Also available at the following fine establishments:
Bookshop.org • IndieBound • Smashwords
IPRC • Multnomah County Library • OverDrive
City of Roses is a serialized epic firmly set in Portland, Oregon—an urban fantasy mixing magical realism with gonzo noirish prose, where ancient sea-gods retire to close-in apartments with lovely views, and the Duke of Southeast throws wild parties in the Masonic Temple on Hawthorne Avenue. —It’s the story of Jo Maguire, a highly strung, underemployed telemarketer, and what happens when she meets Ysabel, a princess of unspecified pedigree. Jo rather unexpectedly becomes Ysabel’s guardian and caretaker, and now must make a place for herself among Ysabel’s decidedly unusual family and friends—which involves rather more sword-play than most of us are used to.
The story is published first as a serial, online, in chapters that are later collected in zine-sized chapbooks sold through the website and at zine-focused retail establishments such as Reading Frenzy. These volumes, “Wake up…” and The Dazzle of Day, each collect 11 chapters, and together form a complete novel—each chapbook as the equivalent of a single episode of a contemporary arc-driven television show; each volume as a DVD box set; the run of 22 chapters to date as the first season of a quirky television show—but perhaps the metaphor has done its work.
Review Copies
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Press
- 03/01/2016: Cabbages & Kings: Making Worlds out of Words
- 08/05/2015: Bookworm Blues: Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off Reviews, Round Three
- 06/11/2014: Fangs for the Fantasy: City of Roses Vol. 1, “Wake up…”, by Kip Manley
- 04/02/2014: My Superpower: Kip Manley
- 01/06/2014: Bookslut: Nothing New Under the Sun
- 02/01/2013: Twitter: a very ’90s vibe
- 04/20/2012: ePublish a Book: “Wake up…” by Kip Manley
- 04/13/2012: The Guardian: The Quest for e-Weird Concludes
- 02/23/2012: The Webserialist Interviews: Kip Manley
- 03/04/2012: Sift Book Reviews: City of Roses Vol. 1
- 08/27/2011: Cheapass Fiction: City of Roses by Kip Manley
- 10/30/2009: Oregonian Pop Talk: City of Roses zine, vintage ads, and storytelling
Covers
Click the links below to download larger versions.
Author Photos
Preview images below. Click images to download larger sizes. Please note photographer/artist credits.
Photo by Taran Jack Manley [sequence]
Photo by Dylan Meconis
Illustration by Jenn Manley Lee
Celebrating Ten Years of Roses.
PORTLAND, May 4th — Back in 2006, on August 14th—a perfectly lovely Monday morning—Supersticery Press began publishing the first novelette of City of Roses at thecityofroses.com. Ten years and twenty-six novelettes later (so far), City of Roses has grown into an acclaimed urban fantasy serial, published as paperbacks, ebooks, zines, and still on the web, of course; lauded in newspapers and magazines ranging from the Oregonian to the Guardian, and websites from Bookslut to the Web Fiction Guide.
No specific celebrations have yet been scheduled, beyond keeping up with the writing, and the story, now halfway through its third volume. —Ysabel, the Unwed Bride, is now the Queen of the City of Roses, and Jo Maguire, once an underemployed telemarketer, now finds herself the Duchess of Southeast. Together, they must face rogue magicians, art collectives, jilted exes, matters of honor, gentrification, and a mayoral election more pivotal than it seems.
Feel free to address any questions to the author and published, Kip Manley, at kipmanley@yahoo.com. (Kip Manley was, some time ago, a senior editor and staff writer for Portland’s late, lamented Anodyne magazine. He currently lives in Portland with the celebrated cartoonist Jenn Manley Lee and the generally astounding Taran Jack. Mostly he just wanders about the city looking for cool places to stage sword fights.)
