I’m delighted to announce that my new collection, Stardust, has now gone up for pre-order on the PS website. Here’s the fantastic cover art by Ben Baldwin and Mike Smith:
Ben’s art for both the front and back covers is truly gorgeous – like all the illustrations he’s provided for my stories, the images he’s created provide the perfect visual counterpoint to the text. Mike’s bold and eye-catching cover design wraps it all up beautifully.
Stardust: The Ruby Castle Stories is a linked collection consisting of three longer stories and three novellas. Only one of these pieces – ‘The Lammas Worm’ – has been previously published. The others are all brand new material. The stories are arranged in a kind of free-floating orbit around the figure of Ruby Castle, a horror movie actor who exerts a special influence over the lives of various other characters in the collection. I wrote the pieces more or less consecutively throughout 2010.
When PS announced the collection in their newsletter today they also put up a little piece I wrote for them to accompany the cover blurb and other publicity information. It’s a short essay about how I rediscovered fantastic literature and you can read it here.
Stardust is currently at the printer’s but PS tell me it should start shipping in just a week or two. You can order the unsigned hardback for £11.99 here, or if you prefer the signed jacketed hardcover you can get that here.
I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone at PS Publishing for all their help and hard work, with thanks especially to Nicky Crowther, who brought the whole project together. Another special thank you goes out to Rob Shearman, who was generous enough to provide a wonderful and typically good-humoured introduction to the collection.
I can’t wait to see the finished copies when they arrive.