ALWAYS BLUE by John Dermot Woods

$10.00

A work of literary science fiction that explores how our day-to-day struggles and inconveniences—irritating colleagues, entitled students, aloof administrators, uninspired lunch choices—can make it impossible to see the real threats to our world.

Description

Radix Media is proud to present the first title from our science fiction series, Futures: Always Blue by John Dermot Woods. You can read an excerpt of the story on our blog.

Schulz is an instructor of Wind Tuning at the City Academy, and the man who engineered the greatest work of his field: a Windwall that protects his island city from the increasingly volatile climate of the world around it. When he detects a draft crossing his campus and clouds appearing in the permanently clear sky, he suspects that his invention may be failing.

Stacey Graham, his most difficult student, confirms his suspicions, and Schulz is forced to consider taking action. But is he more concerned with complete environmental disaster, or with losing his cushy post at the Academy and being forced back into active work in his field?

Always Blue is a work of literary science fiction that explores how our day-to-day struggles and inconveniences—irritating colleagues, entitled students, aloof administrators, uninspired lunch choices—can make it impossible to see the real threats to our world.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“John Dermot Woods’ eye discerns detail the rest of the world is blind to; his ear picks up frequencies that most of us can’t hear. His deep reverence for and attention to the precise moment, exactingly rendered, comes through in both his language and his drawings. I always feel slightly spellbound when I encounter Woods’s work, like I’m somewhere both entirely familiar and entirely new. Part campus tale, part speculative fiction, Always Blue is funny and harrowing, a sustained, memorable glimpse into an ego—and a society—on the brink.” —Kristen Iskandrian, author of Motherest

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice, but Woods understands it’s more likely to end in endless departmental meetings and endlessly-calibrated politeness. Always Blue is a cool-headed look at the future that none of us want but that we may well deserve. A subtle and satirical tale underlaid with an all-too-real grimness.” —Brian Evenson, author of The Open Curtain

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dermot Woods is a Brooklyn-based writer and cartoonist. His previous works include The Baltimore Atrocities (Coffee House Press, 2014) and Activities (Publishing Genius Press, 2013). John’s work is known for its poetic verse and deep explorations of character. Always Blue is his first work of science fiction.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Futures: A Science Fiction Series utilizes the chapbook format—a saddle-stitched pamphlet—as a vehicle to explore the stories more fully. Whereas the first project in our publishing program was an anthology, collecting a variety of stories into a single book, this format is more intimate. The chapbooks are thinner and lighter, and when you turn the final page, your journey with that individual story is complete.

Through this format, the reader is more immersed in the stories themselves. We believe that good science fiction reflects the dreams and nightmares of the present day. By exploring the issues contained in these stories, we hope that the reader gains a better understanding of our world today so that they can build the future they want to see.

The Production

We know that good design can take beautiful words to the next level, that’s why we design and print all of our titles in-house. This gives us much more control over the process and allows us to create a more cohesive final product. We strive to make each book an object that is enjoyable to hold and look at, in addition to bringing the reader great content.

Each title in the Futures Science Fiction series has offset printed interiors, and a two-color letterpress printed cover.

The Titles

Futures is comprised of seven stories that will publish between April and October 2019 as listed below. Check this page periodically for updates as they become available! You can also subscribe to the series and get each story delivered right to your door every month, along with some fun extras!

Always Blue by John Dermot Woods (April 2019)

Guava Summer by Vera Kurian (May 2019)

Muri by Ashley Shelby (June 2019)

Hard Mother, Spider Mother, Soft Mother by Hal Y. Zhang (July 2019)

What You Call by Germ Lynn (August 2019)

A Point of Honor by Aeryn Rudel (September 2019)

Milo (01001101 01101001 01101100 01101111) by Alexander Pyles (October 2019)

 

Additional information

Weight 3 oz
Dimensions 8.5 × 5.5 × 1 in
Size:

5" x 8"

ISBN:

978-0-9997137-3-0

Format:

Saddle-Stitched Chapbook

Pages:

48

Date:

April 22, 2019