One of the things that has occupied me over the summer is learning to do book layouts. Doing paper books at Wizard’s Tower just isn’t economic unless I do most of the work on book production myself. Obviously I needed a book to practice on, and I chose Dark Spires because it was my first book and currently out of print. It seemed a real shame to have a book that has so many great local writers in it, including Colin Harvey, that was a print book but is only available electronically. The proof copy arrived last week and I’m pretty pleased with it as a first attempt.

The book contains a variety of stories all inspired by the idea of Wessex. The authors include Liz Williams, Gareth L. Powell, Jo Hall, Roz Clarke, Eugene Byrne, Gay Haley and Colin Harvey himself.

I will have copies available at BristolCon at a convention special price of £8. It will be £10 from the piranhas in due course. I’ll see if I can rig up a way of pre-ordering it so that no one misses out on the con price. If you are in the US, I’ll be sorting something out for you. Collect from BASFA should be an option.

Now there’s a nice thing to be able to announce. In October Wizard’s Tower will be publishing Shadow Histories of the River Kingdom, a new collection by Juliet E. McKenna. This volume brings together stories previously available in a range of anthologies and in online and SF convention publications, not all easily found, as well as some new material. There will be a map by the very talented Sophie E. Talis, and a specially commissioned cover by Ben Baldwin (who also did the Aldabreshin Compass covers).

And what’s more the book will be available as a paperback as well as an ebook.

Yeah, the economics suck, but guess who has been teaching herself InDesign so that she can do this. There may, ahem, be another announcement forthcoming soon about a different book.

We’ll be teasing the cover in September. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in review copies, do let me know. I should be able to do PDF ARCs at some point in September.

It sure feels good to be a publisher again.

I am delighted to be able to report that Archangel Protocol, the first book in Lyda Morehouse’s AngeLINK series, is now available as an audiobook. This is nothing to do with Wizard’s Tower — we don’t have the capacity to do that sort of thing — but I am delighted that it has happened because I love those books. You can find out more from Lyda’s LiveJournal.

Copies of Eastern Tide, the final volume in Juliet McKenna’s Aldabreshin Compass series, is now available from Google, Kobo and Nook (the latter US only). Amazon are doing their usual thing of making me jump through hoops to prove that I have the right to sell the book, but they’ll probably be on board tomorrow sometime. Links to the purchase pages of the books are available here.

Update: Eastern Tide is now available from Amazon as well.

Eastern Tide, the final volume in Juliet E McKenna’s Aldabreshin Compass series, will be available in the usual ebook stores later this week. Once again we have some magnificent cover art by Ben Baldwin. Juliet has various guest posts planned for this week, and the first one is up already. It is part of the “Nobody Knew She Was There” series on Sarah Ash’s blog.

More news later this week.

And with the Aldabreshin Compass series finished, I need to find something for Wizard’s Tower to do next. Expect news.

Some of you will doubtless be wondering where the final book in the Aldabreshin Compass series is. Well, it is on the way. Having been ambushed by Chirstmas and not got Western Shore out until January, there’s no way Eastern Tide was going to be out before March because of the LGBT History Month madness. Things are calming down a bit now, and I can get back to work on the book.

Meanwhile Juliet, bless her, has been busy. Firstly she has published a new short story set in the Aldabreshin Archipelago. It is called “Distant Thunder”, and it is available free at Juliet’s website. The story is set at the same time as the events of Northern Storm.

In addition she has been guest-blogging over at Charlie Stross’s website. Her post there talks about some of the worldbuilding that went into creating the Aldabreshin Compass series. In particular Juliet talks about how she went about creating a lead character who is an autocratic ruler who keeps slaves and has absolute power over his people. If you are going to have a feudal society in your epic fantasy, the least you can do is examine how it works with a critical eye.

Hopefully all of this will encourage you to read the Aldabreshin Compass series. The books are well worth it.

As I mentioned over the weekend, Western Shore, the latest Juliet McKenna novel from Wizard’s Tower, is now available in the usual shops. Meanwhile Juliet, bless her, has been very busy.

First up on her own website she has posted a fascinating article about the worldbuilding process that was necessary to create the book. Lots of geography research was involved.

Also, on SciFi Fantasy Network, she has an article about the need to get feedback on your novel during the writing process.

Finally, if you happen to be anywhere near Lancaster University on Thursday evening, Juliet will be giving a talk:

This Thurs, @LancasterUni Nuffield, #Fantasy author @JulietEMcKenna will be giving a talk at 7pm! #Lancaster #Author pic.twitter.com/xvIuIEqpQa

— J. S. Collyer (@JexShinigami) January 25, 2016

I do love those Ben Baldwin covers, and I see that Juliet has a new author photo. Yes, that’s Lou Abercrombie at work again.

The latest release from Wizard’s Tower is now available in the usual ebook stores. You can find the purchase links here.

Piracy is a fact of life in the ebook business. I get regular reports from Juliet on the game of Whack-a-Mole required to keep on top of the problem with regard to her novels. However, not everything gets pirated. The pirates want to attract people to their sites (to inadvertently download the malware they have lurking there, which is what pays their bills), so they make a point of pirating popular books.

I’m therefore rather pleased to learn that Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion is being pirated. The book has done remarkably well for an anthology by local writers. To date we’ve sold over 650 copies in all formats, and sales show no sign of slowing down. Why not check out what all of the excitement is about? Sales links here.

And not just the weather outside either. No, I’m talking about the latest release from Wizard’s Tower: Northern Storm, book 2 in the Aldabreshin Compass series by Juliet E McKenna. The book is available in most of the usual stores now, and I’m sure Nook will get things sorted soon.

You can find the purchase links here. Google Books appear to have it on sale, should you be after an epub.

Over on her blog, Juliet is doing a bit PR by way of a short story set in the Aldabreshin Archipelago and featuring a minor character from Southern Fire. You can find that, and Juliet’s introduction to it, here.

By the way, the new book has a bit of background on the role of eunuchs in Aldabreshin society. Juliet’s degree is in Classics, so she’s well informed about such things. We have been having an interesting chat. For now let’s just say that Byzantium is a fascinating place, and not just because of Theodora.

Every so often I remember that I run a publishing company as well as being a trans activist, a diversity trainer, an historian, and someone with a day job she needs to get done to pay the rent. Last night I sent I proof copy of this off to Juliet. Northern Storm, book 2 in the Aldabreshin Compass series, should be with you in a few days time.

My current project at Wizard’s Tower is issuing ebook editions of Juliet McKenna’s second series, The Aldabreshin Compass. The first of those books, Southern Fire, is now available in the major bookstores. You can find purchase links here.

The new covers that Ben Baldwin has done for the books are absolutely amazing. There are three more like the one above to come.

Well how about that? A new review for the first book that Wizard’s Tower ever published. That’s Dark Spires, of course, an anthology of tales set in Wessex and edited by the late, great Colin Harvey. The review is at SF Crowsnest and is very pleasing. As the publisher it is of course my job to pull quotes out of a review that will show the book in the best light. Here’s the one I chose:

“… an interesting collection with a very professional level of writing throughout…”

Oh yes, well done, Eamonn Murphy, you know how to make a publisher happy.

And if after reading that you fancy picking up the book at what Eamonn calls, “a bargain price” you can head on over to the Wizard’s Tower website for purchase links.

I’m pleased to see that the necessary electrons have found their way through to Amazon and the Colin Harvey hardcovers are now available to order. You can get them at the following links:

• Damage Time – US, UK
• Winter Song – US, UK

Of course I get next to nothing for selling a paper book through Amazon thanks to the massive discount that they demand. If you are in the UK and want a copy of either book, let me know. If you are in the Bay Area and want a copy of either book I may be able to get some shipped to Kevin.