November 21st launch of Chasing the Banyan Wind

Mark your calendars! SF Canada member Bernadette Dyer ‘s novel, Chasing the Banyan Wind, will be officially launched on Nov 21st, 2018, at 61 Heintzman Street in Toronto at 6:00pm (Heintzman Place).

This historical novel is published by LMH Publishing.

In the mid 1920s an English family, Jonathan and Wilemina Gunn, and their two young children, Dunstan and Eliza emigrate to the  Caribbean island of Jamaica. With help from locals they build a home in a remote rural location on the island’s north coast. Previous perceptions of the island do  not prepare them for the reality of the island’s diverse Englishspeaking population that includes Negroes, East Indians, Chinese, Jews, Europeans and Syrians.

This haunting saga exposes race relations, social class distinctions and alliances in a multi-ethnic society, that goes beyond the  unforgiving landscape of war, turmoil, hardships and passions that proliferate even beyond Jamaica’s shores. A sweeping historical novel that addresses World War II, and the involvement of the Commonwealth nations’ allegiance to the ‘Mother  Country’ while taking us on an unforgettable journey that gives credence to the saying, that the more things change, the more they  remain the same.

Chasing the Banyan Wind is available at Amazon, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and the Toronto library system.

Congratulations, Bernadette!

Douglas Smith Rights & Reprints Workshop

SF Canada member Douglas Smith will be offering an online workshop via Cat Rambo’s “Rambo Academy” on selling reprints and other ways to leverage your short fiction. The workshop is scheduled for Saturday, July 21 and registration information is available here.

What do you do with a story after it’s been published? In this workshop, multi-award-winning Canadian writer Douglas Smith, whose work has been published in twenty-six languages and thirty-two countries, discusses story rights and licensing, including language, geography, media (print, electronic, audio), and occurrence rights (first rights and reprints), and how to sell reprints to markets you may be overlooking, including audio and international foreign language markets. The author of Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction, Smith will give you the vocabulary and knowledge you need to make more from your short fiction.

In other news, Douglas’ shapeshifter story “Out of the Light” will be reprinted in the upcoming antho “Crazy Town” from Rogue Blades Entertainment.

Launching “Of Tempests and Teacups “

SF Canada member Rebecca Diem recently launched the fourth and final book in her Tales of the Captain Duke series, Of Tempests and Teacups. Rebecca will be attending Ad Astra this coming weekend and celebrating the book’s launch at 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, in Room 1086 at the convention hotel, the Sheraton Parkway North.

About the book:

Stop the Tradists. Save the Captain Duke.

When the Captain Duke goes missing, Clara takes the helm to face enemies old and new. Torn between desire and duty, she must use her skills as both pirate and debutante to unite her allies and save the day.

Even if it means facing her greatest fears—and returning to where it all began.

Find out more about the series on Rebecca’s website.

Kickstarter for Mysterion 2

Enigmatic Mirror Press–co-owned by SF Canada member Kristin Janz–has launched a Kickstarter to fund a 2nd volume of their anthology Mysterion.

Mysterion pays professional rates of 6 cents/word (US) for speculative fiction that engages meaningfully with the Christian faith. Submissions from authors of all backgrounds–Christian or otherwise–are welcome, and Volume 2 will open to submissions as soon as the Kickstarter is funded. Enigmatic Mirror Press’s mandate is to publish fiction that may not fit comfortably in either religious or mainstream publishing; stories that aren’t afraid to ask difficult questions, and that avoid simplistic answers.

Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith (Volume 1) included stories by Beth Cato, Kenneth Schneyer, David Tallerman, and 17 other authors. The anthology received positive reviews from Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Cemetery Dance Online, and Tangent Online; and 4 stories appeared on the Tangent Online 2016 Recommended Reading List.

Like Volume 1, Volume 2 will be available in print and ebook formats. Kickstarter rewards include copies of the anthology, posters of the cover art, and more!

The Kickstarter campaign will remain live through August 18, 2017.

2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide

Today marks the launch of a Kickstarter for the 2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide from Dreaming Robot Press, which includes stories by SF Canada members Sherry D. Ramsey (“Station Run”), and Holly Schofield (“Fluffy Pets are Best”). This marks the fourth volume in this series, which aims to bring diverse and accessible science fiction to young readers. Last year’s volume was named an SFWA Star Project, and the series has received wide acclaim since its inception. Stories come from authors around the world.

Well-known SF writer Nancy Kress has contributed a story to each volume, and has said of the project: “When I was a child, the school library had a Girls’ Section, which included fairy tales, and a Boys’ Section, which included all the science fiction. Things have changed, of course, but not enough. There is a strong need for science fiction, as opposed to fantasy, aimed at girls, especially in the middle grades. This anthology is an important contribution to the effort to fill that need, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.”~ Nancy Kress, winner of six Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award

The anthology will be available in print and ebook formats, and as well as claiming your own copy, pledge options include ways to sponsor copies for libraries. Find out more on the book’s Kickstarter page. The campaign runs until the second week in July, but extra perks are available to sponsors who pledge early!