Michael Kelly's Blog

Hello All,



Undertow Publications has announced a new line of collectable deluxe hardcovers: Contemporary Classics. These are short fiction collections of exceptional literary merit that did not receive a hardback release. So these will be the first hardcover editions.



Our first 2 books are “The Moon Will Look Strange,” (April 2019) by Lynda E. Rucker, and “The Lost District,” (Oct. 2019) by the late Joel Lane.



These will be strictly limited copies. 100 for “The Moon Will Look Strange,” and 150 for “The Lost District.”



I have an e-mail subscription list with over 600 subscribers, so I do expect (and hope) these books will sell out once I announce they are ready.



If you have any interest in either book, please message or e-mail me with your e-mail address. I’m not asking for any monies yet. And if you’d like to be added to our mailing list so you are aware of future titles, please let me know.



I’ve attached some info on both books.



Finally, if there are any short fiction collections that you’d like to see in a deluxe treatment (keeping in mind we are specifically looking for books that have not had a hardcover edition), please do let me know.



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Gemma Webster was kind enough to do an appreciation of Undertow Publications and interview me over at Fiction Unbound. Averting Literary Extinction. With shoutouts to friends Simon Strantzas, Priya Sharma, Robert Shearman, Paul Tremblay, Carmen Machado, Kurt Fawver, Georgina Bruce, and Laura Mauro.

https://bit.ly/2DMGKkz

Dear Friends,

Undertow Publications is proud and happy to announce our 2019 subscription offer. Each year our subscription package proves very popular. Last year we brought you books by Priya Sharma, Simon Strantzas, and Robert Shearman. This year we are pleased to offer you these exciting books:



“This House of Wounds,” by Georgina Bruce (May)



“Sing Your Sadness Deep,” by Laura Mauro (July)



“All the Things We Never See,” by Michael Kelly (August)



“Michael Kelly’s sharp collection of uncanny stories will leave you questioning your relationships, your identity, and reality itself. These stories dig between your ribs and place a cold finger on your heart.”

—Paul Tremblay, author of ‘The Cabin at the End of the World’ and ‘A Head Full of Ghosts’



In our quest to bring you the best new contemporary writers of weird fiction, we are thrilled to be publishing debut collections from Georgina Bruce and Laura Mauro, two terrific writers who you will be hearing more from. Georgina’s collection features 4 new stories, as well as the British Fantasy Award-winning ‘White Rabbit.’ Laura Mauro’s collection features 2 new long stories, plus the Shirley Jackson Award Finalist, ‘Sun Dogs,’ and the British Fantasy Award-winning ‘Looking for Laika.’ As with Priya Sharma’s collection, “All the Fabulous Beasts,” these two books are accomplished and powerful debuts. We think you’ll like them.



You can now purchase a subscription in either hardcover or Trade paperback which will get you all 3 books at a savings of $15 off our regular price. $60 for the trade paperbacks, and $90 for the hardcovers. Just use the links below. Prices include worldwide shipping.

2019 Hardcover subscription

2019 Trade paperback subscription

Thank you all!



Kind Regards,



-Michael (and the Undertow team)





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A quick note to say that we are temporarily closing to submissions until we catch up with our backlog. Thanks for your patience.

I’ve been reliably informed that yesterday marked 10 years since I started Undertow Publications. Colour me surprised and happy. Our first book, the anthology “Apparitions,” garnered a Shirley Jackson Award nomination. That was all the impetus I needed to continue. Since then, we’ve published a number of great titles. And we hope to continue to publish the best contemporary weird fiction.

 

I say we because it’s truly a team effort. I couldn’t do this without my fantastic staff and freelancers who contribute their passion and hard work to our offerings. Mostly, though, we couldn’t do this without you, our readers, supporters, customers, and friends of the press. So, thank you!

 

To celebrate 10 great years, we’ve marked down almost all our titles. Plus, get an extra 10% off your entire order with Coupon Code save10, upon checkout. This offer is available until the end of the month.

 

http://www.undertowbooks.com/shop/

 

Our next newsletter, late January, will have information on our 2019 subscription, and also final details on our deluxe reissue of Lynda E. Rucker’s “The Moon Will Look Strange.”

 

Thank you all!

 

Kind Regards,

 

-Michael (and the Undertow team)

Nic Pizzolatto, creator of True Detective, has this to say about the work of Simon Strantzas

 

“Elegant, musical, opening onto layers of meaning, Simon Strantzas’ stories are lyrical, unsettling transmissions from places that cause most writers to avert their eyes. This is affecting and original literature by a startling voice, no genre qualifications need be made.”

 

— Nic Pizzolatto, Creator of “True Detective”

 

#TrueDetective

 

https://amzn.to/2RLf6fN

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

Happy New Year! We hope it’s a fantastic year for you all.

 

We are busy working on our 2019 releases, but thought we’d kick-off the new year with a sale from our back catalogue–specifically from our U.K.-based scribes. We’re offering the following five books in Trade paperback editions in a bundle and combination offer:

 

“All the Fabulous Beasts,” by Priya Sharma

“Skein and Bone,” by V.H. Leslie

“Almost Insentient, Almost Divine,” by DP Watt

“The Dream Operator,” by Mike O’Driscoll

“I Will Surround You,” by Conrad Williams

 

You can choose any combination of books you like.

 

Any 5 for $60.

Any 4 for $50.

Any 3 for $40.

Any 2 for $30.

 

Prices include shipping. Simply remit payment via PayPal (in U.S. funds) to:

undertowbooks@gmail.com

 

Be sure to indicate the books you want, and also a mailing address.

In his year-end note, the fabulous Brian Evenson has this to say about “Nothing is Everything,” by Simon Strantzas.
“In terms of genre/weird, Simon Strantzas’s ‘Nothing is Everything‘ hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it should have. It’s a very well written collection of stories that slips between genres, and that I really recommend to both genre and literary readers.”

http://www.undertowbooks.com/product/...

“I bet you’re like everybody else; you only see the dark one way. You see it as a negative. Like it’s subtraction, the end of something. The light dies and fades to darkness. And it doesn’t matter if it’s light, or if it’s life. The dark equals decay. A transition from something that is to something that isn’t. Like a corruption of an ideal toward chaos and absence.


 


“I get it. Life teaches you to think that way. Everything you’ve seen in your textbooks and from your parents and teachers and institutions tells you to run away from the dark, from the void. The dark is nothingness, and nothingness means the end.


 


“But they’ve got it all wrong. Like, it’s actually the opposite. In nothing is everything. Darkness is actually perfection, the most perfect state there is. It’s not the decay of light or life. It’s when there is so much light, too much life, all the life, that it transcends what we know and understand and becomes something more than we can sense. It becomes nothing because we can’t possibly grasp it all. So much is summed up that it travels past the understandable and becomes darkness, becomes nothing. When you grasp the truth of the dark, it’s like grasping at an understanding you can’t really have—of what exists beyond everything. But it doesn’t just go beyond it; it kind of makes it irrelevant at the same time.”


 


Excerpt from ‘IN THIS TWILIGHT,’ by Simon Strantzas, from his collection “Nothing is Everything.” One of my favourite stories. If you’ve not read it yet, or the collection, you’re in for a treat. These stories invite re-reads. There are nuances to be found and admired. Philosophical discussions to be parsed. Yet it’s still accessible and elegant and chilling. I hope you’ll give it a try.


 


And you can still get $5 off upon checkout with Coupon Code NIE5 from the undertow site.


 


http://www.undertowbooks.com/product/...