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Classic Canadian SF Brought Back 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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SPECTRA

Posted by Joanne Elder, 7 months ago

SPECTRA, Science Fiction Thriller, By Joanne Elder MuseItUp Publishing

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SPECTRA, a science fiction thriller by Joanne Elder, is now available through Chapters.

Here are some links to fantastic reviews:
www.gamevortex.com/gamevortex/sound_rev.php/139/spectra-sound.html
AND
www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/spectra

Here is the blurb:

Light years away from Earth a mining exploration crew makes an amazing discovery…intelligent life comprised entirely of energy. This living energy is so pure and unique, it could provide proof of the existence of the human soul. Those exposed to the entities gain unimaginable cognitive abilities but at a terrible cost.
A rogue scientific group will do anything to maintain the mind enhancing gifts, even if it leads to the destruction of the peaceful beings.
Only two people stand in their way, and they will sacrifice everything to end the slaughter.
Could the quest for the secrets of life lead to the creation of true evil; one so dark it threatens to tear down the walls of sanity and redefine our very existence?

Half the author ebook royalties are being donated to Alzheimer's research.

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Alpha & Omega

Posted by Paul Marlowe, 10 months ago

My latest short story - "Alpha & Omega" - is a science-fiction mystery set partly in reality, partly in virtual reality. You can read it on-line for free at Something Wicked magazine:
www.somethingwicked.co.za/2011/07/alpha-omega/
and there's an interview about the story too at
www.somethingwicked.co.za/2011/07/writers-cornered-paul-marlowe/

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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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Towers of Midnight -- excerpt, part four

Posted by Fiction Editor, 2 years ago

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part 1: community.indigo.ca/posts/Fantasy-and-Sci-Fi/group-100/597966.html

part 2: community.indigo.ca/posts/Fantasy-and-Sci-Fi/group-100/597967.html

part 3: community.indigo.ca/posts/Fantasy-and-Sci-Fi/group-100/597968.html

**********(excerpt continued from previous post)**********

“The apples?” Almen said, turning. “But—” He froze. The trees were burgeoning with new, ripe red apples. The blossoms he’d seen earlier had fallen free, and blanketed the ground in white, like snow.

Those apples seemed to shine. Not just dozens of them on each tree, but hundreds. More than a tree should hold, each one perfectly ripe.

“I am going mad,” Almen said, turning back to the man.

“It’s not you who is mad, friend,” the stranger said. “But the entire world. Gather those apples quickly. My presence will hold him off for a time, I think, and whatever you take now should be safe from his touch.”

That voice . . . Those eyes, like gray gemstones cut and set in his face. “I do know you,” Almen said, remembering an odd pair of youths he had given a lift in his cart years ago. “Light! You’re him, aren’t you? The one they’re talking about?”

The man looked back at Almen. Meeting those eyes, Almen felt a strange sense of peace. “It is likely,” the man said. “Men are often speaking of me.” He smiled, then turned and continued on his way down the path.

“Wait,” Almen said, raising a hand toward the man who could only be the Dragon Reborn. “Where are you going?”

The man looked back with a faint grimace. “To do something I’ve been putting off. I doubt she will be pleased by what I tell her.”

Almen lowered his hand, watching as the stranger strode away, down a pathway between two fenced orchards, trees laden with blood-red apples. Almen thought—for a moment—he could see something around the man. A lightness to the air, warped and bent.

Almen watched the man until he vanished, then dashed toward Alysa’s house. The old pain in his hip was gone, and he felt as if he could run a dozen leagues. Halfway to the house, he met Adim and the two workers coming to the orchard. They regarded him with concerned eyes as he pulled to a halt.

Unable to speak, Almen turned and pointed back at the orchards. The apples were red specks, dotting the green like freckles.

“What’s that?” Uso asked, rubbing his long face. Moor squinted, then began running toward the orchard.

“Gather everyone,” Almen said, winded. “Everyone from the village, from the villages nearby, people passing on Shyman’s road. Everyone. Get them here to gather and pick.”

“Pick what?” Adim asked with a frown.

“Apples,” Almen said. “What else bloody grows on apple trees! Listen, we need every one of those apples picked before the day ends. You hear me? Go! Spread the word! There’s a harvest after all!”

They ran off to look, of course. It was hard to blame them for that. Almen continued on, and as he did, he noticed for the first time that the grass around him seemed greener, healthier.

He looked eastward. Almen felt a pull inside of him. Something was tugging him softly in the direction the stranger had gone.

Apples first, he thought. Then . . . well, then he’d see.

*******end of excerpt******

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