"The Unfortunate Rake"

Scruffians! Deluxe Edition

"... a prism of queer sexuality, youthful rebellion, and rage against authority, in this thrilling, funny, and moving collection."

Publishers Weekly, starred review

"... a wickedly entertaining collection of short fiction fantastical and queer in nature—full of “scruffians and scamps and sodomites,” with some pirates and fairies besides. These stories range from comedic romps to lyrical and meditative explorations on the nature of meaning-making, while Duncan’s engaging and clever voice resonates throughout as a strong thread connecting the various different sorts of pieces."

Brit Mandelo, Tor.com

Are you prepared to enter acclaimed author Hal Duncan's world of scruffians and scamps and sodomites? Beware, for it is filled with the gay pirate gods of Love and Death, immortal scoundrels, and young men who find themselves forced to become villains. But who amongst us does not adore a gamin antihero? These fantastical tales from the fringes of an imaginative realm of supernatural fairies and human fey will captivate the reader. Light a smoke, raise a cup of whisky, and seek a careful spot to cruise the Scruffians!

$16 USD / £12 GBP.

 

***THE DELUXE EDITION***

Two hundred and twenty five pages, full colour, with forty full colour photographs throughout to illustrate and complement the stories, one of which is an extra, not included in the trade edition. Cloth-bound hardback with a wraparound dustjacket. Signed in the spit and venom of yours truly. (Or, of course, other bodily fluids... no, let's not go there.)

US customers should order via Lethe Press where you can get a copy for $50, domestic shipping included. Autographed bookplates available on request.

For UK customers who want a signed copy of the deluxe edition in all its sordid sodomitic glory, we'll be able to cut down on the extortionate international shipping fees. At the conversion rates, it looks like a UK price of £40 is about right, postage and packing included.

If you're in the EU and keen for a copy, don't fear. Drop me an email, and I'll happily price out the extra postage for you.

To order, make a payment via Paypal using the button below or in the sidebar to the left. Be sure Paypal gets your shipping address, or drop me an email at hal AT halduncan DOT com with the details.

Rhapsody

"Rhapsody, though it is Duncan’s first long-form critical work, is a strong and elegant—and sometimes wickedly crass—project, complexly argued and incisive while also managing to remain eminently readable and engaging."

Brit Mandelo, Tor.com

"Hal Duncan's Rhapsody is a quicksilver journey through the aesthetic consciousness of one of our most passionate and insightful masters of the form. This book will rightly take its place with Disch's The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of as a seminal critical text of speculative fiction."

Will Ludwigsen, author of In Search of and Others

Acclaimed author and critic Hal Duncan turns his analytic eye towards the development and current state of speculative fiction in American and English writing in the pages of Rhapsody. Duncan's trademark wry humor and suffer-no-fools approach to critiquing the genre will make this book more than a resource for students of the field--anyone who enjoys reading tales of the fantastical and strange can find Duncan's insight worthwhile to read again and again.

$25 USD / £15 GBP.