Ira Nayman

This novel follows the first case for Noomi Rapier, rookie investigator with The Transdimensional Authority: the organization that regulates travel between dimensions. Noomi and Crash Chumley must find a dead man's accomplices and discover what they were planning to do with a modified transdimensional machine.

Sorry for the Inconvenience

Welcome to the Multiverse

Amazing Stories, the home of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, publisher of the first stories of Ursula K. Leguin and Isaac Asimov, is back in print after an absence of more than a decade! This relaunch of the iconic first science fiction magazine is packed full of exciting science fiction, fantasy, and articles, all in a beautiful package featuring eye-catching illustrations and cartoons. The Amazing Stories Fall 2018 issue (the 614th issue since 1926) includes work by: Robert Silverberg Jack Clemons Allen Steele Lawrence Watt-Evans Rudy Rucker Dave Creek Shirley Meier Kameron Hurley Julie Czerneda Paul Levinson Drew Hayden Taylor Gary Dalkin Steve Fahnestalk Continuing a 92-year history - Amazing Stories returns as a print and digital publication!

Amazing Stories Fall/WorldCon 2018 Edition

John Gribbin

Christopher G. Nuttall

Steve Harrison

Douglas Thompson

Rhys Hughes

Sanem Ozdural

Peter Wolfe

Tej Turner

Robin Moran

Tanya Reimer

Dave Weaver

Peter R. Ellis

Susan Oke

J.A. Christy

Edwin Hayward

Stefan Jackson

Andy McKell

Siobhan McVeigh

Chloe Skye

The title, Existence is Elsewhen, paraphrases the last sentence of André Breton’s 1924 Manifesto of Surrealism, perfectly summing up the intent behind this anthology of stories from a wonderful collection of authors. Different worlds… different times. It’s what Elsewhen Press has been about since we launched our first title in 2011. Here, we present twenty science fiction stories for you to enjoy. We are delighted that headlining this collection is the fantastic John Gribbin, with a worrying vision of medical research in the near future. Future global healthcare is the theme of J A Christy’s story; while the ultimate in spare part surgery is where Dave Weaver takes us. Edwin Hayward’s search for a renewable protein source turns out to be digital; and Tanya Reimer’s story with characters we think we know, gives us pause for thought about another food we take for granted. Evolution is examined too, with Andy McKell’s chilling tale of what states could become if genetics are used to drive policy. Similarly, Robin Moran’s story explores the societal impact of an undesirable evolutionary trend; while Douglas Thompson provides a truly surreal warning of an impending disaster that will reverse evolution, with dire consequences. On a lighter note, we have satire from Steve Harrison discovering who really owns the Earth (and why); and Ira Nayman, who uses the surreal alternative realities of his Transdimensional Authority series as the setting for a detective story mash-up of Agatha Christie and Dashiel Hammett. Pursuing the crime-solving theme, Peter Wolfe explores life, and death, on a space station; while Stefan Jackson follows a police investigation into some bizarre cold-blooded murders in a cyberpunk future. Going into the past, albeit an 1831 set in the alternate Britain of his Royal Sorceress series, Christopher G. Nuttall reports on an investigation into a girl with strange powers. Strange powers in the present-day is the theme for Tej Turner, who tells a poignant tale of how extra-sensory perception makes it easier for a husband to bear his dying wife’s last few days. Difficult decisions are the theme of Chloe Skye’s heart-rending story exploring personal sacrifice. Relationships aren’t always so close, as Susan Oke’s tale demonstrates, when sibling rivalry is taken to the limit. Relationships are the backdrop to Peter R. Ellis’s story where a spectacular mid-winter event on a newly-colonised distant planet involves a Madonna and Child. Coming right back to Earth and in what feels like an almost imminent future, Siobhan McVeigh tells a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of using technology to deflect the blame for their actions. Building on the remarkable setting of Pera from her LiGa series, and developing Pera’s legendary Book of Shadow, Sanem Ozdural spins the creation myth of the first light tree in a lyrical and poetic song. Also exploring language, the master of fantastika and absurdism, Rhys Hughes, extrapolates the way in which language changes over time, with an entertaining result.

Existence is Elsewhen

What were once miracles are now children's toys

Step into new worlds and read news dispatches from the Alternate Reality News Service, which regularly gets the scoop on The Associated Press, Reuters and the rest of the competition. In a series of articles written by the wire service's handpicked reporters, you'll read satirical reports that give glimpses into the relationship between humanity, technology and Robert Novak's eyebrows. Who would have ever thought that an intelligent undershirt could be the key witness in a murder trial? Or that a man could possibly be sued by his lover for not lying about himself online? Or that a computer chip could be implanted into the brains of criminals so that every time they thought about committing a heinous deed, they sang a show tune? If this is all news to you, then you must not be a subscriber. By changing that, you can read about all the above and more, including: How journalists can be retrieved from an alternate reality How you, too, can become an Alternate Reality News Service reporter The origin of the company And much more! Just open the cover and start reading. It's time to accept that Alternate Reality Ain't What It Used to Be.

Alternate Reality Ain't What It Used to Be

Marie Brennan

Nancy Kress

Garth Nix

Candas Jane Dorsey

Jeremy Szal

Barbara Hambly

James Alan Gardner

Jeffrey A. Carver

Tim Pratt

Carrie Vaughn

Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Kelley Armstrong

David D. Levine

Helen Dale

Lisa Kessler

Susan Forest

Edward Savio

Adria Laycraft

S.M. Stirling

Matthew Hughes

Heli Kennedy

Lisa Foiles

Explore twenty-four imaginative tales crafted by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its second year, and including several international bestsellers and winners of every major award in the field, as well as newer authors just beginning what promise to be stellar careers. A woman seeking the power to see the evil hiding within others regrets receiving it. Letters written by a wizard in the past threaten a queen’s reign in the present. Competing for Earth, a human wrestler faces an alien shapeshifter in an interstellar tournament. A guide in Tibet must weigh the good of his people when asked to lead a westerner to the fabled realm of Shangri. An activist imprisoned for illegal genetic modification works with the materials at hand and the threads of the multiverse to make the world—a world, at least—a better place. A demonic agent sent to help a human turns the tables on his summoner. Like the “cabinets of curiosities” created by collectors of the sixteenth century, Shapers of Worlds Volume II displays a varied array of thought-provoking delights: tales of humour and sorrow, darkness and light, and hope and despair that are full of adventure, full of life, and sometimes full of regret. There are stories set in alternate histories, in possible futures, near and far, and in the here-and-now, taking place on Earth, on distant planets, or in fantastic realms. All arise from the innate need of human beings to create, to imagine . . . to shape worlds. Praise for Shapers of Worlds Volume I: “One of the most wide-ranging volumes I’ve encountered in terms of sub-genre. It’s rather like a speculative fiction buffet, offering steampunk, fantasy, military fiction, magic, space opera, post-apocalyptic, hard science fiction, and others . . . Inventive and varied, the collection has a lot to offer for those seeking an interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.” – Lisa Timpf, The Future Fire

Science fiction & fantasy by authors featured on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers

Shapers of Worlds Volume II

In the fifth novel in Ira Nayman’s Multiverse series (aka the Transdimensional Authority series, which is misleading because book four in the series was mostly about the Time Agency – honestly, if you blinked, you would have missed the appearance of the Transdimensional Authority, and if you didn’t blink, well, Elsewhen Press accepts no responsibility for the cost of the surgery to rehydrate your eyes), we once again follow the intricate web of events that unfold in a Transdimensional Authority investigation (oh! – so we could have stayed with the other series name after all – it’s not easy keeping track when these sentences can be the size of a Sherman tank!). Why would someone, apparently chosen at random, have their consciousness swapped with someone else in another reality? How would someone, apparently chosen at random, have their consciousness swapped with someone else in another reality? Why would another three persons, apparently chosen at random, have their consciousness swapped with three other someone elses in another reality? Why would the entire bridge crew of a starship, apparently… well, you get the picture. What will happen to all these very confused people? How does the Alternate Reality News Service get scoops on these events so quickly? Why are their reporters acting so dodgy – do they have something to hide, or just issues? Who are the Pops, and can they help? Does the editor know what’s going on, and if she does would she even tell Noomi (our favourite TA investigator)? What was that noise from her office when Noomi was ‘interviewing’ her? Why am I asking you these questions when you haven’t even read the story yet? Or have you? Why are you reading this blurb if you’ve already read the story? Are you looking for an alternate reality, or just alternative facts? This is fiction you know, we tell it like it is. If you want alternative facts you better try a news service...or a politician. Oh, and if you’re looking for a news service, you could always consider the Alternate Reality News Service.

A Transdimensional Authority novel

The Multiverse is a Nice Place to Visit, But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There

It’s just another day in the Transdimensional Authority, with teams of investigators doing what they do best (well, after breakdancing) – investigating. Bob Blunt is en route through a Dimensional Portal™ to Earth prime 4-7-5-0-0-7 dash iota to investigate cars exhibiting most uncarlike behaviours – ribbit! (Breaking all of the Transdimensional Authority rules…number 127, he is without his partner, ‘Breakfront’ Balboa, who is on leave after an unfortunate incident with the Vulvar Ambassador to Earth Prime and a staple gun). Beau Beaumont and Biff Buckley have already arrived on Earth Prime 5-9-2-7-7-1 dash theta to find themselves surrounded by machines whose only intention is to serve human masters – even if it kills them! Recently recruited TA investigator Noomi Rapier, with her partner ‘Crash’ Chumley, is on Earth Prime 6-4-7-5-0-6 dash theta where all matter at all levels of organisation (from sub-atomic particles to the universe itself) has become conscious. Meanwhile Barack Bowens and Blabber Begbie, taking the Dimensional DeLorean™ to Earth prime 4-6-3-0-2-9 dash omicron, face multiple apocalypses (already in progress), and Bertrand Blailock and Bao Bai-Leung are having trouble travelling to their intended destination: the home of the digital gods. At first, they all appear to be looking for unauthorised and probably counterfeit Home Universe Generator™s, but could what’s really happening be more sinister? (Yes. Yes, it could. We wouldn’t want to leave you in suspense…)

But You Can Mess With its Head

You Can't Kill the Multiverse

This hilarious science-fiction comedy novel follows the first case for Noomi Rapier, rookie investigator with The Transdimensional Authority - the organisation that regulates travel between dimensions. When a dead body is found slumped over a modified transdimensional machine, Noomi and her more experienced partner, Crash Chumley, must find the dead man's accomplices and discover what they were doing with the technology. Their investigation leads them to a variety of realities where Noomi comes face-to-face with four very different incarnations of herself, forcing her to consider how the choices she makes and the circumstances into which she is born determine who she is. Ira Nayman's new novel is both an hilarious romp through multiple dimensions in a variety of alternate realities, and a gentle satire on fate, ambition and expectation. Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience) will appeal to comedy fans who have been bereft of much good science-fiction fare these last eleven years. Ira's style is at times surreal, even off-the-wall, with the humour flying at you from unexpected angles; he describes it as fractal humour. Anyone who has read his Alternate Reality News Service stories will know how funny Ira is. The characters we meet from around the multiverse deserve to become firm favourites with all fans of science fiction comedy.

Sorry for the inconvenience

If you don't read "Luna for the Lunies!," you will miss the following: This is the future: an Apple Records logo stamped on the cheek of humanity...forever. Proper attribution format in news articles must be maintained. This is what separates us from the animals! When everybody looks like they are starving, true starvation becomes kitsch. "Have we learned nothing from the GEU UME?" "Y"' ''''d't ''''''' h'' b'' '' ca' g''," v'' W'''y s'''. "I doubleplusunhate you. I doubleplusunhate you with all my heart!" "As we say in the company's executive colouring book: Extremism in the pursuit of violent vices is no liberty." After you've slept with a comedian, there are no depths to which people won't believe you can sink. "As happy as a herd of flutzes. Trips off the tongue, doesn't it?" Of course, you won't miss any of this because you just read it. Here. In the description of the book. But, you will miss other things that are almost as good. Like, context. So...there.

Luna for the Lunies!

Not All Alarm Bells Are In Your Head At the end of You Can’t Kill the Multiverse (But You Can Mess With its Head), Doctor Alhambra, the chief scientist of the Transdimensional Authority, set up an alarm to warn him if a universe is succumbing to the universe-killing machine that is at the heart of the story. But how would the Transdimensional Authority respond if that alarm went off? In Good Intentions, the first book in the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy, but also the sixth Transdimensional Authority novel, we find out. In the process we not only meet the most unusual refugees in fiction (probably), learn what Noomi Rapier’s brother does (and with whom), revisit Dingle Dell, and finally discover what happened to chapter seventeen of The Multiverse is a Nice Place to Visit But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There. Visit bit.ly/GoodIntentions-IraNayman Cover artwork by Hugh Spencer

The Multiverse Refugees Trilogy: The First Pie in the Face

Good Intentions

The McDruhitmumpf presidency ends pretty much the way it began: with criminality, gaslighting and so much chaos you could bake a wedding cake from it. Nobody saw the insurrection coming, but everybody agreed that, in retrospect, it was inevitable. Retrospect teaches us hard lessons. Bastard retrospect. Not that the Reduhblicans were resting on their...whatever the opposite of laurels is. They worked hard to deny incoming Dumbopratic President Joe Bidenhisbeeswax a smooth transition. Or, any legislative accomplishments. Or, a pleasant lunch. Petty? Sure. But, you don't get to exercise power by being magnanimous, and, anyway, "pleasant lunch" is not an item on the Capitol Cafeteria menu.In the fifth and final book in the Vesampucceri series (I know I've said that before, but...but...but...SHUT UP!), President Ronald McDruhitmumpf may be gone, but his influence malingers on. And, maybe he isn't even really that gone. Chaos abides...

We're NOT Sorry for the Inconvenience

Welcome to the Insurrection

Think back to a time in your life that you made a decision that you now regret. Oh, don’t be so coy – everybody has one. Okay, maybe not Mother Teresa. Or, Bruce Springsteen. But, unless you’re Mother Teresa or Bruce Springsteen – and we’re pretty sure you’re not – you have been in that position. What if you could go back in time and change that decision? What if you could make the other choice? Or, even better, choose a third option that you didn’t even see at the time? Wouldn’t you like to know how things would have turned out if only you had done something different at that critical juncture in your life? DON’T BOTHER. Have you never read any science fiction time travel stories? Don’t you know that they always end with either dinosaurs becoming the dominant species on the planet or your grandfather killing Hitler, causing you to be born with a speech impediment and an irrational fear of listening to Born in the USA? Time branches are not something you can borrow books from – they are paths to realities that you couldn’t anticipate and don’t want to live in, and just try to get a decent corned beef on rye in any of them! In Random Dingoes, the third Transdimensional Authority novel by Ira Nayman, investigators Noomi Rapier and Crash Chumley look into reports of a drug that allows people to travel between universes without technological assistance. They methodically work their way up the drug ring’s chain of command and are just about to arrest its leader when – time travel happens. With the assistance of Time Agency agent Radames Trafshanian, Noomi and Crash must navigate realities they hadn’t anticipated and which they wouldn’t want to live in. But, can they find a decent corned beef on rye? You’ll have to read Random Dingoes to find out!

Random Dingoes

Ira Nayman

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