Category Archives: New Zealand

The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone

Posted on 13 October 2024 by Barbara Howe

The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone, by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward, is a Kiwi-infused mystery set in Havelock North, a town in New Zealand’s Hawk’s Bay region. This story about two ex-Brit coppers turned bookstore owners is written by … Continue reading →

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Tides of Magic, Tides of Change

Posted on 21 September 2023 by Barbara Howe

Tides of Magic and Tides of Change are the first two books in a series of fantasy novellas by New Zealand author Andi R. Christopher. Both are charming, feel good stories; a pleasant antidote when the tidal wave of bad … Continue reading →

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Bastardisation, ha!

Posted on 9 July 2023 by Barbara Howe

The news recently included an item from the South Island about the mayor of Invercargill, Nobby Clark, spouting a lot of nonsense. The bit that caught my eye in particular was his complaint about “the bastardisation of the English language,” … Continue reading →

Posted in New Zealand, Politics | 2 Comments

Quiet in Her Bones

Posted on 13 January 2023 by Barbara Howe

 Ten years ago, Nina Parvati Rai vanished without a trace, taking with her a quarter of a million dollars in cash. Her disappearance was assumed to be an act of defiance: a bored socialite’s revenge on her wealthy, controlling husband. … Continue reading →

Posted in Kiwi author, Mysteries, New Zealand | 2 Comments

Middle Distance: Long Stories of Aotearoa New Zealand

Posted on 19 November 2022 by Barbara Howe

Middle Distance: Long Stories of Aotearoa New Zealand is a recent anthology of stories around 10,000 words each, shorter than a novella but longer than the typical short story. For me, these long stories (novelettes?) were a nice change of … Continue reading →

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Aftermath

Posted on 5 November 2022 by Barbara Howe

Aftermath: Stories of Survival in Aotearoa New Zealand is a collection of about two dozen stories, poems, and images, set in post-apocalyptic New Zealand. The disasters represented range from the quite possible (catastrophic climate change, nuclear war, earthquakes, pandemics, …) … Continue reading →

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CoNZealand

Posted on 8 August 2020 by Barbara Howe

CoNZealand, the first online world science fiction convention, has come and gone. While there were some obvious teething pains, in general it turned out much better than I had feared. It wasn’t the same as meeting people in person, but … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writer's Life, New Zealand | Comments Off on CoNZealand

2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards

Posted on 21 February 2020 by Barbara Howe

Are you aware of the Sir Julius Vogel awards? Sir Julius Vogel was a prominent early immigrant to New Zealand. Besides being New Zealand’s Premier in the 1870s, he wrote New Zealand’s first science fiction novel, published in 1889. The … Continue reading →

Posted in New Zealand | 2 Comments

Volcano City: Earthcore Book Two

Posted on 5 October 2019 by Barbara Howe

In Volcano City, book two in Grace Bridges’s YA Earthcore series, the crazed and villainous Mr B is back, and out for revenge on Anira and the superpower-endowed Earthcore team. Only now, instead of paving over and hiding natural wonders, … Continue reading →

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RotoVegas: Earthcore Book One

Posted on 9 August 2019 by Barbara Howe

Strange things are going on in the New Zealand resort town of Rotorua. Tourists targeted in a rash of pickpocket incidents seem dazed, unable to give a clear description of the thieves. Ghostly visitors drive a family out of their … Continue reading →

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