SFcrowsnest Monthly Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine
ahar...@earthlink.net
Forwarding.
"I'm enough of a pessimist that I'm going to continue writing fantasy."
David Eddings - author, friend.
Issue 187.5 - June 2009
19 years online (& counting)
NEWS EXTRA June 2009
I don't normally do one-shot news updates because of the eye-wateringly
large cost of e-mailing the whole SFcrowsnest subscriber base, but I'll make an
exception for David.
One of the great ones has gone and his death leaves the fantasy field
many worlds poorer.
Stephen Hunt
June 3rd 2009
David Eddings passes away
Fantasy author David Eddings has sadly passed away, aged 77, last night.
Best-selling and popular are often epithets that are applied to authors on
writers' press releases, but in David's case, it was well deserved. His
commercial success, says fantasy author Stephen Hunt, paved the way for a whole
generation of doorstopper-sized fantasy series.
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Stephen Hunt's third fantasy novel set in the Jackelian world...
The Rise of The Iron Moon
From the author of The Court of the Air and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves
comes a thrilling new adventure set in the same Victorian-style world.
Born into captivity as a product of the Royal Breeding House, friendless
orphan Purity Drake suddenly finds herself on the run with a foreign vagrant
from the North after accidentally killing one of her guards. Her strange
rescuer claims he is on the run himself from terrible forces who mean to
enslave the Kingdom of Jackals as they conquered his own nation.
Purity doubts his story, until reports begin to filter through from
Jackals' neighbours of the terrible Army of Shadows, marching across the
continent and sweeping all before them. But there's more to Purity than meets
the eye.
As Jackals girds itself for war against an army of near-unkillable beasts
serving an ancient evil with a terrible secret, it soon becomes clear that
their only hope is a strange little royalist girl and the last, desperate plan
of an escaped slave.
Available now on Amazon - click here.
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Stephen Hunt's
The Kingdom Beyond the Waves - NOW out in paperback (UK)
A deadly obsession, a lunatic steamman, a u-boat full of convict
sailors. You're sailing to your death ...
Professor Amelia Harsh is obsessed with finding the lost
civilisation of Camlantis, a legendary city from pre-history that is said to
have conquered hunger, war and disease -- tempering the race of man's baser
instincts by the creation of the perfect pacifist society.
It is an obsession that is to cost her dearly. She returns home to
the Kingdom of Jackals from her latest archaeological misadventure to discover
that the university council has finally stripped her of her position in
retaliation for her heretical research. Without official funding, Amelia has no
choice but to accept the offer of patronage from the man she blames for her
father's bankruptcy and suicide, the fiercely intelligent and incredibly
wealthy Abraham Quest.
He has an ancient crystal-book that suggests the Camlantean ruins
are buried under one of the sea-like lakes that dot the murderous jungles of
Liongeli. Amelia undertakes an expedition deep into the dark heart of the
jungle, blackmailing her old friend Commodore Black into ferrying her along the
huge river of the Shedarkshe on his ancient u-boat.
With an untrustworthy crew of freed convicts, Quest's force of
female mercenaries on board and a lunatic steamman safari hunter acting as
their guide, Amelia's luck can hardly get any worse. But she's as yet unaware
that her quest for the perfect society is about to bring her own world to the
brink of destruction!
Hardback
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdom-Beyond-Waves-Stephen-Hunt/dp/0007232209
Paperback
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdom-Beyond-Waves-Stephen-Hunt/dp/0007232217
Science fiction and fantasy events upcoming shortly:
ApolloCon
2009 26/06/2009 - 28/06/2009
United States - Houston Science Fiction Con
Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins
05/06/2009 - 05/07/2009
United States - Various Cinema release
Finncon 2009
10/07/2009 - 12/07/2009
Finland - Helsinki Science Fiction Con
Ancient City Con III
18/07/2009 - 19/07/2009
United States - Jacksonville Science Fiction Con
Find the full list of cons and events over here.
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Stephen Hunt's
The Court of the Air
A fantastical tale of high adventure, low-life rogues and orphans
on the run.
US HARDBACK OUT NOW
- TOR
Get your hardback copy from: Amazon USA
UK PAPERBACK OUT NOW
- HARPERCOLLINS
Get your paperback copy from:
Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Japan |
"An inventive, ambitious work, full of wonders and marvels."
The Times: May 7, 2007 (Review: Hardback edition, The Court of the
Air)
"Hunt can take his place alongside such eminent Magratheans as JRR
Tolkien, Mervyn Peake and China Mieville. Creating a fully-realised other-world
which feels new and different, yet cohesive and believable is half the battle
in a fantasy novel, and it is a battle Hunt wins with honours... Hunt's world
is so rich and colourful it keeps you engrossed ... It's a confident audacious
novel."
SFX: December 2007 (Review: Hardback edition, The Court of the Air)
"The characters are convincing and colourful, but the real
achievement is the setting, a hellish take on Victorian London where grim,
steam-driven machines work beside citizens with magical powers. The Court of
the Air is aimed at young adults, but the depth and complexity of Hunt's vision
makes it compulsive reading for all ages."
The Guardian: May 21st 2007 (Review: Hardback edition, The Court of
the Air)
"Creatures of magic movie in an industrialised landscape;
mechanical men with souls appear in Punch-style political cartoons. He creates
a fantasy world that's low on cliché, splicing trad fantasy with steampunk and
a touch of Philip Pullman...with pace, detail, and the pleasure of its sheer
scale."
Death Ray: Issue 1. December 2007 (Review: Hardback edition, The
Court of the Air)
'Wonderfully assured . Hunt knows what his audience like and gives
it to them with a sardonic wit and carefully developed tension'
Time Out: November 2007 (Review: Paperback edition, The Court of
the Air)
'Fast-paced and accelerating all the way, the story rewards reading
with close attention, to the intricacies of the plot, to the creativity in
world-building and language which makes this world both readily comprehensible
and yet enthrallingly strange.'
Albedo One: Ireland's magazine of science fiction, fantasy and
horror. Issue 33. (Review: Paperback edition, The Court of the Air)
One of the nice things about being online is that SFcrowsnest can publish
slightly off-the-wall material that would never find a home in a highly
targeted advertising-ruled print magazine world. An article we always trot out
as an example of this, is Uncle Geoff's piece about what the heck fuel & engine
combination the Thunderbirds craft might have used in the classic 1960s TV
series of the same name.
Let's face it, you're not going to read the likes of that in SFX,
Starlog, Starburst, Interzone or the rest of the printed world! If there's an
article inside you - could be continuity errors in Andromeda, your latest work
of short fiction, or just why you think Iain Banks' novels are the greatest SF
since a little man called Verne put pen to paper - do drop Geoff a line below.
Contact Uncle Geoff in the rainy English countryside at
contributi...@sfcrowsnest.com
We still fund this puppy's bandwidth and other miscellaneous expenses out
of our own pocket, so the spirit of volunteerism is about the only thing that
keeps our happy ship in hyperspace. Any time, articles, stories or reviews you
can submit are always appreciated.
Current requirements: June 2009
- short fiction
- articles
- comment pieces
- convention reports
- book reviewers (see below)
- Television reviews ... Stargate, Andromeda, Trek etc
- Movie reviews
- Games reviews ... RPGs, scenarios, wargames etc
- SFF models and figures ... reviews, painting tips, scratchbuilds,
conversions
BTW, if you're interested in becoming a book or DVD reviewer, we'd
really, really (no, really) appreciate it if you were UK-based. Posting out the
hundred of goodies we get every week is an expensive business, and extra
airmail costs could lead to Geoff, Jessica, Mark and Steve eating dog food in a
crazed economy-drive of death. Of course, if you're based in the US, Canada or
Australia and you fancy reviewing your own drip-feed of goodies resulting from
your science fiction and fantasy addiction, then that okay by us ... but we
can't supply you ourselves! Sorry.
Know of any science fiction and fantasy pals who don't yet receive this
fine monthly magazine? Forward it to them and let them quiver in awe of your
highly evolved and very discriminating SFF-loving taste. Then twist the arms of
the little blighters in a cruel-to-be-kind attempt to get them to subscribe
free too!
You can use the facility below, centered, to subscribe/unsubscribe to
this splendid publication at any time.
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Stephen Hunt FaceBook Page (SH's personal page for his FaceBook friends)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen_Hunt/767028254
Stephen Hunt's HiveMind Page (SH's personal page for his HiveMind friends)
http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/hivemind/profile.php?user=StephenHunt
Stephen Hunt's BookArmy Page (SH's personal page for his BookArmy friends)
http://www.bookarmy.com/Authors/Stephen_Hunt_Writer_1.aspx
Stephen Hunt's Rule Jackelia FaceBook Group (for FaceBook-based fans of
SH's novels)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34257537930
Stephen Hunt's The Jackelians HiveMind Group (for HiveMind-based fans of
SH's novels)
http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/hivemind/group.php?group_id=1
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