Ghosting Through Amazon: PS Publishing, Peter Crowther, and The Babylonian Trilogy
As I reported back in May, the Arthur C. Clarke Award was won by Ian R. MacLeod for his novel Song of Time--a book published by the excellent PS Publishing. Not only is PS Publishing a small/indie press based in the United Kingdom, they specialize in beautiful limited edition hardcovers and trade paperbacks. The win came as something of a surprise because PS Publishing isn't a large commercial press. Indeed, it's still difficult to obtain many of their titles on Amazon. However, for those in the know in genre, the news just confirmed what many have been saying for years: PS Publishing may be the best SF/Fantasy/Horror publisher you've never heard of. Over more than a decade now, they've published some extraordinary finds--like the first edition of Joe Hill's award-winning short story collection. Names like Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, and Gwyneth Jones are typical releases for them, along with many newcomers. Among other strengths, PS Publishing isn't afraid to take a chance on unknowns.
Case in point: the recent release of Sebastien Doubinsky's daring The Babylonian Trilogy, published in a stunning hardcover with an introduction by Michael Moorcock: "What could a depressed soldier, a bloodthirsty journalist, a strange dog, a writer in the making, a depressive commissioner, a hitman, a stripper and a poet possibly have in common? Well, they all live in Babylon, a city where everything is possible, including the impossible. The Babylonian Trilogy is a novel divided in three loosely related parts, each dealing with a particular aspect of the bizarre metropolis." The novel's chapters rarely are longer than a couple of pages, and the reader has the enjoyable job of piecing together the narrative from these fragments. Because of Doubinsky's writing style, the variety of characters, and an underlying playfulness, The Babylonian Trilogy is a quick, often exciting read. As Michael Moorcock writes in his introduction, "Doubinsky is...a personification of the best modern French literature." Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if, just like Hill's short story collection, The Babylonian Trilogy wasn't picked up by a North American publisher soon. (You can read an excerpt here, and some online dealers through Amazon do have the book, apparently.)
Since Doubinsky's novel is only one of many excellent releases from PS Publishing, I thought I'd ask the press's founder a few questions about his enterprise. (Crowther is also an accomplished anthologist and fiction writer.)
Amazon.com: How many hours a week do you put into these books, and how many are originals, first published by you?
Peter Crowther: PS is pretty much a full-time job now...and I'm talking seven days a week here, every week, around seven or eight hours a day. I don't mind that--I love doing it--but sometimes I get a little frustrated that I don't get any time for my own writing. But things are improving slowly now that Nicky (my wife) has taken over most of the organization work. In fact, the whole PS team supports me wonderfully (that's Mike and Nicky, Robert Wexler and Nick Gevers plus various editors and proofers and ad hoc designers, and Theresa Loosley at our printers--Theresa doesn't actually work for us but she's as important a player as anyone else). I'd guess that well over 90 percent of our titles are original to us, and most of the exceptions will contain additional material not present in the original work (Arthur C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart, all of our Bradbury titles and so on).
Amazon.com: You've discovered quite a few writers. Who in particular, and which discoveries have given you the greatest satisfaction?
Peter Crowther: I suppose the biggest charge was putting out Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. That was a doozy. And persuading Steve Erikson to do us a novella way back before he became so big with the Malaz novels. But I also have a soft spot for Adam Nevill's Banquest for the Damned and Tracy Knight's The Astonished Eye...plus our upcoming novella and novel from Rio Youers (Old Man Scratch and End Times). And it meant a lot to me to make available again Mike Coney's Hello Summer, Goodbye along with, for the first time, the sequel, I Remember Pallahaxi. The truth is I love all of our titles...or, quite simply, we wouldn't be publishing them. Of course, it's nice when they perform well commercially but the main thing is *I* have to like them.
Amazon.com: Is there a dream project you haven't yet done that you'd like to attempt someday?
Peter Crowther: I don't know about a "dream project"--they're *all* dream projects, and dream *writers* to boot!--but there are certainly folks I'd like to work with one day on something: Ursula LeGuin; John Irving, maybe (I still reckon A Prayer for Owen Meaney was the best fantasy novel of its year); Neil Gaiman; Charles de Lint; Richard Ford; Alan Moore; Joyce Carol Oates; Peter Straub; another project with Stephen King (I love Steve's work, even the books that ultimately didn't quite do it for me--it's the damn writing
that's just so good) -- so, in that respect, Peter and Steve...how about letting PS do Talisman 3? But there are lots of people I'd like to work with, both for a first time and as a return-match. Let's face it: I'll
never be bored.
Visit PS Publishing's website for more information on their titles. (And, if you want to be truly adventurous when it comes to indie presses, check out Twelfth Planet Press, a new Australian outfit that hasn't yet appeared on the Amazon site but has published excellent titles by emerging Australian talents like Peter Ball and Deborah Biancotti. In their own stylish fashion they may well some day become as influential as PS Publishing. Great stuff!)
Evan on October 05, 2009 at 07:18 PM
What a great highlight of "best SF/Fantasy/Horror publisher you've never heard of." Thank you, Jeff. That's what I like to hear about short and long form fiction: that newcomers, old veterans, and the beautiful form of the book itself are all taken into loving hands and given a decent treatment. It's grand that the UK and AUS has each a representative case... but what about us poor sods here in the States? Any love from our neck of the woods for this sort of artisan/indie press?
Large shoes on October 05, 2009 at 10:10 PM
I would like to appreciate your writing skills. You focused the points so well and in so sober language. I really impressed from you. Good work...