Read on Twitter
Okay tweeps, after the godawful mess of the Hugo’s at CoNZealand you might be wondering where the New Zealand content was (ha, trick question, there wasn’t any) so I’m here to give you my recommendations:
First up is one of my absolute favourite stories by @AJFitzwater — it’s beautiful and haunting and so very clever https://firesidefiction.com/how-to-build-a-unicorn
2020 SJV-winner for best novella (‘From a Shadow Grave’) @andicbuchanan has an astounding back catalogue of stories and is incredibly talented https://andicbuchanan.org/short-fiction/
And speaking of talent, there is a whole ton of it in ‘This Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy’ collected and published by @PaperRoadPress https://books2read.com/u/4EolEM
The brilliant, award winning @darusha (Nebula nominated and SJV winner) has had wonderful stories published in a multitude of places. Read some of them here https://darusha.ca/category/stories/
You may know her from all the hard work she’s put into CoNZealand, fighting for inclusion and making the truly good stuff happen, but @MelHardingShaw is an amazing, accomplished writer too https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/05/840637/saturday-short-story-the-fisher-bymelanie-harding-shaw
Writer and editor @JCHart has an astounding number of books and stories to her name and her gorgeous new novel ‘Butcherbird’ will be published by Huia Publishers https://just-cassie.com
This wonderful story by @toniwaiaroha in NZ’s Takahē magazine is a weirdly beautiful tale about love https://www.takahe.org.nz/t96/t96-toni-wi/
Looking for some gorgeous, fae fantasy shenanigans? Then @lancasterwrites will provide. https://ajlancaster.com
Described by fellow award-winning Kiwi writer Tamsyn Muir, author of ‘Gideon the Ninth’ as “a wonderful queer noir fever dream" @understatesmen is a two-time SJV 2020 winner for their debut novel ‘The Dawnhounds’ https://www.amazon.com/Dawnhounds-Against-Quiet-Book-ebook/dp/B07YSBKKGG
@OJCade is a multi-talented writer of SpecFic and clifi and I have to include her story “The Feather Wall” as it is one of my favourites https://reckoning.press/the-feather-wall/ and was reprinted in the charity anthology ‘Black Dogs, Black Tales’ this year.
Finally, you can read more about queer NZ SpecFic at the Spin-off here, which features many of the authors in this thread https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/24-11-2019/queer-lives-are-not-just-one-big-scar-welcoming-the-sci-fi-revolution/
No wait, there’s more! @CaseyLucasQuaid is a brilliant writer and another SJV winner and you can read their fantastic work here https://intothemire.com/about/
Have to add the hilarious @SeaMunchkin and their most recent collection of Wellington-based stories ‘Ghost Bus’ which means you might never see the capital city in the same way again! https://writersplot.org.nz/book/author/anna-kirtlan/
If you want gorgeous fantasy for younger readers, then @IsaPearlRitchie’s Dreamweaver books are fantastic. She also wrote the beautiful ‘Fishing for Maui’ http://isaritchie.com
Adding another shout-out for @Ryn_Richmond who has a story in this awesome Terry Pratchett homage/charity anthology, plus is an excellent poet. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32147770-the-longest-night-watch-volume-2
And another - for @James_Rowland92 who was a SJV finalist this year for Best Short Story with “Proof of Concept” and his excellent “Arachne’s Web” can be read in Aurealis Magazine https://aurealis.com.au
