science fiction and fantasy author

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Tin Duck win

Over the last six months, I have written exactly one story. To be precise, I have rewritten this story – I initially worked on This Silent Sea over the last span of time before my daughter was born last year, at which time it was a short story (and for me, mostly an exercise in trying to write a story to a limited word count).

The last few months of my pregnancy were hard, and the first few months of my daughter’s life were harder (I do not do well, either physically or mentally, with the sleep deprivation that goes with having a newborn). When an opportunity came up for me to publish something in Review of Australian Fiction, I initially hesitated. I wasn’t coping well. I was exhausted, I was dealing with postnatal depression and another baby who has reflux and wasn’t a good sleeper. But I said yes, because I knew I had This Silent Sea waiting there ready, and all I had to do was read over it and send it in. Simple.

Except apparently even in an exhausted state, my brain doesn’t work like that. I started tweaking, and I started expanding. Eventually I gave in and just rewrote the whole thing, expanding it from a short story to a novelette. I got feedback from beta readers, and with the help of my husband and mother, I snatched time as much as I could, and I rewrote and I rewrote.

It wasn’t a sane decision. By the end of it, when I sent in the story (almost literally at the last minute), I was worn too thin, but I was proud of what I’d written.

This Silent Sea was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award (which it didn’t win, but honestly, I can’t complain about losing to Tansy Rayner Roberts, and if you haven’t read her novella, Girl Reporter, which did win that category, you should do so, for it is most excellent). It did win the 2018 Tin Duck Award for Best Western Australian professional short written work.

I was organised with a thank you speech for the Aurealis Awards, but not for the Tin Ducks, but thankfully Russell Farr of Ticonderoga Press accepted the award for me and conveyed my thanks (and thank you to him for accepting and delivering the award, and to everyone who coted). For posterity, I want to paste the speech I sent in for the Aurealis Awards here, because good people need to be acknowledged and it is just as relevant to the Tin Ducks.

The original incarnation of this story was written while I was heavily pregnant with my daughter, and was influenced heavily by that state of waiting, feeling her moving and turning in her own silent sea. The story was later expanded and further developed after Emily had entered the world, written in a fevered haze of sleeplessness, exhaustion and postnatal depression and as a result, has been one of the most difficult things I have ever worked on. Just having this story shortlisted for an Aurealis Award is a huge thing, and winning is something else entirely. Thanks have to go primarily to my mother and husband and son, all of whom pitched in to help while I was madly working on the expansion of the story. Thanks also to Matthew Lamb and Phil Crowley at the Review of Australian Fiction for publishing This Silent Sea, and to Deborah Biancotti, with whom I shared the issue and whose insightful editing and suggestions made it so much better than it was. Thanks also to Pia van Ravestein for being the best critique partner anyone could hope for, and to Anica Boulanger-Mashberg, copy editor for RAF who went above and beyond. I’d also like to acknowledge the judging panel and everyone involved with the Aurealis Awards, most especially Tehani, whose tireless work is so much appreciated. I’d like to dedicate this win to my son Liam and daughter Emily. May the stars always shine on them.

 

 

 

Awards, hurrah!

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And so All The Awards (for now!) have happened, with the Aurealis, Ditmar and Tin Duck awards all being handed out this weekend.

I had my first experience of being nominated for an Aurealis Award, for my stories, The Flowers that Bloom Where Blood Touches Earth from Bloodlines, and Broken Glass from Hear Me Roar,  in the best fantasy novella category.  I’m really excited in general to see the new novella categories, and totally chuffed to have a story nominated in one.  Jason Fischer took home the award for his story, Defy The Grey Kings, and I can’t complain in the least about that.

But Bloodlines as a whole did bring home an Aurealis, for Best Anthology.  Huge congratulations to our editor extraordinaire, Amanda Pillar, and to Ticonderoga, for that win.  It’s a great anthology, and if you haven’t read it, you’d do well to pick it up.

The Tin Ducks – the Western Australian science fiction awards – were announced last night at Swancon, and I’m quite gobsmacked at the fact that I won best short story for The Flowers that Bloom Where Blood Touches Earth.  I feel like I should apologise for the length of that title to everyone who’s had to type it out, too 😉

Huge congratulations to everyone who was nominated for all of the awards, and all of the winners.  And many thanks to all of the judges and organisers and voter who put in their time for all of the awards.

2015 Aurealis Awards shortlists announced

The 2015 Aurealis Awards shortlists have been announced!  I convened the Best Science Fiction Novel panel this year, and I’m also a nominee!

The two stories I had published last year are both shortlisted for the Best Fantasy Novella award (do I have to duke it out with myself now?) and the anthologies they were in, Bloodlines and Hear Me Roar are both shortlisted for the Best Anthology.  Also up for Best Anthology is Ticonderoga’s Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2014, which reprinted my story, Escapement.

Huge thanks to all of the judges and the committee, and congratulations to all of the nominees.  Thanks also to the editors who published my work!

I’m particularly excited by the list for the first Sara DouglassBook Series Award and in serious awe of the amount of reading that panel had to do!

The full list, taken from the Aurealis Awards website:

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION

A Week Without Tuesday, Angelica Banks (Allen & Unwin)

The Cut-Out, Jack Heath (Allen & Unwin)

A Single Stone, Meg McKinlay (Walker Books Australia)

Bella and the Wandering House, Meg McKinlay (Fremantle Press)

The Mapmaker Chronicles: Prisoner of the Black Hawk, A.L. Tait (Hachette Australia)

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK

The Undertaker Morton Stone Vol.1, Gary Chaloner, Ben Templesmith, and Ashley Wood (Gestalt)

The Diemenois, Jamie Clennett (Hunter Publishers)

Unmasked Vol.1: Going Straight is No Way to Die, Christian Read (Gestalt)

The Singing Bones, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)

Fly the Colour Fantastica, various authors (Veriko Operative)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

“In Sheep’s Clothing”, Kimberly Gaal (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #61)

“The Nexus Tree”, Kimberly Gaal (The Never Never Land, CSFG)

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

“The Heart of the Labyrinth”, DK Mok (In Memory: A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett, Sorin Suciu)

“Blueblood”, Faith Mudge (Hear Me Roar, Ticonderoga Publications)

Welcome to Orphancorp, Marlee Jane Ward (Seizure)

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY

“Bullets”, Joanne Anderton (In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep, AHWA)

“Consorting with Filth”, Lisa L Hannett (Blurring the Line, Cohesion Press)

“Heirloom Pieces”, Lisa L Hannett (Apex Magazine, Apex Publications)

“The Briskwater Mare”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)

“Breaking Windows”, Tracie McBride (Aurealis #84)

“Self, Contained”, Kirstyn McDermott (The Dark, TDM Press)

BEST HORROR NOVELLA

“Night Shift”, Dirk Flinthart (Striking Fire, FableCroft Publishing)

“The Cherry Crow Children of Haverny Wood”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)

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

“Wages of Honey”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)

“Sleepless”, Jay Kristoff (Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, Penguin)

“Ripper”, Angela Slatter (Horrorology, Jo Fletcher Books)

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY

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

“The Jellyfish Collector”, Michelle Goldsmith (Review of Australian Fiction Vol. 13 Issue 6)

“A Shot of Salt Water”, Lisa L Hannett (The Dark, TDM Press)

“Almost Days”, DK Mok (Insert Title Here, FableCroft Publishing)

“Blueblood”, Faith Mudge (Hear Me Roar, Ticonderoga Publications)

“Husk and Sheaf”, Suzanne Willis (SQ Mag 22, IFWG Publishing Australia)

BEST FANTASY NOVELLA

“Lodloc and The Bear”, Steve Cameron (Dimension6, coeur de lion)

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

“Broken Glass”, Stephanie Gunn (Hear Me Roar, Ticonderoga Publications)

“The Flowers that Bloom Where Blood Touches the Earth”, Stephanie Gunn (Bloodlines, Ticonderoga Publications)

“Haunting Matilda”, Dmetri Kakmi (Cthulhu: Deep Down Under, Horror Australis)

“Of Sorrow and Such”, Angela Slatter (Tor.com)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

“2B”, Joanne Anderton (Insert Title Here, Fablecroft)

“The Marriage of the Corn King”, Claire McKenna (Cosmos)

“Alchemy and Ice”, Charlotte Nash (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #61)

“Witnessing”, Kaaron Warren (The Canary Press Story Magazine #6)

“All the Wrong Places”, Sean Williams (Meeting Infinity, Solaris)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA

“Blood and Ink”, Jack Bridges, Prizm Books

“The Molenstraat Music Festival”, Sean Monaghan (Asimov’s Science Fiction)

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

BEST COLLECTION

The Abandonment of Grace and Everything Thereafter, Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press)

Striking Fire, Dirk Flinthart (FableCroft Publishing)

Cherry Crow Children, Deborah Kalin (Twelfth Planet Press)

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

The Fading, Carole Nomarhas (self-published)

The Finest Ass in the Universe, Anna Tambour (Ticonderoga Publications)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

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 Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 9, Jonathan Strahan (ed.) (Solaris)

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

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin)

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)

The Fire Sermon, Francesca Haig (HarperVoyager)

Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)

Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)

The Hush, Skye Melki-Wagner (Penguin Random House Australia)

BEST HORROR NOVEL

No Shortlist Released

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin)

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)

Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)

The Dagger’s Path, Glenda Larke (Hachette Australia)

Tower Of Thorns, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Skin, Ilka Tampke (Text Publishing)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Crossed, Evelyn Blackwell (self-published)

Clade, James Bradley (Penguin)

Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)

Their Fractured Light, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)

Renegade, Joel Shepherd (Kindle Direct)

Twinmaker: Fall, Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin)

SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin [The King’s Bastard (2010), The Uncrowned King(2010), The Usurper (2010), The King’s Man (2012), King Breaker (2013)], Rowena Cory Daniells (Solaris Press)

The Watergivers [The Last Stormlord (2009), Stormlord Rising (2010), Stormlord’s Exile(2011)], Glenda Larke (HarperVoyager)

The Lumatere Chronicles [Finnikin of the Rock (2008), Froi of the Exiles (2011), Quintana of Charyn (2012)], Melina Marchetta (Penguin Random House)

Sevenwaters [Daughter of the Forest (2000), Son of the Shadows (2001), Child of the Prophecy(2002), Heir to Sevenwaters (2009), Seer of Sevenwaters (2011), Flame of Sevenwaters (2013)], Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)

The Laws of Magic [Blaze Of Glory (2007), Heart Of Gold (2007), Word Of Honour (2008),  Time Of Trial (2009), Moment Of Truth (2010), Hour Of Need (2011)], Michael Pryor (Random House Australia)

Creature Court [Power and Majesty (2010), Shattered City (2011), Reign of Beasts (2012)], Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperVoyager)

Ditmar ballot 2015 announced

The Ditmar ballot for 2015 has been announced.  You can see the ballot here, and if you’re eligible to vote for the awards, you can do so here.

I’m kind of stunned that my weird steampunk dystopia Escapement has made it to the novella/novelette ballot.  I doubt I have a hope in hell of winning, given who I’m up against, but I am chuffed to be nominated.  And I also snuck in on the Best Fan Publication as part of Snapshot.

Best Novel

  • The Lascar’s Dagger, Glenda Larke (Hachette)
  • Bound (Alex Caine 1), Alan Baxter (Voyager)
  • Clariel, Garth Nix (HarperCollins)
  • Thief’s Magic (Millennium’s Rule 1), Trudi Canavan (Hachette Australia)
  • The Godless (Children 1), Ben Peek (Tor UK)
  • No Award

Best Novella or Novelette

  • “The Ghost of Hephaestus”, Charlotte Nash, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
  • “The Legend Trap”, Sean Williams, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “The Darkness in Clara”, Alan Baxter, in SQ Mag 14 (IFWG Publishing Australia)
  • “St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls”, Angela Slatter, in Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3 (Review of Australian Fiction)
  • “The Female Factory”, Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter, in The Female Factory (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “Escapement”, Stephanie Gunn, in Kisses by Clockwork (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • No Award

Best Short Story

  • “Bahamut”, Thoraiya Dyer, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
  • “Vanilla”, Dirk Flinthart, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “Cookie Cutter Superhero”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • “The Seventh Relic”, Cat Sparks, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
  • “Signature”, Faith Mudge, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • No Award

Best Collected Work

  • Kaleidoscope, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Phantazein, edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)
  • No Award

Best Artwork

  • Illustrations, Kathleen Jennings, in Black-Winged Angels (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Cover art, Kathleen Jennings, of Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
  • Illustrations, Kathleen Jennings, in The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings (Tartarus Press)
  • No Award

Best Fan Writer

  • Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work
  • Tsana Dolichva, for body of work
  • Bruce Gillespie, for body of work
  • Katharine Stubbs, for body of work
  • Alexandra Pierce for body of work
  • Grant Watson, for body of work
  • Sean Wright, for body of work
  • No Award

Best Fan Artist

  • Nalini Haynes, for body of work, including “Interstellar Park Ranger Bond, Jaime Bond”, “Gabba and Slave Lay-off: Star Wars explains Australian politics”, “The Driver”, and “Unmasked” in Dark Matter Zine
  • Kathleen Jennings, for body of work, including Fakecon art and Illustration Friday series
  • Nick Stathopoulos, for movie poster of It Grows!
  • No Award

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

  • Snapshot 2014, Tsana Dolichva, Nick Evans, Stephanie Gunn, Kathryn Linge, Elanor Matton-Johnson, David McDonald, Helen Merrick, Jason Nahrung, Ben Payne, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Helen Stubbs, Katharine Stubbs, Tehani Wessely, and Sean Wright
  • It Grows!, Nick Stathopoulos
  • Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch
  • The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
  • Galactic Chat, Sean Wright, Helen Stubbs, David McDonald, Alexandra Pierce, Sarah Parker, and Mark Webb
  • No Award

Best New Talent

  • Helen Stubbs
  • Shauna O’Meara
  • Michelle Goldsmith
  • No Award

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

  • Reviews in The Angriest, Grant Watson
  • The Eddings Reread series, Tehani Wessely, Jo Anderton, and Alexandra Pierce, in A Conversational Life
  • Reviews in Adventures of a Bookonaut, Sean Wright
  • “Does Sex Make Science Fiction Soft?”, in Uncanny Magazine 1, Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • Reviews in FictionMachine, Grant Watson
  • The Reviewing New Who series, David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Tehani Wessely
  • No Award

Tin Duck!

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My tin duck has safely winged its way to me, courtesy of the wonderful Stephanie Bateman-Graham (who graciously accepted on my behalf).

Kudos to whoever was in charge of designing the award this year. It looks most shiny on the shelf above my writing desk.

Tin Duck!

Soooo, I kind of won a Tin Duck last night.  Second time winning for Fan Writer.

(for those not in WA or Australia, the Tin Ducks are the Western Australian science fiction achievement awards – this years nominations can be found here; I’m guessing the wiki will be updated with the winners when everyone is home from Swancon).

I am very chuffed that my friend Pia van Ravestein won the short fiction category for her short story Street Dancer.  I beta read that story, and I still think of the cat in it (and the world, but hey, the cat kind of won my heart) all the time.

 

 

Ditmar nominations announced

The Ditmar nominations have just been announced (full list here).  Very pleased to see some great works on there.

Very chuffed indeed to see Fablecroft’s Epilogue on there, too, since it contains a story by me! (Ghosts, for those playing along at home).

Tin Duck nomination!

Thanks to Martin Livings posting the link to the voting form over on Facebook, I discovered that I’ve been nominated for a Tin Duck Award (the WA SF awards) for my short story, The Skin of the World, which was published in Ticonderoga Press’s Bloodstones last year.

You can see the full ballot here (and vote if you’re eligible!)

Tin Duck Awards winners 2012

A full list of award winners:

Best WA Fan Production: Villaincon produced by John Parker.

Best WA Fan Written Work : Reviews at ASif! by Stephanie Gunn.

Best WA Professional Production : Nightsiders produced by Alisa Krasnostein; Twelfth Planet Press.

Best WA Professional Art Work: Part of Something Bigger by Christina Lorenz.

Best WA Professional Short Written Work : The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker by Martin Livings (cowritten with Talie Helene); published in More Scary Kisses from Ticonderoga Publications.

Best WA Professional Long Written Work:– Nightsiders by Sue Isle; published by Twelfth Planet Press.

 

 

In which the squee continues (ZOMG I won a Tin Duck)

Eee I won a Tin Duck (the WA SF awards) for my work reviewing for ASiF!

Congrats to all the other winners, and thank you to everyone who nominated and voted!

(I will update with a full list of award winners when I find one).

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