We’ve been asked about our imprints and the why and the how. You can’t and shouldn’t brand a real writing voice, because that’s a thing to itself, and precisely why I fought such a battle with an American publisher. Jack London’s extraordinary voice, for instance, often revolutionary, passionate and so vivid, would find it hard nowadays to fit into an easy, modern marketing bracket, or the over-control of arrogant editors or over political publishers, at the detriment of its writers, and is why he lives on. But London’s Call of the Wild and White Fang were definate inspirations, intimately entwining the theme of man and real nature, so Phoenix Ark’s Wildcall imprint will look for great stories in the animal and nature fantasy mould, just like the first novel from the founder, Scream of the White Bear.
Wonderful stories for younger readers, like Tube Mouse by Adam Guild, Michelangelo’s Mouse by Mary Stanley, and The Pimples also by David Clement-Davies, will simply come under the Phoenix logo, of course styled for a much yonger audience.
Thumbmarks, Phoenix Ark’s adult imprint, is part of our commitment to publish and encourage great, page turning writers, but also publishing ‘popular’, although quality literary fiction titles, both with a view to modern crime writing, and the fantasy dimension. The Blood Garden, by Dominic Clemens, is a highly original venture, almost into a new genre, with a vampire/detective story.
The coming non-fiction imprint Shine, is dedicated to unusual or crusading non-fiction titles, such as the vital issue of deforestation, but with a passion for story too. As for republishing classics, we’d rather travel in great company, than give in to souless junk.
Phoenix Ark's Blog 