Shoes, Ships & Cadavers - Alan Moore, Ian Watson etc

[Ian Whates]

NewCon Press are delighted to announce the release of our latest anthology.​

SHOES, SHIPS AND CADAVERS:
TALES FROM NORTH LONDONSHIRE
Edited by Ian Whates and Ian Watson
With introduction by Alan Moore​

The book will be launched during a party on October 9th 2010, as part of www.newcon5.com​

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, from his introduction.

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

Established in 2002, the Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group 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.

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

Available from: 290 Shoes, Ships and Cadavers Newcon Press : NewCon Press​

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It sounds exciting, Ian. Does NewCon Press ship to the US?

 

[Ian Whates]

It sounds exciting, Ian. Does NewCon Press ship to the US?

Certainly, Teresa -- I have many customers in the US; but if you or anyone else on the Chrons would like a copy, please contact me direct, as I'll arrange a discount which won't be available through the website.

 

[Fried Egg]

All the stories are set in...Northampton? Interesting...what is it about Northampton that made you choose it? I have been there once and, no disrespect to people who live there, it didn't seem to be a particularly inspiring place!

 

[Vertigo]

FE I think you missed a bit in the OP:

Established in 2002, the Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group 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.

 

[Fried Egg]

Ah yes, so I see...

 

[Ian Whates]

Ah yes, so I see...

Vertigo's spot on, FE. Plus, of course, Northampton has a lot of history going for it. As Alan Moore puts it in his intro:

"It’s also difficult to think of a location with a richer soil of legend, where the coal seam of imagination has been gradually compressed to diamond by the forces bearing in upon it from all sides, pressures of doctrine and geography or else the unrelenting crush between a massive past and equally intimidating future.
Centre of the land, at least according to the angel (one of several hanging out in Marefair prior to the Norman Conquest) who directed a lone pilgrim from Jerusalem to halfway down the gradient of Horseshoe Street, just opposite the snooker parlour. King John kicking off Crusades from his imposing castle at the top of Andrew’s Road or Cromwell’s regicidal morning canter down Black Lion Hill and out across the drawbridge he’d had built over the Nene to Naseby. Both of England’s two greatest internal conflicts were concluded here, War of the Roses and the English Civil War. Here kings were captured, queens beheaded and princesses buried. This was Offa’s main retreat, deep in the heart of Mercia back in the times of Charlemagne, and it was in Northampton that Hitler’s invasion plans for England were concluded. Saints and radar and the western world’s first parliament; a haven for politico-religious dissidents of every screwball stripe from Lollards and Moravians to Ranters, Levellers and Swedenborgians; a perfect social pit-canary and barometer, the exact point at which the cash runs out, with the North-South divide a dotted line down Gold Street’s centre; a crossroads of history settled since the Neolithic on the limestone spine of the Jurassic Way, one of the country’s earliest navigable paths if not its very first; the warzone Washington and Franklin’s families high-tailed it out of to create America..."

Who wouldn't want to write about a place like that?