Out today in paperback – The Enchanting Tricks by Mark Montanaro

Mark Montanaro’s sequel to his hilarious debut fantasy novel, The Magic Fix, is out in paperback today. The Enchanting Tricks, continues the story with inept humans, bumbling goblins, and of course the Magic Pixie.

Cover: S & A Buck
Cover: S & A Buck

Buy your copy at your favourite retailer

 

Inept leaders and covert factions plotting, lying, and fighting for personal power, while they see their population as disposable – the real world is worse than fiction

Author’s fantasy world has a lot to tell us about how conflict can be resolved in our world.

DARTFORD, KENT – 14 October 2022 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is committed to publishing entertaining books. At a time when conflict is causing problems across the world, economies are collapsing, and winter is coming, escapism has never been more welcome. Fantasy, more than any other literary genre, can provide a means of escape, albeit it temporary; humour can not only entertain and distract but, when used as a satirical weapon, may even be able to help inspiration. The latest book from Mark Montanaro, offers more epic fantasy poking fun at warmongers, dictators and politicians.

The Enchanting Tricks is the sequel to Montanaro’s successful 2020 debut The Magic Fix. The Known World is back, with more magic, more comedy, more fantasy. Not to mention some new characters, unnecessary fighting and incompetent leaders making a mess. If you can imagine such a thing…

Mark Montanaro says, “In a fantasy world of Goblins, Pixies, Ogres, Humans, Elves and Trolls, it’s just about feasible that there could be an enchantment that would make everyone get along. If only there was one that would work in the real world.”

Peter Buck, Editorial Director of Elsewhen Press, said, “In some rather worrying ways, the world around us is becoming more like Mark’s ‘Known World’ every day. Inept leaders and covert factions plotting, lying, fighting, for little more than self-aggrandisement or personal power, with almost casual indifference to their own populations whom they seem to regard as entirely disposable. Even Ogres and Goblins behave better than that! Mostly. Over the last few months, as we have been editing and otherwise preparing Mark’s book ready for production, our world has been getting uncomfortably closer and closer to some of the ridiculous situations in the story. At one point we seriously wondered whether it was too close to home. You might not think that the best way to escape from a world in conflict is to immerse yourself in a fictional one but, in fact, Mark’s story, while a cutting satire on politics, warfare and leadership, does actually give us hope for better times to come while also making us laugh out loud along the way.”

The Enchanting Tricks, is published by Elsewhen Press in eBook format today and will be available in paperback on the 7th November.

Notes for Editors

About Mark Montanaro

Mark has always been a man of many talents. He can count with both hands, get five letter words on Countdown and once solved a Rubik’s cube in just 5 days, 13 hours and 59 minutes.

His creativity started at an early age, when he invented plenty of imaginary friends, and even more imaginary girlfriends. As he got older, he started to use his talents to change the world for the better. World peace, poverty reduction, climate change; Mark imagined he had solutions to all of them.

He now lives in London with his Xbox, television and non-imaginary girlfriend. He recently embarked on his greatest and most creative project yet: a witty novel set in a fantasy world, The Magic Fix, Mark’s debut book. The Enchanting Tricks is the sequel.

About The Enchanting Tricks

The Known World is still not fixed… and things have got ugly

Cover: S & A Buck
Cover: S & A Buck

In the Goblin realm, Queen Afflech was doing remarkably well considering the circumstances. She had seen her husband die, and both her sons killed within the space of a couple of weeks. That kind of thing does tend to bring you down a bit.

Losing three kings in a few days looked rather careless. But of more concern to the Goblin warlords was whether it looked weak to their enemies. They suspected the Humans were behind one death and the Ogres behind another. The Pixies were no threat, the Trolls would probably soon be killing one another again, and the Elves were irrelevant (or, to be precise, just annoying).

Meanwhile, King Wyndham wanted to show the Goblins that Humans were not to blame (apart from the two who might be to blame). Petra, the most famous Pixie in the Known World, knew exactly who was to blame and wanted to rescue them. Lord Protector Higarth was determined to help the Goblins with their predicament, whether they wanted Ogre-help or not.

But on the plus side, the dragon’s gone; and there are still plenty of unicorns… maybe they can somehow solve everything?

ISBN: 9781915304193 eBook / 9781915304094 paperback 270pp

Visit bit.ly/TheEnchantingTricks

 

Cover Reveal: The Enchanting Tricks by Mark Montanaro

Cover design: S & A Buck

When we were working with Mark Montanaro to publish his debut novel, The Magic Fix, we (obviously) discussed what the cover should be like. After much consideration, we all settled on the idea that, given that the concern in the book was that the Known World was being ‘rent in twain’ (generally frowned upon!), the cover should represent that and so was born the idea of the map of the Known World (which Mark had already sketched out) ripped into two halves, representing the two main factions (i.e. Human, Elves & Pixies, versus Trolls, Goblins & Ogres).

Now Mark has written a sequel to The Magic Fix in which further action is being taken to try to fix the problems caused in the first book – we won’t say any more for fear of revealing spoilers – so it seemed only reasonable that the cover should once again attempt to represent this. When we suggested that the two halves of the map could be (badly) mended with some sticky tape, Mark was very pleased. It fits the tone of the book perfectly. So we proudly present (drum roll please…) The Enchanting Tricks, Book 2 of the Magic Fix series:

Cover: S & A Buck
Cover: S & A Buck

The Seven Succubi by Simon Kewin out in eBook today

Cover image: Alison Buck
Cover image: Alison Buck

The Seven Succubi by Simon Kewin, the second story of Her Majesty’s Office of the Witchfinder General, protecting the public from the unnatural since 1645, is out today in eBook and will be published in paperback on 28th March.

“Think Dirk Gently meets Good Omens!”

As disasters and refugees once again hit the headlines, Ira Nayman’s satire on the inability of governments to handle a refugee crisis seems ever more prescient

In his Multiverse Refugees Trilogy, the imminent destruction of an inhabited universe leads to the need for the managed immigration of aliens – despite incompetent governments, greedy corporations and opposition from protest groups.

DARTFORD, KENT – 20 August 2021 – Elsewhen Press is a publishing house that is becoming known for high quality, entertaining yet insightful speculative fiction, addressing real-world issues through a fictional prism. Their latest title is Bad Actors by Ira Nayman. It is the second book in Ira’s Multiverse Refugees Trilogy (and hence subtitled Second Pi in the Face). Ira, a prize-winning satirist and past President of SFCanada, the organisation of science fiction and fantasy professionals in his native Canada, comes from a family in which previous generations had been refugees. He is well aware of the contribution that refugees make to a country that has become their adopted home, and is incensed by increasing xenophobia around the world. This has driven him to write this trilogy.

Ira says, “Anger is the satirist’s rocket fuel. I decided to write a story about refugees. Sure, it’s not an uncommon trope in speculative fiction, where aliens are sometimes metaphors for human beings, but I figured nobody had approached the subject quite like I would.

It is undoubtedly true that no-one else would write such a story quite like Ira. As Peter Buck, Editorial Director at Elsewhen Press puts it, “Ira has a unique and highly distinctive way of telling a story: at times surreal, rarely predictable, always funny and often poignant.

In Ira’s story, the refugees are escaping an ill-fated universe that is in imminent danger of collapse. To live on Earth Prime they must undergo changes that irreversibly affect their physiology, and they are being helped to cope by non-governmental agencies and charities. Unlike those that we see in news bulletins, Ira’s refugees are short aliens, with blue skin, always wearing exquisite three-piece suits. Their beliefs revolve around humour and their only weapons, and defence, are jokes.

But Ira, as well as entertaining his readers, is keen to make a point and encourage people to think about the issues that he addresses. Peter Buck, again, “His skill as a satirist keeps you laughing all the way to the end, while gently directing your attention to the real-world issues that are at the heart of the story.

Can satire effect change? Ira certainly hopes so. Using aliens to encourage humanity in world leaders is his tactic.

Bad Actors: Multiverse Refugees Trilogy: Second Pi in the Face is now available in eBook format on most platforms and will be out in paperback in October. Good Intentions was the first book in the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy and Ira is already putting the finishing touches to the final book.

Notes for Editors

About Bad Actors

Cover artwork by Hugh Spencer
Cover artwork by Hugh Spencer

Two years after the discovery that Earth Prime 4-6-4-0-8-9 dash Omega is in imminent danger of collapse, the Transdimensional Authority has helped hundreds of millions…well, millions…okay, a lot of aliens immigrate to Earth Prime. How’s that working out?

Rodney              Pendleton, the first alien to make the move, is now a tech millionaire (hover technology is wildly popular – who knew?). Wainwright Walsh, lead singer for The Occidental Tourists (ask your parents… or, maybe your grandparents), puts together an all-star band to raise funds for a foundation to help the aliens adjust to their new home.

But all is not beat yas and scream on Earth Prime. An investigation into the first murder of an alien being leads to an anti-alien protest group, revealing a dark, speciesist strain of human emotion. And a different investigation into the disappearance of aliens in Latin America reveals a dark, greedy strain of human emotion.

It turns out, some problems cannot be solved by the swift, unexpected application of pie!

ISBN: 9781911409847 (paperback, 264pp) / 9781911409946 (eBook)

Visit bit.ly/BadActors-IraNayman

About Ira Nayman

Ira Nayman has been writing comedy for over 50 years. Bad Actors is the seventh novel set in the Transdimensional Authority/Multiverse series published by Elsewhen Press, the second in the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy. He has also self-published 12 books in the Alternate Reality News Service series, the latest of which is named Welcome to the Insurrection (We’re Not Sorry for the Inconvenience).

Ira will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his web site, Les Pages aux Folles, in the first week of September, 2022. The birthplace of both the Alternate Reality News Service and the Transdimensional Authority, Les Pages aux Folles’ weekly updates of social and political satire will fill 38 books and will be comprised of somewhere between two and two and a half million words.

Ira was also the editor of Amazing Stories magazine for two and a half years, and is past President of SFCanada, the Canadian organization of science fiction and fantasy professionals.

About the cover

The artwork at the heart of the cover of Bad Actors was produced by Canadian artist Hugh Spencer, and provides a vision of the experience of travelling between alternate realities (according to Ira).

 

Imagine if smartphones were banned.

Author Simon Lowe’s new novel ‘The World is at War, again’ takes a witty look at a world where new technology is a war-time vulnerability and society must regress to the safety of old tech.

DARTFORD, KENT – 07 June 2021 – Elsewhen Press is a publishing house that is becoming known for high quality, insightful yet entertaining speculative fiction. Their latest title, The World is at War, again by author Simon Lowe, although set in a near-future world, has a very retro feel about it. The global domination of new technology, from mega-corporations with no particular allegiance to national borders or political ideology, had led not to equality or a level playing-field but to an inability for nation-states to compete. Technology itself had become the fifth column, undermining governments and the military. The only solution was the Great Regression, rolling back insidiously pervasive technology and reverting to a world of paper, typewriters and land-line telephones. Against this background, Agent Assassins are deployed on covert missions because “Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War” – including one agent who is tracking down another who has gone rogue, her cousin.

Cover design: Alison Buck

Lowe’s novel is neither dystopian nor post-apocalyptic fiction – the protagonists are attempting to pre-empt potential apocalypse. Nor, indeed, is it entirely fictional. Already, this year, cyber-security experts have been warning of the potential dangers of ‘smart cities’; ransom-ware attacks are on the increase, not just against businesses but also healthcare, government and infrastructure – the attack on software controlling an oil pipeline in the US caused widespread panic and public mayhem, including the terrifyingly stupid spectacle of people stockpiling petrol in plastic bags! The UK government’s own Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, CPNI, is warning industry and academia about the risks from ‘hostile state actors’. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, big tech companies (and their billionaire owners) have massively increased in value as their products and services have become ever more embedded and crucial to the lives of so many people. Where businesses used to be dependent on the goodwill of governments, the situation is now reversed, with the budgets of some smaller nations dwarfed by those of big tech, while much governmental infrastructure around the world is now under the control of a handful of corporations. How long would hostilities last if an enemy state could switch off the mobile phone network, the power grid, and the Internet within seconds of war being declared?

Peter Buck, Editorial Director of Elsewhen Press, says, “Science fiction has a long tradition of shining a spotlight on society’s problems, by recasting them in an alternative context (whether that’s an alien world, or a different time). The ever-increasing dependence on technology, and the impact that it has on our everyday security, not to mention long-term stability and defence, is an important issue that people are starting to consider. In The World is at War, again Simon Lowe has highlighted these serious concerns in a witty and entertaining way – after all, who hasn’t dreamt of becoming a trained Assassin and taking out a troublesome cousin. I know I have.”

The World is at War, again is already available in eBook format and is now available in paperback from today.

Notes for Editors

About The World is at War, again

The World is at War, again. New technology has been abandoned, a period of Great Regression is under way.
In suburbia, low level Agent Assassins Maria and Marco Fandanelli are given a surprise promotion as “Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War”. Leaving their son Peter behind, they set sail on the luxury cruise-liner Water Lily City, hoping an important mission might save their careers and their marriage.

Dilapidated and derelict, Panbury Hall is not what Peter expected from boarding school. Together, with his celebrity dorm buddy, he adjusts to a new life that involves double dates, ginger vodka, Fine Art face painting and kidnapping, as they attempt to uncover the mystery of Panbury Hall.

Despite being a member of the Misorov Agent Assassin dynasty, Chewti is a reluctant AA. She only joined the Family Business to track down her cousin Nadia, the rogue AA who killed her mother. Really, she wanted to be a school teacher. So when Nadia is spotted loitering in the grounds of Panbury Hall, the opportunity to avenge her mother’s death and have her dream job is too tempting to turn down.

The World is at War, again blends genre and expectation as characters take on an extravagant, often comic search for identity and meaning in unusual times. It is both a novel and a rumination on how very bad and very good the world would be without technology.

ISBN: 9781911409830 (paperback, 296pp) / 9781911409939 (eBook)

About Simon Lowe

Simon Lowe

Simon Lowe is the non-nom de plume of the author Simon Lowe. From humble beginnings inside a Melton Mowbray pork pie, Simon spent a summer building insulation for the millennium dome (nobody ever complained about being cold, did they?) before working the daytime shift as a flair cocktail waiter in a bar next to Leicester train station, impressing commuters with his juggling skills before pouring their coffee and thanking them for their patience. He would eventually find his feet in the big smoke as a bookseller. For ten years, he passed sharpies to famous authors with an envious, often murderous smile. He later went on to take charge of a primary school library, issuing fines to four year olds with indiscriminate glee. Fearing burn out, from the heady world of books, he chose to settle down in Hertford of all places.

As it stands, Simon has one partner, one son and one cat. Alongside writing fiction, he is a stay at home dad with ambitious plans to leave the house one day.

His short stories have popped up in journals and magazines on three continents including Visible Ink, Storgy, Firewords, AMP, Chaleur magazine, Ponder Review, Adelaide Literary journal, The Write launch, and elsewhere. He has also written about books for the Guardian newspaper.

 

Comic espionage thriller ‘The World is at War, again’ out today as eBook

DARTFORD, KENT – 02 April 2021 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the publication of The World is at War, again by Simon Lowe. An espionage novel set in a near future where technology has been discredited and a period of Great Regression in under way, The World is at War, again blends genre and expectation as characters take on an extravagant, often comic search for identity and meaning in unusual times.

Cover design: Alison Buck

In suburbia, low level Agent Assassins Maria and Marco Fandanelli are given a surprise promotion as “Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War”. Leaving their son Peter behind, they set sail on the luxury cruise-liner Water Lily City, hoping an important mission might save their careers and their marriage.

Dilapidated and derelict, Panbury Hall is not what Peter expected from boarding school. Together, with his celebrity dorm buddy, he adjusts to a new life that involves double dates, ginger vodka, Fine Art face painting and kidnapping, as they attempt to uncover the mystery of Panbury Hall.

Despite being a member of the Misorov Agent Assassin dynasty, Chewti is a reluctant AA. She only joined the Family Business to track down her cousin Nadia, the rogue AA who killed her mother. Really, she wanted to be a school teacher. So when Nadia is spotted loitering in the grounds of Panbury Hall, the opportunity to avenge her mother’s death and have her dream job is too tempting to turn down.

The cover is by Alison Buck

The World is at War, again is available from today on eBook platforms and will be published in paperback in June.

About Simon Lowe

Simon Lowe is the non-nom de plume of the author Simon Lowe. From humble beginnings inside a Melton Mowbray pork pie, Simon spent a summer building insulation for the millennium dome (nobody ever complained about being cold, did they?) before working the daytime shift as a flair cocktail waiter in a bar next to Leicester train station, impressing commuters with his juggling skills before pouring their coffee and thanking them for their patience. He would eventually find his feet in the big smoke as a bookseller. For ten years, he passed sharpies to famous authors with an envious, often murderous smile. He later went on to take charge of a primary school library, issuing fines to four year olds with indiscriminate glee. Fearing burn out, from the heady world of books, he chose to settle down in Hertford of all places.

As it stands, Simon has one partner, one son and one cat. Alongside writing fiction, he is a stay at home dad with ambitious plans to leave the house one day.

His short stories have popped up in journals and magazines on three continents including Visible Ink, Storgy, Firewords, AMP, Chaleur magazine, Ponder Review, Adelaide Literary journal, The Write launch, and elsewhere. He has also written about books for the Guardian newspaper.

The World is at War, Again is both a novel and a rumination on how very bad and very good the world would be without technology.

 

This isn’t God’s first attempt at creation. A new comic fantasy reveals all…

Comedy writer Craig Meighan, tired of having to be creative with the truth to support the government’s dubious political agendas, took his wife’s advice and quit the Civil Service to be creative with fiction instead.

DARTFORD, KENT – 19 March 2021 – Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the publication of Far Far Beyond Berlin by Craig Meighan. A satire on bureaucracy, it imagines the Biblical Genesis story as God’s seventh and final attempt to get his creation right. But what happened to the previous six universes? They still exist and one unlucky government worker accidentally gets transported to the first and must find his way home through each of them, which could have apocalyptic consequences for all seven universes and God himself.

Craig Meighan had written for short films, radio jokes and stand-up comedy but hadn’t been making a career in it. He joined the civil service and initially enjoyed it, but three governments, 4 Prime Ministers and 12 years later, he found himself in the odd position of working very hard to achieve things that were the exact opposite of his moral beliefs.

The decisive moment came when he received an existentially terrifying pension statement that suggested he’d have a further 38 punishing years until retirement. Afraid that he’d be stuck in the job forever, he told his wife Jen that he felt like he was wasting valuable time.

Craig says: “My retirement age was projected at 71. I checked my life expectancy and, because I’m from a predominantly working class bit of Scotland, that was projected at 68! I had a better chance of dying during a zoom call about welfare policy than I did of enjoying a retirement. Jen asked what I wanted to do with my life and I told her what she already knew, that I wanted to be a writer. She asked the killer question, which was, ‘Why aren’t you trying to do it?’ I didn’t have a good answer. She read my work and told me that she believed I was good enough to write professionally, that I would always regret it if I didn’t give it my full undivided attention to see where it could take me and that I should quit my job and just write. If I was no further forward after a year, I could go and get an office job again and at least I’d know that I’d tried. The next day I handed in my notice to the job I’d held for 12 years. When someone shows that level of support to your dream, you have to give it everything. You owe them 100% effort.”

Craig finished his book and submitted it to various publishers. Peter Buck, Editorial Director of Elsewhen Press takes up the story: “As soon as we read it, we knew we’d love to publish it. The combination of fantasy, satire, and playing with the creation mythos, was irresistible. If you can imagine Hitchhiker’s in the style of Pulp Fiction, you’ll understand why we were hooked right away. We asked Craig which of the characters in the book were inspired by the ministers that he had worked for, but he wouldn’t tell us. The pandemic has delayed our publication schedule but we’re delighted that we can now share Craig’s book with readers, and they can try to guess for themselves.”
Craig adds: “Sometimes it’s all you need: one person to show some belief in your abilities, one person to back you. It’s nice to repay that faith, even if how you repay it is to write a book which features a sentient almond. I now spend most of my week writing fiction and I am 6000% happier than I was before. So Jen’s support has completely changed my life for the better, come what may.”

Far Far Beyond Berlin is available from today as an eBook, and in paperback on 17th May.

Notes for Editors

About Craig Meighan

Craig Meighan was born in Lanarkshire, in central Scotland. Both a keen drummer and a fan of science fiction, he grew up wanting to be either Animal, from The Muppets, or Douglas Adams. This has led to an unfortunate habit of smashing up his computer at the end of each writing session.

With the ambition of becoming a screenwriter, he attended film college in Glasgow. He spent a short time making corporate videos and then after attending one chance meeting, he accidentally joined the civil service. Intending to stay for one summer, he ended up staying for 12 years (so think carefully before inviting him round for tea).

He is too polite to say which of the killer robots, demons and other assorted antagonists that appear in his book, are based on his interactions with actual government ministers.

His first novel, Far Far Beyond Berlin, was written in the evenings, after work, every day for a year, at the end of which time his wife Jen convinced him it was time to finally leave the safety of the office job and pursue writing full-time. She cunningly incentivised him by promising that if he managed to get his book published, he could get a big dog.

Craig lives with Jen, just outside Glasgow, where they like to play softball, enter pub quizzes and do escape rooms. He is delighted to say that he is now the proud owner of a huge daft greyhound named Ralph.

About Far Far Beyond Berlin

Even Geniuses need practice

Cover artwork: Gordon Miller

Not everything goes to plan at the first attempt… In Da Vinci’s downstairs loo hung his first, borderline insulting, versions of the Mona Lisa. Michelangelo’s back garden was chock-a-block full of ugly lumps of misshapen marble. Even Einstein committed a great ‘blunder’ in his first go at General Relativity. God is no different, this universe may be his masterpiece, but there were many failed versions before it – and they’re still out there.

Far Far Beyond Berlin is a fantasy novel, which tells the story of a lonely, disillusioned government worker’s adventures after being stranded in a faraway universe – Joy World: God’s first, disastrous attempt at creation.

God’s previous universes, a chain of 6 now-abandoned worlds, are linked by a series of portals. Our jaded hero must travel back through them, past the remaining dangers and bizarre stragglers. He’ll join forces with a jolly, eccentric and visually arresting crew of sailors on a mysteriously flooded world. He’ll battle killer robots and play parlour games against a clingy supercomputer, with his life hanging in the balance. He’ll become a teleportation connoisseur; he will argue with a virtual goose – it sure beats photocopying.

Meanwhile, high above in the heavens, an increasingly flustered God tries to manage the situation with His best friend Satan; His less famous son, Jeff; and His ludicrously angry angel of death, a creature named Fate. They know that a human loose in the portal network is a calamity that could have apocalyptic consequences in seven different universes. Fate is dispatched to find and kill the poor man before the whole place goes up in a puff of smoke; if he can just control his temper…

Visit bit.ly/FarFarBeyondBerlin

 

Realising a life’s journey – Interview with David Shannon in The European

In The European, an article about author David Shannon and his debut novel HOWUL predicts that he may be about to emerge as a major literary talent!

Cover design: Alison Buck

You can read the article and an interview with David on The European’s website here.

 

Cover reveal: Far Far Beyond Berlin by Craig Meighan

Did you know that God had six attempts to create the perfect universe before he finally created ours? Each of them was a learning experience for Him!

Far Far Beyond Berlin is the debut fantasy novel from writer Craig Meighan, which tells the story of a human who becomes stranded on the first world that God created, Joy World, and his subsequent attempt to return home to our world, which involves traversing all six of God’s previous worlds. God is not happy. In fact he’s getting quite flustered so he dispatches Fate, his angel of worse than death, to catch and dispose of the interloper.

As you can imagine, this paves the way for adventures, scrapes, shenanigans, but above all a good laugh (for us, not for the protagonists). And en route we meet some interesting characters including the one who is going to reveal the cover to us… Graham the Gravity-Goose:
 

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it on YouTube.

Far Far Beyond Berlin will be published on March 19th on all the best eBook platforms (available to preorder from the end of February) and in paperback on May 17th.

The cover is by artist Gordon Miller.

You can find more details about the book here.