The 10th Circle Project has been nominated for three Aurora awards (Canada’s fan-voted Sci-Fi & Fantasy award): Best English Related (the 1st Circle Project, volume one of the 10th Circle Project); Best Short Story (for Randy McCharles in the 2nd Circle); and Best Fan Publication (Bourbon and Eggnog). Editor’s Note: it seems strange that we’re nominated in a fan category, but since Bourbon and Eggnog was a free offering, it is thus not classified as professional).

What is the 10th Circle? The 10th Circle Project is a 10-volume shared world, ebook series direct from Amazon and Kobo. It is the brainchild of myself and Eileen Bell (and we are the editors). Other writers to join us are Randy McCharles and Billie Milholland (who shared an Aurora award with us from 2009). You can find out more about the 10th Circle at http://www.the10thcircle.com.

The premise: After generations of conflict, the twin cities of Hope and Glory launch the 10th Circle Project, an ambitious deep earth energy venture that holds the tenuous promise of peace and cooperation. As the drilling descends beyond recorded depths, old rivalries simmer, mistrust and greed threaten to explode into war, and the earth begins to reveal its own powerful secrets, both divine and demonic.

The Aurora’s are Canada’s fan-voted Science Fiction & Fantasy awards. In 2009, one of my projects, the Women of the Apocalypse, won two Aurora’s. While any Canadian is eligible to vote, you must be a member of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (if you’ve already nominated, then you’re already a member). There is an annual membership fee of $10 BUT (and this is the cool part) if you’re a member, you get all of the 2012 nominated works as eBooks (this is all categories, including the novel, short, and related).  So really, it’s quite the deal.

Voting: Has begun, and will continue right up until July 23rd. The results will be announced at When Words Collide — a reader con held in Calgary August 10th-12th.

The 1st Circle (available from Amazon and Kobo)

  • Disgraced cop Harry Stafford’s banishment to Purgatory and vice, is a career ender. When he encounters true evil, a monster who might’ve once been a man, he must decide how much more he’s willing to lose.
  • One small job — the type where no one gets hurt and everyone gets paid. Except Jack knows that there’s no such thing as a small job and his only chance of getting out of Hope alive are a killer with half a brain, a drug-addicted wheelman, and a crazed demolitions expert.
  • Conman extraordinaire, Reverend Jim is having a crisis in faith. Is this really about the con and the money? Or is God trying to deliver a message – and he must be the messenger?
  • When Dr. Ember Cantara is lured to Glory to develop a cure for a rare but fatal retrovirus, she learns that even an earthquake can’t bury an organism that has waited eons to emerge.

Bourbon and Eggnog: A free Christmas short-story collection. Available now in ePub, mobi, and PDF.  If this is your first introduction to The 10th Circle Project e-book series, fear not. You don’t have to read the other books in the series to enjoy this collection. So, pour yourself an eggnog (or maybe a bourbon neat with a beer chaser) and curl up with our Christmas collection—Hope and Glory style. You may download this one for free at http://www.the10thcircle.com/bourbon.php