Shards - it has arrived!

[andrewmck]

In all my rush to complete writing and illustrating deadlines over the past week I forgot to post about one event that was very important to me...

"Shards: Short Sharp Tales" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (author) and myself (illustrator) has finally become a reality!



It's not a good photo - my real camera has no batteries and the phone camera is crap - but it does show that this book is now a real, physical entity.

After 3yrs of work between Shane and myself, and numerous personal and publication set-backs, it has all finally come to fruition.

So, what is "Shards"?



It is a collection of 31 dark flash-fiction stories by Shane, each one with a full page illustration by me. You can see a few of those illustrations over at my main website Gallery - www.andrewmckiernan.com - but here is the one for the story "Congo Jenga" (click for a larger view):



And what are other saying about "Shards"?

"With SHARDS author Shane Jiraiya Cummings and artist Andrew J.. McKiernan take us on a guided tour of the darkest backroads of the imagination.  It is wonderfully moody and creepy."
– Jonathan Maberry, multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of PATIENT ZERO and THE WOLFMAN

 “Shards cuts you right open and then sets about infecting the wound. Cummings' prose is as the title suggests: short, sharp, and deadly. The tales themselves are relentless, battering you with their suggestive intensity or mocking with bleak humour. Add to this darkly disturbing illustrations by Andrew McKiernan and Shards is one hell of a nightmare.”
– Dr Marty Young, President, Australian Horror Writers Association.

“If flash fiction is the distinctive form of our internet age—and everything points that way—then I can’t think of a better demonstration of the art than Shards.”
– Richard Harland, award-winning author of The Black Crusade and Worldshaker.

"Shards offers a worthy selection of short-short stories that reflects the author’s prominence in the contemporary upsurge of 'flash fiction' among Australian horror writers. Fans of the short-short form will welcome this darkly entertaining foray into a world gone subtly—and at times unsubtly—askew, from one of Australia’s 'new bloods' of horror. Combined with a wealth of evocative illustrations from Andrew McKiernan, Shards represents a unique horror experience."
– Robert Hood, the 'Godfather of Aussie Horror' and award-winning author of Creeping in Reptile Flesh.

"This is how flash fiction should be written – sharp, brilliant images conjured by amazingly few words. Cummings’ aptitude for flash fiction is evident in every carefully chosen phrase."
– Stephanie Gunn, HorrorScope

"Shards is a maelstrom of images that delivers to the reader intense stories, and repeated sucker punches to their emotions."
– Sharyn Lilley, Eneit Press

"Reading Shards is like being strapped to a rocket, once you're on you can't get off till the end."
– Stuart Mayne, Editor Aurealis Magazine

You can order a copy directly from Brimstone Press for $17.95 AUD (+postage).

Or you can go into any bookshop and, if they don't have a copy on their shelves, ask them to order one (or two, or three, or four) through Tower Distribution using the following details:

Shards: Short Sharp Tales
By Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Illustrated by Andrew J McKiernan
Published by Brimstone Press - August 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9805677-2-4