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Having trouble finding any
books on this site?
The third book in The Earthborn
Wars, The Hiveborn, was published
Has Welkin uncovered a final solution to the Earthborn problem? Paul's second book in The Earthborn Wars trilogy, The Skyborn, has been released by Tor (US) to rave reviews. Here are some of them: "... plenty of hard science, a well-realized world, harrowing action ... Collins' compelling story is bound to appeal to many sf fans." — Krista Hutley, American Library Association "I would have no hesitation about recommending it to a very large number of people. Because it's always excellent to share stories like these." — Olive Rish, PIO "The story is fast-paced and reminiscent of John Marsden's Tomorrow series." — Lesley Boon, The Emanuel School (NSW) "Welkin embarks on an action-packed counter offensive ? resonances here with John Marsden's Tomorrow series." — Joy Lawn, Children's Literature Consultant, Coaldrakes. "Good Australian science fiction for children is almost non-existent? Paul Collins has written an exciting and thought-provoking series that will encourage many young readers to speculate about other worlds and futures." — Sue Gammon, ABC Wide Bay Qld DRAGONLINKS
This is the sort of book you wish really was a never ending story. — Isobelle Carmody. Jelindel dek Mediesar led a charmed life until lindrak assassins murdered her family. Fleeing to the markets Jelindel dresses as a boy to avoid detection. Here she teams up with Zimak, a street-wise urchin, and Daretor, a warrior on a quest to destroy an alien artifact. Murder, betrayal and deceit are just some of the hurdles they must face in order to find the missing links from a star-dwellers mailshirt six powerful links, whose individual powers are nothing compared with that of the complete mailshirt. DRAGONFANG
The long-awaited sequel to Dragonlinks
Five pentagram gems ... 'Anyone who has read Dragonlinks will recognise Paul Collins as a writer who truly understands the power of high fantasy. It is the power to tease the imagination with worlds so exotic, yet so seemingly familiar, that we allow ourselves to recognise within them the best and worst that we can be. From the opening battle with the deadmoon warriors to the final confrontation with the Preceptor's fearsome legions, through the wonders and dangers of paraworlds, the Countess Jelindel, scholar, Adept and fighter, must call upon all her power, intelligence and courage — and trust in the loyalty of friends — to restore balance. Share the journey on the Dragonfang. The ride is exhilarating!' — Brian Caswell DRAGONSIGHT
Three mercenaries... "The action never stops in Dragonsight. Countess Jelindel dek Mediesar, Daretor and Zimak are sent on a desperate quest to recover a stolen jade talisman called the dragonsight. With a slow-acting poison ticking through their veins, they have only six weeks to find the talisman and take the antidote. There's magic and mayhem aplenty as they're hunted through the paraworlds, before the final violent confrontation at the Tower Inviolate. And them in sight of their goal, the ultimate treachery. A terrific page-turner, crammed full of action, intrigue and lashings of magic." — Ian Irvine. SNEILA
Sneila is aliens spelt backwards. The tag is perfect for the gang, since Tinsdale is a weird town where totally bizarre things happen on an almost weekly basis. Aliens attack, houses are haunted, ghosts visit the living, weird technology gets tested there. The town is fashioned on The Bermuda Triangle. This provides the greatest playground of all a town where various genres come together: paranormal, ghost, horror, science fiction and even fantasy! Other books in the Sneila sequence include: The Dog King, The Great Ferret Race, and The Cyberkids trilogy. THE EARTHBORN
Move over Ebola the cesspool of life has a new supervirus! Glyn Parry
You can preorder The Earthborn from www.amazon.com or your favourite online bookshop.This science fiction title is aimed at the young adult to adult market. Welkin and his sister Lucille have grown up on the spaceship Colony, which left Earth three centuries earlier. Their parents have been killed in one of the uprisings that take place from time to time on Colony. A strict hierarchy governs the latter, with the Elders as the upper class and a rebellious underclass confined to the bowels of the ship. These Skyborn people lack the opportunities for affection and spontaneity that the Earthborn once had. Now, however, both Colony and the Earth are disease-ridden and plagued by factionalism and greed. Colony crash-lands in a St Kilda that is almost unrecognisable after decades of civil war. Gangs roam the territory and fight to the death over scarce provisions. Welkin is sent out in a search party to reconnoiter the area, but is quickly separated from his people in an ambush. Sarah, who leads a troupe of earth kids subsequently rescues him. Sarah has managed to live through the wasting disease that kills most of the population when they reach their early twenties. Her wisdom is a revelation to Welkin, who quickly finds a home in the group and forms a strong bond with Gillian, Sarahs headstrong daughter. Sarahs goal is to erect an antenna on top of Mt Dandenong so that her group might make contact with like-minded survivors. Although Colony is equipped with sophisticated weaponry, the ingenuity and solidarity of Sarahs family is more than a match for them or it would be if their energies werent drained by Bruick, a gangleader who is in violent opposition to everything Sarah and her family stand for. There is an urban cool in the gang members body piercings and the religious fundamentalism of some of the gangs, all of which gives the reader a sense of time collapsing so much is recognisable, yet set in a time when all recognisable cultural artifacts and infrastructures have disappeared or become impotent. An example might be the Stockade Bruicks fortress where the medieval qualities also play off a sense of time folding in on itself. The Earthborn details Welkins struggle with his new world, and his journey towards identifying himself as one of the family. It is about Welkins faith in self, and about fighting with everything youve got for what you believe in; its about being prepared to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. This is Pauls biggest break to date into the American market. TOR Books (US) published The Earthborn in hardcover, and in paperback in their Starscape series. Pan Macmillan is the distributor in Australia.
ZAC is an angel. Truly! He'd do anything for his mum. Until the day of the fire when he burns down their house... that's as bad as it gets. Almost. Now Zac is back! He's stuck on Earth, haunting the house till he makes up for his actions with a good deed. Trouble is, Zac's not even sure he wants to leave. Why should he? After all, spooking people is so much fun!!!. BOOK PEOPLE
Paul's seven volume boxed set, Book People - Meet Australia's Children's Authors and Illustrators has been released from Macmillan Education. This series features 198 profiles in hardcover. Each profile has an interview, fact file, book cover, awards section etc. It's a must for anyone seeking information on Australia's leading children's authors and illustrators. Information on this collection, plus Paul's martial arts books and his Welcome To countries books is available at www.macmillan.com.au CYBERSKIN
Heyne Verlag has published Cyberskin in Germany. It will also be published by e-publisher www.clocktowerfiction.com. Cyberskin has gathered many impressive reviews. The following are just some of them:
THE GREAT FERRET RACE
"Let's get something straight. Kazuo didn't mean
to cheat on the day of The Great Ferret Race. It just happened. Published by Lothian as part of the Takeaways series.
THE GOVERNMENT IN EXILE was Paul's first short story collection. The stories cover his career from 1980 through to 1994. Although there have been a few notable short stories since (The Willcroft Inheritance (in collaboration with Rick Kennett) that appeared in Charles Grant's Gothic Ghosts and reached Datlow & Windling's Recommended Reading List in the Year's Best Horror and Fantasy, and Wired Dreaming in Jack Dann and Janeen Webb's Dreaming Down-Under Down-Under, for example), Paul discounts another collection. His career now leans firmly toward writing for kids and he doubts that he will be writing adult SF in the future. Nevertheless, this collection is a strong sampling of over a decade's worth of output.
METAWORLDS was Paul's second major anthology (the first being SF aus Australien published by Goldmann in Germany. Metaworlds contains twelve stories by Australia's top SF writers: George Turner, Greg Egan, Damien Broderick, Sean McMullen and others. Paul considers it the turning point in his career.
OUT OF THIS WORLD. If you could have anything in this world, what would it be? Truckloads of lollies? A computer? Your own kid-sized Ferrari? All 'Skid' Marx wanted was a dad. No one was more surprised than Skid when his dream came true. Or did it?
CASTLE ROCK. I'm the new kid on the block. And our house just happens to be next door to Lee Brookes, natural-born bully. My mum wants me to make friends with him. So I try...
THE SPINOUTS SERIES
A collection of 45 zany science fiction, horror, ghost and fantasy tales in 15 anthologies, catering for a range of reading levels and interests. Written by some of Australia's leading writers and illustrated by some of our best artists, this series has been released overseas, where it has sold well. THE CYBERKIDS SERIES
Cyberkids 1: THE KNOCKOUT.
Lee Brookes couldn't possibly beat Ming Siou Loong. He just couldn't. Ming was the best virtualgram fighter in town - the Chinese Dragon. And besides, Dom wanted to beat her himself. But to take a crack at Ming, Dom must first beat Lee Brookes. And if Dom wins, Lee will beat him up for real. Dom gets his chance. But where will he get a fighter who can tackle muay thai, kung fu and taekwon do? A fighter good enough to beat Lee Brookes, and maybe even the Chinese Dragon! Cyberkids 2: THE GREAT ESCAPE.
Dominic Ciccone had knocked out Lee Brookes in the second round with a virtualgram gymnast in leotards! Suddenly, Dom was the most popular kid in town. But then he challenges the local champion - Ming Siou Loong. And he steals his sister's virtualgram playstation - on the night of her science project presentation. Dom's popularity is about to take a dive. Dom challenges the Chinese Dragon to a bout of kung fu. But nobody predicts the outcome! Cyberkids 3: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN.
"They're tough at the nationals. Street fighting, no holds barred." Ming Siou wants Dom to join her at the national doubles championships in Sydney. But they'll have to train hard, and Dom's grounded. He also has no money for fares. And that's just for starters. Lee Brookes always threatened to get even with Dom. Seeing his kick boxer thashed by Dom's gymnast had made him even meaner. Now his big chance had come. The gymnast and the dragon would fight in the championships, but not quite in the way Dom and Ming expected! THE SHADOW FACTORY
The time: now. The location: a town near you. The problem: Shadow-stealing! Enter: Daniel Ferguson! How does Daniel track down his stolen shadow? Why does Daniel's dog Blackie get dog-napped? What does Morris Dark do with the shadows he steals? Does Morris get away with it?
SPACED OUT! was Paul's first collaboration with children's writer Meredith Costain. It's an SF title for kids aged 8-10. The blurb reads: "The aliens are here! Death stars, storm troopers and intergalactic colonists are invading the Earth. And there's only one person who can stop them. Sam Sitch. Ordinary kid..."
OLD BONES was book one (with Margaret Clark's Brain Drain) in the back-to-back Shivers series Paul edited for HarperCollins. They're aimed at the 10-12 age group and were basically Australia's answer to the Goosebumps phenomenon (although Paul and others say they're more literary than Stine's work). Other authors in the series include Christine Harris, Meredith Costain and Dianne Bates.
FANTASTIC WORLDS was Paul's tenth anthology. It includes original fantasy fiction from Paul's usual stable of writers: Sean McMullen, Keith Taylor and Cherry Wilder, and newcomers Garth Nix, Allan Baillie, Brian Caswell, Glyn Parry and others. It was released in April 1998 by HarperCollins.
DREAM WEAVERS is Paul's most successful anthology to date. It was a ground-breaking collection of fantasy stories for young adults. ASO purchased a third of its print run before it was printed - 1500 copies were distributed throughout the Queensland education system. It features original stories by Isobelle Carmody, Keith Taylor, Sean McMullen and others. Within a year of its printing, Russell Blackford's story The Sword of God won both the Aurealis Award and the Ditmar Award, and with Beverley Macdonald's story was reprinted in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Paul and Howard Goldsmith's collaboration was reprinted in Heinemann's English Book Three. The cover won Best Cover in the Ditmar Awards.
FULL BOOK LIST
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