Hello Everyone,

With the kind permission of Christian Lechat, I am pleased to be able to inform the users of AscoFrance that I am in the late stages of working with my publisher to publish a new book on the subject of ascomycetes.

The book will contain 700 species from over 250 different genera, all of which have been found growing on a range of substrates in mainland Britain.

For each species, I have provided the name, up to three synonyms, scientific citations, a colour photograph of the fruit bodies (mostly in their mature state), a black and white sketch of key microscopy, a written description of the fruit bodies, substrate(s), main fruiting periods, maximum size, microscopic description of spores, number per ascus and reaction to iodine/lugol where known, paraphyses, hairs for those which have them, date when found and location where found.

I have prepared keys for genera (and allied genera) where more than three species are featured, a cross reference table to page/figure numbers for five previously published books about the ascomycota, glossary, acknowledgements, indexing by genus, species and synonyms and descriptions of my collection, photography and identification methods.

The book will be available in hardback and paperback format at approximately A4 size, with just over 400 pages and therefore designed to be used at home rather than in the field. It has been written in the English language.

The pricing is still to be agreed with the publisher, but is not expected to exceed £80.00 (hardback) and the publication date is expected to be April/May 2013 (once I have advised the publisher that I am happy with the content and the print quality on paper).

If you are likely to be interested in owning a copy of this book, please advise me. I have set up an email address especially for correspondence in connection with my book. This is thompson.ascomycetes@gmail.com

Both my publisher and I will be raising awareness by sending emails to fungus groups and related organisations in Britain, Europe, North America and Canada, as these are the parts of the world where the host substrates are most likely to grow and therefore the places where the ascomycetes in my book are most likely to fruit.

If anyone has any questions, I will try to answer them as soon as I can (forum or email).

Thank you,
Best wishes,
Peter Thompson.