tales-from-the-silence-cover-2024-04-26.jpg
Please
click here to support my Kickstarter.
It gives me great pleasure to show off the cover for my upcoming Silent Earth SF Anthology, Tales from the Silence. This cover was produced by
Bibliofic Designs, who also drafted the wonderful cover for my novel The Sun Runners and Robert J. Sawyer's upcoming novel, The Downloaded. I highly encourage you to check them out, and if you need a book cover, consider commissioning them. It's important to pay our artists.
Tales from the Silence is an anthology of sixteen short stories by myself and ten other SF, Fantasy and YA authors. The back cover blurb is as follows:
On August 4, 2151, the world will end. It's been a long time coming: climate disasters brewing conflict, conflict breeding chaos. But on that fateful day, someone will set off the nukes. On August 4, 2151, human civilization on Earth will fall silent.
There are survivors, of course―and not just on Earth. There are scientists on the Jovian moons. Miners in the asteroid belt. Thriving colonies on the surface of Mars and above the clouds of Venus. Far more precarious ones on Mercury. When the silence falls across human space, one thing is clear: Earth's space-born children are on their own. No more supplies are coming. No more orders. No more meddling. No more help.
Set in the universe of James Bow's new novel, The Sun Runners, Tales from Silence is a gathering of award-winning science fiction, fantasy, and YA authors who explore the worlds the Earth left behind, as well as the Earth itself, as it struggles through its new dark age.
Join James Bow, Phoebe Barton, Kate Blair, Cameron Dixon, Mark Richard Francis, Jo Karaplis, Kari Maaren, Fiona Moore, Ira Nayman, Kate Orman, and Jeff Szpirglas as they tell the stories of what happens after the end of the world.
I an really pleased at how this has come together, especially given that it started as a spur of the moment idea back in July. I've been blessed with great and talented friends and colleagues (who I hope I can now call friends) who explored the worlds of post-Silence Earth, and expanded the universe tremendously. A shared universe is a daunting thing to compose, as you try to herd the diverse artistic visions of your authors. I am especially pleased with how well we worked together, and how new ideas sparked out of this collaboration. I've already had to incorporate some new ideas in The Cloud Riders in order to maintain continuity, and I find that to be a fantastic thing, as they're pretty great ideas.
The Sun Runners and Tales from the Silence officially launch on November 12, 2024 under
ShadowPaw Press and its
Endless Sky imprint respectively, with great help from ShadowPaw's publisher and editor-in-chief Ed Willett. I am self-publishing Tales from the Silence to help promote The Sun Runners, but also to explore the ins-and-outs of short fiction (the last time I wrote a story that was shorter than 40,000 words was literally decades ago). and also just have fun, exploring the wolrds of the Silent Earth with different people, collaborating on something together -- something which I haven't done since my fan fiction days. At the same time, I made sure to pay all my writers for their work, because exposure isn't worth nearly what some consumers think it is, and as the saying goes, people can die from it.
Which brings me to my
Tales from the Silence Kickstarter. To help ease the initial burden, I am running a crowdfunder to cover the initial costs of publication by encouraging people to offer their support, receiving copies of Tales from the Silence and The Sun Runners in return. Kickstarter does not like the use of the phrase "pre-order", but my intention is that Tales from the Silence will be released with or without the funds we raise through Kickstarter, and this is a chance to secure a first printing of this book, as well as possible other neat things, like a limited hardcover edition, and your name listed in the acknowledgements.
If you wish to give, give what you can, as every little bit helps, but I'm hoping you'll
take advantage of the rewards available, and we all work together to help make the launch of my first anthology as successful as it can be.
I'd like to thank everybody who helped make this happen, especially to the authors, to my supportive wife and kids, to other friends and family and people in the SF, Fantasy and YA communities, and of course to Ed Willett of ShadowPaw Press. Look for announcements of events coming up in November, and I look forward to seeing you all there.
On ShadowPaw Press
A word about ShadowPaw Press: Edward Willett has set up a fascinating boutique publishing company out in Saskatchewan that is punching well above its weight. ShadowPaw is publishing some of our biggest science fiction authors and, as a member of the Literary Press Group of Canada, making his books easily available to bookstores across Canada. And you can see from the covers he's been able to put in front of our books, he's got game.
He's also got experience. He's a longstanding science fiction author of his own, and has won Prix Aurora Awards for his work. He has done a tremendous job helping others in the industry, running
the award-winning Worldshapers podcast, and editing multiple multi-author anthologies, including his most recent,
Shapers of Worlds - Volume V. He seems to have made it a personal mission to help Canadian writers get their words out in the best ways possible, and it's been an honour to work with him.
Speaking of getting the words out, Ed is running his own Kickstarter campaign to help launch
Shapers of Worlds - Volume V. He's gathered a number of great names for this anthology, and this fundraiser is your chance to help this lovely labour come to pass, as well as nabbing some great rewards along the way.
I would consider it a personal favour if you would support his cause, either on Kickstarter, or his Crowdfundr campaign to support
ShadowPaw Press's Spring List (where you can nab a number of great books).
I really appreciate the worl that Ed is doing bringing more Canadian science fiction and fantasy into the world, so please support him, and support this industry, ensuring that our voices continue to shout.
Finally, here's a book trailer for Tales from the Silence.
Click to view
https://bowjamesbow.ca/2024/04/27/tales-from-the-.shtml