Stone Skin Press is new fiction imprint from roleplaying game publisher Pelgrane Press. We set up the imprint because of my enthusiasm for genre-crossing writing, including Michael Chabon, Iain Banks, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin and Adam Marek. I already know how to publish, and there is a wealth of talented writers, both mainstream and genre who enjoy wiriting to a challenging brief. We want to inspire all-new fiction and take our writers and readers in new directions. The New Hero is our first book, and we follow this up with Shotguns v Cthulhu, and Aesop's Modern Fables and now Schemers.

This Kickstarter will fund our anthologies, and allow us to commission new ones.

Authors include heavyweight New York Times best selling authors, up and coming new talents, and favourites from the Pelgrane Press stable including Alex Bledsoe, Tobias Buckell, Jesse Bullington, Adam Marek and Kyla Ward

Scroll down to the FAQ for a complete listing of our eclectic roster.

Stretch Goals

[UNLOCKED] We're over 100% - so funders will have audio versions of three stories, an additional Shotguns v. Cthulhu cover and five more Aesop pictures

[UNLOCKED] We're over 150% so we can commision a  new anthology - Schemers -  $5 backers will get one, and higher level backers three of the stories in ebook form, with your existing rewards.

[UNLOCKED] At 200% - $10,000, $5+ backers get an exclusive limited edition chapbook with three brand new stories, ebooks for ebook rewards, a physical book for physical rewards.

[UNLOCKED] At 220% - $11,000 - we will create an audio book which includes most of the Aesop stories, read by Julia Ellingboe. Anyone with that anthology will get the audio book and all $5+ contributors will get at least three audio stories.

[LOCKED] At 50 cupcakes, Beth will write a cupcake-based short story. As of 19 hours, we are at 40!

Cupcakes

$3 can be added to any pledge amount to give Beth a cupcake. All cupcakes go to a good cause and will increase productivity of Stone Skin Press anthologies.

Every day of the Kickstarter, you can read about an author and their Stone Skin Press story here.

The New Hero vol 1 and 2

Older than the written word and more popular than ever today, the hero story crosses cultures as an eternal constant. The New Hero gathers an unexpected team of writers, celebrated and emerging, to deliver fourteen thrilling and distinctive variations on this classic theme. Their new heroes span the spectrum from post-apocalyptic seer to post-traumatic arm-twister, from outcast vampire to steam-age avenger, from two-fisted aviator to rabbi pirate. Join us as selfhood is tested, obstacles shattered, and disorder vanquished.

Shotguns v Cthulhu

Pulse-pounding action meets cosmic horror in this exciting collection from the rising stars of the New Cthulhuiana. Steel your nerves, reach into your weapons locker, and tie tight your running shoes as humanity takes up arms against the monsters and gods of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Grab your pistols, your knives, your gearpunk grenades. Confront deep ones, mi-go, and flying polyps. Fight in the past, present and future, from the birth of the shotgun to the end of the world. Escape by car, carriage, and hot air balloon. Above all, remember to count your bullets...you may need the last one for yourself.

The Lion and the Aardvark: Aesop’s Modern Fables

These confusing times of Internet trolls, one-percenters, toxic fame, and
impending singularity cry out for clarity—the clarity found in Aesop’s
2,500 year old fables.

70 writers from across the creative spectrum bring their modern
sensibilities to this classic format. Zombies, dog-men and robot wasps
mingle with cats, coyotes and cockroaches. Parables ranging from the
punchy to the evocative, the wry to the disturbing, explore eternal human
foibles, as displaced onto lemmings, trout, and racing cars. But beware—
in these terse explorations of desire, envy, and power, certitude isn’t
always as clear as it looks.

Aesop Prints

The Lion and the Aardvark contains five beautiful line drawings illustrating some of the fables. These are available as prints with some Reward levels.

Here are two of them.

How We Publish

We love physical books, but understand that they aren't the only way people like to read. So when you get your books from us, rights permitting, we will include the ebook free with your book. To that end, Stone Skin Press books with be available from Bits and Mortar to fiction and games retailers. We also think that readers should get content in as many different forms and devices as possible, so when you buy a book from us, you'll also get the ebook, too.

Who We Are

Simon Rogers, is the Managing Director of Pelgrane Press and its Stone Skin Press fiction imprint. I’ve been running ProFantasy Software, makers of fine cartographic software now for 18 years, and Pelgrane Press for 12 years, with all that entails, and we’ve sold more than 250,000 software licenses and books in that time. I am enthusiastic about both genre and literary fiction, and want to contribute to the publishing renaissance in these exciting times.

Beth Lewis is the Managing Editor of Stone Skin Press. A Publishing BA graduate, Beth has wide‐ranging knowledge and skills in all aspects of the industry, from production to editorial. She is committed to bringing quality fiction to readers and has a particular passion for promoting debut authors.

Editor and Stone Skin Press Creative Director Robin D. Laws is an author, game designer, and podcaster. His novels include Pierced Heart, The Rough and the Smooth, and The Worldwound Gambit. Robin created the GUMSHOE investigative roleplaying rules system and such games as Feng Shui, The Dying Earth, HeroQuest 2 and Ashen Stars. He is one half of the podcasting team behind “Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff.” Find his blog, a cavalcade of film, culture, games, narrative structure and gun-toting avians, at robindlaws.com.

Other Contributors

Renowned comic artist Gene Ha created the covers for both New Hero 1 and 2. Jason Morningstar designed the cover for Shotguns v Cthulhu. Comic artist Jim Zubkavich drew the Aesop cover and Rachel Kahn the five interiors.