B Cubed Press’s fundraising anthology Oz is Burning has been released, just a little behind its original timing to coincide with the NZ Worldcon! B Cubed commissioned the stories as a response to the devastating bushfires of February 2020 (how long ago that seems now) and a portion of the proceeds will be going to…
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Lockdown Fiction: Chrysalis
My mind is definitely taking a lot of apocalyptic turns when I write to the Improbable Press prompts – but then I try to make them less grim. I’m not too sure which one this story is. Pop over to Improbable Press to read what others have done and to try out your own prompted…
Read moreLockdown Fiction: Connectivity
Inspired by an Improbable Press prompt! Connectivity I know better. Of course I do. But broke, living in my car, and denied the necessary freedom of internet access for the sixth day running prove too much for my caution. I have job applications to lodge, even with my small hope of success, and no data…
Read moreLockdown Fiction: The Thing with Feathers
Today’s story was prompted by Improbable Press. The Thing with Feathers* It’s a con job, this planetfall. We can see the planet through the viewports of course, all shrouded in cloud, and beneath, glimpses of mountains and valleys, and long green plains. Snow-capped poles and blue oceans that look like they’ll team with life. Safe,…
Read moreLockdown Fiction: Ink Black
During this time of social isolation, I’m going to try writing a few extra stories to share. This one is actually a response to a writing prompt posted on Improbable Press using the words black water, buzz buzz, Martian and boardwalk, and it’s on that page with some other great responses. Future lockdown stories will…
Read moreNew short story: Earworm Armageddon
I don’t often write SF, but my recent foray into the genre, Earworm Armageddon (about an aurally led subjugation of the Earth, with deaf protagonists fighting the good fight) has been published in Jay Henge’s Wavelengths anthology. Sometimes communication is not as straightforward as we might expect. From body language to Morse code, conveying messages…
Read moreReview: Langue [dot] doc 1305 by Gillian Polack
One of the things I enjoy most about Gillian Polack’s books, besides their quirky sense of humour, is how wonderfully she explores the everyday and the ordinary, giving them texture and depth so that they’re not ordinary or mundane at all. In Langue [dot] doc 1305 Polack marries her deep knowledge as a Medievalist to…
Read moreReview: Defying Doomsday edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench
My June of Happy Reading continues! And it’s worth noting that Happy Books are not only found in the zhuzh of magic-infused Regency romances by Emily Larkin, the deeply satisfying verve of Fake Geek Girl or the delight in the release of books I loved. Happy June reading also resides in collections of amazing SF…
Read moreReview: And Then… Volume 1
I do love an adventure story. I love them even more when they feature two people adventuring together. They don’t have to be two human people – just two beings having mutual adventures is very much my jam. It’s the main appeal of the Sherlock Holmes stories for me, and it’s the reason I was…
Read moreReview: Caution: Contains Small Parts by Kirstyn McDermott (AWW Challenge #11)
The 12 Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press continues to deliver brilliant stories from amazing women writers. (Yes, I know I have a book in that collection. Please excuse the hubris. The company I share in this series makes me giddy with glee!) Kirstyn McDermott’s Caution: Contains Small Parts, the ninth in the series, is…
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