Midnight Rose was a name taken by a group of United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 writers for a series of shared world anthologies published by the Penguin Books

Penguin Books

Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...

 imprint Roc. The group's "core members" were Alex Stewart, Roz Kaveney

Roz Kaveney

Roz Kaveney is a British writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and editor. She was born male but changed to and thereafter has lived as a female...

, Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...

 and Mary Gentle

Mary Gentle

-Literary career:Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver , a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light ....

. Contributors to individual anthologies included Marcus Rowland, Storm Constantine

Storm Constantine

Storm Constantine is a British science fiction and fantasy author, primarily known for her Wraeththu series.- Life and work :Since the late 1980s Constantine has written more than 20 novels, plus several non-fiction books...

, Kim Newman

Kim Newman

Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...

, Charles Stross

Charles Stross

Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...

, Stephen Baxter

Stephen Baxter

Stephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...

, Colin Greenland

Colin Greenland

Colin Greenland is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best known novel is Take Back Plenty , winner of both major British science fiction awards, the 1990 British SF Association award and the 1991 Arthur C...

, Graham Higgins, Paul Cornell

Paul Cornell

Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....

 and David Langford

David Langford

David Rowland Langford is a British author, editor and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter Ansible.-Personal background:...

, amongst others.

The anthologies were:

Temps
Two volumes of superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 pastiches, set in a world where the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 demand registry of superhuman talents, whereupon the Talented are expected to be permanently "on call" as part-time superheroes, in exchange for a stipend. The popular perception of the British Civil Service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 is played up, with registering as a "Temp" being strangely similar to applying for Jobseeker's Allowance

Jobseeker's Allowance

Jobseeker's Allowance is a United Kingdom benefit, colloquially known as the dole . It is a form of unemployment benefit paid by the government to people who are unemployed and seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the...

 or other benefits. The two books were Temps (1991) and EuroTemps (1992).

The Weerde
The concept behind the Weerde was that shapeshifting

Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...

 creatures had been living alongside humanity for millennia, mostly concealing themselves, but occasionally giving rise to legends of supernatural monsters. The books in this series were The Weerde Book One (1992) and The Weerde Book Two: Book of the Ancients (1993).

Villains!
Villains! (1992) was a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

of heroic fantasy. Like Gentle's later Grunts, it looked at the typical fantasy world from the point of view of the villains.

Several of the stories from these anthologies have subsequently appeared in other collections, or have been put on line by their authors:

Roz Kaveney: A Lonely Impulse (Temps), A Wolf To Man (The Weerde), Bellringer's Overtime (Villains!), Totally Trashed (Eurotemps), Ignorance Of Perfect Reason (The Weerde Book Two)

David Langford: Leaks (Temps), The Arts of the Enemy (Villains!), If Looks Could Kill (Eurotemps), The Lions in the Desert (The Weerde Book Two)

Marcus Rowland: Frog Day Afternoon (Temps), Playing Safe (Eurotemps), The Missing Martian (The Weerde Book Two)

Charles Stross: Examination Night (Villains), Ancient Of Days (The Weerde), Red, Hot and Dark (The Weerde Book Two)