When you open this Newsletter it’ll be the first of January which on our calendar (perhaps yours, too) means that a new year has begun. 2021. Whoo hoo! I have to say that I’m kind of excited.
2020 has been tough allround, tougher for some more than for others but tough nonetheless. And, sure enough, we kicked off with the first two goofs of the year when we discovered first off that I am hitherto unable to complete my thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle featuring characters from the kids’ weekly Beano/Dandy comics and then, almost as bad, there were glitches on the binding of THE DEAD ZONE. UGH! as Nicky will mention in her Newsround. But worry not, we’ll get everything sorted out. These things happen every once in a while so stay loose and Nicky will keep you posted in the next couple of weeks.
But on the positive side, we hope your purchases of PS books have helped you through some of those difficult times. You wonderful people have certainly helped us not only with your orders but also with your cheery support through our various social media platforms. A huge thank you.
We’ll be back to the usual fun and games and you may rest assured that we have loadsa goodies waiting in the pipeline for this new year so we thought it might be a good idea to give you a little flavour of some of the authors and editors that we have lined up. So here goes . . .
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Janeen Webb
Janeen Webb is a multiple award-winning author, editor, and critic who has written or edited ten books and over a hundred essays and stories. Her short story collection DEATH AT THE BLUE ELEPHANT was short-listed for the 2015 World Fantasy Award. She is a recipient of the World Fantasy Award, the Peter MacNamara SF Achievement Award, the Aurealis Award, and the Ditmar Award. She holds a PhD in literature from the University of Newcastle and divides her time between Melbourne and a small farm overlooking the sea near Wilson’s Promontory, Australia.
Her homepage is janeenwebb.com.au.
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Tim Lucas
Tim Lucas is an author and critic who has spent the last 40+ years championing genre and marginal cinema—in the pages of his long-running magazine Video Watchdog, and in such periodicals as Fangoria, Film Comment, Sight & Sound and Cahiers Du Cinema.
His multi-award-winning biography MARIO BAVA-ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK and his erotic horror novel THROAT SPROCKETS are remembered as game-changing works in their respective categories.
A popular audio commentator on numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases, he is currently at work on an in-depth study of the films of Joe Samo.
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Cody Goodfellow
Cody Goodfellow has written nine novels and five collections, and has won three Wonderland Book Awards for Bizarro Fiction. He wrote, co-produced and scored the short Lovecraftian hygiene films Stay At Home Dad and Baby Got Bass, which have become viral sensations on YouTube. He has appeared in numerous short films, TV shows, music videos and commercials as research for his previous novel, SLEAZELAND. He also edits the hyperpulp zine Forbidden Futures. He "lives" in San Diego. Find out more at codygoodfellow.com.
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Stephen Volk
Stephen Volk is best known as the writer of the BBC's notorious "Hallowe'en hoax" Ghostwatch and the award-winning ITV drama series Afterlife starring Andrew Lincoln and Lesley Sharp. His other screenplays include 2011's The Awakening starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West, Ken Russell's Gothic starring Gabriel Byrne and Natasha Richardson, The Guardian (co-written with William Friedkin), and Midwinter of the Spirit. His novellas and short stories have been selected for YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR, BEST NEW HORROR, BEST BRITISH MYSTERIES, and BEST BRITISH HORROR, he has been a Bram Stoker Award and Shirley Jackson Award finalist, a BAFTA winner, and is the author of the collections: DARK CORNERS, MONSTERS IN THE HEART (which won the British Fantasy Award in 2014), and THE PARTS WE PLAY and THE DARK MASTERS TRILOGY, both for PS.
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Matthew Hughes
Matthew Hughes writes science fantasy. His novels are: FOOLS ERRANT and FOOL ME TWICE, THE DAMNED BUSTERS, BLACK BRILLION, MAJESTRUM, THE OTHER, THE SPIRAL LABYRINTH, THE COMMONS, HESPIRA, TEMPLATE, COSTUME NOT INCLUDED, HELL TO PAY, SONG OF THE SERPENT (as Hugh Matthews), ONE MORE KILL and A WIZARD'S HENCHMAN.
His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, POSTSCRIPTS, Storyteller, Interzone, and several invitation-only anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin, including the bestseller, ROGUES. He has lately been self-publishing collections of his short fiction as 9 TALES OF HENGHIS HAPTHORN, THE MEANING OF LUFF AND OTHER STORIES, THE COMPLEAT GUTH BANDAR, and DEVIL OR ANGEL AND OTHER STORIES, and THE COMPLEAT GUTH BANDAR,
Formerly a journalist, he spent more than twenty-five years as a freelance speechwriter for Canadian corporate executives and political leaders. His works have been short-listed for the Aurora, Nebula, Philip K Dick, A.E. Van Vogt, and Endeavour Awards.
His webpage is at: WWW.MATTHEWHUGHES.ORG
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Darrell Schweitzer
Darrell Schweitzer’s career stretches back to the early 1970s. He has written novels, most notably THE MASK OF THE SORCERER (1995), which was expanded from a World Fantasy Award finalist novella, but he has probably most distinguished himself for a steady stream of short fiction which caused anthologist Mike Ashley (in The Mammoth Book of Sorcerers’ Tales) to call him “today’s supreme stylist” in the fantasy field. His work has appeared in a great variety of publications ranging from Amazing Stories and Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone magazine to Interzone and numerous PS Publishing anthologies.
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Ramsey Campbell
The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes Ramsey Campbell as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. He has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association and the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild.
PS has published 19 of his books, among which are the novels THE DARKEST PART OF THE WOODS, THE OVERNIGHT, SECRET STORY, THE GRIN OF THE DARK, THEIVING FEAR , CREATURES OF THE POOL, THE SEVEN DAYS OF CAIN, THE KIND FOLK, GHOSTS KNOW, THINK YOURSELF LUCKY, and THIRTEEN DAYS BY SUNSET BEACH.
His trilogy The Three Births of Daoloth further develops the cosmic horrors he introduced in his first published book, THE INHABITANT OF THE LAKE. THE SEARCHING DEAD is the first volume, followed by BORN TO THE DARK and culminating with THE WAY OF THE WORM.
His PS collections include TOLD BY THE DEAD, THE INHABITANT OF THE LAKE, JUST BEHIND YOU and BY THE LIGHT OF MY SKULL, THE COMPANION AND OTHER PHANTASMAGORICAL STORIES and THE RETROSPECTIVE AND OTHER PHANTASMAGORICAL STORIES.
His nonfiction is collected as RAMSEY CAMPBELL, PROBABLY along with LETTERS TO ARKHAM, S. T. Joshi’s compiled and annotated volume of letters between Ramsey and Arkham House founder August Derleth. Lavishly illustrated by Pete Von Sholly, RAMSEY CAMPBELL'S LIMERICKS OF THE ALARMING AND PHANTASMAGORICAL is a history of horror fiction in the form of limericks.
Ramsey Campbell lives with his wife Jenny on Merseyside where he was recently presented by Liverpool John Moores University with an Honorary Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to literature.
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S. T. JOSHI
S. T. JOSHI is a leading scholar on H.P. Lovecraft and the author of I AM PROVIDENCE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF H.P. LOVECRAFT (2010), UNUTTERABLE HORROR: A HISTORY OF SUPERNATURAL FICTION (2012), SOMETHING FROM BELOW (2019 )and other critical and biographical works. He is the editor of the acclaimed BLACK WINGS series of Lovecraftian anthologies, along with such other anthologies as AMERICAN SUPERNATURAL TALES (2007) and SEARCHERS AFTER HORROR (2014). As a fiction writer he has written THE ASSAULTS OF CHAOS (2013), a novel featuring Lovecraft as a character, along with two detective novels. His collected fiction was gathered in THE RECURRING DOOM: TALES OF MYSTERY AND HORROR (2019).
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Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones is a Hugo Award nominee, and the winner of four World Fantasy Awards, three International Horror Guild Awards, five Bram Stoker Awards, twenty-one British Fantasy Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association. One of Britain’s most acclaimed horror and dark fantasy writers and editors, he has more than 155 books to his credit, including THE ART OF PULP HORROR: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, THE LOVECRAFT SQUAD series, and thirty volumes of BEST NEW HORROR anthologies.
You can visit his web site at: WWW.STEPHENJONESEDITOR.COM
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Angela Slatter
Angela Slatter is the author of the VERITY FASSBINDER supernatural crime series (VIGIL, CORPSELIGHT, RESTORATION) and nine short story collections, including THE BITTERWOOD BIBLE AND OTHER RECOUNTING, and WINTER CHILDREN AND OTHER CHILLING STORIES. Her gothic fantasy novels, ALL THESE MURMURING BONES and MORWOOD, will be out from Titan in 2021 and 2022 respectively. She’s won a World Fantasy, a British Fantasy, an Australian Shadows and six Aurealis Awards; her debut novel was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award.
Her work’s been translated into French, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Bulgarian and Russian. You can find her at www.angelaslatter.com, @AngelaSlatter on Twitter, and as angelalslatter on Instagram for photos of food and dogs that belong to someone else (the dogs, not the food).
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Albert E. Cowdrey
Albert E. Cowdrey is an American author who writes non-fictional historical studies and fantasy and science fiction literature. He was educated in Tulane and Johns Hopkins universities and worked for twenty-five years as a military historian, mostly in and around Washington, D.C.
His novelette QUEEN FOR A DAY won the World Fantasy Award in 2002.
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Lavie Tidhar
LAVIE TIDHAR is the World Fantasy Award winning author of OSAMA (2011), Sien nominated THE VIOLENT CENTURY (2013), the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize winning A MAN LIES DREAMING (2014), and the Campbell Awards and Neukom Prize winning CENTRAL STATION (2016), and Locus and Campbell award nominated UNHOLY LAND(2018), in addition to many other works and several other awards. His latest novels BY FORCE ALONE (2020) and debut children's novel CANDY (2018 UK; as THE CANDY MAFIA 2020 US). He is also the author of the comics mini-series ALDER. New novel THE ESCAPEMENT is forthcoming in 2021, as is anthology THE BEST OF WORLD SF.
Lavie works across genres, combining detective and thriller modes with poetry, science fiction and historical and autobiographical material. His work has been compared to that of Philip K. Dick by the Guardian and the Financial Times, and to Kurt Vonnegut's by Locus.
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James Cooper
James Cooper is the author of the short story collections YOU ARE THE FLY and THE BEAUTIFUL RED. His novella TERRA DAMNATA was published by PS Publishing in 2011 and was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. His novella STRANGE FRUIT and his novel DARK FATHER were both published in 2014 to critical acclaim.
More recently, PS Publishing released his third short story collection, HUMAN PIECES, while the collection HEAD SPACE & OTHER UNCOMFORTABLE SURROUNDINGS was published in a beautiful leather-bound edition by Cemetery Dance in 2019.
Forthcoming is the novel LITTLE BOY and the novella THE FADE, both from Cemetery Dance, as well as COUNTRY DARK, which will be published next year as part of the TTA Novella Series.
He is currently working on a new novella, THE THIRD ORDER, and a new short story collection entitled SCAR TISSUE.
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Robert Freeman Wexler
Robert Freeman Wexler's novels are CIRCUS OF THE GRAND DESIGN and THE PAINTING AND THE CITY (PS), with THE SLIVERBERG BUSINESS forthcoming in 2022. His stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Postscripts, The Third Alternative, Electric Velocipede, and Polyphony.
His website and blog is www.robertfreemanwexler.com; his book design website is www.alligatortreegraphics.com. He lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio with the writer Rebecca Kuder.
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Cavan Scott
Cavan Scott is a UK number one bestseller who has written for such popular worlds as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Assassin’s Creed, Judge Dredd, Pacific Rim, and Sherlock Holmes. Shadow Service, his acclaimed creator-owned horror comic, launched from Vault Comics in August 2020 and he is one of the story architects for Lucasfilm’s epic multi-media publishing initiative Star Wars: The High Republic, which launches in January 2021. He has written comics for Marvel, DC Comics, IDW, Dark Horse, Vertigo, 2000 AD and The Beano. A former magazine editor, Cavan Scott lives in Bristol with his wife and daughters. His lifelong passions include scary movies, folklore and the music of David Bowie. He owns far too much LEGO.
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Ian McDonald
Born in Manchester and raised in Northern Ireland (where he still lives) Ian McDonald is an award winning Science Fiction author. His novels include BRASYL (2007), RIVER OF GODS (2004), ARES EXPRESS (2001), KIRINYA (1998) and DESOLATION ROAD (1988) and he been extensively published all over the world.
Amongst the many accolades he has received for his fiction are the BSFA award (five times, across both the novel and short fiction categories), the Philip K. Dick award, the Hugo award, the LOCUS award for best first novel and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He has also received nominations and shortlistings for a host of other genre prizes including the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula awards.
CYBERABAD DAYS, a short story collection set in the same reality as RIVER OF GODS was published in 2009 in the US by Pyr and in March 2009 by Gollancz in the UK. THE DERVISH HOUSE, a critically-acclaimed stand-alone novel, was published by Gollancz (UK) and Pyr (US) in 2010 – it won the BSFA, SF Site Readers Poll, John W. Campbell Memorial Awards.
Ian’s most recent work includes the Everness series of YA science fiction novels – PLANESRUNNER, BE MY ENEMY, and the upcoming EMPRESS OF THE SUN (Jo Fletcher Books/Pyr).
Ian’s Hugo Award-nominated Luna series is published in the UK by Gollancz, in North America by Tor Books, and extensively in translation. The first three novels are out now — NEW MOON, WOLF MOON, and MOON RISING. A prequel novella, THE MENACE FROM FARSIDE, is published by Tor.com. The novel HOPELAND is forthcoming (Gollancz/Tor).
Ian maintains a blog which can be found here.
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Nick Gevers
Nick Gevers is the editor or co-editor of many original SF, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including GHOSTS BY GASLIGHT, EXTRAORDINARY ENGINES, OTHER EARTHS, THE BOOK OF DREAMS, and IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?, as well as PS Publishing's long-running POSTSCRIPTS series. These books have won the Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, and Aurealis Awards. A past reviewer and author interviewer for many SF-focused publications, Nick is currently dodging the virus in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Peter Crowther
Peter Crowther is the recipient of numerous awards for his writing, his editing and, as publisher, for the hugely successful PS Publishing (now including the Stanza Press poetry subsidiary and PS Artbooks, a specialist imprint dedicated to the comics field). As well as being widely translated, his short stories have been adapted for TV on both sides of the Atlantic and collected in THE LONGEST SINGLE NOTE, LONESOME ROADS, SONGS OF LEAVING, COLD COMFORTS, THE SPACES BETWEEN THE LINES, THE LAND AT THE END OF THE WORKING DAY and JEWELS IN THE DUST. He is the co-author (with James Lovegrove) of ESCARDY GAP and THE HAND THAT FEEDS, and author of the FOREVER TWLIGHT SF/horror cycle and BY THE WIZARD OAK.
He lives and works with his wife and business partner, Nicky on the Yorkshire coast of England.
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. . .and let’s just follow up with an extended Nicky’s Newsround.
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Thanks, Pete. And off we jolly well go again.
In case some of you might not have been following the news about the post leading up to Christmas and beyond many of the delivery services (not just the Royal Mail) had been struggling to keep up with the enormous demand of orders. Our final parcel collection happened on the Tuesday before Christmas and we decided to wait until January 4th (next Monday) before we resumed our normal service in our mailing room. This will hopefully have allowed most of the backlog to get cleared. So if anyone did order over the Christmas holidays, we know there are a few, then they will be coming out to you next week.
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I’m sure that as soon as Biddles returns to work next week they will be busy tipping in the signing sheets for THE BIG BLIND by Lavie Tidhar; MR. SANDMAN by SJI Holliday; BROKEN THINGS: A Tale of Durstan by George Mann; ON THE SHOULDERS OF OTAVA by Laura Mauro; the deluxe edition of GASLIGHTS GHOSTS AND GHOULS edited by Stephen Jones; and also the DANIELE SERRA ARTBOOK.
Finally, as Pete has already mentioned here’s a little more info about THE DEAD ZONE.
As I’m sure you know not everything runs smoothly in the world of publishing (oh really!) heh!) and this week when we were preparing to post out copies of THE DEAD ZONE by Stephen King a manufacturing glitch was discovered. TJ Books have assured us that they will sort this problem as soon as possible, as they know that we have promised you that copies would be sent out in the new year. Keep checking the newsletter for further updates. This didn’t affect every copy but we wanted to do a major check so Wendy and Keith have already made a start.
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Back to Pete for his final say.
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Thanks, Nicky.
It seems fitting that we finish off the newsletter with this next item. Dave Hinchberger of Overlook Connection got in touch just before Christmas asking us if we would like to carry some copies of Overlook's latest extravaganza. In fact, it’s a desk diary for 2021 but not just any old desk diary, it has an interesting theme which I’m sure some of you will find hard to resist. We’re offering 20 copies for sale but only to UK customers as we’re sure Dave will have copies available for everyone else.
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And that’s it for today and, of course, for the final letter for 2020 and the first for 2021.
Like you, I guess, I’m keen to have a few resolutions—namely more reading and more writing, and I guess I should commit myself to further work on the aforementioned jigsaw.
So let’s gird our loins and take a deep breath as we move onwards. It’s great to have you folks still with us after twenty-two years—long may the relationship continue. We’ve got a few surprises as we go forward so stick with us. Hugs from the greensward to you all—look after each other and take care in these troubled and difficult times.
Pete
xx
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