AustLit

'A shapeshifter wakes up in a strange place. A witch's sibling rivalry gets out of hand. An unusual bee begins to swarm. BODY OF WORK gathers fantasy, science fiction, and horror from new voices and Australian luminaries, exploring the body - how we live in it, how we die in it, and how we transform it.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Is an unlikely friendship enough to save a human and a voidbeast?

'Can a robot’s heart be broken?

'What happens to the demons when all the humans are gone?

'Can dishonest hearts find peace?

'Demons with no humans left to plague. A robot with a broken heart. Dishonest hearts searching for peace. Unlikely friendships, unlikelier dinners.

'Rebuffing the status quo, Unnatural Order shines a light on the monstrous beings of myth and legend; framing the beast as the protagonist and seeking their humanity. Featuring established and emerging authors, Unnatural Order bares its fangs and brings the paws, maws and claws front and centre.

'Because this time, it’s the monster’s turn.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Rogues, thieves, pirates and ne'er-do-wells abound in speculative fiction. Sometimes heroic, sometimes villainous, often somewhere in between, rogues are as likely to steal one's heart as one's purse, and show little remorse while helping themselves to either.

'Australia has it own mythologies. Some of them were here long before Europeans arrived; some of them are yet to come. Steam-powered bushrangers. Restless penal colonies. Robotic mining operations. Fairy colonies in the gum trees and old ghosts in the laneways. Drought and fire and flood and new life struggling to emerge from the dust. These are the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we want to hide from.

'Thirty new stories from some of Australia’s best-known speculative fiction writers and some of its newest.' (Publication summary)

'Thirty of the best speculative fiction writers in Australia reveal what happened Next.'

Source: Back-cover blurb.

'We all wear masks. Human beings mask their faces with paint, with wood, with the faces of others. Others mask as humans. Some masks hide tragedy – some bring joy.

What is our place in the masqued dance? How does the face-changing, shape-changing moment touch us or transform our lives? Thirty exciting writers use fantasy, science fiction and horror to take us on a dangerous journey through the many masks of Masques' (CFSG website).

'This anthology from the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild is full of twisted stories and tasteful recipes, along with tasteful stories and twisted recipes. Spaceships are served with pikelets, werewolves with chocolate, andmermaids with tea. And there’s pixies, spirits, beans, gods, damsels in distress, lots and lots of spices, thousand-year-old eggs and thoroughly modern bubble gum?' (Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild website).

The Gastronomicon contains 20 stories and 22 recipes from: Jenny and Stuart Barrow, Zara Baxter, Conor Bendle, Mik Bennett, Geoff Byng, Lily Chrywenstrom, Donna Maree Hanson, Cameron Hill, Tessa Kum, Maxine McArthur, Robbie Matthews, T. L. Miller, Nicole R. Murphy, Gillian Polack, Allan Price, Peter Raftos, Barbara Robson, Kylie Seluka, Valerie Y. L. Toh, and Kaaron Warren.

'The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild is a group dedicated to the advancement of Speculative Fiction, both in the local region and Australia wide ... And what is Speculative Fiction? A catchall phrase for Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and any stories that are just a little out of the ordinary. Our members have written about Spaceships, and Dragons, and Elves, and things that go bump in the night... ' (Website).

Website includes member profiles, links to meeting information, reviews, writing hints and links to online anthologies.

The third publication released by the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSFG), Elsewhere is collection of stories that explore the theme of fantastic places.

In an interview published in Donna Maree Hanson’s Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview, editor Michael Barry indicates that he wanted to include stories that were more experimental than was usual for an Australian speculative fiction anthology, and in this respect some of the ‘other places’ deviate quite a deal from what one expects in terms of fantastical lands.

'All cultures have them, creatures that may be benevolent or malignant, horrible or beautiful, creatures whose full comprehension stays just beyond the grope of our minds. Is it merely an ability to dream up amusing fantasies that frighten, entertain and delight us or some deeper drive for knowledge of Heaven and Earth and everything between?' (publisher blurb).