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Good news and upcoming events

Just found out today that The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater is under consideration for the American Library Association’s Over the Rainbow List! The website isn’t updated for this month yet, but I’m sure it will be soon.

The Return of Running a Small Press: It’s Adventure! will be happening at DreamHaven Books in Minneapolis on Wednesday, June 17th from 6:30-8PM. This is will be an in person (wear a mask and distance, if you come, please) as well as being broadcast on Facebook Live.

Rainbow Space Magic Con – look for Catherine Lundoff on programming at this new online LGBTQ+ convention on June 20-21st.

Twin Cities Pride Virtual Marketplace – June 27-28th. Look for our “table!”

And, of course, our Pride StoryBundle continues through 7/1.

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The Pride Month StoryBundle is here!

The 2020 Pride Month Bundle – Curated by Catherine Lundoff 

Runs 6/3-7/1/20

Celebrating Pride Month with a StoryBundle has become an annual tradition, one in which we present a different and wonderful collection of LGBTQ+ books and authors each June.

This year, I’m curating the Pride Month Bundle for StoryBundle and it is an amazing lineup. We have novels and novellas as well as an anthology and a single author collection, each one a unique and terrific read. As always, at StoryBundle, you name your own price—whatever you feel the books are worth and you can designate a portion of the proceeds for our selected charity, Rainbow Railroad. Rainbow Railroad is a nonprofit that works with LGBTQ refugees, helping them to leave dangerous situations and safely resettle in new areas.

The 2020 Pride Bundle includes two works by creators from New Zealand, in honor of this year’s Worldcon. A.J. Fitzwater, author of the joy-filled collection The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper, is a Sir Julius Vogel Award finalist this year, as is editor Andi C. Buchanan, whose ground-breaking special issue of Capricious SF MagazineCapricious: The Gender Diverse Pronouns Issue, is also included in the bundle.

Like your queer fiction to have elements of the Southern Gothic, perhaps a touch of horror and mystery, coupled with sumptuous writing and compelling characters? You’re sure to enjoy A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney and Catfish Lullaby by A.C. Wise. Looking for beautifully written stories set in historical settings with a fantastical edge? We’ve got you covered with Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett’s Armor of LightFloodtide by Heather Rose Jones and Will Do Magic for Small Change by Andrea Hairston. Want adventures set just beyond the worlds we know? Come along on some glorious adventures with Grilled Cheese and Goblins by Nicole Kimberling and the novellas The Counterfeit Viscount and The Hollow History of Professor Perfectus by Ginn Hale. And finally, for something a little different, join author R.R. Angell’s cadre of queer college students as they play an unusual game set in virtual reality with an AI who’s more than she seems in Best Game Ever.

Not only is this year’s bundle an intriguing mix of stories, it’s star-studded too! Our bundle’s authors and editor have won the Astounding Award, the Otherwise Award, the Sir Julius Vogel Awards and several Lambda and Spectrum Awards, as well as being finalists for awards like the Nebulas. So there we have this year’s Pride StoryBundle – lots of variety, lots of new voices, a fun mix of new and classic tales, adding up to 11 great reads for a great cause! Catherine Lundoff

* * *

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.

  • Best Game Everby R. R. Angell
  • The Counterfeit Viscountby Ginn Hale
  • A Spectral Hueby Craig Laurance Gidney
  • Capricious SF: The Gender Diverse Pronoun Issue by Andi C. Buchanan

 

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus seven more more books, for a total of eleven!

  • Grilled Cheese and Goblinsby Nicole Kimberling
  • The Armor of Lightby Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
  • Floodtideby Heather Rose Jones
  • The Hollow History of Professor Profectusby Ginn Hale
  • Will Do Magic For Small Changeby Andrea Hairston
  • The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapperby A.J. Fitzwater
  • Catfish Lullabyby A.C. Wise
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Featured Vendor!

We’re today’s featured vendor at Hamline University’s Women’s Resource Center FemFair 2020! Be sure and check out the other vendors too! Lots of nice art and books, all made by feminist vendors!

Also, if you’re attending Flights of Foundry, the new online sf con this weekend (5/16-5/17), we’re a featured vendor there too! If you’re registered, be sure and check the Dealer’s Room chat on the Discord to find a coupon for books! Buy $3 or more in books from our website this weekend (through 5/19), get 10% off!

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May Events and News

We’re very excited that A.J. Fitzwater and our webmaster, Andi Buchanan, are both amongst the finalists for the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards! They’ll be given out at CONZealand so we’ll be on the edge of our seats until then! Be sure and try and check out this list – there are some great writers on it. 🙂

5/2 – Twitter chat with Alex Acks to celebrate the book birthdays of both Murder on the Titania and Wireless and Wireless‘s new status as an award finalist. Stop by the Queen of Swords Press Twitter (@qospress) between 3 and 4PM CST and comment and like to entered in the book drawing. #ramosandsimms

5/3 – midMay – 2020 FemFair Online. The delightful folks at the Hamline University Women’s Resource Center asked us back again, this time as virtual vendors. Details going up soon.

5/16-5/17 – Flights of Foundry – Online convention. We’ve applied for the virtual Dealer’s Room and Catherine has applied for programming.

And then we have some more online events that are awaiting details. Stay tuned!

 

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AWARD FINALIST!

Big shoutout of congratulations today to author Alex Acks, whose Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures is now a MIPA Book Awards Finalist in the science fiction, fantasy and horror category! It is well-deserved! Worth noting that the first book of this set, Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures, was a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards last year, so clearly we’re onto something! You can read them standalone, but we think it’s more fun to start with Murder.

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ALL the CINRAK, All the Time!

At least for a bit. So A.J. Fitzwater was hoping to a short book tour of the U.S. to promote Cinrak and their other upcoming title, No Man’s Land, in May, but you probably already know how that’s turning out. So instead, we have a bunch of fun online stuff going on this month and next to celebrate!

The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper will be out on April 6th and we’re having a virtual release party! Login to Zoom for A.J.’s Tea Time Virtual Release Party (check your time zone if you want to catch it live – we’ll also post a recording) to listen to A.J. read and talk about their work.
There’s a new reading video on our YouTube channel (or check out A.J.’s author page here on the site).
And Catherine will be interviewing A.J. on the Queen of Swords Press (@qopress) Twitter feed on Saturday, April 11th at 2PM. Comment and like to be entered into a drawing for a copy of Cinrak and one of the new Cinrak coffee mugs.

Other fun things:
A.J. was on a virtual panel on Queer SFF at r/Fantasy on 3/29.
Looking for some new books to read? Check out “Six Books with A.J. Fitzwater” at Nerds of a Feather.Read A.J.’s guest blog “Krakens are friends, not food” at The World Remains Mysterious on 4/6.
And “Turn the Puns up to 11” at Mary Robinette’s Kowal’s My Favorite Bit on 4/7.                                       Author A.C. Wise interviewed A.J. for her blog here.

 

There are also new Cinrak reviews – check out the Cinrak page for links and excerpts!
And there’s more on the way!

Catherine Lundoff news:
Mind Meld: The 101 and the 201 of SFF at Nerds of a Feather – get some new book recommendations from a bunch of writers, including Catherine!
Check out Catherine’s new article, “Book Releases on a Budget,” at the SFWA Blog.
Catherine will be teaching several online classes at Cat Rambo’s Academy for Wayward Writers in the next few months. If you’re looking for the opportunity to take more writing-released classes, there are lot of options out here!

 

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Book sale(s)!

Smashwords announced an ‘Authors Give Back’ sale for this week to help people deal with all the things going on at the moment, so we put our most rollicking stories on sale to give you lovely people some fun, escapist reads.

Alex Acks – both books are on sale, as are their Alex Wells books with Angry Robot (not affiliated with Smashwords, just a fun opportunity to read all the Alex books). So that’s Murder on the Titania and Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures for 50% off on Smashwords and Hunger Makes the Wolf and Blood Binds the Pack for 50% off direct from Angry Robot at their Shelf Isolation Sale. What a deal!

You can also get Catherine Lundoff’s Silver Moon and Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space) on sale for 50% off at Smashwords! Good deals all around!

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March Events

It’s another full month ahead!

If you’re a Smashwords shopper, all of our titles are on sale this week for Read an Ebook Week! Click on the title to see the discount.

On Thursday, March 19th from 6:30-8PM, Catherine Lundoff will be at DreamHaven Books in Minneapolis giving her annual talk about running a small press, what’s going on now and what’s coming up. “The Return of Running a Small Press: It’s an Adventure!”

The Rosemount Writer’s Festival is coming up on Saturday, March 21st from 9:30-4:30 at the Steeple Center in Rosemount, Minnesota. Catherine Lundoff will be there with a selection of our titles – stop by and say hi!

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February events and fun!

There’s a lot of stuff clustered around Valentine’s Day this year.

  • Sunday, February 9th – Catherine Lundoff will be teaching “Breaking Out of the Slush Pile” online at Hidden Timber Books. Only a couple of days left to sign up for this!
  • February 10th-14th – Emily L. Byrne’s Medusa’s Touch will be on sale for the I Heart Lesfic Valentine’s Day sale.
  • Saturday-Sunday, February 15th-16th, Minneapolis – We’ll be tabling at 13 Gears Steampunk again this year! Look for our booth with local author Patrick Marsh.
  • Tuesday, February 18th, 8-10PM, Minneapolis – Emily L. Byrne will be reading from her science fiction and fantasy erotica at the Not So Silent Planet Gets Sexy Show at Strike Theater.

Hope to see you at a few of these!