Paper Road Press Pukapuka Win Three National Book Awards

Wellington-based whare perehi (publishing house) Paper Road Press is proud to announce that its pukapuka (books) and kaituhi (authors) have been honoured in the Sir Julius Vogel Awards announced on the weekend:

• The Stone Wētā by Octavia Cade won Best Novel
• No Man’s Land by AJ Fitzwater won Best Novella
• Cover art by Laya Rose for No Man’s Land won Best Professional Artwork

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards recognise excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders. They are named for the eighth Premier of New Zealand, who in 1889 wrote what was probably the first sci-fi novel by a New Zealander, Anno Domini 2000 – A Woman’s Destiny. This pukapuka promotes a utopian view of the future in which women would hold many positions of authority.

Paper Road Press publisher Marie Hodgkinson says:

“I love working with such talented authors and designers and I could not be more thrilled that their art has been recognised with these national awards. Many thanks also to all the readers, booksellers, librarians, and literary festival programmers who continue to support Paper Road Press.”

In addition, Paper Road Press kaituhi Andi Buchanan’s “Alone Together at the Edge of the World” won Best Fan Writing. Fitzwater’s The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper from Queen of Swords Press in the US won Best Collected Work.

Fitzwater says: “It's an honour to be recognised by SFFANZ (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand) with the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for my work – their advocacy is a big part of speculative literature and fandom in Aotearoa. I'm proud and delighted that readers feel queer fantasy deserves to be uplifted on a local and international stage, and I will continue working hard to tell inclusive stories.”

Notes

• AJ Fitzwater and Octavia Cade are available for interview. Please contact publicist Elizabeth Heritage on 022 652 3981 or books@elizabethheritage.co.nz
• Review copies of all pukapuka are available upon request
• Full product details of all pukapuka at https://paperroadpress.co.nz/shop/; kaituhi bios and pukapuka blurbs below
• View the full list of award winners at https://sffanz.nz/the-sir-julius-vogel-awards/sir-julius-vogel-award-finalists-2021/

Kaituhi bios

AJ Fitzwater

AJ Fitzwater lives between the cracks of Ōtautahi / Christchurch. Their work focuses on feminist and queer themes, and has appeared in venues of repute such as Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Giganotosaurus, GlitterShip, and in various anthologies. They are the author of rodent pirate escapades in The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper, and the WW2 land girls shape-shifter novella No Man’s Land. With a background in radio, AJ lends their voice to podcast narrations, including for the Escape Artists universe. They enjoy maintaining a collection of bow ties. A unicorn disguised in a snappy blazer, they tweet @AJFitzwater. AJ uses they/them pronouns.

Octavia Cade

Octavia has a PhD in science communication from Otago University and themes of climate change and conservation run strongly through her fiction writing. She has also written a series of columns and edited a book on the intersection between food and horror. Octavia has extensive public speaking and debating experience. She has appeared on writers’ panels in Aotearoa and Australia and at academic conferences such as the New Research on Horror Conference (Otago University, 2016). Octavia uses she/her pronouns.

Blurbs

No Man’s Land by AJ Fitzwater

No Man’s Land is a historical fantasy and a love story set in the golden plains of North Otago, in the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Dorothea ‘Tea’ Gray joins the Land Service and is sent to work on a remote farm, one of many young women left to fill the empty shoes left by fathers and brothers serving in the Second World War.

But Tea finds more than hard work and hot sun in the dusty North Otago nowhere—she finds a magic inside herself she never could have imagined, a way to save her brother in a distant land she never thought she could reach, and a love she never knew existed.

Inspired by feminist and LGBTQ+ history and family memories of North Otago in wartime, A.J Fitzwater has turned a piece of forgotten women’s history into a tapestry of furious pride and love that crosses cultures, countries and decades.

The Stone Wētā, by Octavia Cade

We talk about the tyranny of distance a lot in this country. That distance will not save us.

With governments denying climate science, scientists from affected countries and organisations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world. From Antarctica, to the Chihuahuan Desert, to the International Space Station, a fragile network forms. A web of knowledge. Secret. But not secret enough.

When the cold war of data preservation turns bloody – and then explosive – an underground network of scientists, all working in isolation, must decide how much they are willing to risk for the truth. For themselves, their colleagues, and their future.

Murder on Antarctic ice. A university lecturer’s car, found abandoned on a desert road. And the first crewed mission to colonise Mars, isolated and vulnerable in the depths of space.

How far would you go to save the world?

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