Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Choir Boats: Recommended



The Choir Boats was recommended on the Advent Book Blog:

"Rabuzzi is finally (sighs) an original voice amongst the rehashing of old favorites and the “fang” bandwagon."

Click here to see the rest of the review!

Your copy awaits you at CZP!

Monday, December 13, 2010

The 13 Days of CZPmas

TORONTO, Ontario (December 10, 2010) – Starting on December 13th, ChiZine Publications will have a variety of sale offers available for the holiday season on many of their releases, as well as free content and sneak previews of what’s in store for 2011.


“Since the holidays are fast approaching, we wanted to put our own creepy spin on the season and also reward our loyal readers for giving us our best year yet,” remarks CZP co-publisher Sandra Kasturi. “Because really, without the readers, we’d be nothing. This is just our way of keeping your cockles warm.”


From December 13th to 25th, the ChiZine Publications website will be updating daily with details on the offer for that specific day.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The CZP / Rannu Fund For Writers of Speculative Fiction

TORONTO, Ontario (December 6, 2010) – Submissions are now open for the 3rd annual Rannu Fund for Writers of speculative fiction.

The Rannu Fund was established by Sandra Kasturi to reward those who contributed to the speculative fiction community. It was named in honour of her mother and step-father’s contributions to the arts in Canada and Estonia.

In collaboration with ChiZine Publications (CZP), the Rannu Fund offers two awards: $500 CDN prize for fiction, and another $500 CDN prize for poetry. Additionally, two honourable mentions from each category will be awarded a $50 prize. All winners and honourable mentions will be selected by a panel of judges composed of writers of science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, and surrealism.

The 2010 judges include horror legend Peter Straub, Governor General’s Award winner Jacob Sheier, in addition to CZP co-publishers, Sandra Kasturi and Brett Alexander Savory. All judging will be blind.

Poetry submissions may include up to five poems and fiction submissions may include short story or a novel excerpt up to 7,000 words. All submissions must be previously unpublished, and in English. There is a $10 reading fee or $15 reading fee for two submissions. Submissions should be sent to rannufund@gmail.com

The deadline is midnight on Sunday, January 15, 2011, and the winners will be announced May 15, 2011. For more information go to http://www.rannu.webs.com or email Sandra Kasturi, Co-Publisher of CZP at sandra@chizinepub.com.

ChiZine Publications (CZP) is an independent publisher of weird, subtle, surreal and disturbing dark fiction. It is the book-length, print version outgrowth of ChiZine, an online professional market in operation since 1997 focused on the same type of story material. All of CZP's publications are hand-picked by Co-Publishers and Bram Stoker Award-winners Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi. Other staff members include Artistic Director Erik Mohr, Marketing Director Matt Moore, Managing Editor Helen Marshall, Marketing Manager Laura Marshall, Slush Readers Halli Villegas, Gemma Files, Samantha Beiko and Clare Marshall.

Podcast, featuring Claude Lalumière



Agony Column presents a podcast of Claude Lalumière reading at SF in SF. It starts with him reading from Lost Myths, and then his short story "The Ethical Treatment of Meat" from Objects of Worship.

Listen to it here!

More info about Objects of Worship here!

Shout out for Hair Wreath



Hair Wreath gets a shout-out from Open Book in their book-related advent calendar, here!

More info about Hair Wreath at CZP.

Eutopia and The Door to Lost Pages Now Available for Pre-order

TORONTO, Ontario (December 8, 2010) – Special edition hard covers of Eutopia by David Nickle and The Door to Lost Pages by Claude Lalumière are now available for pre-order from ChiZine Publications (CZP) through Horror Mall.

The third and fourth of CZP’s upcoming Spring 2011 titles, this novel and novella represent not only these returning authors’ departure from the short story, but also ChiZine’s open tendency to push the thematic envelope.

Eutopia is a departure from David Nickle’s first work with ChiZine Publications, the Quill and Quire star-reviewed short story collection Monstrous Affections. However, it promises to be just as haunting—in the year 1911, the novel follows an orphan and doctor through the early American eugenics movement as they reveal the terrible cost of perfection, the cruelty of the surgeon’s knife, and the monstrous pact with beings that use ‘perfection as a weapon and faith as a trap.’

“Eugenics is a touchy subject, which is partly why we loved Dave’s idea for the book,” remarks CZP co-publisher Brett Alexander Savory. “It’s something that's both fascinating and monstrous, which is a combination we love when it happens—and when it can be pulled off as well as Dave has done with this novel.”

Special content exclusive to the signed limited hardcover of Eutopia will be original illustrations by Lawrence Nickle.

Lalumière’s The Door to Lost Pages follows his well received short story collection Objects of Worship, his first foray with CZP marked for its ‘intensely memorable’ storytelling (Publishers Weekly). While still maintaining some of the proudly schizophrenic structure that Objects boasted, this novella follows the runaway Aydee as she grows up in the reality-hopping book shop known as Lost Pages. The clientele is eccentric, as are the enigmatic gods and monsters that seem to follow the store. Five vignette chapters draw together myth, magic, intense eroticism, and love that spans dimensions. Special content exclusive to the hardcover of The Door to Lost Pages includes a brief essay by the author titled “The Back Door to Lost Pages”, as well as the original short-story version of Chapter 1, “Bestial Acts”, originally published in Interzone.

CZP will be releasing the trade paperback edition, as well as the electronic versions of both books on March 15, 2011. The hardcover editions, which are available for pre-order, are individually numbered, and will be signed by both the author and the cover artist, Erik Mohr.

Get your copies here:

Eutopia by David Nickle

The Door to Lost Pages by Claude Lalumière

Contact
Brett Alexander Savory, Publisher
ChiZine Publications
brett@chizinepub.com

About ChiZine Publications
ChiZine Publications (CZP) is an independent publisher of weird, subtle, surreal and disturbing dark fiction. It is the book-length, print version outgrowth of ChiZine, an online professional market in operation since 1997 focused on the same type of story material. All of CZP’s publications are hand-picked by co-Publishers and Bram Stoker Award-winners Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi.

Awesome Review of A Book of Tongues!



Probably one of the most awesome reviews of A Book of Tongues:

"This book does not....shit puppies and unicorns. Instead it lays eggs in your brain, and when the eggs hatch your skull splits open and a thousand shiny green scorpions and spiders swarm out of your eye sockets, and when they've eaten the last of your brains, a spider spins a web in the hollowed-out curve of your skull, and the web reads Some book. In Nahuatl."

It came from here!

You know you want eggs laid in your brain.

"Very, Very Strange"



The Tel Aviv Dossier is featured over at the Little Red Reviewer:

"At only 200 pages, most characterization and world building is on the slimmed down side. But the weird and unsettling Lovecraftian bits? On a scale of one to ten, those are cranked up to about twelve. This book is very, very strange, which means it’s a great read!"

Read the rest of the review here!

Get your own copy.

"Extremely Refreshing"



Katja from the Punk Band is highly recommended from Justin Williams:

"The short chapters and frequent cliffhangers keep you turning the page, even though you know the next chapter probably won’t contain the resolution of the last cliffhanger, making this a most unique and enjoyable reading experience."

Read the rest of the review here.

Find out more about Katja!

Choir Boats Review!



"It’s clear that Rabuzzi had an immense amount of fun writing the book, and I think most readers who enjoy a fantastical and playful yarn will have as much fun reading it."

Read the rest of the review here!

Get your own copy.

A Book of Tongues @ Tor.com



Tor.com picks A Book of Tongues as part of its 2010 Queering SFF lineup, saying that, "Files hooks the reader, hard, and never lets go."

Read the rest here!

Check out Book of Tongues at CZP!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

CZP Authors Paul Tremblay and Gemma Files Nominated For Black Quill Awards



TORONTO, Ontario (December 3, 2010) – For their work with ChiZine Publications, Paul Tremblay and Gemma Files have been nominated for Dark Scribe Magazine’s Fourth Annual Black Quill Awards. Tremblay’s In the Mean Time has been nominated for Best Dark Genre Fiction Collection, and Files’ A Book of Tongues has been nominated for Best Small Press Chill.

“It seems like we always get to wake up to great news,” remarks CZP co-publisher Brett Alexander Savory upon finding out about the nomination posting. “For a press still in its infancy, getting this kind of recognition for our books is really incredible. But, Paul and Gemma are unbelievable authors, and without them, that kind of excitement would not exist. We’re really lucky.”

Nominations for the Black Quills are editorial-based, with both the editors and active contributing writers submitting nominations in each of the seven categories. Winners will be chosen via an open online ballot on Dark Scribe’s website, and in a unique spin intended to celebrate both critical and popular success, two winners are announced in each category – Reader’s Choice and Editor’s Choice. Winners receive recognition in Dark Scribe Magazine, inclusion in press release materials announcing both nominations and winners, a virtual icon to be used on their own website, and an award certificate.

In previous years, David Nickle’s Monstrous Affections (CZP) won Reader’s Choice for Best Dark Genre Fiction Collection, and Paul Tremblay’s “The Blog at the End of the World” (ChiZine #38/Virtual) was nominated for Best Dark Scribble. The latter story is available in Tremblay’s nominated collection In the Mean Time.

Winners will be announced on or around January 31st, 2011. To vote, go to Dark Scribe Magazine’s website: http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/reader-voting-ballot/

CZP Books as Recommended Reads

CZP books make two different lists today!

First, Thief of Broken Toys is mentioned in Ginger Nuts of Horror's top 10 books of 2010. See it here!

Second, A Book of Tongues and Monstrous Affections both make Jessica Strider's list of reading suggestions, as displayed at the World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto.

Friday, December 3, 2010

"Explosive" Review of A Book of Tongues



"This book picked some TNT, struck the match and stuffed it in my skull. It blew my mind. Her prose is pure creative opium and aphrodisiac. You must have more and more."

Read the rest of this review here! (Scroll down to bottom).

Buy A Book of Tongues!

"I Lived There Too": Sarah Court Review



"According to Philip Nanavatti, fireworker and resident of Sarah Court, the best fireworks create, for the viewer, a “mushrooming imprint”: a vivid afterimage that keeps expanding once the viewer’s eyes have closed. His fireworks are described as linked lines of combustibles, packed together in tiny breakable chambers, an apt metaphor for the lives in this novel. Each character’s flame-out sets off another, and even once the novel ends, the reader comes away with the mushrooming imprint of all the other damage yet to be done."

Read the rest of the review here!

Buy a copy here!

Please Resubmit Your Manuscripts

Recently, our e-mail system crashed and deleted a number of messages, including submissions to ChiZine Publications. We are attempting to recover these messages, but in the event we are unable to, we ask authors to resubmit their work that may have been lost in the crash.

If you sent us a submission between March 1st, 2010 and November 24, 2010 and have not yet received a response, please resubmit to submissions (at) chizinepub (dot) com and indicate it is a second submission due to the email crash. If you did receive an acknowledgment of receipt of your manuscript, but have not heard further, please also resubmit.

We will be giving priority to resubmitting authors.

Please also note that ChiZine Publications will be closing to unsolicited, unagented manuscript submissions from January 1st, 2011, until June 30th, 2011.

Thank you for your patience.

"Endlessly Interesting Experiment": Sarah Court Review



Michelle Berry from The Globe and Mail has this to say about Sarah Court:

"Sarah Court subverts all expectation and plows through labels. It's an endlessly interesting experiment – it is both literary and Gothic, it is both story and novel, and the writing is equally fragmented and fluid."

Read the rest of the review.

Get your own copy of Sarah Court here.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

A Very Special ChiZine Christmas

When: Wednesday, December 8th, 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Where: 152 Augusta, Toronto

See the Facebook Event and tell us you're coming.

Come one, come all to a Very Special ChiZine Christmas brought to you by the Chiaroscuro Reading Series! Hosted by Liana K, guests include Jason Taniguchi, Gord Zajac, Karl Schroeder, David Nickle, Rio Youers, Halli Villegas, Don Bassingthwaite and more.

Festivities begin at 8:00pm on December 8th at the Augusta House. There will be raffles, books, and booze...and a very special guest!

So if you're tired of the traditional holiday cheer come celebrate with us and enjoy surreal, subtle, and disturbing Christmas stories.

In typical Reading Series fashion, we will pass the hat for donations. Proceeds will go toward the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.

Hope to see you all there!