Tag: Sir Julius Vogel awards

City of Souls : Our interview with author Melanie Harding Shaw

Neil

Melanie Harding Shaw is well-known in the Wellington and Aotearoa New Zealand speculative fiction scene, both as a writer and through activities such as being the Writer Liaison for CoNZealand. Melanie has had numerous short stories published winning the Julius Vogel award for best short story in 2022.

As fans of Melanie’s work, we were very excited to see the recent announcement of the  publication of her debut full length novel, City of Souls.

City of Souls is an enemies to lovers, romantic,  paranormal, urban fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic, decaying Wellington. With dark magic, intricate world building and a fast-paced plot, City of Souls is a book that is both fun and thrilling. The two key  protagonists at the books core are bounty hunter Hel and winged necromancer Bastion, both with mysterious pasts and a slowly-emerging romantic interest in each other.

City of Souls recently won the Winner Agents Choice in the Romance Writers of New Zealand Great Beginnings Contest.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Melanie  for taking the time to answer our questions, and for providing such an illuminating insight into her world and work.

This interview was done in conjunction with Caffeine and Aspirin, the arts and entertainment review show on Radioactive FM and was conducted by Tanya Ashcroft.

City of Souls : Soul Court Ascension / Harding-Shaw, Melanie
“City of Souls is an enemies to lover’s, romantic,   paranormal, urban fantasy  set in a post-apocalyptic, decaying Wellington. With dark magic, intricate world building ,and a fast-paced plot, City of Souls is a book that is both  fun and thrilling. The two key  protagonists at the books core are bounty hunter Hel  and winged necromancer Bastion both with mysterious pasts and a slowly emerging romantic  interest in each other.” ( Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Against the grain / Harding-Shaw, Melanie
“It’s bad enough when your own body tries to attack you, but when dark powers want to as well, running is the only option. Until you can’t. After another casual fling goes horribly wrong, coeliac witch Trinity moves down the country to start over, yet again, in the bush-clad suburb of Karori. On the surface, it seems like the perfect place: from the local bistro below her flat with its gluten-free baking (and its handsome owner) to the mountain bike trails she can escape to. But her fresh start takes a dark turn when she discovers something is trapping her familiar, Saifa, in the suburb…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Alt-ernate : a collection of 37 stories / Harding-Shaw, Melanie
“Alt-ernate is the debut short story collection from author Melanie Harding-Shaw.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

 

 

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. VI
“Collected together for the first time, the very best science fiction and fantasy short stories published by New Zealand authors in 2018″–Publisher information.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

 

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. V2
“Ancient myths go high-tech a decade after the New New Zealand Wars. Safe homes and harbours turn to strangeness within and without.Splintered selves come together again – or not. Twelve authors. Thirteen stories. The best short science fiction and fantasy from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019. With works by: Juliet Marillier, Nic Low, Rem Wigmore, Andi C Buchanan, Octavia Cade, A.J. Fitzwater, Nicole Tan, Melanie Harding-Shaw, Alisha Tyson, James Rowland, Zoë Meager, and Casey Lucas.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction and fantasy, V3
“When borders closed last year, Kiwi science fiction and fantasy took readers on flights of imagination through space and time. This anthology contains a selection of the best short science fiction and fantasy stories published by Aotearoa New Zealand writers in 2020.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. v. 4
“Contents : Introduction. I will teach you magic by Andi C. Buchanan,  A thorn in your side by M. Darusha Wehm, Rabbit by Samantha Lane Murphy ,  Clutch, stick, shift by Tehnuka, Plague year by Anuja Mitra,  Basil and the wild by Rem Wigmore,  Data migration by  Melanie Harding-Shaw, Domestic goddess  by Kirsteen Ure,  Below salt-heavy tides by Andi C. Buchanan,  The women who didn’t win Nobels, and how world trees are not a substitute by Octavia Cade, Why we make monsters by  Rem Wigmore,  Interview with the sole refugee from the A303 Incident by James Rowland, Last Bird Island by  Nat Baker and Washing the plaid by Juliet Marillier.” ( Adapted from Catalogue)

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Interview with editor Emily Brill-Holland

Neil

One of Aotearoa’s most essential annual fiction anthologies (and an excellent way to spot the rising stars of the genre) is the wonderful,  award-winning Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy (now in its fourth  volume).

As always, the fourth instalment of the annual treat for science fiction and fantasy fans highlights and draws attention to the good and the great, the established and the newly arrived, and continues to provide a fabulous platform and spotlight for the wide variety of talent and diversity in Aotearoa.

This year’s anthology is a fantastic and phantasmagorical collection of the weirdest, wildest, and most wonderful short fiction to come out of Aotearoa in 2022.

Including contributions from Andi C Buchanan, Anuja Mitra, James Rowland, Juliet Marillier, Kirsteen Ure, M. Darusha Wehm, Melanie Harding-Shaw, Nat Baker, Octavia Cade, Rem Wigmore, Samantha Lane Murphy and Tehnuka.

With all this in mind, we decided to interview the editor of this year’s instalment of the series Emily Brill-Holland and ask her a few questions about the anthology.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Emily  for taking the time out of her busy schedule and “brave lightning Storms” to answer our questions, and for providing such an illuminating insight into her world and work. For more information about the anthology, check out the Paper Road Press website.

This interview was done in conjunction with Caffeine and Aspirin, the arts and entertainment review show on Radioactive FM. You can hear the full interview below:

Links to borrow the various anthologies from the library can also be found below.


Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. VI
“Collected together for the first time, the very best science fiction and fantasy short stories published by New Zealand authors in 2018″–Publisher information.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

 

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. V2
“Ancient myths go high-tech a decade after the New New Zealand Wars. Safe homes and harbours turn to strangeness within and without.Splintered selves come together again – or not. Twelve authors. Thirteen stories. The best short science fiction and fantasy from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019. With works by: Juliet Marillier, Nic Low, Rem Wigmore, Andi C Buchanan, Octavia Cade, A.J. Fitzwater, Nicole Tan, Melanie Harding-Shaw, Alisha Tyson, James Rowland, Zoë Meager, and Casey Lucas.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction and fantasy, V3
“When borders closed last year, Kiwi science fiction and fantasy took readers on flights of imagination through space and time. This anthology contains a selection of the best short science fiction and fantasy stories published by Aotearoa New Zealand writers in 2020.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

 

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. v. 4
“Contents : Introduction. I will teach you magic by Andi C. Buchanan,  A thorn in your side by M. Darusha Wehm, Rabbit by Samantha Lane Murphy ,  Clutch, stick, shift by Tehnuka, Plague year by Anuja Mitra,  Basil and the wild by Rem Wigmore,  Data migration by  Melanie Harding-Shaw, Domestic goddess  by Kirsteen Ure,  Below salt-heavy tides by Andi C. Buchanan,  The women who didn’t win Nobels, and how world trees are not a substitute by Octavia Cade, Why we make monsters by  Rem Wigmore,  Interview with the sole refugee from the A303 Incident by James Rowland, Last Bird Island by  Nat Baker and Washing the plaid by Juliet Marillier.” ( Adapted from Catalogue) 

The soul is not a single unity: New science fiction and fantasy

Neil

the golem GIF by Maudit

“The soul is not a single unity; that is what it is destined to become, and that is what we call ‘immortality’. ” ― Gustav Meyrink, The Golem

As usual, there is a rich and eclectic range of science fiction and fantasy titles to suit every taste in this month’s recently acquired science fiction and fantasy titles. One title that caught our particular attention is The hidden palace : a novel of the golem and the jinni by Helene Wecker.

Golems are particularly fascinating supernatural beings. They date way back to the earliest records of ancient Jewish folklore. They are andromorphic beings, created from mud or clay, animated into motion using sacred text. One notable fact about them is that they are without the human faculty of speech. Golems feature in the central text of Rabbinic Judaism. the Talmud, where Adam is initially created from mud as a golem. Stories featuring golems often use the endless possibilities of the creature as a metaphor. They can be villain or victim ,good or bad ,male or female or neither and, because they are sculpted from clay, they are usually totally in their creator’s control.

The most famous golem narrative is called the Golem of Prague, In which a 16th century Rabbi of Prague creates a golem to protect the Prague Ghetto from anti-semitic attacks and pogroms. In some versions of the legend, the golem still lies entombed in Prague ready to be reanimated. One of the most interesting, atmospheric, chilling and underrated “ modern” novels to feature a Golem is Gustav Meyrink’s  novel The Golem, which is a classic horror version of the Golem of Prague narrative.

In slightly more recent works, Golem’s have popped up in the works of Terry Pratchett, in books such as Going Postal or Feet of Clay.

In this month’s selection, we also have a reprint of the 1889 visionary science fiction novel Anno domini 2000 : or Woman’s destiny by former Prime Minister of New Zealand Sir Julius Vogel, plus a couple of wonderful afro futurist titles.

The hidden palace : a novel of the golem and the jinni / Wecker, Helene
“Chava is a golem, able to hear the thoughts and longings of the people around her and compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a free-spirited creature of fire, imprisoned in the shape of a man. Pretending to be human, they are just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure, and meets a female jinni who has been banished from her tribe.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an Audiobook.

Anno domini 2000 : or, Woman’s destiny / Vogel, Julius
” In the year 2000, the British Empire is an Imperial Federation apart from an independent Ireland. Having granted women the right to vote, British society has enjoyed a revolution in gender roles from the top down. Hilda Fitzherbert, the young and charismatic Prime Minister of New Zealand, is a shining example of the new woman of the twenty-first century. When her burgeoning romance with Emperor Albert threatens diplomatic relations with the United States, the peaceful world order faces the threat of war. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The immortal King Rao : a novel / Vara, Vauhini
“Will you, dear Shareholder, set Athena free? Athena Rao must reckon with the memory of her father, King Rao–literally. Through biotechnological innovation, he has given her his memories. His Dalit childhood on an Indian coconut plantation in the 1950s is as alive to her as her own existence in a prison cell, accused of her father’s murder. Egocentric, brilliant, a little damaged, King Rao had a visionary idea: the personal computer known as the Coconut. His wife, Margie, was an artist with a marketing genius. Together they created a new world order, led by a corporate-run government…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The seed of Cain / Gomillion, Agnes
“General Arika Cobane, beloved leader of the worker rebellion, makes a bold–but illegal–move to ensure the people’s freedom. When her scheme fails and her co-conspirator hangs for treason, Arika–overworked and overwrought–blacks out. When she awakens, everything has changed. She’s been stripped of her rank and power and the new leader of the Kongo, Kira Swan, is a charismatic traitor bent on consigning the Kongo under the guise of peace. Desperate, Arika reunites with Hosea Kahn and seeks treatment for her blackouts at the Compound, deep in the deadly Obi Forest. Arika is determined to regain her influence, stop Kira Swan, and continue leading the Kongo to freedom…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The final strife : a novel / El-Arifi, Saara
“Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the Empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the Empire. But dust always rises in a storm. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The storm beneath a midnight sun / Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson
“A tale of revolution in a Reykjavik fuelled by industrialised magic, populated by humans, dimensional exiles, otherworldly creatures, psychoactive graffiti and demonic familiars. Rebels and revolutionaries disappear into the infamous prison, the Nine, never to be heard from again. Masked police roam the streets, dark magic lurks in the shadows, and the implacable flying fortress casts its baleful eye over all below. Sæmundur, addict and sorcerer, has been cast out from university, and forbidden to study magic. Dissident artist, Garún, is desperate for a just society and will do anything to achieve it. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Flying the coop / Roy, Lucinda
” In the Disunited States, no person of color–especially not a girl whose body reimagines flight–is safe. A quest for Freedom has brought former Muleseed Jellybean ‘Ji-ji’ Silapu to D.C., aka Dream City, the site of monuments and memorials–where, long ago, the most famous Dreamer of all time marched for the same cause. As Ji-ji struggles to come to terms with her shocking metamorphosis and her friends, Tiro and Afarra, battle formidable ghosts of their own, the former U.S. capital decides whose dreams it wants to invest in and whose dreams it will defer.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

A prayer for the crown-shy / Chambers, Becky
“After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home. They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe. Becky Chambers’s new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

The Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy : Interview with editor Marie Hodgkinson

Neil
Cover of The Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy

Cover image of The Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume Three

One of our favourite annual anthologies (and an excellent way to find rising stars of the genre) is the wonderful award-winning The Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy (now in its third volume). An excellent all-in-one survey of the latest in New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy; these anthologies continue to provide a fabulous platform and spotlight on the wide variety of talent and diversity in the Aotearoa.

This year’s anthology contains numerous award-winning and award-nominated stories,  such as “For Want of Human Parts”, by Casey Lucas, “Salt White, Rose Red” by Emily Brill-Holland, “Synaesthete” by Melanie Harding-Shaw and “How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster)” by Marie Cardn. Not to mention another particular highlight, Paul Veart’s Florentina. 

With this in mind, we decided it was long overdue to interview the editor of the series Marie Hodgkinson and ask her a few questions about the anthology. We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Marie for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions, and for providing such an illuminating insight into her world and work. For more information about the anthology, check out the Paper Road Press website.

Links to borrow the various anthologies from the library can be found at the end of following interview.

The line between contemporary fiction and speculative fiction is often blurred. I was wondering how you went about navigating those definitions?

Sometimes, there are fairies, which should make the distinction easy to make – but sometimes the fairies are metaphorical, which complicates things again. In the end I think it is about the author’s intent and the reader’s interpretation of that intent. Many SFF readers have the experience of coming across books in their childhood in which the fairies were and only were metaphor, possibly for drugs, or dying of cancer. If there is space in a story, no matter how small, for the supernatural or one-second-ahead tech to exist within the scope of the story’s world, then I count it as speculative fiction.

The Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy has now made it to Volume Three, can you tell us a little bit about the origins of the series and its overall aims?

I started the anthology series because it became clear to me that Aotearoa authors were writing and publishing incredible short speculative fiction – but that local readers rarely heard about it because most of the stories were published overseas. My initial goal was to bring those stories back to be read and enjoyed here. Over the three years of the series so far however I am seeing more and more mainstream NZ media publishing short speculative fiction, such as Stuff’s Forever Project commissioning short climate fiction stories. So now it’s both a way to bring stories back home, and to celebrate the openness of local media to publishing speculative fiction.

There is a real diversity in the stories included. Could you tell us about that diversity, and how it is represented in the collection?

The diversity in the anthologies reflects the diversity of this country’s writers – perhaps seeing them all in one place just makes it more obvious!

How do you go about the selection process?

I read as much as I can throughout the year, and also contact publishers, writing groups and make public calls for submissions – because there’s no way I could find all the stories on my own, and I don’t want the anthologies to be limited by my normal reading. Once stories are sent in I read them several times. If a story sticks in my mind after multiple readings, it goes on the list.

We love the book cover this year! Can you tell us a little about the artist and the brief you gave them ?

This is the first year I have not briefed an artist to create a work for the cover – because the perfect artwork already existed! Rebekah Tisch painted ‘Goodbye 2020’ in response to – well, it goes without saying doesn’t it – and frankly I couldn’t imagine anything better for the anthology.

Are there any particularly precedent themes or topics that have come through this year? Perhaps stories revolving around to pandemics, environmental collapse etc…

Climate change is a perennial theme; several stories in this year’s volume, such as Renee Liang’s ‘The Waterfall’ and Tim Jones’s ‘The Double-Cab Club’, are about people living in a post-environmental-collapse world. Ecological collapse/change also features in PK Torrens’s ‘Crater Island’. I haven’t noticed either a sudden glut or lack of stories about pandemics – but where those themes do appear the focus is on individual, interpersonal response to events that seem overwhelming or incomprehensible, such as the infectious flora in Paul Veart’s ‘Florentina’ and the central positioning of the relationship between two old friends in Anthony Lapwood’s ‘Wild Horses’.

Is Science Fiction and Fantasy, in your opinion, the best literary genre to hold up a mirror to our existence? I was thinking about how it can easily be used to examine big, complex and seemingly strange ideas.

I think it’s the perfect genre to act as a warped mirror – science fiction and fantasy can help us explore concepts one step removed from our own reality, which can make them easier to play with or take to logical or illogical extremes.

Can you tell us about your impression of the current state of Science Fiction and Fantasy scene in New Zealand?

Science fiction and fantasy writing in Aotearoa is flourishing – particularly with the rise of self publishing. I’m cheerfully following the careers of authors like AJ Lancaster and Steff Green, who are thriving as indie publishers, as well as what feels like the constant rise of support for speculative fiction by traditional publishers. One of my top reads this year has been Butcherbird, a horror novel by Cassie Hart published by Huia.

And finally, with your crystal ball in hand, what do you think will be in store for Volume Four of the anthology?

I can’t know for certain, but I’m very excited to find out!

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction and fantasy, V3
“When borders closed last year, Kiwi science fiction and fantasy took readers on flights of imagination through space and time. This anthology contains a selection of the best short science fiction and fantasy stories published by Aotearoa New Zealand writers in 2020. Inc.. New Zealand gothic by Jack Remiel Cottrell,  Synaesthete by  Melanie Harding-Shaw, Kōhuia by T Te Tau, Death confetti by Zoë Meager,  For want of human parts by Casey Lucas ,How to get a girlfriend (when you’re a terrifying monster) by Marie Cardno , Salt White, Rose Red by Emily Brill-Holland , Florentina by Paul Veart ,Otto Hahn speaks to the dead by Octavia Cade, The waterfall Renee Liang — The Double-Cab Club by Tim Jones , Wild horses by Anthony Lapwood , You and me at the end of the world by Dave Agnew , The secrets she eats by Nikky Lee , How to build a unicorn by AJ Fitzwater , Even the clearest water by Andi C. Buchanan , You can’t beat Wellington on a good day by Anna Kirtlan, The moamancer (a Musomancer short story) by Bing Turkby , They probably play the viola by Jack Remiel Cottrell , Crater Island by P.K. Torrens, A love note by Melanie Harding-Shaw and  The turbine at the end of the world by James Rowland.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. V2
“Ancient myths go high-tech a decade after the New New Zealand Wars. Safe homes and harbours turn to strangeness within and without. Splintered selves come together again – or not. Twelve authors. Thirteen stories. The best short science fiction and fantasy from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019. With works by: Juliet Marillier, Nic Low, Rem Wigmore, Andi C Buchanan, Octavia Cade, A.J. Fitzwater, Nicole Tan, Melanie Harding-Shaw, Alisha Tyson, James Rowland, Zoë Meager, and Casey Lucas.”–Publisher description.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. V1
“For the first time ever, the best short SFF from Aotearoa New Zealand is collected together in a single volume. This inaugural edition of the Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy brings together the very best short speculative fiction published by Kiwi authors in 2018. Explore worlds of hope and wonder, and worlds where hope and wonder are luxuries we wasted long ago; histories given new life, and futures you might prefer to avoid.” (Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

Interview: graphic artist, comic creator & illustrator Laya Rose

Neil

This year the fabulous Laya (Rose) Mutton-Rogers aka Laya Rose won two Sir Julius Vogel Awards. One in the category Best Professional Artwork for the cover art for “No Man’s Land” by A.J. Fitzwater and the other for Best Fan Artwork for Blue and Red (This is How You Lose the Time War), as well as being a finalist in The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Laya is no stranger to such accolades, winning NZCYA Te Kura Pounamu awards in both 2020 and 2021. Three previous Sir Julius Vogel Awards, not to mention being a finalist for the Chroma Comic Art Award in 2019 for her truly marvellous web comic Overgrown.

So, for your delight and edification we have an exclusive in-depth interview with Laya Rose; one of the most talented, creative, innovative, and versatile illustrators, graphic artists, comic creators in Aotearoa, where she talks in detail about her work, inspirations, background, and a whole host of other topics. For anyone interested in Laya’s work or, indeed, what a creative illustrator leading edge graphic artist comic creator does, the interview is unmissable.

Continue reading “Interview: graphic artist, comic creator & illustrator Laya Rose” →

The 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Award winners announced

Neil

Huge congratulations to Octavia Cade, winner of this year’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards for Best Novel with her enthralling cli-fi thriller The Stone Wētā.

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are New Zealand’s very own annual celebration of home-grown science fiction and fantasy — with awards covering books, dramatic presentations, fan publications and much more.

Octavia won the Best Novel category with her book The Stone Wētā, a novel set in a time when the cold war of data preservation turns explosive. Trying to overcome this disaster and working in a claustrophobic network, a group of dedicated and isolated scientists are each faced with the question of how much they will risk for their colleagues, the future and the truth.

In other categories:

Best Youth Novel went to Chloe Gong for These Violent Delights.

Best Novella/Novelette went to A.J. Fitzwater for No Man’s Land.

Best Short Story went to Casey Lucas for For Want of Human Parts.

Best Collected Work award went to A.J. Fitzwater for The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper.

Our heartfelt congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted authors! Have a browse and a bit more of a read below!


The stone wētā / Cade, Octavia
“When the cold war of data preservation turns bloody – and then explosive – an underground network of scientists, all working in isolation, must decide how much they are willing to risk for the truth. For themselves, their colleagues, and their future. A claustrophobic and compelling cli-fi thriller by Octavia Cade”” (Adapted from Catalogue)

These violent delights / Gong, Chloe
“In 1926 Shanghai, eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, heir of the Scarlet Gang, and her first love-turned-rival Roma Montagov, leader of the White Flowers, must work together when mysterious deaths threaten their city.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Overdrive cover No Man’s Land, A.J. Fitzwater (ebook)
“While her brother fights a war on the other side of the world, Dorothea ‘Tea’ Gray joins the Land Service and is sent to work on a remote farm in the golden plains of North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. But Tea finds more than hard work and hot sun in the dusty North Otago nowhere—she finds a magic inside herself she never could have imagined, a way to save her brother in a distant land she never thought she could reach, and a love she never knew existed. Inspired by feminist and LGBTQ+ history and family wartime memories.” (Overdrive description)

Overdrive cover The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper, A.J. Fitzwater (ebook)
“Dapper. Lesbian. Capybara. Pirate. Cinrak the Dapper is a keeper of secrets, a righter of wrongs, the saltiest capybara on the sea and a rider of both falling stars and a great glass whale. Join her, her beloveds, the rat Queen Orvilia and the marmot diva Loquolchi, lead soprano of the Theatre Rat-oyal, her loyal cabin kit, Benj the chinchilla, and Agnes, last of the great krakens, as they hunt for treasures of all kinds and find adventures beyond their wildest dreams. Let Sir Julius Vogel Award-winning storyteller A.J. Fitzwater take you on a glorious journey about finding yourself, discovering true love and found family, and exploring the greatest secrets of the deep. Also, dapperness.” (Adapted from Overdrive description)

Year’s best Aotearoa New Zealand science fiction & fantasy. V2
“Ancient myths go high-tech a decade after the New New Zealand Wars. Safe homes and harbours turn to strangeness within and without. Splintered selves come together again – or not. Twelve authors. Thirteen stories. The best short science fiction and fantasy from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019. With works by: Juliet Marillier, Nic Low, Rem Wigmore, Andi C Buchanan, Octavia Cade, A.J. Fitzwater, Nicole Tan, Melanie Harding-Shaw, Alisha Tyson, James Rowland, Zoë Meager, and Casey Lucas.”  (Adapted from Catalogue)