‘Haunting stories that set out to keep us in their moment’ Paul Magrs
Nightjar Press is an independent publisher specialising in limited edition single short-story chapbooks by individual authors. It is brought to you by the people behind early 1990s British Fantasy Award-winning publisher Egerton Press, responsible for Darklands, Darklands 2 and Joel Lane’s short-story collection The Earth Wire. The publisher is Nicholas Royle, the designer John Oakey. We are open to submissions from writers who have taken the trouble to research what kind of stuff we like.
The nightjar – aka corpse fowl or goatsucker – is a nocturnal bird with an uncanny, supernatural reputation that flies silently at dusk or dawn as it hunts for food. The nightjar is more often heard than seen, its song a series of ghostly clicks known as a churring. In her poem ‘Goatsucker’, Sylvia Plath wrote that the ‘Devil-bird’ flies ‘on wings of witch cloth’.
What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night/Michael Marshall Smith (12pp) SOLD OUT
The Safe Children/Tom Fletcher (16pp) SOLD OUT
When the Door Closed, It Was Dark/Alison Moore (16pp) SOLD OUT
Black Country/Joel Lane (16pp) available
A Revelation of Cormorants/Mark Valentine (16pp) available
The Beautiful Room/RB Russell (12pp) available
Lexicon/Christopher Burns (17pp) available
Field/Tom Fletcher (12pp) available
Sullom Hill/Christopher Kenworthy (15pp) available
Remains/GA Pickin (13pp) available
Into the Penny Arcade/Claire Massey (12pp) available
Marionettes/Claire Massey (12pp) available
All chapbooks are priced £3/$5/€3.5 plus 50p/$3/€1.5 P&P
If ordering more than one chapbook, please ask for P&P charges.
To buy copies of our publications, please email Nicholas Royle on nicholasroyle@mac.com.
08/10/2009 at 20:13
Hi Nick / Nicholas
Would there be any chance of you sticking link to our website on this site? Will reciprocate of course. New indie shop in Norwich is THE BOOK HIVE, 53 London Street Norwich – I’ll tell owner Henry Layte about Nightjar – think he’ll be interested
cheers
Dan
09/10/2009 at 00:13
Done. Thanks, Dan.
Nicholas/Nick
18/03/2010 at 08:49
Sorry if I seem a bit stupid, but how do I buy your books? There doesn’t seem to be any instructions as to what to do anywhere!
Some help would be appreciated. Thank you.
16/04/2010 at 22:46
hi there
just seen news of your funding and wanted to congratulate. well done.
having followed up, am delighted to see joel lane on your list – remember his work and himself very fondly from the days of the rue bella (he was one of our frequent fliers). please say hi.
nigel
15/05/2010 at 12:03
Thomas Ligotti’s ‘I Have a Special Plan for This World’, for Nicholas Royle.
http://vimeo.com/9840105
My very best wishes for Nightjar Press,
jesus
19/06/2010 at 12:37
Will you have a stand at next weekends Manchester Book Market? If not you could put some on the TTA stand. I’ll be there Friday and Saturday.
01/12/2010 at 01:34
Hi, Nicholas -
I love the look, the idea, and purpose of these books. What does a poor Yank need to do to purchase one (or two)?
Thanks,
David
04/01/2011 at 15:01
[...] of consciousness it took me by surprise. The direct inspiration came from getting copies of some Nightjar Press chapbooks at FantasyCon 2010, and it just hit me that it was an absolutely brilliant little format [...]
05/03/2011 at 11:00
Hi, I’d like ot order a copy of The Beautiful Room. Could you send me an email with the address I need to send a cheque to? I haven’t bought one of your chapbooks before but they look inviting.
10/03/2011 at 00:50
Dawn: not sure how to email you. If your post reveals your email address somewhere, somehow, I’m not clever enough to work it out. Could you email me on nicholasroyle (at) mac.com?
01/04/2011 at 13:09
Hi Nicholas,
I’m interested in submitting a story to you: do you have a submissions address, or is it better that I email your stated one?
Sean
05/05/2011 at 21:43
Nicholas
A little off-topic but I hope you can help.
I’m interested in learning more about the short stories of Derek Marlowe.
You mention in the introduction to “Sweet Nothing” (in Darklands) that a DM short story appeared in Vogue. What was the title of that story, and when did it appear?
Many thanks
S Radmore
13/09/2011 at 12:31
Sorry for the delay in replying, Stuart. The Marlowe story in Vogue was called ’1916 Was a Very Good Year’. I’m afraid I don’t know when it appeared. I published another one, after ‘Sweet Nothing’, called ‘Digits’, in Darklands 2.
best wishes
Nicholas
25/09/2011 at 16:20
Thanks for replying.
Is the Egerton Press completely defunct, or is there any chance of my getting hold of a copy of Darklands 2?
Many thanks
S Radmore
27/06/2011 at 13:57
Dear Sirs,
The South Dakota State Historical Society Press is looking at delving into chapbooks. Having never done them before, I wonder, do you treat them as you would a regular book? In other words, do you give them an ISBN, copyright page, etc?
Many thanks.
Martyn
13/09/2011 at 12:32
Dear Martyn: sory for the delay. Yes, I treat them very much as a regular book with copyright page, imprint info, cover illustration etc and individual ISBN. best wishes, Nicholas
13/09/2011 at 12:35
Thanks, Nicholas.
We went that way in the end as well. We didn’t end up putting CIP in, because we don’t expect to sell this first chapbook direct to libraries.
It has been a fun little project and I appreciate you getting back to me with your advice. Best, Martyn
17/11/2011 at 08:44
[...] Nightjar Press [...]
07/12/2011 at 09:38
[...] A few days ago my order of four Nightjar Press titles arrived, to my great pleasure. Having just finished the mandatory reading for the first unit of my MA (ten novels in as many weeks) I was ready for some quality short fiction when I saw the Nightjar press post about their two most recent releases. I promptly banged off an order for the pair, along with two other titles that caught my eye while browsing the blog. For those not in the know, Nightjar Press is an independent publisher specialising in limited edition single short-story chapbo… [...]
07/12/2011 at 09:38
[...] A few days ago my order of four Nightjar Press titles arrived, to my great pleasure. Having just finished the mandatory reading for the first unit of my MA (ten novels in as many weeks) I was ready for some quality short fiction when I saw the Nightjar press post about their two most recent releases. I promptly banged off an order for the pair, along with two other titles that caught my eye while browsing the blog. For those not in the know, Nightjar Press is an independent publisher specialising in limited edition single short-story chapbo… [...]
07/12/2011 at 12:58
[...] A few days ago my order of four Nightjar Press titles arrived, to my great pleasure. Having just finished the mandatory reading for the first unit of my MA (twelve novels in as many weeks) I was ready for some quality short fiction when I saw the Nightjar press post about their two most recent releases. I promptly banged off an order for the pair, along with two other titles that caught my eye while browsing the blog. For those not in the know, Nightjar Press is an independent publisher specialising in limited edition single short-story chapbo… [...]
23/03/2012 at 16:05
[...] Nightjar Press [...]
29/03/2012 at 11:52
Hi Nick, just thought I’d leave a mention that our Litfest Poetry Bookcase is now back open after our move to new premises (same building – The Storey, in Lancaster), and if anyone is interested we have a couple of copies left of 2 of your sold out items – Michael Marshall Smith and Alison Moore. Just jonathan.bean@litfest.org for details.
Cheers and all the best.
16/07/2012 at 16:36
[...] Two of her stories, Marionettes and Into the Penny Arcade, were recently published as chapbooks by Nightjar Press. Claire is also an editor and project manager at Litfest and is co-editor of online [...]
27/09/2012 at 20:22
Alison Moore is all sold out
Don’t suppose you will have any more?
Many Thanks, Julia
18/11/2012 at 23:04
Julia, I’m sorry not to have replied before. This blog is not used any more and I’m going to dismantle if (if I can find out how). Alison’s first Nightjar title is out of print, but the story will be reprinted in her forthcoming collection, The Pre-War House & Other Stories (Salt) next May.