Celebrating Australian Short Spec Fic at Swancon; and Bloodlines ed. Amanda Pillar wins an Aurealis Award

 Australian short spec-fic panel: a celebration

Where: Swan Con Panel at the Pan Pacific Hotel

When:  8:30 - 9:30 Easter Sunday

Panelists: Anthony Panegyres, Liz Grzyb, Stephen Dedman, Guy Salvidge, Leonard Goulds

I'm both host and a panelist in this celebration of short spec-fic down under. We'll have great book giveaways, including Aurealis Award winning and short-listed anthologies. I anticipate that like last year we'll have an audience led discussion. We'll most likely cover recommended reads, recommended writers, the market, the craft, the submission process, payment, publication houses and journals. The list goes on. Come along for an informative and fun night. Feel free to field questions too - we encourage it.

Bloodlines ed. Amanda Pillar wins the Aurealis Award for Best Anthology!

Bloodlines ed. Amanda Pillar (which I've a story in) won the best anthology category at the Aurealis Awards!

Here's the impressive list of world-class finalists:

Hear Me Roar, Liz Grzyb (ed.) (Ticonderoga Publications)

The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2014, Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (eds.) (Ticonderoga Publications)

Bloodlines, Amanda Pillar (ed.) (Ticonderoga Publications)

Meeting Infinity, Jonathan Strahan (ed.), (Solaris)

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 9, Jonathan Strahan (ed.) (Solaris)

Focus 2014: highlights of Australian short fiction, Tehani Wessely (ed.) (FableCroft Publishing)


Congrats to Amanda Pillar along with the 16 writers, who all contributed to the award:

• Joanne Anderton "Unnamed Children"
• Alan Baxter "Old Promise New Blood"
• Nathan Burrage "The Ties of Blood, Hair and Bone"
• Dirk Flinthart "In The Blood"
• Rebecca Fung "In the Heart of the City"
• Stephanie Gunn "The Flowers That Bloom Where Blood Touches Earth"
• Kelly Hoolihan "The Stone and the Sheath"
• Kathleen Jennings "The Tangled Streets"
• Pete Kempshall "Azimuth"
• Martin Livings "A Red Mist"
• Seanan McGuire "Into the Green" (also writes as Mira Grant)
• Anthony Panegyres "Lady Killer"
• Jane Percival "The Mysterious Mr Montague"
• Paul Starkey "The Tenderness of Monsters"
• Lyn Thorne-Adder "Lifeblood of the City"
• S. Zanne "Seeing Red"

The complete Aurealis Award Winning List is below (congrats again to all the winners and finalists). Here in Perth we had a fantastic time at the Pan Pacific Hotel, where the great gang at Swancon had it streamed live from Brisbane on a big screen (with food and alcohol catered for). Wonderful night and it felt as if we were almost there.

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
A Single Stone, Meg McKinlay (Walker Books Australia) 

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
The Singing Bones, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)                  

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“The Miseducation of Mara Lys”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Bullets”, Joanne Anderton (In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep, AHWA)

BEST HORROR NOVELLA
“The Miseducation of Mara Lys”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press) 

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“The Giant’s Lady”, Rowena Cory Daniells (Legends 2, Newcon Press) 

BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“Defy the Grey Kings”, Jason Fischer (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Firkin Press) 

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“All the Wrong Places”, Sean Williams (Meeting Infinity, Solaris)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
“By Frogsled and Lizardback to Outcast Venusian Lepers”, Garth Nix (Old Venus, Random House)

BEST COLLECTION
To Hold the Bridge, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin) 

BEST ANTHOLOGY
Bloodlines, Amanda Pillar (ed.) (Ticonderoga Publications) 

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin) 

BEST HORROR NOVEL
Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing) 

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin) 

SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD
The Watergivers [The Last Stormlord (2009), Stormlord Rising (2010), Stormlord’s Exile (2011)], Glenda Larke (HarperVoyager)

THE CONVENORS’ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
Letters to Tiptree, Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)

Awards and Reads and Releases

 Congrats to All: Aurealis Awards and Ditmar Award Finalists

It's Ditmar and Aurealis Awards time in Australia. The shortlists are out and it's a thrill to say that the latest anthology I've a story in, Bloodlines Ed. Amanda Pillar (Ticonderoga Publications), is a finalist for both awards.

There are plenty of great writers on the lists here and rather than congratulate everyone individually I've attached the links to the short listed works below.

Congrats to the editor of Bloodlines, Amanda Pillar, along with Ticonderoga Publications. I would also like to personally congratulate fellow Perth writer, Stephanie Gunn, whose novella from the same anthology has been short listed in the category of Best Fantasy Novella (Gunn is also a finalist for another novella in Hear me Roar Ed. Liz Grzyb).

Aurealis Awards Link

Ditmar Awards Link

Short Story Recommendations

It's not often you find Australian short fic being recommended so I feel humbled that Fossick Book Review has recommended one of my stories. 'Reading Coffee'  (originally published in Overland 204 in 2011) was the first story that I was truly proud of and it's recommended here alongside Angela Slatter's (who is a giant of short spec-fic) 'Brisneyland by Night'. Once again the link is attached below.

Fossick Book Reviews

Twenty One New Zealand Books We're Looking Forward to in 2016

The next anthology I've a story in, At the Edge ed. Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray is on this list of New Zealand books to look forward to reading. It's released in June.


21 NZ Books to Look forward to 2016

Lee Battersby's launch of Magrit

On Saturday I attended Lee Battersby's launch of his new novel for children Magrit. Battersby usually specialises in dark spec-fic (often with a comical edge) so hearing Battersby read so well to a much younger audience than usual was an enjoyable surprise. The story had all the wit and evocative imagery that readers expect from Battersby's adult work too. Lee ran a fun launch and Stefen Brazulaitis of Stefen's Books (check the store out in Shafto Lane if you get the chance) organised a great pub lunch post-launch too. 




Latest Read

Just finished Nights at the Circus by the incredible Angela Carter. It's a genre defying tour de force, well worth savouring and it deserves all the kudos it has received.  The perpetual dichotomy of the winged heroine, Fevers makes for one of the great characters in literature. It's already one of my all time favourite novels.

Currently Reading

• I've a few pages to go in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. And yes, Harper Lee ironically passed away when I was about midway through.  It was a sad day for literature but what a legacy Lee left behind her with TKAM. I can see why it's deemed an all time classic; the narrative voice of Scout is both innocent and gutsy, allowing for a beautiful observational voice. I don't think I'll read the recently released prequel/sequel Go Set a Watchman though. From the snippets I've read about Go Set a Watchman, I wouldn't want to tarnish my reading of what I believe the Finch family stand for in TKAM.

•  The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. Interesting look into Shostakovich, his music, and his relationship with the totalitarian regime (what Barnes aptly labels "his relationship with 'Power'"). The prose, as always with Barnes, has a pure feel due to his strong use of nominalisation throughout, and let's face it, little imagery. I'm almost at the end of this novel too. I've enjoyed it so far, but to be honest, at times I wanted a little more from the narrative, especially after reading Barnes' captivating Arthur and George a couple of years ago. Still, a good, solid read.

Political Gripe: Okay, we can't really say too much Down Under after the rise of Tony Abbott but at least he's now fallen. Yet the Americans have trumped (or drumpfed if you've seen John Oliver's comical segment) us in the Mad Tea Party stakes. What's dangerous about the far right is that it plays on fear and division rather than encourage inclusivity. Wake up, America! This guy, Drumpf, is leading you down a foolishly dangerous and bigoted path.