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Sunday 18 November 2012

Story Quest Contest: Winners and Finalists Announced

IFWG Publishing and SQ Mag are pleased to announce the finalists and winners of the 2012 Story Quest Short Story Contest.

Winners:

First Place: 'Strike Day' by Marie DesJardin (Apocalyptic)
Second Place: 'Endangered Species X' by Guy Prevost (Scifi/Ecological Disaster)
Third Place: 'Faye's Diner' by J.T. Seate (dark/supernatural)

Other Finalists:

'Unbound' by Dan Hankner (scifi)
'My Trip To The Circus' by Jason Lairamore (scifi)
'Caldera' by Joshua D Moyes (Apocalyptic)
'Fairest Fowl' by J.B.Rockwell (fantasy)

Congratulations to all the winners! Prize money will be shortly sent to the winners.

We look forward to more excellent entries in our 2013 competition, opening 1 August 2013.

More details on this year's contest can be found in the contest page.

Saturday 17 November 2012

New Title: Brumbies In The Snow by Paula Boer & Rowena Evans

IFWG Publishing is pleased to announce the release of the second volume in the 5-part Brumbies children series, Brumbies In The Snow.

We know horse-lovers everywhere have been waiting for the continuing adventures of Ben and Louise.

The blurb is:

Taming a wild horse is no easy task, as Ben and Louise soon discover. Their progress is slowed by a runaway horse and a desperate search through the park for two lost hikers. Concern for an injured brumby adds to the complications. Follow the wild twists and turns of the Best Selling sequel Brumbies adventure, as Ben and Louise explore the High Country of Australia in winter and learn what it means to break in a brumby.

Well done to Paula and illustrator Rowena, who have produced again a wonderful story for children, and particularly horse-lovers.

At this stage, it can be purchased from Amazon, but it will soon be available in a wide variety of online stores, including IFWG's website.


Wednesday 7 November 2012

New Title: Numen Yeye by Biola Olatunde

We are very proud to announce the release of Numen Yeye, by Biola Olatunde. Biola has already published with us, Blood Contract, a great adventure set in contemporary Nigeria, which is equally a social commentary on life in that part of Africa.

Numen Yeye goes one more. It is primarily a social commentary, focused on spiritualism and superstition, the good and bad sides of indigenous religion as well as Christianity. It shows there is a lot of gray, and perhaps that for goodness to exist, so must there be a darker side. Numen Yeye is also a fantasy story, where a young girl, Ife, is blessed by the spirit of Numen Yeye and for much of the novel, there is an oscillation between the worlds of village live in Africa, and the place of Light, where the spirit creatures and gods reside. Ife's life, as well as others, are told with great sensitivity and vividness, testament to Biola's skills as a poet.

This was a long project for IFWG Publishing, because we discovered, on the fly, the necessity to translate (so to speak) Nigerian English idiom into US English for the largest of our Western readers. At the same time we didn't want to lose the magic of the original language, and not to stray too far from the way the dialogue represents the language of the characters. It took many months to get this right, and readers will marvel at the story, the style, and will be constantly reminded that we are talking about different world to what they are used to, both real and fantasy.

Well done Biola, you deserve great interest in your novel.

Numen Yeye is now out in various ebook formats. The print version will be out soon.


November 2012 Newsletter

I thought I would be a little different this month and provide you with an insight into titles that are forthcoming. I have already described in some depth our upcoming books, Numen Yeye, by Biola Olatunde, and Unlikely Hero, by Geraldine Fitzsimmons. They will appear soon, and we look forward to them.

What will also appear over the next several months are:

Loria, by Jesse McMinn. This book is the first of a heroic fantasy series, set in the world of Loria, which has many facets that reminds one of Earth, but also much that is different. What makes this story refreshing is the humor and world building gone into the book, adding spice to a story about a man who is transported from the mundane living of Earth, to excitement and adventure in a world full of magic.

Blood Sabers is the sequel to We Were Legends, by our prolific author MF Burbaugh. This book unbalances the reader, as the story is set quite a time after the events of the first book, and takes twists and turns in plot that surprises - and delights. A worthy sequel indeed, and full of Burbaugh's sense of humor, and dare I say it, touch of sauciness.

Brumbies in the Snow, by author Paula Boer and illustrator Rowena Evans, is the sequel to Brumbies, second in a series of 5 horse adventures for children. This is wonderful reading for children (and those who are children at heart), as well as those who are 'horse crazy' (like what my daughter is fast becoming).

Kings of Under-Castle, by debut IFWG author Michael B Fletcher, has written a wonderful set of short fantasy fiction bundled into this anthology, starring the roguish Pickel and Weasle, rather unsavory (and yet funny, almost delightful at times) men who live beneath the King's castle and parasitically live off what is thrown (or flushed) away. Very funny, and wonderfully adventurous.

Paper Magic, by writer and illustrator Jeffery Doherty (who has illustrated some of our upcoming novels) has produced a magical children's book that isn't just a joyous read, but lifts the spirit - it is a story about a young girl whose legs don't work, who is given a magical gift. I will say no more.

The Andromedans, by Elizabeth Lang, last of the scifi trilogy of The Empire. Something we all are looking forward to read, and congratulations to Elizabeth for not just producing a highly professional body of work, but also on her tireless marketing efforts.

Books that we hope will come over the next few months include:

Golden Spinner, a rework of the children's book formerly called Whirlwind, due to legal reasons, but also improved on a number of fronts (while we were at it).

The Adventures of Ursus the Bear, by Jack Eason and wonderfully illustrated by Frances Hutt. This is an amazingly long children's story project and we hope that it can be tied together by end of 2012, but it may roll into early next year.

As you can see we have a lot on our plate, but you will also note that it is one hell of a list (you should see our 2013 list!) We are so proud of the work of those talented people who have chosen us as publishers.