BOOK REVIEW: THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF URBAN MYTHIC

Urban Mythic

The Book Lover's Boudoir

GENERAL INFORMATION  

TITLE: THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF URBAN MYTHIC

AUTHOR: VARIOUS

PAGES: 270

PUBLISHER: THE ALCHEMY PRESS (http://alchemypress.wordpress.com)

YEAR: 2013

http://alchemypress.wordpress.com

A free copy of this anthology was provided by Peter Coleborn, the publisher and editor-in-chief. He asked me to review three upcoming collections. The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic is the second. I uploaded the PDF he sent me to my kobo.

BLURB FROM THE COVER

There is magic out there on the street and the Mythic are alive and well and creating chaos in a city near you.

Fourteen fabulous authors bring you tales of wonder and horror, with ancient curses and modern charms, strange things in the Underground, murder and redemption, corporate cults and stalwart guardians, lost travellers and wandering gods, fortune tellers and urban wizards, dragons,  fae and unspeakable beasts.

With stories from:  James Brogden, Joyce Chng, Zen Cho, Graham…

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Short Fiction

This week I am blogging over at the Penkhull Press site on awards and short fiction.

To read the article click HERE

 

Guest Writer : Debbie Johnson

Debbie Johnson is a journalist and writer based in Merseyside. After a lifetime of retelling other people’s stories, she decided to come up with some of her own. She won the Harry Bowling Prize in 2010.

 

Andrew Coulthard interviewed for Urban Mythic 2

Andrew Coulthard’s story “Paradise Walk” appears in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2.

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing.

I’ve always been interested in stories and the fantastic, both as a reader and creator. I wrote lots of tales as a kid and teenager. I also wrote and illustrated a dramatized “magazine” for the fantasy wargames club my mates and I ran in our teens. After that, however, I laboured on and off over the years with one over-ambitious epic manuscript after another until I finally gave up. Then a few years ago I began writing again, only this time I focused on short fiction.

I enjoy writing all sorts of things – fantasy, sci-fi, slipstream/weird fiction, absurdist/surrealistic tales, horror and more. Whatever piques my interest or gives me energy for the moment to be honest.

Tanith Lee on Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

Tanith Lee’s “The Mermaid” is the lead story in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2.

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing. How long have you been writing and how did you get started?

I’ve been writing since the age of 9 – about 57 years. Being slightly dyslexic (something unrecognised in my childhood) the school couldn’t teach me how to read. My father stepped in and taught me in a few months. About a year later, by then reading as a locust feeds, I began – as if logically – to write.

Chico Kidd on the Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

Chico Kidd’s “Blood*uckers” features in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2.

What is at the root of your Urban Mythic story?

I’ve always had a soft spot for werewolves. About a year or so ago I started trying out a new voice, an NYPD detective who didn’t just happen to be a werewolf but had joined the police because she was one. “They say the real reason so many weres are drawn to law enforcement is we still want to run in a pack. Though if you ask me I think it’s just ’cause we like chasing stuff.” I spent quite a long time nailing Taz’s voice, and also working on her world (in short, the weres are cops and the vampires are the Mob) and how it all worked and fit together. This story came out of that— in effect, it’s backstory before I’ve even completed the present-day narrative!

Sarah Ash interviewed for the Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

“La Vouivre” by Sarah Ash features in  The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2.

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing.

I love stories. When I was a child, I used to scribble after ‘lights out’ by the street lamp outside my window, filling little notebooks with barely legible scrawl in different coloured crayons. Growing up in Bath, I used to wonder about all the lives lived out from pre-Roman times till the present day and how what happened back then gradually became transmuted into local legend as it was told and re-told through the ages. Which is why what I like to explore in my own writing what would happen, for example, if a rational, enlightened eighteenth century soldier-prince encountered real, raw magic when waging war on the neighbouring country (The Tears of Artamon). I was trained as a musician and taught music for many years and my stories frequently feature musicians struggling with their craft. Kaito, the main protagonist of The Flood Dragon’s Sacrifice plays the flute – and an old song of his clan takes on a special significance as the story develops.

James Brogden interviewed for The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

‘How to Get Ahead in Avatising’ by James Brogdencan be found in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing.

I love writing stories because I’m basically a control freak and for a short time I get to be god of my own little fantasy world. I also teach English, and my students will probably tell you much the same thing. I’m a naturalised Brummie, born in the north and raised in Australia. I loathe all forms of competitive sport, which is why I was deported from Oz, though I do like to get out into the mountains whenever I can to lose my head in something vast. When I moved to the UK as a teenager I very quickly fell in love with the weight of history which is layered into the landscape of the British Isles, though I wonder how much of that comes from having made Tolkien and Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence part of my own internal landscape as a child. My grandmother, who lived back in the UK, made sure to send me and my brothers books which she considered to be quintessentially English; so as well as reading Aussie kids’ classics like The Magic Pudding, I grew up with Billy Bunter, Just William, and Biggles. When I moved here, it all sort of clicked, and it’s kept on clicking ever since.

Marion Pitman on The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

Marion Pitman’s story “The Cupboard of Winds” appears in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2.

What is at the root of your Urban Mythic story?

There was a terrific writer called Paul Jennings, who had a column in The Observerfrom 1949 to the 1960s. The columns were collected into books, which is where I discovered them as a child. They are very clever, and very funny, but also often rather mystical. In one piece he writes about modern local deities, and mentions a cupboard from which draughts blow, and speculates that if you opened the door suddenly you’d see all the winds sitting inside. So I stole the idea and expanded it. I tried various ways of doing it until it finally came out like this.

Alchemy Press Urban Mythic 2 : The Pauline E. Dungate interview

Pauline E Dungate’s story “Trapped in the Web” appears in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2.

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing.

I’ve always loved reading. We were introduced to the local library as soon as we were old enough to look after a book properly. At school a group of us used to make up stories and it went on from there. The only fiction I’ve had published are short stories but like most writers there are several novels in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. I also write poetry and lots of reviews (both under the name of Pauline Morgan.

Christine Morgan interviewed by Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

Christine Morgan’s “High School Mythical: Asgard“ appears in The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2. She answers a few questions here:

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing.

I’ve been a reader as long as I can remember. I love language. It’s like Play-Doh, a complete sensory experience that, with patience and practice, can make almost anything you imagine. Among my childhood friends, I was the storyteller who came up with ideas for let’s pretend, and constructed elaborate scenarios for my toys. As a teenager, I got into role-playing games as another outlet. Once I began attempting to write for real, I started with ‘traditional’ fantasy … but horror was my true calling. These days, it’s mostly historical horror and dark fantasy, with an emphasis on drawing from mythology, folklore, and various ancient cultures.

 

Lou Morgan : Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing.

I’m a novelist and short story writer, and I bounce infuriatingly between any kind of genre that takes my fancy. So far, that’s urban fantasy and horror for both adult and teen readers, because at the end of the day, I just like telling stories.

My first novel, Blood and Feathers, was an urban fantasy involving hellmouths and sarcastic angels with drinking problems, handguns and secrets, and which was nominated for British Fantasy Awards in both the best newcomer and best fantasy novel categories. The sequel, Blood and Feathers: Rebellion, picks up the story, and has also been nominated in the best fantasy novel category for this year’s BFAs. I’ve also written short stories for people like PS Publishing, Jurassic, Fox Spirit and Solaris – and Alchemy Press, of course.

And I have two cats, because that’s the law if you write fantasy.

Alchemy Press Advance Copies (*strokes* my precious)

Advance copies of The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 and The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3  have just arrived at Coleborn Manor!
Looking gorgeous!

Much cover-stroking was involved during the unpacking process… my precioussssssssssssssssssss (es)

The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 (edited by Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber. Includes: Tanith Lee, Sarah Ash, Lou Morgan, Adrian Tchaikovsky,  James Brogden, Carl Barker, Andrew Coulthard, K T Davies, Pauline E Dungate, Chico Kidd, Christine Morgan and Marion Pitman. Fab cover by Edward Miller (Les Edwards).

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3 (edited by Mike Chinn).
Includes: Kim Newman, Rod Rees, Tony Richards, Gary Budgen, Evan Dicken, Jay Eales, Iain Grant, Emma Hinge, Amberle L Husbands, Bracken MacLeod, Ralph Sevush, Paul Starkey. Another great cover by Bob Covington.

 

Calling all Reviewers!

Sussex Tales  pdf arcs are available  now!

With a different hat on pdf  arcs are available for :

Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3

Alchemy Press Book Urban Mythic 2

Kneeling in the Silver Light

Nick Nightmare Investigates.

Just contact me via my contact page  for your copy – please give your name and site where reviews will appear.
Many thanks

 

Final photo – official cover for Urban Mythic 2

After much tweaking by the industrious Mr Coleborn we know have the official cover for Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 ! 

ToC for Wicked Women!

It is here at last.  After slaving over a hot slush pile for weeks and months we can announce the ToC  for Wicked Women : Edited by Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber.