Death Most Definite (Death Works #1) – Trent Jamieson
Orbit Hachette Livre, 2010
374 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-073-362483-4

Review by Liz Grzyb

Brisbane has certainly been producing some awesome SF writers, and Trent Jamieson is most definitely one of them. Ticon4.com has published short fiction from Jamieson before, so we were eagerly awaiting his first novel. Death Most Definite does not disappoint. It’s a pacy, gritty chase through our world and the underworld.

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Horns – Joe Hill
Hachette Livre Gollancz, 2010
437 pages
RRP: AU$32.99
ISBN: 978-057-507917-5

Reviewed by Kate Smith

Horns was an interesting read, however I was initially thrown off by the blurb on the back, the phrasing of which made me imagine the story would be very different in terms of tone.  Once I had reconciled expectations and reality, I was able to settle in to enjoy a generally well written tale of a man’s journey to discover why he lost everything.

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FlashForward – Robert J Sawyer
Hachette Livre Gollancz, 2009
320 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-057-509101-6

Reviewed by Kate Smith

FlashForward is the story of a science experiment that results in unexpected consequences and discusses the nature of time and whether the future can be altered.  Having never watched the TV series that appeared some time recently I cannot say whether it was accurate to the text, however I’m sure that it was faster moving than the novel.  FlashFoward was a very interesting read but was not exactly a page turner that keeps you up until three in the morning.  Having said that, not all novels need to be, and FlashForward asks you to think about the concepts it brings to mind rather than skimming through a straight forward plot.

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Reign or Shine – Michelle Rowen
Bloomsbury Allen & Unwin, 2010
288 pages
RRP: AU$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9534-2

Review by Liz Grzyb

Nikki Donovan is a typical teenager. She’s just moved to a new town and a new school after her mother married husband #4, and the Winter Formal is coming up! However, her dreams of the most popular boy in the school are disrupted by a strange boy who seems to be stalking her telling her bizarre stories about her father being a demon king.

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Worldshaker – Richard Harland
Allen & Unwin, 2009
384 pages
RRP: AU$17.99
ISBN: 9781741757095

Review by Liz Grzyb

Worldshaker is the story of Colbert Porpentine, heir to the position of Supreme Commander of the juggernaut Worldshaker. Unsurprisingly with a name like that, Colbert is one of the Elite class who live in the upper levels, lording it over the Filthies who occupy the bottom desk and do all the work. Col’s world is shaken up somewhat when he meets Riff, a Filthy who has escaped from the lower decks. She educates him in the true nature of the moving monolith they live in.

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The Crowded Shadows – Celine Kiernan (Moorehawke Trilogy #2)
Allen & Unwin, 2010
518 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-74175-870-2

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

The Crowded Shadows is a well-written second instalment in the Moorehawke Trilogy. Like the first novel, this has lovely characterisation, pacy action and interesting ideas. It does, however, suffer a little from being the middle child, as the story doesn’t come to a satisfying conclusion in this book, needing the third to finish the story.

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More Scary Kisses edited by Liz Grzyb:

We had so much fun with the first Scary Kisses that we’re doing it all again!
Do you like your romance spiced with a frisson of fear or even a chuckle at the strange things that lurk beyond the real world?

Submission guidelines

Send us your best stories in the paranormal romance vein. We are looking for submissions with romantic and paranormal or speculative elements. These can be humorous, scary, sexy or thought-provoking, but the primary focus should be romance.

1. Story length 1,000 to 8,500 words. (Longer stories may be accepted, although payment is capped at 5,000).
2. Original stories only: no reprints, multiple, or simultaneous submissions.
3. Stories may be emailed to the editor at scarykisses @ ticonderogapublications.com with the words “Submission More Scary Kisses” in the subject line.
4. Manuscript format: double spaced, large margins, sensible font.
5. The editors reserve the right to bend any and all rules for close personal friends.
6. Deadline: 1st November, 2010.

Reading period: The anthology is open to unsolicited submissions until 1st November, 2010.
Payment: 2 copies and Aus 2 cents/word (GST inc., maximum payment $100) on publication.

Scary Kisses is scheduled for release in 2011.

Eric – Shaun Tan
Allen & Unwin Children’s, 2010
48 pages
RRP: AU$9.99
ISBN: 978-1-74237-292-1

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Like all of Shaun Tan’s picture books, Eric is exquisitely produced. It is a beautiful small hardback, illustrated mostly in black and white.

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Steamed – Katie MacAlister
Penguin Signet, 2010
334 pages
RRP: US$7.99
ISBN: 978-0-451-22931-1

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

As those who’ve been reading my reviews for a while will know, I really enjoy reading Katie MacAlister’s writing. Her books are funny, sexy, always interesting and slightly off-beat. Steamed is no exception. Telling the story of a steampunk aficionado who is somehow transported into the world of his imaginings, Steamed is a comic and sensual romp around airships, corsets and velocipedes.

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Mall of Cthulhu – Seamus Cooper
Night Shade Books, 2009
235 pages
RRP: US$13.95
ISBN: 978-1-59780-127-0

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

I picked up Mall of Cthulhu because it looked like a laugh. Ted, A hapless coffee-emporium slave who is still recovering from slaying vampires at a sorority party ten years ago and his best friend Laura, an FBI agent who spends most of her time on paperwork, stumble across a Cthulhu cult trying to open a portal to R’lyeh in a suburban shopping mall. Hilarity ensues.

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