The month of CoNZealand is finally here! There are a bunch of awesome kiwi speculative fiction works coming out in July and August. You can view and contribute to a spreadsheet of 2020 Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror works by New Zealanders here. And as always, I will have missed people off this post so please feel free to comment with links to your works if you’re a New Zealander.
Novels
Harrow the Ninth [4 August 2020]
By Tamsyn Muir
She answered the Emperor's call.
She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.
In victory, her world has turned to ash.
After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman's shoulders.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath — but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her.
Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor's Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?
Youth Novels
Across the Risen Sea [August 2020]
By Bren MacDibble
'It's one of them days when everything is off. A hot sweaty night in Rusty Bus means we kids is all grouchy-tired. Me and my best friend, Jaguar, is trying to cool down by taking turns at dipping in the sea pool. Him standing on the sea wall made from car frames and rocks on lookout for crocs, me swimming, then we'll swap places. We's always doing things as a team, him and me. We's gonna be the best fisher people and the best salvagers on the whole of the inland sea one day.'
Neoma and Jag and their small community are 'living gentle lives' on high ground surrounded by the risen sea that has caused widespread devastation. When strangers from the Valley of the Sun arrive unannounced, the friends find themselves drawn into a web of secrecy and lies that endangers the way of life of their entire community. Soon daring, loyal Neoma must set off on a solo mission across the risen sea, determined to rescue her best friend and find the truth that will save her village.
Raven Wild [August 2020]
By Caitlin Spice, Adam Reynolds & Chaz Harris
In Raven Wild, a reckless young boy named Hawk transitions into a courageous young woman called Raven. When Raven rescues an injured bird, she learns of an evil poacher's plan to steal a precious gem, a gem with the power to control all creatures great and small! On her dangerous jungle quest to stop him and save an animal kingdom, a connection with a childhood friend called Finn soon transforms into love.
Rise of the Remarkable: Brasswitch and Bot [August 2020]
By Gareth Ward
Drawn into a world of prejudice, deceit and danger, Wrench must master her powers, knowing they offer her only hope for survival . . . if they don’t destroy the world first.
Screams surge along York’s narrow Victorian streets as a run-away crackle-tram races toward disaster. Fearing an accident like the one that killed her parents, Brasswitch Wrench is forced to reveal her powers – a decision that will change her life forever. Recruited to the sinister department of Regulators who hunt down others like her, Wrench teams up with their maverick mechanical leader, Bot as they are tasked with halting the rise of the aberration threat. Until today, being called Brasswitch would have got you killed. Now, it might save your life.
Novella/Novelette
All the Laird’s Men [22 August 2020]
By Tabatha Wood
A military-inspired creature-feature horror novella set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic Scotland.
Collected Works
Grotesque Monster Stories [25 July 2020]
By Lee Murray
Three-time Bram Stoker Award® nominee Lee Murray delivers her debut collection, and it is monstrous. Inspired by the mythology of Europe, China, and her beloved Aotearoa-New Zealand, Murray twists and subverts ancient themes, stitching new creatures from blood and bone, hiding them in soft forest mists and dark subterranean prisons. In this volume, construction workers uncover a hidden tunnel, soldiers wander, lost after a skirmish, and a dead girl yearns for company. Featuring eleven uncanny tales of automatons, zombies, golems, and dragons, and including the Taine McKenna adventure Into the Clouded Sky, Grotesque: Monster Stories breathes new life into the monster genre.
The Mythology of Salt and Other Stories
By Octavia Cade
A collection of short stories themed around women and knowledge, The Mythology of Salt and Other Stories is full of poignant moments. Scientists and ghosts, the natural world and mythology, all meet and circle one another in choreography at times aspiring, at times melancholic.
Years Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2 [TBC]
Editor: Marie Hodgkinson
Short Stories
‘Like Clocks Work’, Andi C Buchanan, Aurealis 132 [July 2020]
‘The Wasp Keeper’s Mother’, Andi C Buchanan, Kaleidotrope [July 2020]
‘Arachne’s Web’, James Rowland, Aurealis 132 [July 2020]
‘Resilience’, Octavia Cade, Stuff [June 2020-this is cheating the dates but it was late June :)]
‘The Birth and Death of Islands’, Octavia Cade, Kaleidotrope [July 2020]
‘DogWorld’, Peter Friend, Aurealis 132 [July 2020]
Fan Writing
‘Alone Together at the Edge of the World’, Andi C Buchanan, CoNZealand Souvenir Book [July]
‘Julius Vogel and Anno Domini 2000; or, Woman's Destiny’, Lucy Sussex, Aurealis 132 [July]
‘Where is Aotearoa New Zealand's Speculative Fiction?’, Marie Hodgkinson, Aurelias 132 [July]
‘New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy 1872-2019’, Simon Litten and Sean McMullen, Aurealis 132 [July]
(Note, I am missing some of the articles in the CoNZealand Souvenir Book. You’ll just have to be surprised or comment with the titles below because I don’t know them)