"[A] solid sf mystery set on a a colony world. Though only short, the novel is well-paced, the characters rounded, and the setting sketched in with skill."

Talking of reviews: if indeed you are a reviewer or book-blogger and you would be interested in free PDF copies of any title then by all means drop me a line. :)

In other news, I am looking at my schedule for FantasyCon and decided to push-back the publication of Visions Fading Fast to December to coincide with the annual Open Night in London – in the meantime, I will be readying three more chapbooks for publication in Brighton: The Joy of Technology by Roy Gray, Isabel Jane by Catherine Dale and Allegro by Clifford Royal Johns.

Lastly, David has pointed me in the direction of a rather welcome review of popCult! by Paul Magrs:

I’ll just urge you to seek it out from Pendragon press. It’s like anthony Burgess teaming up with the Mighty Boosh to write a science fiction thriller.

In addition, a review by Nathaniel Tapley of In the Gloaming who rather liked We Fade to Grey:

"The collection as a whole feels, in the best possible way, grim. No one gets out of it alive. Or at least, if they do, they’re bleeding heavily. . . This is British horror, and a great book, from an exciting small press."

And, another review of We Fade to Grey from Matthew Fryer:

"[S]ets the bar high from the off and doesn’t pause for breath. . . All five authors weave genuine human pathos with blood and don’t then go and spoil everything with a happy ending. Brilliant. Grab one while you can."

(. . . and it is also available has a limited edition, signed by all contributors.)

"Barnett entertains and instructs in equal measure and spins a wonderful absurdist thriller-cum-social commentary…"

In recognition of this, I am currently offering all and any orders from now until whenever – I don't do deadlines (which many people out there know all too well) – a refund of 20% off the order if you quote "popCult!"

Have fun!

Hot off the press, they say. Took delivery of the first run and pre-orders packed up and ready for the off… and you too can still pick up a copy for 99p less than cover price, but only until publication date: 1st December.

In other news, a review has surfaced for David J Thacker's The Red House courtesy of Terry Grimwood:

"Steve Upham’s beautifully, unsettling cover sets the tone exactly… to visit the Red House… the visit will be edgy, uncomfortable, moving and satisfying."

(Just to make things clear, I know Terry and obviously I've recently published his novella – but that is has far as the influence goes.)

Talking of chapbooks, I'm down to only a handful of copies and currently investigating a new printing firm due to technical issues. This has meant that both Simon Bestwick's and Toiya Kristen Finlay's own chapbooks are sadly delayed.

Elsewhere on this site, you may have noticed the "Special deals" menu item: here, I will be adding what I believe are decently-priced bundles of books. At the moment, there are only two bundles on offer but I will be adding more…

Doesn't take a genius to know that the current financial status quo has taken hold, but thankfully I did manage to sell a few books – a heartfelt thanks to you, one and all! :)

In other news, apologies to all who have pre-ordered Angels of the Silences and The Legend of False Dreaming – alas, the printer I was going to use has fallen so I'm looking elsewhere and with luck copies should be available very soon. In actual fact, one idea I am contemplating is taking this process in-house so to speak…

Between last posting, a couple of reviews have surfaced – most notably, Des Lewis' "real-time review" of Terry Grimwood's The Places Between – unfortunately, I cannot easily take quotes from it so you'll need to read it in full!

In addition, M F W Curran has posted a review of Gareth L Powell's Silversands:

"… [A] thoroughly accomplished piece of writing… sits proudly on my bookshelf with other acclaimed genre authors (Dick, Bradbury, Baxter, Banks etc)… And you know, Gareth L. Powell doesn’t look out of place amongst them."

That's it for now… back to the process of publishing, with Kingston to Cable lined-up for publication very soon.

"[Gareth L] Powell is a master when it comes to using small details to give us a sense of the whole person … in many respects Silversands is an excellent debut.”

Copies will be on sale at FantasyCon next week.

"… a satisfying and enjoyable read… ll be keeping my eyes out for more work by Mr Powell."

Also, don't forget the official launch this Saturday at the Shakespeare Tavern in Bristol at 2pm. There will be free wine, a reading and copies to buy.

Mind you, personally I'll be foregoing the wine and drinking Speckled Hen!

EDIT: Well, well, well… didn't the launch go well? Within the compact, yet bijou room of the Shakespeare Tavern, a pleasant enough afternoon was spent (though the appearance of hen-nighters earlier did give visions of them gate-crashing the event…) Gareth read from the book, which Cheryl Morgan kindly video'd and uploaded, and thankfully a few copies were sold – no doubt helped by the free wine. :)

As an off-shoot of this, something new could well be making it's way…

Anyway, here are some photographs from the day: