I’m delighted to be able to share with you the cover of Aiki Flinthart’s new anthology. Here are the details and the line up of writers.

 

Relics, Wrecks and Ruins

Edited by Aiki Flinthart

Publication date 31/1/2021

Futures and Pasts, Fearless and Frightening.

This is a must-read collection for all fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. A celebration of legacy and endurance.

• Bizarre remains of a lost civilisation emerge from the ice.
• The ghosts of a drowned town wait to be awakened.
• A witch with a dragon problem.
• What Elvis will do to protect his fellow artists from annihilation.
• An ancient spaceship carries the last, fragmented memories of Earth.
• Broken souls of the dead are passed on to the new-born

These and many more tales showcase the hopes, remnants, and fears of humanity.

Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Aiki Flinthart reached out for works from as many of her favourite authors as would answer the call. And many did.

Between these pages you’ll find stories by some of the world’s best science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers. Find new favourite authors and re-join old friends.

Their 24 fabulous works are threads woven with a sure hand into a tapestry of the weird, the worrying, and the wonderful that make up mankind.

Grab a copy of Relics, Wrecks, and Ruins today. You’ll also help fund a mentorship for emerging authors.

Reviews:

“The deep messages of this anthology make the very bones hum. Taloned onto the page by resistance and vision, these stories invite us to witness how sacrifice crafts wisdom, and how wisdom opens doors for the next generation.” —L.E. Daniels, author of Serpent’s Wake: A Tale for the Bitten

Regardless of their origin, relics, wrecks, and ruins have one thing in common: endurance. They resist entropy. They remain—compasses, warnings, tenacious obelisks—and as such, they are among the wisest of teachers. Through the glittering lens of speculative fiction, the stories of this anthology call us to imagine and become more than we once thought we were. We are invited to explore beyond ourselves and surpass those who tell us what our limits are. Of all the literary traditions, speculative fiction creates a space where our collective future is born. Relics, Wrecks, and Ruins is the articulation of the generous contributions of our contemporary masters, in support of the Flinthart Residency and the next wave of emerging writers. True to their mission, these stories push back against boundaries as they take us light years away, plunge toward the sea floor, and turn time and space elastic. Let yourself be drawn in by these celebrated voices. Listen closely for what resonates within.–L.E. Daniels, author of Serpent’s Wake: A Tale for the Bitten and Winning Short Story Competitions: Essential Tools for the Serious Writer

 “Rich, varied, and bittersweet, this anthology is a fitting and triumphant salute to Aiki Flinthart’s dauntless spirit and irrepressible moxie” – Geneve Flynn, co-editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women

“Relics, Wrecks & Ruins is a priceless assortment of fantasy, science fiction and cross-genre stories. As with any anthology there are stories unique to each reader, tales that stay with you. As you ponder empaths, scientists, witches, historians, celebrities…you’ll know to love and fear the disquieting emblems of history, truth and reality in Relics, Wrecks & Ruins”-– Eugen Bacon, Aurealis Magazine, Feb 2021

The Echo of Love by Marianne de Pierres – a rather obnoxious human expert is asked by the space station management to interview a strange casket that may contain an alien. A story that mixes understanding of language, love with something eerie building to a memorable finale. A lovely puzzle of of a tale for the reader to solve. Runnalong the Shelves.

LINKS

Preorder or Buy universal link: https://books2read.com/Relics

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56367714-relics-wrecks-ruins

Website: www.aikiflinthart.com

 

AUTHORS

Full Author list: Neil Gaiman, Ken Liu, Juliet Marillier, Angela Slatter, Jan-Andrew (JA) Henderson, Garth Nix, Pamela Jeffs, Marianne de Pierres, Jasper Fforde, Mary Robinette Kowal, James (SA) Corey, Lee Murray, Sebastien de Castell, Ian Irvine, Robert Silverberg, Mark Lawrence, Kate Forsyth, Kylie Chan, Cat Sparks, David Farland, Jack Dann, Dirk Flinthart, Alison Goodman, Aiki Flinthart

 

 

Reviewed by Jamie Marriage

It’s a challenge to compress action and story into short fiction; but Downside Girls by Jaine Fenn has both in spades.

A collection of four stories, Downside Girls carries the narrative of four separate female protagonists living very different lives that are somehow intertwined by the Angels that soar above them all. Not Angels in the traditional sense – there are no feathered wings to be found, nor are they embodiments of peace.  In Fenn’s Cyberpunk dystopia, Angels are young women enhanced with lethal weaponry used as a form of corruption control overseen by the citizens of the City for removing public figures when the public has had enough of their abuse.

The first three tales are heavily linked in their content and atmosphere. Each is concerned with the actions of the Angels and their relationship to the city, either primarily in the case of the Collateral Damage, or in a secondary capacity as with Death on Elsewhere Street and Angel Dust. Violence pervades these initial tales, each drop of blood spilt, a vital scratch of the pen in making this world whole. The other element that binds these first three pieces together is the feeling of survival; the characters are real in their emotions  and their relationship to the world around them. This new Earth is as dangerous and cunning as the old one, and as a result the fight for survival is just as vicious.

The fourth tale is very different from the rest; which is odd in itself because it takes place in the same world, with the same
overall influences, but at the same time inhabits a completely different emotional state.

This fourth piece, The Three Temptations of Larnia Mier, is a haunting gaze into the mind of a woman placing faith above all aspects of a world that has already passed her by, even if that means giving up the one thing that she treasures.

Downside Girls is a great little book that can be read straight through in a couple of hours, or paced over one tale at a time. Whichever way it’s tackled, Fenn has produced a collection well worth picking up.

BIO:

Jaine Fenn is a British science fiction author. Fenn studied Linguistics and Astronomy at the University of Hertfordshire, where she became the president of PSiFA from 1984-1985.

Some news on the comic front!

As of next month issue 1 of Peacemaker will no longer be on special at .99c AUD and will now cost $3.99 AUD.

The good news is that for your money you will also get the short story (approximately 5k words) that the character  is based on and a bunch of concept art from Brigitte Sutherland, along with her commentary, as part of the new price. Although the comic follows a different story line from the original short story, you can see the development of Virgin’s character and the heavy influences of the Australian Outback and spiritual weirdness. Brigitte’s commentary also gives some sneak peaks into my novel in progress.

Issue 2 is in the pipeline and will be double the size of issue 1. It will follow the same pattern of a reduced price initially, and then a package deal with extras when the price increases.

For anyone who has already purchased the comic and would like the short story and concept art extra as well, you can email me via this website and I will arrange it for the price of .99c AUD.

N.B. Many thanks to Tehani Wessely at Fablecroft for making the short story pdf available for me. The story was originally published as “Gin Jackson: Neophyte Ranger” in AGOG Smashing Stories, Cat Sparks (ed.), AGOG! Press, 2004, and later reprinted  as Virgin Jackson in Australas Imaginarium, a Fablecroft publication. Australis Imaginarium is still available for purchase and is full of terrific stories.