#thirteen storeys

[thefandomlifechoseme]

me, when Jonny Sims appears in any piece of media he's been part of: oh hey. what's Jonny Sims doing in this piece of media I started consuming solely because Jonny Sims was in it.

[mirrors4eyes]

Totally normal building, nothing going on in there....

[gollancz]

Guys. Christmas is coming. Consumerism is in the driver's seat and GAWD don't I know about the existential ennui of all these faceless corporations trying to schill you their wares. It's cold. Impersonal. Bleak.

So I, a fellow tumblr user, will instead try to schill you MY wares, so that when you purchase these items you can say "Hey, that person from tumblr worked on this", and feel the warmth of HUMAN CONNECTION in a way that is completely normal and not parasocial at all. We really are friends. I promise. Yes, you. Love you, bestie. Remember the boop war? Good times. Fond memories.

THIRTEEN STOREYS and FAMILY BUSINESS by Jonathan Sims

Tumblr's favourite Nightmare Factory @jonnywaistcoat has two novels out and they're phenomenal horror that also punch you in the throat with SOCIAL COMMENTARY and FEELINGS. He's so adept at tapping into the specific part of my brain that feels fear like a small child - not the adult creepy scared that I normally get around horror, but specifically the kind of fear that almost freezes your limbs and vocal chords with a terror you don't quite understand because there is so much in the world that you don't know, but you know that somehow this thing might be quick enough or smart enough or sneaky enough to get you before you can get to the safety of your parents sort of fear.

THIRTEEN STOREYS is a haunted house novel, but set in a refurbished block of flats. Each chapter follows a different resident being haunted in a different way, with a style to match the flavour of ghost. It's all tied together phenomenally and brutally.

FAMILY BUSINESS is a story about ghosts in a different way, following a woman who joins a post-mortem house cleaning service while grieving the death of her best friend. But as she removes the stains from the houses of the dead, she begins to suspect something else is removing even more.

Both of these titles are available from Gollancz worldwide!

THE LAST UNICORN, THE WAY HOME, THE INNKEEPER'S SONG and A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE by Peter S. Beagle

Obviously Peter's work needs no introduction, and our editions aren't available in the US and Canada, but I've had a wonderful time working with Peter and his team to bring these beautiful books back to the UK. Meeting him at Worldcon this year was such a magical moment, and he was jet-lagged and I had gone through sleep deprived into hyper and was bringing an Extremely Weird Energy to every interaction I had that day, resulting in this photo:

THE LAST UNICORN and THE WAY HOME are a matched pair of wonderful fairy stories. THE WAY HOME has two novellettes in it, and the first - 'Two Hearts' - won the Hugo award. It will also destroy you.

A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE was Peter's first ever novel, and it's wistful and romantic and so beautiful.

THE INNKEEPER'S SONG is his epic fantasy quest, it's an adventure story that reads almost lyrically. Also there's an orgy in the middle which caught me by surprise when I was reading it for the first time on the train into work.

HIGH VAULTAGE by Chris and Jen Sugden

It's possible that someone on this website doesn't know I was involved with this book but don't worry, I will HUNT THEM DOWN AND TELL THEM. This is the first book I took all the way through the editorial process from end to end and I am SO PROUD of it and Chris and Jen and their wonderful world of @victoriocity. Officially one of the seven funniest books published in the UK this year, shortlisted for the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. It's a chaotic, bonkers murder mystery set in an alternate Victorian London which is the most gleeful dystopia I have ever encountered.

Featuring:

Grumpy Sunshine besties

The Victorian Equivalent of the Chuck Norris Meme

A robot who undertook a course in People Management

An indefatigable beagle

This is another book that you can get from Gollancz all over the world, and you SHOULD because it's amazing. Go into your local bookshop and ask them to order it into stock. It's a great Christmas present. It's my firstborn book baby (like that's a completely normal thing to say when I didn't even write it). Also if you're a fan of the podcast, why not tell the Guardian how great it is, and make a nuisance of yourself until they review. (I would, but the form asks for your name and then they'd know I didn't suddenly discover Victoriocity this year. Either that or think I was a very careless editor.) If you've not listened to the podcast yet, you absolutely should. It pings all my Douglas Adams receptors in the best way. If you like HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, if you like CABIN PRESSURE, VICTORIOCITY is the perfect addition.

HAMMAJANG LUCK by Makana Yamamoto

SLIGHTLY cheating because HAMMAJANG LUCK isn't out in North America until January (pre-orders make great Christmas presents guys), but it IS out in the UK and the rest of the world next week! This is my second big editorial project and it's a Big Gay Space Heist ft. disaster lesbians, trans characters, and a tech billionaire getting put in his place. It's joyous and energetic and crammed full of Hawaiian pidgin as a love letter to the diaspora. @makana-yama is a phenomenal writer and this is their love letter to their communities, families both born and found, while also a statement on the victims of gentrification (and how those are disproportionally BIPOC communities). PLUS:

friends to enemies to cautious allies to lovers

trans cyborgs

Suck It Space Elon

You know that One Scene in Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz is in the white body suit and breaking into the safe and has to stretch out to hit two buttons at once? Yeah. That's the vibe.

Being able to work with Makana is a delight, and HAMMAJANG tapped into all the feelings I got watching LEVERAGE for the first time, so I went to watch it again while I was editing. Also OCEAN'S 8.

DEEP BLACK by Miles Cameron

So, barring Branderson, Miles Cameron may be one of our most prolific authors. He writes a minimum two books a year, one SFF and one historical fiction (as Christian Cameron) and he is... An absolute phenomenon. He IS the Chuck Norris meme. I'm obsessed with him. He's former US military intelligence turned naturalised Canadian Hippy, has written over fifty novels, can turn his hand to any genre and write it fantastically, is a practical archaeologist - running large scale re-enactments from a variety of periods ranging from Bronze Age right the way up to the Victorian era, using traditional techniques to allow academics to study how the practicalities of weapons, clothes, food etc. would have worked in practice. Two years ago he won a medieval combat tournament in Verona, a clear ten years older at least than the next oldest competitor, he teaches Historical European Martial Arts, but ties it into the history of martial arts globally. He can make his own clothes, ink, leatherwork. He's a ballet dancer. I once took him for a day out and he ended it in a different shirt and shoes from the ones he'd started in. I asked him for an author photo and he sent me this:

DEEP BLACK is the sequel to his critically acclaimed SF debut ARTIFACT SPACE, where he has taken his research and experience of global historical cultures and extrapolated to create an interplanetary future where the best of all are celebrated. And then Aliens Happen. And then, in reaction, Capitalism Happens (which is covered in the short story collection BEYOND THE FRINGE).

He's such a thoughtful and erudite speaker, if you're curious about his work, I'd recommend listening to his episodes on the Friends Talking Fantasy podcast, and also his appearance on The Publishing Rodeo.

If SF isn't your bag, he's also got:

Arthurian fantasy

Bronze Age fantasy

Medieval Mages fantasy

A CURSE OF CROWS - Lauren Dedroog

I actually inherited Lauren when a colleague of mine departed for fresh pastures, which gave me the great opportunity to work on this series which is so vastly different from my usual fare. It's epic, sweeping, romantic and lush, with such detailed description and complex political machinations, while also being brutal, dark and heavy (tw: for sexual assault, torture etc, etc.). If you like Sarah J Maas and Cassandra Clare, this should hit the sweet spot. Lauren is an ICU nurse when not writing, and this was somehow created when she was putting in a million hours in hospitals during COVID. The feat boggles my mind.

A CURSE OF CROWS is out now in the UK, Australia and Europe, and it won the People's Choice for Standaard Boek's Book of the Year award in 2023, in her home country of Belgium. It will be hitting shelves in North America next September! A DANCE OF SERPENTS is where I get to pick up the editorial mantle, and that has just landed in my inbox this week so I am excited to dig in.

Featuring:

Harold, they're lesbians

Murder baby is actually a cinnamon roll

Sensitive wings are sexy

For serious, though, I'm lucky enough to work with a lot of authors I'm genuinely obsessed and astounded by. And yes, I do get to work on Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson and Andrzej Sapkowski, but they're not MY authors - they're led by the incredible Gillian and Marcus who I'm not 100% certain sleep. There are so many people on the Gollancz list who I could recommend for DAYS (and will, if you so request), but this is my stable of superstars.

[iiinkos]

it’s not a jonny sims work without a ghost hunting lesbian

[thelesbianduckoffical]

Fellow archivists, i have a theory:

The building in Thirteen Storeys is the one that Peter Lucas used for his Lonely Ritual.

[maeo-png]

jonny sims characters are like guinea pigs because these guys never die a normal god damn death there’s always some bullshit afoot

[wreegis]

Jonny sims’ Thirteen Storeys fandom but its just me cramming these doodles down your throat bc im obsessed and i need you all to also read this book and join me

[disappointingcabbage]

Having both ADHD and autism has made me develop a shitload of hyperfixations that became special interests. Anyway I made a list of almost all of them as one liners

Horror Podcasts

Archiving job ASMR (gone wrong) (gone spooky)

Civil service ASMR (gone wrong) (gone spooky) (into the multiverse)

John Doe and the Sad Pathetic Wet Cat of A Man: The horror podcast you didn’t expect to become a musical

The weirdest radio station you’ll ever listen to

The all-American toxic yuri road trip

Dracula Daily got an audiobook in podcast format!

Carmilla got a Dracula Daily style audiobook in podcast format!

Video Games

This mountain unlocks Double Jump and self acceptance unlocks Triple Jump: a trans allegory

Plot twist: the moth IS the Lamp

Plot twist: Grandma’s got issues and the void won’t help

The Blocks that shaped my childhood

I fell in a hole and now I have to save the world with the power of friendship

I don’t know if the power of friendship is enough to save the world this time, guys

In space, no one can hear you sob from this heart-wrenching bittersweet lore *banjo noises* *harmonica noises* *oboe noises* *drums* *alien piano noises* *whistling* *eerie elk noises*

I’m just a little guy in a Big Forest

I’m just a little guy in a Big Forest 2: where’s my owl sister?

Solving puzzles while being roasted by a robot

Solving puzzles while being roasted by a robot 2: Now With More Puzzles AND More Robots!

What if the aliens were fish?

What if the aliens were Arctic fish?

Why is the ocean Blood?

Oh hey this game PointCrow is playing has a really cool art sty- JONATHAN SIMS????

Crab Game with the funniest accessibility feature I’ve ever seen

Who knew making lines out of blocks was goated with the sauce?

Books

Hey why does this house have an extra room in this movie that doesn’t exist?

Quincy Morris: Vampire Hunter

The OG lesbian vampire story 💜

The Greek gods owe child support

The Egyptian gods sure do love possessing people

The Roman gods owe child support

The Norse gods owe child suport

Apollo finally pays his child support

Stop sending children to war because Sandwich said so: a tale in five books

Stop sending children into the arena: a tale in three books (plus two prequels)

This 13-floor London apartment building is fucked up and haunted

The prospective princess to revolutionary scholar pipeline

Movies

This cool Swedish cult can get you out of your toxic relationship with just nine human sacrifices!

Why are there sex aliens in a mansion in Texas?

Why is the movie so much better than the board game?

They were never skeletons, were they?

Damn, these vampires are really desperate for blues music

The most wholesome idiots you’ll ever see travel through time

A lesbian horror trilogy set in 3 different time periods? Sign me the fuck up!

Oh my God, Regina, you can’t just walk in front of a bus

Silence! I’ve made my decision. Bring back the dinosaurs.

Maybe the giant floating allegory for nuclear weapons in the sky should stay hidden

Apparently the local forest spirit provides free babysitting services! Yippee!!

My son’s best friend may be a magic fish but at least he has a friend his age

Maybe we wouldn’t be killing the planet if nature fought back.

These bathhouse spirits really need to unionize

YouTube/TV Series

Sonic but Funnier

The haunted house of drag

That one Really Big drag reality competition show. You know the one.

Saving the world with the power of friendship and also throwing rocks at people and also wind blasting people and also throwing water at people and also fire blasting people and also-

Saving the world with the power of friendship and also dragons

Saving the world with the power of lesbians

Mark and Ethan’s Excellent Adventure

Plays/Musicals

Fuck Capitalism, Become Trees

Trying to fit in as a lesbian alien is super fucking hard

Fuck you Dad, I’m running away to the woods because you banished my cousin

Sorry Horatio, I vengeanced too close to the sun and now I can’t make it to date night

Let’s be real, the ending is Friar Laurence’s fault.

Am I making an ass of myself or is it just the fairies in the woods?

So… who’s coming back to life?

Wednesday Addams comes out as straight

Your Honor, he deserved It

Your Honor, her perm is intact and therefore her lies are not

Fuck Around and Find Out: Fairy Tale Edition

Don’t ask what’s in the pies

Child laborers unionize: The Musical

The Greek gods owe child support: The Musical

I said wait for me, why’d you ruin it?

Racism and classism ruined the love story and the Gods actually felt bad about it

Unpopular opinion: The musical is better than the movie (Green Edition)

Saving the family business with the power of drag

We’re poor artists in New York City in the middle of the AIDS epidemic, of course we can’t make rent!

Hey maybe sex ed is a good idea, actually (ft. some Absolute Bangers)

A British murder mystery: Now with Clowns! And an absurdly small cast!

Oscar Wilde, you glorious bastard, you’re right. It is important to be Ernest.

Working on Broadway can be a nightmare sometimes. Let’s tap dance about it!

The Greek muses can roller skate?

This fandom doesn’t realize that you can sympathize with a character’s backstory and also acknowledge that he’s a creep whose sense of entitlement towards the female lead literally drives the whole plot forward: a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Love, Death, and Sand Worms

Tall Tales and Terminal Cancer

It’s not easy being green in Oz

Unpopular Opinion: The musical is better than the movie: edgy high school satire edition

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink: The Musical

Henry VIII sucked. Wish we knew more about his six wives.

Never mix telekinesis and hardcore Christian parenting

Starkid Specifically

The best parody of the worst author’s work

Joey Richter as himself and Joe Walker as his penis: The Musical

The best parody of the worst author’s work: The Sequel?

Bug wants to be human (big mistake)

The best parody of the worst author’s work: The Finale

Fuck IP laws, We’ve got Marvel AND DC characters singing and dancing!

It’s all Jafar’s fault… or is it?

Star Wars interpretive dance battle and pod racing tournament

Dysentery is, like, the least of our wagon party’s concerns.

The Scooby Gang peaked in high school

Live Chorn Reaction

CONSUME THE BLUE GOOP BECOME ONE WITH THE THEATRE KID HIVE MIND

Capitalism kills. Beware Black Friday.

Guns don’t kill people, vengeful zombies kill people! Your gun cannot stop him.

What if you put Labyrinth style puppets into Cinderella?