Hi,
I just want to apologize to those people who are subscribed to our blog and received the new post today – the book images are a mess! They look fine on the blog page, so I didn’t see any problem with it when I checked the preview.
As soon as I realized, I changed the graphics in that post.
Please forget you saw it!
~Kelly~
*Sale price will be available for all books on all Amazon sites
Amazon USA link (to series list)
Amazon UK link (to series list)
All Amazon links to ‘Insignia: Asian Flash Fiction & Poetry’
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA |
| Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon ES |
| Amazon IT | Amazon NL | Amazon JP | Amazon BR |
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View The Insignia Series on Goodreads
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Our latest anthology, ‘Insignia: Asian Flash Fiction & Poetry’ was just released on June 6th. If you would like to view the list of stories and contributors, and find more purchase options, please go to the Insignia Vol.7. page on this site.
Have a great week/weekend!
~Kelly~
It’s officially here! We’re very excited to share our 7th collection with you all!
CONTENTS
Part I: CHINA
‘The Cormorant in the Glass-Bottomed Cage’ by Rebecca Birch
‘How Have the Mighty Fallen?’ by Ray Daley
‘Chiaroscuro’ by Liam Hogan
‘Training: Stances’, ‘The Horse Lord’, ‘Tsung’s Battle’, ‘The Matter of the Horses’, and ‘Respect’ by Mary Soon Lee
Part II: JAPAN
‘The Lucky Drug’ by Dave Dunn
‘Hero’ by Giulia Moon and Toshiya Kamei
‘Yukio’ by Layne Noser
‘Mourning’ by Gerard Sarnat
Part III: INDIA/NEPAL
‘Night Mares’ by Anita Goveas
‘Looking at the Stars’ by Anita Goveas
‘Avalanche’ by Daniel Scott White
Part IV: SOUTHEAST ASIA
‘Xylophones’ by Russell Hemmell
‘Stay Silent’ by Kelly Matsuura
‘Ordination’ by Luke Shors
‘Timid Local Eyes’ by Deon Visser
Authors’ Pages:
| Anita Goveas | Daniel Scott White | Dave Dunn | Deon Visser |
| Gerard Sarnat | Giulia Moon | Kelly Matsuura | Layne Noser |
| Liam Hogan | Luke Shors | Mary Soon Lee | Ray Daley | Rebecca Birch |
| Russell Hemmell | Toshiya Kamei (Translator) |
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AVAILABLE FROM:
| Smashwords | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU |
*More links will be available soon on the Insignia Vol.7. Page
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It’s Read an Ebook Week again over at Smashwords!
It’s an awesome chance to stock up on free and discounted ebooks by your favorite indie authors.
We’re offering volumes 1-3 of The Insignia Series for FREE this week!
Just enter the coupon code (found on each book page) at the checkout to receive the discount.
Happy Reading!
~Kelly~
Hi everyone,
Just want to share some news about one of our earlier anthologies, INSIGNIA VOL.2.
It has always been one of the shorter collections, with the fewest contributors; in fact the first edition had only 3 contributors and 5 stories… I later added a 6th story (by David Jon Fuller), however 3 of the 6 stories were still all written by yours truly (Kelly Matsuura).
And so, I’ve decided to remove one of my stories and replace it with a new one. I’d like to thank INSIGNIA VOL.5. contributor L. Chan for his intriguing wuxia-inspired story, ‘Petals, Falling Like Memories’. I think it’s a great addition to the anthology, and it’s awesome to have another Singaporean writer along side our champion contributor, Joyce Chng!
If you have previously bought a copy of this anthology on Amazon or Smashwords, you should be able to download the revised edition.
For new readers, Insignia: Chinese Fantasy Stories will be 50% OFF until Feb 10!
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PART I: Young Adult / Adventure Tales
‘The Bones Shine Through with Light’ by Joyce Chng
‘Looking for Trouble‘ by Joyce Chng
‘The Great Qilin‘ by Kelly Matsuura
…..
PART II: Adult / Literary Tales
‘The Red String of Fate’ by Holly Kench
*’Petals, Falling Like Memories’ by L Chan
Black Smoke & Water Lilies’ by David Jon Fuller
‘The Ghost Bride’ by Kelly Matsuura
*Added Jan 2019
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Available From:
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon JP | Amazon AUS | Amazon CA |
| Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon ES | Amazon IN |
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Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had an amazing winter/summer break!
I’d like to kick off 2019 with the cover reveal for our 7th Insignia Series anthology:
INSIGNIA VOL. 7. includes 12 stories and 8 poems with Asian characters and settings.
CONTRIBUTORS:
| Anita Goveas | Daniel Scott White | Dave Dunn | Deon Visser |
| Gerard Sarnat | Giulia Moon | Kelly Matsuura | Layne Noser |
| Liam Hogan | Luke Shors | Mary Soon Lee | Ray Daley | Rebecca Birch |
| Russell Hemmell | Toshiya Kamei (Translator) |
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Visit the Insignia Series Vol.7. page
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I will announce the anthology publication date and details about other Insignia Series projects for 2019 in the next blog post.
Have a great weekend, friends!
~Kelly~
Hi everyone! How are those preparations for Halloween going? I’m an ESL teacher here in Japan, so I have quite a few Halloween parties on my calendar this month. 🙂
After releasing 2 new Insignia Series anthologies in July and August, I had a bit of a break in September to work on my own stuff. But I have a few things happening in October to share.
~Kelly~
Firstly, ‘Insignia: Asian Birds & Beasts’ is in All Authors’ latest cover contest:
Click here to go to the voting page!
You do NOT need to register to vote (like some sites require). Also the first round closes in 3 days, then voting will re-open again for Round 2 which is the Top 100.
Please VOTE for us and help spread the word about our series! And a big thanks to those of you who voted for ‘Insignia: Asian Science Fiction’ in the August contest!
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Recently I’ve added all The Insignia Series anthologies to Draft2Digital, an ebook distribution site. They distribute to most of the big ebook sellers (Apple, Barnes & Noble, Amazon too) where I already have the series listed, but there are a few new sites where our books will be available: 24 Symbols, Scribd, Playster, and Bibliotheca.
I haven’t added the buy links to all the Insignia book pages (on this blog) just yet, but I’m working on making universal URL links to include ALL the sites where our books are available.
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And I’d just like to post a reminder here for any writers following: we have an OPEN SUBMISSION CALL for Asian fantasy flash fiction and poetry! Deadline is December 17th, so there’s plenty of time to write and submit!! We also gladly consider reprints. For more details, see our SUBMISSIONS PAGE.
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I’m also planning to post some new book recommendations and/or reviews this month, AND hope to have some kind of SALE later in Oct too. Stay tuned!
It’s September 1st, and that means we have a new submission call open!
It’s for a new anthology: volume 7 in The Insignia Series.
See our Submissions Page for instructions on how to submit.
If you’re not familiar with our series, please browse our previously published anthologies – there are six volumes, which you will find links to in the top menu. You could also browse ‘Excerpts’ as a post category (from the side menu) to see samples from some of the stories included in our anthologies.
And if you do submit work, please follow this blog: I’ll be posting updates every few weeks during the reading period to let writers now how submissions are going. Closer to the deadline, I may have special requests for certain types of stories, or we might be short on poems, etc.
Thank you for your interest in The Insignia Series. We hope to read your work soon!
Cheers,
Kelly Matsuura
(Chief Editor)
I’d like to share another excerpt from Insignia: Asian Birds & Beasts. This one is a bird story from returning author, Russell Hemmell.
I can’t avert my gaze from her, while she stands in front of the iron portal—her neck fierce and erect, her eyes shut not in fear but in refusal. Waiting to enter without reclining her head, knowing too well it’s going to be a one-way movement. But not a sound comes out from that mouth so many have desired to kiss. Pale lips with a suave smile, the queen looks at me, and her irises shine like a thousand moons in a winter night.
They push her forward, and she walks inside. Without a lament.
The Traitor’s Gate closes behind her.
She is lost! my winged siblings scream while circling in the sky. Nobody comes back from the Bai Gao Lou, the Mighty White Tower.
Nor will you, green-eyed queen from a far-away land.
#
I approach again, flitting around the rooftop, peering inside the minuscule windows. They’re made in ways that prevent a comfortable view of the court, those windows, and she needs to stand in an uncomfortable position to reach them. She can’t see me, either.
It’s a cold and nasty place, her secluded house in the Tower. The rags on the floor and tapestry on the walls that should keep it warm have all been taken away. There are organic pigment and insects mixed with blood in the old frescoes, to suggest unspoken horrors and weaken her resolve.
And today, they have put severed heads on the Traitor’s Gate, like pieces of Sunday roast on a spike. Them. Them, she can see.
I fly lower, to glimpse at the queen. Her eyes are transfixed; she looks outside, at a point in the horizon—at those short, happy days of her realm, of unbound extravaganza, unbridled lust, glimmering revelries.
Her heyday lasted just that, a day.
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Russell Hemmell is a statistician and social scientist from Scotland, passionate about astrophysics and speculative fiction. Recent publications in Aurealis, The Grievous Angel, Third Flatiron, and others. Find her online at her blog earthianhivemind.net and on Twitter @SPBianchini and @RxHemmell.
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AVAILABLE FROM:
| Smashwords | B & N | kobo | Apple-ibooks |
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA |
| Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon ES |
| Amazon IT | Amazon NL | Amazon JP | Amazon BR |
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The second story I’d like to share tonight from Insignia: Asian Birds & Beasts is by a new contributor, Amy Fontaine.
Amy’s story is a fun adventure about a Japanese boy who meets a mischievous kitsune (fox-shifter).
Excerpt:
Koki’s mother had been tired when she came home from work earlier tonight. Tired, and distracted. After feeding Koki, she had slouched off to bed and forgotten to lock the inside lock on the back door. Koki noticed. Koki notices things.
Now Koki puts on his slippers, slips on a jacket over his pajamas, and tiptoes out of his room and down the stairs. He opens the back door of his apartment and sneaks off into the night.
The apartment is in a very modest neighborhood in the Northern Higashiyama area of Kyoto, but only a few blocks away is a beautiful park. A cobbled path lined with cherry trees and paper lanterns leads through lush ornamental plants to a red, arched bridge across a stream. The bridge leads to a tea house and a pagoda that stands beside it. During the day, Koki loves to come to this park with his mother, but he has never been here at night.
Koki starts crawling under bushes, turning over rock after rock and catching beetle after beetle. He squeals, a sound that seems more fitting of a five-year-old or a puppy than a ten-year-old. As he crawls under the last bush on the left before the red bridge, Koki’s eyes are suddenly met by a bright, piercing white-gold light. Koki yelps and scrambles backwards out of the bush, hearing a corresponding yelp of surprise and terror as he does so. When his vision clears, he sees a four-tailed golden fox standing before him, growling. Beetle legs hang from her mouth.
“What are you doing here, little runt?” hisses the fox, in a voice that isn’t quite real. “This is my territory, and these are my beetles! You have no right to hunt here, human!”
Koki bows to the fox. “I am sorry, honorable fox.”
The vixen bursts into peals of laughter that sound like tinkling bells.
“Honorable?” the fox scoffs. “You know nothing of kitsune, do you?”
In response, Koki begins to recite the natural history of the red fox. He sounds like an encyclopedia. The fox growls and shakes her head.
“You believe everything they tell you in science books, don’t you? Foolish boy. The things those books have told you to be false are the ones that are most important.”
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Amy Fontaine is a wildlife biologist who writes wild speculative fiction and poetry. Her first novel, Mist, is a young adult fantasy about shapeshifters, elemental magic, and being the change you wish to see in the world. She is currently writing an interactive novel inspired by Japanese kitsune folklore for Choice of Games. You can find her published work at https://amyfontaine.wordpress.com.
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AVAILABLE FROM:
| Smashwords | B & N | kobo |
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA |
| Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon ES |
| Amazon IT | Amazon NL | Amazon JP | Amazon BR |
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