Rhys Hughes

Cloud Farming in Wales

Stephen J. Clark

Chris Kelso

Helen Grant

Alison Littlewood

Leena Likitalo

Lisa L. Hannett

Rachel & Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

Colin M. Fisher

Songs of the Northern Seas 2021

Spud Gunn is the son of Hopalong Beech and Una Gunn. When his parents split up he begins his travels through the West, a place of myths, tall stories and strangeness. On his journey he has many peculiar encounters with the characters who inhabit the West and he begins to suspect that something is not quite right about the world he is living in. Could it be that this West is just a simulation? If so, for what purpose was it created? Before he finds the answer to this and other questions, he will have to evade the unusual attentions of a troupe of lethal roving actors, the schemes of fake orientals, the catastrophic effects of asteroid strikes and the fury of a giant who is one of the original gods of the West and who has been assembled from his scattered parts in order to break down the walls of existence and reveal the truths beyond.... But what does this have to do with gorillas? Rather more than it may seem to the casual eye!

The Honeymoon Gorillas

Mombasa Madrigal and Other African Escapades

Palomar, sindaco di Calvino, è davvero nei guai: della sua città rimane ormai solo lo scheletro per via di un’infestazione di... Marco Polo. Per risolvere il mistero serve un detective all’altezza. E Palomar sa quale telefono far squillare.Sampietro Mischief, il detective dell’assurdo, è tornato: dopo il furto del cielo deve vedersela contro un esercito di Marco Polo... Con Chives pronto ad aiutarlo il minimo indispensabile – i mostri domestici non brillano per generosità – il successo della missione è assicurato. Forse, ehm.Sfida ai Marco Polo: una storia con un sacco di cloni e del brandy.

Sfida ai Marco Polo

“Senza la musica, l'umanità non si sarebbe mai elevata sopra le bestie. Ne sono certo.”Non è difficile condividere l'idea che la musica sia un'esperienza estetica essenziale per l'umanità, forse proprio ciò che distingue l'uomo da ogni altra forma di vita. Il fascino che esercita su compositori, esecutori e semplici appassionati ha qualcosa di magico e misterioso. Di questo ne sarà persuaso il lettore dell'ultimo racconto di Rhys Hughes, prima però di precipitare in un'avventura spettrale che lo catapulterà direttamente alla genesi della più ammaliante delle arti, “il primo canto, la melodia primigenia, la musica più ancestrale mai suonata”.“Non ricordo in quale anno il festival cambiò la mia vita [...] Potrei facilmente risalire a quella data, ma forse preferisco lasciare molti fatti il più vaghi possibile, a tutela della mia salute mentale. Ciò detto, ai fini di questa storia dovrò impegnarmi a relazionare tutto accuratamente...”.Quasi a giocare una Danse macabre con i cliché del genere, Hughes spinge il suo protagonista – proprio come il capitano della nave Orient alle prese con la sua Linea d'ombra – alle colonne d'Ercole della propria inquieta ricerca, spinto al limite da un richiamo solo a se stessi comprensibile, preda della febbrile inquietudine che ci assale dinnanzi all'invito offerto da ogni bivio.Perché, con la parole di Conrad, “ogni svolta del sentiero è colma di seduzione”.

Il Festival dei Fantasmi

Milkwood is not a nice place to be. With the passing of generations, it has curdled. At night it casts a buttery light on the moon. Fortunately, all the action in this book occurs elsewhere. It mostly happens in a warped version of the music industry or in an impossible tavern or in a future where everything is illegal. It sometimes even happens outside the narrative. But never in Milkwood. Never. Milkwood is barely even mentioned. For it is not a nice place to be.

Nowhere Near Milkwood

John Gribbin

Christopher G. Nuttall

Steve Harrison

Douglas Thompson

Sanem Ozdural

Peter Wolfe

Tej Turner

Ira Nayman

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

My Rabbit's shadow looks like a hand that has contorted itself in order to cast the shadow of a rabbit on the wall- a rabbit that looks just like the shadow of a hand contorted to enable the casting of the shadow of a rabbit on the wall... I yearn for a friend to distract my mind from this recursion or else to help me enjoy it- a tropical woman her shadow merging with mine on the moonlit stage of life as we peer out of this ramshackle hutch called the world

My Rabbit's Shadow Looks Like a Hand

Ramsey Campbell

Jeffrey Thomas

Paul Tremblay

John Langan

Daniel Mills

Michael Cisco

Cody Goodfellow

Richard Gavin

Damien Angelica Walters

Nadia Bulkin

Gemma Files

Maura McHugh

Molly Tanzer

Orrin Grey

Janice Lee

Robert Levy

Michael Griffin

S. P. Miskowski

Nathan Carson

David Nickel

Reginald Oliver

22 Weird tales by a pantheon of top Horror writers, inspired by the classic film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." The origins of Noir, Expressionist, Existential, and Horror films to this day carry echos of the film, and these tales express and recombine those themes in each author's inimitable style.

The Madness of Dr. Caligari

David Rix

Welsh writer Rhys Hughes regards this as his favorite book, and with good reason. It clamors with a cast of pirates, floppy-wristed Welsh bards, explorers and inventors, imps, squonks, moving public houses, and more, in this quirky and surreal collection of classic horror and fantasy.

The Smell of Telescopes

John Grant

Bev Vincent

Lavie Tidhar

Eric Brown

Martin Edwards

Jared Cade

Michael Bracken

L. C. Tyler

O'Neil De Noux

Sandra Murphy

Amy Myers

David Quantick

Deryn Lake

Jane Finnis

Keith Brooke

Ashley Lister

Paul Charles

Christine Poulson

This anthology draws together some of the best new stories of mystery and murder—compiled by the Anthony Award–winning crime fiction editor. This anthology collects the most original stories of murder by some of mystery fiction's most inventive talents from the United States and United Kingdom. With innovative new takes on locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes, these short stories are full of vexing conundrums and reality-defying puzzles. A murder has been committed—but how could it have happened? Curated by Maxim Jakubowski, one of the crime genre’s most renowned editors, this volume features never-before-seen stories by acclaimed authors—including British Science Fiction Award–winner Eric Brown, Derringer Award–winner O'Neil de Noux, and multiple CWA Dagger Award–winners and nominees.

The Best New Original Stories of the Genre

The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths

From 1933 to 1934, Jorge Luis Borges, the master of fiction whose work would change the literary world, published a series of "falsifications and distortions" in the Buenos Aires newspaper Critica. These "falsifications" used as their starting point the lives of real villains and desperados. Borges then elaborated using all of the anecdotes and myths about these historical characters, creating what amounted to "nonfictional fictions." The entire series was then published in book form as A Universal History of Infamy. Now Rhys Hughes, a Welshman of some infamy himself, has summoned his vast storytelling powers to create A New Universal History of Infamy, with all-new historical characters as the focus of his nonfiction fictions. Come along on a wild ride with unsavory types of every description. Entertaining and erudite at the same time, Hughes' book also includes some of the literary parodies Borges himself delighted in creating. With an introduction by noted critic John Clute and an afterword by Michael Simanoff. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

A New Universal History of Infamy

Mirrors in the Deluge is a collection of 32 unrelated stories that take elements from fantasy, science fiction, horror and other genres and give them a lateral shift. Like much of Rhys’ work these quirky tales between them encompass parody, pastiche and puns. The fun, as ever, starts with the title of each story – gently leading an unsuspecting reader into preconceived ideas and expectations; expectations that are soon spun around, turned on their head (or other extremities), and pushed in an unexpected direction. Thus, a saunter merely through the contents page is already a hugely entertaining experience and one more akin to savouring the hors d’oeuvres of a grand feast than consulting a list of shortcuts into a literary tome. In fact, the gastronomic metaphor serves us well here; the courses on offer range from tantalising tuck to a gourmand’s repast, but never mere vittles – perhaps the way to enjoy this book is to digest one story, three times a day (four if you’re a halfling who needs second breakfast), rather than trying to gorge on all the available delights and delicacies at one sitting. To complete this gourmet’s guide, a tempting sampling of the stories must include: The Soft Landing, a unique story told from the perspective of a photon; Travels with my Antinomy, how do you solve a paradox when you’re part of it?; Vanity of Vanities, the internet achieves consciousness and takes over, but with very different consequences than you might imagine; The Fairy and the Dinosaur, in which a fairy can’t find what she wants for her picnic in the goblin market, is offered cloned prehistoric plums but turns to a time-travelling robot to go back to the age of the dinosaurs and eat an original plum. Other titles to tempt you include The Martian Monocles, The Prodigal Beard, A Dame Abroad, The Unkissed Artist Formerly Known as Frog, The Goat That Gloated, The Taste of Turtle Tears, The Bones of Jones, and The Haggis Eater.

Mirrors in the Deluge

Rhys Hughes

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