Imaginings: the way ahead for quality short fiction; Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter etc

Ian Whates

Author and Editor
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Anthologies and short story collections are not exactly in vogue with the major publishing houses. The result is that many of our finest authors, who have produced an excellent canon of short stories in magazines, anthologies, webzines, etc, have not seen their work gathered and published in a unified collection for decades, if at all.

It occurs to me that a small niche publisher such as NewCon Press might have a vital role to play here, hence Imaginings.

A series of short story collections (approximately 50,000 words); each volume will feature the work of a single selected author, bringing together the very best of that author’s previously published but uncollected short fiction, as chosen by the author themselves, plus original stories.

Imaginings will be published at three or four month intervals. The first volume will appear January 2012.

There will be a signed and numbered hardback edition limited to 100 or 125 copies, plus an e-book & kindle version. No paperback edition.

Each volume of Imaginings will feature generically similar cover design and layout (though with individual cover art), so that the books build into a credible series.

The signed hardback editions of Imaginings will be available to buy via the NewCon Press website, priced at £19.99 (plus shipping, currently £2.50 per book within the UK).

Or… Imaginings can be purchased via subscription. The advantages?

• Reduced price. Two volumes: £38.00, three volumes: £55.00, four volumes: £72.00.
• Shipping within the UK will be free (and discounted for overseas subscribers).
• Subscribers will ‘buy’ a number within the limited edition run. Every volume you receive will feature that number, which remains yours exclusively until the subscription lapses, at which point it will become available to others.
• In addition to the hardback volume, subscribers will receive a free copy of the e-book.
• Subscribers are guaranteed a copy of a high quality, very limited book which is likely to sell out rapidly and become highly collectable.

The first six authors to feature in Imaginings have already been selected. The precise order of publication has yet to be determined, depending on a number of factors; not least the authors’ individual schedules and commitments. Alphabetically, then, the first six authors to grace Imaginings with their finest work will be:

Nina Allan
Stephen Baxter
Pat Cadigan
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Tanith Lee
Adam Roberts
 
Re: Imaginings: the way ahead for quality short fiction; Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter e

It sounds wonderful, Ian. I wish you great success.
 
Re: Imaginings: the way ahead for quality short fiction; Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter e

Thanks Theresa. This is something of an experiment, the success of which depends on how many people opt to take out subscriptions. I'm committed to these six volumes and hope to continue from there. If all goes well, I'll announce a further batch of authors next year, but we'll see... :)
 
Re: Imaginings: the way ahead for quality short fiction; Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter e

Sounds really good. I much prefer reading short fiction lately. I don't have time to read anything else!

(I'm still hoping to get Fables from the Fountain, but it's been out of stock on Amazon for a while.)
 
Re: Imaginings: the way ahead for quality short fiction; Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter e

I don't know what pounds come out to but, since US dollars are basically rupees these days, I won't personally be buying any of these, but I wish you luck, as it's an excellent idea and seems to be a good-to-excellent list. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I read a Nina Allen that really impressed me and under-the-radar Cadigan sounds superb, too, and Baxter is, well, Baxter, so especially those. Maybe the Lee, too - I keep ambivalenting about with her. And I've been curious about Roberts. So: great list.

In fact, I hope they do so well that you can secure a deal to have a large house eventually publish them in mass market paperback. And I hope those do so well that the larger publishers start publishing collections again with great regularity. :D
 
Re: Imaginings: the way ahead for quality short fiction; Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter e

(I'm still hoping to get Fables from the Fountain, but it's been out of stock on Amazon for a while.)

Mouse, unfortunately my titles all show this way on Amazon. All it means is that they don't (and indeed never have) hold a stock of the book. When a copy is ordered, they pass the order on via Nielson's Book Data, who inform me, and I send the book out to the Amazon wholesaler.

'Out of stock' doesn't mean 'not available', it just means they don't hold copies in their warehouse.
 

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