Free ??

Free ??

It shouldn’t be too surprising that the book I read for May is 18.

18 features not just all Australian spec-fic authors, but all Queensland-based spec-fic authors. The anthology was titled thus because it is celebrating the eighteenth year of the Brisbane critique group Vision Writers.

Now clearly, being VP of this critique group(not to mention having helped critique every one of these stories) there is no way I can be impartial about this book as I have been with other anthologies I’ve appeared in. Instead of making this a review as I normally would, I’ll tempt you with teaser sentences for each story.

  • 18/20 by S. Elliot Brandis (Stephen has also recently released his first novel ‘Irradiated’):  In a militia-governed city where even the ability to give birth is currency, how far will Eila go to escape her arranged marriage and be with the woman she loves?
  • 1800 by Talitha Kalago (you can check out Talitha’s awesome YA series Lifesphere Inc as well): Hiding in the rainforests of Queensland are all manner of still undiscovered species, but this small band of explorers are about to discover how dangerous the rainforest is.
  • Infinity Underscore by Kristen Isbester: Life and Death, wealth and destitution, health and illness – forever in balance. On the frontiers of colonial space there is a myth of Kasia, the embodiment of life, wealth and health. Her passing will bless all in proximity, but when she moves on…
  • Low Life by Allan Walsh: Eighteen layers of Hell. How deep will your sins take you?
  • 18k In The Hole by Tony Owens (You can also read his most recent story free on Antipodean): Bill and Carl, enforcers, assassins, crooks, think this is just another job, warning some bloke he better pay back the $18,000 he owes soon – until their car goes off the side of a cliff. And doesn’t drop to the ground.
  • How To Grow A Beard by Meghann Laverick: Everyone knows that a wizard’s power is in his beard, but what if puberty just isn’t blessing you with anything more that a cracked voice?
  • The Seven Swordsmen by Daniel Ferguson: Everybody loves a good bounty. 25,000 sterling quarters for the Silver Man is a hefty sum, but the mysterious Silver Man is a hefty foe, so a team forms.
  • Flickering Lives by Kenneth Mugi (you can check out his other books on his website): In a world where simply saying the word ‘eighteen’ could turn you or someone near you into a killing machine, Emra fights to free her brother from those who would take his life away.
  • Nightfall by Kirstie Olley: Marrille has never feared Nightfall like the rest of her flock, but when a chance comes to fix the eternal dusk her world is stagnating in she must decide whether to listen to her family or do what she believes will save the world.
  • The Black Queen by Melanie Bird: In love with each other from childhood, human healer Eloise and dragon prince Malicay dream of being together forever, but the Black Queen has something to say about that.
  • XVIII: Crazy He Calls Me by S. Walsh: Dumped, fired and homeless in the space of ten minutes, Darrius goes on a bender and gets his fortune read by a gypsy – what’s in the cards?
  • 18 Little Beds by Laura Brodnik (you can check out her articles regularly in BMag as well): In a cold orphanage in Russia there is a locked room with eighteen little beds and a terrible secret.
  • 18 Barr St by Chrisopher Kneipp: You never know what will happen when you pull out the ouija board.

 

 

Don’t forget, using Amazon’s Look Inside function you can read the first story and some of the second to get a good taste. And if 99c is still a bit on the steep side for you, the book will be free again soon (trust me, I’ll let you know the dates when I know them 🙂 ).

Through June I’ll be reading Trouble Twisters by Garth Nix and Sean Williams