EDGE and Tesseract are imprints of Hades Publications, Inc.

Articles

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A unique new voice for writers
by Jacqueline Louie

That’s what Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing is striving to offer-for both emerging and established authors. It’s a strategy that appears to be working for this Calgary-based independent publisher, which specializes in hardcover and trade paperback book-length science fiction and fantasy literature. This fall Edge launches its first book, The Black Chalice-a historical fantasy novel by Alberta author Marie Jakober. Pre-reviews and interviews with the author are appearing in both traditional and new media, and orders are already coming in from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

What’s behind the book’s initial success is the commitment by Edge founder Brian Hades to create the highest possible quality product. "We’re willing to put in any amount of time and effort to make a successful book," says Edge’s Editorial Manager. "That’s really turned out to be a positive thing: the amount of effort and detail we put into the look of the book. It really making a difference in the willingness of independent and chain bookstores to carry it and the willingness of places to review it."

And Edge is continuing to forge ahead with plans for new books. The specialty publisher will release one new title in 2001: Lyskarion: The Song of the Wind, set in a fantasy world that author Janice A. Cullum has been evolving since she was a small child.

More books are scheduled to follow, as Edge has contracted manuscripts from a number of other writers. "Part of our mandate is to explore and give opportunities to new authors," says Edge General Manager Brian Hades. "We are always looking for new manuscripts. We have a completely open-door policy in that regard, and we’re not limited to agented authors."

While the editorial manager deals with a diversity of writers, Edge tends to look for stories that are well-researched, with great richness of depth and detail. Edge encourages any writer who feels they have a good story to send in a single-page synopsis plus the first three chapters, along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope; Edge’s standard manuscript submission format is available on its Web page at www.edgewebsite.com. [author guidelines]

Edge also deals with previously published authors-including writers of the stature of Alison Sinclair, whose book Cavalcade was nominated for the 1999 Arthur C. Clarke Award for best British science fiction novel. What Edge offers established writers, Hades says, is an opportunity to move out of what they’ve been doing-an opportunity to try something entirely different.

For Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, the future appears bright. "The small press movement is big and moving along very quickly," says Hades, noting that Calgary is the center for Canada's independent publishing movement.

Across North America, small and independent presses are doing more and more business with the likes of such major chains as Chapters and Barnes and Noble. An estimated 70 per cent of books available in North American chain bookstores are published by independents, up from 25 per cent five years ago.

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EDGE and Tesseract Books are distributed in Canada and the United States by Fitzhenry and Whiteside   (more)
EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, Inc.
and Tesseract Books, Ltd.
P.O. Box 1714, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2L7
Phone: (403) 254-0160 - Fax: (403) 254-0456
CONTACT US

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