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New London-based independent Arachne Press has released a trailer for its latest book, a YA fantasy novel by Alex Smith.
Devilskein & Dearlove is described as a darker, contemporary reworking of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic The Secret Garden. It follows young Erin Dearlove, who has lost everything in a violent attack on her family and now lives with her aunt in a run-down Cape Town apartment block. Locked into a fantasy of her previous life, she shuns her new neighbours until she meets Mr Devilskein, the demon who lives on the top floor, and opens a door into another world.
The animation, by Nick Page, was inspired by Ed Boxall’s cover design for the book and photographs provided by Smith and Arachne Press founder, author Cherry Potts, who also did the sound recording with Greg Page. Page provided his voice for the trailer, along with Sophie Aldred and Cliff Chapman and music comes from Summer All Year Long.
Arachne Press, which focuses on fiction and poetry, recently won the Best Anthology prize at the Saboteur Awards 2014 for its sci-fi/fantasy collection Weird Lies, edited by Cherry Potts and Katy Darby. Other winners at the awards were included: Kirsten Irving and Jon Stone receiving the Best Collaborative Work prize for Riotous (Sidekick Books); Nikesh Shukla’s Time Machine (Galley Beggar Press) being named Best Novella; Kirsty Logan’s The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales (Salt) getting Best Short Story Collection; and Nine Arches Press being crowned Most Innovative Publisher.