Call for nominations for the SFFANZ Sir Julius Vogel Awards.

Nominations are now being accepted for the SFFANZ 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Awards (see below for link/details) and I have two books that are eligible for the ballot this year: Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales and Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry.




The nomination period will close at 8.00pm on 31st January 2015. The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents, and first published or released in the 2014 calendar year.

Anyone can make a nomination and it is free! To make a nomination please email sjv_awards@sffanz.org.nz

Just copy and paste the following info (for one or both) into the body of your email:

WHAT to Put On the Nomination

For Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales

ESSENTIAL Information
This is to enable SFFANZ to verify and process the nomination.
  1. Name / Title of work - Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales
  2. Name of Producer / Author / Creator - William Cook
  3. What the work is i.e. - Collection (Short Fiction)
  4. Year of First Release - 2014
  5. What category you think the nomination belongs to - Professional Awards - Best Collected Work
  6. GENRE - Horror
  7. Contact details of the person making the nomination e.g. email or/and phone number
NOTE : If the only contact details you have are the publisher's contact information on the book you are nominating, that should be sufficient.

HELPFUL Information But NOT Essential
  1. Publisher / Production company name - King Billy Publications
  2. How to contact the producer / author - williamcookauthor@gmail.com, 64 4 385 2456
  3. Other details about the work, that might be relevant - Print, Mobi, Epub
  4. Where to get a copy of the work - Amazon, Kobo, Author
  5. Any other comments you wish to add
 ****************************************************************

For Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry

ESSENTIAL Information
This is to enable SFFANZ to verify and process the nomination.
  1. Name / Title of work - Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry
  2. Name of Producer / Author / Creator - William Cook
  3. What the work is i.e. - Collection (Poetry)
  4. Year of First Release - 2014
  5. What category you think the nomination belongs to - Professional Awards - Best Collected Work
  6. GENRE - Horror
  7. Contact details of the person making the nomination e.g. email or/and phone number
NOTE : If the only contact details you have are the publisher's contact information on the book you are nominating, that should be sufficient.

HELPFUL Information But NOT Essential
  1. Publisher / Production company name - James Ward Kirk Fiction (U.S.)
  2. How to contact the producer / author - williamcookauthor@gmail.com, 64 4 385 2456
  3. Other details about the work, that might be relevant - Print, Mobi, Epub
  4. Where to get a copy of the work - Amazon, Kobo, Author
  5. Any other comments you wish to add
 ********************************************************************************

HOW Many Times May You Nominate?


  1. You may nominate as many works as you feel is appropriate.
  2. You may nominate more than one eligible work in the same category. This would suit people who are major fans of one media in particular e.g. people who read a lot of books or short stories.
  3. You may nominate the same work in multiple categories if it fits the criteria of those categories.
  4. You MAY NOT nominate a work more than once in any given category.

The rules, criteria and categories for the awards can be found by clicking this link. Guidelines for nominations can be found by clicking this link.

*Remember - You don’t need to be a member of any group or organization to vote/nominate, so if you've read my eligible work, why not show your appreciation and support by taking a moment to cast a nomination? I'd really appreciate a nomination as it would be a massive boost to my career as a writer if I won an award like this, or even if my work reached the final ballot.

The categories are (my *books are eligible in the underlined categories):

Professional Categories:
Best Novel
Best Youth Novel
Best Novella or Novelette
Best Short Story
 

*Best Collected Work
Best Artwork
Dramatic Presentation
Best Production/Publication

*Best New Talent 
Fan Categories:
Best Fan Writing
Best Fan Artwork
Best Fan Production/Publication 

Special Awards:
Services to Fandom
Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror

 
Once again, the two books I have that are eligible this year are:
Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales and Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry

Of course, these two titles are just a few of the works eligible for nominations, so have a read, take a look and cast away, me hearties.

Thanks for reading and voting (hopefully).



Reviews make the world go round . . .


I try to read and review as many books as possible, especially from those authors who I have read previously and enjoyed. Many of the authors I have read have come by way of recommendation and in my opinion, there is nothing better for a writer than receiving fair, honest and appreciative (of course) reviews. Anyway, I really want to share this one with you guys as Vix makes some delightfully insightful glimpses into each of the stories in my recent collection, 'Dreams of Thanatos.' After reading the review, maybe check out the collection but also, please, leave a comment below and recommend some of your favorite books. Would love to hear what other authors you guys are reading . . .

http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Thanatos-Collected-Macabre-Tales/dp/1495994333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415610115&sr=8-1&keywords=dreams+of+thanatos
Amazon Review: 

By Vix Kirkpatrick on July 21, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
Firstly I noticed the beautiful cover art and then noted at the back in the blurb that WC designs his own, and others, covers – what talent.* [*I have to interject here as the fantastic cover art was done by the talented Steve Upham from Screaming Dreams
I was only going to read one story in this book to see if I would be interested or not, hahaha yeah right! I came out of my Kindle many hours later a little staggered and wide eyed.
How have I overlooked this fabulous author for so long? I have read a few of his books but this collection of shorts is intense and shows off his erudite flow and use of words perfectly.
So, on with the stories in this book.
The Reader: my first thought when finishing the final sentence was WTF! This was so brilliant and intense, I was not sure whether to “shut” the book or carry on!
A man gets hooked on reading after the birth of his daughter, what a wonderful thing you may imagine, until it absorbs him in the most hideous way.
Delightfully gore laden WC captures that feeling that US avid readers get when we find a new story or author to indulge ourselves with, only he ratchets up the “forgot to eat dinner” scenario and then bangs you over the head with it!

Kaleidoscope Kid: I have always wondered if human monsters are nurture or nature? This poor chap seems to be part of that question, with such a sad start, middle and end to his life.
I almost wanted visions of my own for the wonderful little critters that visit and chat with him, almost.
I was so glad that Pa got his justice but eeeew what a way to go! Intrigued? You should be! The stories seem to only be getting better in this collection.

What a Man wants: This little show stopping story is much more the clipped, yet deep style I expect from WC (having read his other novels).
A harsh life is described and just as I started to feel sorry for the poor sap he twists his tail (no miss spell!).
Fantastic ending to an icky story.

Blinded by the Light: Quite possible the most sickening first line I think I have ever read, made my stomach knot and retch.
It does not get any better or it becomes more brilliant depending on how you like your grotesque!
Amazing in all its disgusting glory, yet still so full of story.

The Night Terror: Much more flowery and esthetic in its prose this story begins to soothe the thus far shocked and tattered mind that is mine, but I cannot stop reading.
Don’t be fooled though, the initial calm relaxes you into a stupor of rhythm before WC tosses you into the pit of hell fire once more.

Legacy; The Eternal Now and Hereafter: It is kind of scary that these two loons thinking up a declaration of independence and freedom for all using pipe bombs and destruction actually made sense, such is the power of the authors writing skill.
This story lurches from weird to horrific and then onto freaky. By far the longest story in this collection I think “enjoy” would be the wrong word but I was totally engrossed.

Til Death Do Us Part: Hugo does not take his wife’s request for a divorce too well.
This has to be my favourite story for all the mental visuals of gore, even had some smell and touch in there too I think.
Almost tongue in cheek complete with fumbling surgeon, shotguns and clueless cops. This story alone is worth the cost of the collection.

Dead Memories: WC manages to write about love lost in such a beautiful way that you almost don’t notice the dull edge of pain as he then rips your heart out.
As the nightmare hauntings intensify I was not sure of the history but was too wrapped in the destination to care.

The Devil Inside: Poor young Jacob what an awful life he has, but is seems he has an avenger, and they live under his bed.
The Beast has finally matured and is hungry…..
A tale of revenge that left me smiling.

Creeper: The poor crow or creeper bird gets blamed for all the bad things that befall this stuck up idiot! Short and with no obvious outcome this was a snippet of a moment, but wonderfully written.

Conceived by Death: If you want well placed gore and stomach churning horror, this is the read for you; from drug use, murdering of mums and babies to the birth of something unknown WC wraps all of that horror into a great story with a purpose and not just for the sake of more gore of puke factor.

Burnt Offerings: WC does tales of abusive revenge like no other. He is able to portray the pain so that any wrong doings done to the perpetrators don’t feel at all excessive and possibly deserve one ounce more.
Short but not sweet a strong female lead this time.

Pretty Boy: Another bucket load of eeeeew!
Jasper is on the prowl for more fresh flesh to rape and kill when the local police stop him and give out their own brand of unique justice.
I would really like to read the extended version of this! (hint hint)

Aspects of Infinity: Really disliked this story as it was far too abstract in writing style for me to connect with and I was getting bored with my own struggle to keep up.
Am glad this was near the end as not sure I would have continued with the book had it been first.
Just not MY thing, but probably somebodies.

Dead and Buried: Poor Donny and Max. This felt like a really “nice” ending to the whole book, full of possible hope as well as the spine chilling horror, not the usual WC gore and rub your face in it, this was much more subtle and ultimately more intrusive.

Really enjoyed this book of revenge with some strong drinking, smoking, drug and abuse themes going on. I’m sure a shrink would have a field day with WC brain – maybe he should visit Hannibal! That would be a certain match.

http://www.amazon.com/William-Cook/e/B003PA513I/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
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Any reviewers out there who would like an e-copy, please contact me via the email address at the foot of the posts.

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I haven't done any fresh book covers (aside from the Serial Killer Quarterly Magazine monthly covers) and the following titles needed sprucing up, hence the following images (linked for your convenience to the appropriate Amazon page - J):


http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Water-Selected-William-Cook-ebook/dp/B00AIEYP86/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415613199&sr=1-10

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Quartet-Short-Horror-Fiction-ebook/dp/B00FPT3MZQ/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415613199&sr=1-7

http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Inside-William-Cook-ebook/dp/B00B3OCVMC/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415613199&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/Moment-Freedom-Selected-William-Cook-ebook/dp/B009XZI7LC/ref=la_B003PA513I_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415613199&sr=1-12
William Cook (C) 2014.

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