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Schemers

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Schemers

A cruel lover who refashions her prey. A bioengineered warrior on the run. An internet mapping service with a stalker’s eye. A carjacker with a conscience. A Victorian thespian turned super-criminal. A murderer of video game characters. All these and more meet in the poison-soaked pages of Schemers, a genre-spanning short fiction exploration of grand schemes, Machiavellian maneuvering, and the knotty, micro-scaled twistings of the human heart.

Together these writers, hailing from the disparate precincts of poetry, fantasy, science fiction, comics, gaming, crime writing, and literary fiction have entered a dark room to put their knives on the table for you. Here’s a goblet of wine, to parch your thirst. Don’t worry if it tastes slightly off.

You can trust us.

Bending genres and crossing boundaries are:
 
Tobias S. BUCKELL  •  Jesse BULLINGTON •  Tania HERSHMAN
Ekaterina SEDIA • Jonathan L. HOWARD •  Kyla Lee WARD
Robyn SEALE • Laura LUSH • Nick MAMATAS • Molly TANZER
John HELFERS  • Gareth RYDER-HANRAHAN
Elizabeth A. VAUGHAN   •  Kathryn KUITENBROUWER 

“All the stories in Schemers were well done… A few, such as the ones I mentioned, will be stories I am not likely to forget. If you like speculative mysteries with twisty endings, give Schemers a try.”

-Fantasy Literature.com

“…a great book for people who like murder, mystery or intrigue. It is a real treat to see a book that is complex and beautiful inside and out. I would ask you to raise your glasses and toast the success of Schemers…”

–Pop Cults

Pub Date: 1 December 2013
ISBN-13: 9781908983046
Price: £8.99
Format: B Format – 198x129mm
Binding: Paperback
Extent: 232 pages
ebook: Included

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Toronto Celebrates The Lion and the Aardvark

Posted on by Robin D Laws — 2 Comments ↓

Last night’s Toronto launch of our modern fables anthology The Lion and the Aardvark exceeded expectations, thanks to a packed house of fable enthusiasts. Our supply of the book sold out at half-time. Writers Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Ann Ewan, Heather J. Wood, Daniel Perry, Jim Zub, Richard Scarsbrook, and Laura Lush hit the stage to read from their work. Special thanks to Kathryn for bravely persevering through a scratchy throat. Also, if you haven’t heard Rich Scarsbrook impersonate a trout, you have not yet really attended a literary event.

Jim received double accolades, as he is also our cover artist. Interior illustrator Rachel Kahn was on hand to take a bow, as was author Julie McArthur. Toronto-area authors who were unable to make it were toasted in spirit.

After the reading we gathered onstage for an impromptu mass signing. Collectors showed gratifying appreciation for the book, and for the beautiful work of our production team.

 

From left: Rachel Kahn, Laura Lush, Jim Zub, Heather J. Wood, Daniel Perry, Ann Ewan, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Julie McArthur, Richard Scarsbrook. Together they comprise 12% of the Lion and Aardvark creative team.

 

Thanks to the Rowers Reading Series and its artistic director Heather J. Wood (see above) for their event organizing prowess, and to our venue hosts, the Victory Café.

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The New Gothic

Posted on by Cat Tobin — 2 Comments ↓

The_New_Gothic_Cover_front cover_350

The Gothic is the most enduring literary tradition in history but in recent years friendly ghosts and vegetarian vampires threaten its foundations.

The New Gothic is a collection of short stories which revisits to the core archetypes of the Gothic, the rambling, secret-filled building, the stranger seeking answers, the black-hearted tyrant, and reminds us not to embrace but to fear the darkness.

A dozen tales of terror fill this anthology including an original, never-before-seen story from the godfather of modern horror, Ramsey Campbell.

Instilling fear in the hearts of all are:

Jesse BULLINGTON  &  S. J. CHAMBERS
Fi MICHELL • Laura Ellen JOYCE
Richard DANSKY  •  Steve DEMPSEY
Ramsey CAMPBELL
Dmetri KAKMI •  Sean LOGAN  •  Mason WILD
Damien KELLY • Phil REEVES • Ed MARTIN

“Editor Beth K. Lewis and the team at Stone Skin Press have selected a terrific set of stories. They hang together, despite disparate elements; each tale hints at the darkness lurking in urban neighborhoods, in old houses, on desolate roads, and in our hearts. Cue Vincent Price’s menacing laugh echoing down a black corridor. There are no castles here, but there’s no sympathy for the devil either.”
–io9

“I can heartily recommend The New Gothic. It’s a great read that hooks you – in a horrible blood-spattering way – and the talent on show here is excellent.”

–Farsight Blogger

“…the sweetest kind of literary torture. If you want to enjoy a rickety roller coaster of Gothic goodness, this book is worth standing in line for. This is the way Goth should be done, by people who know how to do it.”

–Pop Cults

“…there are some finely crafted stories here.  This is definitely a good sampler of the sub-genre. If you’ve wondered what gothic horror was, this collection would be a good starting place to answer that question.”

-Fantasy Literature

Pub Date: 15 December 2013
ISBN-13: 9781908983053
Price: £8.99
Format: B Format – 198x129mm
Binding: Paperback
Extent: 170 pages
ebook: Included

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Lion and the Aardvark Toronto Launch Event

Posted on by Robin D Laws — No Comments ↓

With offices in London and writers from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland and arguably France, Stone Skin Press is a decidedly post-national operation. Yet since Creative Director Robin D. Laws calls Hogtown home, a nice swath of The Lion and the Aardvark’s 70 contributors happen to reside in the Greater Toronto Area. Thanks to the good offices of the Rowers Pub Reading Series, we’ll be celebrating that fact on Tuesday May 14th at 8pm, in the cozy, craft beer loving confines of the Victory Café in Mirvish Village (Bloor / Bathurst.)

Scheduled to read are Ann Ewan, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Laura Lush, Julie McArthur, Daniel Perry, Ursula Pflug, Richard Scarsbrook, Heather Wood, Halli Villegas, and Jim Zub. Buy a copy and get it signed by the aforementioned, plus interior illustrator Rachel Kahn and your humble editor.

In The Lion and the Aardvark, 70 writers from across the creative spectrum bring their modern sensibilities to the classic fable format. Zombies, dog-men and robot wasps mingle with cats, coyotes and cockroaches. Parables ranging from the punchy to the evocative, the wry to the disturbing, explore eternal human foibles, as displaced onto lemmings, trout, and racing cars. But beware— in these terse explorations of desire, envy, and power, certitude isn’t always as clear as it looks.

Update: Ed Greenwood has had to drop out to attend to a family medical matter. He’ll be there in spirit.

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Lions and Aardvarks over at Dork Towers

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There’s a lovely mention of The Lion and the Aardvark by industry legend and LatA contributor John Kovalic over at Dork Towers. Check it out here!

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Stone Skin Press Shop

Posted on by Beth Lewis — No Comments ↓

Our shop is now up and running and taking pre-orders for all four printed books which come with ebooks as standard. Ebooks in all formats (PDF, EPUB & MOBI) are available to buy and download right away. The printed books will be shipped when the Kickstarter backers have received their copies, which due to yet more unavoidable delays, will be by the end of this month.

The Stone Skin Press Online Shop.

 

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‘The New Gothic’ Submissions Open!

Posted on by Beth Lewis — No Comments ↓

The Gothic is the most enduring literary tradition in history but in recent years friendly ghosts and vegetarian vampires threaten its foundations. This will be a collection of short stories which revisit the core archetypes of the Gothic, the rambling, secret-filled building, the stranger seeking answers, the black-hearted tyrant, and reminds us not to embrace but to fear the darkness.

The focus of this anthology will be on fear and atmosphere, not horror or full out action, and will draw on the themes of the Gothic so if you’re not entirely familiar with them, the wikipedia entry is a good place to start.

Stories should be around 3,000-6,000 words. No reprints please.

They can be set in the modern world, they can be historic, fantastical, even set on a space ship (Alien is pure haunted house Gothic, until the guns come out) so there is a lot of scope for creative implementation of Gothic tropes.

Please send submissions as attachments in .doc or .rtf (not PDF) formats to stoneskinsubmit (at) gmail.com with a brief description of the story in the body of the email.

The subject line should read GOTHIC SUBMISSION – [title of your story]

Submissions will remain open until the end of April but the earlier the better. Payment for stories will be discussed upon acceptance.

We will endeavour to respond to all submissions but we will not be able to give editorial feedback to those who are  unsuccessful. We look forward to reading your stories!

 

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Merry Christmas from Stone Skin Press

Posted on by Beth Lewis — No Comments ↓

Wishing all of you an idle Christmas and New Year. Even Grumpy Idol is getting into the seasonal spirit!

Happy Holidays to all!

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The Wolf and Death from The Lion and the Aardvark

Posted on by Beth Lewis — No Comments ↓

Wolf, old and alone, spent the better part of a week tracking a herd of bison, waiting for the youngest one to succumb to the heat of the unusually long summer. He followed them into a valley, where the scent of the flowers and fruit and trees–verily the very scent of Life– weighed down the breeze with a chorus of musks, spices, and amber. Birds and insects zipped about. His prey stopped at a watering hole and joined a menagerie of beasts and drank. Safe in their numbers, they no longer fretted that the wolf would claim a single member of their herd.

An extract from ‘The Wolf and Death’ by Julia Bond Ellingboe from The Lion and the Aardvark, now in all good bookshops. This illustration is one of ten in the book by Rachel Kahn.

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Look Out For The Lion and the Aardvark

Posted on by Beth Lewis — No Comments ↓

The Lion and the Aardvark has now gone out to the Fabulist level Kickstarter backers so keep an eye on your mail boxes!

It’s also now available in bookshops all over the UK including Blackwells, Waterstones, Foyles and a bunch of independents. If you don’t see a copy, please order one through your friendly local book store or direct through our website when it goes live. We’re really excited about this so if you see a copy out and about, take a pic, send it to us and we’ll send you something fun.

If you weren’t a Kickstarter backer and would like to order a copy, please do so via your local bookshop while we get our online store up and running.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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