Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror

Here's a press release from Ticonderoga Publications: 


CONTENTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE YEAR'S BEST AUSTRALIAN
FANTASY & HORROR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ticonderoga Publications is walking on sunshine to announce the contents for its inaugural The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and
Horror anthology.

Editors Liz Grzyb and Talie
Helene have produced a list of 33 excellent 
tales by some of
Australia's biggest names as well as some emerging writers.

The
anthology collects 150,000 words of the best stories published last 
year from the Antipodes.

"We're pleased with the number
of fabulous stories that were published 
in 2010 that we had to
choose from,” Liz Grzyb said.

"You could hold this
anthology up against any international collection - 
Australians rock
for diverse voices, imagination, and compelling 
writing," Talie
Helene added.

The stories are (alphabetically by writer):

RJ Astruc: “Johnny and Babushka”
Peter M Ball: “L’esprit de L’escalier”
Alan Baxter: “The King’s Accord”
Jenny Blackford: “Mirror”
Gitte Christensen: “A Sweet Story”
Matthew Chrulew: “Schubert By Candlelight”
Bill Congreve: “Ghia Likes Food”
Rjurik Davidson: “Lovers In Caeli-Amur”
Felicity Dowker: “After the Jump”
Dale Elvy: “Night Shift”
Jason Fischer: “The School Bus”
Dirk Flinthart: “Walker”
Bob Franklin: “Children’s Story”
Christopher Green: “Where We Go To Be Made Lighter”
Paul Haines: “High Tide At Hot Water Beach”
Lisa L. Hannett: “Soil From My Fingers”
Stephen Irwin: “Hive”
Gary Kemble: “Feast Or Famine”
Pete Kempshall: “Brave Face”
Tessa Kum: “Acception”
Martin Livings: “Home”
Maxine McArthur: “A Pearling Tale”
Kirstyn McDermott: “She Said”
Andrew McKiernan: “The Memory Of Water”
Ben Peek: “White Crocodile Jazz”
Simon Petrie: “Dark Rendezvous”
Lezli Robyn: “Anne-droid of Green Gables”
Angela Rega: “Slow Cookin’ “
Angela Slatter: “The Bone Mother”
Angela Slatter & Lisa L Hannett: “The February Dragon”
Grant Stone: “Wood”
Kaaron Warren: “That Girl”
Janeen Webb: “Manifest Destiny”

In addition to the above
incredible tales, the volume will include a 
review of 2010 and a
list of recommended stories.

The editors will shortly begin
reading for the second volume of The 
Year's Best Fantasy and
Horror. Details are available from the 
Ticonderoga Publications
website http://ticonderogapublications.com.

The anthology is scheduled for publication in June 2011. The
anthology 
will be available in hardcover, ebook and trade editions
and may be 
pre-ordered at http://indiebooksonline.com.

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Swancon/Natcon

This time next week I’ll be in Perth! Here’s my schedule for Swancon/Natcon:

Thursday 9.30pm

Ballroom

Seeing Green – natural imagery in fantastic fiction

with Glenda Larke, Kaaron Warren

 

This is going to be an interesting panel. We’ll be talking about how to manage the elements in your fiction, and ensure that they don’t take over from the story. Amongst other things. Glenda is a fascinating woman with so much knowledge I’ll probably sit and listen to her if I can!

 

 

 

Friday  3pm

Plaza 1

Darkness Beyond Borders

with Kaaron Warren, Kirstyn McDermott, Ellen Datlow and Paul Haines

 

Looking forward to tearing up the borders with these brilliant writers and editors.

 

 

 

Friday 4pm

Mosman Bay

Dead Eyes: Dolls and Simulcra in Horror

with Stephen Dedman, Jason Nahrung, Kaaron Warren, and Robert Hood

 

Creepy, creepy dolls and things coming to life. I’m having nightmares just preparing for this panel!

 

 

 

Friday 8.30 pm

Mosman Bay

“A Positive” Screening with Kaaron Warren

 

Really excited about this. “A Positive” is the short movie made by Bearcage Productions, based on my short story of the same name. I’ve seen it on a medium screen, and had a disastrous showing when the organizer forgot to set up speakers, so I’m so looking forward to seeing it at Swancon. If people are interested, afterwards I can talk about the process of taking it to the screen.

 

 

 

Saturday 9.30 am

Plaza 1

Romance Writers 2: Finishing The Story

with Kaaron Warren

 

This is a workshop where I’ll talk about how to finish a story, as it states! I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve so if you have that story itching for an ending, come along.

 

 

 

Saturday 2pm

Plaza 3

Ellen Datlow Interviewed by Kaaron Warren

 

I know I keep saying I’m excited, but I am excited about talking to Ellen Datlow about some of my favourites stories Ellen has edited. I’ve loved her work for about 20 years, and we’ll talk about five or six stories I will never, ever forget. There’ll be time for audience questions afterwards.

 

 

 

Sunday 3pm

Plaza 3

Writing Abroad

with Glenda Larke, Kaaron Warren, Simon Brown and Cristy Burne

 

I’ve been back from Fiji for 18 months, but the experience will never leave me.

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Early story sale

One of the first stories I sold was “Working for the God of the Love of Money”. It was slated to appear in “Horror”, a magazine edited by Stephen Studach. I still remember his letter to me (this was before email was boss!). He told me it was one of the best horror stories he’d read. This is the sort of thing you need to hear early in your career, and it stood me in good stead from then on. Those words helped me to believe that other people wanted to read my stories. I knew I wanted to write, and would do so regardless. But Stephen buying that story, and telling me how much he loved it, cemented for me that I wanted to write and be published.

Stephen has published a review at Chizine of “The Glass Woman”, the US edition of my first short story collection. He still thinks I can write! In fact, he calls me the Kate Bush of Australian dark fantasy!

 

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