A FableCroft Announcement

The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things…

Next Sunday, at Conflux, we will be launching Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Mocklore collection, Bounty. This launch will take place 5.30pm at the Novotel Canberra on Northbourne Ave. And it will be the final book we produce for the foreseeable future.

FableCroft will be in indefinite hiatus following Conflux. Due to my family circumstances, and with an interstate move (and the new job that will hopefully come with that) at the end of the year, I no longer have the time or financial resources to devote to the press. I have been thinking about this for several months, and come to this decision (as with many others this year) with much regret and sadness.

I am extraordinarily grateful to my wonderful authors, artists, designers and proofreaders for their willingness to work with me over the past six years, and feel very privileged to have been able to publish your wonderful work. And thank YOU to every person who has supported FableCroft during this time, as a reader, reviewer, retweeter etc – you’re all awesome!

I will not say this is a final farewell, because perhaps, hopefully, I will one day be in a position to revitalise the press once more. I’d certainly like to, as I love this gig enormously. But life is life, and sometimes you have to put stuff aside – for a little while or a long one – and focus on other things.

At this stage, FableCroft anthologies will still be available in print and ebook from your preferred e-tailer (and on this site while print stocks last), but I am negotiating with writers regarding single author collections and novels and some of these will revert to their author.

Again, my thanks. I look forward to seeing the many creators we have published since 2010 flourish!fare-thee-well

Exciting announcement for 2016 from FableCroft Publishing

Kate with GargoyleIn the first of several very exciting announcements we have to make about forthcoming projects for 2016, it is our very great pleasure to make it known that in March 2016, FableCroft will publish The Rebirth of Rapunzel: A Mythic Biography of the Maiden in the Tower by Kate Forsyth.

This unique collection will include Kate’s research on the Rapunzel story that underpinned her stunning, award-winning novel, Bitter Greensas well as several other pieces related to fairy tales and folklore. The book is not your usual reference work, but an wonderful exploration of the subject matter, written in Kate’s clever and engaging style.

We plan to release both a hardcover print edition as well as an accessible ebook version, with cover art by one of our favourite authors, Kathleen Jennings, and aim to launch at the Natcon, Contact, in Brisbane over the Easter long weekend.

Focus 2014: highlights of Australian short fiction

It’s that time of year again, and the new Focus anthology is now out in the world! Just AU$3.99 in ebook (mostly US$2.99 hopefully!) on all platforms, including Kindle, Kobo, and everything else at Smashwords (which will filter through to iBooks, hopefully soon).

Focus2014CoverSMABOUT THE BOOK:

Looking for a taste of the very best science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories around? The third of an annual series, Focus 2014 collects an elite selection of work which has received acclaim via national and international Awards commendations.

Focus 2014: highlights of Australian short fiction features work by…
Alan Baxter – Shadows of the Lonely Dead
Deborah Biancotti – The Executioner Goes Home
Thoraiya Dyer – Wine, Women and Stars”
Dirk Flinthart – Vanilla
Faith Mudge – Signature
Charlotte Nash – The Ghost of Hephaestus
Tansy Rayner Roberts – Cookie Cutter Superhero
Angela Slatter – St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls
Cat Sparks – The Seventh Relic
Kaaron Warren – Death’s Door Café
Sean Williams – The Legend Trap
Kathleen Jennings – Illustrations and cover art

Focus2012-Cover2To celebrate, we’ve made the very first volume of the series, Focus 2012: highlights of Australian short fiction, absolutely FREE for a very limited time! Featuring award-winning and commended work from 2012, the book is an excellent taster of the very best Australian speculative fiction. Get it free on Kindle / Kobo / Smashwords or search at your preferred etailer…

Focus2013-CoverFocus 2013, the second volume, is also now reduced to US$2.99 on all platforms. (Kindle / Kobo / Smashwords)

Dirk Flinthart’s STRIKING FIRE: cover reveal and TOC

We’re very excited to share the cover design for Dirk Flinthart’s forthcoming short story collection, Striking Fire. Designer Amanda Rainey has done a gorgeous job with it (as usual!) and we’re so pleased with the result!

Striking Fire cover-1

 

We can now also announce the final table of contents for the book, which will be launched on Saturday October 3, 2015, at Conflux in Canberra. It’s a cracker of a book!

the first martian (original to collection)

the flatmate from hell

the ballad of farther-on jones 

collateral damage

eschaton and coda

faith (original to collection)

truckers

fortitude valley station, 2.15am

a friend in the trade (original to collection)

granuaile

sanction

no hard feelings (original to collection)

the fletcher test

the last word

outlines

tough (original to collection)

walker

one night stand

gaslight a go go

parity check

night shift (original to collection)

News, reviews and NEW BOOKS!

Guardian coverTsana at Tsana Reads and Reviews has lovely things to say about Guardian by Jo Anderton, including: I highly recommend it to fans of technological fantasy or just fantasy which differs from the mainstream. The worldbuilding is very original and one of the real strengths of the series. The magic is very structured; leading some to call the series science fiction. In that light, fans of slipstream and genre-bending fiction should find much to like here.

We’re delighted to see people talking about Tansy Rayner Roberts’ essay collections 50 Roman Mistresses and Pratchett’s Women, saying things like: “Thoughtful and entertaining“, “wonderfully useful and interestingly corrective“, and “makes learning history a fascinating experience“.

We’re counting down to the release of Phantazein, a new anthology of fantastical short stories (and poems), out in early October. We are launching the book in style at Conflux, the annual Canberra speculative fiction convention, 5.00pm Saturday 4 October. Come along if you can! What is Phantazein? Well, if you were one of those readers who enjoyed To Spin a Darker Stair but bemoaned the fact it was too short, Phantazein is TOTALLY the book for you!

Speaking of Conflux, FableCroft is hosting a pitching session for novels (also on Saturday, midday!) – we aren’t open to submissions, so it’s you’re only chance to hit us with your best book!

We really appreciate ratings and reviews on Goodreads and Amazon – a big thanks to our wonderful readers who share the love!

Linky goodness!

The award-winning Starship Sofa podcast have worked their podcasty magic on another story from One Small Step – this time, Suzanne J Willis’ story “Number 73 Glad Avenue” has hit the airwaves – take a listen!

Marianne de Pierres’ novel Peacemaker is going to be made into an interactive game! The origins of the Peacemaker series are in the short story “Virgin Jackson”, which was reprinted in FableCroft’s Australis Imaginarium anthology in 2010!

Pozible have posted an interview with us about our Cranky Ladies crowdfunding campaign. Check it out here.

Guardian coverJo Anderton’s forthcoming book Guardian has been sent to the printer! Official launch will take place at Continuum in Melbourne during the June long weekend. It’s not too late to pre-order your copy (ebook or print) for special introductory price and get bonus exclusive Veiled Worlds content!

The voting for NAFF (National Australian Fan Fund) closes TODAY, and I’m running, with my fan hat on! The fund supports an Australian fan to attend the National Science Fiction and Fantasy convention in Australia (this year that’s Continuum), and I’m really looking forward to being able to attend in that capacity, should I be successful! I can hardly ever get to panels when I go to cons, and being there as NAFF delegate would mean I can do the full convention experience — I’ve also got lots of fun ideas for fundraising for NAFF (part of the delegate’s responsibility), which I’m looking forward to. You can find more information here, and once you’ve read about each candidate, if you’ve got $5 to spare for a vote, it would be appreciated (you don’t have to vote for me — the other candidate is also very worthy, or you can vote to hold over funds for the following year).

Speaking of Natcon, if you are a member of Continuum, or were a member of Conflux last year, you have Ditmar Awards voting rights! It’s a great ballot, so please exercise your democratic rights 🙂 We have posted some free fiction and discounts on our nominated books and stories, to help you make an informed choice 🙂

Cranky Ladies in the NEWS!

Cranky Ladies logoI managed to completely forget to post all the exciting media we’ve been getting! Partly that’s because I’ve been so darn busy this past two weeks, partly it’s because Tansy remembers to do all that over at her blog, partly it’s because I DO generally tweet and Facebook it, but I must put things here too!

First up was a little interview with ABC Radio Northern Tasmania, about 3.10pm last Tuesday afternoon. That warmed me up for a great chat with Rosanna Ryan from ABC News Online, who wrote the most wonderful article about our Cranky Ladies – I feel almost respectable having being quoted by the ABC News! That was followed by a spot on the Sydney 2UE radio night show on Friday, which was also great fun.

This week we’ve been interviewed for another newspaper article, which we think will see print on Monday next week – more details when we have them, but Kaaron Warren and I are having a real live photo shoot for it tomorrow morning!

And you know what? The Pozible campaign has reached 85% this evening! That’s so cool – thank you to all the amazing supporters and signal-boosters. You rock!

If  you would like to read about cranky ladies from the past, you might like to support our Pozible campaign, crowd-funding an anthology of short stories about Cranky Ladies of History from all over the world.