Archive For The “Publication News” Category
Tracking Al Qaeda in Pakistan, sex on a Fijian beach, fighting UFOs in Africa – Sam Kahu’s 2009 might sound exciting for a fifteen year old, but there’s no room for error. Earth’s alien overlords want no repeat of the last battle. They want Sam and the rest of the Changels eliminated. But as natural…
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ARMISTICE collects tales of a time millions of years ago on far off worlds, a time when the inlaris’ home planet still existed; Woelf Dietrich, M.J. Kelley, Dana Leipold and Elaine Chao give us stories about intergalactic space travel and tragedy wrought by a global war that tore Earth asunder; narratives of hope and love, and yes, we take you to the wastelands of North America, where… Well, you’ll just have to read it to find out. But mostly these stories involve Earth: exploring first contact, the golden era of alien collaboration, the Great War, and the interspecies conflicts that still rattle the world.
“This is the Affinity Project – where freewill is turned to ash.”
Evie is out of options. She must comply with the Affinity Project – obey their rules, play their deadly games, give up Jamie. And her losses keep growing…
When she decides to help a small group of Shields trying to affect change, Evie finds herself in the firing line. Counsellor Knox is intent on revealing her secrets and shackling her to the Affinity Project for life. To protect her family, Evie must betray those closest to her.
Hand of the Trickster by Mike Reeves-McMillan.
Leverage meets Lankhmar in this sword-and-sorcery novella, as a thief who serves the Trickster God pulls daring heists in other gods’ temples.
Since the War of Gods, the high gods have grown silent and distant. The Trickster, though, is still at large in the world, humbling the exalted and exalting the humble. And the Hand of the Trickster is the thief called Now You Don’t.
He and his new crew are up for any challenge, whether it’s stealing a book from Wisdom’s library, dealing with a dark remnant from the War of Gods, or slipping the Grim Spear of the Inexorable Hand of Justice back into the heavily-guarded Justice Temple before it can be missed.
At last, the paper and glue version of Interspecies has arrived and, oh wow, is it a pretty thing.
Interspecies has had a good run thus far, reaching the top-ten of two Amazon bestseller lists and staying there for a couple of weeks, even becoming the number three hot new release in its category. Our collective smiles touched our earlobes as we watched our baby climb the charts.
And now, after so many requests, the paperback is also available. So, if you prefer a more tactile reading experience, click here . We’ve even lowered the price to $9.99 for a short time. Or, if you prefer the ebook version and haven’t picked it up yet, it’s only $1.99 right now to celebrate the paperback release.
It’s release day for Helen Lowe’s Daughter Of Blood — not just here NZ but in the US, UK, and Australia as well — and of course she is celebrating in style with a virtual party on her blog. To join in, just click on
Let’s Welcome Daughter Of Blood
There’ll be more happening soon with interviews, guest posts, including a Reddit Fantasy AMA, a number of interviews around the world and guest features coming up on the week on SF Signal, TOR.com and more. Keep checking Helen’s blog for details!
Three Words, an anthology of Kiwi women’s comics, is available to pre-order from Beatnik Publishing now! It has a special pre-order price of $45 and will be published in March 2016. The first 300 people to pre-order will also receive a zine.
Issue 1 of Capricious, a new speculative fiction magazine edited by SpecFicNZ member A.C. Buchanan is now available for free download. The issue includes fiction by A.J. Fitzwater and Sean Monaghan, who are both New Zealand based, alongside work by Sabrina Amaya Hoke and Bogi Takács. This issue takes you through fairy tales and to other worlds in none of the ways you’d expect. The authors challenge and interrogate genre boundaries, exploring themes of consent, communication, and obligation. Their work is filled with the senses of exploration, danger, and ultimate success that characterise so much of the best speculative fiction.
The grant funding allocation which the panel has agreed upon is as follows:
(a) $NZ400 for the Capricious project, edited / published by Andi Buchanan
(b) $NZ1100 for the At The Edge project, published by Marie Hodgkinson (Paper Road Press) and edited by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray
The panel was impressed by the overall quality of applications. Inevitably, not all worthwhile projects could be fully funded.
The panel felt that Capricious was particularly deserving of funding in filling a niche (local speculative fiction periodical) that is currently absent from the NZ scene; offers local authors and artists an attractive remuneration ($US50 per contribution); and looks likely to establish a distinct online identity, thus furthering the visibility of its contributing NZ artists and authors. The project builds on Buchanan’s recognised talents as an editor/anthologist, and we note that, since the publisher is meeting the other costs personally, no additional external funding is required for the zine’s first year of publication.
Last year SpecFicNZ ran a novella-writing competition in partnership with Wellington-based Paper Road Press, offering our members the chance to win prize money and potential publication in Paper Road Press’ SHORTCUTS series. The titles of the first six SHORTCUTS stories have now been released and we’re happy to see that not only are four of the stories from the original competition (including the first-, second- and third-place winners) but all six stories are authored by SpecFicNZ members!
SpecFicNZ would like to extend our congratulations to member Deryn Pittar, whose short story “The Carbonite’s Daughter” has won the 2014 Story Quest writing contest. We asked Deryn to write a short article about the processes and challenges of worldbuilding for a competition with a specific theme and setting.
At least a dozen of our members have stories appearing in this Christmas anthology for children to be released on 12 November in Wellington.
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY, SUPPORT THE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION OF NZ, AND HELP THIS PROJECT SPRING TO LIFE.
The Best of Twisty Christmas Tales—31 children’s stories by 27 authors, including international best-sellers Joy Cowley, David Hill and Dave Freer.
What will Santa put under your tree this Christmas? A present that growls? Or one that smiles? The Best of Twisty Christmas Tales – crazy Christmas adventures for the whole family! Christmas in outer space or at the beach, havoc in Santa’s workshop, monsters running amok, and mad scientists who turn Christmas into chaos. Come along for the sleigh ride of your life. These Twisty Tales will weave their festive magic, whipping across NZ pastures, scattering fairy dust on the way to a Christmas BBQ!
SpecFicNZ member Alan Baxter‘s new book, Bound, is coming out in July 2014 from HarperVoyager Australia. We asked Alan a few questions about the book and his writing process.
Can you describe your writing for someone who is unfamiliar with it?
I write mostly dark urban fantasy, playing with magic, monsters, martial arts and mythology. Think Clive Barker meets Neil Gaiman, with doses of Alan Moore thrown in. Kinda.
Did you bring anything from your own life to this story? How did that work?
A new Te Papa anthology of wacky fun from Phoenix Writers, a group that includes many SpecFicNZ members…Get lost in the museum where past, present and future collide. What does Weta’s giant mechanical baby do after hours? Who is altering the time space continuum? Where or when has James gone? And what secrets is Tui Merriweather hiding?
Dive into mayhem at a well-known Wellington waterfront destination. Going to the museum will never be the same again.
Stories are set in Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum.
To celebrate the forthcoming publication of Kiwi specfic author Nalini Singh‘s latest novel, Shield of Winter, we are giving away the entire Psy-Changeling series – including the newest installment! Many thanks to our friends at The Realm for providing the books.
That’s right – you can win ALL 13 BOOKS! Just email us at specficnz@gmail.com before 3 June 2014 with ‘Psy-Changeling series’ in the subject line and your delivery address in the body of the email. You must be a SpecFicNZ member to enter. Join today!