In The Bone Chime Song & Other Stories, Joanne Anderton explores the darkness and the beauty of humans caught on the fringes and pushed to the very edge of the abyss. Enter worlds where terrible secrets are hidden in a wind chime's song, where crippled witches forge magic from scrap, and the beautiful dead dance for eternity. With deities built from circuits and wires, sacrificial drought-ridden towns, and artists who dabble in bone and decay, every story plots a course from the gothic to the fantastic and winds its way back again. Whether charting bleak futures or delving into the darkest of horrors, Anderton's extraordinary talent weaves magic into every tale, presenting stories guaranteed to draw you in-and never let you go. Winner of both The Australian Shadows Award and Aurealis Award for best collection, The Bone Chime Song & Other Stories returns to entice a new generation of readers.
From the World Fantasy Award-winning author Helen Marshall comes a collection of critical writing focused on the evolution of writing, horror, and the weird tale. Within this volume you'll find an interrogation of the radical poetics of M. John Harrison's Worldbuilding, deep dives into the works of Stephen King and Kelly Link, and a meditation on the need for new and evolving language to describe weird times. You'll also find Marshall's extraordinary story, Survival Strategies, accompanied by an extended commentary that unearths its hidden depths and utilization of the uncanny. Insightful, dangerous, and incredibly precise, Tomorrow's Language shows us Dr Helen Marshall's critical work on horror and writing craft are just as unsettling, startling, and viscerally engaging as her best work as a fiction writer.
Fiction writers are taught to show, not tell. In each Short Fiction Lab, award winning short fiction writer Peter M. Ball takes one of his own stories and explores an aspect of the writing craft in the accompanying essay. In this introductory Primer to the Short Fiction Lab series, Ball presents four short tales for lovers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.Upon Discovering of A Ghost in the Five Star: There's a ghost in the Five Star Laundromat. The worst thing you can do is accept her balloon when she tries to give it to you. Nick's interest in the dead girl is causing problems with his boyfriend... but he isn't sure he's ready to give her up just yet.Counting Down: Phil thinks he can catch a bullet as a party trick, but he needs someone to pull the trigger. Mattie isn't sure he's got what it takes to fire the antique Luger at his friend, but he's also caught a glimpse of the bats living inside Phil's skull and knows what it means if they get out.The Place Beyond the Brambles: The women who emerge from the land beyond the brambles are always strange and always beautiful. They're also prone to returning home, long before the men who marry them hope they will depart. Ethan's wife has done exactly that, leaving behind a daughter and memories that only Ethan can recall.The Things You Do When The War Breaks Out: Henry and his dad are going to the moon for a holiday. The dinosaurs who occupy the dark side of the moon are no longer content to share it with humanity. When war breaks out and the moon is evacuated, Henry's father sees an opportunity to resolve some old grudges.In the accompanying essay, Here Comes The Boom, Peter M. Ball takes on the question all writers seem to shirk: where do you get your ideas from? He takes readers through the inspiration behind each of these short tales and breaks down why a great idea is often the least important tool in the writer's arsenal.
From the award-winning Angela Slatter, author of The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, All The Murmuring Bones, and The Path of Thorns, comes a collection of twelve short stories showcasing the scope of her extraordinary talent.Throughout The Wrong Girl and Other Warnings, Slatter shows us that 'innocent' should never be mistaken for 'safe', while spinning tales of witches, Victorian-era detectives, bad parents, unrepentant killers, and ancient wisdom.In A Matter Of Light, detective Kit Casswell is called upon to lend her experience with the supernatural to a very unwilling consulting detective. In Widows' Walk, a quartet of witches band together in a single house, secretly working to protect young women. In the titular tale, The Wrong Girl, a frustrated artist turns the romance of her fickle friend and tiresome sister into a deadly masterpiece.Wry, savage, and written with the precision of a writer at the top of her game, The Wrong Girl and Other Warnings is a gift to those who already love Slatter's fiction and those discovering her exquisite stories for the first time.
A young girl trapped by generational trauma and an unexpected pregnancy struggles to realise her dreams in the final volume of Mag Vann's InSecurity Triptych.In 1987, baby Marlene witnesses her father mutilated in a Port Moresby compound invasion, giving rise to a deep psychological scar and a powerful family secret.In 2012, Marlene finds her perfect match in awkward hacker Andy, an American running from his past and desperate for a visa. Their relationship survives on necessity and petty scams, but visa troubles and an unplanned pregnancy threaten their budding engagement.With Marlene's family watching and struggling to support their daughter, Andy suggests a daring con that could set them up for life. Marlene will sell others out to achieve her dream, but she's about to learn everyone has secrets and Andy's are darker than most.Could achieving her dream life come with a price tag even Marlene is unwilling to pay?For fans of Claire Mackintosh, CL Taylor, and Gillian Flynn, Crawlspace is the third book in the InSecurity Triptych - fast-paced and provocative psychological thrillers you can read in a single sitting.
Art and ambition meet sublime moments of dread in Matthew R. Davis' Bites Eyes, a collection of sinister and terrifying vignettes from the award-winning author and rising star of Australian horror.Within, you'll find ghosts celebrating heartbreaking holidays, deadly music that spells death for any who hear it, unsettling children who take extraordinary steps, lethal butchers lurking in plain sight, ancient evils, and much more. Collected together for the first time, these thirteen macabre morsels offer a taste of the terrifying, the sinister, the dangerous, and the disturbed. Every bite's a pleasure, yet comes with a delectable thrill of fear.
"We lived in a world that did not allow women to breathe; how could we be anything but monsters?"Tansy Rayner Roberts retells the stories of seven women from Greek mythology, giving voice to the scorned, the sidelined, and the monstrous. A young gorgon finds acceptance at the Medusa Club. Atalanta spills the truth behind the myth of the Argonauts. Scylla suffers through a series of terrible college roommates. Handmaids in Sparta get more than they bargained for when they interfere in their queen's correspondence with a Trojan prince. A comparative mythology graduate finds herself at a speed-dating night packed with dodgy gods. Behind a velvet rope, a queenly Minotaur presides over a roller disco. Persephone shares her story via a series of pomegranate recipes. Deliciously mythic and delightfully funny, Gorgons Deserve Nice Things delivers new takes on ancient stories, reinvigorating them with modern perspectives and settings. Showcasing the craft and insight that made her one of Australia's most beloved short fiction writers, this collection sees Roberts at her wry, subversive best.
"Your career is unlikely to be a constant stream of hits, accolades, festival circuits - and that''s kind of good, because if you''re constantly on-the-road, it''s hard to write and create."In these essays, Angela Slatter - the celebrated author of the Sourdough stories, the Verity Fassbinder series, and (as A.G. Slatter) All The Murmuring Bones - tackles just what it takes to sustain a writing career after your book has launched.Building on years of blog posts, keynotes, and articles, What To Do When You Don''t Have A Book Coming Out explores ways you stay visible and sustain a writing career, with advice on doing public readings, applying for grants, engaging with your community, and surviving the fallow periods when the next release seems very distantWhether you''re a new writer trying to plot out your career, or an existing fan of Slatter''s writing looking for yet more sage advice, this chapbook provides a second look at the philosophy and processes behind one of Australia''s most acclaimed writers of fantasy and horror.
A chapbook edition of the Aurealis Award Winning horror novella, Burnt Sugar, which explores what happens to Gretel after the witch is defeated and the fairy tale is over.
Hitman Keith Murphy is on the run after a botched job. He’s bodypacking a magic bullet, fleeing an apocalyptic cult of necromancers, and wishing like hell his partner Danny Roark hadn’t chosen to go AWOL. Flying solo, Keith’s left with a single plan that might keep him alive: return to the Gold Coast and do his best to lie low.Keith’s not been home for sixteen years, but nobody’s pleased to see him. His ex-boss Sabbath wants to torture Keith for leaving, his ex-girlfriend is running the club where local demons and fey trade in dark desires, and his best friend is threatening to break Keith’s kneecaps just for crossing the city limits.When a cult sorcerer tracks him down, Keith’s forced to cut a desperate deal that buys him a little time—he’ll trade his skills as a killer for six months of sanctuary. Problem is, Keith doesn’t work alone, and he’s always let Danny Roark handle the magic.That means going up against dangerous sorcerers and demons with nothing but guns, gumption, and any reluctant allies Keith can scrape together to back him up.
A collection of twelve science fiction stories featuring giant monsters, Lovecraftian horrors, clockwork cyberpunks, and more. Finalist for Best Collection the 2018 Aurealis Awards celebrating the year's best Australian speculative fiction.
A chapbook collection of essays, speeches, and workshops from the Shirley Jackson award-winning author of horror hits like Slights,
Angela Slatter''s No Good Deed is a dark fantasy tale of magic, ghosts, and marriage set in her World Fantasy Award-winning Sourdough universe.Isobel assumed her wedding would be the grandest day of her life, but when she wakes in a ghost-filled tomb still wearing her bridal veil, it''s clear events have taken an unexpected turn.With the assistance of a vengeful spirit Isobel escapes her imprisonment, but her new husband Adolphus will not be pleased to discover his wife is alive. As Isobel comes to understand her husband''s darkest secret, the newlyweds begin a deadly dance that only one will survive. This chapbook presents a stand-alone Sourdough story that does not appear in any of the three mosaic collections devoted to Slatter''s world of myth and magic, plus a chronology for all the publications that have appeared thus far.
"I''m not going to lie to you. There are no secret handshakes or rules that will get you on your particular dream-path. If there was, we''d all be on our own already. If you want to be a successful writer, be prepared to have to make up most of it as you go along."In these essays, Sean Williams-the best-selling author of over 120 short stories and fifty novels-shares his thoughts on the aspects of writing craft and the publishing business that young authors should know.Drawn from essays, keynotes, and presentations delivered over a decades-long career, Eyes on the Stars: Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy features Williams'' thoughts on balancing passion and professionalism, understanding the new writer''s career path, embracing the delicate art of writing media tie-ins, and reaching for the stars with your writerly ambitions.Whether you''re looking for writing advice from one of the preeminent writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy working in Australia today, or you''re a fan of Williams'' work who''d like to capture a slice of his creative philosophies, this chapbook is chock full of advice from a veteran of the Australian genre scene.
Sixteen blunt and unconventional essays about writing and the writing business from the former manager of the Australian Writer's Marketplace.
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