Long-awaited novel from best-selling Scottish author, continues series that explores changes to society had the science behind magic been understood in the 19th century

After a six-year wait, the latest, much-anticipated, novel in Christopher G. Nuttall’s Royal Sorceress series depicts a society that continues to be ardently patriarchal despite the most powerful magician being female

DARTFORD, KENT – 27 January 2023 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is committed to publishing entertaining books. Their most popular author is Christopher G. Nuttall, frequently one of the best-selling science fiction and fantasy authors on Amazon. As well as being a prolific self-published author, Nuttall has been published by indie publishers. His first professionally published book, The Royal Sorceress, was published by Elsewhen Press in 2012 and was an instant hit. Since then, there have been three more books in the series, the last one published in 2016. The Revolutionary War, the long-awaited next instalment in the story of Lady Gwendolyn Crichton, the eponymous Royal Sorceress, is now finally available.

Christopher G. Nuttall is a master storyteller, with an insatiable interest in history and in studied exploration of what might have been if events had been even just slightly different. That led him to set up one of the first alternative history websites in the early days of the world wide web. He soon had a large following among the community of history and alternative history fans, so when he started writing his own fiction it found immediate success. He has subsequently been writing stories in a number of different series, both science fiction and fantasy, but often with an eye on alternative history and social justice.

Peter Buck, Editorial Director of Elsewhen Press, says, “The Royal Sorceress series continues to be very popular, in ebook, print and audiobook – even now, 10 years after the first book was published. The stories are set in the early 19th century where English researchers had, some years before, discovered the scientific basis of ‘magic’ – enabling Britain to win the American war of independence, and the British Empire to flourish while other nations struggled to develop their own magical talents. As well as allowing Chris to explore the implications of such changes in global events, politically, the premise of the series addresses the disconnect between a society that has advanced both technologically and magically, but is still stuck with old social mores and attitudes. This is made evident in the attitude of politicians and military who are aghast that the most powerful magician in the country is a woman. His peerless skill at combining alternative history, social satire, and fantasy means that the stories appeal not only to fans of historical adventures and alternative history, but also to fans of fantasy and steampunk fiction. Since the success of The Royal Sorceress, Chris has been writing a variety of stories, but there have always been many readers regularly asking for the next instalment in Gwen’s story. At last, this much anticipated tale has arrived, with Gwen going to France for the first time.”

The Revolutionary War, is published by Elsewhen Press in eBook format today and will be available in paperback on the 27th February.

Notes for Editors

About Christopher G. Nuttall

Christopher G. Nuttall has been planning sci-fi books since he learnt to read. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Chris created an alternate history website and eventually graduated to writing full-sized novels. Studying history independently allowed him to develop worlds that hung together and provided a base for storytelling. After graduating from university, Chris started writing full-time. As an indie author he has self-published many novels. This is his latest fantasy to be published by Elsewhen Press, the much-anticipated fifth in the popular Royal Sorceress series. The first was The Royal Sorceress, followed by The Great Game, Necropolis and Sons of Liberty. The Revolutionary War continues Gwen’s story. Chris is currently living in Edinburgh with his wife, muse, and critic, Aisha, and their two sons.

About The Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War by Christopher G. Nuttall; Cover design by Alison Buck
Cover design by Alison Buck

Something is rotten in the state of France …

After years of inconclusive war, the Franco-Spanish Empire is on the verge of collapse. The military is coming apart, the people are starving, the economy is on the brink … and yet, as long as the crown keeps tight control of its magicians, all hope of revolution and victory remains faint. The secret police are in control, rebel magicians are hunted down and eliminated before they can pose a threat and, worst of all, the government has found a new way to enhance magical power. The situation seems dire. But with a little help, there may be a chance.

Returning from America with Bruce, her fiancé, Gwen is not best pleased to be sent to Paris to train the rebels in magic, to give them a fighting chance against the government before the stresses of war threaten to destroy the British Empire as surely as their French enemies. But with shadowy figures lurking in the background, and an entire country on the brink of chaos, Gwen must face her gravest challenge yet …

… In an environment where her enemies hold all the cards.

 

Book V of the Royal Sorceress series

Cover artwork by Alison Buck

ISBN: 9781915304339 eBook / 9781915304230 paperback 422pp

Visit bit.ly/The-Revolutionary-War

About The Royal Sorceress series

It’s 1830, in an alternate Britain where the ‘scientific’ principles of magic were discovered sixty years previously, allowing the British to win the American War of Independence. Although Britain is now supreme among the Great Powers, the gulf between rich and poor in the Empire has widened and unrest is growing every day. The King’s Royal Sorcerer, is ageing and must find a successor to lead the Royal Sorcerers Corps, one who is Master of all known magical powers. There is only one candidate, one person who has displayed such a talent from an early age, but has been neither trained nor officially acknowledged. A perfect candidate to be Master Thomas’ apprentice in all ways but one: the Royal College of Sorcerers has never admitted a girl before. So start the adventures of Lady Gwendolyn Crichton, soon to be the Royal Sorceress.

“I know the words written… But the words unwritten? Those, I don’t know.”

Available from today in eBook, The Ancient Lie, Book II of The Unwritten Words by Christopher Nuttall

Cover artwork by Alison Buck

“well written escapism with plenty of magic” – Review of The Promised Lie on Risingshadow

Artwork by Alison Buck

On Risingshadow.net, Seregil of Rhiminee has just reviewed Christopher Nuttall’s The Promised Lie, the first book of the Unwritten Words series.

Seregil starts his review of The Promised Lie by saying that he considers “Christopher Nuttall to be one of the best authors of entertaining epic fantasy for adult readers” who “has found his own voice and knows how to entertain his readers with good and exciting stories”. He goes on to compliment the characterisation “good and believable”, the worldbuilding “excellent”, and Christopher’s writing – he writes in an “effortless way” about politics, “writes well about magic and what can be achieved by using it” and “also writes well about religion and worshipping gods”. Seregil adds that there’s “something about the ancient magic and forces that is almost Lovecraftian in nature”. Overall he says it is a thrilling story and excellent entertainment, and finishes by saying that this is Christopher’s “strongest fantasy novel to date”.

You can read Seregil’s full review on Risingshadow.net here.

Much-anticipated new epic fantasy from award-winning bestselling author Christopher Nuttall

Master story-teller Christopher Nuttall weaves a new epic fantasy series. Five years after the earth-shattering events at the end of his Bookworm series, the Golden City has fallen, the Empire is no more, and ancient magic threatens the land.

DARTFORD, KENT – 02 February 2018 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the publication of The Promised Lie the first book in a new epic fantasy series, The Unwritten Words, by Christopher Nuttall set in the world of his bestselling Bookworm series.

Cover artwork by Alison Buck
Cover artwork by Alison Buck

Christopher Nuttall, one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy authors on Amazon, is an accomplished writer of epic fantasy. His bestselling, and award-winning, Bookworm series has achieved worldwide success as ebooks, paperbacks and, more recently, as unabridged audiobooks from Tantor Media. The first book was published by Elsewhen Press in 2013 and the final, fourth, book in the series was published in 2015. Since then fans have been clamouring for more stories set in the same world. Now, in 2018, Christopher has obliged with a new series that begins five years after the events at the end of the original series. Shifting focus away from the Golden City and the powerful magical families who lived there, The Unwritten Words looks to what is happening in the other kingdoms that are suddenly no longer in thrall to the Empire. The few sorcerors who are left have no authority, so land grabs and power plays rely on might rather than magic. Which means that anyone who can wield magic has an immediate advantage.

Continue reading “Much-anticipated new epic fantasy from award-winning bestselling author Christopher Nuttall”

Nine Worlds 2017 – we had a blast!

We had a great time at this year’s Nine Worlds Geekfest. We had only just returned from a wedding in the South of France (where we first had to acclimatise to the heat), when we were rushing around preparing for our biggest convention of the year, in the damp and dull London weather. But as soon as we arrived at the Novotel everything brightened up (apart from the weather!)

The first sight to welcome attendees was the sign inviting us into the convention centre and leading to the registration desks.

On arrival at Nine Worlds

We had the honour and privilege to be gold sponsor for this year’s Nine Worlds and had a very visible presence which was very humbling (every room had a display outside with our planet-clock logo next to the Nine Worlds logo as above). We were very proud to be supporting such a fantastically inclusive event.

One of the benefits of being sponsor was to be able to provide a booklet for the attendees’ goody bags. As we were having a launch party for two books on Saturday afternoon, it seemed like the best use of that opportunity would be to provide a sampler of both books, as well as the chance to show off our lovely authors, artists (and now, first voice artist) as well as all our book covers. (I have already blogged about this booklet when we delivered it on the Wednesday beforehand, but in case you missed that, here’s a look at it anyway:)

Elsewhen Press goody bag booklet for Nine Worlds 2017

Friday morning started off rather busy as we had exciting news to pass on: a Press Release about Rebecca Hall’s Symphony of the Cursed trilogy being released as unabridged audiobooks by Tantor Audio; and Peter R. Ellis’ new September Weekes novel Cold Fire (following on from his Evil Above the Stars series) being available in eBook format.

We had a double table in the Vendors’ room and spent the rest of Friday morning setting it up. If you’ve seen us at any other events you’ll recognise our layout:

Our table at the start of Nine Worlds

When the doors to the Vendors’ room opened at 1 o’clock, there was a queue of people waiting outside. But, overall, Friday was fairly quiet (as at most conventions). Throughout the rest of the weekend it was always clear when the panels had ended (there was a 45 minute gap between sessions to allow for winding down, setting up and getting from one panel to the next – a model that should be followed by other conventions!) as the Vendors’ room quickly filled up for about half an hour and then thinned out for the next hour. After the first of these influxes of people it became clear that we had insufficient light above half of our table (and some other vendors’ tables too) as most of the ceiling lights were in the centre of the room putting our table in the shadow of anyone who was standing trying to look at our books. Meriel from Nine Worlds was looking after the vendors and she and Jess (who was the Nine Worlds interface with the hotel) set off on a mission to resolve the problem. The hotel had no standalone lamps to offer, but a while later Jess re-appeared with a whole load of very cool strings of lights, that she had bought at a nearby Primark, and distributed them to those vendors who needed more light.

Our table at Nine Worlds with added fancy lights

The lights proved to be an attraction in themselves and I’m sure Jess could have made a decent commission supplying them to all the people who came up to ask where we had got them!

As at last year’s Nine Worlds, we spent the weekend chatting to some lovely people: imaginative, amusing, entertaining, thoughtful, even profound at times. It didn’t matter whether they were in the guise of a squirrel, dalek, alien, evil witch, jedi, lemming, or even human. The Nine Worlds attendee badges included communication preference overlays and pronoun stickers to help ensure not just inclusivity but also prevent inadvertent offence (another model that could usefully be followed by other conventions).

We also endeavoured to sell some books, of course, and had spirited discussion on the relative merits of eBooks and print editions (and, indeed audiobooks) with more than one visitor to our table.

On Saturday evening, at 5pm, we held the aforementioned book launch party. Setting up was greatly eased by the unexpected help provided by Nine Worlds staff who were on hand to reconfigure the room for us. We had John Gribbin and Zoë Sumra reading from their new books (Don’t Look Back and The Wages of Sin, respectively), and talking a little about themselves and their writing in response to questions from the audience and from our interviewer Peter R. Ellis. The audience was not as large as we had hoped – but it’s quality not quantity that’s important and they were a splendid bunch of people! The other advantage of fewer attendees is that we had plenty of wine left over to bring home (which we will be quietly drinking over the next few months).

Launch with Zoë Sumra, Peter R. Ellis, John Gribbin

All too soon, Sunday afternoon arrived and the Vendors’ room closed its doors and everyone started disassembling their tables. Within an hour, we had our books, posters and other paraphernalia all packed into boxes ready to be taken home (courtesy of our youngest daughter) – and once again the ever-helpful Nine Worlds staff quickly moved our boxes down to the loading area for us while we waited for the car.

All packed and ready to go home

Sunday evening was spent in a nearby Italian restaurant with friends, enjoying delicious food and lively conversation. Monday morning we checked out and headed for the train home.

Although we have been attending conventions almost since the inception of Elsewhen Press, it is still both exciting and exhausting. So we are always very grateful for the help that we get from our authors, friends and the convention organisers and volunteers. This year’s Nine Worlds was no exception. We made it through, more or less retaining our sanity, thanks to the support and help of our authors Siobhan McVeigh, Peter R. Ellis, Christopher Nuttall (along with Aisha and, of course, Eric who gains more fans at every convention!), Zoë Sumra (with Misha and Sylvianne), John Gribbin, Rebecca Hall, Edwin Hayward, and Susan Oke, and the support of Nine Worlds staff and volunteers especially Meriel and Jess.

 

Bookworm audiobook now available

The Bookworm series by Christopher Nuttall, is being released in unabridged audiobook format this summer by Tantor Media, narrated by Zehra Jane Naqvi.

Bookworm, the first book in the series, is now available to buy as a downloadable audiobook from Apple iTunes and Audible. The rest of the series will follow over the coming weeks.

 

“A clever update to a magical school story with a twist.” – Christopher Nuttall on Instrument of War

Christopher Nuttall, bestselling author of many fantasy and science fiction series including the Schooled in Magic, recently brought Rebecca Hall’s Symphony of the Cursed trilogy to the attention of his followers. With the forthcoming release of the second book in Rebecca’s trilogy, he read an advance copy and described it as “A clever update to a magical school story with a twist.”

Artwork by Alison Buck
Artwork by Alison Buck

Instrument of War continues from Instrument of Peace, the first book in the trilogy, as Mitch, Hayley and Nikola return for their final year in the International Academy of Magic at Lake Moawhango in New Zealand.

For more details visit bit.ly/InstrumentOfWar

Instrument of War, the second book in the Symphony of the Cursed trilogy, is already available on all major eBook platforms for pre-order. It will be published on 2nd June and will be available in paperback at the end of August. There will also be a belated launch party at FantasyCon in Peterborough in September!

 

Christopher Nuttall’s bestselling fantasy Bookworm series to be released as unabridged audiobooks

The Bookworm series will become the first Elsewhen Press titles available on audiobook, in transatlantic deal announced with Tantor Media Inc.

DARTFORD, KENT – 03 April 2017 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the signing of a deal with Tantor Media Inc. for the unabridged audiobook rights to Christopher Nuttall’s bestselling Bookworm series.

Bookworm cover image   Bookworm II – The Very Ugly Duckling cover image   Artwork: Alison Buck Library photograph: zens/shutterstock.com skull: leonello calvetti/shutterstock.com   Artwork: Alison Buck

Bookworm is an Epic Fantasy series that follows Elaine, an orphan with limited magical talent working as a librarian in the Great Library in Golden City. Her life changes when she triggers a magical trap and ends up with all the knowledge from the library – including forbidden magic that no one is supposed to know – stuffed inside her head. If the senior wizards find out what has happened to her, they will almost certainly have her killed. The knowledge that was locked away was meant to remain permanently sealed and letting it out could mean a repeat of the catastrophic Necromantic Wars of five hundred years earlier. Elaine struggles with the terrors and temptations of her newfound knowledge, while trying to stay out of sight of those she fears, embodied by the sinister Inquisitor Dread. Meanwhile, a darkly powerful figure has been drawing up a plan to take the power of the Grand Sorcerer for himself; and Elaine, unknowingly, is vital to his scheme. Through the four books in the series, Elaine grows in self-awareness and resolve as she tries to unlock the mysteries behind her new knowledge, divine the unfolding plan, discover the truth about her own origins and stop the evil that threatens those she loves, Golden City, and her entire world.

Peter Buck, editorial director of Elsewhen Press said “This is the first time any of our titles will have been released as an audiobook. We are thrilled to begin with Christopher Nuttall’s fantastic Bookworm series and hope this is the start of a long relationship with Tantor.”

Scott Smith, who acquired the Bookworm series for Tantor Media, said “Christopher is one of the top Fantasy and Science Fiction authors out there right now so we’re beyond excited to be working with him and Elsewhen Press in getting the Bookworm series published in audio.”

“We’re thrilled to be entering into this new partnership with Elsewhen Press,” said Ron Formica, director of acquisitions for Tantor Media. “Tantor has a strong catalog of fantasy and science fiction audiobooks, and adding an author of Christopher’s caliber is very exciting for us.”

Book one in the Bookworm series is expected to release in audio in June 2017 and will be available through major retailers, the rest of the series will release throughout 2017.

Notes for Editors

About Christopher Nuttall

Christopher NuttallChristopher Nuttall has been planning sci-fi books since he learnt to read. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Chris created an alternate history website and eventually graduated to writing full-sized novels. Studying history independently allowed him to develop worlds that hung together and provided a base for storytelling. After graduating from university, Chris started writing full-time. As an indie author, he has self-published a large number of novels. The Royal Sorceress was the first of his novels to be published by Elsewhen Press, quickly followed by Bookworm. Both launched successful series. Elsewhen Press has now published eleven titles by Chris. Chris is currently living in Edinburgh with his wife, muse, and critic Aisha and their son.

visit http://bit.ly/Bookworm-Series

About Tantor, A Division of Recorded Books

Located in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Tantor Media, a division of Recorded Books, is a leading publisher of thousands of bestselling and award-winning unabridged audiobooks. Tantor audiobooks are available through all major distributors in the retail and library markets, digitally and in CD format. Tantor’s parent company, Recorded Books, is the largest independent publisher of unabridged audiobooks in the world, with operations in the US, UK, and Australia.

visit https://tantor.com

Tantor Media contact: Cassandra McNeil +1 877-782-6867 x57 cmcneil@tantor.com

 

“shamelessly entertaining” – review of Sons of Liberty on RisingShadow

Artwork: Alison Buck
Artwork: Alison Buck

On the RisingShadow.net website, Seregil of Rhiminee has just posted a review of Sons of Liberty, the fourth book in Christopher Nuttall’s Royal Sorceress series (apparently, while on holiday – that’s dedication!). Seregil starts by describing this book as wonderfully continuing “the shamelessly entertaining story of Lady Gwen”, he notes that Christopher Nuttall clearly aims to entertain readers by “investing time” into developing interesting characters and creating intriguing events. As a result this is “an entertaining and adventurous story about power, war, freedom, revolution and magic”.

In Sons of Liberty, Lady Gwen is sent to North America to train new sorcerers. Seregil writes that by “having Lady Gwen travel into the North American colonies the author brings plenty of freshness to the story” adding that Christopher “writes captivatingly about the political tensions that brew in the colonies”.

Seregil likes Christopher’s “way of writing about magic and magical abilities, because it seems to come naturally to him”. He also liked the use of humour to lighten the story “in a wonderful way”, and commended Christopher who “masters it so well that you can’t help but enjoy his sense of humour”.

Seregil recommends the book to readers “because it’s excellent and fluently written entertainment for adult readers.” And in his concluding remarks he returns to his initial comment: “It’s a shamelessly entertaining alternate history novel with plenty of magic. Excellent entertainment!

You can read Seregil’s complete review on RisingShadow here.

 

Sons of Liberty by Christopher Nuttall now available in paperback

Artwork: Alison Buck
Artwork: Alison Buck

Sons of Liberty, Book IV in Christopher Nuttall’s alternate history / fantasy Royal Sorceress series, which has been available to buy as an eBook since the 29th April, is available from today in paperback.

Praise for the Royal Sorceress series:

“one of the most interesting and entertaining alternate history books ever written”
“one of the most intriguing heroines in modern fantasy”

Risingshadow

Sons of Liberty will be available to buy or order in paperback through all good retailers and direct from Elsewhen Press.