On September 30, 2019, Candlemark & Gleam will release Robin Shortt’s cinematic adventure The Marten and the Scorpion which unfurls in a medieval Samarkand awash in street gangs, assassins and martial-art secret societies. Balletic, intricate, steeped in Silk Road lore and lethal magic, the story cries out to become a film helmed by Zhang Yimou or Ang Lee.

Publishers Weekly had high praise for The Marten and the Scorpion: “Clever, tightly written, and full of action, this thrilling novel is an epic wuxia film wrought in paper and ink.” The work boasts a cover as beguiling as its text by immensely talented Highlander Candra Hope (click on cover twice to embiggen).

Robin Shortt grew up in Canberra and lives in Vancouver. His stories have appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild anthology Winds of Change. His wildly original debut novel Wellside received wide praise and was shortlisted for the Aurealis award.

Because GoodReads giveaways are no longer free and ourcoffers are of the usual size for indie micro-presses, we will be doing a direct giveaway for The Marten and the Scorpion. You can enter it by leaving a comment to this post or by sending an email (with subject line “Finders Giveaway”) to our website address. Please rest assured that your email will only be visible to the site admin.

The giveaway will run from September 3 to October 6, and random winners will be picked to receive a maximum of three print copies of the novel. For up to 200 requests, there will be one award copy. For up to 400 requests, two copies; and beyond that, three copies. We will contact the winner(s) to request addresses when the giveaway is completed.

We can hardly wait to share this remarkable work with the world. Hold on to your steed’s mane as we plunge into the derring-do of medieval Samarkand!

Note added on October 6: the giveaway is now closed.  We’ll pick winners and contact them within this week.