Earlier this week, the nice people at
Jurassic London announced the contents of forthcoming anthology Irregularity - which I'm thrilled to have an story in. Here's what they said:
Irregularity is about the tension between order and chaos in the 17th and 18th centuries. Men and women from all walks of life dedicated themselves to questioning, investigating, classifying and ordering the natural world. They promoted scientific thought, skepticism and intellectual rigour in the face of superstition, intolerance and abuses of power. These brave thinkers dedicated themselves and their lives to the idea that the world followed rules that human endeavour could uncover...
but what if they were wrong?
Irregularity is about the attempts to impose man's order on nature's chaos, the efforts both successful and unsuccessful to better know the world.
Fom John Harrison to Ada Lovelace, Isaac Newton to Émilie du Châtelet, these stories showcase the Age of Reason in a very different light.
This anthology is published to coincide with two exhibitions at the
National Maritime Museum taking place in 2014: a major exhibition on the story of the quest for longitude at sea and a steampunk show at the Royal Observatory. The Museum is also our partner for the publication of
Irregularity, including access to their archives for materials, imagery and inspiration.
CONTENTS:
"Fairchild's Folly" by
Tiffani Angus
"A Game Proposition" by
Rose Biggin
"Footprint" by
Archie Black
"A Woman Out of Time" by
Kim Curran
"The Heart of Aris Kindt" by
Richard de Nooy
"An Experiment in the Formulae of Thought" by Simon Guerrier
"Irregularity" by
Nick Harkaway
"Circulation" by
Roger Luckhurst
"The Voyage of the Basset" by
Claire North
"The Assassination of Isaac Newton by the Coward Robert Boyle" by
Adam Roberts
"Animalia Paradoxa" by
Henrietta Rose-Innes
"The Last Escapement" by
James Smythe
"The Darkness" by
M. Suddain
"The Spiders of Stockholm" by
E. J. Swift
Afterword by
Sophie Waring and
Richard Dunn, Head of Science and Technology at Royal Museums Greenwich
Illustrations by
Gary Northfield and the National Maritime Museum
Cover by
Howard Hardiman
Edited by
Jared Shurin
THE LIMITED EDITION
Irregularity will also be available as a limited, hand-numbered, hardcover edition. The "Meridian Edition" is a quarter-bound volume in the traditional 17th century duodecimo size, on 120 gsm paper and complete with decorative ribbon, coloured endpapers and head and tail bands.
The Meridian Edition is available exclusively through the National Maritime Museum.
DETAILS
Published 24 July 2014
Hardcover (100 numbered copies): £29.99 (coming soon)
ISBN: 978-0-9928172-2-0
Paperback: £12.99
ISBN: 978-0-9928172-1-3
Kindle: Coming soon
Kobo: Coming soon
Spacewitch: Coming soon
ISBN: 978-0-9928172-3-7
Find it on Goodreads
EXTRAS
Join us at the launch -
"Dark and Stormy Late" - at the National Maritime Museum on 24 July.
"Calling irregular authors!" - background on the project and an introduction to the 2014 exhibitions from the National Maritime Museum.
"Longitude Punk'd" - a selection of objects to inspire the upcoming exhibition, selected from the Museum's archives.
The Board of Longitude archive - now available online through Cambridge University Library, the National Maritime Museum and the Board of Longitude project.
