Speaking of book launches…

May 31, 2014 ~ Tehani ~ Leave a comment

It occurred to me recently, that given we have Jo Anderton’s launch next weekend, I probably should (finally) post about the OTHER book celebrations we’ve had recently. Well, in the past year. Hmmm, yes, it HAS been a busy 12 months! (more photos of events over at the FableCroft Facebook page)

First off the rank (gosh, was it really in APRIL last year?!) was the dual launch for The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories by Joanne Anderton and One Small Step, an anthology of discoveries at Conflux, the 2013 Natcon in Canberra in October. We had a great spot in the thoroughfare, and a good time slot too, and it was lovely to see so many con-goers in attendance. Kaaron Warren acted as launcher (for both our books AND Thoraiya Dyer’s Twelfth Planet Press Twelve Planets Collection Asymmetry!), and Joanne, Thoraiya and I said a few words too. Lots of fun!

Screen Shot 2014-05-31 at 3.24.21 PM — Photo courtesy of Cat Sparks

Screen Shot 2014-05-31 at 3.24.39 PM — Photo courtesy of Cat Sparks

So we had an intimate but fun launch for Dirk Flinthart’s debut novel, Path of Night, way back in November 2013. It’s the first book of ours that has been launched by the local mayor, which was exciting, and the author and cover designer both attended in fine style. Was lovely to meet some of the good people of Scottsdale, and we had a great evening.

Earlier this year, we had a FableCroft Book Party, hosted by the great folks at The Hobart Bookshop. The wonderful Lian Tanner said lovely things about Ink Black Magic and Path of Night, and Tansy and Dirk both got to read some of their novels too. Was a good turnout, particularly for the Sunday afternoon of the long weekend, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Just a few weeks ago (okay, okay, it was nearly two months – goodness me, the year is flying!) we celebrated two wins at the Aurealis Awards, with The Bone Chime Song taking out Best Collection and One Small Step sharing the glory with The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2012 in the Best Anthology category. With several other FableCroft works on the shortlists, including Path of Night and Ink Black Magic, we had a brilliant night, and enjoyed being able to spend the evening with the best and brightest of Australian spec fic.

Photo by Cat Sparks — Photo courtesy of Cat Sparks

Now we’re gearing up for next weekend’s celebration of Jo’s new book Guardian, and I’m still a bit boggled that it’s been over a year since the launch of The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories! Hopefully it won’t take me so long to blog about the fun we have there… All attendees of Continuum X are welcome to join us for the launch, 4pm on Saturday 7 June. Hope to see you there!

Free FableCroft ebooks for Easter!

April 20, 2014 ~ Tehani

It’s a lovely long weekend, so for a very limited time we have two free ebooks on Amazon! Until Monday only, you can grab great stories by Dirk Flinthart and Margo Lanagan, instantly available on your ereader!

“Sanction” by Dirk Flinthart – continuing on from the events of the Aurealis Award-shortlisted Path of Night (though standing alone!), this brand new story follows former detective Jen Morris on a mission that will see her question everything she knows, and she’s dragging a very much changed Michael Devlin along for the ride. Will what she has to do take too much toll?

“Flower and Weed” by Margo Lanagan – a short story glimpse into the vividly imagined world of Margo Lanagan’s powerful, multi-award-winning novel Sea Hearts (also published as The Brides of Rollrock Island). Selkies are in the background, but this is a story of a liaison between a selkie’s earthly husband and one of the witches who does the magic that’s essential to keeping the selkie-wife trade going.

If that’s not enough, you can still pre-order Jo Anderton’s new Veiled Worlds novel right now and receive an exclusive bonus content ebook, containing both original and previously published stories in the Veiled Worlds. Don’t miss out!

Speaking of book launches…

February 23, 2014 ~ Tehani

It seems I’ve managed to neglect to blog about our forthcoming book party in Hobart, Sunday March 9 from 4.30. Celebrating the launch and recent shortlistings of Tansy and Dirk’s novels, and the other FableCroft Aurealis Awards nominations, we will be at The Hobart Bookshop to wine, chat and launch with special guest Lian Tanner! Come along if you’re in Tassie that weekend…

Aurealis Awards shortlists!

February 16, 2014 ~ Tehani

We’re very excited to see the Aurealis Awards shortlists announced last night! It’s always lovely to see all the marvellous talent on the lists, but it’s particularly nice when some of our own work is there too!

Huge congratulations to Joanne Anderton, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Dirk Flinthart and DK Mok for their individual shortlistings, and to all the contributors to One Small Step and Focus 2012! None of our books are made in a vacuum, and all our writers, artists, designers and proofers play a huge role – thanks to you all!

Congratulations to all the finalists for the 2013 Awards. Look forward to seeing everyone at the ceremony in April!

More information about the shortlists and the Awards ceremony can be found at the website.

Nearly New Year new reviews!

December 30, 2013 ~ Tehani

A couple of lovely reviews to wind up the year!

Jim C Hines took a look at Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Ink Black Magic and pronounced it as having “a healthy appreciation for the absurd, and a lively cast of ridiculous and entertaining secondary characters” with a plot that “was surprisingly layered, with mystery after mystery to be peeled back like an onion in which every layer of the onion is magical and might kill you or rewrite your mind or un-kill you or bring about a sudden rain of seafood. Or all of the above.” Thanks Jim!

Sue Bursztynski read Path of Night by Dirk Flinthart and thought it was pretty good too! She says: “Definitely a change from Dirk Flinthart’s usual swashbuckling fantasy, but still, action adventure”, and made particular note of the humour of the story. Cheers Sue!

If you review one of our books on Amazon, Goodreads, a reviewing outlet or on your blog, please let us know – we love to see what people are saying 🙂

Rounding up the reviews, interviews and interesting stuff…

December 10, 2013 ~ Tehani

Super quick holiday special offers on ALL FableCroft books available until Sunday!

Tsana reads and reviews Ink Black Magic, noting “In the case of Ink Black Magic, I can honestly say that only the start — the set up for the rest of the story — put me in mind of Pratchett. And not early Pratchett either, more like middle Pratchett, with Moving Pictures springing to mind as an obvious comparison (with bonus thematic parallels). But once the story in Ink Black Magic really gets going, it becomes very much Tansy-ish and not at all Pratchettesque.”

Tansy has been pretty busy it seems. She guest blogged over at The Book Smugglers, chatting about great book ideas for Christmas. She also wrote a great post on diversity in YA for Tor.com – highly recommended.

Sean the Bookonaut reviews Path of Night, calling it “a darkly humorous thriller with cracking one liners and plenty of action.”

Our friend Marianne de Pierres has revealed the cover of her forthcoming novel Peacemaker (coming in 2014 from Angry Robot Books). FableCroft had the privilege of reprinting “Virgin Jackson”, the short story that holds the seeds of Peacemaker in Australis Imaginarium – can’t wait to read the novel!

Don’t forget we’re still open to pitches for Cranky Ladies of History and submissions for Insert Title Here – both anthologies are open internationally.

Keep an eye on the blog for a bonus content pre-order deal for Joanne Anderton’s new novel, Unbound – we can’t wait to share it with you 🙂

Recent reviews and interviews

November 30, 2013 ~ Tehani

Rowena Cory Daniells interviews Dirk Flinthart on the release of Path of Night.

Jamie over at MDPWeb reviews Path of Night, saying: “It’s raw and violent, sexual and powerful, chaotic and mesmerising. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun!” and also interviews Dirk at Spotlight Report.

Tsana examines Path of Night and notes: “The pacing in this novel is brilliant.” She gives it 4.5/5 stars!

Dirk Flinthart reviews Ink Black Magic by Tansy Rayner Roberts, and reckons it “is both an entertaining fantasy romp in the Pratchett mode, and an absolutely fascinating book for anyone who is interested in the art of writing and popular fiction.”

Let us know if you have reviewed any of our books – we love to hear about it!

If you are a book blogger interested in reviewing our novels or anthologies, please contact Tehani at fablecroft [at] gmail [dot] com.

Launching “Path of Night”

November 1, 2013 ~ Tehani

Being the type of person that he is, Mister Dirk Flinthart has decided that his little town of Scottsdale could do with a jolly good book launch… If you’re in the area (or feel like a quick trip to Tassie!), please join us to celebrate the launch of Path of Night!

WHEN: Thursday 21 November, 2013, 6pm

WHERE: JoDonny’s Restaurant, Scottsdale, Tasmania

It’s bound to be a hoot!

New Release: Path of Night by Dirk Flinthart

October 29, 2013 ~ Tehani

We quietly snuck this one out in ebook last week, but with the print version finally showing up at Amazon (and other retailers to follow soon – ask for it at your local bookstore!), we would like to formally welcome to the world Path of Night by Dirk Flinthart!

Michael Devlin is the first of a new breed. The way things are going, he may also be the last.

Being infected with an unknown disease is bad. Waking up on a slab in a morgue wearing nothing but a toe-tag is worse, even if it comes with a strange array of new abilities.

Medical student Michael Devlin is in trouble. With his flatmates murdered and an international cabal of legendary man-monsters on his trail, Devlin’s got nowhere to hide. His only allies are a hot-tempered Sydney cop and a mysterious monster-hunter who may be setting Devlin up for the kill. If he’s going to survive, Devlin will have to embrace his new powers and confront his hunters. But can he hold onto his humanity when he walks the Path of Night?

Path of Night is the first of the Night Beast series – we anticipate book 2 will see release in mid-2014.

The first reviews are already starting to come in, with this lovely gem on Amazon:

…action driven, laced with humor…I am hoping that there will be a sequel. –Roger Ross

About the author…

Flinthart Author Photo — Author photo by Joffre Street Productions

Dirk Flinthart is an Australian writer of speculative fiction who lives in northern Tasmania. Notable to date mostly for short stories, he is also the editor of the Canterbury 2100 anthology, (originally published by AGOG! press, re-released in ebook form in 2013 by FableCroft), and has the distinction of sharing a Ditmar award with Margo Lanagan, which he is quite proud of.

Path of Night represents Flinthart’s longest published work to date, and is planned as the first in a series of stories centering around Michael Devlin. The next one is well under way…

We’ve got three copies to give away (internationally) over on Goodreads, or get your copy from your favourite ebook-seller or print retailer!