Synopsis
NewCon Press are proud to present a long overdue new collection (his first since 2006’s The Butterflies of Memory) from one of Britain’s most influential and creative writers – in any genre, let alone science fiction. Fifteen previously uncollected stories personally selected by the author, each accompanied by comments regarding their inspiration. The collection is introduced by Adam Roberts, who takes the opportunity to assess Ian’s entire oeuvre. A must-read for anyone who enjoys high quality, thought-provoking fiction.

1. Introduction by Adam Roberts
2. The Walker in the Cemetery
3. Cages
4. Weredog of Bucharest
5. Palm Sunday
6. Some Fast Thinking Needed
7. The Globe of the Genius
8. Nadia’s Nectar
9. Dee-Dee and the Dumpy Dancers (with Mike Allen)
10. Nose For Such Things
11. Long Stay
12. Bohemian Rhapsody
13. Tales From the Zombible
14. A Waterfall of Lights
15. A Walk of Solace with my Dead Baby
16. Saving for a Sunny Day

“He writes a heady, zest-filled prose that whips up a froth of speculation about anthropology and linguistics, topology, structuralism and astrophysics…” J.G. Ballard

Saving for a Sunny Day will be published as a special signed hardback edition, limited to just 100 copies, and as an A5 paperback.

Launched April 6th, 2012. 304 pages.

Signed Limited Edition Hardback: £19.99
Paperback: £9.99

Synopsis
A return to NewCon Press’ tradition of offering an exciting blend of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror; a set of stories that traverses genre boundaries, linked only by their common source of inspiration. Contributors were given just those two words: ‘Dark Currents’ and then asked to write whatever story the phrase inspired. The result is a dazzling blend of exciting fictions, from haunted seascapes to distant starscapes, from reality-hopping soldiers in a surreal war to naval battles in the ether, from the deeply poignant to breathless excitement and back again, delving into the very undercurrents of life… come and immerse yourself in the depths of Dark Currents.

1. Introduction by Ian Whates
2. The Fall of Lady Sealight – Adrian Tchaikovsky
3. The Age of Entitlement – Adam Nevill
4. Electrify Me – Tricia Sullivan
5. Alternate Currents – Rod Rees
6. The Barricade – Nina Allan
7. Things that Are Here Now – Andrew Hook
8. Loose Connections – Finn Clarke
9. Sleepless in R’lyeh – Lavie Tidhar
10. Damnation Seize my Soul – Jan Edwards
11. Home – Emma Coleman
12. A Change in the Weather – Rebecca J Payne
13. Bells Ringing Under the Sea – Sophia McDougall
14. In Tauris – Una McCormack
15. Lost Sheep – Neil Williamson
16. The Bleeding Man – Aliette de Bodard
17. George – V.C. Linde

Published April 2012

Available as an A5 paperback and a signed hardback limited to just 100 numbered copies

Price:
Paperback £9.99
Signed Limited Hardback £19.99

Synopsis
By Andy West

In a distant future, human form has diversified into several races that are very different from the Elten – the original humans. On a largely tamed Venus, two such races struggle for survival and supremacy. The robotic, pacifist Aumons find themselves ever more suppressed by the exuberant, vital and exotic Clonir. But Arkhend, a new arrival at the Aumon’s Southern Arc, has first-hand experience of their enemy and is determined that the Brotherhood should not sink quietly into extinction but rather rouse themselves in defiance of the Clonir before it’s too late…

One of science fictions most exciting new voices, Andy West was runner up (along with Nina Allan) in the BSFA’s short story competition a couple of years ago. He has gone on to have short fiction published in a number of webzines and anthologies and now NewCon Press is proud to present this, his first published novel.

The novel is available as a signed and numbered hardback, limited to just 50 copies, and as an A5 paperback.

Price:
Paperback £9.99
Signed Limited Hardback £19.99

Synopsis
By Trevor Jones and Liz Williams

Illustrations by Arthur Billington

In 2005, fantasy and SF author extraordinaire Liz Williams took the plunge, moving from her beloved Brighton to Glastonbury to live with her partner, Trevor Jones. Trevor ran a witchcraft shop. Liz’s life would never be the same again…

“When you find yourself on a London platform shouting into your mobile, ‘We haven’t got enough demons! Do you want me to order some more?’ as folk quietly edge away from you – you know you’re running a witchcraft shop.”

Full of amusing anecdotes and witty observations, Diary of a Witchcraft Shop is a delight, and Trevor Jones and Liz Williams the most congenial of hosts. If Bill Bryson ever decided to settle down embrace paganism and open a witchcraft shop, this is surely the sort of book that would result.

On taking tea:
“A young woman has just bounced (and I mean BOUNCED, like Tigger) into the shop and announced that she is part of a Christian youth camp and could she bless me by buying me a tea?
Why certainly! They have apparently been sent out to do good in the community, and if this means buying teas for knackered hard-working witches, then well and good. I offered her a bag of rose petals in return blessing but she was unsure and declined.”

Yet Diary of a Witchcraft Shop is far more than just an amusing romp. The book offers a glimpse into the pagan world, one that isn’t sensationalist or melodramatic but is instead considered and intelligent, while providing insight into the unique community that is Glastonbury.

The narrative is bursting with surprise, delight and humour, but also has its darker moments, as we share twelve months in the company of Liz and Trevor, complete with visits to the Houses of Parliament, Ireland, and Brittany, not to mention Shetland ponies interrupting druidic ritual and a Tardis manifesting in the most unlikely of places… No, this isn’t fiction, honestly.

Available as an A5 paperback, plus a limited edition of 50 hardbacks signed by both authors.

Price:
Paperback (ISBN: 978-1-907069-32-1) £7.99
Signed Limited Hardback (ISBN: 978-1-907069-31-4) £15.99

Synopsis

Cyber Circus

by Kim Lakin-Smith

Going to the circus will never be the same again…

Hellequin, last of the HawkEye military elite, is desperate to escape the legacy of Soul Food, the miraculous plant food that leeched the soil, destroyed his family, and instigated a bloody civil war. For a man awaiting the inevitable madness brought on by his enforced biomorph implant, there’s only one choice. Run away with the circus…

Drifting above a poisoned landscape, Cyber Circus and her exotic acrobats and bioengineered freaks bring a welcome splash of colour into folk’s drab lives. None more so than escaped courtesan turned-dancer Desirous Nim. When Nim’s freedom and her very life are threatened, Hellequin is forced to fight again. But, even united, will the weird troupe and their strange skills be enough to save Nim and keep their home aloft? That’s assuming, of course, that Zan City’s Blood Worms, mute stowaways, or the swarms don’t manage to bring them down first…

Welcome to the greatest show on Sore Earth!

The book also features: “Black Sunday” – a free-standing but associated novelette.
A tale of desperation, incorporating drought, science, giant burrowing machines, rural magic, racial tension and sensuality in the 1930s Kansas dustbowl.

“Cyber Circus is surely beyond any previous perverse riff on a carnival set in an alternate surreality. Just beware the hallucinatory dementing seductions of Kim Lakin-Smith´s inventions. An astonishing piece of work.” — Ian Watson

‘Kim Lakin-Smith is not just the real thing she has a real way with words. Cyber Circus is as honestly brutal a twisted cybernetic love story as anything I’ve read. She makes mixing emotion with action and world building look effortless.’ — Jon Courtenay Grimwood

“Kim Lakin-Smith’s dark, lyrical prose flows towards the poetic, making you sigh with pleasure.” – Graham Joyce

Released: September 2011

ISBNs: Hardback: 978-1-907069-29-1 NCP40
Paperback: 978-1-907069-30-7 NCP41

A Special Hardback Edition, limited to 100 numbered copies, each signed by the author: £19.99
Plus, an A5 paperback edition: £9.99

Synopsis
by Liz Williams

Introduction by Tanith Lee

A collection of stories that transports the reader from the icy Mars of Winterstrike to the searing deserts of Kazakhstan; from the exotic streets of Inspector Chen’s Singapore Three to the forgotten waterways and hidden courtyards of Venice. Liz Williams writes science fiction with the rich textures of the very best fantasy, and fantasy with the sensibilities of high-end science fiction. She reveals the world around us in subtly different shades and portrays other realms with a vividness that defies doubt. A Glass of Shadow presents Liz at her best. Nineteen stories personally selected by the author, including two original to the collection; tales that delve into our psyche and investigate the fragility of the human condition, that draw aside the veils of mundane reality to reveal the hidden truths of this world and beyond.

Full content:

1. Tanith’s Intro
2. Mr De Quincy and the Daughters of Madness
3. Mr Animation and the Wu Zhiang Zombies
4. Necrochip
5. The Flower of Tekheli
6. Tycho and the Stargazer
7. Indicating the Awakening of Persons Buried Alive
8. Voivodoi
9. On Windhover Down
10. Troytown
11. Woewater
12. Blackthorn and Nettles
13. The Water Cure
14. All Fish and Dracula
15. Who Pays
16. Ikiryoh
17. The Age of Ice
18. La Malcontenta
19. Dusking
20. A Glass of Shadow

Price:
Paperback (ISBN: 978-1-907069-28-4) £9.99
Signed Limited Hardback (ISBN: 978-1-907069-27-7) £19.99

Synopsis
From modern suburbia to the baking deserts of Africa, from the foggy streets of old London to the grand homes of Antwerp, from an alternative world where vampires have ‘come out’ to vampirism among a society of sentient insects, from ravening hordes of the undead to skulking haunters of the night… Here There Be Vampires!

Seventeen original tales of vampires as you’ve never seen them before…

1. Ian Whates — Introduction
2. Simon Clark – Vampithecus
3. Kelley Armstrong – Young Bloods
4. Sarah Singleton – A Winter’s Tale
5. Gary McMahon – Those Damned Kids
6. Storm Constantine – Where the Vampires Live
7. John Kaiine – English Spoken
8. Chaz Brenchley – Hothouse Flowers
9. Nancy Kilpatrick – Traditions in Future Perfect
10. Andrew Hook – Red or White
11. Freda Warrington – Fall of the House of Blackwater
12. Tanith Lee – Taken at His Word
13. Kari Sperring – Cold Rush
14. Donna Scott – Lord of the Lyceum
15. Sam Stone – Fool’s Gold
16. Jon Courtenay Grimwood – Wuthering Bites
17. Ian Whates – The Abomination of Beauty
18. Gail Z Martin – Vanities
19. Ian Watson – My Vampire Cake*

(*Available only in the special signed limited edition)

Front cover art: John Jaiine
Back cover art: Les Edwards

A special limited edition of 150 dust-jacketed hardbacks,
individually numbered and signed by all contributing authors: £32.00
and an A5 paperback edition: £9.99 SOLD OUT

Released 26th March 2010

Synopsis
Edited by Ian Whates

A volume of all original stories written as homage to Arthur C. Clarke’s Tales from the White Hart, featuring many of today’s top genre writers.

The Fountain, 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 (from Poland).

The Fountain, in whose 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. The book will be released May 2011.

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

Price:
Paperback (ISBN: 978-1-907069-23-9) 9.99
Signed Limited Hardback (ISBN: 978-1-907069-24-6) 29.99

Synopsis
Edited by Ian Whates
Cover Art by Andy Bigwood

On a hostile alien world a crack army unit mourns one of their own, little suspecting the horror that awaits them; death stalks the classrooms of Ridgeway school as the Harvesters come to reap at will; a warrior returns home from galactic war and must face his greatest challenge knowing that victory might cost him everything; a missionary doctor harbours an alien fugitive, hiding it from its own people despite the consequences of discovery; an interrogator must break the will of a man he knows can never be swayed; a war artist realises that the murky politics of conflict can be deceptive… All this and more awaits readers within the covers of Further Conflicts

Thirteen tales of human striving, of ingenuity, brilliance, desperate action, conflict, and resolution. Thirteen tales of Science Fiction at its finest.
All stories are original to this collection.

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 a signed, dust-jacketed hardback, limited to just 150 numbered copies.

Price:

Paperback: 9.99
Hardback 19.99

Synopsis

Official Launch NewCon 5 - 9th October 2010 – Available now!

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…

“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,

Twelve tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and Horror

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 do Sometimes, 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. 10.  The Last Economy – Paul Melhuish
11. 11.  Hanging Around – Neil K Bond
12. 12.  I Won the Earth Evacuation Lottery – Tim Taylor
13. 13.  The Tower – Nigel Edwards
14. 14.  About the Authors

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 its environs 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, delight and conjecture.

eBook edition:    £3.99 – This version is in ePub format. Kindle and PDF versions will be coming soon.