New Releases from NESFA Press

$75.00

A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison is an unguarded, uncensored, unquiet tour of the life of Harlan Ellison. In late 2011 Harlan Ellison asked biographer Nat Segaloff if he'd be interested in writing his life story. Segaloff conducted exhaustive interviews with Ellison over the course of five years and also spoke with many of his friends and enemies in an effort to get inside the man and pin down the best-known “Harlan stories.” Their wide-ranging discussions cover his bullied boyhood, his storied marriages, his fabled lawsuits, and his compulsive writing process with more depth and detail than has ever before appeared in print. But it also delves deeply into the man's deeply held principles, his fears, and the demons that have driven him all of his 83 (so far) years. What emerges is a rich portrait of a man who has spent his life doing battle with his times and himself, always challenging his readers to reach for a higher plane and goading himself to get them there. It's funny, wise, shocking, and—well, it's Harlan.

Hardcover price: $32.00
Ebook price: $9.95

Question and Answer: The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson (volume 7) continues the series of presenting the best of his fantasy and science fiction stories published over a writing career of 50 years. It includes 6 short novels and 2 novellas and 5 short stories. “Question and Answer”, the lead short novel tells the story of the first(?) meeting between two different species with a touch of earth politics and a mystery about what happened to the ship that preceded them to the planet. The two-page frontispiece illustrates the story.  “The Big Rain”, set on Venus which is slowly being terraformed, concludes the Un-Man stories. Dominic Flandry is well represented including the first time he meets Aycharaych of Chereion, who becomes his life-long nemesis. In “The Troublemakers”, life aboard a slower-than-light transport ship making a voyage that will last over 3 generations is examined. And, finally but not least, David Falkyn and the rest of his trader team open a planet for trade.

Hardcover price: $30.00
Ebook price: $6.95

The Halcyon Fairy Book collects her wry and insightful commentary on several traditional fairy tales, along with her first collection of fairy-tale inspired original work, Toad Words, previously only available as a self-published eBook. Eleven of these annotated fairy tales (including, “The Crystal Casket”, a “Snow White” story exploring why the Prince was so struck by an apparent corpse, and “The Wonderful Sheep” which starts as King Lear and goes off on a tangent), are lightly edited from their original appearances on her blog, and one “The King of Love” is original to this limited-edition hardcover.

Soft cover price: $15.00
Ebook price: $6.95

Making Conversation, selected from TNH's writing since 1994, was first available at MidAmeriCon II, and afterward from NESFA Press in softcover and e-book form. 222 pages, 59 essays (long and short) about time, space, genre, editing, gardening, saints, libraries, food, democracy, drink, insanity, fear, hamsters, chaos, moderation, palimpsests, fanfic, clichés, books, slush, spelling, scams, sleep, fantasy, policing, infundibula, trolls, writing, knitting, fandom, habaneros, exposition, management, Selectrics, Brooklyn, literary agents, pygmy mammoths, and the true cure for scurvy.

$35.00

Blending fresh new science fiction with a futuristic dash of magic, The Grimm Future is a unique anthology of reimagined Grimm fairy tales from some of today's most exciting authors—along with the original stories that inspired them. The Grimm Future examines our humanity and what that term might come to mean through the eyes of future generations as society advances into an age when technology consumes nearly every aspect of our lives or has ultimately changed life as we know it. How might these timeless stories evolve? Given the relentless onrush of technology, there is even greater need for fairy tales and Grimm magic in our future. Read on!

$17.00

We're part of the cover-up!
Did you know that there is a secret government agency dedicated to creating conspiracy theories? It's true! It's on Facebook!
But it's not in this book. Our conspiracy theories are all fiction. At least, that's what we want you to think! Certainly, we did invite fiction writers to weigh in on conspiracy theories. The result includes (of course) the Masons and dragons (David Clements), the Bavarian Illuminati (Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald) and the New World Order Shariann Lewitt). There's also the Shaver Mystery (science writer Jeff Hecht), cell phones and weather control (Rev DiCerto), Atlantis and Lemuria (Paul DiFilippo), Roswell (H. Paul Shuch of SETI fame), mermaids (Cat Rambo and Mike Resnick), ancient immortals who guide our breeding (Steven Popkes), quality management (Allen Steele), and—of all things!—Santa Claus (James Cambias). Not to mention the squirrels (Sarah Smith).

$15.00
If I Ran the Z/o/o/ Con is aninsider’s guide to everything that can possibly go wrong at a convention. A role-playing game where the players make decisions about the Bidding, Planning, and At-Con phases of a World Science Fiction Convention. First introduced and played at Smofcon 3 in 1986. Revised and updated in 2015, with nine new scenarios and interior cartoons by Steve Stiles.

$26.00
The Ides of Octember: A Pictorial Bibliography of Roger Zelazny is an essential reference for both collectors and scholars. It includes a comprehensive listing of all English-language publications of Zelazny's fiction and non-fiction. Detailed descriptions of each book are provided so that first editions can be distinguished from later printings. Thumbnail images are included of the covers from every edition of Zelazny's books and from the first publications of his stories and poems in magazines, fanzines, and anthologies. The main index includes every known official, alternate, manuscript, and phantom title associated with Zelazny's works. Additional lists include interviews, Amber memorabilia, audio recordings, limited editions, fanzines, and awards. A secondary bibliography is also included which lists more than 300 essays, theses, and books that have been written about Zelazny and his writings. The second edition updates the bibliography to include publications up through November, 2014.