Christiana Spens from 3AM press tells us about one of the world's most interesting new publishers - from one of the world's best long-running literary websites, 3AM Press:

Origins:

3:AM Press started at the start of this summer, in Paris. I was having a drink with Andrew Gallix when we decided to go ahead with an idea we'd briefly discussed the week before, in wake of a crisis at the magazine. Basically the whole site had vanished over-night, and at that point we didn't know if it was ever going to be retrieved. Luckily it was brought back, the following week. (The server owner had been tracked down to a tattoo parlour in the Mid-West and luckily decided to be cooperative). By this time, however, we were already in motion, and our first titles were published in the Autumn. Our first three books were Adam Biles' Grey Cats, Dylan Trigg's Body Parts, and my own novella, Death of a Ladies' Man, which had originally been serialized by Andrew on the magazine.

What we stand for:

Since our authors have all previously published on 3:AM Magazine, the Press has retained the general ethos and style of the magazine. I think in the beginning, we decided it would be something like, '3:AM Magazine's little sister', and that still seems about right. The Magazine has been going for 12 years, so we're very aware of our heritage in that, but of course we're also very new, so I think there's a freshness that comes with that. 3:AM Magazine is quite youthful in its outlook and rebelliousness, though, so in many ways the Press is a natural extension of that.

The Press is also very aware of the slightly precarious position that the publishing industry is in at the moment, and we've taken that into account in our embracing of the whole e-book phenomenon, as well as publishing artists' books and trying to sustain some kind of traditionalist aspects. I suppose we're just experimenting at the moment, and finding out what works and what doesn't. I'd personally like to focus more on artists' books and journals in the future, but we'll see…

Who we publish:

As already mentioned, Adam Biles was one of our very first books, and his novel Grey Cats, which was runner-up in the 2011 Paris Literary Prize, is certainly a hit with the critics. I adored it when I first read it (in one sitting), and am really happy others seem to feel the same way. It's the ultimate Parisian novel, and very enjoyable and adventurous as well as being just very beautifully-written.

We also published Dylan Trigg's collection of philosophical essays on haunting and memory, Body Parts. There is such a lot of dry, boring writing in philosophy (I endured three years of it at Cambridge), that Dylan's book is especially refreshing. He is a wonderful writer as well as thinker, and I just haven't ever come across anyone who can present serious ideas and problems with the atmosphere and haunting of a horror movie. To read his book is to be pulled into a very strange and sublime Underworld of memories and anxieties. It really is one of a kind.

We also published my own novella, Death of a Ladies' Man, which as mentioned, Andrew had serialized in the magazine earlier in the year. When the site vanished, so did the novella, so publishing it on the Press was partly a solution to that happening. It's a story of politics and scandal and Cambridge and London, and ends in Paris, and I think links in pretty well to Dylan and Adam's books, and the swirling chaos of memory, escape and subtle horror that all of our books seems (so far) to explore.

Our next books for 3:AM will be Lee Rourke's brilliant collection of poetry, Varroa Destructor, which I'm really excited about, as well as Yrsa Daley-Wards wonderful debut collection, On Snakes – and Other Stories. We're also publishing Volume 1 of our travel writing journal, Par Avion, with stories by Adam and Dylan, as well as journalist Simon Akam, Joanna Walsh, Sara Grady, and many other talented new writers. We should have that out early in the New Year, to provide our readers with some mental escapism, even if not physical. (Though perhaps it will inspire that too).