mobi editions of all of the books. Many of the books are horror and dark fantasy anthologies or collections, so if you like that sort of thing you’ll be very pleased. Here are a few others that caught my eye.

Rhys Hughes has been on my radar back since Emerald City days. Mister Gum comes with recommendations from Ellen Datlow and Jeff Vandermeer. There’s not much I can add to that, except to say that it pokes fun at the pretensions of the British, which is always worth doing.

Mechagnosis is a novel by Scottish writer, Douglas Thompson. I’m not familiar with his work, but his bio comes with a whole string of recommendations so clearly I need to check him out.

And finally, an anthology that bills itself as being from “the Dog Horn Prize for Literature anthology of cutting edge writing”. That should be recommendation enough, but how can you resist a book called Bite Me, Robot Boy?

All Dog Horn titles are £2.99, so why not give some a try.

Kirsty & Mondy Do Paintwork

~ Cheryl

Over at The Writer & The Critic, Kirstyn & Mondy have been running a little project looking at self-published ebooks. I recommended a couple of titles out of my store. Last month they read Anticopernicus by Adam Roberts, and quite liked it. This month they turned their attention to Paintwork by Tim Maughan. Much to my relief, and I’m sure Tim’s as well, considering how mercilessly they shredded the other two books in this episode, they liked it. Indeed, Mondy said he liked it better than Adam’s book, which is high praise indeed. Kirsten had a bunch of niggles, some of which I will try to address by breathing girl cooties all over Tim next time I see him, but this led to an interesting discussion about how reviewers are allowed to find fault with books they like.

Anyway, I’m delighted that my recommendations passed this ordeal, especially given how badly some of the other books got panned. Hopefully that will give other people some confidence in my recommendations too.

Hmm, Interesting… (with Elephants)

~ Cheryl

Every so often I get a press release that mentions an interesting new book, or proposed book, that I would actually like to read (as opposed to the flood of press releases I get about books that are rather less exciting). Over the weekend I got a message from the Speculative Literature Foundation about a book that hasn’t even been written yet, but I already want to read it.

The press release was about the latest winner of SLF’s Gulliver Grant which gives money to writers who want to travel to research a book they are writing. This year’s winner is Shuchi Saraswat. I quote from the press release:

Saraswat’s novel traces a family curse from Hindu mythological times
as it weaves through generations of one family. The curse is tied to
the well-known story of how the Hindu god Ganesha got his elephant
head, and so Saraswat plans to use the $800 grant to travel to
elephant sanctuaries to research the relationship between elephants
and their caretakers.

See what I mean?

Introducing Dog Horn Publishing

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

At the beginning of the week I promised you a new publisher in the bookstore. That’s moved a little slower than I’d expected, and I’m still waiting for mobi files for the books, but I have put one on sale just to give you a taste of what is coming.

Dog Horn Publishing bills itself as, “dedicated to publishing the best in cutting edge literature”. Being smart people, they know that means doing a lot of SF&F fiction. They’ve only done paper up until now, but they are branching out into ebooks and I have 18 titles waiting to upload. Some of the books look very interesting indeed. For example, Women Writing the Weird sounds right up my street. Most of the contributors are unfamiliar to me, but it does contain Aliette de Bodard and Eugie Foster. It also has a fabulous cover.

Women Writing the Weird - Deb Hoag

Neil Clarke Benefit from Cheeky Frawg

~ Cheryl

As most of you will know, Neil Clarke is going through a fairly rough time at the moment. One of the things he can do to help make ends meet is produce ebooks. He does this for Ann & Jeff VanderMeer’s Cheeky Frawg imprint. And today Jeff announced that they’d be donated $1 from each ebook sale of Jagannath made during November and December to Neil. This makes me very happy, because Jagannath was the top selling book in the Finnish book buying spree earlier this week. But you don’t have to be Finnish or Swedish to buy it. Jeff says it is selling like hot cakes. And he’ll get more money if you buy it from me than he will from any of the other stores he lists. So why not take this opportunity to pick up one of the best single-author collections of 2012?

Icarus On Sale

~ Cheryl

We don’t do Black Friday in the UK. It is All Black Saturday in Wales tomorrow, but that’s something very different, and much less violent than US shopping malls are today. However, the bookstore does stock books from US publishers, and for them today is day for putting things on sale. I’m therefore delighted to announce that Lethe Press have all of the back issues of Icarus magazine available at half price. You can find them here. If gay and lesbian themed SF&F is your sort of thing, this is just the offer you need.

Talking of Lethe, I uploaded a new book from them today. Out of the Ashes is the sequel to A Strong and Sudden Thaw by R.W Day. If you have the first book, you’ll want the second.

New From Twelfth Planet

~ Cheryl

And speaking of fabulous Australians, as we just were, here is something else to be thankful for today. I have not one, not two, but three new books for you from Twelfth Planet Press. Worth a squee? Just wait until you see who the authors are.

Well actually you may not have heard of Jason Nahrung, but he is the spousal unit of the very wonderful Kirstyn McDermott, she of The Writer and The Critic fame. Like Kirstyn, he writes horror, and our first TPP book is his novella, Salvage. “Isolated beach house on a remote Queensland island”? Oh dear…

Horror is going to be something of a constant theme here, because next up we have the very wonderful Kaaron Warren, who has a book in the Twelve Planets series of short collections. The blurb for Through Splintered Walls says, “These are stories inspired by the beauty, the danger, the cruelty, emptiness, loneliness and perfection of the Australian landscape.” Yeah, that’s Australia alright.

And finally, as if that wasn’t enough to creep you out, we have Cracklescape by the very wonderful Margo Lanagan. This is another Twelve Planets book, and also full of very Australian stories. Margo is a four-time World Fantasy Award winner. I am so happy to have a book of hers in the store.

I’m also delighted to continue to be able to bring you ebook editions of these books, because it costs an arm and a leg to mail them from Australia. In US terms they are about $6 for the ebooks, and over $18 for paper.

Got Shoggoths?

~ Cheryl

Judging from my in box, it is going to be a busy week in the bookstore. Please excuse the flurry of posts. Here we go with new books from Prime.

Over the weekend I got to upload a book by Elizabeth Bear. Can you see me bouncing? I have one of Bear’s books in my store. Shoggoths in Bloom is a short story collection that includes the Hugo-winning novelette from which the book takes its title. I remember that one well as Bear and I ended up on stage together in Montréal. The book also includes the short story, “Tideline”, which won both the Hugo and the Sturgeon. Bear wasn’t in Denver, and memorably didn’t believe me when I put the result up on the live coverage. So it is a book with two cracking stories to start it off. It also has a fabulous cover. Click here for a bigger version. And Finnish friends, don’t forget that Bear will be visiting your country for Finncon in 2014, so you need to get to know her work.

There is something of a festive feel to the rest of Prime’s recent output. Season of Wonder is the most nakedly Yuletide-influenced book, being a themed anthology of wintery tales put together by Paula Guran. There is a stellar line-up of contributors. See here for the full list.

If you are thinking of getting dressed up for parties over the holidays, Bloody Fabulous is the book for you. This anthology by Ekaterina Sedia features stories about clothing and fashion accessories. The line-up includes the utterly wonderful Hugo- and Nebula- winning “The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link. Full details here.

Finally, if snow if what you want, how about a trip to Russia? Moscow but Dreaming is a short fiction collection from Ekaterina Sedia. Kathy’s books sell very well in the book store, so I have high hopes for this one too.

There will be more through the week with new books from Lethe Press, Twelfth Planet Press, Book View Café and an exciting new publisher.

Colinthology Review Copies

~ Cheryl

Getting short fiction reviewed is a pretty tough ask, but Colinthology is a charity project, so hopefully there are some people out there who would be prepared to take a look at it. It is only available in ebook form at the moment, but if you are interested please drop me a note (contact details here).