Wednesday 25 January 2012

Genre News

Got some more and varied genre news for you. 

First up, I got an email today about a new social network:

PhutureNews.com, a new futuring portal featuring the news headlines of tomorrow today, was officially launched today by technology pioneer Matthew Mather in collaboration with some of the world's #1 best selling science fiction authors including Hugh Howey, Mainak Dhar, Peter Cawdron and many others including scientists and other futurists. The website is a collaborative, crowd-sourced predictor of the future using headlines that are added daily to the site by users. The project is an integral part of the launch of the new sci-fi series Phuture Dawn.

PhutureNews has proven popular in its pre-release, gathering hundreds of fans that have made predictions of everything from the likelihood of Justin Beiber being elected President of the United States to the date of commercial fusion reactors and contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Users are free to add their own future headlines to be voted on, and can sign up to a running tally of voting via Twitter or PhutureNews on Facebook. Any story getting more than 100 votes with 80% positive will be added to the official Phuture TimeLines that are built up collaboratively with site visitors.

I've been contacted by several authors, but Terrance Foxxe is the first one who has issued a free coupon for downloading his book that he wants shared.  I don't have time to read this at the moment, but maybe one of you will so...


In The Dreaming by Terrance Foxxe - Dark fantasy. A collection of short stories bridged together by a larger narrative.

Foxxe's unique novel offers a wide variety of stories to suit any tastes. From Native American legend to urban detective, plus vampires, barbarians, presidents, elves, and (walking talking) toys. Science fiction and horror sits alongside magic, hope and love.

The coupon code is: JP54R (and is not case sensitive).
Promotional price: $0.00
Expires: March 1, 2012

E. J. Dabel, author of Pantheons was interviewed by Journal Jabber.  If you like mythology (specifically Greek) then this may be of interest to you.

The plot synopsis is:
On the streets, they call fifteen year old orphan Isaiah Marshall the Indestructible Diamond. Isaiah is the leader of the Redrovers, a group of teenage misfits consisting of his friends Jeremy, Monty, and Pipsqueak, but when they trespass into Kaliber Academy to get even with the arrogant Jason Ollopa, they are in way over their heads.

Principal Webb enrolls them into the High School and Isaiah soon learns about the existence of the gods of the Ancient World. Because the gods have refused to fight the last War for fear of the Mysterious Dark, the Powers-that-Be have stripped them of their spiritual bodies and given them mortal, teenage forms.

Isaiah discovers he's not only a god, but that he's the child of the Greek goddess Metis, the son destined to overthrow his cruel and sadistic father Zeus, the Darkener of the Sky, and become the greatest god in all the Pantheons.

Isaiah is thrown into a world where the democratic Olympians, war-mongering Norse, Gothic Celts, firstborn Egyptians, the enlightened Hindu, the animal-like Aztecs, the martial artist Asians, the intelligent Babylonians, the great spirits of the Native American Indians, and the fierce Finnish will war against one another for the greatest of all prizes: the Dominion.

If you've got a manuscript ready for publication, you'll be happy to hear that Angry Robot Books is having another open door month.  The catch, they're only looking for epic fantasy and YA.  Here's their press release:

ANGRY ROBOT ANNOUNCES YET MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEBUT NOVELISTS

During April last year, Angry Robot Books temporarily suspended its usual submission policy to run its first Open Door Month; accepting unsolicited, un-agented manuscripts from would-be genre fiction authors.

The scheme was a huge success: nearly 1,000 submissions resulted in publishing contracts for three authors - Cassandra Rose Clarke, Lee Collins, and Lee Battersby - and the commissioning of at least six brand new novels for publication for the Angry Robot lists in 2012 and 2013.

Today, Angry Robot are announcing that Open Door will return, with a second phase running from April 16th - April 30th 2012. During this frantic fortnight the floodgates will once more be opened to admit brand new work by hopeful (and, of course, hugely talented) writers from across the globe.

This time around, the rules are slightly different. Angry Robot will only be considering submissions that meet the following genre criteria:

a) Epic Fantasy - ideally with a bit of an edge or the sort of left-field twist the Angry Robot audience has come to expect.

b) YA - any subject welcome, but must be science fiction or fantasy, and intended for a Young Adult audience, for potential publication via Angry Robot's new Strange Chemistry imprint.

More details can be found at http://angryrobotbooks.com/opendoor

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