Author: Holly Schofield

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New Release! Sedition by Pat Flewwelling

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SF Canada member Pat Flewwelling‘s most recent release is her fourth book in the Helix series, published by Tyche Books. It careens along after Blight of Exiles, Plague of Ghouls, and Scourge of Bones.

What do you do when you wake up and realize you have been the villain all along?

After years of working for CIRCE, Dr. Holly Eva Foster is beginning to realize why her patients have been dying off: she’s killing them, but she doesn’t know why.

Meanwhile, following a devastating ambush and life-or-death surgery, the Padre discovers that his Packmates and colleagues suddenly revile and distrust him. Watching their behaviour degrade from bizarre to brutal, the Padre escapes, only to run into the arms of his least likely allies: enemies of CIRCE.

For the sake of all humanity and other-kind, Eva and the Padre must risk their lives—and their minds—to rebel against one creature’s well-intended quest: the annihilation of her own kind.

“I’m amazed by the way Flewwelling keeps multiple balls in the air, effortlessly juggling shapeshifters, politics, science gone wrong, mysteries, and characters you can’t help but like even if you suspect you shouldn’t.”                                                                                          –Tanya Huff

Pat is a multi-genre author of speculative and crime fiction, swing music, and old fashioned radio plays. She is an avid supporter of emerging artists, musicians, and writers, and is passionate about raising funds for volunteer-driven literacy programs. On the side, she also runs a travelling bookstore, is a co-editor at ID Press, and works full-time as a senior business analyst. Find her at patflewwelling.com.

Sedition and the rest of the Helix series are available from a variety of sources–find them all at Tyche Books.

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“Molecular Rage” by Marie Bilodeau now out in Analog!

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SF Canada member Marie Bilodeau has a story in the Sept/Oct 2019 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine. “Molecular Rage” is about road rage and teleportation. Tangent Online says Marie “shows great imagination”.

Marie Bilodeau is an Ottawa-based author and storyteller, with eight published books to her name. Her speculative fiction has won several awards and has been translated into French (Les Éditions Alire) and Chinese (SF World). Her short stories have also appeared in various anthologies. In a past life not-so-long ago, she was Deputy Publisher for The Ed Greenwood Group (TEGG). Marie is also a storyteller and has told stories across Canada in theatres, tea shops, at festivals and under disco balls. She’s won story slams with personal stories, has participated in epic tellings at the National Arts Centre, and has adapted classical material.

Marie is co-host of the Archivos Podcast Network with Dave Robison, co-chair of Ottawa’s speculative fiction literary convention CAN-CON with Derek Künsken, co-chair of Ottawa ChiSeries with Nicole Lavigne and Matt Moore, and is a casual blogger at Black Gate Magazine. Find her at https://www.mariebilodeau.com/.

Subscribe to Analog or look for a copy of the current issue in your favorite science fiction bookstore.

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Uncanny Magazine/Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction wins Hugo Award!

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SF Canada member Dominik Parisien was honored at Worldcon this past weekend when Uncanny Magazine won its fourth Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine (Publishers/Editors-in-Chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Managing Editor Michi Trota, Podcast Producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky, Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue Editors-in-Chief Elsa Sjunneson-Henry and Dominik Parisien)!

As with the previous Destroy projects (Women, Queers, People of Colour), Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction takes the rallying cry of We are here and Our stories matter and looks to the future. The other projects all began by “destroying” science fiction, and this one is no different. By turning our attention to the future, we are able to explore concerns and realities in the present and amplify them, correct them, highlight the ways they might become better or worse if allowed to continue on their present course. Through science fiction, marginalized people are able to say, We are here, now, and we will be there later, too.

Dominik Parisien is also the co-editor, with Navah Wolfe, of the Shirley Jackson Award-winning Robots vs. Fairies and of The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, which also won the Shirley Jackson Award and was a finalist for the World Fantasy award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award. Dominik’s fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in Quill & Quire, The Fiddlehead, Exile: The Literary Quarterly, as well as other magazines and anthologies. He is a disabled, bisexual, French Canadian. He lives in Toronto.

Congratulations to all the Hugo Awards winners and finalists!

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Good Intentions by Ira Nayman

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SF Canada member and past President Ira Nayman’s new novel is Good Intentions: The Multiverse Refugees Trilogy: First Pie in the Face. It is the sixth book in the Transdimensional Authority/Multiverse series published by Elsewhen Press.

At the end of You Can’t Kill the Multiverse (But You Can Mess With its Head), Doctor Alhambra, the chief scientist of the Transdimensional Authority, set up an alarm to warn him if a universe is succumbing to the universe-killing machine that is at the heart of the story. But how would the Transdimensional Authority respond if that alarm went off?

In Good Intentions, we find out. In the process we not only meet the most unusual refugees in fiction (probably), learn what Noomi Rapier’s brother does (and with whom), revisit Dingle Dell, and finally discover what happened to chapter seventeen of The Multiverse is a Nice Place to Visit But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There.

In his past lives, Ira Nayman was, among other things: a cave painter whose art was not appreciated in his lifetime; several nameless peasants who died before their 20th birthday during the Dark Ages; a toenail fungus specialist in the court of Louis XIV; and Alan Turing’s scullery maid.

In his current incarnation, Ira is the creator of Les Pages aux Folles, a Web site of political and social satire. Three collections of Alternate Reality News Service (ARNS) stories (Alternate Reality Ain’t What It Used To Be, What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children’s Toys and Luna for the Lunies!) which originally appeared on the website have been self-published in print. Two new volumes of ARNS stories – The Street Finds Its Own Uses for Market Lateralization and The Alternate Reality News Service’s Guide To Sex, Love and Robots were published in 2013. Ira has produced the pilot for a radio series based on stories from the first two ARNS books; “The Weight of Information, Episode One” can be heard on YouTube.

Ira has also written a series of stories that take place in a universe where matter at all levels of organization has become conscious. They feature Antonio Van der Whall, object psychologist. “A Really Useful Engine” has been published in Even Birds Are Chained To The Sky and Other Tales: The Fine Line Short Story Collection and “Escalation is Academic” has appeared in the anthology UnCONventional. “If the Mountain Won’t Come to Mohammed” can be found in Here Be Monsters. “Thinking is the Worst Way to Travel” has been accepted into Explorers: Beyond the Horizon.

In another life (but still within this incarnation) Ira has a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research which was conducted entirely online. He also has a PhD in Communications from McGill University. Ira taught New Media part-time at Ryerson University for five years. He is a winner of the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Contest.

Find Good Intentions at Amazon, and find Ira’s satirical writings and comedic doodles at http://www.lespagesauxfolles.ca/

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Bursts of Fire by Susan Forest

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Susan Forest’s novel, Bursts of Fire, (Laksa Media Groups) will launch at When Words Collide in August.

Bursts of Fire begins an epic political fantasy of revenge, addictions, and redemption for three magiel sisters in an empire where magic has become suspect and where love and loyalty—for one’s lover, one’s family, one’s country—are tested.

A Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2019 Selection, Bursts of Fire has won praise from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist:

Forest depicts strong female characters, with varying motivations and personalities adding plenty of action in daring raids, battles with war machines, and magical time walking, though equal attention is given to exploring relationships between the sisters and their allies. This exciting new series will have fantasy fans eagerly awaiting the next installment.—Library Journal

The book is an action-adventure epic fantasy, but it deals with the issue of addictions, and it is the publisher’s hope that the topic will help to generate discussion to remove stigma, and possibly lead to positive action in support of this important issue.

Susan Forest grew up in a family of mountaineers and skiers, and she loves adventure. She also loves the big ideas found in SF/F, and finds fast-paced adventure stories a great place to explore how individuals grapple with complex moral decisions. Susan is also an award-winning fiction editor, has published over 25 short stories (four, including her current “For a Rich Man to Enter,” nominated for Canada’s Prix Aurora Award), and has appeared at many international writing conventions. She loves travel and has been known to dictate novels from the back of her husband’s motorcycle.

Bursts of Fire is available from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Apple | Kobo | Overdrive.

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Robots vs. Fairies wins Shirley Jackson Award!

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Robots vs. Fairies, edited by SF Canada member Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe, has won this year’s Shirley Jackson Award for best anthology!

The Shirley Jackson Awards annually recognize outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. They are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories:  Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology. The awards were presented July 14, 2019 at Readercon.

As well, the anthology is a World Fantasy Award finalist! The awards will be presented at World Fantasy Con 2019 in Los Angeles October 31-November 3.

Robots vs. Fairies is a unique anthology of all-new stories that challenges authors to throw down the gauntlet in an epic genre battle and demands an answer to the age-old question: Who is more awesome—robots or fairies?

Dominik Parisien is also the co-editor, with Navah Wolfe, of The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, which won the 2016 Shirley Jackson Award and was a finalist for the World Fantasy award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award. He also co-edited Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction with Elsa Sjunneson-Henry. Dominik’s fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in Quill & Quire, The Fiddlehead, Exile: The Literary Quarterly, as well as other magazines and anthologies. He is a disabled, bisexual, French Canadian. He lives in Toronto.

Robots vs. Fairies is available in ebook and print versions through Saga Press.