A Fiendish
Publishing Co.
The Imprint
An imprint of Nicholas P. Leone
An independent publishing imprint for technically grounded, emotionally precise speculative fiction. The books treat fate as engineering: redundant systems, standing instructions, telemetry, architecture, and the human consequences that arrive when a system does exactly what it was designed to do.
A Fiendish Publishing Co. was established in 2026 as the publishing home for the fiction of Nicholas P. Leone. The list is intentionally one author. Editorial, production, metadata, rights, and presentation remain close to the work rather than disappearing into a distant department. The fear in the books lives in the gap between what a system can see and what the people inside it are actually asking for. The imprint publishes that gap, and does not pretend to be a larger operation than it is.
Publishing record
The public record: the name, ownership, location, and identifiers attached to books issued under this imprint. This is the public record kept consistent with the Bowker entry for bibliographic verification.
| Imprint | A Fiendish Publishing Co. |
|---|---|
| Proprietor & author | Nicholas P. Leone |
| Legal form | Independent publishing imprint operated by Nicholas P. Leone. |
| Place of publication | New Mexico, United States |
| Language | English |
| Established | 2026 |
| ISBN agency | Bowker / MyIdentifiers, the U.S. ISBN Agency. |
| ISBN prefix | 979-8-9984864 — publisher-owned block |
| List | Nicholas P. Leone. Closed to other authors. |
| Catalog | Margin of Error and Standing Instruction are in revision. Kick, The House That Remembered, and The Inversion are not yet issued. Open the catalog. |
The line
What it publishes
Speculative fiction in which the machinery works. Forensic tragedy, engineering-horror, industrial fiction, literary mystery, systems-thriller. Procedures, telemetry, quiet rooms, and the human conclusion a correct system was never built to reach.
What it does not
A Fiendish Publishing Co. is a single-author imprint and does not accept unsolicited manuscripts, queries, representation requests, or co-publishing proposals. Rights, permissions, review, bookseller, library, and media inquiries concerning published work are welcome.
Identifiers
| Ownership | ISBNs used by the imprint are publisher-owned numbers obtained through Bowker / MyIdentifiers. |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeping | The imprint name, title metadata, edition, format, and bibliographic record are maintained consistently across the book, Bowker record, and active distribution channels. |
Distribution
Availability
Retail, ebook, print, library, and direct availability are listed with a title only after that edition is actually active in the channel.
The rule
Planned distribution is not presented as existing distribution. A channel gets named here when a reader, bookseller, or librarian can actually use it.
Rights
| Copyright | Copyright in works published under A Fiendish Publishing Co. remains with Nicholas P. Leone unless otherwise stated. |
|---|---|
| Territory | Worldwide English-language rights retained by the author unless otherwise contracted. |
| Rights inquiries | Reprint, excerpt, audio, translation, dramatic, film and television, and other licensed-use inquiries are welcome. |
| Review copies | Advance or review copies may be provided when a title reaches the appropriate publication stage. A supplied copy does not imply or require coverage. |
| Contact | rights@nleone.us · imprint@nleone.us · contact@nleone.us |
Why an imprint?
A Fiendish Publishing Co. exists to keep the chain short. The person writing the book remains close to the decisions governing its editing, production, metadata, presentation, rights, and publication.
That does not mean every part of a book must be performed by one person. Editors edit. Designers design. Specialists are brought in when specialists are needed. It means the final responsibility remains identifiable.
There is no committee to blame. No distant department to ask. No mystery about whose name belongs on the decision.
For fiction concerned with systems, accountability, instructions, and unintended consequences, that seemed appropriate.
Colophon & legal
The mark of A Fiendish Publishing Co. is in use by Nicholas P. Leone. All published works are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is coincidental.
Last updated: 2026-10-01. This page is the public imprint record. Bibliographic questions: imprint@nleone.us