by Rhys Hughes
“The odds against that happening,” he roared pompously, “are more than a thousand million billion trillion to one.”
“So it’s not impossible?” persisted Irene.
He was about to answer but something prevented him. What was it? Irene realised he was shrinking. Not only shrinking, but dissolving too. It was the look on her face, astonishment mixed with triumph, that stopped him saying what he intended to say. Now he felt himself growing tenuous, becoming thinner, and less of a man; his flesh turning to liquid, and this liquid vanishing as his essence was absorbed by the inside-out stomach.
He was all gone. On the chair in his place sat a haggis.
Belated Foreword
The very idea of the ‘foreword’ is a peculiar one. Books have them, yes, but why not trains, ducks, slippers, balconies, harpsichords, bloated lips, or cashew nuts? I would happily write a foreword to a strawberry tart. Why haven’t I done so? It’s a mystery. No matter. The world is full of mysteries, and so much the better for it! A century ago, lived a writer by the name of Abraham Merritt. He was quite famous for some years and many other authors hugely praised his merits. Now he is obscure. Time did that to him. I’m glad I don’t have to shoulder the blame!
Merritt wrote books with beautiful titles, evocative titles that suggest a deeper sense of mystery and wonder than the actual works can possibly deliver. Perhaps he did his best to match content to subtle promise, perhaps not, I don’t know. But it still seems to me that his Dwellers in the Mirage is one of the finest titles ever conceived; a title so superb I always wanted it for my own. I couldn’t steal it unaltered, of course, but I’ve finally managed to assuage my envy by adapting it to my own needs. Hence Mirrors in the Deluge, a curiously Welsh reversal, I feel!
Elsewhen Press
an independent publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction
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Elsewhen Press
ENTANGLEMENT
DOUGLAS THOMPSON
Best described as philosophical science fiction, Entanglement explores our assumptions about such constants as death, birth, sex and conflict, as the characters in the story explore distant worlds and the intelligent life that lives there.
Entanglement is simultaneously a novel and a series of short stories: 24 worlds, 24 chapters, 24 stories; each one another step on mankind’s journey outwards to the stars and inwards to man’s own psyche. Yet the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts; the synergy of the episodes results in an overarching story arc that tells us more about ourselves than about the rest of the universe.
ebook, paperback (336pp)
visit bit.ly/EntanglementBook
Elsewhen Press
The Rhymer
an Heredyssey
Douglas Thompson
“Simply Stupendous” – Rhys Hughes
The Rhymer, an Heredyssey by Douglas Thompson defies classification in any one literary genre. A satire on contemporary society, particularly the art world, it is also a comic-poetic meditation on the nature of life, death and morality.
Nadith, a wanderer who appears to be an amnesiac or possibly brain-damaged tramp, is on a journey through the satellite towns and suburbs of a city called Urbis. With spiteful intentions, he is seeking his brother Zenir, a successful artist, who is always two steps ahead of him. But as his brother’s fortunes wane, his own seem to be on the increase. When Nadith finally catches up with Zenir, what will they make of each other?
Told entirely in the first person in a rhythmic stream of lyricism, Nadith’s story reads like Shakespeare on acid, leaving the reader to guess at the truth that lies behind his madness. Is Nadith a mental health patient or a conman? ... Or as he himself comes to believe, the reincarnation of the thirteenth century Scottish seer True Thomas The Rhymer, a man who never lied nor died but disappeared one day to return to the realm of the faeries who had first given him his clairvoyant gifts?
ebook, paperback (192pp)
visit bit.ly/TheRhymer-Heredyssey
Elsewhen Press
If you liked Rhys’ story The Fairy and the Dinosaur,
be sure to read Gingerlily’s story The Dragon and the Rose in:
[RE]AWAKENINGS
AN ANTHOLOGY OF NEW SPECULATIVE FICTION
• ALISON BUCK • NEIL FAARID •
• GINGERLILY • ROBIN MORAN •
• PR POPE • ALEXANDER SKYE •
• PETER WOLFE •
[Re]Awakenings are the starting points for life-changing experiences; a new plane of existence, an alternate reality or cyber-reality. This genre-spanning anthology of new speculative fiction explores that theme with a spectrum of tales, from science fiction to fantasy to paranormal; in styles from clinically serious to joyfully silly.
All of life is within these pages, from birth to death (and in some cases beyond). In all of these stories, most of them specifically written for this anthology, the short story format has been used to great effect. If you haven’t already heard of some of these authors, you soon will as they are undoubtedly destined to become future stars in the speculative fiction firmament.
Remember, you read them here first!
ebook, paperback(288pp)
visit bit.ly/ReAwakenings
Elsewhen Press
A series of novels attempting to document the trials and tribulations of the Transdimensional Authority
Ira Nayman
If there were Alternate Realities, and in each there was a version of Earth (very similar, but perhaps significantly different in one particular regard) then imagine the problems that could be caused if someone, somewhere managed to work out how to travel between those Alternate Realities. Those problems are ideal fodder for the Alternate Reality News Service (ARNS). Consider, also, that if there were problems being caused by unregulated travel between realities, it’s not just news but a perfect excuse to establish an Authority to oversee such travel and make sure that it is regulated. You probably thought jurisdictional issues are bad enough within a nation between competing agencies of dubious acronym and even more dubious motivation, let alone between agencies from different nations. So imagine how each of them would cope with an Authority that has jurisdiction across the realities in different dimensions. Now, you understand the challenges for the investigators who work for the Transdimensional Authority (TA). But, perhaps more importantly, you can see the potential for humour.
Welcome to the Multiverse
(Sorry for the inconvenience)
Being the first
ebook, paperback (336pp)
You Can’t Kill the Multiverse
(But You Can Mess With its Head)
Being the second
ebook, paperback (320pp)
Random Dingoes
Being the third
ebook, paperback (288pp)
visit bit.ly/TransdimensionalAuthority
Elsewhen Press
Dandelion Trilogy
Mike French
Literary surrealism, contemporary fantasy, biting satire, dystopian science fiction. The Dandelion Trilogy by Mike French is all of these and more. Starting with The Ascent of Isaac Steward, this is literary surrealism at its most profound. A contemporary fantasy that follows one man’s journey into his own mind as he struggles to come to terms with the trauma that has reshaped his life and starts to question his own existence. Moving forward to 2034 in Blue Friday, this biting satire warns of a Britain where overtime for married couples is banned, there is enforced viewing of family television (much of it repeats of old shows from the sixties and seventies), monitored family meal-times and a coming of age where twenty-five year-olds are automatically assigned a spouse by the state computer if they have failed to marry. Only the Overtime Underground network resists with the illicit Avodah drug to increase productivity. Finally Convergence delivers
us into a truly dystopian future, where a covert military/governmental project uses prisoners on death row to explore what happens to people as they die, downloading the Convergence Point formed in the brain's memory at the point of death into clones. But when combined with Avodah they inadvertently trigger what may be the end of humanity – or a new beginning.
What does it have to do with dandelions? You'll have to read it to find out...
ebook, paperback
visit bit.ly/DandelionTrilogy
Elsewhen Press
Ghosts on the Prairies
a Sacred Land Story
Tanya Reimer
Some things are worth a fight. Strong words from Antoine’s father. When he mysteriously vanishes, Antoine must find an income if he is to protect the Sacred Land. Fighting to free Emma, a victim of underground slavery, costs him his home, sister, best friend. The prairies of 1916-19 come alive with bootleggers, slavery, fools in sheets, and spirits.
ebook, paperback (356pp)
visit bit.ly/GhostsPrairies
Elsewhen Press
Evil Above the Stars series
Peter R. Ellis
This thrilling fantasy series appeals to readers, of all ages, of fantasy or science fiction, especially fans of JRR Tolkien and Stephen Donaldson. If old theories are correct until a new idea comes along, does the universe change with our perception of it? Were the ideas embodied in alchemy ever right? What realities were the basis of Celtic mythology?
visit bit.ly/EvilAbove
Seventh Child
Volume 1
September Weekes discovers a stone that takes her to Gwlad, where she is hailed as the one with the power to defend them against the evil known as the Malevolence. September meets the people’s leader, the Mordeyrn Aurddolen, and the bearers of the seven metals linked to the seven ‘planets’ that give them special powers to resist the elemental manifestations of the Malevolence. She returns home, but a fortnight later, is drawn back to find that two years have passed and there have been more attacks. She must help defend Gwlad against the Malevolence.
ebook, paperback (256pp)
The Power of Seven
Volume 2
Having reached Arsyllfa, September is re-united with the Mordeyrn Aurddolen with whom, together with the other senior metal bearers that make up the Council of Gwlad, she must plan the defence of the Land.
The time of the next Conjunction will soon be at hand. The planets, the Sun and the Moon will all be together in the sky. At that point the protection of the heavenly bodies will be at its weakest and Gwlad will be more dependent than ever on September. But now it seems that she must defeat Malice, the guiding force behind the Malevolence, if she is to save the Land and all its people. Will she be strong enough; and, if not, to whom can she turn for help?
ebook, paperback (288pp)
Elsewhen Press
The Black Hole Bar
Dave Weaver
Simon, a traveller with time to kill, enters an inn on the outskirts of London. Inside he meets a motley crew competing to tell tales for their own amusement. So starts Dave Weaver’s new novel, The Black Hole Bar, which has already been compared to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Boccaccio’s Decameron.
Simon is an industrial journalist, on his way to yet another off-world assignment, this time a three month trip to Saturn’s moon Titan to write a promotional piece about the harvesting of the Methane lakes on that forbidding world. But Simon is a troubled man. He’s sure his wife is having an affair during his prolonged absences; he’s bored with his job; and unsure where his life is going.
Simon has stumbled into what was supposed to be a closed session for the Black Hole Bar Writers’ Group, who meet once a month to take part in a short story competition. Simon writes stories too and begrudgingly they let him participate. The stories begin, and Simon starts taking the competition far more seriously than he intended.
Each of the bar’s denizens tells two stories, variously strange, amusing and occasionally downright scary. The writers’ own histories, lives crossed by tragedy and drama, come tumbling out one by one into the cramped little room and as they do so, we learn more about the background of this future world. A world which is at the same time recognisable as our possible future but also chilling in its recent past.
ebook, paperback (256pp)
visit bit.ly/BlackHoleBar
Elsewhen Press
LiGa series
Sanem Ozdural
A thought-provoking series of books in an essentially contemporary setting, with elelments of both science fiction and fantasy.
visit bit.ly/LiGaSeries
LiGa™
Book I
Literary science fiction, LiGa™ tells of a game in which the players are, literally, gambling with their lives. In the near-future a secretive organisation has developed technology to transfer the regenerative power of a body’s cells from one person to another, conferring extended or even indefinite life expectancy. As a means of controlling who benefits from the technology, access is obtained by winning a tournament of chess or bridge to which only a select few are invited. At its core, the game is a test of a person’s integrity, ability and resilience. Sanem’s novel provides a fascinating insight into the motivation both of those characters who win and thus have the possibility of virtual immortality and of those who will effectively lose some of their life expectancy.
ebook, paperback (400pp)
the Dark shall do what Light cannot
Book II
We find out more about the organisation behind LiGa as we travel with some of them to Pera, a place which lies beyond the Light Veil on the other side of reality. There are light trees there that eat sunlight and bear fruit that, in turn, lights up and energises (literally) the community of Pera. There are light birds that glitter in the night because they have eaten the seed of the lightberry. The House of Light and Dark, which is the domain of the Sun and her brother, Twilight, welcomes all creatures living in Pera. But in the midst of all the glitter, laughter and the songs, it must be remembered that the lightberry is poisonous to the non-Pera born, and the Land is afraid when the Sun retreats, for it is then that Twilight walks the streets…
ebook, paperback (400pp)
About the author
Rhys Hughes was born in 1966 and began writing from an early age. His first short story was published in 1991 and his first book, the now legendary Worming the Harpy, followed four years later. Since then he has published more than thirty books, his work has been translated into ten languages and he is currently one of the most prolific and successful authors in Wales. Mirrors in the Deluge is the first of his books to be published by Elsewhen Press.
Mostly known for absurdist works, his range in fact encompasses styles as diverse as gothic, experimental, science fiction, magic realism, fantasy and realism. His main ambition is to complete a grand sequence of exactly one thousand linked short stories, a project he has been working on for more than two decades. Each story is a standalone piece as well as a cog in the grand machine. He is finally three-quarters of the way through this opus.
Table of Contents
Premature Afterword
The Prodigal Beard
The Bungle Duke
The Modesty Men
The Soft Landing
Gathering the Genial Genies
Najort Esroh
Travels with my Antinomy
The Bubble Bursts
A Dame Abroad
A Real Nowhere Man
Gold, Myrrh and Frankenstein
The Mouth of Hell
The Strings of Segovia
Paired Down
Arms Against a Sea
The Martian Monocles
Suddenly
Stand and Deliver
Trophy Wife
The Unkissed Artist Formerly Known as Frog
The Fairy and the Dinosaur
The Goat That Gloated
Vanity of Vanities
Unicorn on the Cob<
br />
Sunstorm
The Anvil Cloud
The Apple of My Sky
The Taste of Turtle Tears
The Musical Universe
The Bones of Jones
Train of Thought
The Haggis Eater
Belated Foreword