Category: News

News items

Ditmar voting – go on you know you want to

Voting in the Ditmars 2012, Australian speculative fiction’s premier voted awards, is still open. Like any awards determined by popular ballot, the more people who vote the better. Voting is open to anyone who is going to the 2012 Natcon (Continuum 8) or went to the 2011 Natcon (Swancon Thirty Six) . If you can’t make it to Melbourne you can purchase a supporting membership to Continuum 8 for $35, which makes you eligible to vote.

I used derivations of the word ‘vote’ too many times in the previous paragraph.

I haven’t read everything on the ballot, but looking through the list I realised that I have reviewed (directly or indirectly) a fair number of the nominations. So, for convenience I thought I’d list out links to my relevant reviews on one handy page.

Note (with one glaring exception) none of what follows should be interpreted as particular support for any story, publication or person. It just happens to be the stuff I’ve looked at.

Best Novel

I’m currently reading The Shattered City by Tansy Rayner Roberts and Mistification by Kaaron Warren. If I finish either before voting closes I will update this blog entry.

Sadly I don’t think I’m going to get to Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres by the time the voting closes.

Best Novella or Novelette

  • “The Sleeping and the Dead”, Cat Sparks, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press)
  • “Above”, Stephanie Campisi, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt”, Paul Haines, in The Last Days of Kali Yuga (Brimstone Press)
  • “And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living”, Deborah Biancotti, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press)
  • “Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “Below”, Ben Peek, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)

I note Ben Peek’s impassioned attempt to climb to the top of the “times nominated but never won” category. It’s too bad really – I liked Below!

Best Short Story

  • “Alchemy“, Lucy Sussex, in Thief of Lives (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “Bad Power“, Deborah Biancotti, in Bad Power (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “The Patrician“, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Collected Work

  • The Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press)
  • Nightsiders by Sue Isle, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Ishtar, edited by Amanda Pillar and K. V. Taylor (Gilgamesh Press)

Best Fan Writer

OK, strictly speaking I haven’t actually reviewed anything in this category but I’m going to mention Sean Wright, for body of work including “Authors and Social Media” series in Adventures of a Bookonaut. I’ve really enjoyed Sean’s writing over the last 12 months.

Of course, everyone else in the category is excellent too. But, you know, go Sean.

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

While I haven’t done any formal reviews as such, I do describe the podcasts I listen to on my Podcasts page. It includes very brief commentary about the four podcasts on the ballot (The Writer and the Critic, The Coode Street Podcast, Galactic Chat and Galactic Suburbia)

 

Narration news – Antipodean SF 167 alpha

Episode 167 alpha of the Antipodean SF radio show is now out. No stories from me, but I did narrate Have to Learn the Hard Way by Stephen L Thompson, a short flash fiction piece about the future dangers of downloading a virus.

Many thanks to Stephen for providing his story for me to narrate.

Antipodean SF – Issue 167

The Antipodean SF online magazine issue 167 is now available, both online at the website or through an ePub version. Ten speculative flash fiction stories (edited by Ion “Nuke” Newcombe) as well as a review of The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo by Adam Roberts.

I produce the ePub version of Antipodean SF as a part of my ongoing quest to learn more about speculative fiction writing and publishing in the Australian scene.

Antipodean SF Radio Show – Episode 166 Beta

The latest episode of the Antipodean SF radio program is now out. This fortnight’s show features the usual array of stories and music.

I narrated a story by another author. The Red Button by Lynda R Young was a lot of fun to narrate – I even tried different voices! Nuke starts to describe the story at about the 7 minute mark, with the story starting at about 7 minutes 40 seconds.

I also had a 50 word story in this edition called Beware Antipodean Shores. It’s about drop bears. Nuke’s intro starts about the 28 minute 45 second mark, with the story itself at around 29 minutes.

If you get a chance to listen I hope you enjoy!

The Writer and the Critic episode 18

I don’t normally write posts about individual episodes of the podcasts that I listen to, but in this month’s episode of one of my favourite podcasts The Writer and the Critic they covered my feedback. And talked about it for a while.

I listen to a few podcasts, so I first became aware of the fact that my comments were talked about from a post on Sean the Bookonaut’s website (by the way, if you are in any way interested in the Australian speculative fiction community, Sean’s website Adventures of a Bookonaut is a “must subscribe” – he publishes news, book reviews and other pieces of general interest on a daily basis. Well worth checking out).

I knew which piece of feedback they would be talking about. And I became worried. Was my question so asinine that they had to devote significant amounts of time to mocking it? The question was related to gender and reading habits, had I inadvertently said something massively offensive? I immediately bumped The Writer and the Critic up to the top of my podcast listening list and listened in on my walk to work this morning.

Fortunately and to my everlasting relief, the presenters (Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond) actually liked my question and spent a good amount of time responding to it. If you’re interested, I’d definitely recommend going and having a listen. Suffice to say the answer was excellent, giving me much more food for thought.

My engagement with the broader speculative fiction community is unfortunately constrained by the business of life, so I really get a kick out of experiencing some of these kinds of interactions.

ePub version of Antipodean SF

In my ongoing quest to learn more about the speculative fiction community in general and writing and publishing in particular, I’ve pestered the person who has edited most of my published work (Ion “Nuke” Newcombe at Antipodean SF) with a lot of questions. He has always been very generous with his time and allowed me to participate in various aspects of his publication (chiefly lending my voice to some narration and contributing a non-fiction article).

My latest endeavour in a similar space has been working on an ePub edition of Antipodean SF. Included in each edition is the ten stories from the website that month, that month’s movie and/or book reviews as well as any editorial content from Nuke.

I’m pleased to say that the first edition is now available at the Antipodean SF eReader page, or at the download site for the AntiSF radio show.

It’s been a very interesting experience. I use the Scrivener product for most of my writing, so I have used it to create the ePub version of the website. I know Nuke is always interested in feedback, and I would love to hear from anyone with suggestions on how to improve the publication.

As I publish this post, I’m putting the finishing touches on next month’s edition (May 2012 – Issue 167). Lots of learning going on!

 

Make Mine a Macchiato – AntiSF podcast

One of my latest stories, Make Mine a Macchiato, is now available in audio form on the Antipodean SF radio show episode 166 alpha.

Antipodean SF editor and radio show host Nuke starts giving some background on me at about the 2 minute mark, with the story itself starting at 3 minutes.

For a full list of my published stories, see my bibliography.

Striking Twice accepted for publication

Ion Newcombe, the editor at Antipodean SF, has also accepted another one of my flash fiction pieces for publication. Striking Twice is currently scheduled for issue 168 of Antipodean SF, published in June 2012. I’ll also record a reading for the radio show/podcast, which will be broadcast some time in June.

Many thanks again to Nuke and the group of people that volunteer to help out with Antipodean SF for being such great supporters of my work.

Make Mine a Macchiato and Beware Antipodean Shores – now published

My next story is now available in issue 166 of Antipodean SF, a flash fiction story called Make Mine a Macchiato. It is a short (500 word) piece exploring the difficulty of getting a good caffeinated beverage when you’re a hard working demon. If you get a chance to read it, I hope you enjoy.

Also in this edition of Antipodean SF I have a very short 50 word story called Beware Antipodean Shores. This was inspired by a recent email exchange with Paul Cole, the man behind the Beam Me Up podcast over in the US, where we discussed the Drop Bear phenomenon. I penned Beware Antipodean Shores soon afterwards.

I also recorded readings of Make Mine a Macchiato and Beware Antipodean Shores for the AntiSF radio show, which will be broadcast some time in April. I’ll post again once I know exactly which episode.

Antipodean SF Radio Show – 165 alpha

Antipodean SF, who have published a couple of my stories, also has a community radio program that airs every fortnight or so. The host and editor, Nuke, plays readings of the stories in that month’s edition of the webzine, usually interposed with some electronic music and other news and reviews.

Episode 165 alpha was just released and contains a couple of my pieces. First up is my narration of The Gloriously Cunning Plan, my second story published by Antipodean SF. Nuke starts the introduction at about the 2 minute mark, with the story itself starting at about 3 minutes.

Also in this edition is my narration of Has Your Reading Circle Shrunk?, an article about my participation in the Australian Women Writers 2012 Reading Challenge (AWWC). Nuke starts his introduction about 36 minutes and 40 seconds into the podcast and the article itself starts just a tad over the 37 minute mark.

Nuke and Antipodean SF have been very supportive of my work. The flash fiction format of the site means that you can get across a lot of authors for a relatively small investment of time, so I’d encourage everyone to support the antipodean speculative fiction community and visit Antipodean SF!