The Newcastle Publishing Company was a Southern California-based small trade paperback publisher founded by bookstore owner Al Saunders, [1] active from July 1971 through October 1992, under the editorial direction of Robert Reginald and Douglas Menville, formerly the editors of the speculative fiction magazine Forgotten Fantasy . [2] Saunders died in 1997, and Newcastle was later acquired by Career Press. [1]
Southern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises California's southernmost counties, and is the second most populous urban agglomeration in the United States. The region is traditionally described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is also used and is based on historical political divisions.
Publishing is the dissemination of literature, music, or information. It is the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and display the content for the same. Also, the word "publisher" can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a magazine.
Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre encompassing fiction with certain elements that do not exist in the real world, often in the context of supernatural, futuristic or other imaginative themes. This includes, but is not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, superhero fiction, horror, utopian and dystopian fiction, fairytale fantasy, supernatural fiction as well as combinations thereof.
The company originally reprinted out-of-print metaphysical books that had reverted to the public domain, quickly branching out into fiction and, in 1980, original works. [1] It continued to specialize primarily in New Age and other fringe materials, including psychic powers, fortune-telling, tarot reading, numerology, and handwriting analysis. It also published self-help books.
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between possibility and actuality. The word "metaphysics" comes from two Greek words that, together, literally mean "after or behind or among [the study of] the natural". It has been suggested that the term might have been coined by a first century CE editor who assembled various small selections of Aristotle’s works into the treatise we now know by the name Metaphysics.
New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure. Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual or Mind, Body, Spirit and rarely use the term "New Age" themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term and suggest that it is better seen as a milieu or zeitgeist.
Parapsychology is the study of paranormal and psychic phenomena, including telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, near-death experiences, synchronicity, reincarnation, apparitional experiences, and other paranormal claims. It is considered to be pseudoscience by a vast majority of mainstream scientists.
In fiction Newcastle is best remembered for its Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library , which reissued two dozen neglected classics of fantasy literature between 1973 and 1980, including works by William Morris, H. Rider Haggard, Lord Dunsany, and Leslie Barringer, among other authors. In all, Newcastle published 178 books,. [2]
The Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library was a series of trade paperback books published in the United States by the Newcastle Publishing Company between 1973 and 1980. Presumably under the inspiration of the earlier example set by the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature that had largely been forgotten, being out of print or otherwise not easily available in the United States, in durable, illustrated trade paperback form with new introductions. For a number of works the Library’s editions constituted the first U.S. or first paperback edition. Together with the earlier series from Ballantine Books, it contributed to the renaissance of interest in the fantasy genre of the 1970s.
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. It is a story that children and adults can read.
William Morris was a British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role propagating the early socialist movement in Britain.
The firm was successively headquartered in Hollywood and North Hollywood; [2] some of its offerings also specify Tarzana and Van Nuys as places of publication.
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer and musician, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published literary novels. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on the field of fantasy since the 1960s and ‘70s.
Robert Lynn Asprin was an American science fiction and fantasy author and active fan, best known for his humorous MythAdventures and Phule's Company series.
Reginald Bretnor was an American science fiction author who flourished between the 1950s and 1980s. Most of his fiction was in short story form, and usually featured a whimsical story line or ironic plot twist. He also wrote on military theory and public affairs, and edited some of the earliest books to consider SF from a literary theory and criticism perspective.
Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and publishes the online science fiction magazine Tor.com.
Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including crime, detective, mystery, thriller and science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership passed to his daughter, Livia, who sold it to Houghton Mifflin in 1989. Three years later, in October 1992, Houghton Mifflin sold Gollancz to the publishing house Cassell & Co. Cassell and Orion Publishing Group were acquired by Hachette in 1996, and in December 1998 the merged Orion/Cassell group turned Gollancz into its science fiction/fantasy imprint.
A strong element in contemporary Canadian culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction.
Yargo is a romantic science fiction novel by Jacqueline Susann. It was written during the 1950s, but not published until 1979, four years after Susann's death.
The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of American publisher Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969, the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines, in cheap paperback form—including works by authors such as James Branch Cabell, Lord Dunsany, Ernest Bramah, Hope Mirrlees, and William Morris. The series lasted until 1974.
Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan — many considered classic works of SF and Fantasy today. Gnome was important in the transitional period between Genre SF as a magazine phenomenon and its arrival in mass-market book publishing, but proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction. In its heyday, Gnome published many of the major SF authors, and in some cases, as with Robert E. Howard's Conan series and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, was responsible for the manner in which their stories were collected into book form.
Leslie Barringer (1895–1968) was an English editor and author of historical novels and historical fantasy novels, best known for the latter.
Charles R. Saunders also credited as Charles Saunders is an African-American author and journalist currently living in Canada. During his long career, he has written everything from novels both fiction and non-fiction, to screenplays and radio plays.
Robert Paul Holdstock was an English novelist and author best known for his works of Celtic, Nordic, Gothic and Pictish fantasy literature, predominantly in the fantasy subgenre of mythic fiction.
Joris of the Rock is a fantasy novel by Leslie Barringer, the second book in his three volume Neustrian Cycle. It is set around the fourteenth century in an alternate medieval France called Neustria. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Heinemann in 1928; an American edition followed from Doubleday in 1929. Its significance was recognized by its republication by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the ninth volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library series in September, 1976. The Newcastle edition was reprinted by Borgo Press in 1980 and 2010.
Gerfalcon is a fantasy novel by Leslie Barringer, the first book in his three volume Neustrian Cycle. It is set around the fourteenth century in an alternate medieval France called Neustria. The book was first published in 1927 by Heinemann in the United Kingdom and Doubleday in the United States. Its significance was recognized by its republication in 1973 by Tom Stacey in the UK and in March, 1976 by the Newcastle Publishing Company in the US, as the seventh volume of its celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library series. This Newcastle edition was reprinted twice, once by Newcastle itself in 1977 and once by Borgo Press in 1980.
Shy Leopardess is a fantasy novel by Leslie Barringer, the third and last book in his three volume Neustrian Cycle. It is set around the 14th century in an alternate medieval France called Neustria. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Methuen in 1948. Its significance was recognized by its republication in the United States by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the thirteenth volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library series in October, 1977. The Newcastle edition was reprinted by Borgo Press in 1980.
Forgotten Fantasy: Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy was a short-lived American fantasy and science fiction magazine published by Nectar Press. Douglas Menville served as editor, and Robert Reginald as associate editor. The magazine was digest-sized in format and specialized in reprinting neglected classics of speculative fiction from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, along with occasional earlier pieces. It appeared in five bimonthly issues from October, 1970 through June, 1971, which were reprinted by the Borgo Press imprint of Wildside Press in 2007.
The Haunted Woman is a dark, metaphysical fantasy novel by British writer David Lindsay. It was first published, somewhat cut, as a serial in The Daily News in 1921. It was first published in book form by Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, in 1922. The work supposedly marked Lindsay's attempt to write a more "commercial" novel after the initial failure of his first work, A Voyage to Arcturus (1920), though he began it before that work was published. It was reissued by Gollancz in 1947. It was republished by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the fourth volume of the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library in March, 1975; the Newcastle edition was the first American edition. Later editions were issued by Borgo Press (1980), Canongate Books (1987), Wildside Press (2003), and Tartarus Press (2004).
Golden Wings and Other Stories is a collection of fantasy short stories by British writer William Morris, first published in trade paperback by the Newcastle Publishing Company in March 1976 as the eighth volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library. The first hardcover edition was published by Borgo Press in 1980. The stories were originally published in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine in 1856. More recently the stories have been combined with Morris's other contributions to the magazine, including reviews, essays and poems, to form the expanded collection The Hollow Land and Other Contributions to the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, published by Forgotten Books in June, 2010.
Franz Rottensteiner is an Austrian publisher and critic in the fields of science fiction and speculative fiction in general.
