Francesca T. Barbini's Blog, page 8

Luna Artist and Authors Nominated for the BSFA Awards! (Long List)

I was abroad when I heard about the BSFA nominations, and given the time - 2AM - I actually thought I was dreaming. It turned out that it was no dream: Luna's eleven nominations were all real, in the long list for the BSFA awards - this left us dizzy with joy!It's the first time for us, and the first time for some of the nominees too. As we speak, the voting to create a shortlist is underway, open to members of the BSFA, and we are crossing everything we have! If you haven't voted yet, and are eligible, voting closes on the 31st of January.So, who are the nominees?Let's start with fiction.Artist Jay Johnstone has gathered two nominations, for the cover art of 'The Girl from the Sky' and 'The Sub-genres of British Fantasy Literature'.From our 'Steampunk Writers Around the World' we have three nominations for short stories: Suna Dasi for 'Unmade', Milton Davies for 'The Swarm' and Josue' Ramos for 'The History of Your Heart'.Incidentally, all the illustrations for this book were also made by Jay Johnstone. The last picture includes all the other marvellous authors.Allen Stroud and Anthony Laken have obtained a nomination for their novels, and so did Peter Garrett, for his illustrated novelette, Final Diagnosis. Both Anthony and Peter debuted with us.Academia Lunare, our non-fiction arm, has done really well!From Luna's first Call for Papers, 'Gender Identity and Sexuality in Fantasy and SF', the papers of Juliet E McKenna (The Myth of Meritocracy and the Reality of the Leaky Pipe and Other Obstacles in Science Fiction & Fantasy) and Kim Lakin-Smith (Doll Parts: Reflections of the Feminine Grotesque in Frances Hardinge’s Cuckoo Song and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline) have been nominated.Last but not least, AJ Dalton's "The Sub-genres of British Fantasy Literature" closes up the ranks.A massive thank you to everyone who has voted for our family so far - we couldn't have done it without you! We are #lunapreoudparents!

Tim Major for the Harvester Series

Tim Major joined the Luna family on the 1st of January, and we're delighted to have him with us! Tim's collection for the Harvester Series will be called And The House Lights Dim.If you missed our initial post on the new Luna series, click here.We asked Tim to tell us more about his collection:"And The House Lights Dim is my first collection of short stories, which were written over a three-year period. They’re pretty diverse, spanning weird fiction, horror and SF – but I confess that when I wrote them they seemed more diverse than they really are. It was only recently that I realised just how prevalent particular themes have been in my writing: houses, homes and family. Perhaps it’s no surprise. The earliest of the stories was written when my wife was pregnant with our first child; one of the novellas was written in a mad hurry in the weeks before his birth; nowadays I write in a fog of fatigue due to my second child’s sleepless nights. I think about family constantly and as a freelance editor I’m trapped in my home for the greater part of every day. In this collection are stories about a sentient house overprotective of its new occupants, a supernatural Greenland shark that attacks a family via sound, a married couple alone on a lengthy space flight, two young girls who live in isolation and in fear of the world beyond their walls, a camping trip that turns a family feral, a post-apocalyptic Center Parcs, a man who has defragmented his mind and another who splices a rival’s brain patterns onto his own. Most of the stories have been published in various places, including Interzone, Not One of Us, The Literary Hatchet and anthologies published by Fox Spirit, Jurassic London and Hic Dragones. ‘Carus & Mitch’ was previously published as a standalone novella by Omnium Gatherum and was shortlisted for a This Is Horror Award in 2015. People have been very nice about it: Lynda Rucker said it was a ‘compelling, unconventional page-turner… blending a John Wyndham-esque melancholy with a dose of existential despair’. Adam Roberts called it ‘punchy and scary and tense and genuinely moving’ and James Everington said it was ‘an intimate, original, and character-driven take on the post-apocalyptic genre’, all of which made me feel awfully proud."Tim Major is a freelance editor and co-editor of the British Fantasy Society’s fiction journal, Horizons. His first novel, You Don’t Belong Here (Snowbooks, 2016), is a curious mix of time-travel SF and psychological horror. He has also published two novellas: Blighters (Abaddon, 2016) and Carus & Mitch (Omnium Gatherum, 2015) – the latter was shortlisted for a This Is Horror Award. His short stories have appeared in Interzone, Not One of Us, The Literary Hatchet and numerous anthologies. In 2018, his first novel for young adults will be published by ChiZine and his non-fiction book about the 1915 French silent crime serial, Les Vampires, will be published by Electric Dreamhouse Press. Find out more at www.cosycatastrophes.wordpress.comTim joins an amazing group of writers: Paul Kane, Marie O'Regan, Stephen Bacon and Wole Talabi.

Wole Talabi for the Harvester Series

We are thrilled to welcome Nigerian writer Wole Talabi to the Luna family! Incomplete Solutions to New Equations of AfroAlchemy will be the fourth collection of the Harvester series, out in 2019. You can read more about the series here.We asked Wole to tell us more about his stories:"From the bustling streets of Lagos to the icy moons of Jupiter, the stories in Incomplete Solutions to New Equations of AfroAlchemy explore accelerating technology, complex histories, diverse beliefs and human potential from my own unique perspective. This collection contains both previously published stories and stories that are exclusive to this collection. Among the new stories is a science-fiction novella “Incompleteness Theories”, in which an international team led by a troubled Nigerian physicist attempt to create teleportation technology, with unsettling results. The previously published stories include stories that have never appeared online before and others that have seen wide circulation, such as “A Short History of Migration in Five Fragments of You”, which was longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association award, “Parse. Error. Reset.” which won the AMC/Motherboard Post-Humans story contest, and “Wednesday's Story” which was a finalist for best short story at the Nommo Awards.Incomplete Solutions to New Equations of AfroAlchemy contains 17 short stories, 2 novelettes, and 1 novella, as well as art and notes on some of the stories for the bonus material section.Some readers may find the collection reminiscent of award-winning Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu-Kabu: Stories, with notes of Phillip K. Dick filtered through my own distinct imagination. Incomplete Solutions to New Equations of AfroAlchemy collects stories from the first chapter of my writing career, that I believe are evocative, philosophical, subversive, and exciting. I hope readers enjoy reading the collection as much as I have enjoyed creating it."Wole Talabi is a full-time engineer, part-time writer and sometime editor from Nigeria.His stories have been nominated for the Nommos, recommended by Locus, appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lightspeed, Omenana, Terraform, The Kalahari Review, the Imagine Africa 500 anthology, Apex and many other places.He edited the anthologies These Words Expose Us and Lights Out: Resurrection, and co-wrote the play Color Me Man.He likes scuba diving, elegant equations and oddly-shaped things. He currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Wole joins an amazing group of writers: Paul Kane, Marie O'Regan, Stephen Bacon and Tim Major.Bring on 2019!

Stephen Bacon for the Harvester Series

Welcome to Luna, Stephen Bacon! We are so happy to have you with us! Stephen has joined our family through the Harvester Series, which you can read more about here.Stephen's collection will include stories from the past, a few new ones, and some bonus material, true to the Harvester's spirit."I'm extremely excited to be working with such a dynamic new publisher like Luna Press, and thrilled that my second collection, Murmured in Dreams, will be released as part of the Harvester series. The stories contained in this book will include both originals and reprints that first appeared in such outlets as Black Static, Cemetery Dance, Shadows & Tall Trees, and Postscripts. Several of the stories were subsequently chosen by Ellen Datlow for her Best Horror of the Year series, although it's fair to say they straddle all of the branches of speculative genre - horror, science fiction, fantasy and crime.These stories will hopefully take you to new worlds, or to areas of the planet that perhaps you wouldn't want to visit, or to encounter characters you might not necessarily want to meet."Stephen Bacon has had fiction published in various magazines and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic, some of which has been selected for Best Horror of the Year. His debut collection, Peel Back the Sky, was published in 2012 and was nominated for a British Fantasy Award. He is the author of the novellas Lantern Rock (Pendragon Press) and Laudanum Nights (Hersham Horror Books).He lives in South Yorkshire, UK, with his family and an increasingly large collection of paperback books.His website is www.stephenbacon.co.ukStephen joins an amazing group of writers: Paul Kane, Marie O'Regan, Wole Talabi and Tim Major.We have a super 2019 to look forward to!

Marie O'Regan for the Harvester Series

Luna Press is proud to welcome the talented Marie O'Regan, who will enrich the Harvester Series with her beautiful The Last Ghost and Other Stories.As you know, Harvester won't just include short stories from the past, but also new ones, along with bonus material. You can read more about the series here.We asked Marie to tell us more about her ghost stories:"It’s no secret that I love ghost stories – I’ve written quite a few myself. I also edited The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women… there is nothing quite like reading a ghost story, preferably when it’s cold outside, and the lights are on, and the curtains drawn. They evoke an atmosphere that’s quite unlike any other type of tale; a feeling of sadness and longing, and at times even sympathy for the poor deceased creature so desperate to impart their story to the living.What I haven’t done, so far, is collect any of my own ghost stories into one volume, so I’m very grateful to Francesca and Robert of Luna Press for giving me the chance to do just that. Here you’ll find ‘The Last Ghost’, a young girl’s tale of loss; ‘In The Howling of the Wind’, a small boy waiting for his parents in a house suddenly grown strange; ‘Someone To Watch Over You’, the story of a protective phantom; ‘The Cradle in the Corner’, a slightly different haunting; ‘Play Time’, a cautionary tale on the dangers of playing out alone at night, and ‘Sleeping Black’, a tale of spirits awoken by a house’s new tenants – and they want to play.One thing I hadn’t realised, until now, was quite how many of my ghost stories involve children, in one way or another – perhaps it’s because children see more, and judge less; perhaps it’s that they’re more empathetic than the rest of us, or easier for us to empathise with. Who knows? Either way, you’ll find within these pages some of my favourite stories from those I’ve written; I hope you find something that becomes a favourite of yours."Marie O’Regan is a British Fantasy Award-nominated author and editor, based in Derbyshire. Her first collection, Mirror Mere, was published in 2006 by Rainfall Books; her second, In Times of Want, came out in September 2016 from Hersham Horror Books, and her short fiction has appeared in a number of genre magazines and anthologies in the UK, US, Canada, Italy and Germany, including Best British Horror 2014 and Great British Horror: Dark Satanic Mills (2017). Her novella, Bury Them Deep, was published by Hersham Horror Books in September 2017. She was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Society Award for Best Short Story in 2006, and Best Anthology in 2010 (Hellbound Hearts) and 2012 (Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women). Her genre journalism has appeared in magazines like The Dark Side, Rue Morgue and Fortean Times, and her interview book with prominent figures from the horror genre, Voices in the Dark, was released in 2011. An essay on ‘The Changeling’ was published in PS Publishing’s Cinema Macabre, edited by Mark Morris. She is co-editor of the bestselling Hellbound Hearts, Mammoth Book of Body Horror and A Carnivàle of Horror – Dark Tales from the Fairground, plus editor of bestselling The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women and is Co-Chair of the UK Chapter of the Horror Writers’ Association. Marie is represented by Jamie Cowen of The Ampersand Agency.Marie joins an amazing group of writers: Paul Kane, Stephen Bacon, Wole Talabi and Tim Major. We can't wait!

Paul Kane for the Harvester Series

On the 1st of January, we welcomed a group of incredible writers to the Luna family. Today we are delighted to introduce you to Paul Kane, who has been writing quality fiction and non-fiction for decades.Paul joins the Harvester series, which you can read more about here, with his collection, The Controllers.And now, let's hear from the man himself!"Happy New Year one and all. I hope you had a good holiday period. I was asked to write a bit of a post to be included when the announcement was made about this new publication, so here goes. I’m delighted that Francesca and Robert liked my work enough to take this collection – and even more delighted to be a part of the Luna family, which includes some fantastic authors. For those who don’t know me already, my name is Paul Kane and I’ve been writing professionally now for 21 years – for my sins. I work in all kinds of genres, in all kinds of formats; last year, for example, I did my very first full cast audio drama for Bafflegab, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m probably best known for my Hooded Man novels, though, published by Abaddon, which revolve around a post-apocalyptic version of Robin Hood. And also my association with Clive Barker and his work, in particular Hellraiser: I wrote The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy, co-edited Hellbound Hearts with my better half Marie O’Regan, and wrote the 2016 crossover novel Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell for Solaris, which saw the world’s greatest detective take on the Cenobites. This new collection, however, focuses on another mythos; one I’ve been writing about and building up myself for the entirety of my career. I penned the very first Controllers' tale, ‘Astral’, back in the late 90s and the most recent one, ‘Reflections’, last year. I find the whole idea of whether we have free will or not fascinating, which you’ll also find explored in stories of mine like ‘Signs of Life’ and ‘Men of the Cloth’ – both included in my Best of… collection for SST, Shadow Casting. But it is with the Controllers that this reaches its peak: cyclopaedic otherworldly beings who manipulate every aspect of our lives from beginning to end, for their own secret purposes – loyal to a god they call The Beholder. Anyway, you can read more about all this when the book actually comes out through Luna, filled with exclusive extras. But until then, I’ll again wish you a prosperous and enjoyable 2018… if the Controllers let you have one, that is!"Paul Kane is the award-winning, bestselling author and editor of over seventy books – including the Arrowhead trilogy (gathered together in the sellout Hooded Man omnibus, revolving around a post-apocalyptic version of Robin Hood), The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, Hellbound Hearts, The Mammoth Book of Body Horror and Pain Cages (an Amazon #1 bestseller). His non-fiction books include The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy and Voices in the Dark, and his genre journalism has appeared in the likes of SFX, Rue Morgue and DeathRay. He has been a Guest at Alt.Fiction five times, was a Guest at the first SFX Weekender, at Thought Bubble in 2011, Derbyshire Literary Festival and Off the Shelf in 2012, Monster Mash and Event Horizon in 2013, Edge-Lit in 2014, HorrorCon, HorrorFest and Grimm Up North in 2015, The Dublin Ghost Story Festival and Sledge-Lit in 2016, plus IMATS Olympia and Celluloid Screams in 2017, as well as being a panellist at FantasyCon and the World Fantasy Convention, and a fiction judge at the Sci-Fi London festival. His work has been optioned and adapted for the big and small screen, including for US network television, and his latest novels are Lunar (set to be turned into a feature film), the Y.A. story The Rainbow Man (as P.B. Kane), the sequel to RED – Blood RED – the award-winning hit Sherlock Holmes & the Servants of Hell, and Before. He lives in Derbyshire, UK, with his wife Marie O’Regan, his family and a black cat called Mina. Find out more at his site www.shadow-writer.co.ukwhich has featured Guest Writers such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Robert Kirkman, Dean Koontz and Guillermo del Toro.Paul joins an amazing group of writers: Marie O'Regan, Stephen Bacon, Wole Talabi and Tim Major.We are thrilled to have Paul in our family!

Introducing the "Harvester" Series

This new year brings five new incredible writers to the Luna family. We are thrilled to welcome Paul Kane, Marie O'Regan, Stephen Bacon, Wole Talabi and Tim Major!We crossed paths under various circumstances but, fortuitously enough, within the same timeframe, it was soon clear that we were all looking for the same thing: an opportunity to create individual anthologies showcasing great stories from the past alongside some brand new ones, as well as bonus material, exclusive to this collection. A gathering of stories; a harvest.The older stories have featured in established genre magazines, such as Interzone, Black Static, etc., or in 'best of' collections. Some have been nominated, or won, genre awards, such as the Nommo, BSFA and BFS. If you've discovered one of these authors years ago, you will recognise some of these familiar golden oldies; stories that have inspired and accompanied you on journeys.The new stories are, of course, unpublished; a testament to the incredible work these authors are doing to enrich the genre scene.The bonus material will include a personal touch from each of the authors, allowing you to know them better and welcoming you into their creative world.Starting from Wednesday, we will introduce each of our new family members to you, and they will all have something to tell you about their own individual collection. Here's the schedule:Wednesday 3rd of January: Paul KaneFriday 5th: Marie O'ReganSunday 7th: Stephen BaconTuesday 9th: Wole TalabiThursday 11th: Tim MajorHere's to a great new year filled with magical worlds, and to our authors!

Why you should file your Self Assessment right now.

Authors are self-employed and writing should be treated like a business.If this is your first year, and you still haven't filed your tax return, get a flaming move on!Filing online is the way forward and HMRC registration can take up to 10 days to provide you with your UTR confirmation code, so it’s in your interest to get that paperwork ready nice and early. Don't forget: the deadline is the 31st of January!It is vital that you keep your accounts in order, and leaving them to the last minute is not wise in the least. Alas, if this is you, don't waste any more time, do it now and next year plan ahead. There are very good reasons to fill in the tax return asap, and here they are.1. AVOID SPENDING EXTRA MONEYLeaving your self assessment to January could mean a higher tax bill - and do you have the extra money to cover it? After all January comes after December, a month notorious for extra expenses. Even if you are ONE day late, you will be fined £100.2. GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO FILL THE FORM IN A RELAXING MANNERMy tax year folder contains a huge collection of invoices, receipts, bank statements and all sorts of paper trails. Extra time allows you to go through your figures, double check your paper trail, count and recount to make sure everything is accounted for.Why give yourself a heart attack, when you could do it in your own sweet time?3. BE ORGANISEDI have 4 jobs, as some of you know, three of which are in the self-employed category. The tax year ends on the 4th of April, and by the end of May my tax return is done and dusted.In order to do this, I update my ledgers (physical and digital) every time money go in and out of the accounts; in this way I know I won't forget a single transaction. I have a paper copy of every invoice/credit notes/bank statements, etc., neatly filed in my trusted folder.Moreover, I am responsible for the royalties payments of the Luna authors, so yes - order and precision are paramount.These means that if I have to check something, I know immediately where to find it, and if HMRC wants to audit your records, you have them ready to go. Trust me, it pays off.4. ENJOY BOTH THE SUMMER AND WINTER HOLIDAYSIf you file in the spring, you can enjoy your summer holiday and the winter holidays in style. Who would want to eat and be merry, with the image of a tax-return looming in the back of their mind? 5. GET HELPSelf-assessment can be done by yourself alone, without any external support. However, there is help to be had, proportionate to the amount of money you are in a position of spending.a) DIY calling HMRC helpline to clarify what is not clear. I always found them extremely useful.b) DIY, but ask for an accountant to look over your calculations. If you go down this route, remember that December is NOT the right time to find an accountant, as they will be busy bees.c) DIY but with the aid of a software - there are plenty out there, try them for free and find your favourite one.d) Pay an accountant to do it all for you. All paperwork has to be kept in order and will need to be delivered in good time.6. SELF-SWAGGERIt's that moment when someone asks you about your self-assesment status and you go, "What tax return? I did mine aaaaages ago!", looking fly like the Wizard of Oz.Go on then: the deadline is the 31st of January!

Luna Acquires Italian Rights for Fantasy Author Daniele Azara! Benvenuto a Luna!

It is with patriotic pride that I can officially announce Luna's first Italian author to join our family, or rather, "La Famiglia di Luna"! Benvenuto, Daniele Azara!Daniele is a multi talented Italian fantasy author and game designer, who has just released the YA fantasy, Children of Mu with Astro Edizioni, run by the excellent Francesca Costantino, in Roma.When we read the book, we just knew it had to be introduced into the English market. I am personally supervising the Italian translation, and am enjoying the process more than I can say.Daniele told us:"CoM was born to answer a single question: why are human beings the only unhappy animal on Earth? Studying anthropology, I knew that the answer lay in the continuous battle between nature and culture. As a professional creative, I just decided to re-write history in order to give a personal answer to it. The result is a realistic-fantasy book in which our everyday life is ruled by forces we aren't able to understand. And it's all about human beings, nature, and all the mysteries from our past that scientists can't explain."Daniele has been a game designer since the days of Quake. He collaborated in the launch of dozens of games, distributed in every corner of the Earth, played by millions of people on PC, home consoles, mobile devices and AR/VR technologies, of which is an enthusiastic scholar.He has always been active in visual effects and advertising with his own companies, was nominated at the Italian Oscars, “David di Donatello”, and has been awarded the Gold Star in “Grand prix of communication”.He has run courses in Game Design at the Master in Multimedia & New Languages in Florence, as well as at the European Design Institute (IED) of Rome, and Link Campus, Vigamus Academy, where he currently leads the development labs.He works mainly as a consultant, is married and has a young boy. He lives in Rome and travels a lot.Children of Mu is the first book from the “Children of Mu” RPG alternate-history universe he started creating in 1997.If I may be allowed: EVVAI! Children of Mu (Release date TBC)

Death and Immortality in Middle-earth: Pre-Order Now!

Death and Immortality in Middle-earth: Proceedings of The Tolkien Society Seminar 2016 will be out on the 1st of December 2017 and is now available for pre-order.J.R.R. Tolkien deplored allegory and rejected any suggestion that The Lord of the Rings has an inner meaning or message. In reading back the tale, however, he became aware of a dominant motif:‘The real theme for me is […] Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race “doomed” to leave and seemingly lose it; the anguish in the hearts of a race “doomed” not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete’ (Letters, p. 246). Despite the lucidity of this statement, the theme of death and immortality has been left relatively unexplored in Tolkien studies. In recognition of this, and to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, The Tolkien Society called for presentations on this important topic for its seminar in Leeds on 2 July 2016. Published under the auspices of the Society’s Peter Roe Memorial Fund, this book features a collection of twelve papers delivered on the day by aspiring and established Tolkien scholars alike.Who was Peter Roe?In 1979, a young and very talented person joined the Tolkien Society shortly after his sixteenth birthday. He had discovered Middle-earth some time earlier, and was so inspired by it that he even developed his own system of runes, similar to the Dwarvish Angerthas, but which utilised logical sound values, matching the logical shapes of the runes.Peter was also an accomplished cartographer, and his bedroom was covered with multi-coloured maps of the journeys of the Fellowship, plans of Middle-earth, and other drawings. As if this was not enough, Peter was also a creative writer in both poetry and prose – the subject being incorporated into his own Dwarvish Chronicles.He was so enthusiastic about having joined the Society that he had written a letter ordering all the available back issues, and was on his way to buy envelopes when he was hit by a speeding lorry outside his home and died instantly.Some time later, Jonathan and Lester Simons (at that time Chairman and Membership Secretary respectively) visited Peter’s parents to see his room and to look at the work on which he had spent so much care and attention in such a tragically short life. It was obvious that Peter had produced, and would have continued to produce, material of such a high standard as to make a complete booklet, with poetry, calligraphy, stories and cartography. (Dwarvish Fragments, an unfinished tale by Peter, was published in Mallorn 15.)With the consent of his parents, the then Committee set up a special account in honour of Peter which would be the source of finance for the Society’s special publications. This is a series of booklets published at irregular intervals by the Tolkien Society, funded by the Peter Roe Memorial Fund. They seek to forward Tolkien studies in all areas.