Terra Nullius, edited by Kate Coe and Ellen Crosháin

Release date: May 31, 2018

Subgenre: Science fiction anthology, Space colonisation

About Terra Nullius:

 

Terra Nullius by Kate Coe and Ellen Crosháin (eds)
 

Land belonging to no-one. An anthology of speculative fiction that explores the colonisation of our Solar System and far beyond, where pioneers carve out a new existence under other stars. New worlds and new challenges bring out rich stories filled with alien races and strange technology, but against this backdrop there’s the many facets of human emotion as colonists struggle to make a new home.
This is human life on the final frontier.

Thomas J. Spargo -- Jessica Rydill -- K.N. Johnson -- Jessica Reisman -- Jonathan Oliver -- Will MacMillan Jones -- E. M. Eastick -- John Bayliss -- Gregor Hartmann -- G. H. Finn -- Matthew Pedersen -- Steven Poore -- Jill Hand

 

Excerpt:

 

Terra Incognita by Jessica Rydill

“Do you ever get the feeling you’re being watched, Bill?” said Marian.

“All the time, Ma’am.”

“That’s because something is watching you.” She snorted. “It was bad enough when Mr Darwin went to explore the Galapagos Islands. There’s always something watching you. Or someone. When Columbus found the New World, he encountered the Taino Indians. Where are they now, Bill? Hm?”

“I don’t know, Ma’am. I didn’t know Columbus met any Indians.”

“Gone. Massacred. Or died of European diseases. There are traces of them in the local population. But no Taino Indians any more. Gone like the poor old Dodo.”

“What are you saying, Ma’am?”

“It’s terra incognita, Bill; but that doesn’t mean it’s uninhabited. When our illustrious forebears arrived somewhere with good, or bad, intentions, they brought with them the benefits of civilisation, like disease, slavery and religion. So though I am a representative of Her Majesty, I try to tread lightly.”

“I wish I could go home, Ma’am.”

“So do I. A cup of tea would be splendid,” said Marian.

They had found their way into a ravine, one with a waterfall. Spirals of steam escaped from the ground, suggesting the presence of geysers and probably more volcanic activity. Marian wiped her brow on her sleeve. It was like walking through a cup of tea, never mind drinking one. She wondered why on earth (ha!) she had volunteered for this mission beyond the bounds of her home planet. Perhaps because the other alternatives, such as nursing during the Crimean war, or going to work as a missionary in Darkest Africa, had not appealed to her spirit.

Women were supposed to marry, like her sister Laura, or if they didn’t to devote themselves to a life of good works. Or to stay at home with their aging parents. Well, Florence Nightingale herself had done none of those things! But Marian had developed a taste for adventure during the affair of The Woman in White, so ably chronicled by Walter Hartright and herself, though she could not claim credit for the whole work. And not long after she had become embroiled in a less well-known matter, and Laura and Mr Hartright had married and retired to the country.

Perhaps that was the moment when things had changed. The existence of other worlds had been demonstrated, and a way of travelling to them discovered, never suspected in the days of Isaac Newton, or even by astronomer William Herschel and his sister, Caroline. One did not travel to the stars in a balloon or dirigible; or fired to the moon in a space cannon, as imagined by Monsieur Jules Verne. Instead, one sailed on inner seas, travelling between dimensions to reach other planets; and a world like Cressula, halfway across the universe, could turn out to be closer than the Moon or Mars.

 

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About Kate Coe:

Kate Coe is an editor, book reviewer and writer of fiction & fantasy. She writes the sparkpunk GreenSky series and blogs at writingandcoe.co.uk. In real life she's a typesetter and fills her spare time in between writing with web design, gaming, geeky cross-stitch and DIY (which may or may not involve destroying things). She also reads far fewer books that she would like to, but possibly more than she really has time for.

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About Ellen Crosháin:

Ellen Crosháin grew up in Northern Ireland but despite the fact she has a proper Irish Mammy hailing from Dublin and a Northern Irish father, her accent is so slight, it can only be caught in snatches. She says it makes her work as a spy much easier as no one actually knows where she’s from.

Her love for story telling was cultivated by both her parents as they would spend hours most days reading to her and her three younger siblings. She would spend hours herself entertaining them on the long trips they had to take when her father joined the army and they moved from place to place. She doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing or telling stories. She always has a notepad on her and takes every opportunity to scribble down an idea or work on a chapter.

In her non-writing life, she is a teacher of English, a job she absolutely adores. She lives in Wales, land of dragons, with her husband and her hoard of loyal guinea pig minions.

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