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SUBMISSIONS OPEN TO AOTEAROA NZ YEAR’S BEST ANTHOLOGY

Image showing grid of book covers

Submissions to the fourth volume of the award-winning Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology are now open.

Where to submit

If you published a short story in any SF or Fantasy genre in 2021, please send it as a Word doc along with a 50-word bio to marie@paperroadpress.co.nz for consideration in this year’s volume.

Payment is 2c per word for global non-exclusive reprint rights in paperback and digital formats.

Deadline 1 March 2022.

Full information available at https://paperroadpress.co.nz/submissions/

New guest editor

Paper Road Press is pleased to welcome Emily Brill-Holland as the guest editor for the next Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy anthology.

Emily Brill-Holland is a real-life bard, having trained in both acting and publishing. She is an Associate Editor for American literary journal F(r)iction and Editorial Assistant for Brink Literacy Project, as well as a professional ttrpg game master. In her spare time, she has a podcast Please Fix This By Friday and can often be found scrolling through SledDog Twitter. A Sir Julius Vogel finalist, she has been published in Dually Noted and Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy, volume 3. She is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

The Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy anthologies celebrate the best in local short speculative fiction each year. Emily is greatly excited by the depth of local talent and can’t wait to see your stories.

Media

Emily is available to interview – please contact Elizabeth Heritage, elizabeth@paperroadpress.co.nz

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Preorder the next Year’s Best Aotearoa NZ SFF!

I’m thrilled to announce the publication date for the next Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy! Volume 3 will be released on November 1 in paperback and ebook, and preorders are now being taken on all major ebook retailers, your local bookstore, and our website.

Click here to preorder the ebook

Click here to preorder the paperback

The gorgeous artwork on the front cover is by Rebekah Tisch, a Wellington-based artist. The piece is titled Goodbye 2020.

Front cover of the Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 3, showing a red-haired woman standing on a rock, looking down at a whirlpool carrying objects down into the depths of the sea.

This edition’s table of contents features critically acclaimed and award-winnings stories, written by Kiwis, first published around the world and now brought together in one place for the first time:

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, by 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
The Turbine at the End of the World, by James Rowland

Click here to preorder the ebook

Click here to preorder the paperback

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A fantastical haul at this year’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards – Aotearoa New Zealand’s premier SFF awards, named for a previous premier of the country – were announced by livestream at CoNZealand yesterday. (The ceremony itself was actually filmed on Sunday, with an open bar, but we were all sworn to secrecy. Which largely succeeded. Despite the open bar.)

Now that the embargo has lifted, I can safely say how thrilled I am for the Paper Road Press authors whose work has been recognised by the SJV voters.

Best Novella/Novelette: Andi C. Buchanan, From a Shadow Grave

Photo showing a paperback copy of Andi C. Buchanan's FROM A SHADOW GRAVE next to a Sir Julius Vogel Award trophy.

Andi’s wonderfully Wellington novella about a young woman’s life and death and other lives won the award for Best Novella/Novelette.

From a Shadow Grave is available to purchase in paperback from our webstore

Or you can buy the ebook from the usual suspects.

Best Collected Work: Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy, Volume 1, edited by Marie Hodgkinson

Photo showing a paperback copy of YEAR'S BEST AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, Volume 1, edited by Marie Hodgkinson, next to a Sir Julius Vogel Award trophy.

My first outing as an anthology editor since 2015 (SHORTCUTS: Track 1) – I’m so thrilled this anthology, the first in an annual series, has found its audience.

You can buy the paperback from our webstore

Or get the ebook from the usual suspects.

Best Short Story: ‘A Shriek Across the Sky’, by Casey Lucas

Front cover image of Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy, Volume 2, edited by Marie Hodgkinson

Casey’s wonderful story about the horrific reality of having a dad, and then a dad who has turned into a fishman, won Best Short Story.

You can read ‘A Shriek Across the Sky’ for free at Sponge, where it was first published,

Or in the Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy, volume 2.

But wait, there’s more…

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are a brilliant celebration of SFF creative works from Aotearoa New Zealand. Head over to Locus to see the full list of finalists and winners, and if you’re looking for a new read, something to watch, or some new art for your walls, I’m sure you’ll find something you like.

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Paper Road Press awards eligibility

The New Year has swept in and with it, SFF awards around the globe have opened for nominations.

Sir Julius Vogel Awards

Here in Aotearoa, the primary SFF awards are the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, run by Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans of New Zealand (SFFANZ).

Anyone, anywhere in the world, can nominate works for the SJVs using this form. The (up to) five eligible works that receive the most nominations in each category make it onto the shortlist, which is voted on by members of SFFANZ (Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand) and/or the national science fiction convention. And this year, the national science fiction convention is going international, with Wellington hosting this year’s Worldcon: CoNZealand. This is an amazing opportunity to share NZ SFF with the world.

The following Paper Road Press works are eligible for the SJVs and other awards:

  • From A Shadow Grave, by Andi C. Buchanan – eligible for BEST NOVELLA/NOVELETTE (25,000 words)
  • Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy – eligible for BEST COLLECTED WORK
  • Cover of From a Shadow Grave, by Emma Weakley – eligible for BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTWORK
  • Cover of Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Emma Weakley – eligible for BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTWORK

An unofficial and by no means comprehensive list of eligible works in each category is available here.

Nominations for the SJVs can be made via the webform here, before 31st March 2020.

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Announcing a new anthology series

SFF writing in this country is going from strength to strength, but it’s all too easy for those short stories that shine like shooting stars to fade like them, too. That’s why I’m pleased to announce the first volume of the YEAR’S BEST AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY will be published later this year.

Submission details can be found here.

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Debbie Cowens in the running for Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel Award

debbie cowens

The list of eligible works for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel Award has been announced, and Paper Road Press is more than proud to see Debbie Cowens’ debut novel Murder & Matchmaking featured, along with 11 other great Kiwi crime novels. Click on the banner below for the Ngaio Marsh Award announcement.

ngaio
Image banner from the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page

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Sir Julius Vogel Awards – eligible works

Awards season is upon us again! The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are New Zealand’s only voted awards for science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Nominations are currently open for this year’s final ballot, and Paper Road Press has several eligible works …

BEST NOVEL

Sneaking in at the end of the calendar year, the sequel to the winner of the 2015 SJV Award for Best Novel is eligible for the 2016 award. Check out the ebook today:

Pisces of Fate, by Paul Mannering

BEST NOVELLA OR NOVELETTE

All six of the SHORTCUTS stories are eligible for this award:

Mika, by Lee Murray and Piper Mejia

The Last, by Grant Stone

Bree’s Dinosaur, by AC Buchanan

Pocket Wife, by IK Paterson-Harkness

Landfall, by Tim Jones

The Ghost of Matter, by Octavia Cade

BEST COLLECTED WORK

And because the SHORTCUTS stories were published as a collection as well as standalone novellas, we’ve got a look-in for this category as well:

SHORTCUTS: Track 1, edited by Marie Hodgkinson

BEST ARTWORK

Books need covers, so (click on thumbnail to see full version):

Shortcuts Track 1, Cover Illustration_lo res

Cover artwork of SHORTCUTS: Track 1, by KC Bailey

Pisces Of Fate, Cover Illustration_lo res

Cover artwork of Pisces of Fate, by Henry Christian-Slane

Nominations close 28 February, and it’s free to nominate any work. More details and instructions on how to nominate your favourite publications from 2015 can be found here on the SFFANZ website.

 

 

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At the Edge: TOC and Cover Reveal

Paper Road Press is pleased to reveal the cover and table of contents for our upcoming anthology At the Edge!

Edited by award-winning duo Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray, At the Edge is shaping up to be a stunning collection of short science fiction and fantasy from both sides of the ditch, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Dan and Lee are thrilled to announce that among the line-up will be a reprint of Phillip Mann’s short story The Architect. Phillip was short-listed for the Arthur C Clark Award in 2014 for his novel The Disestablishment of Paradise.

Without further ado, the table of contents for At the Edge, in no particular order except alphabetically by author surname:

Joanne Anderton, “Street Furniture”
Richard Barnes, “The Great and True Journey”
Carlington Black, “The Urge”
A.C. Buchanan, “And Still the Forests Grow though We are Gone”
Octavia Cade, “Responsibility”
Shell Child, “Narco”
Jodi Cleghorn , “The Leaves No Longer Fall”
Debbie Cowens, “Hood of Bone”
Tom Dullemond, “One Life, No Respawns”
A.J. Fitzwater, “Splintr”
Jan Goldie, “Little Thunder”
J.C. Hart, “Hope Lies North”
Martin Livings, “Boxing Day”
Phillip Mann, “The Architect”
Paul Mannering, “The Island at the End of the World”
Keira McKenzie, “In Sacrifice We Hope”
Eileen Mueller, “Call of the Sea”
Anthony Panegyres, “Crossing”
A.J. Ponder, “BlindSight”
David Stevens, “Crop Rotation”
David Versace, “Seven Excerpts from Season One”
Summer Wigmore, “Back when the River had No Name”
E.G. Wilson, “12-36”

The cover artist for the anthology is Kapiti-based Emma Weakley, who recently released a twelve-page wordless comic, Main.

At the Edge will be launched in June 2016.

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