“Quiet, you fool! You’re
safe now!” Rough hands gripped Ghabrie. A kestrel swooped but Ghabrie
could not hear its call. She could hear only Nahria’s shriek. Ghabrie
strained to glimpse her little sister through the mass of rebellion
warriors and Prometheans. The two sides were withdrawing, both claiming
their spoils and retreating. Ghabrie thrashed: kicking, biting,
struggling against strong arms that restrained her. “Nahria, I’ll come
for you!” The butt of a rifle thumped the side of her head as her words
still echoed across the barren landscape. Ghabrie slipped into an
oblivion brought by the hands of her liberators.
'Fragments of a fractured world: a post-apocalyptic anthology from a group of writers inspired by a picture and a world...'
This incredible anthology was first conceived by
Lisa Shambrook and her family, along with her daughter
Bekah, who created this wonderful cover (and stars on it).
The origins of how it came about
can be found on Lisa's blog. Suffice to say that a skeleton of a tale was created and offered to a group of writers who were inspired by photos Lisa shared of her family in post apocalyptic cosplay. From this Ghabrie was born, as was a collaboration of authors.
Michael Wombat came on board and helped Lisa pull it together, not only in providing a couple of fabulous tales, but by doing incredible work on the formatting of the ebook and print version - and creating a map of the world all the tales are set in - and identifying where each tale takes place.
Being a writer who either writes really short stories (flash fiction) or really long stories (novels), I couldn't come up with anything to match the specification and instead offered my services as an editor, not only getting a chance to read all the stories before everyone else, but also the opportunity to work with some wonderful writers and help them hone their tales. I particularly enjoyed the interaction in our own little private group, where we encouraged and supported one another, as well as discussed how further to interlink the tales - a special feature of this anthology, one which makes it very unique.
I was also privileged to be part of a promotional interview
over on Christina Pryor's blog, which goes more in-depth about how it came about, and my role as an editor.
The books itself is available in ebook format
(free for an introductory period) and in a
glorious print format which is a thing of beauty. The proceeds from which will be going to a charity
Water is Life, which the group thought rather appropriate with the story being set post apocalyptic and non toxic water being scarce!
If you want to read more about the book and read some snippets from the tales, here are a few links to the authors sites:
