LONDON, U.K. -- Tiny publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing has found itself going head to head with Gollancz, one of the UK’s biggest publishing houses.
Both publishers are to release authorised fiction titles to coincide with Frontier Developments’ release of the much anticipated space-trading game Elite:Dangerous in March 2014.
The giant Gollancz bought the rights to three authorised fiction works. But two other authors also authorised by Frontier Developments approached the tiny publishing house, Fantastic Books Publishing, to be their publisher earlier in the year.
Author, Drew Wagar, who had had a short story published by Fantastic Books says, ‘I was so impressed with the quality of the editorial process at Fantastic Books that I decided there and then to ask if they would publish my novel Elite:Reclamation. I was delighted when they agreed.’
As well as Elite:Reclamation, Fantastic Books Publishing has taken on New Zealand author, John Harper, and his ‘Elite’ novel, And Here The Wheel. John Harper says that he has watched the progress of the other authors with interest. ‘I was particularly impressed with Drew's commitment to the social side of creating science fiction,’ John told me. ‘When I saw his account of how he found and signed up with Fantastic Books Publishing, I immediately got in touch.’
Now, creative writing and film tutor at the University of Bucks Allen Stroud has joined the Fantastic Elite Fiction project along with a group of 15 authors who have each written a short novella length story for the anthology Elite:Tales From The Frontier, Fantastic's fourth Official Elite book.
All four books are complete and are going through their final editing process. Fantastic Books Publishing’s CEO, Dan Grubb, says, ‘I am delighted with our Elite authors. Drew is a real expert at connecting with his potential readers, even appearing at conferences and online radio stations devoted to the Elite universe. John, too, is a talented writer with a real commitment to this project.’ Allen Stroud is a talented musician as has kindly given permission to use his music both in the final audio versions of all the books and also in the promotion and marketing of the works. The anthology authors are all committed fans of the project and have been producing audio excerpts, intoduction videos and more as well as being very involved with 'building the team' on the Goodreads, Science Fiction and Elite forums.
Did Fantastic Books deliberately seek out the world of fiction. ‘Not at all,’ says Dan. ‘It found us. We started a fantasy/sci-fi thread and were delighted when first Drew and then John came to us with their Elite novels. Now with four titles in total we have been humbled by the support and encouragement from the Science Fiction community.’
And how does a tiny new outfit like Fantastic Books compete against a publishing Goliath? It turns out that Dan had accepted two novels before knowing that this would put him in direct competition with Gollancz as official Elite fiction publishers. However, he is characteristically positive about this development. ‘Gollancz is huge, skilled and has decades of publishing experience. I don’t see my company as being in competition with them, more that we have become partners in our Elite Fiction projects. I hope that it will be a partnership that will benefit all parties and in particular the many Science Fiction fans out there who are hungry for new, well written and Fantastic Science Fiction.’
What’s next? ‘We have a brand new division on the go,’ says Dan. ‘Taking our sci-fi titles and everything else we publish to a new level; to the world of sound. Our new division is Fantastic Books Audio which will ensure that our new releases are all made available as audio books so that anyone can enjoy our new releases, join us and take part. For the Fantastic Elite Fiction project we’re offering pledge gifts including e books, print books, signed boxed sets and audio books. Our overall aim is to take publishing to a new level. We’re only too happy to learn from the giants like Gollancz but one day we hope to be the ones with the lessons to teach them.’
Our project is running from now until the 1st January 2014 and we need all committed Science Fiction fans to come on board and help us get over the finish line.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fantasticbooks/offici...
Further information
Fantastic Books Publishing: www.fantasticbookspublishing.com
Email: fantasticbookspublishing@gmail.com
Drew Wagar: http://www.drewwagar.com/
John Harper: http://andherethewheel.co.nz/
Allen Stroud: http://www.allenstroud.com/
The Anthology team: http://www.elite-anthology.co.uk/
Frontier: http://elite.frontier.co.uk/
Contact details (not for publication)
Dan Grubb: +44 1964 671 997
Contact
Fantastic Books Publishing
07415388882
daniel.grubb@fantasticbookspublishing.com
