PsyBot, a Literate Cyber-Thriller

PsyBot e-cover (200x320)SF Canada member Nowick Gray has released a new speculative novel. PsyBot is every programmer’s nightmare: the bug that gets loose on the user side of the interface. Virtual reality, Joe Norton discovers, is not confined to hardware. Is the only way out, to go further in?

PsyBot, in the best “cyberpunk” tradition, is both speculative technothriller and character study. Its themes comprise both personal growth and corporate machination. The language aims for that balance of gritty description and eloquent quest that can satisfy equally readers of sci-fi or morality tale. The use of genre elements—alien abduction, offworld travel, astral projection—is effectively ironic, introduced by the antagonistic computer virus to tempt and tease, to call into question the arbitrary fabric of every virtual reality we yearn for or claim to inhabit.

PsyBot: A Novel of the Near Future is available from Amazon.ca in both Kindle and paperback formats.

Read a preview chapter here, and more about the novel here, at the author’s website.

Nowick Gray’s Rendezvous, an adventure novella with a paranormal twist, was published by World Castle in 2013. His short fiction and nonfiction has appeared in a wide variety of periodicals and anthologies. Reviewers have praised the “standout fiction” ( James A. Lee); “gripping story technique” (Frank Burnaby); “captivating forward momentum” (Sally Ross); and “fully fleshed-out characters, living and breathing” (S. L. Saboviec).

Connect with Nowick Gray and his writings at nowickgray.com.

The Leopard by K.V. Johansen Published June 2014

TheLeopard-Marakand1Released June 10, 2014

K.V. Johansen‘s latest novel, The Leopard, has been published by Pyr.

The Leopard was chosen for Kirkus Review‘s
Best Speculative Fiction Reads for June, and io9.com’s Most Astounding Must-Read Science Fiction And Fantasy Books In June.

Ahjvar, the assassin known as the Leopard, wants only to die, to end the curse that binds him to a life of horror. Although he has no reason to trust the goddess Catairanach or her messenger Deyandara, fugitive heir to a murdered tribal queen, desperation leads him to accept her bargain: if he kills the mad prophet known as the Voice of Marakand, Catairanach will free him of his curse. Accompanying him on his mission is the one person he has let close to him in a lifetime of death, a runaway slave named Ghu. Ahj knows Ghu is far from the half-wit others think him, but in Marakand, the great city where the caravan roads of east and west meet, both will need to face the deepest secrets of their souls, if either is to survive the undying enemies who hunt them and find a way through the darkness that damns the Leopard.

To Marakand, too, come a Northron wanderer and her demon verrbjarn lover, carrying the obsidian sword Lakkariss, a weapon forged by the Old Great Gods to bring their justice to the seven devils who escaped the cold hells so long before.

Review: …the work highlights Johansen’s strengths. A surprising number of characters and plot threads are deftly interwoven…Publishers Weekly

Review: “An involving and deftly written novel of escape and capture, love and loss, and battles both mental and physical…. Johansen’s writing style is assured and elegant, subtle and powerful…”ForeWord Reviews

For more about the Marakand series and the author, see K.V. Johansen’s website at www.kvj.ca

SF Canada Members on Alberta Book Awards Shortlists

The recently-released shortlist for the 2014 Alberta Book Awards features a number of SF Canada members.

Sherry D. Ramsey’s debut novel, One’s Aspect to the Sun, published by Tyche Books, is one of three titles shortlisted in the Book of the Year – Speculative Fiction category.

Another Tyche title in this category is Masked Mosaic, an anthology of Canadian superhero tales. SFC contributors to the anthology include Claude Lalumiere (co-editor), David Perlmutter, Marie Bilodeau, Michael Matheson, Mike Rimar, Rhea Rose, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

SFC member Simon Rose’s non-fiction work, Canada in World War I: Roots of the Conflict, published by Weigl Educational Publishers, has also been shortlisted in the Education Book category.

The award recipients in ten categories will be announced during the Alberta Book Awards Gala on Friday, June 6, at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary. Awards for Publisher of the Year, Book Illustration, and Lifetime Achievement will also be presented.

Full details of the awards and finalists can be found on the BPAA website at http://bookpublishers.ab.ca/

One's Aspect to the SunMaskedMosaicrootsoftheconflict

Eileen Kernaghan launches Sophie, in Shadow

Sophie, In Shadow

Eileen Kernaghan’s new YA/teen historical fantasy, Sophie, in Shadow, will be launched on May 10 at the Arts Council of New Westminster’s gallery in Queens Park. The time is 1:30 p.m.

Sophie, in Shadow, set in India under the Raj, continues a narrative which began twenty-five years earlier in Wild Talent: a Novel of the Supernatural. It’s 1914. Sixteen year old Sophie Pritchard, orphaned two years earlier by the sinking of SS Titanic, is about to begin a new life in British India. For Sophie, still devastated by her parents’ death, India proves a dangerous environment. Kidnapping, enemy spies and terrorist plots play their parts against the background of a world at war and growing unrest in the Indian subcontinent. Soon Sophie’s powers of precognition will be called upon to help thwart a conspiracy that could incite a bloodbath in Calcutta and deliver India into enemy hands.

Thistledown Press, March 2014, $15.95   Available in both print and e-book editions.

53rd Street Publishing Announces Russ Crossley’s Latest Release

53rd Street Publishing is proud to announce the second novel in the War of the Lushites series by British Columbia author, Russ Crossley, Revenge of the Lushites. The book is available worldwide in ebook and trade paperback formats from your favorite retailer.

In the year 4444 and a 1/4 the Lushites have returned. Piper Cleaner, First Assistant to the Assistant Surveillance Officer discovers a Lushite intergalactic vessel heading their way.

Alarm bells ring throughout the galaxy! Have the Lushites returned to seek revenge?

Join Piper and Major Virginia Slim on a crazy, outrageous ride across the galaxy in the far future where addictions are rampant and conspiracies thrive.

The second book in War of the Lushites series is a satirical space opera revealing the future of addiction.

Revenge of the Lushites

Book tour dates for Suzanne Church’s ELEMENTS

ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction will be released on April 1st in Canada and April 30th in the US.

Suzanne will be visiting five cities as part of the book tour.

Saturday, April 5th, 9:00 PM at Ad Astra convention.
Sheraton Parkway North, 600 Highway-7 East, Richmond Hill, Ontario
–Tentatively scheduled for room 1086–
The big launch PARTY! If you’re planning on attending the convention, please drop by and celebrate. There will be cake!

Saturday, April 12th, 1:00 PM at Chapters Waterloo.
428 King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario
Suzanne will answer questions and do a few short readings from the collection.
Light refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, April 19th, 3:00 PM at Bakka Phoenix Books Toronto
84 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario
Suzanne will read a few short excerpts from stories in the collection.
Added bonus: Sandra Kasturi, co-founder of ChiZine Publications, will also be at the launch. Sandra wrote the introduction to the book.
Light refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, April 26th, 1:00 PM at Chapters Barrie
76 Barrie View Drive, Barrie, Ontario
Suzanne will answer questions and do a few short readings from the collection.
Light refreshments will be provided.

Sunday, April 27th, 1:00 PM at Chapters Newmarket
Yonge Centre, 17440 Yonge Street, Newmarket, Ontario
Suzanne will answer questions and do a few short readings from the collection.
Light refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, May 10th, time TBA GenreCon at the Sarnia branch of the Lambton County Library
124 Christina Street South, Sarnia, Ontario
As part of the one-day free conference GenreCon, one hour of the day will be dedicated to a launch for ELEMENTS.
Suzanne will answer questions and do a few short readings from the collection.