Pendragon Press

After meetings upon meetings with my marketing department, accounts, and the tea-lady (not to mention several e-mails with the web-buy, Ariel) I can now safely saw the new-look, totally revamped Pendragon Press website is now live, and you can see it here: www.pendragonpress.net

The .co.uk address will slowly be phased out, with everything being done via the .net address - therefore, don't forget to update your bookmarks. In fact, I'll probably be doing most of my news items on the actual site since it's using a Wordpress platform, therefore this Livejournal will be used sparingly - but will still be used.

In other news, don't forget to pop into Ye Olde Cock Pub if you happen to find yourself in Central London tomorrow evening for the British Fantasy Society Open Night - there I will be launching Tony Richards' brand new collection, No-Man and Other Tales. Tony will be in attendance and will be signing books...

Hope to see some of you there, then.

TTFN.

That oh-so good free PDF e-zine The Hub has a new review in the current issue (this is the direct link to the PDF file), and it cannot be faulted, "... the cover price seems, at first glance, a little on the high side, but the quality of the work makes New Writings worth every penny... quite possibly the most important anthology [..] to be published this year. Buy it."

And who am I to disagree? Buy it here and here - go on, it would make a perfect Christmas present.

In other news, the new revamped is progressing well - should be live early next month - unfortunately though it will mean a change to your bookmarks. More news soon.

Also, I should be picking up the first print run of Tony Richards' collection No-Man and Other Tales. This is pretty good with pre-order sales, and only those pre-ordered will be signed (unless of course you can make the launch), and the special pre-order price will only be valid until the new site goes live, so... buy it at the Pendragon website... now-ish.

Over at a new e-zine - Serendipity - a new review of John Grant's New Writings in the Fantastic has been posted (courtesy of David Hebblethwaite). Good or bad, you cannot fault a review when it's been well written - in this case, it's a damn good review:

"Grant has succeeded in showcasing a diverse range of work and demonstrating the power of fantastic fiction; but his personal vision for the anthology is also clear, and the book is all the more valuable for that."

Buy it from amazon or direct here (if you're in the US or Canada and order from one of my American distributors, then their copies are crossing the the 'lantic as I write...)

Just accepted a new short story collection from Gary McMahon that features the character of Usher who appeared in the story "Hum Drum" (from The First Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories). I read the stand-out tale from the collection - "The Other Tenants" - a 12,000 word novelette last night which is just brilliant.

Unfortunately, this collection won't be available until 2009 - so, plenty of time to save up the shekels.

Also, delivered the print-ready PDF files for Tony Richards' No-Man and Other Tales to the printer ready in time for the launch at the BFS Open Night next month.

In addition, the new site revamp is going ahead...

First he wins The BFS Best Novella for his contribution ("Kid") in Choices, now he has become the recipient of an International Horror Guild award for Mid-Length Fiction - and thoroughly deserved.

Paul is without doubt one of the best practitioners of writing horror in the UK, which makes the very fact he's never been selected for Best New Horror the more, well, shocking.

Courtesy of SF Crowsnest - decidely mixed, though in his defence the reviewer stated he prefers the more sf-orientated tale (and does name-check a handful of those) in the anthology, but any book with so many stories to choose from then you're bound to not like all.

Anyway, here's a choice quote, "If you're border-line between both genres [fantasy/sf], this might actually affirm which side you belong."

Go on, buy a copy - Christmas is just around the corner... unfortunately. ;-)

I've just received a link to the WIP of the re-designed Pendragon Press site and have to say that Ariel has, in just a couple of days, totally un-done five/six years of DIY/self-taught web-design. The cad! ;-)

Anyway, will be spending the next couple of days playing around with it - luckily enough I know a little about Wordpress from the Triquorum site but this... mind you, I do like fiddling and tinkering.

Oooerrr, matron.

That's me practicising my market trader voice... ;-)

I've been offered a stall tomorrow in Bridgend town centre during their Hallowe'en festival, which I'm also sharing with Steve Upham of Screaming Dreams.

Not sure how the day will go - hopefully it won't rain! - since a general stall is completely different to a Convention, but since it's not costing me anything then any sale will be a bonus.

It would be nice to be inundated by genre-hungry readers starved of quality fiction because the sf selection in the local Smiths is pretty paltry, but I doubt it...

Anyway, one mustn't grumble and it's more experience of "hand-selling" which I'm severely lacking - just take one look at Roy Gray of Interzone.

In other news, still typesetting Tony Richards' collection - though the artwork is done and on it's way to me; my time this week though has been curtailed by extra-curricular video-editing work. Sometimes it's quite a chore to be only IT literate bod within the extended family...

Mind you, I do enjoy putting together the odd family video - makes you wonder how complex a job it must be for  Thelma Schoonmaker to put together the likes of Goodfellas or Cape Fear (and editing can make or break a film, if you ask me!)

... but this fucking depresses me: five-book deal for Coleen McLoughlin. And she doesn't even have to write a single one.

Perhaps I need to sign up a Z-list celeb and put his/her name to a forthcoming book, then maybe it will sell squillions of copies and then I can plough the money back into business, go full-time and publish more worthy titles.

Anyone know a Z-list celeb going cheap? :'(

... for Gary McMahon's superb novella Rough Cut, courtesy of Peter Coady and published in All Hallow's 43, "... a speedy pace... [with] an impressive range of horror tropes... [and] ticks all the boxes for early 21st century horror... tension, plenty of violence, a strong sexual element, and a highly fashionable atmosphere of blasphemy and hopelessness... [and] delivers exactly what it promises."

And you can still buy it from amazon and shocklines: go on, treat yourself. :-)