Click on book covers for reviews, previews and purchase options.
RealmShift
A race against time and the Devil
"RealmShift is phenomenal. If it’s not already on your bookshelf it should be."
MageSign
Believe in the blood 
"a gritty tale of blood rituals, mystery, and mysticism… grabs hold of the reader and doesn’t let go"
The Darkest Shade Of Grey
You can tell the story.
"...stunning supernatural noir..."
Ghost Of The Black
"Everything about it is bang on"
Write The Fight Right
“The best way for a writer to learn what’s really involved in brawling, short of going down the pub and starting something.”
Kim Westwood is a writer with a rare, light touch. The Courier’s New Bicycle is her second novel. I haven’t read her first, The Daughters of Moab, so this is my first foray into Westwood’s long fiction, though I have enjoyed her short stories in the past. This book is the story of gender...
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I read this at Locus Online today: John Joseph Adams, editor of Fantasy and Lightspeed, has purchased both magazines from Prime books. Adams will become the official publisher in January 2012. He took over as editor for Fantasy magazine earlier this year, and has edited Lightspeed since its June 2010 debut. Fantasy magazine was...
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I’m very proud that my short story, Trawling The Void, is going to be published in Midnight Echo, #6. For one thing, Midnight Echo is one of Australia’s premier fiction magazines, and the official magazine of the Australian Horror Writers’ Association. Issue 6 is a sci-fi horror special, and while I usually write dark...
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I’m very proud to have a story in this fantastic anthology from editor extraordinaire Keith Stevenson. Here’s the blurb: Twenty-nine all new science fiction stories of humanity’s adventures out there, anywhere but Earth. Featuring original works by Margo Lanagan, Sean McMullen, Richard Harland and Kim Westwood among a galaxy of new and established Australian...
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Look what I’ve got in my clammy little hand. My contributor’s copy of the Hope anthology arrived today and it’s a fine looking book. I’ve talked about this here before, but I’m talking about it again. Mainly because this is something that needs talking about. Hope is not just a great anthology of speculative...
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On Saturday 5th November, authors, editors, publishers, critics, film-makers and readers from all over Australia are converging on the NSW Writers Centre for a day spent celebrating Speculative Fiction. I’ll be there, taking part in a panel and also reading from my story, Unexpected Launch, as part of the official launch of the Anywhere...
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Literary Mix Tapes is an imprint of eMergent Publishing. They have a pretty cool concept: Anthologies of speculative fiction, based around music, all edited by the incomparable Jodi Cleghorn. If you recognise that name, it’s because I talked about her recently with her work on the 100 Stories For Queensland anthology that featured my...
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The Hope anthology from Kayelle Press is launching globally this weekend. It’s a great book, for a great cause. My story, Duty and Sacrifice, is included, along with a number of other excellent stories by some seriously talented authors, interspersed with articles and essays on suicide awareness. Profits from the book are going to...
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I’m supposed to be on holiday for the rest of this week, but I just wanted to post a quick report on Conflux 7, which happened this past long weekend. Conflux is the Canberra-based annual Fantasy and Science Fiction convention, and it holds a special place in my heart. I love the vibe of...
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This is just brilliant. It’s a fantastic bit of faux trailer-making in its own right, but it’s also a brilliant concept. I so wish this was actually the case. It really is the only thing that would make any sense in an ideal world. Sadly, what really happened is that George Lucas disappeared up...
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My dark fantasy/urban horror short story, Dream Shadow, is going to be in the new CSFG Publishing anthology, Winds Of Change. The antho is launching at Conflux over the October long weekend. In the meantime, here’s a little teaser for it in the form of a book trailer: .
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The Oscars of the SF world, the Hugos, are awarded at Worldcon every year. They’ve just been announced for 2011 at Renovation in Reno, Nevada. The winners of the 2011 Hugo Awards are: BEST NOVEL: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra) BEST NOVELLA: The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean) BEST...
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Nicole Murphy has collected a fantastic array of links to keep you busy all week. The August Australian Spec Fic blog carnival is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen. So big it’s in two parts. Part the first is here. Part the second is here. Enjoy and share! .
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This is an interesting list. I saw it retweeted by Neil Gaiman on Twitter, and his words were wise: “Don’t worry about the numbers, just read the books.” I couldn’t agree more. More than 60,000 ballots were cast in the NPR annual summer reader’s survey. Below is a list of the top 100 winners....
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I blogged about this recently and I’ve already got slack with it. I haven’t managed to read a short story every day, but I have managed most days. Here are the things I’ve read this past week or two: Freefall by Eric James Stone, from Daily Science Fiction. This was a very powerful piece...
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Welcome to the website of author Alan Baxter.
I write dark fantasy, sci fi and horror, ride a motorcycle and love my dog. I also teach Kung Fu, hence the Warrior Scribe tag above. A friend once referred to me that way and I liked it, so it stuck. Learn all about me and my work by clicking About Alan just below the header.
Our world is built on language and storytelling. Without stories, we are nothing.
The Word is a place to learn more about me, my stories and the words of others. Click the links along the top for all kinds of stuff, search the sidebars for loads of other stuff, click on book covers for reviews and previews, enjoy the blog and don't be shy to share your words, in comments or send me an email:
alan [at]alanbaxteronline[dot]com
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