Welcome to Onça Publishing

Dear Friends,It is with with great pleasure and excitement that I introduce you to Onça Publishing, a small book publisher based in British Columbia with a commitment to high-quality literary speculative fiction and a passion for the printed object.It's a publishing cliché that speculative genres like science fiction and fantasy are not "literary." Go to almost any bookstore and you will have sections for science fiction and fantasy that are separate from the more general "fiction." Why is this?  You could argue that it makes sf&f easier to find, and many sf&f fans will be searching specifically within those categories. True enough; but then why not subdivide the fiction section further? More importantly, why is Swift's Gulliver's Travels—a fantasy novel by anyone's standards—considered literary while Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane—one of the most deeply psychological novels I have read in recent years—is not? And why can Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 be classified alongside, say, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby while his The Illustrated Man cannot? At Onça, we wish to challenge these preconceptions and help push the understanding that terms like "science fiction" and "fantasy" are merely descriptions of setting, not of theme and certainly not of quality. The internet wizards on Wikipedia say that the term "literary fiction" refers to "works that offer deliberate commentary on larger social issues, political issues, or focus on the individual to explore some part of the human condition." Onça believes that speculative fiction is not only capable of fulfilling each of these requirements, but has the potential to do so with greater range and power than its more realistic siblings by placing characters in situations that our real world does not allow.We also believe that the print book is a para-sculptural object capable of communicating not only through the written word, but also through the visual, tactile, and even olfactory or aural stimuli created by its design, production materials and social role. "The medium is the message," goes McLuhan's seminal phrase, and it reflects Onça's values well. We will always focus on the production of the print book, but without forgetting the versatility and reach of the electronic word. Good literature is meant to be treasured, and in that the print form is essential; but it is also—and perhaps more importantly—meant to be read, and here the electronic form is indispensable.This company has been planned in one way or another for nearly two years. Onça is finally becoming a reality—but we need your help.Our first title will be a special edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and starting this Halloween we will be running a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to help cover the cost of printing. This is the first book in the Onça Classics series, and we want to make this book the best it can be. If we are successfully funded, we will be taking one very big step towards establishing ourselves financially and in the market. We will then turn our attention to publishing new fiction, although we won't forget the classics.Our funding rewards include not only copies of the book, but also a discount code for all future Onça Classics titles, and some exclusive artwork. We will release more details as we near the campaign launch date, so subscribe to the Onça blog, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter—and please, help spread the word!Thank you all.

— Shed Simas, Publisher