Eric Brown, Michael Coney, and other stuff

George passed on part of an email from Solaris author Eric Brown. We'll be publishing two books from Eric: HELIX—a great space opera romp about four Earth citizens after they're ship crashes into a vast alien structure; and KÉTHANI—one of the best thing's I've read. Period. This mosaic novel collects Eric's highly-praised short fiction concerning the alien race, the Kéthani, and the impact they have on everyday lives. Wonderful, literary SF of the highest quality. When we all read this there was simply no doubt in our minds that we wanted to publish it, and it's the kind of thing that makes an editor's month a happy one. Keep your eyes fixed on the Solaris website for more news on these titles.

Anyway, it appears that Eric and I are both fans of a much-forgotten British SF author Michael Coney. I urge you all strongly to check this dude out. Sadly, Michael died last year.

There was a remarkable quality to his writing. On the surface they were easy to read, entertaining—framed with an elegant prose. But the depths within were darkly sophisticated, and all the time he was in full control of many remarkable and original ideas and concepts. My favourite is HELLO SUMMER, GOODBYE—which as Eric pointed out is going to be republished by PS Publishing next year, alongside the previously unpublished sequel, I REMEMBER PALAHAXI. This is wonderful news, and will hopefully bring Michael's works to some well-deserved attention.

A full list of Michael Coney's titles are online at Fantastic Fiction. Find some of his titles there, or on the Amazon.co.uk Marketplace. Or try AbeBooks. Go and buy a battered paperback and kick back this season with one of his books. Then go tell your mates about him.

And Quote of the Day yesterday from Christian, commenting on an email in his inbox: "I can't tell if this is spam or if it's actually a submission…"

—Mark N