Compact Books

Compact Books was an imprint of Roberts and Vinter (London, UK), publishers of New Worlds magazine. They published Hank Janson and Hilary Brand (both house names) hardboiled detective novels and a science fiction list edited by Michael Moorcock. This list published mostly UK SF writers like John Brunner, Dan Morgan, Kenneth Bulmer and Moorcock himself, together with US writers such as L. Sprague de Camp, Thomas M. Disch, Charles Harness and Judith Merril, many for the first time. They lasted barely two years (1965/6). The list ended suddenly with the collapse of Roberts and Vinter's distributor Thorpe and Porter, which also ended their publication of New Worlds. All SF titles had covers by SF novelist Keith Roberts, then the art editor of Compact, as well as deputy editor (essentially the real editor) of the New Worlds companion Science Fantasy/Impulse. Compact also published Moorcock's pseudonymous novels, his 'Martian' sword-and-planet trilogy as by Edward P. Bradbury; his 'Nick Allard' comedy thrillers (as 'Bill Barclay') and a short story collection as 'James Colvin'. The SF list was a typical Moorcock mix of the time between some lesser-known 'Golden Age' science fiction and 'New Wave' authors.