Look Out For… Biblia Longcrofta by Simon Marshall-Jones
“A collection of interlinked short stories set in the mysterious town of Longcroft, these are strange and compelling tales.”
Biblia Longcrofta by Simon Marshall-Jones, publisher and editor at award-nominated Spectral Press, is a series of connected short fiction stories, semi-autobiographical in nature, set in the imaginary town of Longcroft. Although it has no precise geographical location in the ‘real’ world, nevertheless it is located somewhere on the northern coastline of Britain. It exists contemporaneously and separately in a different time stream from the rest of the world, the reasons for the split lost in the mists of time.
It is no ordinary town, however – here miracles happen on an everyday basis, and the numinous and marvellous sit side-by-side with the banal and mundane. Into this wonderland comes a tattooed stranger called Simeon, a man bored of his old life, but still unsure of what his place in the world is, who he is, and what purpose he has. Through a series of connected incidents, he comes to understand the world around him, and the person he is. Along the way he meets wonders and living myths and, through interacting with them, he finds his true destiny–however, it’s not what he was expecting nor what he would have chosen for himself.
Why We’re Excited About This Book: The name of Simon Marshall-Jones will be familiar to many This Is Horror readers as the head honcho behind Spectral Press. However, Marshall-Jones is also a writer of the weird and wonderful in his own right and Biblia Longcroftia from Ticketyboo Press is his first published work. A collection of interlinked short stories set in the mysterious town of Longcroft, these are strange and compelling tales. Despite being described by the author as ‘semi-autobiographical’ this is no straight realism; in these stories you will encounter strange ships, gods and living myths.
Longcroft looks like a fascinating literary destination–let’s hope that that Biblia Longcroftia isn’t the author’s only journey there.
Biblia Longcrofta is available to preorder now from Ticketyboo Press.
Look Out For … Strange Tales V
“The Strange Tales anthologies are both collectors’ items and books you’ll want to dip into again and again”
Speculative fiction is by definition in the vanguard of contemporary writing and particularly suited to the short story form. This fifth volume of Strange Tales from Tartarus includes seventeen new stories by eight British and nine North American authors, some well-known and others up-and-coming in the field. As in previous volumes in this series, a wide range of literary strange fiction is represented here. These are, by any measure, superb short stories, and it is hoped that Strange Tales V will further the cause of contemporary speculative fiction and help introduce it to a wider audience.
Why We’re Excited About This Book: The Strange Tales series from Tartarus Press reaches its fifth volume; edited by Rosalie Parker these anthologies collect together some of the best contemporary weird and speculative fiction into one beautifully bound book. Focusing on the more literary and allusive end of the horror spectrum, the Strange Tales anthologies are both collectors’ items and books you’ll want to dip into again and again.
Strange Tales V contains seventeen all new stories, including tales from Mark Valentine, Steve Rasnic Tem, Andrew Hook, Tara Isabella Burton and Tom Johnstone.
The anthology is limited to 350 copies, so if this has tempted you, you’d better move quick. And if you’ve missed the earlier four volumes, they’re also available at a special price if you preorder Strange Tales V.
Strange Tales V is available for pre-order from Tartarus Press now.
JAMES EVERINGTON
