Dave Duncan's Portal of a Thousand Worlds reviewed in Publishers Weekly

“Massively satisfying plot twists…he does a better job than most in his genre at creatively restructuring historical gender roles, and his bone dry wit is at the top of its class. Song of Ice and Fire fans should take note.”—Publishers Weekly”

Canlit for Christmas

Matthew Hughes' Raffalon story "The Vindicator" will run in the November/December issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Matt writes, "This is will be the last Raffalon story to appear in F&SF. When the exclusivity period runs out in the middle of 2017, I’ll put them all together in a collection and put it out as an ebook and POD paperback."

An interview with Rhea Rose

 Airship Ambassador interviews Rhea Rose about her  story, "Bones of Bronze, Limbs Like Iron"  in  the steampunk anthology, Clockwork Canada. Read the interview here. 
https://airshipambassador.wordpress.com/2016/08/07/rhea-rose-1/

A new novel from Matthew Hughes

Matthew Hughes' A Wizard’s Henchman is now listed as a forthcoming title from PS Publishing and is available for preorder.  It’s a science-fantasy novel originally serialized in Lightspeed Magazine under the title, The Kaslo Chronicles.

Erm Kaslo is at the top of his game: a hardboiled confidential operative in the ultra-high-tech civilization of The Ten Thousand Worlds that spans the entire galactic arm known as The Spray. But the universe is about to arbitrarily change its fundamental operating premise from science to magic. Technology will cease to function and all of Kaslo’s hard-won skills and abilities will be useless.

As the change nears, a handful of would-be wizards are jockeying for position in the coming race for supremacy, squabbling over the few ancient books and paraphernalia that survive from the long-forgotten age when magic last ruled the cosmos. Kaslo goes to work for Diomedo Obron, a wealthy dilettante with more money than common sense who hopes to emerge as a powerful thaumaturge.

But there’s worse to come: an ancient evil has been biding its time for millennia, waiting for the age of science to end. Now, its moment finally arrived, it reaches out from another plane to strike with deadly force. And only Kaslo can stop it—if he can live long enough.

The novel is available in two editions: an unsigned, jacketed hardcover for £20 (US$27) and a signed, jacketed edition of 100 copies for £35 (US$46).

And even later breaking news

Dave Duncan's novel Irona 700 had been shortlisted for the Endeavour Award, presented every year at Portland's Orycon.

Stories and poems by Mary E. Choo, Rhea Rose, Matthew Hughes and Eileen Kernaghan appear in the just-released 2nd issue of the online speculative magazine Polar Borealis.

Matthew Hughes has made his thirtieth sale to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It's called "The Prognosticant" and carries on the life and times of  Matt's new serial character, Baldemar, a young wizard's henchman.

Rhea Rose’s story “Bones of Bronze, Limbs like Iron” has just appeared in the anthology Clockwork Canada. As well, Rhea has had two acceptances for Tesseracts 20, Compostela – a short story “Gel Theta One” and a poem “From Alpha Centauri Earth Looks Like a Blue Bowl of Soup".  And watch for a story from Rhea, “The Gamogue Memoir”,   later this year in PulpLiterature .  

Also due to appear in Compostela: Linda Demeulemeester’s story "Last Indie Truck Stop on Mars" and Matthew Hughes’ "Nature Tale".

A "strangely different western" story from Casey June Wolf

Casey June Wolf's  story "The Fog" appears in the anthology The Nettle Tree, a "strangely different western anthology" from Chase Enterprises Publishing. 

The Nettle Tree – Jun 12 2016 : by Kenneth Weene (Editor), Bye Clifford Clayton (Editor)

Strangely Different Stories ... The Nettle Tree, edited by Kenneth Weene and Clayton Bye, is a collection of genre stretching and busting stories by some of the most talented writers we have. Their challenge was to write strangely different western stories in a format of 3,000 words or less and to take you to places traditional westerns have never taken you. We think they have succeeded admirably. And with powerhouse writers, some known and others whom readers will find delightful discoveries, you will not be disappointed. Available in e-book and trade paperback.You can find a copy at www.BookFinder.com  and other online sites.

Here's a quote from Casey's story:

Long afterward, when the dark, foggy afternoon had turned to a darker, moonless, still foggy night, and the horses’s shod hooves slipped across sheer rock and crunched over stones, I concentrated on hanging on to the saddle horn over the steepest bits and enjoying the cooling air, and the way the mountain breezes tangled with my hair. When I thought we’d gone as far as we could go for one night I still kept my counsel and rested on the strong, slow, hard-working body of my horse. I let my thoughts drift toward Vancouver, and back again to mother and dad, and finally skitter over to the edge of sleep.

In that half-sleeping, half-waking state I popped in and out of dreams. Mostly my mother, ever a mystery, staring down at me, arms crossed, thinking. And a weird emanation of fog sort of flowing off of her like dry ice. Just a little at first, then more and more till she grew translucent and started to fade away. That’s when I’d jerk awake. She’d be gone, and I’d be swaddled in that ever-present fog.

And more latest news

Nightshade Books has bought Dave Duncan's  latest: a historical fantasy trilogy called 'The Enchanter General' "  Dave notes that it was around this date in April that he  made his first sale. (A Rose-Red City to Del Rey.)

In the March Locus, Gardner Dozois reviews the January/February issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and singles out Matt Hughes' Raffalon story, “Telltale,” as “…the best of the issue’s fantasy stories.” He says, “Matthew Hughes gives us another story of Raffalon the Thief in ‘Telltale’, as Raffalon tries to reason his way out of another of the complex and very sticky magical situations he’s always getting himself entangled in, this one even more difficult to extricate himself from than usual."

Latest news

 Linda Demeulemeester's story "And They All Lived Together in a Crooked Little House" appears in the new speculative anthology The Playground of Lost Toys, edited by Colleen Anderson and Ursula Pflug. You'll find an interview with Linda at
https://colleenanderson.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/playground-of-lost-toys-interviews-kuriata-demeulemeester/

 You can read a story by Casey Wolf   and poems by Rhea Rose and Eileen Kernaghan  in R. Graeme Cameron's  about-to-be launched Canadian SF&F magazine Polar Boreal.

Meanwhile Matthew Hughes has sold another Raffalon novelette to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. "Genius" features Cascor the discriminator-cum-budding thaumaturge. It's about politics, graft, and old crimes coming to light, and should run in 2016.

A story Dave Duncan began ten years ago has been accepted for publication by Open Road Media. "Portal of a Thousand Worlds" was inspired by the history of Nineteenth Century China. Dave says, "It is also the longest book I have written since The Cursed."

Five Rivers will be publishing Dave's next book, Eocene Station, on July 1, 2016.