A surprising proportion of actual backlist and speculative-related fiction in the KDP exclusive or else slushpile today. And for some reason we've got a lot of UK writers and/or UK-related historical dramas. Anyway, it's nice to see some variety (and stuff in categories I have a decent chance of actually reading someday).
Today's sf/fantasy backlist treat is what appears to be a collection of fantasy/horror and/or speculative literary fiction short stories by an author I've never heard of, courtesy of PS Publishing's commitment to republishing works by low-profile speculative fiction authors who might otherwise get lost amidst all the steampunk/paranormal/milSF/epic bestseller subgenre stuff.
Literary Remains by R.B. Russell (
ISFDB entry) is actually a mostly original collection of newly written stuff which sounds like literary fantasy/magical realism, but contains one short story which was included in a Datlow-edited Best Horror of the Year anthology. This originally came out in hardcover from PS Publishing in 2010.
Free without DRM for probably the next two days, courtesy of PS Publishing @ Amazon
main UK DE ES FR IT
Description
In this collection love and loss tear at the fabric of everyday life and distort reality. What was once objectively familiar is tainted by uncertainty, and soon everything becomes subtly and terrifyingly altered. In "Loup-garou" a young man watches his own past re-enacted as an avante garde French film. In "Llanfihangel" memories of the past are shown to be incorrect and misinterpreted. In Russell's stories even the present appears to be open to misunderstanding.
When those around you insist that they see they world differently at least you can argue with them. But when you realise that you cannot rely on your own senses then the world becomes a terrifying place indeed
Fellow MR member author Synamon pointed out yesterday that Iain Rowan (
ISFDB entry)'s award-winning collection of mystery/crime shorts out from Infinity Plus is free, so if you haven't looked at the updates to the previous thread:
Nowhere to Go
The rest of the interesting parts of the slushpile, to which authors have apparently made a special point of loading up for the holidays.
UK writer Tim Vicary returns with an historical family drama/suspense with pre-WWI suffragettes in it, originally out from Simon & Schuster in 1993, with quoted praise from UK newspapers in the blurb:
Cat and Mouse
Elizabeth Lord also has an historical family drama (at least, that's what Amazon categorizes it as) which was originally 2000-Severn House hardcovered:
Butterfly Summers (Twenties saga of high-class London oyster restaurant: Letts)
Previously-included John Noone, who was some sort of joint prize-winner for a vintage 1960s UK pressed litfic novel which looked very shouty with the title in allcaps, IIRC, returns to offer a collection of his presumably also litfic shorts which the blurb says includes stories which were published in specific outlets and are a mix of contemporary and historical:
LIKE AS NOT
UK writer Ian St. James returns with a 1987 HarperCollins-published uncovering a mysterious family feud thriller and repeats his financial district thriller:
Linkage for them both
Newbie ISFDBed horror small press Dark Continents offers Dave Jeffery's collection of shorts:
Campfire Chillers
UK writer Gretta Curran Browne offers a 1991-Headline hardcovered historical drama with some romance in it, set amongst 18th century Irish rebels, which has quoted UK newspaper praise in the blurb:
FIRE ON THE HILL (Book One of FIRE ON THE HILL)
Steven Savile, who has now had a story published by Phoenix Pick Press as part of their Stellar Guild sf series pairing an established old pro with a newbie writer offers a collection of multi-genre speculative shorts:
The Complete Incomplete Steven Savile (The Incomplete Steven Savile)
Minor ISFDBed Derek Clendening returns with a family drama psychological suspense/maybe-supernatural thriller novel which now includes two bonus shorts:
The Between Years
Stoker/Edgar award-nominee and fellow MR member author Billie Sue Mosiman returns with an omnibus edition containing some previously-freebied:
DARK THRILLERS-A Box Set of Suspense Novels
Oceanview-published David Bishop offers his Washington D.C.-set ex-CIA-turned-PI:
The Blackmail Club, a Jack McCall Mystery
Kim Wright has a chick-lit/women's fiction novel out from Grand Central Publishing in 2010, for which she quotes praise from newspapers in this totally unrelated self-pub historical about a Scotland Yard forensics team vs Jack the Ripper:
City of Darkness (City of Mystery)
For those of you who wanted some kind of supernatural thriller involving chefs, know that you have summoned it into existence via whatever the non-porny version of Rule 34 is, assuming this is not actually porn. Although this actually has aliens in it, and I am refraining from making a "To Serve Man" joke:
Southern Fried Monster (Tales of Kilterless Kulinary) Be sure to use your powers for good, or at least not too much evil, from now on.
Speaking of aliens, this self-pub novel is set locally and involves local interest mentions and a quick skim of the sample doesn't make me clutch my eyes and scream, so I therefore include:
Spaceship Over Vancouver
Despite its apparent target market, this is probably not a book you want to read to the kiddies. But it's festive! Kind of... :
DOOMBUNNY: A Tale Of Easter Terror
I spotted repeats from Valerie Douglas, David Bain, David Bischoff, and Scott Nicholson, Alexandra Solokoff, if you're missing any series stuff/short stories for your collection.
Happy reading, if you manage to spot something you think you might like, and neither the Southern Fried Monster nor the DOOMBUNNY gets you.