Re: Rhys Hughes
 

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My new novel is available on Amazon, both in the print version and as an ebook...

This novel began life as a 'Corto Maltese' novella entitled 'The Coandă Effect', published by Ex Occidente in Romania a few years ago. I rewrote it so that the main character is now Scipio Faraway. Then I wrote two novellas as sequels featuring Scipio's brothers, Distanto in 'The Gargantuan Legion' and Neary in 'The Apedog Incident'.

All three novellas together constitute the novel. Needless to say the plotting was quite tricky, but I think I managed to tie all the strands of all the plots together neatly at the end... Although this novel has already been cited as an example of the 'steampunk' subgenre, it isn't really that. I prefer to think of it as something else. 'Steamprog' perhaps...?

There is going to be a booklaunch and signing at Forbidden Planet, London, September 27th...

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

It gives me ENORMOUS pleasure to announce that my new collection of eerie, weird and ghostly stories BONE IDLE IN THE CHARNEL HOUSE has just been added to the online catalogue of Hippocampus Press...

In fact it was added last night on Halloween. Very appropriate! This collection was edited by S.T. Joshi and it will be published in December this year!

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Hippocampus Press are really going places, so it is a privilege and an honour for me to be added to their list of authors!

I am DELIGHTED with this book which is rather darker in tone than most of my books. It consists of 20 stories, half of which have never appeared anywhere before, including the title story, a novella that I believe is one of my best works.

I have attempted to alternate the more atmospheric and emotional type of weird story with the cerebral and philosophical kind. So my influences were Poe, Hodgson and Le Fanu as well as Calvino, Borges and Lem.

Anyway here are the details of the book...

BONE IDLE IN THE CHARNEL HOUSE

This collection is one for more gothic-oriented readers and therefore in a sense also for the "me" of my youth. (I became less gothic-oriented when I discovered French literature, Latin American music and Balkan women.)

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

I am absolutely delighted to announce the publication of my new book! ORPHEUS ON THE UNDERGROUND from Tartarus Press is a collection of weird phantasmagorical stories that has been wonderfully illustrated by the genius artist Chris Harrendence and is dedicated to my lovely and magical muse, Amira Ana Smyth.

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It exists right now and is available to be purchased from the publisher. And soon it will be available from other places... It has been more than twelve years since I was last published by Tartarus Press. They always create a truly impressive product, books that are beautiful art objects, and it is a privilege as well as a pleasure to be published by such a fine publishing house.

It is also available as an ebook...
Thanks for listening!

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

The longest single author short-story collection in publishing history is now available as an ebook!

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In fact it is available as two ebooks, because it comes in two different editions, male and female, that differ in 10% of their contents. This is a trick that I picked up from Milorad Pavić, whose Dictionary of the Khazars also comes in male and female editions.

People keep asking me how I selected the variant stories for the two editions. The fact of the matter is that there is no rhyme or reason to the selection. I am not trying to make a point about differing male and female tastes in fiction. Quite the contrary! The differences are surely there but also insignificant.

As incredible as it sounds, there may actually be a print version next year. A publisher who has already issued a couple of my books is interested in bringing out a strictly limited multi-volume edition. It remains to be seen how practical this venture will turn out to be...

In the meantime here is the collection for the Kindle. THE MILLION WORD STORYBOOK features exactly 365 stories, one every day for an entire year. If you follow the link and click on 'Look Inside' you can read a sample for free. The book is so long that the sample, which is a certain percentage of the digital book, already contains 54 stories.

Links to purchase this ebook can be found below...



This collection contains approximately one third of my total fiction output over the past 25 years. The stories are presented in chronological order of their composition. The earliest dates from 1990 and the latest dates from this year 2015 and in fact is one of my most recently completed tales. As I plan to write 1000 stories in my working life, this collection will contain one quarter of my entire output ever!

I believe that this is a major literary event. Well, at the very least, it is a major personal event for myself and for the writer that I am and have been all my life...

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

Elsewhere on this board the announcement of my latest book has already been made, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to mention the news again here.

BRUTAL PANTOMIMES is a collection that consists of seven short stories, two novelettes and one novella. The novella is 'The Impossible Inferno' which was my 500th tale, one that I strove hard to make especially notable. I am extremely pleased with this volume. It just feels right. I am delighted that the amazing author Michael Cisco wrote an introduction for my book.

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The publisher is Egaeus Press.

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

Twenty years ago I wrote a short novel called Elusive Plato in which I attempted to be vastly more ambitious, thematically, stylistically and metaphysically, than I had been in any of my previous work. It was my effort to move up a level and I believe I was successful. It still seems like a quantum jump.

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The novel was published together with a novelette in a single volume by the long-dead Tanjen Ltd a couple of years after it was completed. Tanjen were a small press notable for publishing early work by two writers who would go on to become major successes with the big publishing houses -- Tim Lebbon and Neal Asher -- but they didn't last long before they folded. That's often the way with small presses.

Elusive Plato received excellent reviews. The late great critic and literary pundit E.F. Bleiler was especially effusive with his praise in his Encyclopedia of Supernatural Writers. He claimed it was my best work. And so it surely was. I worked hard to put original invention into it and yet at the same time to connect with some deep and mysterious, undoubtedly atavistic, parts of the human psyche.

A picaresque, like much of my fiction, the novel resembles a grotesque chess problem in which the pieces are taboos and each move leads to a situation of changed landscapes and circumstances that require further moves towards the inevitable checkmate. The mating of the king is more than symbolic. It is a geometrically precise nightmare.

I am delighted to announced that two decades after it was first conceived and executed, Elusive Plato has been republished by Bizarro Pulp Press. I feel that the Bizarro scene is a perfect home for this book. I offer my thanks to Vincenzo Bilof, my editor. The cover is by the brilliant designer Matthew Revert. The book is available from Amazon and other outlets...

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

Fairly frequently, potential readers will write to me asking what is the best 'starting point' of entry into my work. I guess because I seem so prolific, it must be daunting to know what to read first...

The answer I usually give is Bone Idle in the Charnel House, a collection of stories published by Hippocampus Press a few years ago. S.T. Joshi was my editor for this project. It's a collection that gives a fairly accurate idea of what I do.

Any reader who obtains this, reads it and likes it, might then wish to move onto my other books. I would next recommend The Brothel Creeper, or if one is not averse to comedy (as so many are) Tallest Stories or The Truth Spinner.

A reader who doesn't like Bone Idle in the Charnel House, for whatever reason or reasons, probably isn't going to like any of my other books.

Anyway, that's my answer :-)

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

My 40th book has just been published. The Seashell Contract is a collection of 22 stories, all previously unpublished and written in the past two years. All proceeds from this book will go to The Mariposa Trust, a charity that supports families who have lost babies.

The book is available from Amazon in both print and ebook editions. It might well be available elsewhere too. The stories are varied in theme, tone and scope. They are mostly speculative fiction pieces, some comedic, others less so, mainly fantastical and quirky.

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I have a lot of writing news and many projects are coming to fruition, but I especially want to promote this book because of the charity aspect.

Thanks for listening!

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

I am all in favour of that charity. One must heal sadness as far as one can. And I recommend this book, from what I have read and reviewed of it so far.

But I found something about this ironic on the TLO site where many anti-natalists gather. And thought-provoking about the nature of giving to this charity or any charity.

Re: Rhys Hughes
 

I forge my own path, Des, every time... :-)