New Release by Skyla Dawn Cameron!

 

Watcher of the Woods

SF Canada member Skyla Dawn Cameron has a new standalone novel release!

After eighteen months staying home under rolling pandemic lockdowns with her girlfriend Joy, artist Thea Palmer has decided the strained relationship has run its course and she’s ready to end it—right after the stress of her birthday has passed.

Unfortunately, her surprise party comes with a special gift from Joy that puts the breakup on hold: a week-long cabin rental in the tiny northern Ontario community of Hope Falls, for just the two of them.

No phone.

No internet.

No contact with the outside world.

Joy says it’ll give them the perfect chance to reconnect and maybe restore Thea’s creativity after pandemic stress wearing down her desire to paint. But the cabin creaks at night under invisible steps, and the woods have trees that seem to shift in the corner of her eye. Thea swears she sees a strange white figure on the lake beckoning to her and an empty boat that drifts by in the early morning mist.

And Joy…Joy seems to be someone else entirely

 

Kindle – Kobo – iBooks – Nook – Payhip – Paperback – Hardcover

Hardcover Gift Box – Paperback Gift Box

 

All About Skyla

 

Skyla Dawn Cameron has been writing approximately forever.

Her early storytelling days were spent acting out strange horror/fairy tales with the help of her many dolls, and little has changed except that she now keeps those stories on paper. She signed her first book contract at age twenty-one for River, a unique werewolf tale, which was released to critical and reader praise alike and won her the 2007 EPPIE Award for Best Fantasy. She now has multiple series on the go to keep her busy.

In the name of research, she has planned–but not taken–extensive trips all over the world, learned to pick locks, watched dozens of hours of surgeries, and has undergone private investigator training. Her internet search terms have likely put her on numerous government watchlists, but she swears she is not actively trying to murder anyone other than her characters. Really.

Skyla is a fifth-generation crazy cat lady who lives in southern Ontario, where she writes a lot of books, works as a freelance designer, embroiders swear words onto fabric, and plays video games.

You can visit her on the web at www.skyladawncameron.com. When she’s not writing or being glared at by cats, she’s probably on Twitter–you should ping @skyladawn and tell her to get back to work. You can sign up for her newsletter at www.skyladawncameron.com/newsletter and support her work by becoming a Patron of Snark where she serializes exclusive books, offers excerpts of WIPs, and runs weekly write-ins.

New Release by JE Solo!

SF Canada member JE Solo has a new collection out! Step into a world of hauntingly beautiful stories with Nature, Human, a new collection by the award-winning author, JE Solo. Nature, Human transports the reader into near and far-flung futures, and examines the fragile and often dysfunctional connections we have with the natural world. In JE’s direct and energetic style, Nature, Human contemplates the magical in the everyday while delivering unexpected twists and poignant moments that are sure to leave a lasting impression. While exploring complex themes of loneliness, separation, alienation, and despair, these ten unique stories consider how our decisions regarding nature impact the individual. Whether you’re a long-time fan of JE Solo’s work or a newcomer to their writing, this thought-provoking and imaginative collection delivers a richly rewarding reading experience that is sure to captivate and inspire.

There is a text-only version, and a special illustrated edition, so check out the publisher’s post for all of the details! https://houseofzolo.com/nature-human/

 

All about JE Solo!

JE Solo is a writer, performance and media artist, and musician best known for their work in East Coast music, and as a trailblazer in machinima, hybrid-reality, and live and networked performance art. JE’s first novel, Phreak (House of Zolo, 2020), was short-listed for the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2017 Fresh Fish Award, and is the Write Project’s 2020 Book of the Year. In 2022 JE released three short stories with Edge; and JE’s ten story collection, Nature, Human was published in February 2023 by House of Zolo. Currently, JE is working on presenting their latest short stories inside of Virtual Reality spaces, and collaborating with Artificial Intelligence to create poetry and artwork.

JE is the recipient of the Media Arts Prize and the Dramatic Script Prize from the NL Arts and Letters Awards; the Linda Joy Award from the Atlantic Film Festival for their screenplay, the machine; a Lifetime Membership Award from MusicNL; and the East Coast Music Association’s Stompin’ Tom Connors Award for their accomplishments in music. Dozens of JE’s stage plays, videos and performance art works have been presented across Canada and around the world including at ISEAFile Electronic Language International FestivalThe IOTA InstituteWomxn From the FutureCourts CritiquesFestival of New DanceResource Centre for the Arts, and the 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art. JE has released nine studio albums and EPs as a solo artist and with The Sauce (2013 – present); TrixXxie (2013 – 2017); Lizband (1993 – 2013 ); The Black Bags (2002 – 2015); Live Girls (2,000 – 2002).

JE is a member of Science Fiction CanadaScience Fiction and Fantasy Authors of America, and the Writer’s Alliance of NL. See jesolo.ca and lizsolo.com

Forgotten Lore anthology now out!

Two SF Canada members have contributed stories to the Forgotten Lore anthology, published by Poise and Pen Publishing! The anthology came about through a group of writers on Discord and is priced as inexpensively as possible–the ebook is free, and all proceeds from the print version go to the Fauna Foundation, an animal sanctuary.

Forbidden magic, half-remembered Gods, the secrets to immortality, final outposts, bloody vengeance and fantastical creatures all abound in these stories. The story by M.L.D. Curelas, President of SF Canada, is “Nickel-Plated Demon”, a hard-boiled urban fantasy. SF Canada member Krista D. Ball has also contributed one of her speculative fiction works.

Forgotten Lore is available through Kobo, Nook, and BookFunnel, and Amazon. Pick up a print copy today and help support this worthy foundation which provides permanent protection for chimpanzees, monkeys and neglected, abused farm and domestic animals from the use and abuse our culture previously inflicted upon them as tools for medical research and education, objects of private ownership, sources of food, and forced entertainment.

The Antunite Chronicles trilogy by Terry Birdgenaw wins Firebird Book Awards!

SF Canada member Terry Birdgenaw never intended to write fiction, but COVID-19 stay-at-home orders created a perfect storm of motivation and opportunity. He enjoyed writing fiction so much that he created a trilogy, and the trilogy is now award winning!

 Antuna’s Story, Firebird’s first place winner for New Fiction, follows the lives of Earth insects transported through a wormhole to a far-off planet called Poo-ponic. Young Antuna encouraged the settlers to work together, but hexs later, conflicts resumed. Despite her convictions, Antuna could not save herself or her diverse friends from the devastation of war. Yet her legacy of Antunite insectism endured.

 The Rise and Fall of Antocracy, Firebird winner for Young Adult Fiction, is an Animal Farm-like story that tracks the insects’ evolution to cyborg insects, the growth and decline of a fledgling democracy, and the destruction of life on the planet caused by a long-ignored climate crisis. It also follows the utopian society created by a group of cyborg insects that escape to Poo-ponic’s moon, Bilaluna, before the planet’s  fragile atmosphere collapses.

The rulers in Firebird’s winner for Dystopian Fiction, Antunites Unite, create an Orwellian society that uses histrionics, bionics, and socionics to subjugate its citizens. An allegorical dystopian tale like 1984, it’s a brave new world out of this world, where freedom-loving spies from the nearby moon, Bilaluna, infiltrate the colony and start a revolution.

Although Birdgenaw riddles the novels with details about insect behavior, he is not an entomologist. Yet his Ph.D. studies in neuroscience and psychology allow him to understand human behavior and what makes autocrats tick. Insect and human behavior are quite similar, as both work together to enhance survival and fight those seen as different. Humans have the same core motivations as their tiny neighbors underfoot.

Find the trilogy here, and find Terry at TerryBirdgenaw.WordPress.com

Lost Souls by Noah Chinn now out!

SF Canada member Noah Chinn recently released his first SF novel, expanding beyond his fantasy and mystery oeuvre!

Lost Souls is a fun adventure/comedy involving a cranky pilot, a snarky ship computer, and a stowaway with a memory like swiss cheese.

Maurice “Moss” Foote used to be somebody. Then nobody. Then somebody again, for a while. Now he’s back to square one, using his last hundred credits to try and get back his old ship and start over. Again.

Hel doesn’t have a last name. Or maybe she does. She was born a slave. Or maybe she wasn’t. It’s all rather confusing to her, just like the strange compulsion that has her trying to build… something out of spare ship parts in the junkyard she calls home.

When she sees an opportunity to escape on board a rebuilt transport, she takes it, not realizing what she’s getting herself into. All she knows is the answers she’s looking for are on board that ship. Or maybe they’re inside her head.

Roy “Hellno” Herzog left the Silver Legion in favour of becoming a pirate, only they didn’t like his attitude any more than the Legion did. Now he’s got a lead on a prize so big it could set him up for life, if he can stomach working with other people.

All he’s got to do is track down one runaway slave.

Find Lost Souls here and find Noah Chinn at noahchinnbooks.com.

Music now available to accompany Ren Hutchings’ Under Fortunate Stars!

SF Canada member Ren Hutching has collaborated with singer-songwriter Mathias Kom and his genre-shifting folk-rock band, The Burning Hell to have the song “The Flight of the Jonah” come into being!  It’s a folk song referenced and sung by crew members on the science vessel Gallion during the events of Under Fortunate Stars, Ren’s recent released debut novel.

Find out more about the amazing song on Ren’s blog post about it and learn more about Ren at  renhutchings.com!