Cody Quijano-Schell and I are delighted to announce a new ongoing ebook series! Available right now, The Periodic Adventures of Senor 105 will appear monthly and feature the exploits of scientist, explorer and semi-retired masked Mexican wrestler: Senor 105.
Senor 105 has been with Obverse Books from its very first release three years ago, but this is something very different and has prompted the creation of a new sister e-book imprint, Manleigh Books. The series is designed to appeal to people who like getting a monthly jolt of storytelling in the form of low-priced, short novellas. The first book is available for download now. “The Gulf”, written by the character’s creator Cody Quijano-Schell, is a good starting place for anyone new to the character. A lot of details get nailed down for the first time in this book, including the origin of the villainous Terrible Kings and their leader, a shadowy figure from Mexico’s future. There is an exploration into the contents of the Chicxulub Crater that has always been in the background of 105’s stories. And a new recurring character is introduced in the form of Lori, the Royal Canadian Mounted Policewoman. "The Gulf" also contains hints about the origin of the crater and strange goings-ons in the solar system, on the Moon and Earth’s lost twin. This will lead into future stories such as Blair Bidmead’s novella, which takes place on Venus and features the Venusians as originally seen in Paul Leonard’s “Venusian Lullaby”, a Doctor Who Missing Adventures novel. Some authors who have never written for 105 have been brought aboard; including Richard Wright whose “The God of Many Masks” will be released in September. Later novellas will follow from Lawrence Burton and Blair Bidmead (both former 105 and Faction Paradox authors) followed with Stuart Douglas taking us into a special Christmas story and a first 105 story from Selina Lock. So it’s an exciting first 6 months! There will be ongoing arcs resolved over time, but the novellas are designed to be self-contained. The long-term reader will be rewarded, but newcomers won’t be punished with heaps of continuity. But if you have been curious about 105’s jukebox, Sheila’s family, the history of 105’s “Golden Age” mentors, Tierra, Viento y Fuego, then you’ll be pleased to know they’ll all be explored in time. There will be times when open submissions are accepted, watch for announcements on the website and on this forum. |
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Manleigh Books - Open for Business
Sunday, 22 July 2012
The Tale of Hill Top Farm - Susan Wittig Albert
I've been away on holiday you know. In company of my learned colleague and all round good egg (rolled on a barber shop floor) Scott. Cruising round the Mediterranean, he taking photos of things, me typing furiously away at the Great Novel on Notes on an iPad (that teaches you to have nerves of steel - push the wrong button and 'whoosh!' - due to the lack of an Undo facility everything you wrote disappears beyond hope of rescue - like writing using pee in snow and hoping it doesn't turn cold any time soon*).
Anyway, obviously I did a bit of reading too, in the gaps between tramping round Cadiz's narrow streets with Julie and Cam and taking the wee train to the beach in Corsicaand whizzing down Lisbon's steep hills on a tra which cost a pound as opposed to Edinburgh's 3/4 of a billion.
Spcifically, I read Susan Wittig Albert's 'The Tale of Hill Top Farm' and finished it with a great desire to read not only the rest of the books in the author's series of Beatrix Potter stories but also the various biographies of Potter listed in the acknowledgements and even the likes of The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.
For one thing, it's a great idea. Unlike the often dull trend for having A N Historical Figure solving crimes for no apparent reason other than implausible authorial caprice - the Jane Austen Investigates school of fiction - this is a sweetly heart-felt fictional biography of a certain period in Potter's life, complete with small village crimes and misdemeanours, mischief not murder, misuderstanding not mayhem. Two pounds is misplaced, a church registry goes missing and - most criminally of all - a small painting disappears. That's the extent of the nefarious activity in this book. Instead of criminal masterminds, the author gives the reader an array of lovingly sketched village characters (think of Mrs Gaskell's Cranford, and you wouldn't be far wrong) and, brilliantly, the thoughts of both Beatrix's pets and the village animals. I particularly liked the way that the human characters react to the speech of the cats and dogs - hearing only squeaking and mewing as the animals discuss the events around them.
Had the animals remained as just that - animals who can speak amongst themselves - then I'd have been delighted, but Ms Albert inserts an extra layer of non-human characters which jarred for me (though I know it worked for other readers). An owl professor with a telescope in his tree suffers from obvious comparisons with the very similar friend of Pooh Bear, but he, Fritz the Ferret and the various rats, all of whom wear cutdown human clothing, feel out of place - creatures from an entirely different sort of story. Obviously that entirely different sort of story is one of Miss Potter's own, which feels like something of a mis-step to me. On a similar note, it seems reasonable that a cat might learn to read by listening to her mistress reading out loud, but silly that the same cat would think to write a note for the humans to read.
Still, after reading this first installment, I immediately bought the rest of the series for my Kindle - and you can't say fairer than that, considering I had the on-ship delights of Berni Flint in Concert and Paul Daniels' laddie doing magic tricks as an alternative source of amusement.
* Actually, that's a rubbish comparison, but I just got cleaning chemicals in my eye and it hurts a lot, so I can possibly be forgiven.
Anyway, obviously I did a bit of reading too, in the gaps between tramping round Cadiz's narrow streets with Julie and Cam and taking the wee train to the beach in Corsicaand whizzing down Lisbon's steep hills on a tra which cost a pound as opposed to Edinburgh's 3/4 of a billion.
Spcifically, I read Susan Wittig Albert's 'The Tale of Hill Top Farm' and finished it with a great desire to read not only the rest of the books in the author's series of Beatrix Potter stories but also the various biographies of Potter listed in the acknowledgements and even the likes of The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.
For one thing, it's a great idea. Unlike the often dull trend for having A N Historical Figure solving crimes for no apparent reason other than implausible authorial caprice - the Jane Austen Investigates school of fiction - this is a sweetly heart-felt fictional biography of a certain period in Potter's life, complete with small village crimes and misdemeanours, mischief not murder, misuderstanding not mayhem. Two pounds is misplaced, a church registry goes missing and - most criminally of all - a small painting disappears. That's the extent of the nefarious activity in this book. Instead of criminal masterminds, the author gives the reader an array of lovingly sketched village characters (think of Mrs Gaskell's Cranford, and you wouldn't be far wrong) and, brilliantly, the thoughts of both Beatrix's pets and the village animals. I particularly liked the way that the human characters react to the speech of the cats and dogs - hearing only squeaking and mewing as the animals discuss the events around them.
Had the animals remained as just that - animals who can speak amongst themselves - then I'd have been delighted, but Ms Albert inserts an extra layer of non-human characters which jarred for me (though I know it worked for other readers). An owl professor with a telescope in his tree suffers from obvious comparisons with the very similar friend of Pooh Bear, but he, Fritz the Ferret and the various rats, all of whom wear cutdown human clothing, feel out of place - creatures from an entirely different sort of story. Obviously that entirely different sort of story is one of Miss Potter's own, which feels like something of a mis-step to me. On a similar note, it seems reasonable that a cat might learn to read by listening to her mistress reading out loud, but silly that the same cat would think to write a note for the humans to read.
Still, after reading this first installment, I immediately bought the rest of the series for my Kindle - and you can't say fairer than that, considering I had the on-ship delights of Berni Flint in Concert and Paul Daniels' laddie doing magic tricks as an alternative source of amusement.
* Actually, that's a rubbish comparison, but I just got cleaning chemicals in my eye and it hurts a lot, so I can possibly be forgiven.
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