‘Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!’ has appeared in the October edition of the San Francisco Book Review – 4 stars

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Andrew

I’ve included the whole review, but if you want to see the original it can be found here.

Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!
By Janis Hill
Hague Publishing, $4.66 US, 183 pages
Format: eBook
Reviewer: Holly Scudero

Stephanie and her sister Estella have been estranged for years, and Stephanie is, admittedly, not particularly heartbroken to hear of Estella’s death. But upon arriving to the funeral, held in the questionably new-age-y Temple of Isis, Stephanie learns that Estella is not so much dead as undead. And is now the host of an ancient, evil vampire named Branwyre. And Stephanie is the only one who can banish Branwyre and save Estella’s soul. Stephanie quickly finds herself thrown into a world she can hardly believe is real, with ghosts and demons and more. With the aid of Roxanna, the High Priestess of Isis, and the crude ghost of a monk named Trishna, not to mention the undead Estella herself, Stephanie sets out to retrieve Branwyre’s crucible and banish the ghost before he takes permanent possession of Estella’s body.

Even readers who do not generally enjoy paranormal fiction will probably enjoy Janis Hill’s Isis, Vampires, and Ghosts – Oh My! This story is fun and fast-paced, and reluctant hero Stephanie provides an entertaining point of view. She spends much of the early part of the story in disbelief that any of this is even real, but her determination to finally end things with her sister drives her to do it anyway. Readers will likely identify with the sibling problems Stephanie and Estella display, and their eventual reconciliation is sweet; Stephanie’s final forgiveness of Estella’s irresponsible past just might inspire tears. Trishna was an entertaining fellow, although his profanity-laced insults of Stephanie and others got very tiresome very quickly; they were humorous at first, but before long I found myself skimming over them. That aside, Isis, Vampires, and Ghosts – Oh My! is all kinds of fun, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who is looking forward to more supernatural adventures with Stephanie in the future.

‘Frontier Resistance’ is now available for pre-order

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Andrew

Frontier Resistance, the much awaited sequel to Frontier Incursion is now available for pre-order from

Amazon
Kobo
and our own website

Due for release on 3 October 2014 a sample is available here.

The Garsal have landed and Frontier has changed forever. Now Shanna and her friends must master their new gifts that will enable them to seek out the alien invaders before they enslave her world.

On the plateau the Council under Tamazine (the Senior Councillor) allies with the Starlyne race. Only united do the Scouts, their starcats, and the Starlyne have any chance of surviving, but Tamazine’s distrust of the alliance creates a fatal weakness.

Below, the Garsal plot. They need a new pool of human slaves to expand their empire, but first, they must locate the humans already on Frontier and subdue them. Time is running out for both invader and settler, and the outcome hangs in the balance.

Round Five: the fight between Hachette and Amazon goes public

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Andrew

On 9 August Amazon emailed a public letter to all of its authors stating its side in the ongoing dispute with Hachette.

Basically Amazon’s argument boiled down to:

Large publishers had illegally colluded to overcharge for ebooks. They can and should be less expensive.
Lowering e-book prices will help – not hurt – the reading culture, just like paperbacks did.
Hachette should stop using their authors as leverage and accept one of Amazon’s offers to take them out of the middle.

In support of its argument Amazon went public with information on the offers it had made Hachette to take authors out of the middle, specifically: Continue reading →

First look at Ruth’s new cover for ‘Across the Bridge of Ice’

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Andrew

Here’s the cover for Ruth’s new book ‘Across the Bridge of Ice’. Ruth was also responsible for the art work.

‘Across the Bridge of Ice’ is the sequel to ‘The City of Silver Light’, and we’re presently aiming to have it out before Christmas.

Round Four: the fight between Amazon and Hachette spills over and gets bitter

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Andrew

In a previous post ([p2p type=”slug” value=”round-three-hachette-vs-amazon”][/p2p]) I covered the developing stoush between Amazon and Hachette which at that time, although threatening to affect both writers and readers, really seemed only to affect the companies concerned. But as the ‘negotiations’ continue to drag on the fight is starting to get bitter with writers now taking sides.

The petition

The taking of sides started with “letter to our readers” spearheaded by bestselling writer Douglas Preston and signed by 69 of Hachette’s authors. However the reaction to this ‘letter’ by many smaller authors can be best characterised by Amy Eyrie’s response on the Bookseller’s blog: “… the reaction of these rich writers protecting the status quo is deeply disappointing. A little more time acting as mentors to fledgling writers and a little less time guarding their monopoly is what I expect from artists. What I see is a bunch of shallow, cynical business people.

In response, as Barry Eisler explains (see Barry’s blog or his specific post) Hugh Howey created an alternate petition to Hachette’s CEO that as at 13 July had obtained 7,110 signatures. The petition reads: Continue reading →

Not one of our books, but one of our authors: Ruth Fox has a new children’s book out via Amazon

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Andrew

As the title says, Ruth Fox has a new children’s book out called Sand Dog. Its not one of ours, and I haven’t read it yet, but it would be worth checking out. The book is available as both an eBook and paperback (in full colour) from Amazon.

Sand Dog:

Print Length: 26 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00J7ZBYSG
Price: Paperback $10.20
Price: eBook $4.13

“I was pretty sure I was going to hate living in Sunshine Bay. There was no skate park or video store, just a beach and a lot of clouds. But then I met Sand Dog …”

A young boy moves house with his mother. Far from the city where he has grown up, the beach seems a desolate, uninteresting place. But with the help of a very special friend, maybe things won’t be so bad after all! Sand Dog is a story of friendship, adjustment and acceptance, as well as the wonder and importance of an active imagination. Accompanied by bright illustrations in a unique style, this story will resonate with anyone who has ever felt in need of a companion.

Our first book trailer: Janis Hill’s ‘Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!’

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Andrew

Our 7th book, and first book trailer: Janis Hill’s Isis, Vampires and Ghosts – Oh My!

This is Janis’ second book, and the first in the Other World series. You can read the sample at: goo.gl/Hlj2ed

Hague Publishing at Continuum X

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Andrew

ContinuumX picture

Thanks to Leonie Rogers (author of Frontier Incursion and the soon to be released Frontier Resistance), who has invited us to share a ‘market stall’ at Continuum X, the 53rd Australian National Science Fiction Convention, with her next weekend, we will have a presence at the convention. If you are visiting the convention make sure you catch up with her, and check out some of the work from our other fantastic authors.