Pornokitsch

We did so many things wrong.

In the introduction, 600-odd pages ago, Anne mentioned that we launched our first anthology, Stories of the Apocalypse without, well… the book. A dozen authors, another dozen family members, a double-handful of supportive friends and a couple befuddled strangers all gathered at Tate Britain to awkwardly scan some QR codes and listen to vague promises of future delivery. We sold three ebooks that day. Not exactly the glorious march into literary history that we had envisioned.

Tate Britain, the redoubtable art museum, opened an exhibit about the 19th century painter John Martin on 21 September, 2011. Tantalizingly titled “John Martin: Apocalypse”, the exhibition was intended to bring this mostly forgotten painter, a flash-in-the-pan during his own lifetime, to the attention of a modern audience by associating his gigantic, Biblical paintings with an emerging cultural fascination with the end of the world.

Thursday evening we're having a welcome party for The Extinction Event and a farewell to Jurassic London. Please join us and many of the book's contributors from 7 pm at the Yorkshire Grey (London, WC1X) to give the book/press the welcome/goodbye it deserves!

Facebook event, if you like to RSVPing.

There are very few copies of The Extinction Event unclaimed. It is very unlikely that there will be any left for sale on the night, so if you are interested in this special edition, 150-copy-only, never to be reprinted or ebooked, rather stately monolith of a book... you should probably order it now.

The table of contents, details and more pretty pictures can all be found here.

Delighted to announce that Irregularity is part of this month's 'Nerd History' Storybundle, sitting alongside some rather fascinating works of computing non-fiction.*

Storybundles are fun. You pay what you want. The books are DRM free. You get a ton of reading. And a big ol' cut goes to an awesome charity - in this case, the Computer History Museum. For those counting down the days until Jurassic goes extinct, it is also a nice way to pick up Irregularity before it disappears into the ether. (Or aether, take your pick.)

Irregularity contains over a dozen stories of the Age of Reason - featuring the ambitious men and women who tried to categorise and organise the world. And all the things that defied such organisation...

It contains stories by E.J. Swift**, Kim Curran***, Claire North, Nick Harkaway, Simon Guerrier, Rose Biggin, James Smythe, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Richard de Nooy, Roger Luckhurst, M. Suddain, Archie Black, Tiffani Angus and Adam Roberts.**** Plus some gorgeously irregular art from Gary Northfield, and an afterword from our partners at the National Maritime Museum. 

Tis a pretty good book, if I say so myself. And now's a chance to get it with six of its friends!

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*Disclaimer: As compelling as time-travelling Bryan May and mechanical dinosaurs might be, Irregularity is not actually non-fiction. Unless you want it to be, in which case, go for it.

**This one was longlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize.

***This one got Tiptree Honors.

****This one was described as 'the most Adam Roberts thing that Adam Roberts has ever Adam Robertsed'. Which is pretty accurate.

[via Jurassic London]

This October is Jurassic London's 5th anniversary, and we're celebrating with a huge new anthology.

The Extinction Event currently clocks in at over 150,000 words; over half of which will be completely new material. We've been taking this as an opportunity to revisit our previous publications - including the more rare and out of print titles - and also commission some terrific new stories.

I suppose the clue is in the name, but... The Extinction Event is also Jurassic London's last book. 

The Extinction Event will be published in late October, as a very glamorous limited edition. In fact, this will be the only edition - no ebook! - so we're going to make it as special as possible. 

It has been an incredible five year run and we've had a blast. We'll do the various "thank you" and "goodbye" bits in October, and we'll wait and talk about it then. But for now: you're all awesome! This is not a sad thing! 

For now... start clearing some shelf space. The Extinction Event is coming, and it is going to be big. 

Links and updates:

"ACK! I'm a Jurassic London reader and/or writer. What does this mean?!" 

Table of Contents - and a bit of art! - revealed at Tor.com.

r/fantasy will be hosting an AMA for contributors on 13 October

For updates on pre-orders and the launch party, join the Jurassic London mailing list.

[via Jurassic London]

 The special edition of The Builders, written by Daniel Polansky and illustrated by Howard Hardiman, is now available for pre-order. 

This hardcover edition is limited to 75 copies, signed by both author and artist. It comes complete with coloured endpapers, ribbon bookmark and 14 original black and white illustrations. 

 You can order your copy here.

More details here.

The annual Jurassic London Stocking Stuffer is out now, and available as a free download.

This year's theme is "book-collecting", because books are awesome.

It includes all sorts of practical advice for bibliophiles, including:

• Where's the best book-shopping in 19th century London?
• Why should collectors be wary of limited editions?
• Why shouldn't you remove mysterious stains?
• What books did Napoleon collect?

Plus a rambling introduction from yours truly and a gorgeous cover from Sarah Anne Langton.

Have a very, very happy holiday season, and a bookish new year!

Download your copy now.

(This non-fictional Stocking Stuffer is new for 2015. If you're interested in some short-short stories for the holiday season, you can find the previous Stocking Stuffers on Amazon.)

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Jurassic London is a not-for-profit publisher, and the proceeds from the sales of our books go to selected charity partners. In 2015, these included The Eve Appeal, UNHCR, MOSAC, The Trevor Project, The Homestead and many others. Thanks for supporting us - and them. We hope you have a terrific holiday season.

...on Goodreads. Five copies, signed by Molly "The Martian" Tanzer!

Or don't leave it to chance, and order a copy.

Our erratic and extremely particular publishing wing, Jurassic London, has a new (or very old) title on the horizon: Aleriel, A Voyage to Other Worlds.

First published in 1883, Aleriel is one of the early classics of science fiction. The titular hero explores the Solar System - from his homeworld of Venus to the 'inchoate horrors of Saturn', with lengthy stops to visit a Utopian society on Mars and, of course, Earth. Notable for the way the novel incorporated the latest scientific, political and religious thinking, Aleriel is also the first work of fiction to use the words 'Martian' or 'Venusian' to describe the residents of these planets.

This new edition of Aleriel contains the author's original prefaces and end-notes to the first and second editions, and comes with a lengthy introduction from the Richard Dunn (Head of Science and Technology, Royal Museums Greenwich) and Marek Kukula (Public Astronomer, Royal Observatory Greenwich), discussing the role our celestial neighbours - especially Mars - have played in inspiring contemporary fiction. 

As a further bonus, Vermilion and The Pleasure Merchant's (and Pornokitsch's) Molly Tanzer has written a brand new sequel to Aleriel, "Civilisation and Its Discontented", which investigates the repercussions of Aleriel's visit to Mars.

The cover is by Jonathan Edwards, whose distinctive style can be found in the Guardian, Q and NME, as well as adorning album covers by, amongst others, The Black Eyed Peas.

Aleriel is out 24 November. Ebooks can be ordered now via Amazon and Amazon.co.uk. And the paperback is available here.

The Book of the Dead is a mere 99¢ this weekend on Amazon.com!

Jews Versus Zombies is a mere 99p this weekend on Amazon.co.uk!

Happy Halloween!