Cirrus@Austlit

'Bueralan Le - exiled baron, fighter, saboteur - washes up on strange shores with a stranger mission. Bueralan and his crew have a grand plan: to save a town in this gods-touched land from anarchy, as it heads towards violence and bloodshed. The job will demand all of their cunning, experience and skill with the sword.

'But they've been hired to right a great wrong and they won't rest until it's done.

'Set before the events of The Godless, this novella by Ben Peek sees Bueralan and his group of mercenaries make new allies and meet old adversaries.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'The third and final novel in Ben Peek's epic Children trilogy, continuing from

The Godless and Leviathan's Blood.

'A nation in fragments

On the shores of Yeflam, Ayae struggles to keep her people together. She acts as

liaison between the camp leaders and the immortals who could save them. Zaifyr's

immortal siblings have arrived - but they have their own unfathomable agendas and

Ayae is caught in their power games.

'An army on the march

Heast has returned to his role as Captain of Refuge, a mercenary unit that answers

the call of lost causes. With help from an unexpected source, Heast and his band of

mercenaries could turn the tide of war - if they live long enough.

'A world in danger

Bueralan Le is trapped in the company of the new god child. Though he fights to

prevent her from unleashing her forces on the world, he is bound by blood to her

darkest creation. The future of the world may depend on his choices.' (Publication summary)

'At the end of The Godless, Mireea lay in ruins, the dead of the city had risen as ghosts, and the keepers Fo and Bau had been slain by Zaifyr.

'The Mireeans have now fled to the city of Yeflam with the immortal Zaifyr in chains to barter for their safety. With the threat of war arriving at the Floating Cities, Zaifyr's trial will become the center of political games. However, Zaifyr is intent on using his trial to begin a new war, a motive that many fear is an echo of the dangerous man he once was. Ayae, a young girl cursed with the gift of fire, sees a chance to learn more of her powers here in the floating city, but she is weighed down by her new responsibilities regarding the safety of the Mireean people.

'Across the far ocean, exiled Baron Bueralan and cartographer Orlan have arrived in the city of Ooila with some chilling cargo: the soul of a dead man. As the two men are accepted into the city's court, they are pulled ever deeper into the Queen's web of lies and deceit. All the while, a rumor begins to spread of a man who has come ashore, whose seemingly innocent presence threatens them all.' (Publication summary)

'The Aussie Spec Fic Snapshot, brain child of Australian writer Ben Peek, has been taking place periodically since 2005, when Ben spent a frantic week interviewing 43 people in the Australian spec fic scene. Since then, it’s grown every time, now taking a team of interviewers working together to accomplish!

'This site is designed to try to prevent the loss of Snapshots due to the ephemeral nature of the internet, and will archive (with permission from the original bloggers) as much of the previous Snapshots as possible, making it a true record of the journey of Australian Spec Fic.'

Source: SF Snapshot.

'The Gods are dying. Fifteen thousand years after the end of their war, their bodies can still be found across the world. They kneel in forests, lie beneath mountains, and rest at the bottom of the world's ocean. For thousands of years, men and women have awoken with strange powers that are derived from their bodies.

'The city Mireea is built against a huge stone wall that stretches across a vast mountain range, following the massive fallen body of the god, Ger. Ayae, a young cartographer’s apprentice, is attacked and discovers she cannot be harmed by fire. Her new power makes her a target for an army that is marching on Mireea. With the help of Zaifyr, a strange man adorned with charms, she is taught the awful history of ‘cursed’ men and women, coming to grips with her new powers and the enemies they make. Meanwhile, the saboteur Bueralan infiltrates the army that is approaching her home to learn its terrible secret.

'Split between the three points of view, The Godless' narrative reaches its conclusion during an epic siege, where Ayae, Zaifyr and Bueralan are forced not just into conflict with those invading, but with those inside the city who wish to do them harm.

'The first installment of an exciting new epic fantasy series, The Godless is a fast-paced page turner set in an enthralling new world, perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie and Brent Weeks.' (Publication summary)

Told as a series of first-person accounts, 'Sirius' relates the progression of an airborne disease in the closed system of a space station, circulating above a planet: as the story progresses, the connection of the disease to the planet's colonial history becomes clearer.

The narrator, Tom Tom, and his friend, Bob, work for a mystic named Turner. Tom Tom was picked up as a child by Turner and is mute, while Bob is a Vietnamese man with dwarfism. The two collect animals such as snakes for Turner to use in her mystic business.

When they return home and find Turner murdered, they seek out revenge. Tom Tom undergoes a ritual with the Crocodile Woman, Turner's old friend and fellow mystic. By eating a python's heart, Tom Tom learns in a vision that Turner was unintentionally killed by three people who were high.