COVER REVEAL: The Magic Is Always With Us by David M Allan

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.

 

The Magic Is Always With Us by David M Allan; Cover artwork: Alison Buck
Cover artwork: Alison Buck

Look at the cover for more than a few seconds, and you too will find yourself being mesmerised!

The action takes place in various places in both Alba and Scotland. Handily, one of the characters has a map:

Map of Alba in Tirog from The Magic Is Always With Us by David M Allan; Map: Alison Buck
Map of Alba in Tirog
© 2024 Alison Buck

The Magic Is Always With Us will be published in eBook on 29th March and is available for pre-order now. It will be out in paperback on 29th April.

Author edits latest novel while backpacking in South America

Having escaped from an attempted drugging/mugging on a bus in Ecuador, Tej Turner completed the editing of the third book in his epic series in hostels and the rainforest.

DARTFORD, KENT – 26 February 2024 – Tej Turner, author, chef, and inveterate traveller, recently returned from a nine-months trip backpacking around South America. On his travelblog he tells of being drugged and mugged on a public bus as well as volunteering in a wildlife sanctuary in Ecuador. While he was travelling, Blood War, the third book in his Avatars of Ruin fantasy series was in the process of being prepared for publication by Elsewhen Press, a UK publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction from talented authors like Tej. Part of the pre-publication process is an interaction between the author and their editor, to finesse the final text (and root out any typos). At times, Tej was editing the text on his laptop in exotic locations that made the editorial team highly envious, although they did not let their envy stop them helping him to complete the book, which was published as an eBook in January and in print this month. Of course, at other times Tej was trying to edit in an oven-like hostel room with no air conditioning and loudly snoring companions; or even on a bus (not while being mugged!).

Tej says: “Having the occasional mishap is all part of having an adventure, and it was overall a great trip that I will look back on fondly. I am back in the UK now, and I have even started working on my new novel. It has certainly been an inspiring year and that should give me plenty of material for the next book. I hope that my readers enjoy Blood War as it is possibly my most ambitious work to date.”

Peter Buck, Editorial Director of Elsewhen Press, says: “This is not the first time that Tej has been completing the editing of a book while backpacking in exotic locations. When you’re sitting in an office in Kent on a rainy afternoon and Tej sends a picture of his ‘office for the day’ with lush vegetation and a waterfall just beyond the veranda of his hostel, it’s hard not to feel a little envious. But, on the other hand, sitting in an office is generally not as dangerous as travelling alone in some parts of South America!”

One reader described Tej’s Avatars of Ruin series as ‘Wheel of Time meets The Walking Dead’. It is an epic fantasy series about a group of survivors forced to band together when their world takes a dark turn. It has some illustrious fans. Trip Galey, author of A Market of Dreams and Destiny said, “This is epic fantasy with a touch of the mythic to it. There were villains I loved to hate, and a queer protagonist I loved rooting for. Action, magic, a world in peril…what more could you ask for?” Bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Christopher G. Nuttall called Bloodsworn, the first book in the series, “a stunning introduction to a new fantasy world” and renowned grimdark author Anna Smith Spark said “Classic epic fantasy. I enjoyed it enormously.” Allen Stroud, Chair of the British Science Fiction Association, said “a journey into Fantasy, only it’s not quite the journey you expected, and it’s all the better for it”. David Craig, author of the Sooty Feathers gothic fantasy series, said of Blood Legacy, the second book in Tej’s series, “an exciting book which ups the stakes, mixing traditional fantasy with an element of possession horror”. Fantasy author Joanne Hall said “a nuanced, smart high fantasy novel with intelligent, complex characters, good LGBT rep and some killer twists”.

The first three books of Tej’s Avatars of Ruin series, Bloodsworn, Blood Legacy and Blood War are all available in ebook and paperback format from good book retailers.

Notes for Editors

About Tej Turner

Tej Turner is an SFF author and travel-blogger. His debut novel The Janus Cycle was published by Elsewhen Press in 2015 and its sequel Dinnusos Rises was released in 2017. Both are hard to classify within typical genres but were contemporary and semi-biographical with elements of surrealism. He has since branched off into writing epic fantasy and has an ongoing series called the Avatars of Ruin. The first instalment – Bloodsworn – was released in 2021, and its sequel Blood Legacy in 2022. The third – Blood War – was published in early 2024.

He does not have any particular place he would say he is ‘from’, as his family moved between various parts of England during his childhood. He eventually settled in Wales, where he studied Creative Writing and Film at Trinity College in Carmarthen, followed by a master’s degree at The University of Wales Lampeter.

Since then, Tej has mostly resided in Cardiff, where he works as a chef by day and writes by moonlight. His childhood on the move seems to have rubbed off on him because when he is not in Cardiff, it is usually because he has strapped on a backpack and flown off to another part of the world to go on an adventure.

He has so far clocked two years in Asia and two years in South America, and when he travels, he takes a particular interest in historic sites, jungles, wildlife, native cultures, and mountains. He also spent some time volunteering at the Merazonia Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Ecuador.

Firsthand accounts of Tej’s adventures abroad can be found on his travel blog at https://tejturner.com/

About Avatars of Ruin

A reader described the Avatars of Ruin series as ‘Wheel of Time meets The Walking Dead’.

Bloodsworn by Tej Turner; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck
Blood Legacy by Tej Turner; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck
Blood War by Tej Turner; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck

It is an epic fantasy series about a group of survivors forced to band together when their world takes a dark turn. The story starts in Bloodsworn where we meet the villagers of Jalard. Once a year they are visited by representatives from the Academy who choose two of them to be taken away to their institute in the capital. To be Chosen is considered a great honour… of which most of Jalard’s children dream. But this year the Academy representatives make an announcement which is so shocking it causes friction between the villagers, and some of them begin to suspect that all is not what it seems. Just where are they taking the Chosen, and why? Some of them intend to find out, but what they discover will change their lives forever and set them on a long and bloody path to seek vengeance…

The story continues in Blood Legacy and Blood War.

Find out more at https://bit.ly/AvatarsOfRuin

COVER REVEAL: King Street Run by V.R. Ling

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.

King Street Run by V.R. Ling; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck

King Street Run will be published in the Spring.

COVER REVEAL: Blood War by Tej Turner

In conjunction with The Fantasy Hive, we are delighted to reveal the cover of Blood War, book 3 in Tej Turner’s epic series The Avatars of Ruin series.

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:

Bloodsworn by Tej Turner; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck
Blood Legacy by Tej Turner; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck

Blood War by Tej Turner; Cover by Alison Buck
Cover: Alison Buck

Blood War will be published in eBook format on the 8th January 2024 and in paperback on the 2nd February 2024.

Games industry veteran develops powerful new fiction writing system

From ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ in the 90s, through ‘Harry Potter, Goblet of Fire’ and ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ to the award-winning ‘Eufloria’, Rudolf Kremers’ game design experience enhances his story-telling.

DARTFORD, KENT – 29 August 2023 – Elsewhen Press is a publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction from talented authors. One of those authors is Rudolf Kremers, a BAFTA nominated game developer. Having spent over 20 years working as a designer and consultant to many of the largest entertainment companies in the world, as well as writing a well-respected text book on Level Design, Rudolf has written screenplays and video game narratives across various genres. His skill and experience naturally come to the fore when he writes fiction, and the publication of his debut science fiction novel, Birds of Paradise, has made him think about how his video games career has affected his writing and vice versa, leading to some inspiring conclusions.

Rudolf started making games over 40 years ago as an enthusiast, although it wasn’t a realistic career path in the Netherlands in the 1980s. But when he realised that things were different in the UK, which had a thriving video games industry, he moved to London to work with Douglas Adams at The Digital Village. Rudolf was recently called a “veteran” game developer, and although that description made him grumble a bit about “not being that old”, he realised that it’s not an unfair description. He’s now been working as a professional game developer in the UK for almost a quarter of a century, in all kinds of roles for several companies (before starting his own), and worked on a great variety of titles. He says that he has “the scars and stories to prove it”.

But he had always wanted to be a writer, having developed an insatiable love of reading from an early age, especially science fiction, fantasy and horror, but also books on mythology, space exploration, euro comics, superhero comics, and various other pulpy endeavours. He says, “I’m one of those poor sods afflicted with that famous ‘restless creative’ gene, which ensured that a desire to read also came with a desire to write. Luckily, as a game designer I often had the opportunity to work on game stories and lore and other such things. But writing for games comes with its own pitfalls and peculiarities and while that has its own charm, I eventually felt the need to do the kind of writing I fell in love with from a very young age. Initially, I took a detour where I wrote a bunch of screenplays but I finally arrived at a point where I just wanted to create something by myself, written for fans of my favourite genres. Something I would love reading myself. That wish turned into a big fat sci-fi novel called Birds of Paradise. I have had some of my short horror stories published, and I have finished a second novel, historical this time, set in 1630s Japan.”

With the publication of Birds of Paradise this summer by Elsewhen Press, Rudolf started to think about the relationship between game design and writing. He realised there had been a positive feedback loop between his video games career and his writing projects, indeed he concluded that “Every single one of those writing projects has made me a better game developer; and, conversely, every game I have developed has made me a better writer.” As a result he has begun to write a series of blog posts examining this conclusion. He has started with a topic that is the subject of frequent debate by writers: the pros and cons of meticulous planning and outlining versus more freeform writing and development – Rudolf looks into how both styles can be accommodated in a project, drawing on both writing and game development experience, to set out some unique writing techniques.

Peter Buck, Editorial Director at Elsewhen Press, says “It’s clear that there is a huge cross-over between literature and video games, especially in science fiction and fantasy. Indeed, games often beget books and books beget games, and they can all spin-off into films and TV! So it’s no real surprise that what Rudolf calls ‘restless creatives’ in any one of those media will likely excel in the others. Birds of Paradise is an epic science fiction story, a page-turner that would also be ideally suited as a thrilling blockbuster movie or as the underlying story-arc of an engaging video game. We were honoured that Rudolf approached us to publish it.”

Birds of Paradise is available as an eBook and in paperback from good retailers. Rudolf’s series of articles about the relationship between game design and writing is available on his blog.

Notes for Editors

About Rudolf Kremers

Rudolf KremersRudolf is a BAFTA nominated veteran game developer, author, photographer, producer, father, husband, cat person, filmmaker, dog person, and consultant. (Not necessarily in that order). Originally of Dutch/Spanish descent, he currently lives and works as an interactive entertainment consultant in Canterbury.

He has worked with clients across the entertainment landscape for more than 23 years, including companies like Lionsgate Studios, Framestore and Electronic Arts, providing design and consultancy work for some of the biggest intellectual properties in the world.

Including his debut science fiction epic Birds of Paradise, which has just been published by Elsewhen Press, Rudolf has written two novels, a gaggle of short stories – some of which are collected in The Singing Sands and Other Stories (published by Demain Publishing) – a textbook on game design (published by CRC Press), several screenplays, and an abundance of video game narratives.

This gives him all the license he needs to continue writing sci-fi, horror, weird fiction, historical fiction, and whatever other muse he succumbs to.

http://www.rudolfkremers.com/

About Birds of Paradise

Humanity received a technological upgrade from long-dead aliens.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Birds of Paradise by Rudolf Kremers; cover art by Max Taquet
Cover art: Max Taquet

Humanity had somehow muddled through the horrors of the 20th century and – surprisingly – managed to survive the first half of the 21st, despite numerous nuclear accidents, flings with neo-fascism and the sudden arrival of catastrophic climate change. It was agreed that spreading our chances across two planets offered better odds than staying rooted to little old Earth. Terraforming Mars was the future!

A subsequent research expedition led to humanity’s biggest discovery: an alien spaceship, camouflaged to appear like an ordinary asteroid. Although the aliens had long since gone, probably millions of years ago, their technology was still very much alive, offering access to unlimited power.

Over the next hundred years humanity blossomed, reaching out to the solar system. By 2238, Mars had been successfully terraformed, countless smaller colonies had sprung up in its wake, built on our solar system’s many moons, on major asteroids and in newly built habitats and installations.

Jemm Delaney is a Xeno-Archaeologist and her 16-year old son Clint a talented hacker. Together they make a great team. When she accepts a job to retrieve an alien artifact from a derelict space station, it looks like they will become rich. But with Corps, aliens, AIs and junkies involved, nothing is ever going to proceed smoothly.

If you’re a fan of Julian May, Frank Herbert or James S.A. Corey, you will love Birds of Paradise.

Cover art: Max Taquet

Find out more at https://bit.ly/BirdsOfParadise-Kremers

Fellow of the Royal Society writes SF novel exploring weird physics

Professor Ian Stewart, renowned mathematician and author, writes an ‘inventive’ ‘high concept’ science fiction adventure to speculate on ideas at the edge of known physics.

DARTFORD, KENT – 21 July 2023 – Elsewhen Press is a publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction from talented authors. One of those authors is Professor Ian Stewart, a Fellow of the Royal Society, globally recognised award-winning mathematician, and celebrated author of text books and popular science books including The Science of Discworld. But while science books, even pop-science, can make mainstream science entertaining as well as informative, even renowned scientists relish the possibility to explore intriguing but less well-established aspects that push the scientific boundaries. The relative freedom of science fiction provides an ideal medium for such speculation and Ian Stewart’s latest novel, Loophole, seizes that opportunity to explore concepts on the edge of known physics while keeping within the bounds of probability: faster-than-light travel, wormhole-linked black-holes, alternative universes. At the same time, he tells a gripping adventure story of universe-shattering proportions.

Multiple award-winning hard-science-fiction author Stephen Baxter says of Loophole, “When universes collide … A multicosmos at war in a scenario of staggering, but scientifically authentic, invention … As if the Marvel multiverse collided with 2001: A Space Odyssey … I am awed, and I don’t awe easily. The highest of high-concept SF.”

Henry Gee, Senior Editor at Nature, and author of A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth and The Sigil trilogy, says, “There’s Hard SF. There’s Wide-Screen Baroque. Now with Ian Stewart’s Loophole we have Wrap-Around Rococo. Daringly inventive, Loophole is a mind-fryingly, Möbius-twistingly intense SF adventure of the first order.”

Peter Buck, Editorial Director at Elsewhen Press, says “We were chatting to Ian at a science fiction convention and he told us about the novel he had recently finished writing. We were intrigued by the concept and told him how much we were looking forward to reading it. So you can imagine how delighted we were when Ian submitted it to us for consideration. Once we had read it, there was absolutely no doubt that we wanted to publish such an awesome book. We are thrilled that Loophole is now available for readers. Initial comments from Stephen Baxter and Henry Gee were very gratifying and will undoubtedly reflect the response of readers everywhere for this ‘daringly inventive’ ‘high concept science fiction’ adventure.”

Writing the story was an adventure in itself, says Ian Stewart: “I wanted to write the kind of book I like to read: high-concept space opera. The central gimmick had been rattling around in my head for years. There was a plan, of sorts, on the computer, but I had to write the novel to find out what really happened. Once I started on the details, my characters took over and it ended up quite different from what I’d expected. … Which was what I’d expected.”

Elsewhen Press commissioned space artist David A. Hardy to produce a cover for the book, which thrilled the author. Ian said, “I’ve been a David Hardy fan for fifty years. His elegant cover captures a key moment in the story, and subtly conveys a hint of mystery and menace. You don’t watch a moon disappearing every day.”

Loophole is available as an eBook from today and in paperback from 21st August 2023.

Notes for Editors

About Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has five honorary doctorates and is an honorary wizard of Unseen University. His more than 130 books include Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities and the four-volume series The Science of Discworld with Terry Pratchett and Jack Cohen. His SF novels include the trilogy Wheelers, Heaven, and Oracle (with Jack Cohen), The Living Labyrinth and Rock Star (with Tim Poston), and Jack of All Trades. Short story collections are Message from Earth and Pasts, Presents, Futures. His Flatland sequel Flatterland has extensive fantasy elements. He has published 33 short stories in Analog, Omni, Interzone, and Nature, with 10 stories in Nature’s ‘Futures’ series. He was Guest of Honour at Novacon 29 in 1999 and Science Guest of Honour and Hugo Award Presenter at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki in 2017. He delivered the 1997 Christmas Lectures for BBC television. His awards include the Royal Society’s Faraday Medal, the Gold Medal of the IMA, the Zeeman Medal, the Lewis Thomas Prize, the Euler Book Prize, the Premio Internazionale Cosmos, the Chancellor’s Medal of the University of Warwick, and the Bloody Stupid Johnson Award for Innovative Uses of Mathematics.

About Loophole

Don’t poke your nose down a wormhole – you never know what you might find.

Loophole by Ian Stewart; Artwork by David A. Hardy
Artwork: David A. Hardy

Two universes joined by a wormhole pair that forms a ‘loophole’, with an icemoon orbiting through the loophole, shared between two different planetary systems in the two universes.

A civilisation with uploaded minds in virtual reality served by artificial humans.

A ravening Horde of replicating machines that kill stars.

Real humans from a decrepit system of colony worlds.

A race of hyperintelligent but somewhat vague aliens.

Who will close the loophole… who will exploit it?

Find out more at https://bit.ly/Loophole-Ian-Stewart

Cover design: David A. Hardy

Loophole by Ian Stewart published today

Loophole by Ian Stewart is out today in eBook.

Don’t poke your nose down a wormhole – you never know what you might find.

Loophole by Ian Stewart; Artwork by David A. Hardy
Artwork: David A. Hardy

Two universes joined by a wormhole pair that forms a ‘loophole’, with an icemoon orbiting through the loophole, shared between two different planetary systems in the two universes.

A civilisation with uploaded minds in virtual reality served by artificial humans.

A ravening Horde of replicating machines that kill stars.

Real humans from a decrepit system of colony worlds.

A race of hyperintelligent but somewhat vague aliens.

Who will close the loophole… who will exploit it?


“When universes collide… A multicosmos at war in a scenario of staggering, but scientifically authentic, invention… As if the Marvel multiverse collided with 2001: A Space Odyssey… I am awed, and I don’t awe easily. The highest of high-concept SF.”

Stephen Baxter, Award-winning author of the Xeelee sequence,
Time Slip and many others

“There’s Hard SF. There’s Wide-Screen Baroque. Now with Ian Stewart’s Loophole we have Wrap-Around Rococo. Daringly inventive, Loophole is a mind-fryingly, Möbius-twistingly intense SF adventure of the first order.”

Henry Gee, Senior Editor at Nature,and author of The Sigil trilogy
and A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth.

Galata by Ben Gribbin published today

Galata by Ben Gribbin is out today in eBook.

Seven days. Seven deaths. Seven brides for seven rivers…

Galata by Ben Gribbin; Cover: Photos by Andrea Piacquadio; Background by Lise-Noor Lemmens
Cover: Photos by Andrea Piacquadio; Background by Lise-Noor Lemmens

It is New Year’s Day. The city of Galata, with its ancient river-streets, is slowly sinking into the sea. But for one week its citizens want to forget this, and celebrate the city’s thousand-year anniversary.

For Joseph, a jaded ex-detective, the day brings a glimmer of hope. Last night he met and kissed Celice, a free-spirited artist. Tonight he is meeting her again. But Celice never turns up.

Then her body is pulled out of the canal.

There are papers on her; charred at the edges, with mysterious writing on them. As Joseph teams up with his former police colleague J.D, they discover this may be just the first in a series of eerily similar crimes that took place on exactly the same week, 100 years ago.

Is history about to repeat itself? And can they stop it happening again?

Science fiction author pioneers pay-it-forward Gift-A-Book scheme in Durham

Miles Nelson, author-in-residence at the BookWyrm indie bookshop, advocates for LGBTQ+ and mental health resources and believes everyone should have access to the books that bring them joy.

DARTFORD, KENT – 28 April 2023 – Elsewhen Press is a publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction. One of our best-loved authors, Miles Nelson, spends time when he’s not writing, working in the Durham indie bookshop, BookWyrm, that he co-owns with his husband Chris. As author-in-residence at the bookshop he enjoys meeting new and existing readers of his books. The shop specialises in LGBTQ+ books as well as books by independent authors and small presses, and is very popular with students from Durham University. Miles and Chris are very active in promoting LGBTQ+ and mental health resources and recently announced their innovative pay-it-forward Gift-a-Book scheme, which allows a customer in the shop to purchase a featured book at a reduced price, to be set aside for someone who needs it, with an optional note to “spread little messages of queer joy!” Each month, they will spotlight a new title as their featured book. Their first such featured book was the Trans Guide to Mental Health and Well-Being by Katy Lees, chosen to celebrate Trans Day of Visibility. Readers in need of a book but with limited funds can ask at the counter in the shop to see which books are available. As Miles and Chris said in their announcement of the scheme, “Whether it’s guides to mental health, identity and neurodiversity or highly anticipated new releases, we believe that everyone should have access to the books that bring them joy, and we hope that Gift-a-Book opens that door to more of Durham’s LGBTQ+ community than ever before.”

Miles’ own books address issues relating to gender, identity and mental health in a science fiction or fantasy setting. His debut book, Riftmaster, a science fiction adventure published in 2021 by Elsewhen Press, was concerned with loss and letting go, while still holding onto your humanity and identity, even when life seems hopeless. Renegade, the sequel to Riftmaster, which is published by Elsewhen Press today, explores loneliness, trust and responsibility. Miles says it has “been one of the most teeth-clenchingly frustrating and rewarding books I’ve ever worked on.” Miles is also a gifted artist – as well as designing the covers to his books, each chapter starts with a small illustration relating to the story. He even makes small hand-sculptured figures to accompany the books, which are sold in the shop and at various other events that Miles and Chris attend. It’s no surprise that Miles is often asked to lead writing workshops, especially for younger would-be authors.

Peter Buck, editorial director of Elsewhen Press says, “When we first met Miles we were amazed at how much energy he has, almost literally bouncing into the room. We launched Riftmaster at a science fiction convention and Miles endeared himself to everybody there with his infectiously bubbly personality. He and Chris are impressive advocates of the LGBTQ+ community, and great supporters of various projects to help people, especially those who are neurodiverse or suffering from mental health issues. It has been a pleasure to see how quickly they have made a success of their indie bookshop, and what an impact it has already made in Durham. Miles’ personality and his concern for the welfare of others comes through very strongly in his writing, adding great depth to his characters, yet not detracting from the action and adventure. We are very proud that Miles chose Elsewhen Press to publish his books.”

Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Followed with Us, said of Renegade: “Beautiful sci-fi landscapes and action-packed adventure collides with a heart-wrenching look at loss and grief; what does it mean to love when you will always have to leave someone behind?”

Miles Nelson says “It’s so exciting to finally release Renegade to the world, but so nerve-racking too! I’ve never written a sequel before, and even more than that, this is the first time I’ve had people eagerly awaiting my next release! Renegade is very different from its predecessor – I’m so excited to see what everyone thinks!”

Chris and Miles’ bookshop, BookWyrm, is in Unit 12 in Durham’s Indoor Market Hall, and can be found online at https://bookwyrm.co.uk/

Renegade, the sequel to Miles’ bestselling Riftmaster, is published in eBook today and in paperback on 29th May.

Notes for Editors

About Renegade

The Riftmaster Ari is on their own, with nothing but their wit, their satchel, and a vow to make it back to Earth.

Renegade by Miles Nelson; Artwork: Miles NelsonTo do that they must stay alive, no matter the cost… but it seems that the inhabitants of this vast universe have other plans.

With Bailey gone, Ari’s life should shift back to normalcy. But after discovering all that remains of their family and taking the life of their love, Ari feels more alone than ever. Their only company is the strange sickness that fights against their every move, and the starships that seem to creep across the skies of every planet they visit. Starships belonging to the Renohaiin Empire.

In their time as Riftmaster, Ari has made allies and enemies alike. Even still, the Empire’s motives are hazy at the best of times, and insidious at the worst. As Ari’s condition deteriorates, the Renohaiin alone might have a cure.

For now, the Riftmaster is alive. But just how far will they go to keep it that way?

Renegade is the much anticipated sequel to Riftmaster, the 2021 bestseller from Miles Nelson.

Cover art: Miles Nelson

Visit bit.ly/Renegade-Nelson

About Miles Nelson

Miles Nelson was born and raised in the distant north, in a quaint little city called Durham. He studied video game design at Teesside University, graduating in 2018. Since then, he has taken a step back from coding to work on his writing career, and has since led several masterclasses with New Writing North. He has been writing all his life, and although Riftmaster was technically his fourth novel, he likes to pretend the first three don’t exist. Whilst he is primarily a sci-fi writer who loves long journeys, strange worlds and all things space and stars, he has also had brief flings with the genres of fantasy and horror. He often writes stories highlighting the struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community, and tries to include themes of empathy and inclusivity in all he does. Even then, though, Miles stands firm in the belief that this is not the defining element of his stories. And although he tries to represent his community as best he can, these themes are never the main focus; because he believes that (in most cases) a person shouldn’t be defined by their deviation from standard norms. Outside of scifi and fantasy, he has a deep-rooted fascination with natural history, and collects books told from unique perspectives (be they animal, alien, or mammoths from Mars). The older, the better; his oldest book is just about to turn 100! He currently lives in Durham City with his husband, Chris, who so far seems unworried by Miles’ rapidly growing collections.

Cover Reveal: The Last Star by Terry Grimwood

We’re delighted to be able to reveal the gorgeous cover of The Last Star, the next book by Terry Grimwood. Set in the same universe as Terry’s Interference, The Last Star continues to explore the alliance between humans and the god-like aliens, the Iaen.

As for Interference, the cover was designed by Alex Storer who has created this stunning artwork.

The Last Star by Terry Grimwood; Cover design and artwork: Alex Storer
Cover design and artwork: Alex Storer

The Last Star will be published in eBook formats on the 5th May and in paperback on the 5th June 2023.