The collection will be launched at Continuum 9 in Melbourne, so if you’ll be at the convention, please come along and help me celebrate :

When: 6pm – Sunday, 9 June 2013

Where: Continuum 9 @ Ether – lower level, 285 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne (check con program for the room)

Naturally, if you can’t make it to the launch, you can always purchase the book direct from Twelfth Planet Press. It’s available right now for individual pre-order or as part of the Twelve Planets subscription. I cannot recommend this series more highly and am delighted to note that Kaaron Warren and Margo Lanagan both just won Aurealis Awards for stories in their particular volumes.

∞

As part of the lead up to the launch, I’m planning a series of “Story Notes” type posts in which I’ll talk about each of the four pieces in the collection. These will mostly focus on the background to the stories, with anecdotal discussion of inspiration, process, and so on — no actual spoilers, I promise!  They’ll go up every few days over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.

∞

Caution: Contains Small Parts is an intimate, unsettling collection from award-winning author Kirstyn McDermott.

A creepy wooden dog that refuses to play dead.

A gifted crisis counsellor and the mysterious, melancholy girl she cannot seem to reach.

A once-successful fantasy author whose life has become a horror story – now with added unicorns.

An isolated woman whose obsession with sex dolls takes a harrowing, unexpected turn.

Four stories that will haunt you long after their final pages are turned.

∞

.

SpecFaction did a brilliant job of organising and hosting the Aurealis Awards in Sydney over the past three years and I’m sure it’s with a mixture of both sadness and relief that they pass the baton — the Conflux convention team will be bringing the Awards to Canberra from next year, with the ceremony tipped to be held in March. Cat Sparks was buzzing about with camera in hand and captured some wonderful images of the night, while Sean Wright has storyfied the Twitter feed.

The full list of winners are below. Congratulations to everyone, but especially to the indomitable and debonair Margo Lanagan who carried away no less than FOUR Aurealis Awards on the night — two for Sea Hearts and two for stories from Cracklescape, her Twelve Planets collection. An extraordinary achievement indeed and not one that will be easily — if ever — matched!

∞

Aurealis Awards Winners 2012

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION (TOLD PRIMARILY THROUGH WORDS)
Brotherband: The Hunters by John Flanagan(Random House)

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION (TOLD PRIMARILY THROUGH PICTURES)
Little Elephants by Graeme Base (Penguin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
‘The Wisdom of the Ants’ by Thoraiya Dyer (Clarkesworld)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
(Joint winners)
Dead, Actually by Kaz Delaney (Allen and Unwin)
Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen and Unwin)

BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL
Blue by Pat Grant (Giramondo)

BEST COLLECTION
That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote by KJ Bishop (self-published)

BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six edited by Jonathan Strahan (Night Shade Books)

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
‘Sky’ by Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)

BEST HORROR NOVEL
Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott (Xoum)

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
‘Bajazzle’ by Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen and Unwin)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
‘Significant Dust’ by Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley (HarperCollins)

PETER MCNAMARA CONVENORS’ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
Kate Eltham

KRIS HEMBURY ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD
Laura Goodin

.

What a difference a month makes! Since the last episode, your host Ian Mond and his lovely wife, Jules, have brought a little baby girl into the world. Welcome, Sophie Zara! As revealed at the beginning of this episode, Ian seems in be in two minds as to whether or not that news is in fact overshadowed by The Writer and the Critic winning their second Ditmar Award at Conflux in April! Ian sang a made-up song. Kirstyn McDermott pulled producer-rank and refused to include it in the podcast. Pander to the Mond, she does not. But here’s a picture of the shiny (the award, not the daughter):

The books up for discussion this month are Feed by M.T. Anderson (beginning around 11:40),  as recommended by Kirstyn, and Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce (48:30) which Ian chose.  Reviews of the Joyce novel by Charlie Jane Anderson at io9 and Ben Godby at Strange Horizons are both mentioned. The usual spoilers abound — including analysis of the endings — so listener be very much aware.

If you have skipped ahead, please come back around the 1:25:45 mark for some final remarks and announcements.

Next month, The Writer and the Critic will again be recording in front of a live audience as part of Continuum 9, Melbourne’s annual speculative fiction and pop culture convention, and Ian and Kirstyn are delighted to announce that NK Jemisin, will be a special guest on the podcast. For her recommendations, Nora has chosen A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin and the graphic novel Saga (Volume 1 only) by Brian K.Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun — and if you’ll be in Melbourne on 8th June, please come along and be a part of our live audience.

.

The trophy is marvellously macabre this year: a replica of a human skull, emblazoned with the AHWA logo, mounted on a wooden stand and engraved with the name of the winner — all hand made by a Melbourne company by the name of Nightshade FX whose other wares I might have to investigate in the none too distant future. It’s going to look amazing next to my cat skeleton!

It comes as a genuine surprise as well. The announcements were made on Facebook a short time ago — welcome to the future — and I tuned in fully expecting the see either Lee Battersby or Jason  Nahrung announced the winner. (Hoping for Jason, naturally. With all conceivable digits crossed. Sorry, Lee, but I’m sure you understand.) So it’s all quite delightful, really. That’s all I have. Delightful. Gah. I’m sure the all wicked words will come back tomorrow.

The full list of very worthy winners are as follows:

.
NOVEL:

• Kirstyn McDermott, Perfections (Xoum)

LONG FICTION:

• Kaaron Warren, “Sky” (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)*

SHORT FICTION:

• Martin Livings, “Birthday Suit” (Living with the Dead, Dark Prints Press)

COLLECTION:

• Kaaron Warren, Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press)*

EDITED PUBLICATION:

• Surviving the End, ed Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press)

.
* Pro Tip: If you haven’t yet read Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren then you are totally missing out on some of the best — and I mean best — Australian gothic fiction being written today. Get thee to Twelfth Planet Press and procure thyself a copy forthwith. And if you won’t take my word for it, look: the damn book won TWO awards tonight! Go! Procure! Read! You’ll never want to go near candied almonds again, and that’s all I’m saying.

Back in Ballarat, we’ve had our first bit of publicity as Ballaratian authors, rather than Melbournians. The Courier ran a nice little piece about our award nominations with quite a respectable photo of the both of us. Even surrounded by the Fortress of Unpacked Book Boxes — that’s my To Be Read shelf behind us; the only books as yet liberated — it’s starting to feel like we’ve made a proper home here. I can’t wait until we’re finally settled in and actually have time to explore the area. There’s a second hand and collectible bookshop by the name of The Known World — complete with in-house espresso coffee bar! — that I’m just itching to check out. Will report back in due course …

And somehow, sometime soon, I’m going to have to get back to the wordsmithing. My brain, she is bursting.
.

Photo Credit: Justin Whitelock (The Courier)

.

Bouncing back refreshed and rejuvenated from their Moving House hiatus, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond launch into an almost inevitable post-move discussion about books, hoarding books, culling books, having enough books to fill a garage and too many to ever read in one lifetime, whether any of this should possibly be seen as A Problem Which Must Be Remedied, and how digital books might save the world, or at least their storage-related sanity. Just saying.

They then, with much girding of loins, move on to tackle the two books up for discussion this month: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (beginning at 14:15) and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (43.25). Kirstyn warns about the dangers of broken noses while Ian references this interview with David Foster Wallace by Charlie Rose.

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:25:15 for some brief final remarks.

There will be another brief break in April while Ian and his lovely Jules bring their second child into the world, but The Writer and the Critic will be back again in May. Promise! For that episode, Ian has recommended Some Kind of Fairytale by Graham Joyce, while Kirstyn has chosen Feed by M.T. Anderson. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

.

Of course, being as the Ditmars are not separated into different categories by genre, this nomination is all Perfections is likely to see — because MARGO LANAGAN and KATE FORSYTH. Honestly, Sea Hearts and Bitter Greens were two of the best books I read last year and if one — or both! a tie! a most deserved tie! — of those doesn’t take away a Ditmar, I’ll be flabbergasted to the point of hat-eating. If you’ve not read them, you’re doing yourself a serious disservice.  This is the contemporary fantasy genre at its very, very best. Just being on a short list with those two novels is a high honour indeed.

(And, oh look, there’s Jason Nahrung as well. Salvage getting another nod this time, which I tremendously proud to see. But still, you know, LANAGAN and FORSYTH.)

I’m also very happy to see The Writer and the Critic on the ballot for Best Fan Publication in Any Medium. I really love doing this podcast and, after the recent Moving House Hiatus, we’re about to get back in the saddle. A new episode has already been recorded and will be up in the next couple of days.

The full ballot for the 2013 Ditmar Awards is as follows:

Best Novel:

• Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
• Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth (Random House Australia)
• Suited (The Veiled Worlds 2), Jo Anderton (Angry Robot)
• Salvage, Jason Nahrung (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Perfections, Kirstyn McDermott (Xoum)
• The Corpse-Rat King, Lee Battersby (Angry Robot)

Best Novella or Novelette

• ‘Flight 404′, Simon Petrie, in Flight 404/The Hunt for Red Leicester (Peggy Bright Books)
• ‘Significant Dust’, Margo Lanagan, in Cracklescape (Twelfth Planet Press)
• ‘Sky’, Kaaron Warren, in Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Short Story

• ‘Sanaa’s Army’, Joanne Anderton, in Bloodstones (Ticonderoga Publications)
• ‘The Wisdom of Ants’, Thoraiya Dyer, in Clarkesworld 75
• ‘The Bone Chime Song’, Joanne Anderton, in Light Touch Paper Stand Clear (Peggy Bright Books)
• ‘Oracle’s Tower’, Faith Mudge, in To Spin a Darker Stair (FableCroft Publishing)

Best Collected Work

• Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Epilogue, edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)
• Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Light Touch Paper Stand Clear, edited by Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie (Peggy Bright Books)
• Midnight and Moonshine by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter, edited by Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications)
• The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

Best Artwork

• Cover art, Nick Stathopoulos, for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56 (ASIM Collective)
• Cover art, Kathleen Jennings, for Midnight and Moonshine (Ticonderoga Publications)
• Illustrations, Adam Browne, for Pyrotechnicon (Coeur de Lion Publishing)
• Cover art and illustrations, Kathleen Jennings, for To Spin a Darker Stair (FableCroft Publishing)
• Cover art, Les Petersen, for Light Touch Paper Stand Clear (Peggy Bright Books)

Best Fan Writer

• Alex Pierce, for body of work including reviews in Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work including reviews in Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth
• Grant Watson, for body of work including the ‘Who50′ series in The Angriest
• Sean Wright, for body of work including reviews in Adventures of a Bookonaut

Best Fan Artist

• Kathleen Jennings, for body of work including The Dalek Game and The Tamsyn Webb Sketchbook

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

• The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
• Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Pierce
• Antipodean SF, Ion Newcombe
• The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
• Snapshot 2012, Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge, David McDonald, Helen Merrick, Ian Mond, Jason Nahrung et. al.
• Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, et. al.
• Galactic Chat, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Sean Wright

Best New Talent

• David McDonald
• Faith Mudge
• Steve Cameron
• Stacey Larner

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

• Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge, David McDonald, and Tehani Wessely, for review of Mira Grant’s Newsflesh, in ASIF
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, for ‘Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy. Let’s Unpack That.’, in tor.com
• David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Tehani Wessely, for the ‘New Who in Conversation’ series
• Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, for ‘The Year in Review’, in The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011
• Rjurik Davidson, for ‘An Illusion in the Game for Survival’, a review of Reamde by Neal Stephenson, in The Age

∞

The official Ditmar ballot paper, including postal address information, may be downloaded as a PDF format file.

Once voting opens, votes will be accepted via email to: ditmars@sf.org.au

However, if possible, please vote online at ditmars.sf.org.au/2013

Postal ballots will be distributed in the near future.

Voting for the Ditmar Award is conducted in accordance with the rules specified at http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules, and is open to members of Conflux 9 (including supporting members) and to members of Continuum 8 who were eligible to vote in the 2011 Award. Voting in all award categories is by the optional preferential system, and each eligible individual may vote only once. All ballots (including emailed ballots) should include the name and address of the voter. If you have questions regarding the ballot or voting procedure, please email: ditmars@sf.org.au.

.

Congratulations to one and all, but especially to the remarkable Kaaron Warren who managed an impressive five finalist spots — one for her Twelve Planets collection, Through Splintered Walls, and one for each of the four stories contained within it. Very well deserved!

The Australian Shadows Award will be announced on 12 April and the full short list is as follows:

NOVEL:

• Lee Battersby, The Corpse Rat King (Angry Robot)
• Kirstyn McDermott, Perfections (Xoum)
• Jason Nahrung, Blood and Dust (Xoum)

LONG FICTION:

• Daniel I Russell, “Critique” (Dark Continents)
• Robert Hood, “Escena de un Asesinato” (Exotic Gothic 4, PS Publishing)
• Kaaron Warren, “Sky” (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)

SHORT FICTION:

• Felicity Dowker, “To Wish on a Clockwork Heart” (Bread and Circuses, Ticonderoga Publications)Jason Fischer, Pigroot Flat (Midnight Echo 8, AHWA)
• Martin Livings, “Birthday Suit” (Living with the Dead, Dark Prints Press)
• Andrew J McKiernan, “They Don’t Know that We Know What They Know” (Midnight Echo 8, AHWA)
• Kaaron Warren, “Creek” (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Kaaron Warren, “Mountain” (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Kaaron Warren, “Road” (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Marty Young, “A Monstrous Touch” (Dangers Untold, Alliteration Ink)

COLLECTION:

• Felicity Dowker, Bread and Circuses (Ticonderoga)
• Martin Livings, Living With the Dead (Dark Prints Press)
• Kaaron Warren, Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press)

EDITED PUBLICATION:

• Cthulu Unbound 3, eds David Conyers and Brian M Sammons (Permuted Press)
• Surviving the End, ed Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press)
• The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2011, eds. Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

.

The Aurealis list as a whole is actually one of the best I’ve seen in a while, with many works I’ve already read and loved making the cut, as well as others which continue to glare balefully at me from the To Be Read shelf. And, of course, there’s a whole bunch more I really want to get my hands on now, which goes to show the power of an award nomination. Interestingly, it’s also a very well-rounded list in terms of the market — there are inclusions from big publishers, small/boutique presses and digital publishers/imprints, as well as several self-published works, with publication originating both within Australia and overseas. All in all, it’s tremendously heartening to see such depth and scope being enjoyed by Australian speculative fiction.

The winners of the Aurealis Awards will be announced at ceremony hosted by SpecFaction in North Sydney on 18 May. Tickets are available at an early bird price of $30 until 31 March, after which the price goes up to $35. It will be a wonderful night, with much carousing and celebrating and catching up to be done. Please come along if you can, even if you’ve never been before and don’t know anyone. We’re a friendly and welcoming bunch, I promise!

Congratulations to all the 2012 Aurealis Award finalists:

FANTASY NOVEL

And that’s just the tip of the boxy cardboardy iceberg.

But before I finish packing up the computer, here’s a couple of things I wanted to share in case — very likely — I’m not properly back online for a while.

First, the lovely Michael Keyton has interviewed me as part of “The Rack” series over on On Fiction Writing. I chat about influences, writing rules (or lack thereof), fairy tales and other sundry matters. It was a fun interview and there are a lot of great authors already in The Rack archives, including a bunch of recent Australian additions — Lisa Hannett, Kaaron Warren, Felicity Dowker, Alan Baxter and Angela Slatter to name a handful. Oh, and some guy called Jason Nahrung. He looks kinda cute.

Secondly, the NSW Writers Centre is hosting their Speculative Fiction Festival on 16 March 2013. Directed by the inimitable Kate Forsyth once again, the day will feature a wealth of Aussie spec fic authors, editors and publishers including Juliet Marillier, Ian Irvine, Marienne de Pierres, Alison Croggon, Richard Harland, Melina Marchetta, Lisa Hannett, Garth Nix, John Flanagan, Cat Sparks, Kim Wilkins, Sophie Masson, Russell Farr, Dionne Lister, Pamela Freeman, Belinda Murrell, Ben Chandler, Kate Forsyth,  Robert Hood, Jason Nahrung — there’s that guy again — Kirstyn McDermott, Angela Slatter and Dirk Strasser. You can download the program and book tickets here.

And finally, GenreCon13 has just been announced, with the first two guests being Anita Heiss and Chuck Wendig. I attended the inaugural GenreCon last year and had a blast, so I’m quite down-in-the-mouth about not being able to go this time around, due to being over in the UK for the whole of October in the lead up to World Fantasy Con. (Yes, it’s a terrible, terrible thing. I will graciously accept your condolences.) But if you won’t be in the UK for the whole of October, you should definitely look at making your way to Brisbane for GenreCon. It’s an exciting, inclusive and all round brilliant weekend for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of genre writing and publishing.

Okay, it’s back to the Battle of the Boxes for me. Now with added shredded cuticles and bruised biceps. Hmm, the next time I post here, it will be from my new house. In Ballarat. Which I will own. (The house, not Ballarat. Well not even the house, but My Name is on the title that The Bank currently holds.)

If I say it often enough, it must be true. Right? Right?

.