The publisher is named after the magazine it founded in 1994, The Third Alternative, which is renowned for its slipstream/horror fiction and introduction (or early publication) of writers such as Nicholas Royle, Justina Robson, Chris Kenworthy, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Joel Lane, Conrad Williams, Alexander Glass, Lynda Rucker, Karen Fishler, Joe Hill, Tamar Yellin, Mike O’Driscoll, Andrew Hook, Jamie Barras, Simon Avery, Martin Simpson, Jason Gould, Jessica Reisman, Brian Howell, Tim Lees, Brian Ruckley, Paul Meloy, Sten Westgard, Nina Allan, Andrew Humphrey, Neal Asher and a great many others. The magazine has also published the likes of Christopher Priest, Steve Rasnic Tem, James Lovegrove, Peter Crowther, Paul Di Filippo, Don Webb, Tim Lebbon, Mark Morris, Tom Piccirilli, Michael Marshall Smith, Ian Watson, Tony Ballantyne, M. John Harrison, Muriel Gray, Graham Joyce, Simon Ings, Jay Lake, Christopher Fowler, Brian Hodge, Brian Aldiss, Eric Brown, Alan Wall, James Sallis, Susan Fry, Melanie Fazi, Vandana Singh, Scott Nicholson, Elizabeth Bear and many others. The magazine is twice winner of the British Fantasy Award, and winner of the International Horror Guild Award. The first best-of-TTA anthology, Last Rites and Resurrections, also won a British Fantasy Award (and is long out of print).

In 1999 Mat Coward suggested that we filled a gap in the market by publishing a magazine for crime and mystery short stories. So Crimewave was born. Mat agreed to edit the first couple of issues, then co-edit with Andy Cox the next couple before stepping down (and becoming a contributor, since he’s one of the finest short-story writers around and writes the definitive CW story). Taking a unique approach to the genre Crimewave continues to publish the kind of fiction you just don’t find anywhere else, picking up nothing but rave reviews, some of its stories winning prestigious awards such as the CWA Dagger and many of them earning reprints in Year’s Best anthologies of various genres. Crimewave has published stories by Ian Rankin, Molly Brown, Tom Piccirilli, Michael Z. Lewin, Martin Edwards, Mike O’Driscoll, Steve Rasnic Tem, Antony Mann, Shelley Costa, Michel Faber, Christopher Fowler, Sean Doolittle, Ceri Jordan, Marion Arnott, Chaz Brenchley, Brian Hodge, Susan Sonde, Scott Nicholson, Susan Fry, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Stephen Volk, Joel Lane, Michelle Scalise, Joe Hill, Muriel Gray, James Sallis, John Grant, John Shirley, Gary W. Shockley, Mick Scully and many others.

In 2005 we took over from David Pringle as publisher of Interzone, which is now celebrating its 25th year, and which since 1982 has launched the careers of a great many SF and Fantasy writers. Interzone is often shortlisted for many awards, and has won the Hugo and British Fantasy Awards. The magazine is currently published every other month, in colour, and continues to publish some of the world’s finest writers and most talented newcomers. Amongst those to have graced its pages: Brian Aldiss, Sarah Ash, Michael Moorcock, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, M. John Harrison, Stephen Baxter, Iain M Banks, J.G. Ballard, Kim Newman, Alastair Reynolds, Harlan Ellison, Greg Egan, Gwyneth Jones, Jonathan Lethem, Geoff Ryman, Rachel Pollack, Charles Stross, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, John Brunner, Paul McAuley, Ian R. MacLeod, Christopher Priest…

With the arrival of Interzone it was no longer necessary to publish anything remotely SF or Fantasy in The Third Alternative, so we took the opportunity to focus on TTA’s darker side and give the magazine a new title: Black Static, which will (re)launch in September 2007.

So far we’ve only published a few books. Apart from Last Rites and Resurrections, there’s Allen Ashley’s debut novel The Planet Suite; Ray Nayler’s dark and brooding homage to the private eye novel American Graveyards; and Mat Coward’s hilarious writers’ guide Success…And How To Avoid It. We hope to publish a lot more books in the future, and more often. At the time of writing, three new titles are in the works: Paul Meloy’s story collection Islington Crocodiles; Andrew Humphrey’s mystery novel Alison; and a second and final Best-of-TTA anthology, Dancing About Architecture, which like its predecessor takes its title from a Martin Simpson story.


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