In spite of the on-going project to illustrate Tallest Stories, which has almost brought the press to a stand-still, there have been some new projects trickling in – waiting for me to turn my attention to them at that great moment when Tallest Stories is finally unleashed upon the world. Some of these projects could be quite quick and some are already underway in the preliminary stages. However, I trust that the big old echoing world out there will forgive me for keeping Tallest Stories as my priority for the moment!
Defeated Dogs – Quentin Crisp
I have wanted to publish something by Quentin ever since the press first launched. We were both in the first Strange Tales anthology from Tartarus Press in 2001 and I remember his Cousin X vividly as one of the best stories in the book. Here we present a retrospective collection and the stories presented here range from elegant philosophical improvisations to superbly crafted classic horror.
Miss Homicide Plays the Flute – Brendan Connell
Unpleasant Tales was one of our most popular titles, so we are very pleased to be working on a new short novel from the same author. This is a bizarre and elegant mix of crime novel and the author’s signature razor-sharp modernist classicism (if that makes any sense?). If everything goes according to plan, this will be Eibonvale’s first ever high-quality limited edition.
The Planet Suite – Allen Ashley
Allen is a British author with an eye for sharp and almost satirical literary sci-fi and a real ability to capture both the crazy old world of Britain and the simple humanity that is universal. We have worked with him before as both an author (Once and Future Cities) and editor (Where Are We Going?), and now we will be producing a new expanded edition (and first hardcover edition) of his first novel. Filled with the lively energy that often accompanies first novels, this is an extraordinary literary improvisation on the themes of science fiction, the human condition – and Holst’s most famous composition.
An Emporium of Automata – D. P. Watt
This is another reprint – a lightly expanded edition of the now OOP collection originally published by Ex Occidente Press. These are weird tales with a massive dash of the historical – and the result has a nice blend of a historian’s eye for detail and a masterful sense of passion and phantasmagoria.
Songs for the Lost – Alexander Zelenyj
Experiments at 3 Billion A.M. is one of my personal favourite books in the Eibonvale catalogue. Alex Zelenyj writes with a haunting and haunted style that is simultaneously deeply rooted in classic horror / SF themes and also moving beyond them into something touching and literary, with an emotion and humanity that both genres all-too-often fail to reach. Songs for the Lost will be a new collection of stories, slimmer and more concise than the massive Experiments, all revolving around the wispy concept of music.