Baby Teeth - Horror for Charity

By Dan Rabarts

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Baby Teeth - Horror For Charity

Project 2013-07-02 02:22:58 +1200

Short stories by Kiwi and international writers, to raise money for the Duffy Books in Homes literacy charity. Help us help kids to read!



UPDATE: Having reached our original funding goal in just ten days, we are now pushing to reach a stretch goal of $1500. If we reach this goal, then all supporters who have pledged $10 or more will also receive a free electronic copy of the horror short story collection Tales to Terrify Volume 1: http://talestoterrify.com/volume-1/ Spread the word and help us reach this goal, so that we can share even more scary tales with our fantastic supporters!


Based on the chills and shivers of the creepy things children have been heard to say at the most unexpected times, this collection is an assortment of unexpected frights, nervous giggles and often poignant reflections on life, childhood, and the terrors of growing up. Mostly horror, you'll also find stories in this book of fantasy, science fiction, crime and even comedy, from a wide range of established and emerging writers (36 stories from 26 authors!).

Contributors include Sir Julius Vogel Award winners Grant Stone, Alicia Ponder, Paul Mannering, Sally McLennan, Lee Murray, Cassie Hart and Anna Caro, among many others.



Our goal is to raise the funds to pay for an initial print run of the story collection, ebook and audiobook production and hosting, and a few other fancy extras that people might like.

The Books in Homes charity will use the proceeds from this project to do what they do best - getting kids reading books, promoting and encouraging literacy and a love of reading.

And you get to read some great stories, and maybe sleep with the light on for a while...

Here's a list of all the awesome contributors we have on board:

  • Alan Lindsay
  • Alicia Ponder
  • Anna Caro
  • Celine Murray
  • Dan Rabarts
  • Darian Smith
  • Debbie Cowens
  • Eileen Mueller
  • Elizabeth Gatens
  • Grant Stone
  • Jack Newhouse
  • Jake Bible
  • Jan Goldie
  • JC Hart
  • Jean Gilbert
  • Jenni Sands
  • Kevin G. Maclean
  • Lee Murray
  • Lewis Morgan
  • M. Darusha Wehm
  • Matt Cowens
  • Matthew Sanborn Smith
  • Michael J Parry
  • Morgan Davie
  • Paul Mannering
  • Piper Mejia
  • Sally McLennan


Comments

Updates 34

The Audiobook is here!

19/05/2014 at 1:48 PM

Thanks to the dedication and hard work of Chris Barnes at Dynamic Ram Audio Productions, I'm very pleased to annouce that that audiobook version of Baby Teeth is now complete. 

 

To those who supported this project via the Audio Backer, Combo Backer, or Sponsor reward options, you should now have received your link to download the complete audiobook of Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror, all 5+ hours of it. Go forth, listen, enjoy.

 

In a couple of weeks, the audiobook will be available through our favourite publisher, Paper Road Press. Watch this space for how you can help us spread the word, or get a copy for yourself, if you missed it during the initial PledgeMe campaign.

 

Thanks again, from all of us on the Baby Teeth team.

 

Dan, Lee, Marie and Chris

 

 

April Update - Sir Julius Vogel Awards

30/04/2014 at 9:32 PM

Well, against some very stiff competition, we did it. On Saturday night at ConClave 2 in Auckland, Baby Teeth won the category of Best Collected Work, at the Sir Julius Vogel Awards.

Lee and Dan were there to collect the award, and we were lucky enough to have many of the contributing authors there to cheer us on. It was quite a moment.

Lee also took away the award for Best Novella for her story Cave Fever, which appeared in the anthology Regeneration, and Dan won the coveted prize for Best New Talent. Thanks to everyone who helped us get there, by supporting our work, by voting, by spreading the word. It's been a great payoff for a project that only ever set out to do something good for other people. So thanks again, from all of us.

In other news, it might have taken a bit longer than we had anticipated, but the audiobook is now racing towards completion. All the stories have been recorded, some of them re-recorded, and then again, delivered, and we are now working on the final edit. It turned out to be a much bigger job than we could've guessed, and it was always our preference to hand over a top-notch product than to rush out something that wasn't highly professional. That meant delays, but now we're looking at having the audiobook in your ears by the end of May. Keep an eye out for it.

Thanks again, and have a great May, whether it's spring or autumn or just eternal summer where you are.

 

Dan

December Update: Ebooks, Amazon and More!

13/12/2013 at 7:53 AM

Hello our lovely backers! 

 

As we head towards the holidays, we've got a few announcements to make. First up, everyone should have received their paper and e-copies of Baby Teeth by now. If not, please contact Paper Road Press.

Secondly, Baby Teeth can now be found on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.  Not only can you swing by Amazon to get a copy for your Nanna's digital stocking, but we would love to see some ratings and reviews cropping up for the book. If you can take a moment to leave us an honest rating and a few kind words, that would be greatly appreciated. 

Also, if you're a Goodreads user, Baby Teeth is currently sitting at #2 of 229 other books in the Best Horror Anthologies poll. A few more votes will push us into the #1 spot, which would be fantastic. You can find the poll here. If you're not a Goodreads user, it's free and actually a really good way to find out about other great books you might like. 

Baby Teeth is also eligible for the 2014 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, in the category of Best Collected Work. It's free to cast a nomination and open to anyone to do so, and all it takes is an email, so if you have a moment, we'd really appreciate a little boost in that department too. Getting onto the final ballot will generate more interest in the book and bump up sales in the lead up to next year's SFF convention, ConClave II. So please help us out, every nomination counts. Details can be found at the SFFANZ website

For those of you waiting for the audiobook, never fear! It is coming along, but we've had a few delays due to personal and health issues among the people involved. Wishing Chris and the team all the best, and looking forward to hearing the finished product very soon. 

The last piece of news is that we are all out of paper copies of this book. Yes, that's right. We have SOLD OUT. Which is pretty fantastic. There are a few copies sitting on bookstore shelves if you can ferret them out, but otherwise our first print run is gone. 

We'll be looking to push ebook sales over the next couple of months, and of course we're hoping that making the SJV ballot will add to that considerably. All these proceeds will be going to Duffy Books in Homes, in the early part of next year.  

Thanks again to everyone for their support, and just gently nudging you to drop us a few stars over at Amazon, if you have a minute. Have a great holiday, whatever you might be celebrating, sun or snow, and we'll be in touch again soon. 

 

Dan Rabarts 

Co-editor, Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror

Auckland Launch is upon us!

13/11/2013 at 6:25 PM

Good Morning!

We're very happy to say that all of our pre-orders via PledgeMe should now have been delivered, either at the recent book launches in Wellington and Tauranga (which were both a fantastic success) or by post. If you haven't received your copy, please let us know straight away by coming back to the PledgeMe page and leaving a comment.

Tonight is the finale of our book launches, this time in Auckland. If you can make it to Epsom Library at 5pm, please come along to meet some of the auithors and get your books signed. Let us know you're coming by joining up to the Facebook event, here: https://www.facebook.com/events/644267572285177/

If you can't make it, please spread the word to friends and family who might like to come down and pick up a copy of the book and support a good cause.

Also, the ebook is nearly complete, and we aim to be sending those out to all Pledgers by this weekend. Watch your email for the pitter-patter of tiny stories...

The audiobook is nearing completion, and we hope to have that ready to go by the end of the month. It's been a huge undertaking, but we think you're going to love it when it's ready!

And finally, we're very pleased to say that by tomorrow we expect the first print run of Baby Teeth to have completely sold out. That has only been possible with your support, and we're stoked. Paper Road Press will be looking at doing a second run, so that we can get some copies onto local bookshelves, and also setting up other purchase options for the future. We'll keep you informed. 

Thanks again!


Dan

Pre-launch Update

28/10/2013 at 6:24 PM

Hello again, Baby Teeth supporters!


So, we're now just a couple of days away from launching this book to the world. We couldn't have done it without you, so once again, thanks for backing us!

If you're in Wellington or Tauranga, we'd love to be able to hand you your copy at the book launch. If you can come on down, and maybe bring a friend who'd like to buy a copy and support a good cause, then please do. Details for the launches are as follows: 


Wellington:

Wednesday, October 30th, 5.30-7pm, Quality Hotel, Cuba St

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/

Tauranga:

Thursday, October 31st, 5.30pm Villaggio Cafe, Greerton

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/


If you collect at the book launch, not only will you get to meet and greet some of the authors in the book, but you'll also be saving us money on postage, meaning even more will be able to go to Duffy Books in Homes.

Any paperbacks pledged for and not collected at the Wellington or Tauranga book launches will be posted out on November 1st.

We will also be holding a launch in Auckland on November 14th, at the Epsom Library, from 5-6pm, so if you're up that way bring your copy along and get it signed by local authors like Grant Stone and Darian Smith. There will also be local authors at the Wellington and Tauranga launches, so there will be opportunities for book-signing a-plenty. We'd love to see you! 

If you're an ebook or audiobook backer, we're working out the last of the details for these at the moment, and hope to have both out within a week or two of the paperback release. Keep an eye on your email.

Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you at a book launch!


Dan, and the Baby Teeth team




Tauranga Launch - this time with the right link!

03/10/2013 at 6:32 PM

Good Morning!

Yesterday's post about the upcoming book launches had a small error, namely that the link to the Tauranga launch event on Facebook was a link to the Wellington event.

For those of you interested in the Tauranga launch, the correct link is here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/675050315839584/

Head on over to have a coffee, a wine and a Halloween cupcake with co-editor Lee Murray, and authors Jan Goldie, Alan Lindsay, Piper Mejia, Lewis Morgan, Celine Murray and more. 

Cheers!


Dan

Book Launches Announced!

03/10/2013 at 8:27 AM

Hello Baby Teeth supporters!


Well, this has been an exciting week for Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror. As well as the book heading off to the printers, publisher Paper Road Press have now announced two book launches. Baby Teeth will officially launch in Wellington on October 30th, followed by a launch in Tauranga on October 31st. Plans are still being made for a launch in Auckland as well, and when the details have been ironed out we'll let you know.


Meanwhile, if you're in Wellington or Tauranga, please head on down to the book launch on the night and help make it a night to remember. There will be authors reading their work, plus even more authors on hand to sign books and shake hands and have a drink with. 

If you've pledged for a copy of the paperback, we'd love to see you on the night and hand it over in person.


Wellington:

Wednesday, October 30th, 5.30-7pm, Quality Hotel, Cuba St

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/

Tauranga:

Thursday, October 31st, 5.30pm Villaggio Cafe, Greerton

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/


Meanwhile, we're busy producing the audiobook, which is a huge amount of work and definitely keeping the audio team on their toes.

Must get back to it! Looking forward to seeing some of you in a few weeks.

Dan Rabarts, Co-editor, Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror

Rewards!

28/08/2013 at 7:13 PM

Hi Baby Teeth Supporters!


By now, you should have received your first round of rewards, including your e-copies of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, and any bonus ebooks you pledged for, such as the Steam Press Triple Combo, Darusha Wehm's Andersson-Dexter.series, and so on. 

You might have also noticed that we asked you for your preferred e-format, and then just sent you both epub and mobi anyway. We figured this was easier for us, and better for you, in case you change devices or preferred apps in the future and still want to read your ebooks. So enjoy!

If you were one of those who pledged for the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine subscriptions, someone from ASIM should be in touch soon. You have not been forgotten!

Meanwhile, things are progressing well at Baby Teeth HQ. Final edits are complete and our publisher, Paper Road Press, is about to begin into the layout and design process. Dynamic Ram Audio are casting and organising narrations. Book Launches are being planned out. All very exciting stuff.

If for some reason you haven't received rewards you think you should have, please drop by the PledgeMe site and leave a comment. I'll get in touch.


- Dan

Wheels are in motion

20/08/2013 at 9:45 AM

Hi Everyone!


Hopefully by now you will have heard from Celine, one of our authors and a member of the publishing team, who has taken on the task of getting details from you so we can start sending your rewards out. Please don't panic, she's really very lovely (though you may think differently when you read her story...)


As we have some work to do before Baby Teeth will be ready, we will now be looking to get your extra rewards out to you - that means electronic copies of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 for all backers who pledged over $10, and for anyone who took up the bonus ebook offers, we hope to get those out to you fairly quickly too.


So please get back to Celine as quickly as you can with your preferred name for the Acknowledgements, your preferred ebook format (epub or mobi), and your postal address for the paperback if you've pre-ordered copies of the book.


We're also very happy to announce that Paper Road Press, a Wellington-based independent publisher, will now be handling the task of publishing Baby Teeth. You can learn more about PRP here: http://www.paperroadpress.co.nz/


Thanks again for your support, and we look forward to getting the first wave of rewards out to you soon!


Dan

Now we're funded - What next?

11/08/2013 at 8:06 AM

Hey Everyone


First up, a huge thanks to all of you for making this project more than just a possibility, but a real thing. Thanks to you, we reached almost double our goal and we will have the budget to publish this book and generate funds for the good folk over at Books in Homes, to help with the work they do.



So, you ask, what happens now?


First up, PledgeMe will now collect all pledges by charging the credit cards supplied by supporters during the campaign. When this money is all accounted for, PledgeMe will forward to money to me (Dan Rabarts), along with a report detailing who backed the project, for which rewards, and how to contact those people. So you can expect an email from me in due course, asking things like "What's your postal address?" and "Do you prefer epub or mobi for your ebook consumption?", and "Your pledge came through from 'Anonymous'. What name would you like us to print in the Acknowledgements?". Stuff like that.


Meanwhile, we have a LOT of work to do behind the scenes. Even though the stories are all edited, we have a copyediting and proofing phase to complete, as well as finalising the cover art and layout, before we can shoot this baby off to the printers.


If all goes well, we HOPE to hold a book launch in October, but it may be later than that if we have any unforeseen holdups. We also have to design and format the ebook versions, and cast, record and edit the audiobook, as well as get to work on marketing and promotion to get this little book seen as far and wide as possible.


So yes, it's going to be busy. If you don't get an update for a while, it's because we're beavering away to get the book out in time. But we'll probably drop some cool stuff here, like the TOC Announcement, and the final Cover Art reveal, and so on.


Exciting times. From everyone here at the Baby Teeth team, thanks again! We'll be busy over here in the corner, publishing your book!


We've reached our stretch goal!

09/08/2013 at 1:35 AM

Hooray!

We have just passed our stretch goal of $1500, with just one day to go!

That means that everyone of you who has backed us for $10 or more will be receiving a free ebook copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, as will anyone who likewise supports the campaign up until it closes.

Thanks very much to everyone who has spread the word! And a big thanks to SpecFicNZ, New Zealand's society for writers and publishers of speculative fiction, for coming on board as a sponsor of this project and in so doing bumping us over that stretch goal. You can find out more about SpecFicNZ at http://www.specficnz.org/


Artist Snippet - Romilly Brown

07/08/2013 at 7:28 PM

Hello again, and a big welcome to our new backers who have just joined us in the last couple of days. We're very grateful for your support, and excited to have you along for the ride. 


For the past couple of weeks we've been posting Author Snippets, brief insights into the working processes and inspirations which have fuelled the writers of these stories. If you've missed any, you can catch up here: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/1214#Project-Updates


Yesterday we also let audio producer Chris Barnes out of the box, and today we'd like to invite Romilly Brown, who has provided us with artwork for the book, to say a few words about himself and his work for Baby Teeth. You can see some of his work by visiting our main PledgeMe page ( https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/1214 ) and scrolling down. 


Multi-talented and imaginative, Romilly Brown has had a life long involvement with art. He has exhibited his art regularly and has won prizes for both his art and the painting of miniature gaming models. He uses oils, gouache, acrylic, polymer clay and digital means to create his fantastical and quirky illustrations, paintings and sculptures that are sought by collectors worldwide.


Romilly says:


"My inspiration pretty much came from the stories themselves (not that I’ve read all of them as of yet) and also things that worried me as a child ;)."


We're into the last few days of the campaign now, and we're looking forward to finishing strong, so please let people know what we're up to and point them in our direction, if they'd like to get their hands on some scary stories and help support a great charity doing good things in our community.


Find us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/438696369561216/

Artist Snippet - Chris Barnes, Audio Producer

06/08/2013 at 7:21 PM

And now, for a new kind of Snippet. Please welcome Chris Barnes, Producer at Dynamic Ram Audio Productions.

Chris Barnes is an audiobook producer and narrator from Alloa, Scotland.  He has a wife, four kids and no social life. He has very kindly come on board to produce the audiobook of Baby Teeth, taking on the task of casting and assembling narrations for all 37 stories.

Chris also produced our audio promo, written by Matt Cowens, which you can listen to here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18026563/Babyteethake2.mp3

About getting involved in Baby Teeth, Chris has this to say:

"When I was asked if I would be interested in getting involved in Baby Teeth, I bit their hand off.  Not only did the project mean I was going to get to produce some brilliant horror audio, but I felt like I could give something back through the charity side of things. Having read the submissions, produced one of the tales, and seen some of the art, I can safely say I am proud to be involved!
 
Please continue to support the campaign, help us put books in kids hands, so that the readers of today can become the writers, narrators and audiobook producers of tomorrow!"

Thanks Chris, and thanks for joining us on this crazy ride. You can find Dynamic Ram on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DynamicRamAudioProductions Head over and give them a Like!

Author Snippet - Jan Goldie

05/08/2013 at 7:30 PM

Today's Author Snippet comes from Tauranga writer Jan Goldie
Jan Goldie is a working writer, creating content for websites, print media, corporate communications and social media. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism. Jan’s skills include copywriting, editing, manuscript assessment and creative writing. Her first YA fantasy adventure novel Brave and True will be published in 2013 and she’s working on several picture book projects.

About her contribution to Baby Teeth, Jan has this to say:

Love Hurts is a story about a family living in an ordinary suburb of New Zealand, who are forced to deal with extraordinary circumstances. Luckily, one of the family members shows her true colours just at the right moment.

Writing Love Hurts made me realise how much I’d like to have my own super powers; particularly the power to write kickarse prose at top speeds with minimal editing. Maybe in another life!

The inspiration for this story comes from the times I take my dog for a walk through my suburban neighbourhood. Sometimes the sky is so blue, the houses and their lawns so perfect and the people so scarce that I feel like I'm walking through a film set, a bit like The Truman Show.

Having grown up in a much bigger city, it feels strange to be able to wander along without seeing many other people and it’s at these times my imagination goes wild. (Perhaps not helped by my choice of iPod tunes!)

 I imagine what this perfect neighbourhood would look like morphed into a kind of dystopian, end-of--the-world region complete with strange invaders of mysterious origin, the breakdown of normal services, marauding neighbours and wild dogs. I wonder how I would survive, how we’d manage without the modern communications we rely on and whether we’d band together, or turn against one another.


Thanks Jan, and thanks for being a part of Baby Teeth

Remember, there are only four days left for us to reach that stretch goal of $1500 so that we can give away a whole pile of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 ebooks. So if you'd like a copy of that, please give us a signal boost. Books for kids! Yay!

Author Snippet - Michael J Parry

05/08/2013 at 1:03 AM

Today's Author Snippet comes from fantasy writer Michael J Parry, creator of The Spiral Tattoo and other tales of the detective duo Fursk and Gurt - a fairy and troll quite unlike anything you might expect of a fairy and a troll. Find his website at http://michaeljparry.com/ .
Michael has this to say about his contribution to Baby Teeth:

"In writing my story two things came together that took me down a path which caused my story to stray somewhat from the brief.

Firstly there was the prompt, where one of the creepy things kids say jumped out at me. It was a mother telling how her son asked about the man with a scarf in the closet, and when she turned around there he wasn't.  I mulled this over and another image kept imposing on me. This was the creepy shadows and echoes in the halls and floors of the university library late at night. Thus Shadowed Halls was birthed.

I haven't written horror before, in fact it's not my genre of choice. However those images kept at me until the story unfolded one night. You could say that this story is my first baby tooth in writing horror. It will be interesting to see how many more grow."

Thanks Michael.

If you've been enjoying these glimpses into the process behind creating the stories for Baby Teeth, then please drop by our Facebook page and leave a comment. https://www.facebook.com/events/438696369561216/

While you're there, maybe invite a few friends who might like to see what we're doing!

Author Snippet - Eileen Mueller

04/08/2013 at 9:43 AM

Welcome to another Author Snippet - Eileen Mueller. Eileen was a very late entry into the Baby Teeth collection, but when I read her story, I knew I had to have it in the book.


Eileen Mueller writes young adult fantasy novels, children’s picture books, short stories, and flash fiction, and recently won the SpecFicNZ (Speculative Fiction of New Zealand) Going Global competition for her first novel.  With a marketing and public relations background, she has written numerous press releases resulting in news articles, bringing these skills to her fiction. Eileen’s blog is at www.eileenmuellerauthor.com

I have a secret.  At a very young age I stumbled upon “Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV,”  by Alfred Hitchcock. Horror stories terrify me, and these were particularly awful. They were so bad that I developed a new habit of doing a running leap from my light switch into bed—to prevent whatever was under there from getting me.

Four of us were  raised by a solo dad who, upon hearing my thundering run-up to leap into bed each night, started teasing me and my siblings about the vampire under Eileen’s bed. He had a myriad of suggestions for how to deal with the monsters under the bed. I  laughed at all of them—until I turned out the lights.

I’ve never forgotten those ghastly stories, so in my effort to support children’s literacy, I’ve taken  a leaf out of Dad’s book and dealt with those fears with humour.  I hope you enjoy ‘Dad’s Wisdom.’

Thanks Eileen. 

With less than a week to go, we're still almost $300 short of our stretch goal which will see all supporters of $10 or more getting a free e-copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 as well as their chosen versions of Baby Teeth. If you'd like to see us reach that goal, please boost the signal and spread the word!

If you haven't joined our Facebook event, please do so at https://www.facebook.com/events/438696369561216/

Thanks again for supporting Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror!

Author Snippet - Sally McLennan

01/08/2013 at 7:17 PM

Today's Author Snippet comes from Wellington fantasy author and children's writer Sally McLennan,

Sally's blog can be found at http://www.sallymclennan.com/.

This is Sally's first foray into horror, and the results are pleasantly disturbing. She has contributed two stories to Baby Teeth, and has this say about them:


"I have two stories in Baby Teeth: my first ever attempts at writing horror.


“The Birthday Present”

I have long had a story kicking around in my head about fetus in fetu: encapsulated babies that live on inside their twins. It will be quite different to the ”Birthday Present” but, regardless of that, I finally had to let my imaginary encysted friend out to play. The idea first came from an X-files episode called ”Humbug”" about an encapsulated twin that escapes and kills people in his attempt to find a new host. I thought at the time it was purest, wonderfully creepy, fiction. Later an article about an Egyptian child found with a fetus in fetu headlined Channel One News. I was hooked on the whole idea: imagine having someone that close to you. Could they be conscious? Doctors say no; but they are found with grey matter, spinal cords, hair, fingers, and teeth.  So why not?

“Practise makes Perfect”

Ahah – this story is straight from another creepy fascination. Young serial killers and how to detect the tendency in people before they kill. What would the inside of a young serial killer’s head look like? I am more fascinated, perhaps oddly, by fictional serial killers than real ones. The challenges of Hannibal and Dexter to function with their emotional deficits move me where the real life exploits of Dahmer, the Wests, et al, leave me utterly… cold."


Thanks, Sally. 

We have more Author Snippets coming your way, so keep an eye out. Have a great weekend!


Author Snippet - Lee Murray

01/08/2013 at 12:51 AM

Not only is Lee Murray a very talented award-winning writer of short stories and YA novels, she is also one of the moving forces behind Baby Teeth. Lee is co-editor and will be doing much of the work involved in preparing the story for its print release. 

Lee has contributed three stories to Baby Teeth, and has this to say about writing for the project and being involved in the whole undertaking:


"I had just recently started school when I made a startling discovery - if I lay my head on my pillow I would hear footfalls on gravel. Distinct. Suspenseful. Menacing. Much later, I realised that this sound was the beat of my own pulse, but at the time I was convinced there was a wolf under my bed poised to tear at me with jagged yellow canines just as soon as the grown-ups were asleep.

Dad insisted I go to sleep. There were no wolves.

So when the Baby Teeth group kicked off, I saw a perfect opportunity to tease out the idea that Dad was wrong: there was indeed something very sinister lurking in my room, and this formed the basis of my story Peter and the Wolf, one of three stories I have in the Baby Teeth collection. It's a pleasure to be associated with this talented group of writers in support of children's literacy."

Big word of thanks to Lee for her work at the editorial stages, and for helping get this project as a whole off the ground.

Remember, we've got one week left to reach that stretch goal of $1500, which will mean more budget for us to promote the book when the launch comes. If you can drop a reminder to your friends on Twitter and Facebook, please do!


Author Snippet - JC Hart

30/07/2013 at 7:13 PM

Good morning, and welcome to another Author Snippet!

Today we'll hear from short story writer and SJV-winning editor JC Hart, about her story contribution to Baby Teeth:


"My short story is called The Dead Way, and in part the idea came to me over four years ago when my eldest was just four. We were driving past a street, she asked what it was, I told her it was a dead end, and then she asked, “What’s down a dead way, mummy?” And I had to wonder – what was down a Dead Way?

I could never put my finger on it, until this group formed, and then suddenly I was writing, and the story came out without very much brain power from me. I love it when that happens. Funnily enough, though, I started out not writing to one of the ‘creepiest things’ from the post that sparked the anthology, but when I wrote the last lines of the story, I realized that it tied in beautifully to one of the prompts after all."


Thanks JC. We're so glad and lucky to have you on board!

Remember, we're only ten days away from our deadline, and still a bit shy of our stretch goal of $1500. The more of this money we can raise, the more promotion we can do for the book and the more chance we have of selling lots of copies to raise more money for Duffy Books in Homes, so please, if you haven't already (or even if you have!) help us spread the word about Baby Teeth

Thanks for all your support!


Author Snippet - Celine Murray

28/07/2013 at 7:15 PM

Welcome to a Monday Morning Author Snippet!

Probably our youngest contributor to the Baby Teeth, Celine Murray is 18, and the author of Seven to Seventeen (Oceanbooks), a collection of short stories written over a decade. Celine has this to say about her contribution to the collection:


"I was intrigued by the theme of the Baby Teeth group and I particularly wanted to investigate how creepy children might develop
into adults. My personal reading has lead me to believe that some of the most interesting characters are those with psychotic or evil tendencies - an idea I chose to explore further in my story Because I Could. Of course, aspects of this story are closer to home than you
might imagine." 


Mum and Dad, watch that girl. Scary stuff indeed.

Author Snippet - Grant Stone

27/07/2013 at 10:04 AM

Here's the weekend, and we're halfway through our PledgeMe campaign. We've passed our intial goal but we're still about $380 off our first stretch goal of $1500. So here's a little snippet from our of our authors, just to wet your whistle and remind you that we're aiming high so that we can help get more kids reading. Then, when they're older, we can scare the jeebers out of them, too.

Grant Stone is a Sir Julius Vogel award winning short story writer who lives in Auckland, because that's where all his stuff is. About his contribution to Baby Teeth, a story titled "White", he has this say:


"Two ideas came together to form the core of 'White'. One is a song by one of my favorite late-nineties bands which I won't say any more about because spoilers. Here's the other one.

My wife and I lived in London for a few years. Loved it. But the plan was always to return to Auckland once kids were on the way. A good kiwi kid needed blue skies and beautiful beaches. And a big back yard. How could a child find the room to climb trees or play cricket in one of those tiny little sections? 

So I'd tell everyone how we were going to go home and buy a house on some huge Auckland section. The land grew in the telling. We were going to have a rugby field in the back yard, an orchard, a pool, a BMX track-

Then we got back. 

Something had changed. House prices had soared, but those sections weren't nearly as large as I remembered. People were packing two, three four houses on sections where once there would have been one. The great Kiwi back yard seemed to be on the way out, at least in Auckland. But maybe, if you could do the same as everyone else on your street, drop another house in your back yard, flip it, trade up, maybe one day you could afford to buy a house with a great big section. If there are any left.

Kids can say some scary things. But sometimes I wonder if mortgages aren't even more terrifying."

Thanks Grant. This is another of my favourite stories in the collection, and I guarantee it will turn your blood cold.

So remember, help us spread the word, boost the signal, meet that stretch goal, and you could reading Tales to Terrify Volume 1 as well as Baby Teeth. Twice the scares for your money!

Author Snippet - Jenni Sands

26/07/2013 at 1:00 AM

Time for another Author Snippet!

Today, we'll hear from Wellington writer and gamer Jenni Sands. You can find her blog at http://jennitalula.wordpress.com/.

Jenni says:

"One of my stories is based directly on an entry in the thread, it’s called Dark Night. One of the things that came up a few times in the original creepy reddit thread (http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1d2v7i/parents_of_reddit_what_is_the_creepiest_thing/?sort=new) was kids saying ‘it’s/he’s behind you right now’ and every time it came up I got a shiver down my spine. I wanted to harness that reaction, so I imagined a woman alone, taking care of her kid, and how very scary it would be for the child you are alone in the house with to say that to you.

My other story is one that I started a few years ago, it’s called The End of the Rainbow and is about the things I did as a child. I would go off on what I thought of as an epic walk, through the garden or the grounds of school, and imagine all sorts of amazing magical things that could happen. At the age of 7 I wrote a story about Pluto the dog appearing in my garden and taking me over the rainbow to Disneyland, I tried to go back to that time. I put my own memories into a childlike voice and explore a little of the child’s desire to go off on their own and have adventures.

I’ve been privileged enough to be able to read some of the other stories as they were completed and I can guarantee a few shivers down your back if you do decide to support us and pledge some money to get the book! Baby Teeth is full of awesomeness and you should pledge it!"


Thanks Jenni!

Remember, we're pushing for our stretch goal of $1500 now, and if we get there then all supporters who have pledged $10 or more will be getting a free e-copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 as well as Baby Teeth! So please help us spread the word however you can. Thanks!


Author Snippet - Jack Newhouse

25/07/2013 at 12:53 AM

Welcome to our newest supporters! Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy our Author Snippets.

Today's update, a look into the inspirations behind the stories, comes from new author Jack Newhouse. Here's what he says about his short but poignant piece, Giant:

"Mine came from something my niece said to my mother while I was on the phone. At the time, it was just something funny and kind of cute, but it was still in the back of my mind when I was invited to the project that became Baby Teeth. Twisting it so th
at it was something chilling, serious and hurtful just required the right sort of setting, and the right sort of family members (who I assure you are not based on my own)."

We hope you'll like this story when you read it, too.

Remember, help us boost the signal and hit our new stretch goal of $1500, and you could be getting a free copy of Tales to Terrify, Volume 1!


Author SNippet - Darian Smith

23/07/2013 at 8:35 PM

Let's jump straight into our next Author Snippet: Darian Smith. 

Darian lives in Auckland, where he works with people who have neuromuscular disorders, and in between this he writes fantasy fiction and contemporary short stories. His work is often critiqued by his beautiful partner, who writes romance, and by his neurotic Siamese cat who doesn’t so much write as sit on the keyboard. 

He was inspired to write this particular story as a result of talking to a friend about a childhood experience which, while creepy, was fortunately nothing like the fiction that has grown from it.

Recession is one of my favourite stories in this collection, for the totally unexpected twist Darian throws in at the end. 

Darian says:

"The idea for Recession came from a discussion with a friend of mine who told me he could see ghosts when he was a child. In particular, there was a ghost who would stand in the doorway to his bedroom, preventing other ghosts from coming in. The notion gave me chills and I felt sorry for the parents who might have heard his tale. Which led to another thought… Just what is a parent to do when times are hard and things with your child aren’t quite going as expected?"


Remember, we are now stretching for a goal of $1500, and if we hit that goal then all supporters who have pledged at least $10 will receive a free electronic copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, the collection of short horror fiction from the podcast of the same name! http://talestoterrify.com/volume-1/

So spread the word, get your friends to come along and support us, and you could all be taking away not just one story collection but two, and supporting a great cause in the process.

Thanks again for your support. It is hugely appreciated.

Dan


Stretch Goal - Let's take it even further!

23/07/2013 at 4:01 AM

Boost the signal!

OK, here's our first stretch goal.

In case you've been living in a very dark room with no windows for a long time, there is a most excellent podcast community out there doing great things for speculative fiction, and providing fantastic content for fans to dip into. The munificent Tony C. Smith, host of the StarShipSofa podcast (www.starshipsofa.com) and editor-in-chief of Tales to Terrify, Crime City Central and Protecting Project Pulp, has offered our supporters a very special reward if you can all help us reach $1500.

If we can top $1500, then any supporter who has already pledged $10 or more will receive a free electronic copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, a bone-chilling story collection from the podcast and beyond: http://talestoterrify.com/volume-1/


Already a supporter? Would you like this reward to go along with your pledge? Then please, tell everyone you know that you and they can get this collection along with Baby Teeth, if we can just top $1500 of support. Go! Spread the word! Forward this email to your circles!

Thanks again from all the team here at Baby Teeth! Let's hit $1500, so we can scare you even more!

Funded! This Baby has Teeth!

22/07/2013 at 10:10 AM

Wow! You guys are amazing! 

Just 10 days into our fundraising campaign, and we've hit our first goal. This campaign is now officially in the successful bracket, and there will be a book! And an ebook! And an audiobook! 

But we're not done yet. As well as more Author Snippets, we have some excellent stretch goals planned, to be announced very shortly. Watch this space. It's about to get very exciting, and we still need the help of everyone who has backed us so far to push this thing through the roof!

Stay tuned, and thanks again for believing in Baby Teeth.

Author Snippet - Matthew Sanborn Smith

22/07/2013 at 12:07 AM

As I write this, we're barely $40 shy of our goal, on just Day 10 of the campaign. I'm hoping that this means we will see support for this project continue to roll along right up to the end, so that we will have a lovely bundle of proceeds to hand on to Duffy Books in Homes once we're through the hard work of printing, despatching and promoting this book.

It's also a bit spooky that yesterday, as we had a flurry of pledges come in and we got ever closer to our goal, each new pledge seemed to be punctuated by an earthquake. Yes, I mean it. Not long after we passed $940 yesterday afternoon, the middle of the country was rocked by a 6.5 scale earthquake followed by several aftershocks, big enough to knock things off our panrty shelf, and causing far more damage closer to the source.

Our deepest sympathies go out to the people of Seddon, who have been hit hardest by this quake and who have been largely overlooked by the media who are rushing to find pictures of broken glass on Wellington streets. We sincerely hope that it is not the elemental forces of the world getting excited about Baby Teeth nearing its goal which is causing these seismic hiccups. But then again, we did get another pledge this morning, and about 10 minutes later there was another rumble. Far too spooky for my liking.

Now, onto our next Author Snippet: Matthew Sanborn Smith!

Matthew Sanborn Smith is a short story writer whose fiction can be found at Tor.com, Nature and Chizine, among others. He is an occasional contributor to StarShipSofa and is the creator and voice of the podcast Beware the Hairy Mango (www.bewarethehairymango.com). He is also one head of the three-headed writing band known as Cerberus, which also includes Baby Teeth contributors Grant Stone and Dan Rabarts, whose first story is slated for publication in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in January 2014.

Matthew has this to say about his contribution to Baby Teeth, a story titled SImon Says:


"Baby Teeth was well underway before I could sink my own teeth into it. I was struggling to pull off my podcast's annual blowout, MuchoMangoMayo and had hardly any time to even think of another project. I just looked forlornly through the shop window as one after another of my table of contents co-conspirators posted story after story. One night, dipping back and forth across the border between exhaustion and sleep, I watched three Goreyesque children in an old house, tied together with a braided rope, moving together. The rope reared one tasseled end as a snake might rear its head. I awoke, not in terror, but in relief. I could use this for my creepy kid story! If only I could remember it in the morning."


Check out Episode 186 of Beware The Hairy Mango for a taste of Matthew's bizarro fiction, and a brilliant promo for Baby Teeth: http://bewarethehairymango.com/episode-186-bravissimo-2/



Author Snippet - Debbie Cowens

20/07/2013 at 8:46 AM

Two more days, and we're a whole lot closer to our goal. Thanks to everyone who has been spreading the word so far. Let's keep it up!

Now, onto our third Author Snippet: Debbie Cowens.

Debbie is the other half of the Cowens team, alongside Matt Cowens, authors of Mansfield with Monsters and winners of the 2013 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent. Find her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/debbiecowens .

She has this to say about her short story contribution to Baby Teeth, titled Caterpillars


"Caterpillars was inspired by a combination of one of my favourite quotes on the Reddit "Creepy Thing Kids Say" page: “I want to peel all your skin off” and a collection of memories from my own childhood.

I remember being fascinated with the life cycles of insects as a kid. I did most of my school projects on various creepy crawlies - bees, cicadas, ants - but caterpillars were a favourite. The process of metamorphosis seemed somewhat magical to me; the change from caterpillars to chrysalis to butterfly was incredible. Mum let me keep and hatch gum moth chrysalises. I loved picking up caterpillars in the garden and enjoying the tickle of them crawling over my hand. I named caterpillars, but weirdly had no problems with my Grandfather giving me the task of catching and killing the butterflies hanging around his cabbages in the vegetable garden.

Not long after writing this story my son came home with The Very Hungry Caterpillar as his chosen book from the school library and his teacher told me he'd been watching the animated version on Youtube. Then when I went to his class's Wearable Arts show, he'd made a pair of butterfly wings. Life imitating art? Creepy."


Want to help this story metamorphose into something winged and creeping? Spread the word! 


Author Snippet - Matt Cowens

18/07/2013 at 7:51 AM

Hey, you awesome people who have supported us so far, and anyone else who happens to have come reading, out of curiousity.

We're less than one week into the campaign and we've already raised pledges of over 60% of our goal amount! That's fantastic. We need a little more to push us past that magic $1000 mark, and we need your help to get there. Please, if you can, grab the link and some info from the PledgeMe page, and then Facebook, Tweet and blog about us to everyone who will listen.

Because every time you do, the tooth fairy hammers some little kid's incisor into the eye of a gremlin. Or something.

Now, onto our second Author Snippet: Matt Cowens.

Matt is co-author of the acclaimed Mansfield with Monsters short story collection, which just this past weekend took away the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work, plus he is one half of the team who took the SJV for Best New Talent (Keep watching this space for an Author Snippet from Debbie Cowens, the other half of this unstoppable duo). Matt also designed the graphics on the Baby Teeth cover, and is owed so many chocolate fish by me that I'll need a navy freighter to deliver them all. 

Find him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mattcowens.

Take it away, Matt!



"There are moments which stand out in my memory as chilling slices of time.

Waking up with a stranger in my bedroom sitting in a rocking chair, watching me.

Falling through space toward concrete when a rope swing snapped.

Leaning against a wall, bleeding from a cut, sliding towards the floor and fainting into unconsciousness.

Those stories all had happy endings despite the feeling of dread they inspired in me. Not every story I write ends so well for the protagonists, but I must confess that I have a soft spot for an optimistic end to a tale. In "Blood Sisters" and "If they hadn't landed so close" the protagonists are children, and while there are poisonings, giant bugs, eye-gougings and acts of cannibalism in the stories, there's also a sense that things could get better.

The stranger in the room might leave without trouble.

The fall might not end in broken bones.

Waking from a faint with your face pressed against a cool bathroom floor might be more comfortable than you could have hoped. Taking creepy quotes as inspiration was enormous fun and I'm deeply fond of these two stories - I hope you'll enjoy them too"



We hope you're enjoying these snippets - you'll see more as the days go by.

Remember, please help spread the word by telling people about our project, about the exceptionally good cause that we're raising money for, and how they really want to be a part of it. Because if nothing else, they get their name in the credits.   ;-)

Author Snippets - Paul Mannering

16/07/2013 at 10:52 PM

This will be the first of several snippets we plan to post, to give you an insight into the inspiration behind the stories in this collection.

Baby Teeth came about after I read a post on Reddit which was floating around a couple of months ago, about the creppy things that kids say: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1d2v7i/parents_of_reddit_what_is_the_creepiest_thing/

I made the suggestion on Facebook that we write some stories based on anything in this thread which gave us a spark of inspiration, and lo and behold, out of this came a quite spontaneous and unexpected collection of stories.

Our first author to share his thoughts on the writing process is horror author Paul Mannering, whose zombie novel Tankbread is to be published by Permuted Press, along with its sequels.


Burying Baby

This one came straight from the Reddit thread of “Creepy Things Kids Say” that kicked off this whole wonderful exercise in creativity.

I started out with an idea of burying a baby being a good thing – as a twist on the unexpected horror of actually burying a new-born. From there crafting the scenario with the odd family came from that same alien headspace as all my other speculative fiction. I simply accept the inspiration and don’t ask too many questions, nor do I peer too closely into that particular darkness.


The Skulkybunking Woorld Champyon of the Hole Wurld

I had an idea about empowering a child in a scenario of a monster under the bed, or in the closet. Instead of the monster being the adversary for a child, something they feared, I gave the child and the monster an entirely different kind of relationship. The best thing about this story is that the thinking behind it seemed quite reasonable. Kids aren’t always afraid and I hope this story helps them feel like heroes.


The Oracle Of Karawa

Winter in Wellington, New Zealand. The hill I live on is dark with the cloud that swirls all around us. The air is damp and the native bush seems unusually dark and oppressive. I’m thinking about HP Lovecraft and wondering about doing a riff on his mythos for a story. Then my eye falls upon the word ‘Oracle’ - in this case referring to the computer company. From there the story just came into my head. The ending and its tie-in with the Reddit thread quote of the child saying “It’s not goodnight” didn’t consciously come to me until the end. That is what made the story though.


Baby Teeth bite the Hairy Mango!

16/07/2013 at 7:54 AM

If you like your fiction so fast and so strange it's like you just got run over by a platypus on a rocketboard, then you want to head over to the URL of the vego-mammal, Beware the Hairy Mango!

Baby Teeth contributor Matthew Sanborn Smith delivers the goods, and in his latest episode, you can hear the audio trailer for Baby Teeth - and you'll probably split your sides just listening to his spiel about the book. After you've been entertained by the bizzaro goodness that is "Bravissimo!" 

http://bewarethehairymango.com/episode-186-bravissimo-2/

Go! Listen! Become a Mango addict!

Our contributors

15/07/2013 at 3:31 AM

Wondering who you'll be reading if you get your lucky hands on a copy of Baby Teeth? Take a look:


Alan Lindsay
Alicia Ponder
Anna Caro
Celine Murray
Dan Rabarts
Darian Smith
Debbie Cowens
Elizabeth Gatens
Grant Stone
Jack Newhouse
Jake Bible
Jan Goldie
JC Hart
Jean Gilbert
Jenni Sands
Kevin G. Maclean
Lee Murray
Lewis Morgan
M. Darusha Wehm
Matt Cowens
Matthew Sanborn Smith
Michael J Parry
Morgan Davie
Paul Mannering
Piper Mejia
Sally McLennan

Award for Baby Teeth editor

14/07/2013 at 9:47 PM

At last night's Sir Julius Vogel Awards ceremony in Wellington, our fantastic co-editor Lee Murray was honoured with this year's trophy for Best Short Story. Also, contributors Matt and Debbie Cowens walked away with a raft of awards and honours.

Congratulations to Lee, Matt and Debbie! It's good to know that the team at Baby Teeth are in such excellent company!

Andromeda Spaceways come to the party!

12/07/2013 at 6:35 PM

Great news!

The ever-excellent Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine have very generously offered a new reward for pledgers.

For a pledge of $32, you will get a paperback copy of the book, plus a one-year electronic subscription to ASIM, delivered straight to your inbox (barring interstellar wormholes swallowing it up along the way, but they assure us such instances are extremely rare and not nearly as painful as they might sound).

Many of the writers appearing in Baby Teeth have also had work published in ASIM, so you'll be in good company.

    Pledgers 64

    Danielle Walker
    10/08/2013 at 7:00pm
    Shayne Thurston
    10/08/2013 at 6:49pm
    Anonymous pledger
    10/08/2013 at 6:24pm
    Cassandra Cook
    10/08/2013 at 5:50pm
    Chrissy Rabarts
    10/08/2013 at 3:23pm
    Michael Parry
    10/08/2013 at 1:44pm
    Anonymous pledger
    09/08/2013 at 2:45pm
    SpecFicNZ
    09/08/2013 at 11:15am
    Pearce Duncan
    09/08/2013 at 9:39am
    Richard Parry
    07/08/2013 at 11:46am
    Pauline Cowens
    07/08/2013 at 11:42am
    Duskwind
    07/08/2013 at 9:06am
    Eileen R Mueller
    06/08/2013 at 12:43pm
    Jan Goldie
    06/08/2013 at 10:41am
    Александра Миронова
    05/08/2013 at 6:57pm
    Cameron Jack
    03/08/2013 at 10:37pm
    Keith Teklits
    03/08/2013 at 12:22pm
    Morgan Davie
    02/08/2013 at 7:07pm
    Julian Fitter
    02/08/2013 at 11:27am
    Grant Stone
    01/08/2013 at 8:57pm
    Derek
    25/07/2013 at 6:44am
    Elizabeth Gatens
    24/07/2013 at 8:51pm
    Brian Ackles
    24/07/2013 at 1:48am
    Anonymous pledger
    23/07/2013 at 3:22pm
    Kevin Berry
    22/07/2013 at 8:27pm
    Anonymous pledger
    22/07/2013 at 7:43pm
    Sarah Bunker
    22/07/2013 at 9:22am
    Anonymous pledger
    21/07/2013 at 8:20pm
    Lorena Norling
    21/07/2013 at 3:56pm
    Kylie Gorringe
    21/07/2013 at 3:09pm

    Followers 5

    Baby Teeth - Horror For Charity

    Project 2013-07-02 02:22:58 +1200

    Short stories by Kiwi and international writers, to raise money for the Duffy Books in Homes literacy charity. Help us help kids to read!



    UPDATE: Having reached our original funding goal in just ten days, we are now pushing to reach a stretch goal of $1500. If we reach this goal, then all supporters who have pledged $10 or more will also receive a free electronic copy of the horror short story collection Tales to Terrify Volume 1: http://talestoterrify.com/volume-1/ Spread the word and help us reach this goal, so that we can share even more scary tales with our fantastic supporters!


    Based on the chills and shivers of the creepy things children have been heard to say at the most unexpected times, this collection is an assortment of unexpected frights, nervous giggles and often poignant reflections on life, childhood, and the terrors of growing up. Mostly horror, you'll also find stories in this book of fantasy, science fiction, crime and even comedy, from a wide range of established and emerging writers (36 stories from 26 authors!).

    Contributors include Sir Julius Vogel Award winners Grant Stone, Alicia Ponder, Paul Mannering, Sally McLennan, Lee Murray, Cassie Hart and Anna Caro, among many others.



    Our goal is to raise the funds to pay for an initial print run of the story collection, ebook and audiobook production and hosting, and a few other fancy extras that people might like.

    The Books in Homes charity will use the proceeds from this project to do what they do best - getting kids reading books, promoting and encouraging literacy and a love of reading.

    And you get to read some great stories, and maybe sleep with the light on for a while...

    Here's a list of all the awesome contributors we have on board:

    • Alan Lindsay
    • Alicia Ponder
    • Anna Caro
    • Celine Murray
    • Dan Rabarts
    • Darian Smith
    • Debbie Cowens
    • Eileen Mueller
    • Elizabeth Gatens
    • Grant Stone
    • Jack Newhouse
    • Jake Bible
    • Jan Goldie
    • JC Hart
    • Jean Gilbert
    • Jenni Sands
    • Kevin G. Maclean
    • Lee Murray
    • Lewis Morgan
    • M. Darusha Wehm
    • Matt Cowens
    • Matthew Sanborn Smith
    • Michael J Parry
    • Morgan Davie
    • Paul Mannering
    • Piper Mejia
    • Sally McLennan


    Comments

    The Audiobook is here!

    19/05/2014 at 1:48 PM

    Thanks to the dedication and hard work of Chris Barnes at Dynamic Ram Audio Productions, I'm very pleased to annouce that that audiobook version of Baby Teeth is now complete. 

     

    To those who supported this project via the Audio Backer, Combo Backer, or Sponsor reward options, you should now have received your link to download the complete audiobook of Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror, all 5+ hours of it. Go forth, listen, enjoy.

     

    In a couple of weeks, the audiobook will be available through our favourite publisher, Paper Road Press. Watch this space for how you can help us spread the word, or get a copy for yourself, if you missed it during the initial PledgeMe campaign.

     

    Thanks again, from all of us on the Baby Teeth team.

     

    Dan, Lee, Marie and Chris

     

     

    April Update - Sir Julius Vogel Awards

    30/04/2014 at 9:32 PM

    Well, against some very stiff competition, we did it. On Saturday night at ConClave 2 in Auckland, Baby Teeth won the category of Best Collected Work, at the Sir Julius Vogel Awards.

    Lee and Dan were there to collect the award, and we were lucky enough to have many of the contributing authors there to cheer us on. It was quite a moment.

    Lee also took away the award for Best Novella for her story Cave Fever, which appeared in the anthology Regeneration, and Dan won the coveted prize for Best New Talent. Thanks to everyone who helped us get there, by supporting our work, by voting, by spreading the word. It's been a great payoff for a project that only ever set out to do something good for other people. So thanks again, from all of us.

    In other news, it might have taken a bit longer than we had anticipated, but the audiobook is now racing towards completion. All the stories have been recorded, some of them re-recorded, and then again, delivered, and we are now working on the final edit. It turned out to be a much bigger job than we could've guessed, and it was always our preference to hand over a top-notch product than to rush out something that wasn't highly professional. That meant delays, but now we're looking at having the audiobook in your ears by the end of May. Keep an eye out for it.

    Thanks again, and have a great May, whether it's spring or autumn or just eternal summer where you are.

     

    Dan

    December Update: Ebooks, Amazon and More!

    13/12/2013 at 7:53 AM

    Hello our lovely backers! 

     

    As we head towards the holidays, we've got a few announcements to make. First up, everyone should have received their paper and e-copies of Baby Teeth by now. If not, please contact Paper Road Press.

    Secondly, Baby Teeth can now be found on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.  Not only can you swing by Amazon to get a copy for your Nanna's digital stocking, but we would love to see some ratings and reviews cropping up for the book. If you can take a moment to leave us an honest rating and a few kind words, that would be greatly appreciated. 

    Also, if you're a Goodreads user, Baby Teeth is currently sitting at #2 of 229 other books in the Best Horror Anthologies poll. A few more votes will push us into the #1 spot, which would be fantastic. You can find the poll here. If you're not a Goodreads user, it's free and actually a really good way to find out about other great books you might like. 

    Baby Teeth is also eligible for the 2014 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, in the category of Best Collected Work. It's free to cast a nomination and open to anyone to do so, and all it takes is an email, so if you have a moment, we'd really appreciate a little boost in that department too. Getting onto the final ballot will generate more interest in the book and bump up sales in the lead up to next year's SFF convention, ConClave II. So please help us out, every nomination counts. Details can be found at the SFFANZ website

    For those of you waiting for the audiobook, never fear! It is coming along, but we've had a few delays due to personal and health issues among the people involved. Wishing Chris and the team all the best, and looking forward to hearing the finished product very soon. 

    The last piece of news is that we are all out of paper copies of this book. Yes, that's right. We have SOLD OUT. Which is pretty fantastic. There are a few copies sitting on bookstore shelves if you can ferret them out, but otherwise our first print run is gone. 

    We'll be looking to push ebook sales over the next couple of months, and of course we're hoping that making the SJV ballot will add to that considerably. All these proceeds will be going to Duffy Books in Homes, in the early part of next year.  

    Thanks again to everyone for their support, and just gently nudging you to drop us a few stars over at Amazon, if you have a minute. Have a great holiday, whatever you might be celebrating, sun or snow, and we'll be in touch again soon. 

     

    Dan Rabarts 

    Co-editor, Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror

    Auckland Launch is upon us!

    13/11/2013 at 6:25 PM

    Good Morning!

    We're very happy to say that all of our pre-orders via PledgeMe should now have been delivered, either at the recent book launches in Wellington and Tauranga (which were both a fantastic success) or by post. If you haven't received your copy, please let us know straight away by coming back to the PledgeMe page and leaving a comment.

    Tonight is the finale of our book launches, this time in Auckland. If you can make it to Epsom Library at 5pm, please come along to meet some of the auithors and get your books signed. Let us know you're coming by joining up to the Facebook event, here: https://www.facebook.com/events/644267572285177/

    If you can't make it, please spread the word to friends and family who might like to come down and pick up a copy of the book and support a good cause.

    Also, the ebook is nearly complete, and we aim to be sending those out to all Pledgers by this weekend. Watch your email for the pitter-patter of tiny stories...

    The audiobook is nearing completion, and we hope to have that ready to go by the end of the month. It's been a huge undertaking, but we think you're going to love it when it's ready!

    And finally, we're very pleased to say that by tomorrow we expect the first print run of Baby Teeth to have completely sold out. That has only been possible with your support, and we're stoked. Paper Road Press will be looking at doing a second run, so that we can get some copies onto local bookshelves, and also setting up other purchase options for the future. We'll keep you informed. 

    Thanks again!


    Dan

    Pre-launch Update

    28/10/2013 at 6:24 PM

    Hello again, Baby Teeth supporters!


    So, we're now just a couple of days away from launching this book to the world. We couldn't have done it without you, so once again, thanks for backing us!

    If you're in Wellington or Tauranga, we'd love to be able to hand you your copy at the book launch. If you can come on down, and maybe bring a friend who'd like to buy a copy and support a good cause, then please do. Details for the launches are as follows: 


    Wellington:

    Wednesday, October 30th, 5.30-7pm, Quality Hotel, Cuba St

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/

    Tauranga:

    Thursday, October 31st, 5.30pm Villaggio Cafe, Greerton

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/


    If you collect at the book launch, not only will you get to meet and greet some of the authors in the book, but you'll also be saving us money on postage, meaning even more will be able to go to Duffy Books in Homes.

    Any paperbacks pledged for and not collected at the Wellington or Tauranga book launches will be posted out on November 1st.

    We will also be holding a launch in Auckland on November 14th, at the Epsom Library, from 5-6pm, so if you're up that way bring your copy along and get it signed by local authors like Grant Stone and Darian Smith. There will also be local authors at the Wellington and Tauranga launches, so there will be opportunities for book-signing a-plenty. We'd love to see you! 

    If you're an ebook or audiobook backer, we're working out the last of the details for these at the moment, and hope to have both out within a week or two of the paperback release. Keep an eye on your email.

    Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you at a book launch!


    Dan, and the Baby Teeth team




    Tauranga Launch - this time with the right link!

    03/10/2013 at 6:32 PM

    Good Morning!

    Yesterday's post about the upcoming book launches had a small error, namely that the link to the Tauranga launch event on Facebook was a link to the Wellington event.

    For those of you interested in the Tauranga launch, the correct link is here:

    https://www.facebook.com/events/675050315839584/

    Head on over to have a coffee, a wine and a Halloween cupcake with co-editor Lee Murray, and authors Jan Goldie, Alan Lindsay, Piper Mejia, Lewis Morgan, Celine Murray and more. 

    Cheers!


    Dan

    Book Launches Announced!

    03/10/2013 at 8:27 AM

    Hello Baby Teeth supporters!


    Well, this has been an exciting week for Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror. As well as the book heading off to the printers, publisher Paper Road Press have now announced two book launches. Baby Teeth will officially launch in Wellington on October 30th, followed by a launch in Tauranga on October 31st. Plans are still being made for a launch in Auckland as well, and when the details have been ironed out we'll let you know.


    Meanwhile, if you're in Wellington or Tauranga, please head on down to the book launch on the night and help make it a night to remember. There will be authors reading their work, plus even more authors on hand to sign books and shake hands and have a drink with. 

    If you've pledged for a copy of the paperback, we'd love to see you on the night and hand it over in person.


    Wellington:

    Wednesday, October 30th, 5.30-7pm, Quality Hotel, Cuba St

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/

    Tauranga:

    Thursday, October 31st, 5.30pm Villaggio Cafe, Greerton

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/183112288542711/


    Meanwhile, we're busy producing the audiobook, which is a huge amount of work and definitely keeping the audio team on their toes.

    Must get back to it! Looking forward to seeing some of you in a few weeks.

    Dan Rabarts, Co-editor, Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror

    Rewards!

    28/08/2013 at 7:13 PM

    Hi Baby Teeth Supporters!


    By now, you should have received your first round of rewards, including your e-copies of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, and any bonus ebooks you pledged for, such as the Steam Press Triple Combo, Darusha Wehm's Andersson-Dexter.series, and so on. 

    You might have also noticed that we asked you for your preferred e-format, and then just sent you both epub and mobi anyway. We figured this was easier for us, and better for you, in case you change devices or preferred apps in the future and still want to read your ebooks. So enjoy!

    If you were one of those who pledged for the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine subscriptions, someone from ASIM should be in touch soon. You have not been forgotten!

    Meanwhile, things are progressing well at Baby Teeth HQ. Final edits are complete and our publisher, Paper Road Press, is about to begin into the layout and design process. Dynamic Ram Audio are casting and organising narrations. Book Launches are being planned out. All very exciting stuff.

    If for some reason you haven't received rewards you think you should have, please drop by the PledgeMe site and leave a comment. I'll get in touch.


    - Dan

    Wheels are in motion

    20/08/2013 at 9:45 AM

    Hi Everyone!


    Hopefully by now you will have heard from Celine, one of our authors and a member of the publishing team, who has taken on the task of getting details from you so we can start sending your rewards out. Please don't panic, she's really very lovely (though you may think differently when you read her story...)


    As we have some work to do before Baby Teeth will be ready, we will now be looking to get your extra rewards out to you - that means electronic copies of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 for all backers who pledged over $10, and for anyone who took up the bonus ebook offers, we hope to get those out to you fairly quickly too.


    So please get back to Celine as quickly as you can with your preferred name for the Acknowledgements, your preferred ebook format (epub or mobi), and your postal address for the paperback if you've pre-ordered copies of the book.


    We're also very happy to announce that Paper Road Press, a Wellington-based independent publisher, will now be handling the task of publishing Baby Teeth. You can learn more about PRP here: http://www.paperroadpress.co.nz/


    Thanks again for your support, and we look forward to getting the first wave of rewards out to you soon!


    Dan

    Now we're funded - What next?

    11/08/2013 at 8:06 AM

    Hey Everyone


    First up, a huge thanks to all of you for making this project more than just a possibility, but a real thing. Thanks to you, we reached almost double our goal and we will have the budget to publish this book and generate funds for the good folk over at Books in Homes, to help with the work they do.



    So, you ask, what happens now?


    First up, PledgeMe will now collect all pledges by charging the credit cards supplied by supporters during the campaign. When this money is all accounted for, PledgeMe will forward to money to me (Dan Rabarts), along with a report detailing who backed the project, for which rewards, and how to contact those people. So you can expect an email from me in due course, asking things like "What's your postal address?" and "Do you prefer epub or mobi for your ebook consumption?", and "Your pledge came through from 'Anonymous'. What name would you like us to print in the Acknowledgements?". Stuff like that.


    Meanwhile, we have a LOT of work to do behind the scenes. Even though the stories are all edited, we have a copyediting and proofing phase to complete, as well as finalising the cover art and layout, before we can shoot this baby off to the printers.


    If all goes well, we HOPE to hold a book launch in October, but it may be later than that if we have any unforeseen holdups. We also have to design and format the ebook versions, and cast, record and edit the audiobook, as well as get to work on marketing and promotion to get this little book seen as far and wide as possible.


    So yes, it's going to be busy. If you don't get an update for a while, it's because we're beavering away to get the book out in time. But we'll probably drop some cool stuff here, like the TOC Announcement, and the final Cover Art reveal, and so on.


    Exciting times. From everyone here at the Baby Teeth team, thanks again! We'll be busy over here in the corner, publishing your book!


    We've reached our stretch goal!

    09/08/2013 at 1:35 AM

    Hooray!

    We have just passed our stretch goal of $1500, with just one day to go!

    That means that everyone of you who has backed us for $10 or more will be receiving a free ebook copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, as will anyone who likewise supports the campaign up until it closes.

    Thanks very much to everyone who has spread the word! And a big thanks to SpecFicNZ, New Zealand's society for writers and publishers of speculative fiction, for coming on board as a sponsor of this project and in so doing bumping us over that stretch goal. You can find out more about SpecFicNZ at http://www.specficnz.org/


    Artist Snippet - Romilly Brown

    07/08/2013 at 7:28 PM

    Hello again, and a big welcome to our new backers who have just joined us in the last couple of days. We're very grateful for your support, and excited to have you along for the ride. 


    For the past couple of weeks we've been posting Author Snippets, brief insights into the working processes and inspirations which have fuelled the writers of these stories. If you've missed any, you can catch up here: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/1214#Project-Updates


    Yesterday we also let audio producer Chris Barnes out of the box, and today we'd like to invite Romilly Brown, who has provided us with artwork for the book, to say a few words about himself and his work for Baby Teeth. You can see some of his work by visiting our main PledgeMe page ( https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/1214 ) and scrolling down. 


    Multi-talented and imaginative, Romilly Brown has had a life long involvement with art. He has exhibited his art regularly and has won prizes for both his art and the painting of miniature gaming models. He uses oils, gouache, acrylic, polymer clay and digital means to create his fantastical and quirky illustrations, paintings and sculptures that are sought by collectors worldwide.


    Romilly says:


    "My inspiration pretty much came from the stories themselves (not that I’ve read all of them as of yet) and also things that worried me as a child ;)."


    We're into the last few days of the campaign now, and we're looking forward to finishing strong, so please let people know what we're up to and point them in our direction, if they'd like to get their hands on some scary stories and help support a great charity doing good things in our community.


    Find us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/438696369561216/

    Artist Snippet - Chris Barnes, Audio Producer

    06/08/2013 at 7:21 PM

    And now, for a new kind of Snippet. Please welcome Chris Barnes, Producer at Dynamic Ram Audio Productions.

    Chris Barnes is an audiobook producer and narrator from Alloa, Scotland.  He has a wife, four kids and no social life. He has very kindly come on board to produce the audiobook of Baby Teeth, taking on the task of casting and assembling narrations for all 37 stories.

    Chris also produced our audio promo, written by Matt Cowens, which you can listen to here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18026563/Babyteethake2.mp3

    About getting involved in Baby Teeth, Chris has this to say:

    "When I was asked if I would be interested in getting involved in Baby Teeth, I bit their hand off.  Not only did the project mean I was going to get to produce some brilliant horror audio, but I felt like I could give something back through the charity side of things. Having read the submissions, produced one of the tales, and seen some of the art, I can safely say I am proud to be involved!
     
    Please continue to support the campaign, help us put books in kids hands, so that the readers of today can become the writers, narrators and audiobook producers of tomorrow!"

    Thanks Chris, and thanks for joining us on this crazy ride. You can find Dynamic Ram on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DynamicRamAudioProductions Head over and give them a Like!

    Author Snippet - Jan Goldie

    05/08/2013 at 7:30 PM

    Today's Author Snippet comes from Tauranga writer Jan Goldie
    Jan Goldie is a working writer, creating content for websites, print media, corporate communications and social media. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism. Jan’s skills include copywriting, editing, manuscript assessment and creative writing. Her first YA fantasy adventure novel Brave and True will be published in 2013 and she’s working on several picture book projects.

    About her contribution to Baby Teeth, Jan has this to say:

    Love Hurts is a story about a family living in an ordinary suburb of New Zealand, who are forced to deal with extraordinary circumstances. Luckily, one of the family members shows her true colours just at the right moment.

    Writing Love Hurts made me realise how much I’d like to have my own super powers; particularly the power to write kickarse prose at top speeds with minimal editing. Maybe in another life!

    The inspiration for this story comes from the times I take my dog for a walk through my suburban neighbourhood. Sometimes the sky is so blue, the houses and their lawns so perfect and the people so scarce that I feel like I'm walking through a film set, a bit like The Truman Show.

    Having grown up in a much bigger city, it feels strange to be able to wander along without seeing many other people and it’s at these times my imagination goes wild. (Perhaps not helped by my choice of iPod tunes!)

     I imagine what this perfect neighbourhood would look like morphed into a kind of dystopian, end-of--the-world region complete with strange invaders of mysterious origin, the breakdown of normal services, marauding neighbours and wild dogs. I wonder how I would survive, how we’d manage without the modern communications we rely on and whether we’d band together, or turn against one another.


    Thanks Jan, and thanks for being a part of Baby Teeth

    Remember, there are only four days left for us to reach that stretch goal of $1500 so that we can give away a whole pile of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 ebooks. So if you'd like a copy of that, please give us a signal boost. Books for kids! Yay!

    Author Snippet - Michael J Parry

    05/08/2013 at 1:03 AM

    Today's Author Snippet comes from fantasy writer Michael J Parry, creator of The Spiral Tattoo and other tales of the detective duo Fursk and Gurt - a fairy and troll quite unlike anything you might expect of a fairy and a troll. Find his website at http://michaeljparry.com/ .
    Michael has this to say about his contribution to Baby Teeth:

    "In writing my story two things came together that took me down a path which caused my story to stray somewhat from the brief.

    Firstly there was the prompt, where one of the creepy things kids say jumped out at me. It was a mother telling how her son asked about the man with a scarf in the closet, and when she turned around there he wasn't.  I mulled this over and another image kept imposing on me. This was the creepy shadows and echoes in the halls and floors of the university library late at night. Thus Shadowed Halls was birthed.

    I haven't written horror before, in fact it's not my genre of choice. However those images kept at me until the story unfolded one night. You could say that this story is my first baby tooth in writing horror. It will be interesting to see how many more grow."

    Thanks Michael.

    If you've been enjoying these glimpses into the process behind creating the stories for Baby Teeth, then please drop by our Facebook page and leave a comment. https://www.facebook.com/events/438696369561216/

    While you're there, maybe invite a few friends who might like to see what we're doing!

    Author Snippet - Eileen Mueller

    04/08/2013 at 9:43 AM

    Welcome to another Author Snippet - Eileen Mueller. Eileen was a very late entry into the Baby Teeth collection, but when I read her story, I knew I had to have it in the book.


    Eileen Mueller writes young adult fantasy novels, children’s picture books, short stories, and flash fiction, and recently won the SpecFicNZ (Speculative Fiction of New Zealand) Going Global competition for her first novel.  With a marketing and public relations background, she has written numerous press releases resulting in news articles, bringing these skills to her fiction. Eileen’s blog is at www.eileenmuellerauthor.com

    I have a secret.  At a very young age I stumbled upon “Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV,”  by Alfred Hitchcock. Horror stories terrify me, and these were particularly awful. They were so bad that I developed a new habit of doing a running leap from my light switch into bed—to prevent whatever was under there from getting me.

    Four of us were  raised by a solo dad who, upon hearing my thundering run-up to leap into bed each night, started teasing me and my siblings about the vampire under Eileen’s bed. He had a myriad of suggestions for how to deal with the monsters under the bed. I  laughed at all of them—until I turned out the lights.

    I’ve never forgotten those ghastly stories, so in my effort to support children’s literacy, I’ve taken  a leaf out of Dad’s book and dealt with those fears with humour.  I hope you enjoy ‘Dad’s Wisdom.’

    Thanks Eileen. 

    With less than a week to go, we're still almost $300 short of our stretch goal which will see all supporters of $10 or more getting a free e-copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 as well as their chosen versions of Baby Teeth. If you'd like to see us reach that goal, please boost the signal and spread the word!

    If you haven't joined our Facebook event, please do so at https://www.facebook.com/events/438696369561216/

    Thanks again for supporting Baby Teeth - Bite-sized Tales of Terror!

    Author Snippet - Sally McLennan

    01/08/2013 at 7:17 PM

    Today's Author Snippet comes from Wellington fantasy author and children's writer Sally McLennan,

    Sally's blog can be found at http://www.sallymclennan.com/.

    This is Sally's first foray into horror, and the results are pleasantly disturbing. She has contributed two stories to Baby Teeth, and has this say about them:


    "I have two stories in Baby Teeth: my first ever attempts at writing horror.


    “The Birthday Present”

    I have long had a story kicking around in my head about fetus in fetu: encapsulated babies that live on inside their twins. It will be quite different to the ”Birthday Present” but, regardless of that, I finally had to let my imaginary encysted friend out to play. The idea first came from an X-files episode called ”Humbug”" about an encapsulated twin that escapes and kills people in his attempt to find a new host. I thought at the time it was purest, wonderfully creepy, fiction. Later an article about an Egyptian child found with a fetus in fetu headlined Channel One News. I was hooked on the whole idea: imagine having someone that close to you. Could they be conscious? Doctors say no; but they are found with grey matter, spinal cords, hair, fingers, and teeth.  So why not?

    “Practise makes Perfect”

    Ahah – this story is straight from another creepy fascination. Young serial killers and how to detect the tendency in people before they kill. What would the inside of a young serial killer’s head look like? I am more fascinated, perhaps oddly, by fictional serial killers than real ones. The challenges of Hannibal and Dexter to function with their emotional deficits move me where the real life exploits of Dahmer, the Wests, et al, leave me utterly… cold."


    Thanks, Sally. 

    We have more Author Snippets coming your way, so keep an eye out. Have a great weekend!


    Author Snippet - Lee Murray

    01/08/2013 at 12:51 AM

    Not only is Lee Murray a very talented award-winning writer of short stories and YA novels, she is also one of the moving forces behind Baby Teeth. Lee is co-editor and will be doing much of the work involved in preparing the story for its print release. 

    Lee has contributed three stories to Baby Teeth, and has this to say about writing for the project and being involved in the whole undertaking:


    "I had just recently started school when I made a startling discovery - if I lay my head on my pillow I would hear footfalls on gravel. Distinct. Suspenseful. Menacing. Much later, I realised that this sound was the beat of my own pulse, but at the time I was convinced there was a wolf under my bed poised to tear at me with jagged yellow canines just as soon as the grown-ups were asleep.

    Dad insisted I go to sleep. There were no wolves.

    So when the Baby Teeth group kicked off, I saw a perfect opportunity to tease out the idea that Dad was wrong: there was indeed something very sinister lurking in my room, and this formed the basis of my story Peter and the Wolf, one of three stories I have in the Baby Teeth collection. It's a pleasure to be associated with this talented group of writers in support of children's literacy."

    Big word of thanks to Lee for her work at the editorial stages, and for helping get this project as a whole off the ground.

    Remember, we've got one week left to reach that stretch goal of $1500, which will mean more budget for us to promote the book when the launch comes. If you can drop a reminder to your friends on Twitter and Facebook, please do!


    Author Snippet - JC Hart

    30/07/2013 at 7:13 PM

    Good morning, and welcome to another Author Snippet!

    Today we'll hear from short story writer and SJV-winning editor JC Hart, about her story contribution to Baby Teeth:


    "My short story is called The Dead Way, and in part the idea came to me over four years ago when my eldest was just four. We were driving past a street, she asked what it was, I told her it was a dead end, and then she asked, “What’s down a dead way, mummy?” And I had to wonder – what was down a Dead Way?

    I could never put my finger on it, until this group formed, and then suddenly I was writing, and the story came out without very much brain power from me. I love it when that happens. Funnily enough, though, I started out not writing to one of the ‘creepiest things’ from the post that sparked the anthology, but when I wrote the last lines of the story, I realized that it tied in beautifully to one of the prompts after all."


    Thanks JC. We're so glad and lucky to have you on board!

    Remember, we're only ten days away from our deadline, and still a bit shy of our stretch goal of $1500. The more of this money we can raise, the more promotion we can do for the book and the more chance we have of selling lots of copies to raise more money for Duffy Books in Homes, so please, if you haven't already (or even if you have!) help us spread the word about Baby Teeth

    Thanks for all your support!


    Author Snippet - Celine Murray

    28/07/2013 at 7:15 PM

    Welcome to a Monday Morning Author Snippet!

    Probably our youngest contributor to the Baby Teeth, Celine Murray is 18, and the author of Seven to Seventeen (Oceanbooks), a collection of short stories written over a decade. Celine has this to say about her contribution to the collection:


    "I was intrigued by the theme of the Baby Teeth group and I particularly wanted to investigate how creepy children might develop
    into adults. My personal reading has lead me to believe that some of the most interesting characters are those with psychotic or evil tendencies - an idea I chose to explore further in my story Because I Could. Of course, aspects of this story are closer to home than you
    might imagine." 


    Mum and Dad, watch that girl. Scary stuff indeed.

    Author Snippet - Grant Stone

    27/07/2013 at 10:04 AM

    Here's the weekend, and we're halfway through our PledgeMe campaign. We've passed our intial goal but we're still about $380 off our first stretch goal of $1500. So here's a little snippet from our of our authors, just to wet your whistle and remind you that we're aiming high so that we can help get more kids reading. Then, when they're older, we can scare the jeebers out of them, too.

    Grant Stone is a Sir Julius Vogel award winning short story writer who lives in Auckland, because that's where all his stuff is. About his contribution to Baby Teeth, a story titled "White", he has this say:


    "Two ideas came together to form the core of 'White'. One is a song by one of my favorite late-nineties bands which I won't say any more about because spoilers. Here's the other one.

    My wife and I lived in London for a few years. Loved it. But the plan was always to return to Auckland once kids were on the way. A good kiwi kid needed blue skies and beautiful beaches. And a big back yard. How could a child find the room to climb trees or play cricket in one of those tiny little sections? 

    So I'd tell everyone how we were going to go home and buy a house on some huge Auckland section. The land grew in the telling. We were going to have a rugby field in the back yard, an orchard, a pool, a BMX track-

    Then we got back. 

    Something had changed. House prices had soared, but those sections weren't nearly as large as I remembered. People were packing two, three four houses on sections where once there would have been one. The great Kiwi back yard seemed to be on the way out, at least in Auckland. But maybe, if you could do the same as everyone else on your street, drop another house in your back yard, flip it, trade up, maybe one day you could afford to buy a house with a great big section. If there are any left.

    Kids can say some scary things. But sometimes I wonder if mortgages aren't even more terrifying."

    Thanks Grant. This is another of my favourite stories in the collection, and I guarantee it will turn your blood cold.

    So remember, help us spread the word, boost the signal, meet that stretch goal, and you could reading Tales to Terrify Volume 1 as well as Baby Teeth. Twice the scares for your money!

    Author Snippet - Jenni Sands

    26/07/2013 at 1:00 AM

    Time for another Author Snippet!

    Today, we'll hear from Wellington writer and gamer Jenni Sands. You can find her blog at http://jennitalula.wordpress.com/.

    Jenni says:

    "One of my stories is based directly on an entry in the thread, it’s called Dark Night. One of the things that came up a few times in the original creepy reddit thread (http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1d2v7i/parents_of_reddit_what_is_the_creepiest_thing/?sort=new) was kids saying ‘it’s/he’s behind you right now’ and every time it came up I got a shiver down my spine. I wanted to harness that reaction, so I imagined a woman alone, taking care of her kid, and how very scary it would be for the child you are alone in the house with to say that to you.

    My other story is one that I started a few years ago, it’s called The End of the Rainbow and is about the things I did as a child. I would go off on what I thought of as an epic walk, through the garden or the grounds of school, and imagine all sorts of amazing magical things that could happen. At the age of 7 I wrote a story about Pluto the dog appearing in my garden and taking me over the rainbow to Disneyland, I tried to go back to that time. I put my own memories into a childlike voice and explore a little of the child’s desire to go off on their own and have adventures.

    I’ve been privileged enough to be able to read some of the other stories as they were completed and I can guarantee a few shivers down your back if you do decide to support us and pledge some money to get the book! Baby Teeth is full of awesomeness and you should pledge it!"


    Thanks Jenni!

    Remember, we're pushing for our stretch goal of $1500 now, and if we get there then all supporters who have pledged $10 or more will be getting a free e-copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1 as well as Baby Teeth! So please help us spread the word however you can. Thanks!


    Author Snippet - Jack Newhouse

    25/07/2013 at 12:53 AM

    Welcome to our newest supporters! Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy our Author Snippets.

    Today's update, a look into the inspirations behind the stories, comes from new author Jack Newhouse. Here's what he says about his short but poignant piece, Giant:

    "Mine came from something my niece said to my mother while I was on the phone. At the time, it was just something funny and kind of cute, but it was still in the back of my mind when I was invited to the project that became Baby Teeth. Twisting it so th
    at it was something chilling, serious and hurtful just required the right sort of setting, and the right sort of family members (who I assure you are not based on my own)."

    We hope you'll like this story when you read it, too.

    Remember, help us boost the signal and hit our new stretch goal of $1500, and you could be getting a free copy of Tales to Terrify, Volume 1!


    Author SNippet - Darian Smith

    23/07/2013 at 8:35 PM

    Let's jump straight into our next Author Snippet: Darian Smith. 

    Darian lives in Auckland, where he works with people who have neuromuscular disorders, and in between this he writes fantasy fiction and contemporary short stories. His work is often critiqued by his beautiful partner, who writes romance, and by his neurotic Siamese cat who doesn’t so much write as sit on the keyboard. 

    He was inspired to write this particular story as a result of talking to a friend about a childhood experience which, while creepy, was fortunately nothing like the fiction that has grown from it.

    Recession is one of my favourite stories in this collection, for the totally unexpected twist Darian throws in at the end. 

    Darian says:

    "The idea for Recession came from a discussion with a friend of mine who told me he could see ghosts when he was a child. In particular, there was a ghost who would stand in the doorway to his bedroom, preventing other ghosts from coming in. The notion gave me chills and I felt sorry for the parents who might have heard his tale. Which led to another thought… Just what is a parent to do when times are hard and things with your child aren’t quite going as expected?"


    Remember, we are now stretching for a goal of $1500, and if we hit that goal then all supporters who have pledged at least $10 will receive a free electronic copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, the collection of short horror fiction from the podcast of the same name! http://talestoterrify.com/volume-1/

    So spread the word, get your friends to come along and support us, and you could all be taking away not just one story collection but two, and supporting a great cause in the process.

    Thanks again for your support. It is hugely appreciated.

    Dan


    Stretch Goal - Let's take it even further!

    23/07/2013 at 4:01 AM

    Boost the signal!

    OK, here's our first stretch goal.

    In case you've been living in a very dark room with no windows for a long time, there is a most excellent podcast community out there doing great things for speculative fiction, and providing fantastic content for fans to dip into. The munificent Tony C. Smith, host of the StarShipSofa podcast (www.starshipsofa.com) and editor-in-chief of Tales to Terrify, Crime City Central and Protecting Project Pulp, has offered our supporters a very special reward if you can all help us reach $1500.

    If we can top $1500, then any supporter who has already pledged $10 or more will receive a free electronic copy of Tales to Terrify Volume 1, a bone-chilling story collection from the podcast and beyond: http://talestoterrify.com/volume-1/


    Already a supporter? Would you like this reward to go along with your pledge? Then please, tell everyone you know that you and they can get this collection along with Baby Teeth, if we can just top $1500 of support. Go! Spread the word! Forward this email to your circles!

    Thanks again from all the team here at Baby Teeth! Let's hit $1500, so we can scare you even more!

    Funded! This Baby has Teeth!

    22/07/2013 at 10:10 AM

    Wow! You guys are amazing! 

    Just 10 days into our fundraising campaign, and we've hit our first goal. This campaign is now officially in the successful bracket, and there will be a book! And an ebook! And an audiobook! 

    But we're not done yet. As well as more Author Snippets, we have some excellent stretch goals planned, to be announced very shortly. Watch this space. It's about to get very exciting, and we still need the help of everyone who has backed us so far to push this thing through the roof!

    Stay tuned, and thanks again for believing in Baby Teeth.

    Author Snippet - Matthew Sanborn Smith

    22/07/2013 at 12:07 AM

    As I write this, we're barely $40 shy of our goal, on just Day 10 of the campaign. I'm hoping that this means we will see support for this project continue to roll along right up to the end, so that we will have a lovely bundle of proceeds to hand on to Duffy Books in Homes once we're through the hard work of printing, despatching and promoting this book.

    It's also a bit spooky that yesterday, as we had a flurry of pledges come in and we got ever closer to our goal, each new pledge seemed to be punctuated by an earthquake. Yes, I mean it. Not long after we passed $940 yesterday afternoon, the middle of the country was rocked by a 6.5 scale earthquake followed by several aftershocks, big enough to knock things off our panrty shelf, and causing far more damage closer to the source.

    Our deepest sympathies go out to the people of Seddon, who have been hit hardest by this quake and who have been largely overlooked by the media who are rushing to find pictures of broken glass on Wellington streets. We sincerely hope that it is not the elemental forces of the world getting excited about Baby Teeth nearing its goal which is causing these seismic hiccups. But then again, we did get another pledge this morning, and about 10 minutes later there was another rumble. Far too spooky for my liking.

    Now, onto our next Author Snippet: Matthew Sanborn Smith!

    Matthew Sanborn Smith is a short story writer whose fiction can be found at Tor.com, Nature and Chizine, among others. He is an occasional contributor to StarShipSofa and is the creator and voice of the podcast Beware the Hairy Mango (www.bewarethehairymango.com). He is also one head of the three-headed writing band known as Cerberus, which also includes Baby Teeth contributors Grant Stone and Dan Rabarts, whose first story is slated for publication in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in January 2014.

    Matthew has this to say about his contribution to Baby Teeth, a story titled SImon Says:


    "Baby Teeth was well underway before I could sink my own teeth into it. I was struggling to pull off my podcast's annual blowout, MuchoMangoMayo and had hardly any time to even think of another project. I just looked forlornly through the shop window as one after another of my table of contents co-conspirators posted story after story. One night, dipping back and forth across the border between exhaustion and sleep, I watched three Goreyesque children in an old house, tied together with a braided rope, moving together. The rope reared one tasseled end as a snake might rear its head. I awoke, not in terror, but in relief. I could use this for my creepy kid story! If only I could remember it in the morning."


    Check out Episode 186 of Beware The Hairy Mango for a taste of Matthew's bizarro fiction, and a brilliant promo for Baby Teeth: http://bewarethehairymango.com/episode-186-bravissimo-2/



    Author Snippet - Debbie Cowens

    20/07/2013 at 8:46 AM

    Two more days, and we're a whole lot closer to our goal. Thanks to everyone who has been spreading the word so far. Let's keep it up!

    Now, onto our third Author Snippet: Debbie Cowens.

    Debbie is the other half of the Cowens team, alongside Matt Cowens, authors of Mansfield with Monsters and winners of the 2013 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent. Find her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/debbiecowens .

    She has this to say about her short story contribution to Baby Teeth, titled Caterpillars


    "Caterpillars was inspired by a combination of one of my favourite quotes on the Reddit "Creepy Thing Kids Say" page: “I want to peel all your skin off” and a collection of memories from my own childhood.

    I remember being fascinated with the life cycles of insects as a kid. I did most of my school projects on various creepy crawlies - bees, cicadas, ants - but caterpillars were a favourite. The process of metamorphosis seemed somewhat magical to me; the change from caterpillars to chrysalis to butterfly was incredible. Mum let me keep and hatch gum moth chrysalises. I loved picking up caterpillars in the garden and enjoying the tickle of them crawling over my hand. I named caterpillars, but weirdly had no problems with my Grandfather giving me the task of catching and killing the butterflies hanging around his cabbages in the vegetable garden.

    Not long after writing this story my son came home with The Very Hungry Caterpillar as his chosen book from the school library and his teacher told me he'd been watching the animated version on Youtube. Then when I went to his class's Wearable Arts show, he'd made a pair of butterfly wings. Life imitating art? Creepy."


    Want to help this story metamorphose into something winged and creeping? Spread the word! 


    Author Snippet - Matt Cowens

    18/07/2013 at 7:51 AM

    Hey, you awesome people who have supported us so far, and anyone else who happens to have come reading, out of curiousity.

    We're less than one week into the campaign and we've already raised pledges of over 60% of our goal amount! That's fantastic. We need a little more to push us past that magic $1000 mark, and we need your help to get there. Please, if you can, grab the link and some info from the PledgeMe page, and then Facebook, Tweet and blog about us to everyone who will listen.

    Because every time you do, the tooth fairy hammers some little kid's incisor into the eye of a gremlin. Or something.

    Now, onto our second Author Snippet: Matt Cowens.

    Matt is co-author of the acclaimed Mansfield with Monsters short story collection, which just this past weekend took away the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work, plus he is one half of the team who took the SJV for Best New Talent (Keep watching this space for an Author Snippet from Debbie Cowens, the other half of this unstoppable duo). Matt also designed the graphics on the Baby Teeth cover, and is owed so many chocolate fish by me that I'll need a navy freighter to deliver them all. 

    Find him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mattcowens.

    Take it away, Matt!



    "There are moments which stand out in my memory as chilling slices of time.

    Waking up with a stranger in my bedroom sitting in a rocking chair, watching me.

    Falling through space toward concrete when a rope swing snapped.

    Leaning against a wall, bleeding from a cut, sliding towards the floor and fainting into unconsciousness.

    Those stories all had happy endings despite the feeling of dread they inspired in me. Not every story I write ends so well for the protagonists, but I must confess that I have a soft spot for an optimistic end to a tale. In "Blood Sisters" and "If they hadn't landed so close" the protagonists are children, and while there are poisonings, giant bugs, eye-gougings and acts of cannibalism in the stories, there's also a sense that things could get better.

    The stranger in the room might leave without trouble.

    The fall might not end in broken bones.

    Waking from a faint with your face pressed against a cool bathroom floor might be more comfortable than you could have hoped. Taking creepy quotes as inspiration was enormous fun and I'm deeply fond of these two stories - I hope you'll enjoy them too"



    We hope you're enjoying these snippets - you'll see more as the days go by.

    Remember, please help spread the word by telling people about our project, about the exceptionally good cause that we're raising money for, and how they really want to be a part of it. Because if nothing else, they get their name in the credits.   ;-)

    Author Snippets - Paul Mannering

    16/07/2013 at 10:52 PM

    This will be the first of several snippets we plan to post, to give you an insight into the inspiration behind the stories in this collection.

    Baby Teeth came about after I read a post on Reddit which was floating around a couple of months ago, about the creppy things that kids say: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1d2v7i/parents_of_reddit_what_is_the_creepiest_thing/

    I made the suggestion on Facebook that we write some stories based on anything in this thread which gave us a spark of inspiration, and lo and behold, out of this came a quite spontaneous and unexpected collection of stories.

    Our first author to share his thoughts on the writing process is horror author Paul Mannering, whose zombie novel Tankbread is to be published by Permuted Press, along with its sequels.


    Burying Baby

    This one came straight from the Reddit thread of “Creepy Things Kids Say” that kicked off this whole wonderful exercise in creativity.

    I started out with an idea of burying a baby being a good thing – as a twist on the unexpected horror of actually burying a new-born. From there crafting the scenario with the odd family came from that same alien headspace as all my other speculative fiction. I simply accept the inspiration and don’t ask too many questions, nor do I peer too closely into that particular darkness.


    The Skulkybunking Woorld Champyon of the Hole Wurld

    I had an idea about empowering a child in a scenario of a monster under the bed, or in the closet. Instead of the monster being the adversary for a child, something they feared, I gave the child and the monster an entirely different kind of relationship. The best thing about this story is that the thinking behind it seemed quite reasonable. Kids aren’t always afraid and I hope this story helps them feel like heroes.


    The Oracle Of Karawa

    Winter in Wellington, New Zealand. The hill I live on is dark with the cloud that swirls all around us. The air is damp and the native bush seems unusually dark and oppressive. I’m thinking about HP Lovecraft and wondering about doing a riff on his mythos for a story. Then my eye falls upon the word ‘Oracle’ - in this case referring to the computer company. From there the story just came into my head. The ending and its tie-in with the Reddit thread quote of the child saying “It’s not goodnight” didn’t consciously come to me until the end. That is what made the story though.


    Baby Teeth bite the Hairy Mango!

    16/07/2013 at 7:54 AM

    If you like your fiction so fast and so strange it's like you just got run over by a platypus on a rocketboard, then you want to head over to the URL of the vego-mammal, Beware the Hairy Mango!

    Baby Teeth contributor Matthew Sanborn Smith delivers the goods, and in his latest episode, you can hear the audio trailer for Baby Teeth - and you'll probably split your sides just listening to his spiel about the book. After you've been entertained by the bizzaro goodness that is "Bravissimo!" 

    http://bewarethehairymango.com/episode-186-bravissimo-2/

    Go! Listen! Become a Mango addict!

    Our contributors

    15/07/2013 at 3:31 AM

    Wondering who you'll be reading if you get your lucky hands on a copy of Baby Teeth? Take a look:


    Alan Lindsay
    Alicia Ponder
    Anna Caro
    Celine Murray
    Dan Rabarts
    Darian Smith
    Debbie Cowens
    Elizabeth Gatens
    Grant Stone
    Jack Newhouse
    Jake Bible
    Jan Goldie
    JC Hart
    Jean Gilbert
    Jenni Sands
    Kevin G. Maclean
    Lee Murray
    Lewis Morgan
    M. Darusha Wehm
    Matt Cowens
    Matthew Sanborn Smith
    Michael J Parry
    Morgan Davie
    Paul Mannering
    Piper Mejia
    Sally McLennan

    Award for Baby Teeth editor

    14/07/2013 at 9:47 PM

    At last night's Sir Julius Vogel Awards ceremony in Wellington, our fantastic co-editor Lee Murray was honoured with this year's trophy for Best Short Story. Also, contributors Matt and Debbie Cowens walked away with a raft of awards and honours.

    Congratulations to Lee, Matt and Debbie! It's good to know that the team at Baby Teeth are in such excellent company!

    Andromeda Spaceways come to the party!

    12/07/2013 at 6:35 PM

    Great news!

    The ever-excellent Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine have very generously offered a new reward for pledgers.

    For a pledge of $32, you will get a paperback copy of the book, plus a one-year electronic subscription to ASIM, delivered straight to your inbox (barring interstellar wormholes swallowing it up along the way, but they assure us such instances are extremely rare and not nearly as painful as they might sound).

    Many of the writers appearing in Baby Teeth have also had work published in ASIM, so you'll be in good company.

      Danielle Walker
      10/08/2013 at 7:00pm
      Shayne Thurston
      10/08/2013 at 6:49pm
      Anonymous pledger
      10/08/2013 at 6:24pm
      Cassandra Cook
      10/08/2013 at 5:50pm
      Chrissy Rabarts
      10/08/2013 at 3:23pm
      Michael Parry
      10/08/2013 at 1:44pm
      Anonymous pledger
      09/08/2013 at 2:45pm
      SpecFicNZ
      09/08/2013 at 11:15am
      Pearce Duncan
      09/08/2013 at 9:39am
      Richard Parry
      07/08/2013 at 11:46am
      Pauline Cowens
      07/08/2013 at 11:42am
      Duskwind
      07/08/2013 at 9:06am
      Eileen R Mueller
      06/08/2013 at 12:43pm
      Jan Goldie
      06/08/2013 at 10:41am
      Александра Миронова
      05/08/2013 at 6:57pm
      Cameron Jack
      03/08/2013 at 10:37pm
      Keith Teklits
      03/08/2013 at 12:22pm
      Morgan Davie
      02/08/2013 at 7:07pm
      Julian Fitter
      02/08/2013 at 11:27am
      Grant Stone
      01/08/2013 at 8:57pm
      Derek
      25/07/2013 at 6:44am
      Elizabeth Gatens
      24/07/2013 at 8:51pm
      Brian Ackles
      24/07/2013 at 1:48am
      Anonymous pledger
      23/07/2013 at 3:22pm
      Kevin Berry
      22/07/2013 at 8:27pm
      Anonymous pledger
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      Sarah Bunker
      22/07/2013 at 9:22am
      Anonymous pledger
      21/07/2013 at 8:20pm
      Lorena Norling
      21/07/2013 at 3:56pm
      Kylie Gorringe
      21/07/2013 at 3:09pm
      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 10/08/2013 at 7:00 PM.