Alchemy Press editors interviewed

Editors of The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors, Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards, have been interviewed by Jenny Barber:

Besides the very general theme ‘horror’ the book has no theme. I feel that stories in themed anthologies, especially tightly themed ones, can become too similar. I enjoy variety. I enjoy coming across something unexpected. In this I mirror the views expressed by Mark Morris, editor of the wonderful New Fears series.

I use the word ‘horror’ as a wide catch-all net. What you will find between the covers is 25 well-written yarns that will hopefully chill you, or at the least make you go: wow, I didn’t expect that. Weird stories. Creature features. There are stories that may have been at home in The Pan Book of Horror Stories, perhaps in New Terrors (edited by Ramsey Campbell), or in one of Stephen Jones & David Sutton’s anthologies. Other anthologies are available.

Read the full interview on Jenny’s website.

 

2017 BFS Awards – short list

The nominees for the 2017 British Fantasy Society Fantasy Awards has been published. As usual, it’s  list of many categories, of which The Alchemy Press features in three of them: Best Independent Press; Best Anthology (Something Remains, a tribute to the late Joel Lane, edited by Peter Coleborn and Pauline E Dungate); and Best Short Story (“Charmed Life” by Simon Avery from Something Remains). Fingers crossed.

The winners will be announced at FantasyCon at the end of September. The full list is available here.

 

 

Hekla’s Children reviewed

 

Hekla’s Children by James Brogden. Titan £7.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

Quite simply, I was captivated by this novel almost instantly. I admit that some may think I’m somewhat biased: I’ve known James Brogden for many years and have included some of his short stories in the magazines I edited for the British Fantasy Society, as well as publishing a collection of his finely crafted short stories (Evocations, The Alchemy Press). However, and trust me in this, if I hadn’t enjoyed Hekla’s Children I wouldn’t have read it so quickly and you wouldn’t be reading this review.

Nathan is a teacher who has a simple task, guide four teenagers round Sutton Park as part of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Except that he’s too infatuated with Sue and hangs back observing them from a distance. As the children cross a stream and continue trekking, he sees the terrain alter. The stream is now a river, the ground becomes a wooded hill. Yet within moments the real world returns – all except the four kids.

Alchemy Press book launch

For those going to FantasyCon by the Sea this year, The Alchemy Press launches two anthologies at noon on Saturday 24 September:

• The Private Life of Elder Things
• Something Remains

Promises to be a great book launch. Many of the contributors will be in attendance.

 

Ghosts at the Gladstone

Renegade Writers (along with Penkhull Press and The Alchemy Press) is hosting an afternoon of ghost and spooky stories at the Gladstone Museum, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent on 31 October (from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm). The event is free but you will need to reserve tickets.

Put it in your diary now!

 

New books

 

Recent (and one forthcoming)  books

• Joe Abercrombie – Half the World –Harper £12.99
• Mike Chinn — Give Me These Moments Back — Alchemy Press £9.99
• James S A Corey – Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves – Arrow £8.99
• Jan Edwards — Leinster Gardens and Other Subtleties — Alchemy Press £6.99
• Francesca Haig – The Fire Sermon – Harper £12.99
• Kevin Hearne – Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi – Century £19.99
• Kameron Hurley – Rapture – Del Rey £8.99
• Tom Isbell – The Prey – Harper £7.99
• Emmi Itaranta – Memory of Water – Harper £7.99
• Tom Lloyd – Old Man’s Ghosts – Gollancz £16.99
• Peter Newman – The Vagrant –Harper £14.99
• Naomi Novak – Uprooted – Macmillan £16.99 (May)
• Justina Robson – Glorious Angels – Gollancz £16.99
• David A Sutton — Dead Water and Other Weird Tales — Alchemy Press £9.99
• Adrian Tchaikovsky – Guns of the Dawn – Tor £16.99
• Adrianne ‘Tex’ Thompson – Medicine for the Dead – Solaris £7.99
• David Wingrove – The Ocean of Time – Del Rey £14.99
• David Wingrove – The Empire of Time – Del Rey £8.99

 

Kneeling in the Silver Light edited by Dean M Drinkel

Kneeling in the Silver Light: Stories from the Great War edited by Dean M Drinkel. Cover art by Chris Rawlins. ISBN 978-0-9929809-1-7

“The Unknown Soldier” … “On the Side of the Angels” … “The Wolves of Vimy” … “The Secret of Blackwater Island” …  “Where the White Long Roadway Lies” … Here are nineteen stories that look back on the horrors of The Great War, stories in the tradition of Arthur Machen’s “The Bowmen”, which gave rise to the myth of the Angel of Mons. Here are tales that create their own myths of that terrible war.

 

The Alchemy Press Books Of…

The latest two Alchemy Press Books Of are now available from Amazon and other online stores.

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3 edited by Mike Chinn. Cover art by Bob Covington. ISBN 978-0-9929809-0-0

An alien visitor arrives on Earth to solve our problems – whether we want it or not. The world’s greatest superhero is lost, and only his deadliest enemy can save him. Why did the best cop in the city end his days as a forgotten drunk? And once, in fin-de-siècleParis, there were three very different girls who grew up to be three very different women with three things in common: they were brilliant, they were beautiful, and they worked for Erik of the Paris Opéra. Twelve stories of supermen, cops, Mysterymen, samurai and private eyes from the likes of Kim Newman, Rod Rees, Tony Richards and more … thrilling tales of pure Pulp Adventure.

The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 edited by Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber. Cover art by Edward Miller. ISBN 978-0-9573489-9-8

In the footsteps of volume one, here are a further twelve tales of myth and magic, of legendary creatures, set in the modern age, with stories from:  Sarah Ash, James Brogden, Carl Barker, Andrew Coulthard, KT Davies, Pauline E Dungate, Chico Kidd, Tanith Lee, Christine Morgan, Lou Morgan, Marion Pitman and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

 

Alchemy Press: latest newsletter

The Alchemy Press is off to Birmingham on Saturday (tomorrow), with a stall at the Birmingham Independent Book Fair at the Ikon Gallery, Oozells Street, Brindley Place, Birmingham, B1 2HS. This is a day-long event (doors open at 11.00 am) and features independent publishers from the West Midlands and beyond. You will be able to buy all our in-print titles including Merry-Go-Round and Other Words by Bryn Fortey.

Invent-10n by Rod Rees: limited edition

A limited signed, hardcover edition of Invent-10n by Rod Rees is now available from The Alchemy Press – signed by Rees as well as the book’s designers and artist. The print run is 100 copies and is only available from the publisher. A paperback edition is also available for around £11 from Amazon, The Book Depository and other online dealers.

“Greetings Gate, let’s Agitate. Look over your shoulder. Do you see the camera? Then dig that even as you read these words of sedition and denial you are being watched by the ever e-quisitive National Protection Agency. The National Protection Agency – omnipresent, omniscient and most ominous – which runs PanOptika, the spider at the centre of the Web.

PanOptika. What’s the slogan: watching out for the good guys by watching out for the bad guys. But what did that Roman word-slinger, Juvenal say? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes: who watches the watchers?

So dig this to the extremity, cats and kittens: if we do nothing soon we must kneel, digitally-dutiful, before National Protection, and then there will be no chance to zig when the ChumBots say zag, or to beep when they say bop. Realise thou that PanOptika triumphant means we will not be able to think, to act, to speak or to move without the spirit-sapping realisation that the badniks know everything … everything.

We are circling the drain. This is my warning.”