Willie Meikle interviewed

In the run up to the publication of forthcoming Alchemy Press books we will be posting short interviews with the contributors.

Up first: William Meikle whose contribution, “The Penge Terror”, will feature in The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 2 (the questions set by the editor Mike Chinn). To read the interview, please pop over to our new website.

Pulp Heroes 2: contributors announced

Editor Mike Chinn has now announced the contents for The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 2:

• Cover art – Les Edwards
• Pandora’s Box – Chico Kidd
• The Flier – Bryn Fortey
• Griffon’s Gamble – Arch Whitehouse
• Night Hunter – Pauline E Dungate
• Meeting at the Silver Dollar – Marion Pitman
• The Monster of Gorgon – Ian Hunter
• Dragon’s Breath – Anne Nicholls
• The Law of Mars – Robert William Iveniuk
• The Penge Terror – William Meikle
• Ula and the Black Book of Leng – Andrew Coulthard
• The Sons of Crystal City – Martin Gately
• Kiss the Day Goodbye – Adrian Cole
• Do Not Go Gently – Stuart Young
• The Incarceration of Captain Nebula – Mike Resnik

Publication date and launch at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.

ePub editions still available

We're pleased to announce that ePub editions of Pulp Heroes and Ancient Wonders are available via Weightless Books. Click on the title, below, to head to the Weightless website.

The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes

Submission period: one month remaining

Now is the time to start polishing your stories. The submission period for The Alchemy Press Books Of ... Astrologica, Pulp Heroes 2 and Urban Mythic ends on 31st March 2013. Get submitting. For guidelines visit the individual pages (click on the links).

ePUB editions now available

We're pleased to announce that ePub editions of Pulp Heroes and Ancient Wonders are now available via Weightless Books. Click on the title, below, to head to the Weightless website.

The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes

Pulp Heroes now on Kindle

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes, edited by Mike Chinn, is now available from the Kindle store on Amazon at $4.99 or equivalent. I can supply an ePub version, as well -- simply contact the alchemypress[at]gmail.com. A printed/paper copy is also available from Amazon and other online dealers.

To remind you, Pulp Heroes includes choice stories that take you to pulp worlds and heroic realms:

Mike Resnick – Origins

Robert William Iveniuk – House Name

Anne Nicholls – Eyes of Day, Eyes of Night

William Meikle – Ripples in the Ether

Chris Iovenko – The Perfect Murder

Bracken N MacLeod – Ivy's Secret Origin

Joshua Wolf – Crossing the Line

James Hartley – Jean Marie

Ian Gregory – Currier Dread and the Hair of Destruction

Amber L Husbands – The Going Rate

Michael Haynes – No Way but the Hard Way

Adrian Cole – The Vogue Prince

Joel Lane – Upon a Granite Wind

Milo James Fowler – The Last Laugh

Allen Ashley – In the Margins

Peter Crowther – Heroes and Villains

Peter Atkins – The Return of Boy Justice

Cover painting by Bob Covington

Pulp Heroes 2 update

Here's a prelim of the cover for Pulp Heroes 2

Art by the incomparable Les Edwards

Submissions now open

The Alchemy Press has opened its submission windows for the next three anthologies: Astrologica (edited by Allen Ashley), Urban Mythic (edited by Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber), and Pulp Heroes 2 (edited by Mike Chinn). In brief:

The Alchemy Press Book of the Astrologica is looking for stories about the signs of the Zodiac, the characteristics associated with those signs and/ or people born under them. I will also consider stories involving the mythical characters and creatures of the astrological signs, perhaps their history and origin, perhaps their present and future state. Note: I am not saying that one has to believe in the paraphernalia associated with modern astrology; but authors should seek to use some of this as inspiration and underpinning of their narratives.

The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic is seeking contemporary tales with all the magic and wonder of myth and legend, blending modern life with the traditions of folklore from around the world. Whether lurking in dark alleys or brash shopping malls; from shanty towns to the floating cities of Venice, Bangkok or Dubai; swanky riverside penthouse lofts or humble suburban semis, we want to see how the mythic is woven into the everyday. Think Charles de Lint, Terri Windling, Robert Holdstock, Seanan McGuire, Jim Butcher, Kate Griffin, Simon R. Green, Holly Black, Neil Gaiman…

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 2 is after tales from the arid plains of Mars to the canyons of Manhattan; the foetid jungle to the naked jungle. Demented criminals versus dark heroes with sinister powers. The flash of steel in the palaces of long-forgotten civilizations or along the sterile corridors of impossible spacecraft. Swords against sorcery or sword and planet.

And don’t forget, this year sees the launch of Alchemy Novellas: these will cover almost all areas of Fantasy – that’s heroic fantasy, alternate world fantasy, urban fantasy, supernatural, dark crime and horror. Comic fantasy will be considered but not if it’s a parade of puns or bad gags. We are not fans of zombies or heroic vampires. We will not publish hard science fiction. Essentially, acceptance will be based on how well the novella works for us.

Visit the above links for full details.

Opening the windows...

A reminder to all you writers looking for a home for your stories: the submission periods for the 2013 Alchemy Press anthologies -- Astrologica, Pulp Heroes 2 and Urban Mythic opens on 1st January and remain open until the end of March 2013. Now is the time to polish off your manuscripts and getting them ready to send them in to your hard-working editors.

We had hoped to secure additional funding in order to pay semi-pro rates for your stories. But alas, the people holding the cheque book didn't think that a series of fantasy anthologies was serious enough. What do they know? Therefore we will only be paying a nominal fee again (as we did this year for Ancient Wonders and Pulp Heroes 1). Check the above links for details.

Buying Alchemy Press books

The latest Alchemy Press books are available via several online dealers, including Amazon UK and US, Barnes and Noble and The Book Depository.

To buy these books visit the relevant pages:

The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes

Sex, Lies and Family Ties

Independent Book Fair

The Birmingham Independent Book Fair is scheduled for 9 September, from 11.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.:

“Browse, buy and discover new books, many of which are not available on the high street.

This day-long event will feature independent publishers from the West Midlands and beyond, offering you the chance to buy books directly from the publishers, who will be on hand to answer questions and introduce you to new writing. From poetry pamphlets to prose fiction, graphic novels to science fiction and fantasy, a wide range of forms and genres will be represented. The fair is free and all are welcome!”

Rooms 3 & 4, Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

The Alchemy Press will be there selling copies of Rumours of the Marvellous, Beneath the Ground, Sex, Lies and Family Ties, Swords Against the Millennium… and we hope to have preview copies of The Alchemy Press Books of Pulp Heroes and Ancient Wonders.

If you are in the area, come along and say hello.

Alchemy Press: Official Book Launch

The Alchemy Press launches two new anthologies at FantasyCon on Saturday 29 September, at 10.00 a.m. The convention, a highpoint in the fantasy and horror fan’s calendar, once more returns to the south coast city of Brighton.

Join us, the editors and some of the contributors, to welcome these two new, brilliant anthologies: The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders and The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes.

The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders, edited by Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber:

“When we think of a wonder, our minds go most often to the great buildings of the past – the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge – but the human mind can make almost anything wondrous. We walk with wonders every day, through the power of curiosity and imagination and our human tendency to make stories about what we fear, what we desire, what we wish to understand. This collection offers new glimpses into the wonder we all feel.” – Kari Sperring

So then, discover standing stones, burial mounds, ruined castles or sunken cities: the ancient sites that litter our landscapes; the ancient wonders that possess a mysterious appeal that cannot be denied.

With stories by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Aliette de Bodard, Peter Crowther, Anne Nicholls, Adrian Cole, Pauline E Dungate, Bryn Fortey, William Meikle, John Howard, James Brogden, Shannon Connor Winward, Misha Herwin, Lynn M Cochrane and Selina Lock.

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes edited by Mike Chinn:

In the tradition of The Shadow, The Bat, Doc Savage, The Spider; Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Detective Agency; Dusty Ayers & His Battle Birds; Sheena and K-Zar. Hard-boiled detectives, sinister vigilantes, bizarre villains – the staple of the Pulp tradition. Two-fisted heroes – and heroines – fighting for right and justice in the midnight city, foetid jungles or exotic, far-flung lands. And deranged villains for whom the world is never enough. 

Here, seventeen writers dive headlong into the world of the pulp fiction, to tell us tall tales of daring do, of heroes, heroines and their villains.

With stories by Mike Resnick, Peter Atkins, Peter Crowther, Adrian Cole, William Meikle, Joel Lane, Amber L Husbands, Milo James Fowler, Anne Nicholls, Robert William Iveniuk, Bracken N MacLeod, Chris Iovenko, Joshua Wolf, James Hartley, Ian Gregory, Michael Haynes and Allen Ashley.

Special FantasyCon price: £8.00 each (cover price £10.00) or buy both for £15.00.

Pulp Heroes: ToC announced

Editor Mike Chinn has now announced the ToC for The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes. Now we're into the production stage. All good fun (and exacting work).

Mike Resnick -- Origins
Robert William Iveniuk -- House Name
Anne Nicholls -- Eyes of Day, Eyes of Night
William Meikle -- Ripples in the Ether
Chris Iovenko -- The Perfect Murder
Bracken N MacLeod -- Ivy's Secret Origin
Joshua Wolf -- Crossing the Line
James Hartley -- Jean Marie
Ian Gregory -- Currier Dread and the Hair of Destruction
Amber L Husbands -- The Going Rate
Michael Haynes -- No Way but the Hard Way
Adrian Cole -- The Vogue Prince
Joel Lane -- Upon a Granite Wind
Milo James Fowler -- The Last Laugh
Allen Ashley -- In the Margins
Peter Crowther -- Heroes and Villains
Peter Atkins -- The Return of Boy Justice

Pulp Heroes: cover artwork

Here is the cover for The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes, edited by Mike Chinn. The artwork is by Bob Covington.

Email problems

Mike Chinn (editor of Pulp Heroes) is experiencing problems with his email. Until they are fixed please send manuscripts, etc, via alchemypress@gmail.com

Reprints

Although reprints will be considered for both anthologies (Pulp Heroes and Ancient Wonders), the preference is for original fiction. If you have a reprint that you think is suitable it is best to contact the editors beforehand.

Queries

If you have any questions about either the Book of Pulp Heroes or the Book of Ancient Wonders, please contact the editors and not the publisher. Use the emails included in the submission guidelines. Thanks.

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes

The Alchemy Press is seeking submissions for THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES. Edited by Mike Chinn.

The Shadow, The Bat, Doc Savage, The Spider; Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Detective Agency; Dusty Ayers & His Battle Birds; Sheena and Ka-Zar. Hard-boiled detectives, sinister vigilantes, bizarre villains – the staple of the Pulp tradition. We want fiction that celebrates (or subverts) that tradition – as well as taking a wild new look at it. Fiction set in the 1930s and 40s, the far future or mythical past, or the present day. Two-fisted heroes – and heroines – fighting for right and justice in the midnight city, foetid jungles or exotic, far-flung lands. Deranged villains for whom the world is never enough.

Sports stories, spy stories, aircraft & zeppelin stories, sea & pirate stories, Westerns, medieval romance, horror, science fiction and fantasy, movies and car racing – there’s no limit.

THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES will be a paperback to be published in September 2012, to be followed by an eBook edition. Successful contributors will receive a copy of the book and a £10.00 advance against royalties on publication. We are after original fiction; but reprints will be considered if they are exceptional. No simultaneous or multiple submissions. We will only accept electronic submissions as email attachments in standard MS format, .rtf, .doc or .docx. Any submissions included in the body of the email will be rejected unread. The subject line should take the form “Title/author’s name/word count” (i.e. Mastermind of Mars/ ER Burroughs/3,000 words). Contributions must be in the range of 2,000-6,000 words firm, with full contact details on the front page. The submission period runs from April 1st to May 30th 2012. Do no submit outside those dates. No acceptances or rejections will be made until after the deadline; we will endeavour to report back to you six to eight weeks after that. If you have heard nothing after nine weeks you may query at the email address below.

Email all queries and submissions to pulpheroes[at]saladoth.com

THRILL US, SCARE US – MAKE US CARE.