We are delighted to announce that this autumn we will be publishing the latest science fiction thriller by Rosie Oliver, A Truth Beyond Full, set in a mining colony on Miranda, one of the moons of Uranus.
Miranda, an ice and rock moon of Uranus, has been a thriving mining colony. But recently there has been a rise in fatal accidents. Kylone has an ability to extrapolate patterns behind a rock face to determine where and how to dig. When his fiancée died in another accident, he blamed himself and his ability; a wreck, no longer able to mine, he became a priest with limited duties in the locally developed Priesthood. Assigned to officiate at a hero miner’s funeral, the widow asks Kylone to investigate the spate of accidents and, along with some help from an unexpected source, he starts to suspect that they may have a more sinister cause, a suspicion which puts his own life in danger.
When planning the cover for A Truth Beyond Full, Rosie was keen that it should evoke the unique environment of Miranda but also mining and the underlying nature of the miners’ relationship with their quarry. Uncertain how best to combine the natural and the abstract, Elsewhen Press put Rosie in touch with artist Alex Storer. Between them they developed this stunning and very arresting cover.
The living and undead alike fall like autumn leaves as a supernatural war ignites in Glasgow. The reclusive vampyre lord, Niall Fisher, rules the city from his crypt through his undead regent, Margot Guillam, and the secret society known as the Sooty Feathers. That rule is now challenged by the city’s former master, Arakiel, a demon overthrown by Fisher two centuries prior.
As deaths and disappearances rise, Lady Delaney and her apprentice Kerry Knox gather allies to free Glasgow from the demons and undead alike. Body snatcher Wilton Hunt is one such ally, thanks to the machinations of the corrupt Bishop Redfort who plays his own game. Another is the uncompromising Wolfgang Steiner, a Templar Inquisitor as ruthless as the foe he fights.
But one among this band is Lucifer’s son, vengeance drawing him and his father back into the war, risking the revelation of his diabolical paternity. For Lady Delaney and the others, is the hour desperate enough to make common cause with the Devil?
From the glittering balls of high society to dung-caked slums, from a decrepit castle to tunnels beneath the city itself, blood is spilled and betrayal reigns. An exhausted stalemate looks nigh as Death’s scythe reaps without discrimination, but Arakiel plots to draw out Fisher for one last, decisive battle. And crucial to this scheme is an unwitting Lucifer, who must face the consequences of an ancient sin.
Lucifer & Son, will be published in a digital edition on 5th July 2024 and in paperback on 5th August 2024.
Book II of The Sundering Chronicles, Mark Iles’ latest book A Voice in the Darkness will be out later this month. But first we’re going to introduce you to the cover. A spooky image, which perfectly depicts the atmosphere of much of the story, set in wild woods on the Earth as it has become since the aliens invaded and (re-)introduced mythological creatures: shapeshifters, elves, werewolves, Fey, and even the dead who now inhabit the Earth. Yes! It is science fiction. Cover artwork: Alex Storer
The author, Mark Iles, had been delighted with the cover for the first book in the series, Gardens of Earth, and was thrilled when the artist Alex Storer was available to do the cover for this book also. Alex said: “After initial conversations about possible directions for the cover art, I felt an image that matched the mystery of the title would work well. It is quite a sparse illustration compared to what I might normally do, but I’ve always loved the idea of artwork with pathways or entrances leading to curious places – which hopefully draw the reader in and make them want to find out what the cover isn’t showing…”
Mark was once again delighted and especially happy that this unique cover image successfully captures such a key aspect of his story.
No longer invisible, Harp finds that fame, and family, might mean an even riskier future.
In Harpan’s Worlds Harp faced his own personal history, and its repercussions. In Worlds Aligned he must deal with the results. Providing of course that he survives them.
So Worlds Aligned is a second glimpse of the humans who survive long after OldEarth is abandoned.
Note: Harpan’s Worlds and Worlds Aligned form a duology, and can be read as two standalones; but together they connect some of the puzzle-pieces of a fractured humanity. And its evolution.
Worlds Aligned will be published in eBook format on 24th May 2024 and in paperback on 24th June 2024.
The cover, designed by Penelope Hill, shows The Harlequin as he attempts to gain access for his planned heist of The Draper’s Reel from the god Pardeem. The cover includes his calling card after any stunt, a columbine flower.
The Harlequin: The Draper’s Reel will be published in eBook format on 12th July and in paperback on 12th August 2024.
Question my honesty if you must, but nobody, and I mean nobody, questions my skill.
I’ve never paid much attention to the gods, which may be why I foolishly agreed to steal Pardeem’s reel. It seemed a straightforward enough challenge for a master trickster like me, but with things like this you never know.
Leaving my cosy retirement isn’t difficult. Wearing the Harlequin’s hat again feels right. However returning to Emor holds challenges. Old friends and enemies wait in the shadows; maybe I can turn that to my advantage. But now my own god seems to be paying me far too much attention. This isn’t going to be straightforward.
But that’s the thrill, isn’t it? To dance with peril, to spin with the twists, to confound expectations and to embrace the trick for its own sake. The Harlequin doesn’t give up at the first hurdle.
If I can carry this off, it will be the heist of a lifetime.
We are delighted to reveal the cover of David M Allan’s new fantasy novel The Magic Is Always With Us. Set in Tirog, the land of the Sidhe that is co-incident to the human world and accessed through portals or lacunae in the barrier that separates the two. There are Realms and Domains in the land of the Sidhe, with population centres that are often in the ‘same’ place as they are in the human world. So, Eideann in Alba is co-located with Edinburgh in Scotland.
The cover, designed by Alison Buck, was inspired by a passage in the book where the main protagonist, Lady Trinafar, is standing in front of the throne of the ruler of Obharden (co-located with Aberdeen):
The floor in front of the throne was covered by a yellow and green carpet with a maze pattern. It grabbed Trinafar’s attention. It’s a trap, isn’t it. Start tracing the curves and the magic will ensnare the watcher. She knew she should ignore it, but it was difficult. It must give him an advantage over any visitors. It took a lot of concentration, but she did manage to drag her eyes away from the maze and look somewhere else. Even with the effort she had put into breaking the mesmeric effect it wasn’t until he spoke that she was completely free of the influence of the carpet.
We are delighted to be able to reveal the cover for Her Gilded Voice by K.C. Aegis, which will be published this summer by Elsewhen Press. This book sits at the intersection of cyberpunk and psychological thriller, and the cover design by Paramita Bhattacharjee and Troy Edward Nikolic reflects that perfectly.
Cover art: Paramita Bhattacharjee & Troy Edward Nikolic
Lacey has a woman living inside her head … or is it the other way around?
Decades from now, technology has advanced, and everyone has a ‘neuro-net’ wired into their brain. This provides each person with a ‘voyce’ inside their head that offers advice that guides and ostensibly protects them; as teen Lacey Clarke puts it: “Voyces help us all make the right decisions. They give us reason, protect us from outside chaos. And in some cases, they protect us from ourselves.”
In this republic, Lacey and her older sister, Yadira, barely make ends meet. Their lives are made worse when they discover they must pay off their late father’s debt and that Lacey has been marked to become a Puzzler in a brainteaser competition in which losers are killed. Alina, Lacey’s voyce, reassures her everything will be fine if only they follow the rules, but when an encounter with Ogden Oliver, a powerful Elite, ends with Alina being temporarily deactivated, Lacey is left alone with her own thoughts. For the first time in her life, she is able to perceive the world as it actually is – without augmented-reality illusions.
As Lacey navigates the competition, she realizes she may be a pawn but one that has hitherto unknown power.
We are delighted to reveal the cover of King Street Run, the debut fantasy novel from V.R. Ling. It is a satirical fantasy thriller set among the iconic buildings of contemporary Cambridge.
Thomas Wharton, an archaeology graduate, becomes drawn into the problems of a series of anachronistic characters who exist in the fractions of a second behind our own time. These characters turn out to be personifications of the Cambridge Colleges; they have the amalgamated foibles, history, and temperament of their Fellows and students and, together with Thomas, must enter into a race against time to prevent their world being destroyed by an unknown assailant.
The cover was designed by Alison Buck, based on ideas from the author.
The Chimera series is speculative fiction for the senses, a gritty urban fantasy in an alternate present, with rain-laden streets and neon lit bars. A cozy narrative behind fogged over windows, the scent of verdant herbs and earth and petrichor. A sci fi mystery layered beneath fog shrouded skyscrapers, in a modern society juxtaposed with tradition and alchemy. An emotional tale of loss, betrayal, and the unbreakable bonds that carry us through, Chimera is a love story with ties that are thicker than blood, holding secrets that are more than skin deep.
As a tattooist, it’s easy keeping people at arm’s length. Distract them with questions, and when they inevitably ask their own, reply vaguely. Lie. When the lies pile up, disappear.
It’s a cycle Lynna’s all too familiar with. Staying guarded is a necessity, but what keeps her safe is also what keeps her lonely. It’s an empty existence, hiding behind lies, and she wishes she was someone else. Someone not burdened with a secret.
A year into her most recent move, the loneliness bleeds into her work, and she admits a few truths. At the insistence of a client, she explores the city’s night scene, where she meets the enigmatic Rhys. As the months progress, so do her feelings for him, despite the risks of getting too close. When a dangerous encounter leads her straight into his arms, she abandons her past in exchange for a new beginning, only her secret refuses to be abandoned. With her life hanging by a thread, she’s forced to confess, but the secret that will change everything isn’t hers.
Set in an alternate present, Lacuna opens with Lynna’s transition to an atmospheric northwestern city. Derailed from what she’s built, she finds herself immersed in the lush world of medicinal horticulture, enveloped in the kind of close-knit relationships she always craved. Her fantasy has become reality, but not without caveat. As she plunges further into this new life, she begins to expose the conflicting threads holding it together, and what she discovers will bring more questions than answers.
As well as being the author, Erin Hosfield is herself a tattooist and an artist and she also designed the cover of the book. Erin says “The cover art is inspired by the novel’s atmosphere — rainy urban grit and neon lights, Lynna’s story unfolding behind droplet-spattered windows.”
The Avatars of Ruin series, follows a group of people from the small village of Jalard, as they become embroiled in events way beyond their experience that affect them in ways they could not possibly have ever imagined. Conflict that once seemed so distant comes right to their doorstep. Fabled gods and goddesses are soon very real to them.
In Blood War, Sharma stands on the precipice of destruction as Gavendara’s army of shapeshifters surges towards the Valantian mountains. A mutant invasion leaving terror and death in its wake and whose victims rise again, swelling its ranks. Yet still the Synod dithers, its leaders fractured as they plot and scheme against each other.
Once again the cover is by artist Alison Buck, based on an original idea by Tej Turner, continuing the style and theme of the first two books in the series, Bloodsworn and Blood Legacy:
