Recently, at the Sir Julius Vogel Award ceremony in Auckland, I was thrilled to see Tales for Canterbury (Random Static, 2011) , edited by Anna Caro and Cassie Hart, receive the award for “Best Collected Work.”

This meant a lot to me for a number of reasons. Those of you who followed the ‘A Peak Inside Tales for Canterbury’ series on the blog will know that there were some very fine stories, a few even but rather famous authors 😉 , contained therein. So that’s one reason.

The second reason is that Cassie and Anna put Tales for Canterbury together as a fundraiser for disaster relief following the Christchurch Earthquake of Feburary 22nd, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

No more copies will be available following the end of this month but there are still a few left right at this moment—and as fellow contributor Amanda Fitzwater said on her blog (and I don’t think I could say it better so I’m just going to quote):

“I can tell you from personal experience that even 18 months on from the disaster there are still people in desperate need of help. Can you imagine living in a tent, caravan or even your car in the middle of a bitter winter, because you’ve lost your home and your job in the midst of a housing crisis? Yes, this is happening right now here in Christchurch, and the Red Cross are still here, helping out in the best ways they can.” ~ Amanda Fitzwater

And the third reason why you should consider snapping up one of those final copies (although personally I think 1 and 2 are enough): well Tales for Canterbury did win the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work, so not only is it award winning but it’s soon about to become rare. So you might want to think through the implications of that…

… because just for a few more days/weeks Tales for Canterbury can still be purchased HERE

And just in case you have forgotten or not yet checked out how great some of the stories are, you can take a peek inside nine of the stories right here—and here’s the lucky tenth, Tina Makereti’s wonderful Shapeshifter:

.

“Shapeshifter

by Tina Makereti

Sometimes I think men just take what they want. See that fella over there?
The one with the eyes like icy water and a puku that sticks out from his
middle like he’s swallowed a boulder? He just came up here before and
kissed my tit. Got his wife to take a picture. Ha ha, look at me, I’m kissing
Pania’s boob. Like that hasn’t been done before. Jeez, you’d think they’d
have a bit more class. I must’ve been felt up by half the country.

I’ve got nice boobs, the way they did me. Of course I’d still prefer
the soft, fleshy kind at the end of the day. Wouldn’t stand up to all that
touching though. Good thing they did me in bronze. I’ve got nice legs
too. I’m particularly proud of those.

Fifty-four this year and hardly any wear and tear on the old body.
Which sounds like a good thing, but isn’t so great for me in the long run.
There are a lot of stories around about what I am and who I am, and how
I got here. Some say I am really the reef out there; that I provide all the
fish for the people, for my descendants. Some say I used to be a selkie,
a seal-person who needed both sea and land to live. Some say that my
family forced me back into the ocean, but others know it was my husband
Karitoki’s trickery that sent me back there. There is a little bit of truth in
all those stories. People find it hard to hold in their heads: that it can be
this way and that way. That at one time I took on the skin and swiftness
of the seal underwater, that I married an earthly man, that I became the
reef. My spirit is as malleable as the shifting sand on the ocean floor.

…”

Great start, isn’t it? To read the rest though, you’ll just have to get hold of Tales for Canterbury… 😉