Rebecca Among the Stars

There is a moment in every new book when the story stops belonging only to its writer. The characters have found their voices. The world has begun to breathe. The first page is waiting—and somewhere beyond the writer’s desk, the story’s first readers are waiting too. That moment has arrived for Constellation: Guardians of the Quiet Sky . I am delighted to invite you to read Prologue — The Signal free on the Stars & Ferns website. This is the first book in my new Constellation science-fiction series: a story of memory, courage, inheritance and the quiet things that refuse to remain buried. It begins with an ancient relay, a voice reaching across the centuries, and a message no one was supposed to hear. But someone does hear it. And once the signal has been answered, the sky will never be silent again. Would You Like to Read More? If the prologue leaves you wondering what happens next, I have something rather special to offer. The first 100 readers who email me may receive the nex...

Every good journey needs somewhere to begin. Sometimes it begins beneath a sky crowded with unfamiliar stars, where distant planets wait and the future is only one brave decision away. Sometimes it begins on a fern-lined path, beneath ancient trees, where magic lingers at the edge of sight and the ordinary world is not quite as ordinary as it appears. Now both kinds of journeys have a new place to be discovered. We are delighted to introduce starsandferns.com —a welcoming new website created to bring two distinct author worlds together in one easy-to-explore home. Although they share a website, the science-fiction and fantasy sides remain separate. Each has its own identity, voice, books, readers and direction. The purpose of the new site is not to blur those lines, but to give both worlds equal space while making it much easier for readers to find everything in one place. If you come for science fiction, you can follow stories beyond Earth, explore imagined futures and discover what h...

As I came to the end of Whakataukī Among the Stars: Volume IV , what stayed with me most was not one plot twist or one favourite character, but the feeling of it. This is a book with warmth in its hands and steel in its spine. It is hopeful, yes, but never soft-headed about the cost of survival. It is funny in the way people are funny when life is hard and humour is part defiance, part kindness, part keeping the lights on. If I had to put a rating on it, I’d call it 4 out of 4 stars for heart, ambition, and sheer emotional honesty. What stood out to me most in this volume is the way the stories keep asking difficult questions without pretending there are neat answers. Again and again, these pieces return to memory, responsibility, community, grief, repair, and the stubborn human habit of trying to build shelter for one another even in impossible places. Some stories are playful and odd in the best way. Others carry a real ache. A few left me properly winded. That balance matters to...

This is the final Story Spotlight from Whakataukī Among the Stars, Volume IV , which feels exactly right for a story about endings that refuse to stay ended. Because “An Unreasonable Amount of Duct Tape” begins after the worst thing has already happened. The ship has broken. The adults are gone. The promised future has cracked open like a dropped bowl. And inside the ruined body of the CS Vagabond , a group of children wake into a world made of failing air, rationed water, bad wiring, pain, fear, and the sort of silence that has far too many teeth. At the centre of it all is Angitu , thirteen years old, injured, terrified, grieving, and abruptly responsible in a way no child should ever have to be. Naturally, she gets on with it. Not because she is fearless. Not because she has been chosen by destiny, which has a terrible habit of showing up after the plumbing fails. But because there are younger children watching her. Because someone has to check the filters. Because panic is not, de...

Some planets welcome you with open skies, soft rain, and a horizon that behaves itself.  This is not one of those planets. In “Sailing the Planet That Wants You Under,” the world has drowned itself into a new shape. Streets are seabeds. Weather has developed opinions. The sea is not background scenery; it is a character, a threat, a judge, and occasionally a very large wet bully with excellent timing. Set aboard the waka Kōtuitui, the story follows a navigator and crew trying to cut through the edge of a brutal storm and reach the agricultural refuge of Te Riu before their docking window closes. That would be difficult enough, because the ocean has clearly woken up in a mood.  But then they encounter a storm-reef carrying the stranded remnants of an older world. Which is awkward. Storms, you see, are one thing.  Ethical responsibility in the middle of a storm is another. The second one tends not to check whether you have slept. What begins as a desperate passa...

Some stories begin with a battle fleet.  Some begin with a body in the airlock.  This one begins with something far more dangerous. A child laughing. In “The Child Who Broke the Charter With a Laugh,” we enter Ringhold, a red-rock colony built on obedience, silence, and the careful management of everyone’s face. Books are forbidden. Curiosity is treated like a rash. Imagination is not merely discouraged; it is watched, filed, and quietly strangled under the clean white gloves of civic duty. Neru has learned the rules early. Wear the right expression. Speak at the right time. Do not ask the wrong question. Do not become interesting. Excellent advice, if one wishes to survive.  Terrible advice, if one wishes to remain fully human. Then a hidden book appears in a secret Listening Circle, and with it comes a ridiculous story about the Moon wearing a hat.  Which, naturally, is where everything starts to go wrong. Or right. This is a story about what slips through the cr...