Monday 20 June 2011

Interview online with Ian Whates

Ian Whates has a new interview online, as conducted by Jessica Strider from the World's Biggest Bookstore in Canada. As he says, "if anyone would care to know my thoughts on being a writer etc, feel free to have a quick peek."

Ian's interview

Saturday 18 June 2011

Monday 16 May 2011

New novelette from Andy West

Published through member Tim C Taylors http://greyhartpress.com, comes "Rescue Stories".

From the website:
Rescue Stories was a runner-up in the BSFA 50th Anniversary Short Story Competition.

Andy West is a rising star of the SF world and this is first title for Greyhart Press. His short fiction has recently appeared in anthologies alongside such authors as Neil Gaiman, Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross, and Sarah Pinborough. He has co-written a novel with Ian Watson.

For more information, check out the site here - http://greyhartpress.com/our-science-fiction-stories/rescue-stories/

Wednesday 4 May 2011

The Lost Film Novella to be published by Pendragon Press


Coming soon, from the award-winning Pendragon Press -

The Lost Film
A Novella by Mark West

Gabriel Bird is a private detective. He’s been hired to track down Roger Sinclair, an exploitation film-maker who disappeared in 1976, having just completed his last film. Long since lost, “Terrafly” was reputed to have an adverse, often fatal effect on those who watched it. Sinclair’s producing partner, Sorrell Eve, is concerned that the film is about to appear again and wants to make sure it stays lost forever.

As Bird closes in on his target, strange incidents begin to happen to those around him and when he’s offered the chance to watch a clip of “Terrafly”, things turn very dark indeed.

A modern detective story, filled with rich detail of the low-budget heyday of British exploitation films, this will ‘pull you into a dark cinematic nightmare’.

More details to come...


"Lights, camera, action...Mark's West's lost film novella will grab your soul by the sprocket holes, pull you into a dark cinematic nightmare, and then re-edit the way you look at the world. Experience it at your peril."
- Gary McMahon, author of “Pretty Little Dead Things”

Greyhart Press - for immediate release

Contact: Tim C. Taylor FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Email: editors@greyhartpress.com

BE THE EDITOR OF YOUR OWN ANTHOLOGY: SCI FI, HORROR, AND FANTASY
A new type of publisher launches to bring professional-quality short fiction to eReader devices, such as the Kindle and iPad.

May 3rd, 2011: Bedfordshire, England. Greyhart Press, a new publisher of fantastic stories, launches to exploit the potential of eReader devices, so that readers can build their own anthology of short genre fiction at low-risk and low-cost.

"I grew frustrated trying to find great science fiction stories for my Kindle," said founder Tim C. Taylor. "With the wireless capability of eReaders, I should be able to pick a short story to enjoy with my coffee shop cappuccino just as easily as I can have biscotti. But if I browse through traditional publishers, I'm forced to take the editor's story choices and timetable. Besides, too many science fiction periodicals have distanced themselves by championing literary cleverness over traditional storytelling. As for the 'self-publishing revolution', my excitement of picking up cheap e-books for my new Kindle quickly died with the realisation that many of them should never have been published or would have been better for the attention of a good editor. So I decided to do something about it and launched Greyhart Press."

Greyhart Press is different because
• It establishes a relationship with its authors, with the intention of building a library of stories from each one. This is like a traditional print publisher of novels and unlike a traditional short story print periodical. Readers can explore the work of authors they enjoy whenever their eReader device is connected, rather than hope their author is featured in the next edition of a periodical.
• All the stories are carefully edited, and the e-books checked for formatting issues. While many great e-books have been self-published over the past couple of years, the absence of agents and editors in their traditional gatekeeper roles have inevitably meant a deluge of poorly written and formatted e-books.
• In addition to the free sample facility provided by e-book retailers such as Amazon, Greyhart Press always provides a selection of complete e-books for free. This helps to introduce readers to new authors.
• Greyhart Press champions a philosophy of traditional storytelling and clear writing style encapsulated in The Real Story Manifesto. This gives readers confidence that Greyhart Press stories will be written in a style that is accessible to the mainstream of science fiction, horror, and fantasy lovers, without being ’dumbed down'.

Background
• Amazon reports that Kindle e-books outsold paperbacks in 2010 Q4 – The Daily Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/amazon/8288204/Amazon-Kindle-ebooks-outsell-paperbacks.html)
• Sales to date of iPads and iPhones are 120 million – Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone )
• Sales of eReader devices in 2009/10 were 15 million - IDC (http://www.idc.com/about/viewpressrelease.jsp?containerId=prUS22737611§ionId=null&elementId=null&pageType=SYNOPSIS)
• Internet forum posters complain about poorly written and badly formatted self-published e-books. (For example a Google search on the terms 'ebook poor formatting' returns 10.5 million results http://www.google.com/search?q=ebook+poor+formatting )

About Greyhart Press
Greyhart Press was established in April 2011 by Tim C. Taylor. It sells science fiction, horror, and fantasy e-books through retailers such as amazon.com, Smashwords, and Apple iBookstore.
It specialises in short stories, novelettes and novellas (reading time of approximately twenty minutes to three hours), with an initial catalogue of eight stories which will be extended rapidly. A selection of complete stories are always made available for free.
For more information, visit http://www.greyhartpress.com/

About Tim C. Taylor
When Tim C. Taylor was made redundant in February 2011, a consequence of the global recession, his co-workers gave him a Kindle as a parting gift. He soon saw this presented an exciting new opportunity. So after twenty years writing and managing software releases for a FTSE 100 company, Tim now does much the same thing with fiction as a writer, publisher, and freelance e-book designer. His short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies over the past decade, most recently in books by NewCon Press.

For more information, visit http://www.timctaylor.com/

###

If you would like more information on this topic, contact Tim by e-mailing: editors@greyhartpress.com

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Ian Whates interviewed by Keith Brooke

Ian Whates, group leader and very busy man, is interviewed by Keith Brooke over at his site.  Some good questions and we find out about Ian's working day and how he got his start on the writing ladder.

http://keithbrooke.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/ian-whates-interviewed/

Thursday 14 April 2011

"Further Conflicts", from NewCon Press

Edited by Ian Whates

To be launched in April at Illustrious: Eastercon 2011. This year’s convention is themed on military SF. Following the success of Conflicts, launched at last year’s Eastercon and NewCon Press’ single most successful title to date, it seemed churlish not to explore the theme further. The new anthology therefore takes some familiar elements from the first book and mixes in radically different ones, both in terms of contributors and approach. So we welcome back Andy Remic, Eric Brown and Gareth L Powell from Conflicts, the latter two providing stand-alone stories set in the same universe as their Conflicts stories. To these we add ten exciting new contributors, bringing you:

• A gritty view of a beleaguered army unit fighting a very alien war and mourning one of their own;
• The chilling fate of those crewing a Russian ice submarine in a dystopian world;
• A view inside the powder-keg environment of an alien prison installation;
• The experiences of a war artist in a disturbingly plausible future;
• A Welsh pub under siege in wholly unexpected fashion;
• A warrior returning home from galactic conflict only to face his greatest ever challenge;
• Ridgeway school, which must somehow survive attack by the dreaded Harvesters;
• A missionary doctor harbouring an alien fugitive against all advice and reason…

And much, much more…

1. Introduction – Ian Whates
2. The Wake – Dan Abnett
3. Unaccounted – Lauren Beukes
4. The War Artist – Tony Ballantyne
5. The Harvest – Kim Lakin-Smith
6. Brwydr Am Ryddid – Stephen Palmer
7. The New Ships – Gareth L Powell
8. The Soul of the Machine – Eric Brown
9. Occupation – Colin Harvey
10. Extraordinary Rendition – Steve Longworth
11. Yakker Snak – Andy Remic
12. The Legend of Sharrock – Philip Palmer
13. The Ice Submarine – Adam Roberts
14. Welcome Home, Jannisary – Tim C Taylor
15. About the Authors

Available as an A5 paperback plus:
Dust-jacketed hardback, limited to just 150 copies, each individually numbered and signed by all contributors.

Price:
Paperback: 9.99
Signed Limited Hardback 19.99

New from NewCon Press (and featuring NSFWG members)

At the forthcoming EasterCon (22nd - 25th April 2011), NewCon Press is publishing two new collections.

Fables From The Fountain, edited by Ian Whates, contains all original stories (featuring many of today’s top genre writers) written as homage to Arthur C. Clarke’s Tales from the White Hart.

It features many of today’s top genre writers, including Neil Gaiman, Charles Stross, Stephen Baxter, James Lovegrove, Liz Williams, Adam Roberts, Eric Brown, Ian Watson, Peter Crowther, and David Langford

The Fountain is a traditional London pub situated in Holborn, just off Chancery Lane, where Michael, the landlord, serves excellent real ales and dodgy ploughman’s, ably assisted by barmaids Sally and Bogna. In the Paradise bar, a group of friends - scientists, writers and genre fans – meet regularly on a Tuesday night to swap anecdotes, reveal wondrous events from their past, tell tall tales, talk of classified invention and, maybe, just maybe, save the world…

1. Introduction – Peter Weston
2. No Smoke without Fire – Ian Whates
3. Transients – Stephen Baxter
4. Forever Blowing Bubbles – Ian Watson
5. On the Messdecks of Madness – Paul Graham Raven
6. The Story Bug – James Lovegrove
7. “And Weep Like Alexander” – Neil Gaiman
8. The Ghost in the Machine – Colin Bruce
9. The Hidden Depths of Bogna – Liz Williams
10. A Bird in Hand – Charles Stross
11. In Pursuit of the Chuchunaa – Eric Brown
12. The Cyberseeds – Steve Longworth
13. Feathers of the Dinosaur – Henry Gee
14. Book Wurms – Andy West
15. The Pocklington Poltergeist – David Langford
16. The Last Man in Space – Andrew J Wilson
17. A Multiplicity of Phaedra Lament – Peter Crowther
18. The Girl With the White Ant Tattoo – Tom Hunter
19. The 9,000,000,001st Name of God – Adam Roberts
20. About the Authors

2011 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Arthur C Clarke Award. This volume is produced in part to raise funds for the Award, which lost its sponsor last year due to the closure of Sir Arthur’s publishing company.

Available as an A5 paperback plus:
Dust-jacketed hardback, limited to just 200 copies, each individually numbered and signed by all the authors.

Paperback: 9.99
Signed Limited Hardback 29.99

http://newconpress.co.uk/news/fables-from-the-fountain-launch

Tuesday 12 April 2011

British Fantasy Society longlist nominations - 2011

The longlist of nominations for the British Fantasy Society Awards were published yesterday and, in one way or another, the Northampton SF Writers Group was represented.

Ian Whates’ novel, ‘City Of Dreams And Nightmares’ (Angry Robot) is up for Best Novel

Mark West’s story ‘The City In The Rain’ appears in the nominated anthology “Where The Heart Is” (edited by Gary Fry for Gray Friar Press)

Two NewCon Press anthologies had stories nominated -
‘Fool’s Gold’ by Sam Stone, which appeared in “The Bitten Word”
‘Harmony In My Head’ by Rosanne Rabinowitz, which appeared in “Conflicts”

In addition - and I know he’s not a member of the group, but he’s been very supportive of it in the past and he’s a genuinely nice man - Alan Moore shared a nomination for BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC - Neonomicon – Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows – Avatar

The full long-list can be found here and good luck to those nominated

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEhyMFVVZ3JzTUh4S0JKM2JxYzdQY3c6MQ#gid=0

Sunday 10 April 2011

Mark West interviewed at Ginger Nuts Of Horror

NSFWG member Mark West has been interviewed over at the Ginger Nuts Of Horror website, ranging from the start of his writing, right through to "Conjure" and his artwork for the Alt-Dead anthology.

The interview can be read here - http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com/2011/04/mark-west-interview.html

Friday 25 March 2011

Andy West has a new story out...

NSFWG member Andy West has a story in just-released anthology “Matters Most Extraordinary: Superheroes Throughout History”. It can be downloaded as a PDF from this link - it’s free and very good quality.

The publisher is quite new to the market, so any feedback to the website would be welcome and the book has a good cross-section of author experience (from brand new to published novelists).

Why not check it out?

Thursday 17 March 2011

Interview up

An interview with Ian Whates has just been posted up at the Fantasy Literature site. Click the link to read.

http://www.fantasyliterature.com/author-interviews/ian-whates/

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Honorable Mention

Congratulations to group member Donna Scott, who received an ‘Honorable Mention’ from Ellen Datlow for “Lord Of The Lyceum” (which appeared in “The Bitten Word”).

Great news - and we’re all envious!

http://www.facebook.com/notes/ellen-datlow/honorable-mentions-best-horror-of-the-year-volume-three-part-2/10150123885278656

Thursday 3 March 2011

City Of Hope & Despair, by Ian Whates

Congratulations are due to Ian Whates, whose novel City of Hope & Despair hits the shelves today from those good folk at Angry Robot.




THEY CALL IT THE CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS.
The ancient city of Thaiburley is a vast, multi-tiered metropolis, where the poor live in the City Below, and Demons are said to dwell in the Upper Heights.
The street-nick Tom must find the source of the great river Thair and perhaps learn the secret of his own strange powers…
The assassin Dewar must redeem himself…
The Prime Master desperately seeks the cure for bone flu – a mysterious and deadly malady that is striking down the talented in Thaiburley’s highest Rows…
Kat, the renegade nick, forms an uneasy alliance with her sister Charveve, and the two lead the Tattooed Men through the dark streets of the City Below in search of the Soul Thief: the evil monster that murdered their mother and consigned both girls to the gladitorial hellhole known as the Pits…
Welcome back to Thaiburley, the City of 100 Rows, the City of Dreams… where the nightmare has only just begun…

Available from Amazon (on this link) and all good bookshops, online and brick & mortar!

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Shoes, Ships and Cadavers

Shoes, Ships and Cadavers
Tales from North Londonshire

The Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group
Introduction by Alan Moore


Northampton:
A town that sits at the heart of England. A town that has played host to kings, saints, parliament, public hangings, and hot air balloons. A place steeped in history, laden with mystery, and bursting with wonders just waiting to be realised.

Let us be your guides...

“The writers represented in Shoes, Ships & Cadavers: Tales from North Londonshire have crafted visions of the town that are distinct and separate, covering a generous and sweeping arc of this tiny and yet deceptively expansive area of spacetime… I read this in a single sitting, something that I can’t remember managing with an anthology for a considerable while. I don’t expect to read a book this year that is more personally satisfying or a greater cause for optimism. Passionately recommended.” – Alan Moore, from his introduction.

Twelve tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and Horror
Established in 2002, the NSFWG exists to enable local writers of genre fiction to learn their trade and hone their skills. The group includes both established novelists and exciting new talents. This volume features twelve original stories set in Northampton and acts as a showcase for their work.

Available as a limited edition (of just 50) dust-jacketed hardback, and an A5 sized paperback.
12 stories, 256 pages, 80,000 words of intrigue, humour, magic, terror and conjecture.

Paperback edition: £9.99 (ISBN: 978-1-907069-18-5)
Hardback edition: £15.99 (ISBN: 978-1-907069-16-1)

Available to pre-order at: www.newconpress.co.uk

Full contents:

1. Introduction – Alan Moore
2. A Walk of Solace with my Dead Baby – Ian Watson
3. Lifeline – Susan Sinclair
4. These Boots weren’t Made for Walking – Ian Whates
5. Mano Mart – Andy West
6. What we Sometimes do without Thinking – Mark West
7. Arthur the Witch – Donna Scott
8. Goethe’s Wig – Steve Longworth
9. The Old Man of Northampton and the Sea – Sarah Pinborough
10. The Last Economy – Paul Melhuish
11. Hanging Around – Neil K Bond
12. I Won the Earth Evacuation Lottery – Tim Taylor
13. The Tower – Nigel Edwards
14. About the Authors