Aqueduct Press have sent us a whole lot of fabulous new books. To start with there are six titles in the Conversation Pieces series of chapbooks:

• Birds and Birthdays by Christopher Barzak
• Naomi Mitchison: a Profile of Her Life and Work by Lesley A. Hall
• The Receptionist and Other Tales by Lesley Wheeler
• The Traveling Tide by Rosaleen Love
• Three Observations and a Dialogue by Sylvia Kelso
• Ordinary People by Eleanor Arnason

In addition there’s a novel from Rebecca ore called The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid. This is all about the (illegal) use of cloning technology to make supposed reincarnations of historical characters. The blurb sounds fascinating:

Simon Boyle, has a sideline making illegal copies: chimeras based on famous criminals, for rent. His Billy the Kid, a creation unable to comprehend or sometimes even recognize the sorts of things that didn’t exist before the 1880s, is quite popular for a night of historically convincing passion with rich women, particularly the part where Boyle (as sheriff Pat Garrett) guns him down. As the story progresses, Billy the Kid starts remembering things from his previous lives. One of Boyle’s clients sets Billy loose into the mean streets of the 21st century, where he struggles to seize control of the myths in his ROM.

Finally I’m delighted to announce that we have for sale the ebook edition of Gwyneth Jones’ excellent novel, Spirit. You can read my review of the book here.