BLURB

In a devastated world, a voice calls out through the darkness of space, a young woman embraces Darwin, a man lays flowers in a shattered doorway, a two-dimensional wedding feast awaits guests, a Dodge Challenger roars down the deserted highway…and that’s just the beginning.

Inspired by the Talking Heads’ song of the same name, Nothing but Flowers explores the complexities and challenges of love in a post-apocalyptic landscape; from a take-away coffee mug to a gun to the head, a fortune cookie to a guitar, the open road and beyond. Poignant, funny, horrifying and sensual, this collection of short fiction leaves an indelible mark on ideas of what it means to love and be loved.

Stories and Authors

Sound of Silence Laura Eno
Scarecrow Man Jodi Cleghorn
Daisy’s Cafe Sam Adamson
On the Corner of Clerk Street Rebecca Emin
Sophie Solitaire: Confessions of an End Time Girl Maria Kelly
Diana the Phoenix Christopher Chartrand
Headlines and Post-It Notes Adam Byatt
Escape from Paradise Rob Diaz
Nothing Else Matters Carrie Clevenger
Grey, Like Stone Lily Mulholland
I Dream of Cherry Pies Jen Brubacher
There But For Fortune Dale Challener Roe
Click Annie Evett
Two Fools in Love Graham Storrs
Golden Opportunity P.J. Kaiser
Warrior Rebecca Dobbie
Deux Sots Paul Servini
Alone Janette Dalgliesh
The Rose Garden Jim Bronyaur
Empty Shelves Benjamin Solah
The Gift Emma Newman
This was Paradise Icy Sedgwick
Absent Jason Coggins
Dinner in Paphos Susan May James
Driver and the Beautiful Highway Dan Powell

ABOUT LITERARY MIX TAPES

Inspired by the practice of recording music mix tapes, Literary Mix Tapes combines a love of music and short stories with a unique blend of creative crowd sourcing, collective submission and old-fashioned editorial grunt to create concept anthologies showcasing the freshest voices in speculative fiction.

ABOUT NOTHING BUT FLOWERS

Nothing But Flowers editor Jodi Cleghorn, despairing for musical inspiration for a Valentines Day anthology with a difference, had The Best of Talking Heads playing in the car at the end of a six-hour drive from country New South Wales to Brisbane in January 2011. Fifteen minutes from home ‘(Nothing But) Flowers’ came on and she seized upon the concept of a collection of post-apocalyptic love stories using the song as a starting point. Always intrigued by the idea of daisies reclaiming Pizza Huts and yearning for a lawn mower, Jodi gave authors free reign over how they used the song, rather than assigning lyrics as individual prompts.

The Song

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZuuxcm513c&ob=av3n (hopefully ok for all regions!)

Talking Heads’ “(Nothing But) Flowers” appeared on the band’s final album Naked, released in 1988. Released as a single, accompanied by successful music video, the song features Kirsty MacColl and The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. It peaked at number 79 in the UK Singles Chart.

From Wikipedia: The lyrics describe a world where modern progress has been reverted to a more natural state, due either to a political movement or by a necessity, such as dealing with overpopulation. While the protagonist may have once been in favor of the transformation, he finds himself now missing the modern conveniences and culture of the industrialised age.

The History

Nothing But Flowers was released on Valentines Day, each story available free on the web for a period of 48 hours. In the 72 hours which spanned all stories being available, there were more than 3000 views of the stories, equivalent of selling around 60 books!

Three months later the paperback launched online with sister charity anthology 100 Stories for Queensland. Within hours of being released the anthology went to #1 in all four categories it was listed in on Amazon UK (Sci-Fi Anthology, Sci-Fi Short Stories, Fantasy Anthology, Fantasy Short Stories) and reached #13 in the general anthology charts there. It also reached #1 in Canada’s Amazon store (in its given categories) and as high as #13 in the US Amazon charts.

The anthology remained in the top 100 for a month in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Anthologies categories in both the UK and Canada.

The authors of Nothing But Flowers went on to provide the 26 song prompts for Literary Mix Tapes follow up anthology Eighty Nine.

Ten stories from the anthology, including mine, ‘Grey, Like Stone’, were chosen in March 2012 for adaptation to screen in eMergent Publishing’s first joint movie project, co-produced by Jodi Cleghorn and Devin Watson.

The promotion runs from Wednesday 23rd until Friday 25th, US (pacific) midnight to midnight, UK 9:00am – 9:00am, Australia 6:00pm – 6:00pm. It is a free download, and you don’t have to be signed up to any special program – you do need an Amazon account though. You also don’t need a dedicated Kindle eReader. The anthology can be read on a variety of devices using the Kindle App http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771 including smart phones, tablets and desk top computers.

Not only do we have an excellent book trailer, but many contributors have given extra stories, which are currently being profiled on the New Sun Rising blog. You can read my story, ‘Across the Ocean’, here.

The anthology will be out soon.

BOOK BLURB – Yin and Yang

7.30AM. THE INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL OF A MAJOR EUROPEAN AIRPORT IS POISED ON THE BRINK OF CHAOS.

7.35AM. PANGAEAN AIRLINES, EUROPE’S PREMIER CARRIER, IS PLACED INTO RECEIVERSHIP, CANCELLING ALL FLIGHTS AND IMPOUNDING THOUSANDS OF ITEMS OF LUGGAGE.

The Yin and Yang Book follows the complicated web of events stemming from a suitcase, a stolen van Gogh painting, one woman on the run from her employers and the consequences of her decision to stay or go.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue Jodi Cleghorn (ed)

Three Monkeys Paul Servini

Three Rings Chris Chartrand

Dogs of War Tony Noland

This Be the Verse Dan Powell

Providence Dale Challener Roe

No Passengers Allowed J.M. Strother

Thirteen Feathers Rob Diaz II

One Behind the Eye Richard Jay Parker

Chase the Day Jason Coggins

Somewhere to Pray (Kurush)  Benjamin Solah

The Guilty One Emma Newman

Excess Baggage Carrie Clevenger

Where the Heart Is Tina Hunter

The Other Side of Limbo Claudia Osmond

Freedom Laura Eno

Cobalt Blue Jasmine Gallant

The Strangest Comfort Icy Sedgwick

Lost and Found Jen Brubacher

Kanyasulkam Annie Evett

Double Talk Lily Mulholland

Epilogue  Paul Anderson (Ed)

You can also pick up The Red Book, another Chinese Whisperings interlinked anthology for free during the Kindle Free day.

While the project had quite a long hiatus, thanks to some dedicated contributors, it has become a phoenix and will be published soon. You can read the latest updates over on the New Sun Rising blog, where you will also find bonus stories showcasing the diversity of talent involved in the book.

I am thrilled to be part of this project – I couldn’t believe the scale of devastation in Japan – it was incredible and I just knew the reality on the ground would be far worse than what we could imagine in seeing the horrors on our small screens in our comfortable lounge rooms. I wanted to help, in any way I could, so I was very happy to donate my story. I am humbled to be in the company of some of the finest flash fiction writers around the world, whose works will also appear in this anthology.

I hope you will buy a copy, not only to support the Red Cross, but also to read some very good stories. There is also poetry and art, not to mention the satisfaction of supporting a very good cause.

I did feel, however, that the point of view from which the story was told did not allow us enough insight into the sub-urban world created so compellingly here. It’s hard to say more without giving away the plot, but I think I would like to see Baxter expand this story idea into a full-blown novel told from the point of view of one of the homeless people in this world. I think Baxter could take us much deeper into this world and really blow us away.

Read this novella and perhaps you too might want to lobby Baxter for more. His take on supernatural noir is compelling and could be something rather fabulous. Go and buy it from Amazon or Smashwords now.

The conference convenors have just announced details of the short story contest, which closes 29 June. I wasn’t planning to submit anything, but last night a story came to me, almost fully formed. I’ll mull it over for a few more days, trying to unpack the layers of meaning, before I make any decisions about writing it. I am supposed to be fully focused on my MPhil research project, but I am a master already of ‘productive procrastination’!

Are you coming to Conflux?

Surgery!

But, if like me, you have had these two words mentioned to you in the same sentence by a doctor or orthopaedic surgeon, you might be interested in my experiences over the past couple of weeks. You can read about my surgery and post-surgery story on my ‘Post-Bunion Surgery Page’, which I’ve cunningly hidden under another tab on the homepage, because, let’s face it, most people just don’t wanna know about bunions!

Congrats to Devin Watson and his crew.

To find out more about the The Movie Project, visit Devin’s post over at Write Anything.

Goodness. Last time I peeked, it was New Years! January evaporated without permission and left me stranded in February, with a whole year’s work ahead of me.  I did, however, manage to snatch three weeks of bliss in Tasmania; I feel so wonderful when I’m there. I also worked on a couple of ideas for novels: one a crime/thriller, the other a more mainstream ‘contemporary’ novel. Scenes keep coming to me and I’m slowly learning my characters. I’m jotting it all down and will keep adding ideas to my notebook. BUT I am not allowing myself to start writing, as the other ‘non-fun’ writing that needs to be done is the thesis for the Master of Philosophy I am half-way through completing. I’m researching organisational development, specifically, what leadership attributes are required in start-up interagency government organisations. Dry as ditchwater, but I MUST finish it this year. A lot of work to be done, and that’s on top of my ridiculously busy day job, family commitments and a few other jobs I’m doing in the Army Reserve. Over-committed much? Hell, yes!

How do you juggle all of life’s many challenges? It’s hard, but then, ever was it thus. That’s what makes us good writers. It’s just sometimes hard to keep slogging away.