ADVANCE INFORMATION SHEET

Shattered

Book one of The Superheroine Collection

By Lee Winter

"No smart, self-respecting, veteran superhero would realistically believe humans are worth saving - and that's a book worth reading."

Shattergirl, Earth's first, black, lesbian guardian—a brilliant but aloof alien superheroine—is refusing to save humans and has gone off the grid.Shatteredis what happens when a superhero refuses to ‘hero'...

Lena Martin, the street-smart tracker with a silver tongue and a disdain for the rogue guardians she chases, has only days to bring Shattergirl home. As the pair clash heatedly, masks begin to crack and brutal secrets are exposed that could shatter them both. 

Fantasy positioned far from the conventional, Lee Winter successfully interweaves modern political parallels with statements on society's celebrity culture, and style-over-substance politics, but the big question is: could Shattergirl be right - are humans really worth saving?

About the author...

"Everyone deserves a hero. For all the girls, big and small, who don't neatly fit into society's boxes—Shattergirl is yours."- Lee Winter

Lee Winter has worked as a newspaper journalist in almost every state in Australia for the past 28 years. In that time she has covered everything from courts, police, news, television, features, been a humour columnist and sub-editor, and of late, a newspaper glossy magazine's deputy editor. She has won national awards for her writing and adroit headlines. When her newspaper was sold and laid off most of the staff in November 2016, she made the decision to test the waters as a full-time writer. Prior to that she has written two books for Ylva, the Goldie-winning, Lambda finalist The Red Files, a newspaper-based mystery; and the Australian underworld crime noir Requiem For Immortals, also a Lambda finalist (finalistin Lesbian Myster category winners will be announced in New York in June 2017). When the idea of a superheroes collection came up, Lee jumped at the chance to write a novella (Shattered) about a disaffected superheroine on the run and the woman sent to track her down. This blew out to an almost-novel at just under 70,000 words!

Talking points...

An obsession with Socotra

Shattergirl is hiding out on an island in the Arabian Sea known as Socotra, which scientists dub the most "alien place on Earth". Author Lee Winter became fascinated by Socotra while writing the book. "I spent an eternity researching Socotra, being driven mad by this crazy archipelago of three islands, because there are 10 to 20 different spellings for every place; the native local language has no written form. Finally, some Scandinavian scientists, in despair, wrote an entire paper on it that ran for hundreds of pages correlating dozens of names for every location and picking one. I went with their choices in the book."

The cult of celebrity

Having interviewed hundreds of celebrities in her role as a journalist, Lee has learned a lot about the human condition and celebrities - two factors that leak into her writing. Lee is well aware of the shallow game of celebrity, from fans demanding selfies and wanting a piece of stars, to the fall of the famous person placed too high on a pedestal.

Tackling polemic issues through fantasy fiction

Lee Winter tackles racism, lack of diversity, social and political issues, feminism, and much more in her novels alongside a witty, fast-paced plot packed with twists and turns. She says:"Invisibility is a real problem for black lesfic readers. I wanted to create for them someone strong as hell who is also brilliant ... and has super powers."

ESSENTIAL DETAILS

Title:Shattered

Author:Lee Winter

Genre:Lesbian, Fantasy

Publisher:Ylva Publishing

Publication date:07/06/17

Availability:Paperback, International distribution

ISBN:978-3-95533-564-9

Price: £9.99

Website:http://bit.ly/2nLpVPt

Press folder:http://bit.ly/2nwbIp0

Online profile:http://www.literallypr.com/public_relations/file/Lee-Winter.php

For more information, editorial opportunities, interview requests or review copies please get in touch withinfo@literallypr.com

+44 (0) 7904801669

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