Also available at the following fine establishments:
Bookshop.org • IndieBound • Smashwords
IPRC • Multnomah County Library • OverDrive
City of Roses is an epic urban fantasy firmly set in Portland, Oregon—a wicked concoction of the urban pastoral and the incantatory fantastic, where knights are dubbed in Forest Park, and duels are fought in Pioneer Square, where union meetings are beseiged by ghost bicycles, and the Devil keeps a morgue in an abandoned big-box store. —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, these days.
The story is published in novelette-sized zines, on paper, and online: 44 so far, to date. These novelettes are then collected in paperback and ebook collections, of which four have been published so far: “Wake up…”, The Dazzle of Day, In the Reign of Good Queen Dick, and —or Betty Martin.
Review Copies
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- Vol. 1: “Wake up…”
EPUB | MOBI | PDF - Vol. 2: The Dazzle of Day
EPUB | MOBI | PDF - Vol. 3: In the Reign of Good Queen Dick
EPUB | MOBI | PDF - Vol. 4: —or Betty Martin
EPUB Advance Reading Copy | MOBI Advance Reading Copy
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
- 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.
Illustration by Jenn Manley Lee
Recent selfie
PORTLAND, July 9th — Supersticery Press is pleased to announce the impending publication of —or Betty Martin, volume 4 of City of Roses, the acclaimed urban fantasy webserial by Kip Manley.
—or Betty Martin will collect chapters 34 – 44, completing the story begun in volume 3, In the Reign of Good Queen Dick, published in 2020. —or Betty Martin will be available as an ebook for all software and devices, as well as a handsomely designed paperback, on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024, from all major online retailers, as well as stores within and around Portland, and directly from the publisher.
Bookslut called the overall epic an “entire, swirling, beautiful mess.” The Web Fiction Guide said it’s “utterly captivating” and “brilliant.” The Guardian said “City of Roses is an absorbing read that many fantasy fans will enjoy immensely,” and the Oregonian called it “just another Portland story.”
Review copies of —or Betty Martin will be made available toward the end of August, as production work on the volume is completed. An omnibus ebook containing the 22 chapters of season two, Spring; Summer, will also be made available. After a brief hiatus, the serial will resume; the next two volumes, also consisting of 11 chapters each, will be titled The Greene Chapel, and Eleleu Ie.
Please address any questions to the author and publisher, 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.)
