NewCon Press

Dear Discerning Reader,

A lot of things to cover in this update, so I'll crack straight on with an apology to those still waiting on the uppermost tiers of the Kickstarter campaign for the anthology 2001 An Odyssey In Words. Unfortunately, the troublesome set of signing sheets (which previously disappeared for some seven weeks between Rachel Pollack and Becky Chambers) have vanished again. Posted back to us by Bruce Sterling at the end of June, the sheets have never arrived. Tom and I are currently debating the best way to proceed with this. We are in possession of sheets signed by two thirds of the contributors, including many of the biggest names, but it seems a shame to miss out on that final third... On the other hand, we've spent the past five months trying to get this sheet completed and I'm loathe to embark on another similar round of signings that could easily prove just as lengthy and fruitless.

Watch this space on that one.

I had even arranged to take the sheets to the Celsius 232 Festival is Spain for Becky Chambers to sign last month, and then to meet Becky in London for breakfast the following week when they failed to arrive in time for Spain. Unfortunately... 

That aside, we had the usual fabulous time at Celsius.

[Above left]: Ian Watson uses the Staff of Cthulhu to hold off the rain.

[Above middle]: Becky Chambers, Kameron Hurley, Lisa Tuttle, Ian McDonald and yours truly signing following a panel.

[Above right]: Dan Abnett

[Right]: me with Hodder editor Sam Bradbury

[Below left]: Helen with Kim Lakin-Smith

[Below right]: An entirely sober night/morning with Spanish friends...

I'm thrilled with the latest set of NewCon Press Novellas: Strange Tales. Gary Gibson, Adam Roberts, Ricardo Pinto and Hal Duncan have all done a fabulous job of writing high quality off-kilter fictions, and Ben Baldwin really delivered on the cover art. The first release, Gary's Ghost Frequencies is already garnering high praise from Amazon reviewers: "A clever and compelling novella that brings a very contemporary angle to the uncanny landscape lying between science fiction and the supernatural..."

Ricardo's Matryoshka is shipping now, and the cases for the limited edition slipcase sets containing all four novellas are currently under construction; thank you to all who have pre-ordered them.

New Releases

In addition to the slipcase sets of the Strange Tales novellas, this year's Fantasycon in Chester sees the release of three new titles; all very different, all very special.

First we have Assassins' Endgame, the second and concluding volume of The Waters of Destiny: a cunningly plotted, intriguingly framed and meticulously researched duology written by celebrated author Ian Watson and scientist and writer Andy West. Linking historical truths with present day intrigues and near-future threat, this is a fascinating thriller that reads as frighteningly plausible.

Then we have the fourth entry in Adrian Tchaikovsky's fabulous Tales of the Apt series. This time, though, Adrian does not come alone. Instead he has opened up the kinden world to a carefully selected band of fellow writers. The collection opens and closes with new stories from Adrian himself, but in-between we have exciting tales penned by celebrated and award-winning authors including Frances Hardinge, John Gwynne, Justina Robson, Tom Lloyd, Juliet E. McKenna, Peter Newman, and David Tallerman. The result is a truly inventive set of tales.

As ever, the fabulous cover art is provided by Jon Sullivan.

Last but by no means least we have the release of Best British Horror edited by Johnny Mains and featuring a host of the very best horror and dark fiction writers the UK has to offer. This series has previously been produced by Salt Publishing, which saw the first two annual releases, and I'm delighted to see it continue via NewCon Press.

I am sufficiently impressed with the quality of this one that I have already commissioned a further volume for 2019.

(The deliciously sinister cover art is by Daniele Serra).

Full details of all these titles are available on the NewCon website: http://www.newconpress.co.uk/

[Image on the right: endpaper from Best British Horror limited edition hardback, by Russell John Morgan]

There will be a signed limited edition hardback of all three new titles, signed by Ian Watson and Andy West, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and editor Johnny Mains respectively.

Each hardback will retail at £24.99

To those receiving this email I would like to extend the following pre-order discount.

Two titles in hardback: £47.00 plus shipping.

Three titles in hardback: £67.00 plus shipping

Where shipping costs are:

                        UK    Europe    USA+rest
2 hardbacks   £4.00   £11.00   £16.00
3 hardbacks   £5.00   £13.00   £18.00

As usual, this offer will not be available via the website. If you wish to take advantage, please contact me directly at finiang@aol.com

In closing...

That's just about it. I had intended to enthuse about a fabulous new novel I'm currently editing and point to a few other reviews etc, but that will have to wait until the next mailing. One more thing to mention. As if Best of British SF and Best British Horror aren't enough for one imprint to cope with, next year there will be a new kid on the block. 

2019 sees the advent of Best of British Fantasy, under the stewardship of the inestimable Jared Shurin. Jared will be known to many as one of the founders of the ground-breaking imprint Jurassic London and his highly regarded genre blog Pornokitsch (both co-founded with Anne C. Perry), which closed shop this March. Thankfully, the Kitschies -- the awards that sprung from Pornokitsch -- are still with us.

At a loss how to pass his time with the closure of his blog, Jared clearly thought: "I know, I'll pester Ian!" … And here we are. 

Joking aside, I can't think of better hands in which to entrust this project, and I'm very excited to see what arises from it.

Submission details are already posted: http://www.jurassic-london.com/2018/08/best-british-fantasy.html

That really is it for this mailing.

Thank you, as ever, for your attention and for your continued support.

All the best,

Ian