Tag: Horror

Announcement: Where to buy da books!

I am in the process of revamping this website to make it more user friendly, but in the meantime I’m pinning this post for those of you wanting to get your hands on my books.

I’m really thrilled with the way Ghost Bus turned out and even more thrilled so many of you are enjoying it. Below are the details for where to get both e-books and tree books.

What I love the most about these are that every bit of them is made in NZ. The cover is designed by the very clever Catherine Slavova’s Karnstein Designs , the typesetting and editing was done by Jana Mittelstadt’s Kiwiberry Editing and it was printed by Your Books.

You can get your paws on a copy here for $20 – free postage within NZ.

Ghost Bus paperback $20

For those of you who haven’t read my first book Which Way is Starboard Again? Overcoming fears & facing challenges sailing the South Pacific and extra fiver will get you a bundle of both books – free postage within NZ also.

Ghost Bus/Starboard bundle $25

For those who don’t use Paypal

For those of you allergic to Paypal just drop me a line at annakirtlan@gmail.com and I will flick you my bank account details.

For overseas readers – there is an Amazon print on demand option which might suit you guys better as the rona seems to have made international posting a bit of a hit and miss venture at the moment. You can buy it here:

Amazon.com: Ghost bus – Tales from Wellington’s Dark Side

Wellington retailers

At present you can purchase Ghost Bus paperbacks at some of the coolest retailers in town:

Arty Bees books

Writers Plot Bookshop

Fear Factory Wellington

Watch this space for more!

E-books

Ghost Bus – Tales from Wellington’s Dark Side is available on most ebook platforms. You can check out which ones here: https://books2read.com/ghostbus

Which Way is Starboard Again? Mental Health Foundation fundraiser

A note that I still have an ongoing fundraiser for the NZ Mental Health Foundation tied up with my first book Which Way is Starboard Again? So if you are interested in that book alone and would like to donate to a great organisation, you can find out more here:

Which Way is Starboard Again? the book

Mental Health Foundation fundraiser

Did you know our 8th PM was a giant sci-fi nerd?

The Sir Julius Vogel awards

Up until last year, I’m a bit sad to admit, I knew very little about the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, which recognise excellence and achievement by New Zealanders in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. 

As a newbie writer of speculative fiction (the umbrella term for all these genres) this isn’t super surprising, but as a reader it’s a shame because there have been some amazingly talented nominees and winners. You can find out more about the awards here:

Sir Julius Vogel Award Nominations for 2020 calendar year are now being accepted

Sci-fi and girl power

Sir Julius Vogel circa 1870s. Image: New Zealand History – Nga korero a ipurangi o Aotearoa

The awards are named after Sir Julius Vogel, former journo and 8th prime minister of New Zealand, who, in 1889 wrote what is now widely regarded to be New Zealand’s first sci-fi novel.

Anno Domini 2000, or, Women’s Destiny pictured a New Zealand in the year 2000 where most positions of authority were held by women – a pretty radial idea for the time. By the time we hit 2000 our PM, governor general, attorney general and chief justice were all women, so he was clearly onto something!

You can nominate Ghost Bus!

The cool thing about the Sir Julius Vogel Awards (or SJVs as the cool kids call them) is that they are fan-based, so you can decide who gets nominated – and if you take part in the National Science Fiction Convention this year, you can vote for them too.

The exciting thing about this year’s awards (for me at least!) is that Ghost Bus is eligible for nomination. Despite 2020 being, well, 2020, there was some amazing stuff published and I’m super proud to be able to contribute to that in my own way. So even making it as far as being a nominee would be really exciting for me and my ghosties.

So here’s where you come in:

If you enjoyed Ghost Bus, you can nominate it for an SJV for Best Collected Work or, if there was a particular story that tickled you, you can nominate that for Best Short Story. The nomination form is below:

SJV nominations – 2021

And the info you need is:

Title of work: Ghost Bus – Tales from Wellington’s Dark Side (or the title of a story you like. Or both. You can nominate as many as you like!)
Author/artist: Anna Kirtlan
Category: Best Collected Work or Best Short Story
Publisher: Anna Kirtlan
Contact: annakirtlan@gmail.com

Best fan art

The other great thing about the SJVs is that the categories cover all the things that make speculative fiction what it is – services to fandom, zines, cover art and fan art. Which means Shaun Garea’s amazing Ghost Bus fan art is eligible for nomination too. I have shared on here in via my social media, but just in case you missed it, check these beauties out!

Oriental Parade Piranhas fan fart by Shaun Garea
Oriental Bay Piranhas fan art by Shaun Garea
The Ministry for Public Art - fan art by Shaun Garea
The Ministry for Public Art – fan art by Shaun Garea

I think these are absolutely amazing. If you think so too, please nominate them. I certainly will be! The deets you need are:

Title of work: Oriental Bay Piranhas fan art or The Ministry for Public Art fan art (or both!)
Author/Artist: Shaun Garea
Category: Best fan artwork
Publisher: Estrata productions
Contact info: shaungarea@hotmail.com
Other information: Fan art for Ghost Bus – Tales from Wellington’s Dark Side by Anna Kirtlan. Can be found at seamunchkin.com and estrataproductions.com

The award

Finally I’ll leave you with a couple of pics of the award itself because I think it’s just glorious. I hope you’ve enjoyed your little history lesson! Your homework is to think back to the New Zealand created speculative fiction that you used to distract yourself last year. If you loved it then show its creators some love by nominating them for all the things.

Sir Julius Vogel Award trophy
Sir Julius Vogel Award trophy
Sir Julius Vogel Award etchings
Sir Julius Vogel Award trophy etchings

No longer a one-book wonder

Tomorrow I will be publishing my second book and it is a million percent not what I thought my second book would be.

At first my second book was going to be the story of another trip around the South Pacific, but life – in a good way – had other ideas about that.

Then my second book was going to another travel tale about our adventures in the United States when we went there for Paddy’s 50th birthday. That one was called Gators, Guns and Keeping Calm. I got quite a way through writing it and then something terrible happened in my home town involving firearms and I just couldn’t. The tone was all wrong. One day I might resurrect that book. It was a fascinating place and we met some amazing people. I’ll know when the time for that is, but it’s not now.

And then there’s the one I actually finished

My third attempt at a second book is one I have actually finished writing. It’s had a manuscript assessment and needs a bunch of editing but it won’t be long before it’s good to go. It’s the first book in a nautically themed YA fantasy series with a lot of underwater shenanigans and it will see the light of day I promise!

This second book though, my actual second book, started life as a writing challenge. I decided I would take a crack at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time at the end of last year.

Book stores and pick up artists

It started with a running gag I had with a friend that came about after her insistence that a woman chatting with me about the cover of I book I was holding in Unity Books was actually chatting me up. We then started joking about how book shops would actually be an excellent place to score and that there probably was a secret code among browsers in the know. The idea fascinated me and I ended up writing a short story about it for her. With a bit of a supernatural twist it became a tale called ‘The best pick up joint in town.’

After I wrote it I discovered it was NaNoWriMo time. The challenge was to write a 50,000 word novel in a month and a short story collection counted, so I decide to give it a crack.

A creepy love-letter

Well I didn’t make the 50,000 word mark, but what I did end up with was a collection of short stories that formed a sort of warped love-letter to Wellington New Zealand – the home I have chosen for myself. A collection I felt proud enough of to have a crack at publishing.

Some of the stories are spooky, some of them are silly and some have a pretty high body count, but all, I hope, in some way will make the reader smile. It’s escapism, pure and simple – my gift to a world that might need a little bit of that right now.

The Wellington that was

This is my first foray into fiction, but when I was putting the stories together for publication, it wasn’t the ghosts, aliens and witches that stood out. It was the normal things that aren’t so normal anymore. Hanging out in bookstores, sitting on a crowded bus, buying a kebab at 3am.

What my second book actually turned out to be was a love letter to a Wellington that was. A Wellington I miss, and one I very much look forward to seeing again.

A socially distanced hug

So here it is, book number two. A very different book from number one in many ways, but similar in the most important one. It’s for you. It’s to make you smile if you are feeling shit. It’s a distraction if you are feeling scared. It’s not the great New Zealand novel – instead it’s a written hug from me to you.

I hope you enjoy it was much as I enjoyed writing it and tomorrow I will let you know where you can get your hands on it.

In the meantime check out this amazing cover, designed by the very talented Catherine Slavova’s Karnstein Designs

Oh, and a very important disclaimer!