It isn’t New Zealand Speculative Fiction Blogging Week any more, but that doesn’t mean that speculative fiction in New Zealand has crawled under a rock. Helen Lowe is holding a speculative fiction writing workshop in Christchurch next week as part of New Zealand Book Month, and the second issue of the SpecFicNZ newsletter has come out, showcasing the increasing range of publishing possibilities in New Zealand for speculative fiction.
Helen Lowe’s Writing Workshop
When Helen Lowe talks about speculative fiction, it’s worth paying attention. Helen’s debut novel, children’s/YA fantasy Thornspell, was published in the US and has done very well indeed among both readers and critics — and she has five more novels (a further stand-alone and a four-volume adult fantasy series) on the way for her US publishers. So this workshop is an excellent opportunity to learn from someone who really knows what she’s talking about.
(That’s me talking. Now, here’s the information Helen supplied:)
Date: Saturday 17 October
Time: 10am – 12pm
Venue: Christchurch Central Library
Fee: Free
Bookings: Essential – phone 941 7923
Award-winning author Helen Lowe runs a workshop on writing fantastic fiction, focusing on Fantasy and Sci-Fi. The session includes discussions and exercises on the essential elements of ‘fantastic world building’, structure and keeping it real. Bring pen and paper.
October SpecFicNZ Newsletter Has News On Markets And Events
A while back, Ripley Patton had a guest post in this blog announcing plans to form an organisation for New Zealand writers of speculative fiction. This organisation, SpecFicNZ, is likely to be formally launched in 2010. The core group is hard at work, and Ripley has already started putting out SpecFicNZ newsletters – you can ask to be put on the mailing list by emailing give_a_rip (at) yahoo.co.uk
The latest SpecFicNZ newsletter has lots of interesting news. I’m not going to reveal it all here, but as a little taster, here are two New Zealand speculative fiction magazines looking for submissions:
Semaphore Magazine, edited by Marie Hodgkinson, is a New Zealand-based, quality e-zine seeking short fiction (including Spec Fic). For submission guidelines go to http://semaphoremagazine.com/submissions.html
Subspacetv is a new kiwi-oriented cyberpunk and science fiction e-zine seeking submissions for its first upcoming issue. See http://www.subspacetv.com/
Tim,Thanks for that and so sorry I couldn't make it to Madras Cafe Books to meet you, but family life interfered.Just a note, SpecFicNZ hasn't officially secured Au Contraire as our launch-place. I'm still working on that.
Helen's workshop was well-attended (as in full:) and a good time was had by all. The entrance to the workshop was particularly suiting as the lift refused to go to the third floor of the library and we had to be taken by \”secret staff elevator\” to the dark, shadowed hallways of the conference room level. I felt a bit like Charlie in the glass elevator. It was very Spec Fic.
Thanks for these comments, Ripley, and sorry about jumping the gun re Au Contraire – I've amended that. I'm glad to hear Helen Lowe's workshop was a success!