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 🙂

People talking about One Small Step

October 30, 2013 ~ Tehani

Two wonderful, comprehensive reviews of One Small Step have appeared in the past week, which is always delightful to see. Thank you so much to the people who take the time to review our work!

Just today, Foz Meadows shared a review of One Small Step at A Dribble of Ink. Among many other very kind words and insightful discussion of the stories, Foz says:

…I found this to be a highly enjoyable, moving anthology of works by Australian women; and particularly for me, as an Aussie expat, the regular touches of Australiana that creep into the stories – references to eucalyptus, kangaroos, wombats and other such Antipodean things – served as a pleasant reminder that my country of origin is ripe for SFFnal interpretation…

and

…as a showcasing of Australian female talent, it’s both an important and extremely worthwhile anthology. Recommended reading for anyone interested in SFF with a feminist bent, and a strong incentive to keep an eye on Fablecroft Press’s output.

Foz looks at each story individually, and I particularly enjoyed these snippets:

…gorgeous writing, strong characterisation and powerful emotional angle…

…an honest, meaningful exploration of love and motherhood…

…an eerie, powerful story about the nature of pain and what it means to be human … the theme, setting and execution all work together to make something truly memorable…

…funny, poignant and breathtaking: a perfect, original story about humanity, agency, the end of the world and what comes after…

Thank you so much Foz!

Also in the past few days, Karen Burnham reviewed One Small Step in The Cascadia Subduction Zone literary journal, saying (again, among many other things focussing on individual stories!):

…There are many rewards inside for those approaching with a mind open to broadening…

…my expectations were blown wide open…

Many thanks, Karen!

Lovely new reviews

October 6, 2013 ~ Tehani

A couple of lovely new reviews around the ridges recently.

Mieneke over at A Fantastical Librarian gave a comprehensive look at One Small Step, saying (among lots of other very nice things): “a very strong collection of stories showcasing the talents of eighteen very talented women.”

Tsana at Tsana Reads & Reviews took advantage of our super World Fantasy Awards discount on To Spin a Darker Stair (just $5 including postage anywhere in the world! Ends 31 October!) and very generously then reviewed the book, saying it “punches above its weight class.”

And although this is a little while ago, I wanted to point out Michelle E. Goldsmith’s glowing review of The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories at Vilutheril.Michelle is very definite about her recommendation: “I urge anyone who loves dark, strange and beautifully written stories to read this collection.” Thanks Michelle!

New reviews and more guest posts

August 17, 2013 ~ Tehani

A few days ago, DK Mok (whose excellent story “Morning Star” closes out the One Small Step anthology), wrote a guest post for SF Signal. We have such knowledgeable and talented authors here at FableCroft! DK’s post looks at humour in fantasy, and why it is so tricky to do well but why it’s good to do!

Humour can be a tough sell. It might take a reader several chapters to realise that a dramatic novel isn’t to their taste, but in a light-hearted novel, the first pun can be a dealbreaker. It’s the exquisitely subjective nature of humour that makes it such a tricky element to handle. A reader who loves Hogfather might loathe Red Dwarf. Someone might find Douglas Adams thigh-slappingly hilarious, but Piers Anthony leaves them cringing. Reading a mediocre drama might be boring, but reading a mediocre comedy can be excruciating.

In other news, Dave Versace gave One Small Step a great review on Goodreads – among other things, he says: Smart, heartfelt and a little bit otherworldly. Thanks Dave!

Cool stuff round up

May 13, 2013 ~ Tehani

While the publisher has been relocating (again – second move this year, but hopefully the last for a goodly long while!), there have been some cool things said about our books around the place. I’ve been putting links to reviews on our new FableCroft Books in Review page, and it’s been really exciting to see the books getting talked about in places like Locus Online, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, as well as by fantastic book bloggers and reviews website!

It was with great pleasure we published “Flower and Weed” by Margo Lanagan on Kindle a little while ago. This short story was first available in audio from Coeur de Lion, but this is the first time it’s seen “print”. It is set in Margo’s Sea Hearts (Brides of Rollrock Island) world, and gives you a taste of what was left out so the book could be classifed as YA! Just 99 cents from your Kindle store.

Another groovy thing that I saw last week was Rabia Gale and Joanne Anderton (writers of “Sand and Seawater” in One Small Step) blogging about collaboration – separately! If you’re interested in how they did it, their posts are worth a read (Rabia / Joanne). I wonder if Lisa Hannett and Angela Slatter would also like to blog about their OSS collaboration…

And while things have been delayed slightly by the intervention of the move, I promise the ebooks for One Small Step and The Bone Chime Song will both be available soon!

It’s Epilogue day!

January 14, 2013 ~ Tehani

Today is a big day for Epilogue, it seems! It is now, at long last, available on the Kindle store, which is very exciting. And to follow that up, a review by Cat Sparks of the anthology just went live at Cosmos, which is very nice! Among other things, Cat says:

If, like me, you find something compelling in post-disaster scenarios, try Epilogue for an Australian-flavoured take on the end of the world.

Stay tuned for more exciting FableCroft news over the next few days!