I decided it would be really cool to put together a list of great books by Australian Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror writers so people could essentially have the best Xmas shopping list of Aussie SFF and horror books ever. After drowning in an inbox full of Aussie spec fic goodness, I now have this sweet megapost of Aussie spec fic goodness. It’s far from definitive – there are loads more out there – but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. There really is something for everyone. Have a scroll through, enjoy the covers, read the blurbs – if you like it, buy it! Links to places of purchase are right there with every book. Books are listed alphabetically by author surname. And don’t forget to buy loads of books for your family and friends for Xmas too. There’s really no better gift than a book. (Unless you need a new bodily organ or something, but you know what I mean.) Amazon allows you to gift ebooks as well, don’t forget, as do several other outlets and publishers. Have it at!
Dean J Anderson
Unnaturals tried to kill Mason Douglas and his family. Big mistake.
He became The Butcher, a cold relentless Hunter with a vendetta that took him across the world.
And now, on his return home to Australia – to mend his heart, soul and family – his destiny collides with a millennia-old struggle between strange Gods.
Their prize is Earth. Their warriors are warring races of Unnaturals: the Bloodells and the Darkells.
As an unlikely alliance forms between Natural and Unnatural – between the Douglas clan and the Darkells – Mason’s family grows in unexpected ways… not all of whom are human.
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Jo Anderton
Debris – The Veiled Worlds, Book One
In a far future where technology is all but indistinguishable from magic, Tanyana is one of the elite. She can control pions, the building blocks of matter, shaping them into new forms using ritual gestures and techniques. The rewards are great, and she is one of most highly regarded people in the city. But that was before the “accident”. Stripped of her powers, bound inside a bizarre powersuit, she finds herself cast down to the very lowest level of society. Powerless, penniless and scarred, Tanyana must adjust to a new life collecting “debris”, the stuff left behind by pions. But as she tries to find who has done all of this to her, she also starts to realize that debris is more important than anyone could guess.
http://www.booktopia.com.au/debris-jo-anderton/prod9780857661531.html
Suited – The Veiled Words, Book Two
The bitter war between the sinister Puppet Men and the nebulous Keeper for the control of the ancient city of Movoc-under-Keeper has intensified. For Tanyana, imprisoned within her extraordinary suit and cast down as a lowly debris collector, choosing a side should be simple. But when even her own suit becomes aggressive against her, Tanyana must weigh some very personal issues against her determination to serve the greater good.
http://www.booktopia.com.au/suited-jo-anderton/prod9780857661562.html
Guardian – The Veiled Worlds, Book Three
The grand city of Movoc-under-Keeper lies in ruins. The sinister puppet men have revealed their true nature, and their plan to tear down the veil between worlds. To have a chance of defeating them, Tanyana must do the impossible, and return to the world where they were created, on the other side of the veil. Her journey will force her into a terrible choice, and test just how much she is willing to sacrifice for the fate of two worlds.
http://fablecroft.com.au/about/shop
http://www.booktopia.com.au/guardian-jo-anderton/prod9780992284442.html
The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories
Enter a world where terrible secrets are hidden in a wind chime’s song
Where crippled witches build magic from scrap
And the beautiful dead dance for eternity
The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories collects the finest science fiction and horror short stories from award-winning writer Joanne Anderton. From mechanical spells scavenging a derelict starship to outback zombies and floating gardens of bone, these stories blur the lines between genres. A mix of freakish horror, dark visions of the future and the just plain weird, Anderton’s tales will draw you in – but never let you get comfortable.
http://fablecroft.com.au/about/shop
*****
Alan Baxter
Alex Caine, a fighter by trade, is drawn into a world he never knew existed — a world he wishes he’d never found.
Download the first 3 chapters here (PDF format).
Published by HarperVoyager, 2014
ISBN: 978 0 7322 9910 1 (paperback)
ISBN: 978 1 4607 0286 4 (ebook)
Alex Caine is a martial artist fighting in illegal cage matches. His powerful secret weapon is an unnatural vision that allows him to see his opponents’ moves before they know their intentions themselves.
An enigmatic Englishman, Patrick Welby, approaches Alex after a fight and reveals, ‘I know your secret.’ Welby shows Alex how to unleash a breathtaking realm of magic and power, drawing him into a mind-bending adventure beyond his control. And control is something Alex values above all else.
A cursed grimoire binds Alex to Uthentia, a chaotic Fey godling, who leads him towards destruction and murder, an urge Alex finds harder and harder to resist. Befriended by Silhouette, a monstrous Kin beauty, Alex sets out to recover the only things that will free him – the shards of the Darak. But that powerful stone also has the potential to unleash a catastrophe which could mean the end of the world as we know it.
Paperback: http://www.booktopia.com.au/bound-alan-baxter/prod9780732299101.html (or any bookstore) – or contact me for a signed copy, sent anywhere in the world.
Ebook: AMAZON | AMAZON UK | AMAZON AUS | KOBO | iBooks US | iBooks UK | iBooks Aus | Google PLAY
Alex Caine wishes he had a direction, but it pays to be careful what you wish for.
HarperVoyager
ISBN: 9781460702871 (ebook)
Download the first 3 chapters in PDF format here.
Alex Caine is looking for direction and trying to build a new life with his recently acquired magical talents, and Kin girlfriend, Silhouette. He is recruited by a secret organisation to head off an impending doom, foretold by Seers as already somehow linked to his destiny. Claude Darvill is desperately trying to get in touch with his father, Robert Hood. When the company, Black Diamond, reveals that Hood had gone missing after chasing Alex Caine, Darvill takes over control of Black Diamond and starts hunting Caine himself. Alex and his crew close in on three amateur mages in Britain’s north, who think they have uncovered ancient magic that will reveal great powers. But they are caught in a vortex and pulled through to a strange lost city, isolated in the void. Trapped in a place removed from everything they know, ruled by a hierarchy of monsters, Alex and his friends must find a way to escape Obsidian.
Ebook only so far, print coming soon.
AMAZON | AMAZON UK | AMAZON AUS | KOBO | iBooks US | iBooks UK | iBooks Aus | Google PLAY
The past often catches up with you, but when it’s Alex Caine’s past the results can be deadly.
HarperVoyager
ISBN: 9781460702888 (ebook)
Download the first 3 chapters in PDF format here.
Alex Caine has been suffering the weight of the world, and some days it’s hard to even get out of bed. Alone one night, a band of Fey overwhelm him and steal him away from the mortal realm. Silhouette, desperate to save her lover, calls in Armour, but the organisation seems reluctant to help.
Claude Darvill, his fragile alliance with Alex at an end, is still searching for the remains of his father, Robert Hood. In frozen wastes of Iceland, Darvill is driven by a deep-burning grudge and a need for revenge. His efforts are backed by all the considerable resources of Black Diamond Incorporated.
Silhouette must overcome her greatest fears and use all her skills to locate Alex. But even if she can find him, that’s only the start of their problems.
In this third Alex Caine book, sequel to the bestsellers Bound and Obsidian, old enemies and new share a common goal. Alex Caine hates to be the centre of attention, but he and Silhouette need to pull together as the world is threatened once more and only Alex can save it.
Ebook only so far, print coming soon.
AMAZON | AMAZON UK | AMAZON AUS | KOBO | iBooks US | iBooks UK | iBooks Aus | Google PLAY
For all my other books, click on any cover to the left of this post.
*****
Greig Beck
Valkeryn 2
The wolf lives inside us all.
All purchase links here: http://cohesionpress.
*****
Geoff Brown & A.J. Spedding (eds.)
SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror
Cohesion Press
War is Hell…
Soldiers fight to survive.
They fight each other, and they fight the demons inside.
Sometimes, they fight real monsters.
SNAFU collects stories of ancient myths, time travellers, horrors in the old west…
And the soldiers who fight them.
Featuring some of the best writers working in the field today.
Jonathan Maberry, Weston Ochse, Greig Beck and James A Moore lead the way, with a contingent of emerging authors to back them up.
Fight or die.
Available on:
Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and as a signed limited edition from the publisher.
Amazon: http://rpbook.co.uk/B00LNXHLJG?v=amz
iTunes: http://rpbook.co.uk/9780992502379?v=apl
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/455856
Limited Edition link here: http://cohesionpress.com/snafu/
*****
Lindy Cameron
Agent Capra Jane – cybercop attached to the Melbourne-City HQ of Southern Indian-Pacific Corp – trawls the mean streets of Cy-city and other cyberspace resorts.
In a climate-changed future, after the gene and borders wars of the 2060’s, and in a world governed by the Alpha-Omega Accord and its Interplanetary Exchange, Capra Jane fights a never-ending battle against crime.
Things change in unexpected ways, however, when she is teamed up with the enigmatic and beautiful Zanzibar Black of HomeWorld Security, and Decker, a returned astronaut who’s never been in
cyberspace.
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Ashley Capes
Waking in Anaskar Prison, covered in blood and accused of murder, nobody will listen to Notch’s claims of innocence until he meets the future Protector of the Monarchy, Sofia Falco.
But Sofia has her own burdens. The first female Protector in a hundred years, her House is under threat from enemies within, the prince has made it clear he does not want her services and worst of all, she cannot communicate with her father’s sentient mask of bone, the centuries-old Argeon. Without the bone mask she cannot help anyone — not herself, and certainly not a mercenary with no powerful House to protect him.
Meanwhile, far across the western desert, Ain, a young Pathfinder, is thrust into the role of Seeker. Before winter storms close the way, he must leave his home on a quest to locate the Sea Shrine and take revenge on the people who drove his ancestors from Anaskar, the city ruled by the prince Sofia and Notch are sworn to protect, whether he wants their help or not.
*****
Greg Chapman
Vaudeville and Other Nightmares
The stories you are about to read showcase a wonderfully talented writer; someone with a vivid imagination and the unique ability to create stories that can just as easily shock and frighten as they can move and disturb (often all in the one story). These are serious works, not merely light entertainment designed simply to give the reader a quick jolt or a nervous chuckle, but designed to make you think and feel.
You’re about to embark on a dark and wondrous journey through the mind of a very talented young writer. Be prepared to visit strange worlds and even stranger beings. Horror and violence abounds, but there’s also time for reflection, to ponder some of life’s most important questions.
– Brett McBean, 2014
http://blackbeaconbooks.blogspot.com.au/p/shop.html
*****
Emilie Collyer
A Clean Job – and other stories
Award-winning crime and speculative fiction.
A Clean Job: In a world where the neutralisation of emotions is compulsory, an enforcement officer risks everything when she starts to succumb to her feelings.
From the Shadows: An intimate friendship between two women, one an actress and one a therapist, turns sour, resulting in an unsettling and predatory sequence of events.
The Boys: A loving father is moved to an extreme act when the safety of his family is threatened.
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
RC Daniells
Where will Antonia’s search for truth lead and who will suffer?
When film and TV graduate, Antonia Carlyle sets out to make a documentary about eighties band, ‘The Tough Romantics’, she uncovers new facts surrounding the death of singer song-writer, Genevieve.
This leads her to suspect that the man arrested for her murder was not the killer.
One of the three surviving band members believes it is time to settle old ghosts but the other two have gone on to forge solo careers and don’t want Antonia to rake up the past.
One of them knows who the killer is, the other needs to hide their guilt.
A growing psychic link with the dead girl and the conviction that justice must be done, drives Antonia to face her own demons, uncover the past and confront the present.
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Rjurik Davidson
Unwrapped Sky
Caeli-Amur: an ancient city perched on white cliffs overlooking the sea; a city ruled by three Houses, fighting internecine wars; a city which harbours ancient technology and hidden mysteries. But things are changing in Caeli-Amur. Ancient minotaurs arrive for the traditional Festival of the Sun. The slightly built New-Men bring their technology from their homeland. Wastelanders stream into the city hideously changed by the chemical streams to the north. Strikes break out in the factory district.
In a hideout beneath the city, a small group of seditionists debate ways to overthrow the Houses. How can they rouse the citizens of the city? Should they begin a campaign of terror? Is there a way to uncover the thaumaturgical knowledge that the Houses guard so jealously? As the Houses scramble to maintain their rule, it becomes clear that things will change forever in Caeli-Amur.
rjurik.com
http://www.amazon.com/Unwrapped-Sky-Rjurik-Davidson/dp/0765329883
*****
Cheryse Durrant
Thrust into the technology-driven Earthlands, Shahkara must find the ancient Elnara death lantern – the only thing that can save her homeworld from the heart-devouring Taloners.
She enlists the help of geeky billionaire Max McCalden, but soon finds that, as a half-Taloner herself, her blood demands what she knows she can’t have – a human heart.
Shahkara longs for love, but as deadly enemies attack at every turn, will her lust for Max destroy them both?
Or will she find the strength to free both worlds from a threat more horrific than the demons that share her blood?
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Sarah Evans
New Blood: Tales of Fresh Prey
Vampires and other ravenous nasties satisfy their blood lust in this dark collection of horror stories.
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http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
Tales of mermaids and ghosts, of love and revenge.
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http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Kim Faulks
What would you do if you woke in a room filled with strangers, with no memory of how you got there, and no way out?
Morgan Drimmel wakes to find herself in the midst of this nightmare. The gouged, blood-splattered walls scream of terror and torture, and the unrelenting light that shines between the cracks in the walls fills her with dread.
When the others in the room wake, they form alliances, and Morgan finds herself drawn to rogue biker Slade Rivers. But dependence, for her, has always come with a deadly price.
Those inside the room have secrets too; dark secrets they will go to any length to keep from getting out. When evil rears its ugly head, Morgan will not only have to fight to survive—she will also have to trust.
*****
Liz Filleul
Take a look inside The Book Vault and discover award-winning crime and speculative fiction.
Not What You Think We Are: An exploited former gymnast builds a team of tiny champions after discovering a dark family secret
Crime Traveller: A time-travelling crime writer from 2040 investigates a long-gone-cold case on the Gippsland coast
Brought to Book: Four collectors of schoolgirl fiction go on the trail of vintage book thieves
The Write Place: Two would-be best-selling authors get caught up in a writing scam
The Punishment Book: A nervous new PI tracks down a missing mum via an online spanking forum
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Satima Flavell
The Dagger of Dresnia (Book one of The Talismans)
The newly widowed Queen Ellyria just wants her sick triplet sons to live, each ruling over a third of the kingdom as their dying father decreed. When she finds herself trapped in a deadly bargain with a dark spirit, she recruits a band of young mages to help – but a terrible curse takes over.
Publisher:
http://satalyte.com.au/product/the-dagger-of-dresnia-the-talismans-book-one-by-satima-flavell/
Amazon:
*****
Jason Franks
(Possible Press)
Young guitar virtuoso Clarice Marnier is on the verge of success when she crosses the wrong A&R man. Suddenly, instead of being signed to the major label that’s been courting her, she finds herself blacklisted.
So Clarice makes a deal with the Devil: the soul of her greatest enemy for a record deal and a second chance.
As Clarice and her band, Bloody Waters, begin their ascent to rock stardom they are are beset by a strange array of enemies. Has-been guitar heroes, popstar succubi, spell-slinging DJs, angry divas and killer angels—every occult freak and music industry player in LA wants something from them, whether it’s a slice of their fame or a bite out of their souls.
Clearly, there’s more at stake than just a record deal—but what does the Devil really want, and how far will Clarice go to protect what’s hers?
Short listed for an Aurealis Award.
http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Waters-Jason-Franks-ebook/dp/B009WRWIAW/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Waters-Jason-Franks-ebook/dp/B009WRWIAW/
http://www.amazon.com.au/Bloody-Waters-Jason-Franks-ebook/dp/B009WRWIAW/
*****
J J Gadd
A modern-day moon myth
The adventures of seven companions who set out to free the woman trapped in the moon, and change the world along the way.
Published by HarperVoyager, 2014
Book 1, Lunation, ISBN: 9781460702932 (ebook)
Book 2, Earthshine, ISBN: 9781460702949 (ebook)
Book 3, Lunelocked, ISBN: 9781460702956 (ebook)
Book 4, Maraluna, ISBN: 9781460702963 (ebook)
Book 5, Cloudstalker, ISBN: 9781460702970 (ebook)
An exciting adventure story in the style of the classic Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series. Seven companions set out to free the woman trapped in the moon, and change the world along the way. In this exciting story that allows the reader the choice of following different characters, young, sheltered Branguin discovers that his ancestor, Marama, has been trapped in the moon, and sets out to free her. But he must first unravel the mystery of how she got there, confront and defeat the sorcerer Raul, and counter a menacing new force that’s assembling an army to attack the capital. Branguin deciphers the clues with the help of his companions, several lost relatives along the way. The Lunation Series is a modern-day moon myth about ordinary people discovering their inner strength and overcoming extraordinary challenges, in order to solve a great mystery.
Ebook: AMAZON | KOBO | iBooks | Google PLAY
*****
Liz Grzyb (editor)
The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013
edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, published by Ticonderoga Publications.
Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled an impressive list of fantastic stories first published in 2013, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers.
The 28 stories selected are
• Lee Battersby, “Disciple of the Torrent”, Tales of Australia: Great Southern Land
• Deborah Biancotti, “All the Lost Ones”, Exotic Gothic 5 Vol I
• Trudi Canavan, “Camp Follower”, Fearsome Journeys
• Robert Cook, “Glasskin”, Review of Australian Fiction Vol 5 #6
• Rowena Cory Daniells, “The Ways of the Wyrding Women”, One Small Step
• Terry Dowling, “The Sleepover”, Exotic Gothic 5 Vol II
• Thoraiya Dyer, “After Hours”, Asymmetry
• Marion Halligan, “A Castle in Toorak”, Griffith Review #42
• Dmetri Kakmi, “The Boy by the Gate”, The New Gothic
• David Kernot, “Harry’s Dead Poodle”, Cover of Darkness Magazine
• Margo Lanagan, “Black Swan Event”, Griffith Review #42
• S. G. Larner, “Poppies”, Aurealis #65
• Martin Livings, “La Mort d’un Roturer”, This is How You Die
• Kirstyn McDermott, “Caution: Contains Small Parts”, Caution: Contains Small Parts
• Claire McKenna, “The Ninety Two”, Next
• C.S. McMullen, “The Nest”, Nightmare Magazine
• Juliet Marillier, “By Bone-Light “, Prickle Moon
• David Thomas Moore, “Old Souls”, The Book of the Dead
• Faith Mudge, “The Oblivion Box”, Dreaming of Djinn
• Ryan O’Neill, “Sticks and Stones”, The Great Unknown
• Angela Rega, “Almost Beautiful”, Next
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, “The Raven and Her Victory”, Where Thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe
• Nicky Rowlands, “On the Wall”, Next
• Carol Ryles, “The Silence of Clockwork”, Conflux 9 Convention Programme
• Angela Slatter, “Flight”, Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales
• Anna Tambour, “Bowfin Island”, Caledonia Dreamin’
• Kaaron Warren, “Born and Bread”, Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales
• Janeen Webb, “Hell is Where the Heart is”, Next
In addition to the above incredible tales, the volume includes a review of 2013 and a list of highly recommended stories.
http://www.indiebooksonline.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/193
Kisses by Clockwork
Putting the steamy back into steampunk.
105,000 words of steampunk romance, edited by the award-winning Liz Grzyb.
Stories by:
• Marilag Angway, “Smuggler’s Deal”
• Cherith Baldry, “The Venetian Cat”
• Gio Clairval, “The Writing Cembalo”
• M L D Curelas, “Ironclad”
• Ray Dean, “Practically Perfect”
• Stephanie Gunn, “Escapement”
• Richard Harland, “The Kiss of Reba Maul”
• Rebecca Harwell, “Love in the Time of Clockwork Horses”
• Faith Mudge, “Descension”
• Nicole Murphy, “The Wild Colonial Clockwork Boy”
• Katrina Nicholson, “Lady Presto Magnifico and the Disappearing Glass Ceiling”
• Anthony Panegyres, “The Tic-Toc Boy of Constantinople”
• Amanda Pillar, “A Clockwork Heart”
• Angela Rega, “The Law of Love”
• Carol Ryles, “Siri and the Chaos-Maker”
• DC White, “South, to Glory”edited by Liz Grzyb, published by Ticonderoga Publications.
http://www.indiebooksonline.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/164
*****
Paul Haines
Publisher: Prime Books
Follow murderous trails into the bloody foothills of Kathmandu; destroy yourself with obsessive sexual jealousies; disappear into the drug-hazed dust of the Baluchistan desert; and share health-conscious recipes with a gourmet cannibal. Read Paul Haines’s dark, hard-edged fantasies about real people dealing with strong emotions in impossible situations and experience the paranoia, fear and lust that lurks in the shadowy recesses of the human soul.
With an introduction by Jack Dann, this anthology contains twenty-one stories, including the Aurealis Award and Ditmar winning novella “The Last Days Of Kali Yuga”. It also includes two previously unpublished stories “Burning From The Inside” and “Mnemophonic”.
http://www.amazon.com/Doorways-Dispossessed-Paul-Haines/dp/0809557401/ref=ed_oe_p
Publisher: The Mayne Press
Paul Haines sliced through the Australian writing scene with his twisted and murderous black humour in 2002. he has since won many awards and praise for his dark and surreal stories that make you think twice about his sanity and good taste.
Published here together for the first time are the Ditmar winning story “The Devil In Mr Pussy”, the Aurealis Award shortlisted horror story “Doof Doof Doof” and the complete “Slice of Life” series of stories, including the previously unpublished “Slice of Life – A Spot of Liver” which also won the Aurealis Award 2009 for Best Horror Short Story.
HAINES’ SLICE OF LIFE – seventeen glistening stories, sweating with twenty first century paranoia and anxiety from the decaying mind of the winner of the 2005 Ditmar for New Talent.
http://www.themaynepress.com/books.php?isbn=9780980615906
Publisher: Brimstone Press
These are the last days …
Travel the blood-stained trails of Kathmandu.
Explore doorways to other worlds.
Fight for humanity’s darkening soul.
… when the powers of the Gods wane and evil walks the Earth.
The Last Days Of Kali Yuga is dark urban fantasy at its darkest. You won’t find traditional vampires or werewolves in Paul Haines’s stories. Instead, you will stare deep into the heart of the cruelest monster of all: man.
Paul Haines is one of Australia’s and New Zealand’s leading dark fiction authors. He pioneered the ‘backpacker horror’ sub-genre with stories of Westerners confronted by dark powers and corrupted souls in India and Asia. His novellas “The Last Days of Kali Yuga”, “Doorways for the Dispossessed”, and “Wives”—all of which appear in this book—have won Australia’s highest honours for speculative fiction. The Last Days of Kali Yuga is a collection of Paul Haines’ best work.
“Paul Haines knows what it is to be human, in all our cruel beauty, with all our vile dreams. His stories tear the masks off our civilised faces and expose the raw, bleeding apes beneath” – Sean Williams, New York Times Bestselling author of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the Books of the Cataclysm series.
“Paul Haines has an unnerving sense for the softest, most secret corners of the male psyche, and in this collection dissects them excruciating skill. There is no better horror writer working in Australia today.” – Max Barry, author of Syrup and Jennifer Government.
http://www.bookdepository.com/Last-Days-Kali-Yuga-Paul-Haines/9780980567717
*****
Lisa L Hannett
Lisa L Hannett’s debut collection, Bluegrass Symphony, deals with cowboys and fallow fields, shapeshifters and rednecks, superstitions and realities in harsh prairie country — and a whole bunch of other things thrown in the mix.
Introduction by Ann Vandermeer.
Finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Collection.
Buy link: http://
Lisa Hannett and Angela Slatter
In The Female Factory, procreation is big business. Children are a commodity few women can afford.
Hopeful mothers-to-be try everything. Fertility clinics. Pills. Wombs for hire. Babies are no longer made in bedrooms, but engineered in boardrooms. A quirk of genetics allows lucky surrogates to carry multiple eggs, to control when they are fertilised, and by whom—but corporations market and sell the offspring. The souls of lost embryos are never wasted; captured in software, they give electronics their voice. Spirits born into the wrong bodies can brave the charged waters of a hidden billabong, and change their fate. Industrious orphans learn to manipulate scientific advances, creating mothers of their own choosing.
From Australia’s near-future all the way back in time to its convict past, these stories spin and sever the ties between parents and children.
http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/products/ebooks/femalefactory#sthash.V6uCVfYA.dpuf
http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/products/ebooks/femalefactory
Lisa Hannett and Angela Slatter
The gods are dead, but will not be forgotten.
When Mymnir flees the devastation of Ragnarok, she hopes to escape all that bound her to ?sgar?r ? a heedless pantheon, a domineering brother, and her neglectful father-master, ??inn. But the white raven, a being of memory and magic, should know that the past is not so easily left behind. No matter how far she flies, she cannot evade her family?
In planting seeds of the old world in the new, Mymnir becomes queen of a land with as many problems as the one she fled. Her long-lived Fae children ignite and fan feuds that span generations; lives are lost and loves won because of their tampering. Told in thirteen parts, Midnight and Moonshine follows the Beaufort and Laveaux families, part-human, part-Fae, as they battle, thrive and survive in Mymnir’s kingdom.
Midnight and Moonshine is a collection of interconnected tales with links between them as light and strong as spider-silk. From fire giants to whispering halls, disappearing children to evening-wolves, fairy hills to bewitched cypress trees, and talking heads to moonshiners of a special sort, Midnight and Moonshine takes readers on a journey from ninth century Vinland to America?s Deep South in the present day. Hannett and Slatter have created a mosaic novel of moments, story-tiles as strange as witchwood and withywindles.
Midnight and Moonshine is a rich tapestry of dark fantasy, fairy tale and speculation.
http://www.indiebooksonline.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=122
*****
Traci Harding
One false step could undo everything the Timekeepers hope to accomplish…
Earth’s ancient past, the future of the planet Kila – the Timekeepers universe of origin, the primordial era when the Nefilim first ruled the galaxy and a timeless universe of utter darkness are all vital periods to advancing human consciousness.
After surviving Ancient Zhou, the Timekeeper’s efforts turn to rescuing Kila from its ill-fated future. But a mishap in the remote mountains of Tibet before departure provides a nemesis with the perfect opportunity to launch a time-hopping vendetta against them. There is no where in this universe to hide.
The discovery of a gate thought to lead to several universes promises more than just the means to undermine their stalker; it offers the chance to remember their lives as the Grigori, who once dwelt with the fallen Elohim in the dark universe beyond the Eternity Gate.
http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-eternity-gate-traci-harding/prod9780732292683.html
Steam clouds rise off the water as a ferry approaches a jetty in ancient China. On board is Hudan, one of the mysterious Wu who reside on the sacred mountain of Li Shan.
The Wu have been living in isolation for decades, while the arrogant Shang emperor and his enchantress have ruled the land. It has been a terrible time for the common people and the noble Ji brothers – Dan and Fa – are keen to bring the emperor’s reign of terror to an end. They are told a Wu prophecy has predicted the fall of the emperor, but first they must journey to Li Shan to learn the truth.
When the Ji brothers join forces with the enigmatic Hudan and her equally mysterious tiger sister, Huxin, they begin a powerful journey of love and adventure.
But the Shang emperor is not their greatest threat. There is a dark curse that has plagued the rulers of the land for generations. The mysterious Sons of the Sky who visit Hudan in her dreams have a plan to destroy it., but can they be trusted?
Dreaming of Zhou Gong is a beautiful, evocative journey through ancient China.
http://www.booktopia.com.au/dreaming-of-zhou-gong-traci-harding/prod9780732292669.html
*****
Narrelle M Harris
Lissa Wilson’s life hasn’t been quite the same since people she cared about started getting themselves killed.
By vampires.
And Lissa learnt that the opposite of life is not always death. On the plus side, she made a new friend.
Gary Hooper may be the worst best-friend a librarian could have – and easily the worst vampire ever – but he has taught Lissa the real meaning of life. Gary’s world view has also improved remarkably since meeting Lissa, but all that could be lost if she discovers what services he provides Melbourne’s undead community.
Meanwhile, as their friendship brings him closer to the humanity he lost, it also puts them both in grave danger.
And there’s a big chance that the evil stalking them could them both killed – in his case, for good this time.
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
David Henley
Fifty years after a second Dark Age has nearly destroyed humankind, the World Union is now confronted with a new threat that doesn’t just challenge their survival but also the nature of life and civilisation itself.
The Hunt for Pierre Jnr is the first book in a trilogy of futurist thrillers that follows the attempts of a powerful world government to track down and kill a telepathic eight-year-old boy.
In Manifestations, a mysterious new threat has been unleashed that destroys an entire city. As tensions with the psis rise and political fortunes shift, the World Union appears perilously close to collapse.
From geopolitical convergence to emergent online super organisms, the future is coming. Henley’s books explore themes of technological evolution, species diversification and takes the ‘all-powerful creepy child’ theme to a scary new level.
*****
Robert Hood
Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead
High fantasy novel
Borgo/Wildside Press
In a land where no stars appear in the night sky, a group of strangers with ancestries reaching back to an earlier apocalyptic disaster come together to track down a resurrected corpse whose very existence portends the End of the World. Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead is an epic tale of greed, dying magic, distorted monstrosities and a motley group of heroes, with a strange and breathless climax you won’t easily forget.
“This is a tale of heroes. It includes all sorts — born of the gods, descended from ancient, magical bloodline, member of a legendary order, reincarnated, last of their tribe and way too intimate with their own sentient weapon — cycling through various degrees of reluctant and unlikely. There is a villain, of course, although he’s thoroughly sick of the whole business; dark gods, giant monsters and an ancient magical artefact. But principally it is a tale of heroes, heroism and what it means to be in such an uncomfortable position.” (Review, Kyla Ward)
http://fragmentsnovel.undeadbackbrain.com/index.php/where-to-buy/
*****
Gerry Huntman
*****
Trent Jamieson
The Memory of Death: Death Works 4
He thought he’d return from Hell a hero. But things are never easy when your business is Death.
Steven de Selby gave up his love, his life, and his lucrative position as Head of Mortmax, the corporation in charge of Death. Then he found himself banished to the briny depths of hell. But hell has never held him before …
Now Steven’s back from hell, after escaping from the cruel Death of the Water, but he’s not sure how or why, or even if. No one at Mortmax trusts him, and he’s running out of time to prove he is who he says he is.
Steven is about to discover that hell really is other people, and the worst of them may well be himself.
http://momentumbooks.com.au/product/the-memory-of-death-death-works-4/
*****
On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock – the men, the women, the children – once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing?Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire and revenge, of loyalty, heartache and human weakness, and of the unforeseen consequences of all-consuming love.
*****
Ryn Lilley
Daniel Rolan is bored. Not your average, everyday kind-of bored. The seriously mind-blowing I’m-stuck-here-at-the-end-of-the-universe-surrounded-by-nerds kind of bored. Living on a space station might sound like an adventure straight out of a science fiction movie, but in reality – as Daniel was discovering day after boring day – it was really, well… mostly boring.
But Daniel will soon come to regret wishing for an action and adventure filled life. One seemingly innocent decision – and a catastrophe he could not have foreseen – is about to change his world forever.
It will set him on a path he never imagined, introduce him to new friends and even aliens he could not have thought up in his wildest dreams. Eventually it will even challenge his notion of where the end of the universe actually is.
Meanwhile, on the alien world of Nomassaii, the larger of the two planets through the Veil, Jacdan would love a bit of boredom. He has far more action and adventure in his life than he’d like. Sentenced to die in the arena, he’s fighting – battle by battle – to survive another day. But it’s one thing to fight for your own life – quite another to discover you are fighting for your little brother’s life, as well.
These alien worlds are about to collide, changing the lives of Daniel and Jacdan forever.
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A133140011%2Cp_27%3ARyn+Lilley
*****
Martin Livings
Andrew Macrae
Twelfth Planet Press
In a post-apocalyptic Australian landscape dominated by free-wheeling cyborgs, a young man goes in search of his lost lover who has been kidnapped by a rogue AI truck – the Brumby King. Along the way, he teams with Sinnerman, an independent truck with its own reasons for hating the Brumby King. Before his final confrontation with the brumbies, he must learn more about the broken-down world and his own place in it, and face his worst fears.
http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/products/ebooks/trucksong-2
*****
Sophie Masson
TRINITY: Book 1, KOLDUN CODE (adult)
I am in a world deeply strange and strangely deep, a world as different from my old life as it’s possible to be, and it feels completely natural.
An unexpected encounter with a handsome stranger in a Russian wood changes the life of 22-year-old traveler Helen Clement forever, catapulting her into a high-stakes world of passion, danger, and mystery. Tested in ways she could never have imagined, she must keep her own integrity in a world where dark forces threaten and ruthlessness and betrayal haunt every day.
Set against a rising tide of magic and the paranormal in a modern Russia where the terrifying past continually leaks into the turbulent present, Trinity is a unique and gripping blend of conspiracy thriller, erotically charged romance and urban fantasy, laced with a murderous dose of company politics. With its roots deep in the fertile soil of Russian myth, legend, and history, it is also a fascinating glimpse into an extraordinary, distinctive country and amazingly rich culture.
The Koldun Code is the first in the Trinity series by Sophie Masson.
Published by Momentum in ebook and paperback formats.
http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/trinity-the-koldun-code-book-1/
A girl in a tower. An underground kingdom. A crystal heart split in two, symbolising true love lost . . .
When Kasper joins the elite guard watching over a dangerous prisoner in a tower, he believes he is protecting his country from a powerful witch.
Until one day he discovers the prisoner is a beautiful princess – Izolda of Night– who is condemned by a prophecy to die on her eighteenth birthday. Kasper decides to help her escape. But their hiding place won’t remain secret forever.
Will they find their happily ever after?
‘A deftly woven tale of warring kingdoms and the redeeming power of love. Another winner from Sophie Masson.’ – Juliet Marillier, author of the Shadowfell series .
Published by Random House Australia in paperback and ebook formats.
*****
Tracie McBride and John Irvine (editors)
An artist’s muse does more than merely inspire…
An idyllic country retreat harbors diabolical dangers…
A simple railway station shopkeeper has a peculiar and sinister talent…
A dolphin-watching tour takes a surreal turn…
These and many other short stories and poems from 17 Antipodean authors will disturb and unsettle. Featuring a foreword from internationally bestselling fantasy author Ian Irvine.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PW2SM92/
http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00PW2SM92/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00PW2SM92/
*****
Kirstyn McDermott
Publisher: Twelfth Planet Press
“Two sisters. One wish. Unimaginable consequences.
Not all fairy tales are for children.
Antoinette and Jacqueline have little in common beyond a mutual antipathy for their paranoid, domineering mother, a bond which has united them since childhood. In the aftermath of a savage betrayal, Antoinette lands on her sister’s doorstep bearing a suitcase and a broken heart.
But Jacqueline, the ambitious would-be manager of a trendy Melbourne art gallery, has her own problems – chasing down a delinquent painter in the sweltering heat of a Brisbane summer. Abandoned, armed with a bottle of vodka and her own grief-spun desires, Antoinette weaves a dark and desperate magic that can never, ever be undone.
Their lives swiftly unravelling, the two sisters find themselves drawn into a tangle of lies, manipulations and the most terrible of family secrets.”
http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/products/novels/perfections
*****
Andrew J McKiernan
The debut collection from multi-award nominated author Andrew J McKiernan brings together 14 of his previously published short stories and novelettes, plus two brand new tales unique to the collection.
Often defying conventions of genre and style, these stories range from fantasy and steampunk to science fiction and horror, but always with an edge sharper than a razor and darker than a night on Neptune.
From the darkly hilarious “All the Clowns in Clowntown” to the heart-breakingly disturbing title story, the collection pulls no punches. Delving deep into what scares us most, McKiernan’s tales are by turns heartfelt and gut-wrenching.
With an Introduction by Will Elliott, Last Year, When We Were Young is a collection of horror and dark fantasy from one of Australia’s finest new authors that should not be missed.
Satalyte Publishing – http://satalyte.com.au/product
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Last-Yea
Book Depository – http://www.bookdepository.com/
*****
Jason Nahrung
http://www.jasonnahrung.com
Publisher: Twelfth Planet Press
Genre: Australian seaside Gothic
Seeking to salvage their foundering marriage, Melanie and Richard retreat to an isolated beach house on a remote Queensland island.
Intrigued by a chance encounter with a stranger, Melanie begins to drift away from her husband and towards Helena, only to discover that Helena has her own demons, ageless and steeped in blood.
As Richard’s world and Helena’s collide, Melanie must choose which future she wants, before the dark tide pulls her under … forever.
Paperback – http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/products/paperbacks/salvage
Digital – http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/products/ebooks/salvage-2
Signed and/or dedicated books and bookplates can be arranged.
*****
Gillian Polack
There are people involved. That’s the first mistake. Scientists were never meant to be part of history. Anything in the past is better studied from the present.
It’s safer.
When a team of Australian scientists – and a lone historian – travel back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305 they discover being impartial, distant and objective just doesn’t work when you’re surroundedby the smells, dust and heat of a foreign land.
They’re only human after all.
But by the time Artemisia is able to convince others that it’s time to worry, it’s already too late.
‘Viscerally powerful, deeply felt, strongly written: Langue[dot]doc 1305 challenges reader expectations of time travel, of ‘Grim-dark’ and of mediaeval life and brings a haunting, authentic voice both to the past and to the struggles facing the present.’
~ Kari Sperring, author of Living With Ghosts
Buy links
http://satalyte.com.au/product/langue-dot-doc-1305-gillian-polack/
http://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=Gillian+Polack&search=Find+book
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/gillian-polack
http://www.fishpond.com.au/q/Gillian+Polack?rid=923010297
“Life was standing still, waiting for Liz to fall into its trap.”
Elizabeth Smith, recently made redundant, thinks that her life is deadly dull. She feels like cellophane like people look right through her, like she’s not even there. A simple redecoration job involving a mirror turns her life upside down.
Through ominous horror and an unexpected romance Liz learns to become a whole person someone who takes up space in the world, and demands to be herself.
Part gentle love story, part bizarre horror tale, but never, ever boring, Ms Cellophane is a revealing look at one woman’s nightmare transforming her reality in unexpectedly amusing ways.
Buy links
http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/ms-cellophane/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/gillian-polack
In 2010 the best-selling book at the world science fiction convention was…unexpected.
Humankind carries the past as invisible baggage. Thirteen brilliant writers explore this, looking at Australia’s cultural baggage through new and often disturbing eyes.
Baggage explores layers and complexities that are oddly Australian. If you think Australian culture is all about surfboards and mateship, you may find Baggage distressing.
What is Australia? What baggage do Australians carry? Pick up this book. Have a read. You know you want to.
“Baggage collects many of the finest voices in Australian speculative fiction. Each author contributes a unique cultural perspective, with stories ranging from the deeply personal to the highly disturbing. Baggage is an anthology not to be missed.”
Shane Jiraya Cummings, OzHorrorScope
“Baggage is a fascinating exploration of Australian issues through characters and situations that feel immediate and real. There’s little in the way of escapism here, but instead much subtlety and nuance, combined with stunning writing. From the incendiary, no-holds-barred ‘Acception’ by Tessa Kum to the quiet power of K.J. Bishop’s ‘Vision Splendid’, and beyond, this anthology tackles difficult and diverse subject matter.”
Jeff VanderMeer, World Fantasy award winner
Buy links
http://www.wildsidebooks.com/POLACK-Gillian_c_4253.html
http://www.fishpond.com.au/q/Gillian+Polack?rid=923010297
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/gillian-polack
http://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=Gillian+Polack&search=Find+book
*****
Scott Robinson
Rawk is one of the great Heroes. He has travelled the world for forty years, hunting exotic creatures, battling magic and fighting evil wherever he found it. But he has been fighting mostly mundane battles since Prince Weaver outlawed magic. And with no great deeds left to be done, Rawk is afraid he’ll soon be the old man in the corner of the tavern, dreaming of the good old days and telling tales for anyone who will buy him a drink.
But when a huge wolden wolf is spied from the walls of Katamood for the first time in a decade, Rawk is the man the city looks to once more. He’ll save them. He always has.
Rawk will fight to ensure the Age of Heroes doesn’t slip away into history, but what if the good old days aren’t quite as good as he remembers?
Links…
Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/492437
Amazon US – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PK18VR8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00PK18VR8&linkCode=as2&tag=wonnevcea02-20&linkId=SWKABPAACKRJQ4UP
Amazon Aus – http://www.amazon.com/Last-Great-Hero-Scott-Robinson-ebook/dp/B00PK18VR8/
*****
Ashlee Scheuerman
*****
Angela Slatter
The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings
Welcome back to the magic and pathos of Angela Slatter’s exquisitely imagined tales.
The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings returns to the world of Sourdough and Other Stories (Tartarus, 2010), introducing readers to the tales that came before. Stories where coffin-makers work hard to keep the dead beneath; where a plague maiden steals away the children of an ungrateful village; where poison girls are schooled in the art of assassination; where pirates disappear from the seas; where families and the ties that bind them can both ruin and resurrect and where books carry forth fairy tales, forbidden knowledge and dangerous secrets.
The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings is enhanced by eighty-six pen-and-ink illustrations by artist Kathleen Jennings.
http://www.tartaruspress.com/bitterwood.htm
Welcome to the beautiful magic, restless passion and exquisite horror of Angela Slatter’s impeccably imagined tales.
In the cathedral-city of Lodellan and its uneasy hinterland, babies are fashioned from bread, dolls are given souls and wishes granted may be soon regretted. There are ghosts who dream, men whose wings have been clipped and trolls who long for something other. Love, loss and life are elegantly dissected in Slatter’s earthy yet poetic prose.
http://www.tartaruspress.com/sourdough.htm
Blurb Black-Winged Angels is a collection of 10 incredible contemporary retellings of fairy tales, and will be available in a limited hardcover edition illustrated by the multiple World Fantasy Award nominated Kathleen Jennings.
The book will appeal to fans of Angela Carter (“The Company of Wolves”) and Emma Donoghue (“Kissing the Witch”).
http://www.indiebooksonline.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/163
*****
HarperVoyager Impulse (HarperCollins Publishers imprint)
RRP $2.99
Thirty-four light years from Earth, the explorer ship Magellan is nearing its objective – the Iota Persei system. But when ship commander Cait Dyson wakes from deepsleep, she finds her co-pilot dead and the ship’s AI unresponsive. Cait works with the rest of her multinational crew to regain control of the ship, until they learn that Earth is facing total environmental collapse and their mission must change if humanity is to survive.
As tensions rise and personal and political agendas play out in the ship’s cramped confines, the crew finally reach the planet Horizon, where everything they know will be challenged.
“Crackling science fiction with gorgeous trans-human and cybernetic trimmings. Keith Stevenson’s debut novel soars.” – Marianne De Pierres, award-winning author of the Parrish Plessis, Sentients of Orion and Peacemaker series
Available for purchase from Amazon, Amazon Australia, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook, Google Play, Bookworld, Angus and Robertson, HarperCollins
Keith Stevenson (editor)
Dimension6 annual collection 2014
published by coeur de lion publishing
Journey beyond the borders of the real with our first annual collection of stories appearing in Dimension6 magazine, with all new stories from some of the best speculative fiction authors working in Australia today including Richard Harland, Dirk Strasser, Jason Nahrung, Alan Baxter, Robert Hood, Cat Sparks, Robert N Stephenson, Steve Cameron and Charlotte Nash.
epub ISBN 978-0-9871587-6-5; Kindle ISBN 978-0-9871587-7-2
epub format: $1.00 (recommended price)
epub available on: Barnes & Noble / Nook | Kobo | ‘Textr | Sainsbury’s | Oyster | Entitle
Kindle format $1.00 (recommended price)
Kindle format available on: Amazon and Amazon Australia
*****
Cameron Trost
Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales
A businessman staying in a Scottish manor makes the mistake of deciding to spend the evening in the library. A group of unpopular teenage girls uses witchcraft to pursue their aims. A rich banking tycoon has forgotten his university days when he and his friends dared to imagine a world ruled by social justice and working class ideals. The estranged family of a deceased aristocrat bicker over their inheritance. A botanist’s love for his plants is unnaturally deep-rooted.
“Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales” is the first short story collection from Cameron Trost. It plunges the reader into a world of mystery, suspense, obsession and greed. From the Scottish highlands and the jagged peaks of the Pyrénées to the streets of Brisbane and the Australian countryside, Cameron Trost provokes the reader by ensnaring recognisable characters in disturbingly plausible situations. His writing seeks to entertain while exploring the absurdities and peculiarities of society and the human mind.
http://blackbeaconbooks.blogspot.com.au/p/shop.html
Cameron Trost (editor)
Subtropical Suspense
Anthology of Suspense and Mystery Tales set in Brisbane
“Cameron Trost has brought together a dark pantry of crime stories and mysteries, and cooked up a gumbo rich and spicy enough to befit any of the world’s sultry cities… but these happen to be set in Brisbane. Sixteen short stories take the reader from Morningside to Indooroopilly, from Hamilton to Acacia Ridge. There is baking sun and flooding rains, police procedurals and criminal capers, murderous mermaids and poison pens… all give a ripple of pleasure to the reader who knows Brisbane – or wants to know it – and who has wondered why stories of murder, malice, and magic couldn’t be set here. And of course, they should be: Brisbane’s shadows are as dark and good to hide in as any in the world – and Subtropical Suspense revels in this.”
– Stephen M. Irwin, author of The Dead Path and screenwriter of Secrets & Lies
http://blackbeaconbooks.blogspot.com.au/p/shop.html
*****
Kaaron Warren
We’re all in pain.
We try to keep the gates closed by falling in love, travelling, avoiding responsibility, getting drunk, taking drugs… anything to lose ourselves. But the dull ache remains in each of us.
These stories are about the gates opening.
http://cohesionpress.com/our-
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*****
Sean Williams
Clair and Jesse have barely been reunited when the world is plunged into its biggest crisis yet … It’s the end of the world as Clair knows it – and it’s partly her fault. A brilliant science-fiction thriller, the second in the Twinmaker trilogy. This edition includes a bonus short story.
Allen & Unwin: http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781743316474
Angus & Robertson: http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/crash-twinmaker-2-sean-williams/p/9781743316474
Booktopia: http://www.booktopia.com.au/crash-sean-williams/prod9781743316474.html
*****
Justin Woolley
Published by Momentum Books
Stranded in the desert, the last of mankind is kept safe by a large border fence… Until the fence falls.
Squid is a young orphan living under the oppressive rule of his uncle in the outskirts of the Territory. Lynn is a headstrong girl with an influential father who has spent her entire life within the walled city of Alice.
When the border fence is breached, the Territory is invaded by the largest horde of undead ghouls seen in two hundred years. Squid is soon conscripted into the Diggers – the armed forces of the Territory. And after Lynn finds herself at odds with the Territory’s powerful church, she too escapes to join the Diggers.
Together Squid and Lynn form an unlikely friendship as they march to battle against the ghouls. Their journey will take them further than they ever imagined, leading them closer to discovering secrets about themselves, their world, and a conspiracy that may spell the end of the Territory as they know it.
Available as an ebook everywhere: http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/a-town-called-dust/
*****
A. K. Wrox
Arrabella Candellarbra & The Questy Thing to End All Questy Things
Arrabella Candellarbra is like no one you’ve ever met before; even though her questy thing is the stuff of legend.
Arrabella, a beautiful, flaxen-haired maiden trained in all things warrior-like by The Reginas – the most famous warriors of all – embarks on a quest to claim her birthright and to wield the power of all the lands.
Nothing could possibly go wrong on a quest like this, could it?
Until, that is, Arrabella joins forces with Lord Langley Kilkenny – the perfect specimen of manliness; icicle-bearded Gary – the wisest of all Wizards; and Prince Jim – the very-fey fairy Regent.
The Four Adventurers soon find themselves pitted against the Evil Betty-Sue – the meanest of evil beings in all of the lands – and her scary minions: the Saw-Toothed Bunnies, the Viscous Tongued Frogs and the Barella Monkeys – to rescue The Reginas from… something!
Arrabella Candellarbra and the Questy Thing to End All Questy Things, a fairy tale for grown-ups, features love and lust, action and inaction, battles, incantations, sexual shenanigans and high-kicking sing-a-longs.
And it promises that all those epic questy things will never be the same again.
http://clandestinepress.com.au/books/sci-fi-fantasy
*****
Marty Young
Fourteen year old Byron James wishes he’d never been dragged to Parkton.
It’s a crazy sideshow of a town in the middle of damn nowhere, and he’s stranded there. To make matters worse, his two new friends – his only friends – turn out to be class rejects with an unhealthy interest in monsters. They want to discover the truth to the infamous monster house at number 809 Jacob Street.
Joey Blue is an old bluesman who fell into his songs and couldn’t find his way out again. Now he’s a Gutterbreed, one of the slinking shifting shadows haunting the town’s alleys. When an old dead friend comes begging for help, Joey’s world is torn apart. He is forced to stare down the man he has become in order to rescue the man he once was – and there is only one place he can do that.
The house on Jacob Street calls to them all, but what will they find when they open its door?
http://blackbeaconbooks.blogspot.com.au/p/shop.html
*****