Review

Matthew Farrer, author of the Shira Calpurnia omnibus The Enforcer, has posted an incredibly layered review of my story “Hive of Glass”, which appears in Gillian Polack’s “Baggage” anthology (Eneit Press).

One of the many things I love about being a writer is that moment when a reader ‘gets’ your story. A lot of people write just for themselves, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I’m one of those writers who do it for the audience as well. I want people to read my stories.

“Baggage” is launching at 1pm on Thursday, September 2, at Borders South Wharf, 20 Convention Center Place in Melbourne. If you’d like to come, let me know and I’ll add your name to the guest list. I’m told there will be classic Australian afternoon tea served!

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Worldcon, Melbourne

I’m very excited about my Worldcon Schedule!

Thursday 1pm

Launch

Baggage Anthology, Eneit Press

Borders South Wharf

20 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf

Thursday 8pm

Reading

My heart, which was always hers

The erotic horror panel. 18+ and definitely hands on, by which we mean readings, people!

Stephen Dedman, Felicity Dowker, Paul Haines, Erica Hayes, Kaaron Warren

Room 204

Friday 11am

Launch

The Girl with No Hands by Angela Slatter, Ticonderoga Publications

Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren, Ticonderoga Publications

Room 203

Friday 1pm

Panel

Write what you know!

A wise dictum. But what if you’re writing horror, or just the grim reality of history or crime? Research was never more risky than for these intrepid explorers!

Jack Dann, Chris Lawson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kaaron Warren

Room P1

Friday 3pm

Reading

From Haunted Legends

Ellen Datlow, Stephen Dedman, Kaaron Warren

Room 213

Friday 4pm

Launch

Macabre anthology, Brimstone Press

Room 203

Friday 5pm

Reading

From Dead Sea Fruit

Room 215

Friday 7pm

Ditmar Awards

Shortlisted Best Novel and Best Short Story

Room 204

Saturday 10am

Signing

Room 201

Saturday 11am
Launch
Scenes from the Second Storey, Morrigan Books
Room 203

Saturday 4pm

Panel

Finding the right voice: Accents and speech patterns

When representing different accents and ways of speaking in fiction, some authors choose to add the occasional slang term or flourish while others go to the lengths of writing entire novels in a vernacular accent. How much is too much? Is it worth sacrificing readability for authenticity? Tips, strategies and techniques for accurately representing speech in fiction.

Karen Miller, Jack Dann, Deborah Kalin, Kaaron Warren

Room 204

Sunday 1pm

Kaffeeklatsche

Room 201:

Sunday 4pm

Panel

Anachronistic attitudes: writing thought and belief in historical fiction

Writers of historical (or historically inspired) fiction often pay close attention to accuracy, ensuring the technology and fashion surrounding their stories never fall prey to anachronism – but what about the way the characters behave? What responsibility does an author have to their characters’ thought processes, beliefs and understanding of the fictional world around them?

Kaaron Warren, Robert Silverberg, Rowena Cory Daniells, Juliet Marillier, Ginjer Buchanan

Room P3

Monday 3pm

Panel

SF and the Australian landscape

The distinctive Australian landscape has been the inspiration for generations of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. How has the Australian terrain defined Australian SF in the past, and in what ways does it define it today? A look at our country’s landscape through the lens of our writers and artists.

Tiki Swain, Kaaron Warren, Annette Schneider, Gillian Polack

Room 216

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Dead Sea Fruit

Angela Slatter and I, it seems, have books to launch at Worldcon. Here’s Russ Farr, our wonderful publisher, holding the evidence.

Yep, that’s my “Dead Sea Fruit” and Angela Slatter’s “Girl with No Hands and Other Tales”.

We’ll be launching both books at Worldcon. For those who won’t make it, they are available for preorder:

Buy Dead Sea Fruit here.
Buy The Girl With no Hands and other tales here.

I can’t wait to start signing these babies!

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Podcast

South Africa, North America and Australia talk! Here’s me, Lauren Beukes and Mur Lafferty, chatting across the time zones in the Angry Robot Podcast. It’s my first podcast, so be kind.

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Kids ask the questions

Here’s a chance to find out what my kids want to ask me about writing! Gillian Polack has posted an interview where they got to ask half the questions.

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Reviews

A couple of new reviews for Slights.

Mark Deniz at Beyond Fiction recently re-published The Blue Stream, my second story in print and one I’m inordinately proud of. He reviews Slights here.

Gnostalgia is a very interesting review and commentary site, and Barry gives Slights 5 out of 5!

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Ditmar Awards

The Ditmar Award nominations are out and a damn fine list it is too!

Official:
The Ditmar subcommittee are pleased to announce that voting for the Australian SF (“Ditmar”) Award for 2010 is now open, and will remain
open until one minute before midnight Perth time on Wednesday, 1st of September, 2010 (ie. 11.59pm, GMT+8).

Best Novel

* Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin)
* Liar, Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury)
* World Shaker, Richard Harland (Allen & Unwin)
* Slights, Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot Books)
* Life Through Cellophane, Gillian Polack (Eneit Press)

Best Novella or Novelette

* “Siren Beat”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth Planet Press)
* “Black Water”, David Conyers (Jupiter Magazine)
* “After the World: Gravesend”, Jason Fischer (Black House Comics)
* “Horn”, Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)
* “Wives”, Paul Haines (X6/Couer de Lion)

Best Short Story

* “The Piece of Ice in Ms Windermere’s Heart”, Angela Slatter (New Ceres
Nights, Twelfth Planet Press)
* “Six Suicides”, Deborah Biancotti (A Book of Endings, Twelfth Planet
Press)
* “Black Peter”, Marty Young (Festive Fear, Tasmaniac Publications)
* “Seventeen”, Cat Sparks (Masques, CSFG)
* “Tontine Mary”, Kaaron Warren (New Ceres Nights, Twelfth Planet Press)
* “Prosperine When it Sizzles”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (New Ceres Nights,
Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Collected Work

* The New Space Opera 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois
(HarperCollins)
* New Ceres Nights, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Tehani Wessely
(Twelfth Planet Press)
* Slice Of Life, Paul Haines, edited by Geoffrey Maloney (The Mayne
Press)
* A Book of Endings, edited by Deborah Biancotti, Alisa Krasnostein and
Ben Payne (Twelfth Planet Press)
* Eclipse Three, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Night Shade Books)

Best Artwork

* Cover art, New Ceres Nights (Twelfth Planet Press), Dion Hamill
* Cover art, The Whale’s Tale (Peggy Bright Books), Eleanor Clarke
* Cover art and illustrations, Shards: Short Sharp Tales (Brimstone
Press), Andrew J. McKiernan
* Cover art, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #42, Lewis Morley
* Cover art, “Horn” (Twelfth Planet Press), Dion Hamill
* Cover art, Masques (CSFG), Mik Bennett

Best Fan Writer

* Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work
* Chuck McKenzie, for work in Horrorscope
* Robert Hood, for Undead Backbrain (roberthood.net/blog)
* Tehani Wessely, for body of work
* Bruce Gillespie, for work in Steam Engine Time

Best Fan Artist

* Dave Schembri, for work in Midnight Echo
* Kathleen Jennings, for body of work
* Dick Jenssen, for body of work

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

* Interstellar Ramjet Scoop , edited by Bill Wright
* A Writer Goes on a Journey (awritergoesonajourney.com), edited by
Nyssa Pascoe et al
* ASif! (asif.dreamhosters.com), edited by Alisa Krasnostein, Gene
Melzack et al
* Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet (bullsheet.sf.org.au), edited by
Edwina Harvey and Ted Scribner
* Steam Engine Time , edited by Bruce Gillespie and Janine Stinson

Best Achievement

* Alisa Krasnostein, Liz Grzyb, Tehani Wessely, Cat Sparks and Kate
Williams, for the New Ceres Nights booklaunch
* H. Gibbens, for the Gamers’ Quest CGI-animated book trailer
* Ruth Jenkins and Cathy Jenkins-Rutherford, for the children’s program
at Conjecture
* Amanda Rainey, for the cover design of Siren Beat/Roadkill (Twelfth
Planet Press)
* Gillian Polack et al, for the Southern Gothic banquet at Conflux

Best New Talent

* Pete Kempshall
* Kathleen Jennings
* Thoraiya Dyer
* Jason Fischer
* Simon Petrie
* Christopher Green
* Peter M. Ball

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

* Chuck McKenzie, for “The Dead Walk! … Into a Bookstore Near You” (Eye
of Fire #1, Brimstone Press)
* Ian Mond, for reviews on his blog (mondyboy.livejournal.com)
* Grant Watson, for reviews and articles for Eiga: Asian Cinema
(www.eigaasiancinema.com)
* Helen Merrick, for The Secret Feminist Cabal: a cultural history of
science fiction feminisms (Aqueduct Press)

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

http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2010/2010_Ditmar_Ballot.pdf

Votes can be sent via email to:

ditmars@sf.org.au

Online voting will be available shortly, at:

http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2010

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Slights review

One of the things I love about reading reviews of my books and stories is the different things people pick up on.

Poppet, who reviews Slights at her website Poppet’s Planet, says this:

“….One in particular is a metaphor including a see-saw. You cannot find balance unless you work with the person on the other side. Always pushing up when you’re on the bottom. You can’t focus on just one end, because that process doesn’t work if you’re alone.”

Poppet’s talking about a couple of parts of the book. One is a memory of early childhood

Somewhere at the back was a see-saw; I can remember playing on it for a short while. I found it so boring, just up, down, up, down, nothing to look at but Peter’s silly face.

He loved going up, didn’t like going down.

“Going up you might be able to fly, you can lift your arms and might be a bird. Going down you land with a bump or squash your legs, and then you have to push up again.” I watched his face, swapping joy for anticipation and I was only three, I copied him.

and the other has Stevie’s brother, Peter, a motivational speaker, use this childhood experience in his lectures:

Peter used his childhood experience with our see-saw as an analogy, a motivational tool for stirring people to action. He honed it over the years, though he never mentioned me. I don’t know who people pictured on the other side of the see-saw. A best friend, uncle, cousin, a different kind of sibling perhaps. I think his analogy failed there; he should have talked about balance, how good comes with bad, work comes with rest, and these things occur because there is another person on the other side of the see-saw.

He said, on the rostrum, “I like to go up, not so much to go down. But even going down is good, because it is the push which helps us reach the top.”

I love that Poppet has commented on this, because to me it shows a deeper part of Stevie’s nature, and I’m glad she noticed!

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