02.03.2008: FatedConflict.com

In the run-up to the publication of A Sanctified Betrayal later this year, we have established the Fated Conflict website.

The sequel to Conspiracy of Fire, and third book chronologically in the Fated Conflict series, A Sanctified Betrayal moves us on thirteen years, to see the People's Freedom Society now entering the world stage. Despite growing prosperous from the sale of its highly advanced technologies, the Society nevertheless finds itself many enemies, jealous of this developing superpower. And when some of Cooke's oldest rivals appear on the scene, it becomes clear that the Society's time of peace is not likely to last much longer.

As well as providing information about the novels in the series, the Fated Conflict website will house a growing number of original artistic works; imagery inspired by the novels, and a series of short stories that bridge the gaps between each book. The website will update every Monday with a new story, with what looks to be a very promising line-up from Michael T. Sanders and other aspiring young writers.

Further down the line, the website will also expand to include character bios, a chronology of events and articles on the technology in the Fated Conflict universe. If you are already a fan of the Fated Conflict series, then this website will be invaluable; if you have yet to discover Conspiracy of Fire, then it is the perfect place to get into this explosive, page-turning universe.

21.12.2007: Bunny 2 now on sale

Bunny 2 is now on sale in the Freak Ash store, priced £5.40. Pre-orders will now close; we anticipate completing shipping of these by the end of tomorrow.

12.12.2007: Bunny Island posters now on sale

The new Bunny Island poster, released to mark the upcoming publication of Bunny: The Book of Perpetual Bewilderment

Full colour A3 (420 x 297 mm), the poster is priced £3 and available from our webstore. Bunny 2 is available to preorder from the FrozenReality store, priced £5.

19.11.2007: Bunny 2 now available for pre-order

The second collection of episodes from the popular webcomic Bunny has now been compiled, sent to the printers, and will before long be a tangible, paper-based thing.

Bunny volume 2, subtitled The Book Of Perpetual Bewilderment, is now available for pre-order, priced £5. It is available to purchase here.

21.07.2007: The Maker's Mark goes live

Today saw the launch of the website for our brand new writing project, The Maker's Mark. An exciting new experiment in world-building, in The Maker's Mark, every contributing writer and artist can have their say on how the world develops.

The first anthology in the TMM series is Remnants. After generations, the people of this world - droids - are giving up their lives out in the desert, to return to the City. Entering the City, however, means abandoning one's identity, and not every droid is keen to do that. Remnants is a collection of ten short stories exploring the lives of some of those who stay behind.

So visit www.themakersmark.freakash.net, and stay tuned in. The Maker's Mark: Remnants will be published on the 15th of September, and each week the website will update with something new, including stories and information about the authors, as well as a nine-page comic short story entitled 'Prologue', written by Jeffery Pagenton and illustrated by Bunny creator, Huw 'Lem' Davies.

15.05.2007: Playing with Fire launches

New to the shelves this month is the hit travel book Playing with Fire, by the popular jazz musician Nick Langston-Able. Sparklingly sarcastic, Nick's debut novel is a genuinely affectionate portrayal of his expedition to Indonesia to climb volcanoes. Nick's self-deprecating, whimsical humour and pub-trivia academic inclination is a refreshing voice in the travel book market, already being likened by some to Bill Bryson. Available in most good bookstores priced £5.99.

For those who would like to know more about Nick's adventure, visit www.adventures-in-indonesia.co.uk. Alternately, speak to the man himself on Sunday 20th May, when the Playing with Fire launch party will be held at Bristol's infamous Watershed. The event is free, but space is limited so please contact events@freakash.net to confirm a place. Nick will be signing books and telling stories, to a background of Indonesian Gamelan music. There will also be a chance to win the very first signed copy of the book.

05.02.2007: Shopping with Freak Ash

Our biggest project for the Christmas period has now come together; we have our own online shop. There's still a few bugs to be wrinkled out of it, but it works, meaning you can now buy our products directly from us, guaranteeing the fastest delivery and the best availability of stock. As time goes on, we'll be adding discounts to our products that you're unlikely to get anywhere else.

Whilst we're on the subject of discounts, our trading name Freak Ash Books is now active not only in the publishing and distribution sectors, but also in retail, and here we are offering all our customers an excellent deal; 20% discount on any fiction book we can locate, and 10% discount on any non-fiction book. See our services page for more details.

This website is going to continue to be improved over the next few months, until it's where we want it to be in terms of functionality. Furthermore, we have some exciting projects lined up for the coming year; check back regularly, or alternately e-mail update@freakash.net to sign up to our new monthly newsletter.

01.12.2006: Conspiracy of Fire launches

The sci-fi adventure that is already getting good reviews is available to buy from today.

The first book in a four-part sci-fi epic that crosses space and reality, and mixes technology with the fantastical, Conspiracy of Fire is an entertaining read that balances fast-paced action with subtle political intrigue. It opens the door for what looks to be a very interesting series.

In other news, this website has updated to version 2.1.0; as you can see, there's still a lot of loose ends to fix, but the site is more directly functional now, and will continue to become more useful as time progresses.

23.11.2006: Praises

People everywhere seem to be saying good things about our products at the moment, and some of what they've been saying is even online, giving us the opportunity for us to link you to it, so you may see for yourselves.

One pleased reader says on Amazon, of The Last Echo, "I ... was just going to read a couple of chapters before going to bed. I couldn't put it down till I'd finished it at 2.30 this morning!!"

Our next release is the sci fi novel Conspiracy of Fire, out on the first of December (it shall receive a proper announcement in the near future), has had a good initial review: Tim Sculthorpe of Waterfront Online says it "lays intriguing seeds for a story of impressive scope."

So now you've heard it from the mouths of people without a vested interest in selling the books. What more recommendation do you need? Buy them at Waterstones.co.uk or Amazon.co.uk today!

27.10.2006: First book

The Last Echo, the first book to be published under our trade name Freak Ash Books is available now to buy, priced £5.99.

The Last Echo is a romantic comedy; it's light-hearted, but without being a trashy chick-lit, and has enough drama and surprise to make it a real page turner. Women of all ages will enjoy it, and indeed most people no matter their personal preference for genre.

The book is available on Waterstones.co.uk and on Amazon.co.uk. More information about the novel can be found on the book's website.

The book has actually been available from the 10th of October, but ironically we've been so busy promoting it elsewhere a mention here was neglected. We have also been concentrating on the release of the next book, Conspiracy of Fire, the first part of a pseudo-theological sci fi epic, and on designing FreakAsh.net 2.1, which will hopefully add a lot more functionality and allow you to buy our stock directly from us.

25.08.2006: Changes

Freak Ash has now become a limited company, hence the change in logo.

In addition to this, the site is now in the process of modification, to become more functional. This will happen in fits and starts, as Stephen is currently at work on another project, but the redesign should be finished in a couple of months or so.

Finally, members of the team have become available for hire. Check out the new services page for more details.

26.07.2006: Book publishing

Over the past couple of months we've been working steadily to establish 'Freak Ash books', the publishing side of this company. In another couple of months we expect to have our first novel on the shelves of some bookstores in England (particularly, in Reading and Ipswich). The novel in question is 'The Last Echo', an excellent romantic comedy by Anthony Burn that manages to be both light-hearted fun and devastatingly tragic; watch this space for updates.

Furthermore, as we are rapidly on the way to becoming an established publishing house, we are looking for manuscripts to publish. See the recruitment page for more details.

07.06.2006: Publisher registration

So, we have officially become publishers now, with 'Freak Ash books' as our registered publishing label. The rights have been secured to a manuscript already; we'll look into publishing that hopefully around the end of summer (always the end of summer - a lot will happen all at once then, with any luck).

Our status is largely thanks to events happening over the past five months in the life of Lem, author of the webcomic 'Bunny'; his need of an ISBN number prompted the acceleration of our plan to register our publishing label.

As this means we're now one step ahead, I'm going to take the moment to plug 'The Book of Random' - Lem's collection of popular Bunny strips. Bunny is consistently full of interesting humour and very fun art, and it'll be worth reading as far as I'm concerned.

Mind you, considering that about 90% of our traffic comes from Lem's mention of us on the Bunny website, I'm probably preaching to the converted. In which case, buy another copy.

02.06.2006: Initiation

And so we launch!

Welcome, one and all, to the brand spanking new Freak Ash website. Almost three years of development on various projects, and we're finally at the stage to go live.

...

Well, actually there's not all that much to see yet; we're working on a couple of big projects, of which at least one shall go live by the end of this summer, but it isn't quite ready yet.

Still, that doesn't mean this place is devoid of anything interesting; the Miscellany already has a few things worth checking out if you want a few minutes light entertainment (and there should be some more going in there in the next fortnight or so), and there's also International Night, Fated Conflict and Zoltor for you to look at.

Speaking of Zoltor, if you happen to be of an artistic inclination, and have got free time on your hands, check out the Recruitment page for a proposition that may interest you.

That should do for a first post. Watch this space! Big things are going to happen in the next two or three months, providing no terrible disasters.