Hargreaves' Landmark Collection Brought to Life

Posted by Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers, 3 months ago

Also available on Kobo March 1, 2012

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Hank Hargreaves' classic short story collection, North by 2000 is being reissued March 1, 2012, by Five Rivers as North by 2000+, the plus indicating that it includes five new stories written since the first edition came out.

North by 2000 was the first collection ever marketed as Canadian SF and had a profound influence on the subsequent generation of Canadian SF writers. The stories are timeless.

Author and reviewer, J.W. Schnarr says, "This book is more than just classic science fiction with familiar names and places. The stories feel Canadian, and Hargreaves is a hell of a writer to so beautifully package what that means."

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Book launch for Alyxandra Harvey's new book, BRIAR ROSE on Saturday January 21st, 2012

Posted by Word Taster, 4 months ago

For those living in Toronto, our country's oldest independent Science Fiction & Fantasy bookstore, Bakka-Phoenix is having their first book launch of the new year. On Saturday January 21st, Alyxandra Harvey's new book, BRIAR ROSE, will be launched. Alyx will be there at 3pm. I know this is a C-I competitor, but we hafta support our small independents too... some cities don't actually have a single small independent bookseller left, so if you're in or close to T.O., visit the store where Tanya Huff, Cory Doctorow and Michelle Sagara (Michelle still works there a couple days a week) all got their starts while employees, and where Robert J. Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson might just be hanging out for a chat and to pick up some reading material for themselves.

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Anne McCaffrey, Rest In Peace

Posted by Word Taster, 6 months ago

It is with incredible sadness that I learned today of the passing of a great dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Anne McCaffrey. She passed away yesterday, November 21st, 2011, at her home, Dragonhold–Underhill, in Ireland, of a stroke.

She was one of the first science fiction writers whose work I discovered independently, having been raised on classic SF by my Dad. However, her Pern books were not something that were part of his 'canon' which tended toward more "hardcore" science fiction, and Annie's books, particularly her early Pern and "Talents" books (which began with the collection of short stories, "Get Off the Unicorn" - misnamed by a junior editor who mistook the word "of" for "off", a mistake she decided not to correct) were more appealing to a girl of 11, than to her dad. Throughout her life, she published close to 100 books, and co-authored over 30, with authors such as S. M. Stirling, Misty Lackie, Jody Lynn Nye, Margaret Ball, Elizabeth Moon, and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and her own son, Todd McCaffrey.

Many of these women were also favourite authors of mine, and through her, I discovered many other of my favourite authors, She was a most incredible woman; surprisingly warm and accessible, a dry wit and great intellect, and a lovely person. Though she did not suffer fools gladly, she could be both patient and giving, and was incredibly loyal. It was these qualities, as well as her wonderful writing, that helped draw so many of her fans to the conventions she so often participated in as her health permitted, particularly Atlanta's DragonCon, which she tried to get to as often as possible (her Pern books made her a favourite for obvious reasons), and she often sat as a judge for science fiction awards.

She, herself, was the first woman to win a Hugo, and then a Nebula award, and with her book "The White Dragon" she became the first with a science fiction title on the New York Times Bestseller List. In 2005, the Science Fiction Writers of America named her their 22nd Grand Master, and she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006.

I can't imagine what the too-often sterile, frustrating and sometimes painful years I spent during my teens in Regina would have been like without her writing, and the writing of other authors her generous praise introduced me to. I can't count the times I've reread her books, and they are to me, what she herself called, "comfort books" - those we go to when we need an old friend to relax and renew ourselves with. Whether her Pern books, the books in the Talents/Tower & Hive/Barque Cat series', the Ship and City (Brain and Brawn) books, Petaybee, the Crystal universe books, or her other series, the worlds of her books encompass something for almost everyone.

She was 85 years old.

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Toronto Launch of Robert Charles Wilson's new book, VORTEX

Posted by Word Taster, 11 months ago

For those in Toronto and surrounding environs, Canada's oldest SF & F bookstore (open since 1972, and named after ‘the weeper who mourns for all mankind’ from Frank Herbert's DUNE... not really that cryptic, but as it's not a C-I location, I'm tippy-toeing around) will be celebrating the launch of Robert Charles Wilson's new book, VORTEX, the third book in his extraordinary 'Spin' series. He'll be there to kick things off himself, on Saturday July 9th, and the party starts at 3pm.

As it's a Saturday, Michelle Sagara should be working (though unless he flies in from London, UK, Cory Doctorow will probably not be in attendance... his presence is missed, as is Tanya Huff's, who also used to work there). But Kris throws great get-togethers, so if you're in the Spadina and Harbord area (or even if you're not, then get there and...), pop in... it's a short walk from Spadina subway, and by the time the party's winding down, the Boulevard Cafe across and down the street should just be opening for dinner and as it's as good as it ever was (very tasty food), all in all it would make for a lovely day's outing.

DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation or business interest whatsoever with either Canada's oldest SF & F bookstore, or the Boulevard Cafe, except insofar as I've been a patron of the first since I was a kid and visited Toronto for the first time, and of the second since I moved here when I was 17... which makes me feel really old to admit, cause that was almost 30 years ago. Good grief...

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Blackdog

Posted by Paul Marlowe, 12 months ago

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There's a new fantasy novel by K.V. Johansen coming out in September:

Blackdog, by K.V. Johansen
Published by Pyr, September 2011 / 525 Pages
ISBN: 9781616145217
Cover art by Raymond Swanland


Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils…

In a land where gods walk on the hills and goddesses rise from river, lake, and spring, the caravan-guard Holla-Sayan, escaping a bloodily-conquered lakeside town, stops to help an abandoned child and a dying dog. The girl, though, is the incarnation of Attalissa, goddess of Lissavakail, and the dog a shape-changing guardian spirit whose origins have been forgotten. Possessed and nearly driven mad by the Blackdog, Holla-Sayan flees to the desert road, taking the powerless avatar with him.

And long ago, after the days of the first kings in the north, the seven devils, who had deceived and possessed seven of the greatest wizards of the world, were defeated and bound with the help of the Old Great Gods…

Moth was once Ulfhild the King’s Sword, wizard and warrior of the north. And she was once Vartu Kingsbane, one of the seven devils of legend. Moth cares little for the fate of a minor goddess of the earth like Attalissa, but at the command of the Old Great Gods she is hunting down her former comrades, though how her enemies have compelled her obedience is a mystery even to her lover, the bear-demon Mikki.

And perhaps some of the devils are free in the world, and perhaps some are working to free themselves still.

Necromancy, treachery, massacres and rebellions, gods dead or lost or mad, follow hard on the devils’ heels. But it is Attalissa herself who may be the Blackdog’s — and Holla-Sayan’s — doom.

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H.A. Hargreaves Work to be Published by Five Rivers

Posted by Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers, 12 months ago

H.A. Hargreaves is one of Canada's remarkable, one might even say legendary, speculative fiction writers. He is a retired professor of English, formerly at the University of Alberta (Edmonton), and was twice nominated (1982 and 1983) for the Lifetime Contributions category in the Prix Auroras. His collection of short stories, North by 2000, in its time received wide critical acclaim from both peers and periodicals.

Today Five Rivers is pleased to announce the rebirth of that remarkable collection of short stories by Hargreaves. This new edition, entitled North by 2000+, will feature not only all the quintessentially Canadian stories of the first edition, but five additional published short works, along with a foreword from the author, and an introduction by Dr. Robert Runte.

Cover design has been awarded to Jeff Minkevics.

North by 2000+ is scheduled for release early in 2012, and will be available in print and digital formats worldwide.

For more information, please visit: 5riversnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/ha-hargreaves-work-to-be-published-by.html

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Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Posted by Lorina Stephens/Five Rivers, 15 months ago

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A purely personal post this afternoon, with a bit of a revelation: I entered the Amazon Breathrough Novel Award (ABNA). My entry is the first novel I published, Shadow Song. It's an historical fantasy, based upon an actual tragedy that occurred in the early 1830s in the village of Hornings Mills, Ontario. For the most part, Shadow Song has received four and five star reader reviews, as well as a few starred reviews from blog reviewers.

Apparently there were 2,000 entrants this year. Today the first ABNA cut was announced, based upon a 300 word pitch, reducing the number of entrants to 1,000.

I'm feeling a bit bewildered and tentatively pleased at the moment; I made the first cut. That news precipitates a few palpitations and a great deal of anxiety, and a grin that's making my face ache. But, let's not get carried away just yet. The next round, February 24 to March 13, 2011, takes those 1,000 down to 250, judged by Amazon's expert reviewers and editors, and at least one Amazon Top Reviewer. The judges will be reading a 5,000 word excerpt.

The expert reviewers rate each Excerpt on a scale of 1 to 5 on each of the following criteria:

Overall Strength of Excerpt
Prose/Style
Plot/Hook
Originality of Idea

Each second round excerpt will receive two reviews, and the top 250 entries from each category based on the average overall strength of excerpt score will advance to the Quarter-Finals.

And so begins another month practicing the fine virtue, and art, of patience.

There are some of you who are going to wonder why it is a renegade author-turned-publisher, who has been flying the indie flag for some time, would enter a literary award contest that could possibly result in a $15,000US advance and publishing contract with Penguin.

It is a purely business decision. I need a wider audience, and with the award a semblance of credibility even some of my own peers have been reluctant to bestow. While more and more authors are turning to self-publishing as a viable alternative, there is still a stigma, and with that stigma a prejudice that if an author has self-published, the work can't be any good, otherwise an agent, and ergo a publisher, would have picked up the work.

So, we'll see how far I get. I really have few expectations. But I will keep you posted.

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