Books published by Brain Jar Press

"I''m not going to lie to you. There are no secret handshakes or rules that will get you on your particular dream-path. If there was, we''d all be on our own already. If you want to be a successful writer, be prepared to have to make up most of it as you go along."In these essays, Sean Williams-the best-selling author of over 120 short stories and fifty novels-shares his thoughts on the aspects of writing craft and the publishing business that young authors should know.Drawn from essays, keynotes, and presentations delivered over a decades-long career, Eyes on the Stars: Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy features Williams'' thoughts on balancing passion and professionalism, understanding the new writer''s career path, embracing the delicate art of writing media tie-ins, and reaching for the stars with your writerly ambitions.Whether you''re looking for writing advice from one of the preeminent writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy working in Australia today, or you''re a fan of Williams'' work who''d like to capture a slice of his creative philosophies, this chapbook is chock full of advice from a veteran of the Australian genre scene.

Sixteen blunt and unconventional essays about writing and the writing business from the former manager of the Australian Writer's Marketplace.

The paperback release of the acclaimed horror collection from the World Fantasy Award-winning author of the Sourdough cycle and the Verity Fassbinder series.

How can people work on trains? Read on trains? There is so much happening outside!With these words, World Fantasy and Hugo Award-nominated artist Kathleen Jennings opens the door to a graceful, nuanced world of travel vignettes. With an affinity for words that''s equal to her celebrated artwork, Jennings captures the passing landscape with an illustrator''s eye for detail and a poet''s command of rich language and startling metaphors.Originally published over the span of three years while travelling across Massachusetts, New York State, and England, Travelogues collects Kathleen''s train vignettes together for the first time.Each of these nine journeys is infused with wonder and rich, unfamiliar landscapes, and those who climb aboard will forever look at train travel with new eyes.

Twelve short stories those who love strange, heartbreaking, and unforgettable fantasy.What if kaiju decimated your hometown, but only half the population could see them? What if mermaids unleashed their wrath against Copenhagen using mechanoid war-machines? What if the man you loved wanted nothing more than running away to live with the faeries, but you were the one they wanted to take with them?The Birdcage Heart & Other Strange Tales gathers together twelve wild and genre-bending fantasy tales from the pen of Peter M Ball, the Ditmar and Aurealis Award-winning author of the cult hit Horn and the Keith Murphy urban fantasy thrillers.These scintillating tales draw inspiration from myth, pop-culture, magic realism and Lovecraftian horrors, showcasing Peter M. Ball’s talent for blurring the line between genres and finding the sublime in both the everyday and the extraordinary.  Come meet a man with a birdcage where his heart should be, the resident of Isla Tortuga’s most dangerous bordello, clockwork goats and smokestack magi, dragonkeepers, vengeful musicians, and frustrated public servants. Walk paths through briar-choked cities, deceptively ordinary towns, and an endless stairwell populated by tourists. Prepare yourself for the wickedly inventive magic and startlingly human moments.Whether you’re already a fan of Peter M. Ball, or you’re just about to become one, The Birdcage Heart & Other Strange Tales is a debut collection that shouldn’t be missed.

A Brain Jar Press Short Fiction Lab chapbook, Peter M. Ball's Shedding Skin is a dark fantasy about snakes, old wounds, and isolation in the heat of the Queensland outback. Things haven't been right with Mariah ever since the car accident, but Harley knows their problems were seeded long before they drove off the road. Things come to a head when they retreat to an old house in the outback to spend time together, far away from the bustle and watching eyes of worried friends and family.But things watch from the shadows beneath the house too, and Harley's own reservations come to a head when they discover a snake in their midst…Sheddings Skins is the fifth release in the Short Fiction Lab series from Brain Jar Press-home to stand-alone short story experiments in fantasy, science fiction, horror, and fabulist literature. This experiment has been filed under: weird ghost stories; snakes and barbed wire; dark outback fantasy and horror; slipstream and magic realism.

Sixteen executions have failed. The seventeenth is about to begin.Beal devoted his life to the study of eliminating convicted felons, but the notorious Don Vashta is the greatest challenge any executioner can face: an immortal criminal who always rises from the dead to sin again. A short story chapbook about a job that turns into a friendship, and a friendship that becomes an obsession.