September is Speculative Fiction Month!
Hello Kiwi Writer,
The New Zealand publishing industry is all about Speculative Fiction right now. There are conventions, anthologies featuring Kiwi Writers, organisation being launched, blogfests and we are joining in the fun with a whole month dedicated to Speculative Fiction. September at Kiwi Writers will hereby be Speculative Fiction month with Fantasy Madness, Chapter One Rewrite and Urban Legend challenges.
SPECULATIVE FICTION is an inclusive, umbrella term meant to span the breadth of fantastic literature, encompassing writing ranging from hard science fiction, to epic fantasy, to paranormal fiction, to horror, to folk and fairy tales, to slipstream, to magical realism, to modern myth-making — and more. The term eliminates the need for the separation between the “what if” genres because they are, in essence, different forms of one thing. It allows for the blend and cross-over of genres that is becoming increasingly popular among the current generation of writers and readers of non-realistic fiction. -- Why Speculative Fiction, SpecFicNZ.
This weekend the 31st New Zealand National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, Au Contraire, is being held in Wellington. There our fellow Kiwi Writers will be launching A Foreign Country, an anthology 'bringing together the work of established authors and fresh voices to showcase the range of stories produced by New Zealand's growing community of speculative fiction writers'. It includes stories from our Kiwi Writers: Richard Barnes, Anna Caro, Matt Cowens, J.C. Hart and Susan Kornfeld. Make sure you support our NZ SpecFic writers by picking up your own copy of A Foreign Country, buying it for someone else or blogging about and spreading the word.
To help bring the convention to a close the Speculative Fiction Writers of New Zealand, SpecFicNZ, is being officially launched to take speculative fiction forward. 'SpecFicNZ is the association for creators, writers and editors of speculative fiction in or from New Zealand' and Kiwi Writers is proud to support them. There are some great deals on membership that you can take advantage of, especially if you're already a subscriber to the SpecFicNZ Newsletter. As always you can support SpecFicNZ just by spreading the word, blog about, tweet it, tell your friends or put up the fabulous SpecFicNZ logo.
SpecFicNZ is reprising NZ Spec Fic Blogging Week this year from 13-19th September and every year here after. You can help by spreading the word before the week, blogging during it and checking into the SpecFicNZ site to follow along with all the other topics being posted.
And if that wasn't enough, we have three chalenges happening in September. Fantasy Madness is being held from 1-11th September for you to write a new fantasy story, continue one that's already started or write several to reach 10,000 words. Urban Legend runs from 19-25th September challenging you to write a 5,000 word short story based on an urban legend. Create your own, retell or put a new spin on an existing legend. Chapter One Rewrite will fit right in the middle of the month and we're looking for a NZ authored and/or SpecFic first chapter to feature. Make sure to check out the forum and offer your suggestions.
What celebration would be complete without a little prize offered to our members? In October we'll be launching Kiwi Writers Blogger of the Month. The Blogger of the Month will have a panel on the homepage featuring your blog and a snippet from your blog posts. What do you need to do to be in to win? Blog, of course! Spread the word about any, many or all of the Speculative Fiction Month events and you'll get one entry for each blog post about an event. Keep your eye on the Contests & Events forum for official entry details.
Go forth and speculate!
Kerryn Angell