WSFA Shortlisting.

Congratulations to some friends on their nominations for the WSFA Small Press Award.

David McDonald is a crit buddy and a friend. I'm thrilled his story, Set Your Face Towards the Darkness, published in Tales of Australia: Great Southern Land (Satalyte Press), has been shortlisted. Congratulations David, and to Stephen Ormsby, the publisher, who struck twice from the same anthology. Sean McMullen is also on the list.

Tehani Wessely, publisher of FableCroft scored a shortlisting with a story by DK Mok, from the anthology One Small Step. Congratulations, Tehani and DK.

Eric J. Guignard won the Bram Stoker Award for editing After Death. Now Jonathan Shipley has been shortlisted with his story from that collection. Congratulations Eric and Jonathan.

And congratulations to all the others on their nominations.

This annual award, administered by the Washington Science Fiction Association, is highly regarded. According to their press release:

The WSFA Small Press Award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2013). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story. 

A Professional Geek From Melbourne.

In 2011 I contacted the Continuum people and offered to run a panel on my favourite SF writer, Philip K. Dick. I automatically invited Bruce Gillespie (editor of the fabulous The Electric Shepherd) to join me, then sat back to see what happened.

Someone with a strange name was then allocated the panel, then had to withdraw, and then another (with a more 'normal' name) was assigned. I think we may have emailed a little beforehand, but I do recall the night before the panel when David McDonald introduced himself to me. He asked me how the panel was to run, and I briefly explained very little (as it was all PowerPoint based and quite logical in order).

The next day Bruce, David and I ran a very successful and interesting PKD session. Bruce, of course, was wonderful as always. But I owe much of that success to the insights and thoughts of David.  Afterwards we chatted, and it turned out we not only had some same acquaintances in the 'real world, but had similar backgrounds with matching reference points. So I sat in on a Dr. Who panel he'd organised, a wonderfully emotive Sarah Jane tribute, and found that he had a similar approach and attention to quality and detail that I had.

Afterwards, David bought me a coffee, and I impressed him with my...  well, everything.

Over the past year or so, David and I have become firm friends. We've become crit buddies, shared good news and bad, and built a mutual respect for each other's work and approach to writing. We have similar philosophies, morals and ethics.

Oh, and he'll always remind me of the crit session I conducted on Cold Comfort (from Epilogue) at Conflux mere hours before the submission deadline. You see, he was plying me with drinks and one thing led to another... But that's a story for future panels when we are both deservedly recognised for our abilities and writing credentials.

David is an up-and-coming writer whose work deserves attention. He's a great guy, a good friend and a fabulous writer. He was deservedly nominated for the "William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review" (along with Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely) for the “Reviewing New Who” series. And I'm proud to share the Epilogue TOC with him. Check him out here.

And don't believe a word he says about Canberra. What happened at Conflux, stayed at Conflux.

I've Been Snapshotted.

Yes, as an English teacher I know that's not the correct word,  but it seems to be the term a number of other participants have used when their interview has gone live as part of Snapshot 2012.

I was privileged to have been invited to participate, and to be interviewed by Tehani Wessely of FableCroft. (The editor of the terrific anthology, Epilogue)

You can find my interview here.

But don't forget to check out all the interviews, hosted on the following sites. They truly are fantastic.

http://thebooknut.wordpress.com/tag/2012snapshot/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/tag/2012snapshot/
http://helenm.posterous.com/tag/2012snapshot
http://bookonaut.blogspot.com.au/search/label/2012Snapshot
http://www.davidmcdonaldspage.com/tag/2012snapshot/
tansyrr.com/tansywp/tag/2012snapshot/
www.champagneandsocks.com/tag/2012snapshot/
http://randomalex.net/tag/2012snapshot/
http://jasonnahrung.com/tag/2012snapshot/
http://mondyboy.com/?tag=2012snapshot

Epilogue.

Epilogue, including my story 'Fireflies', is now available for pre-order. Congratulations to Tehani Wessely of FableCroft for herding the strays and bringing this beast home, and to Amanda Rainey for the wonderful cover. The launch will be at Continuum 8 in June. Pre-order for $19.95. (including postage within Australia) Bargain!

Just look at the names on the TOC. Personally, I can't wait to read it.

Table of Contents – Epilogue

“A memory trapped in light” by Joanne Anderton
“Time and tide” by Lyn Battersby

“Fireflies” by Steve Cameron

“Sleeping Beauty” by Thoraiya Dyer
“The Fletcher Test” by Dirk Flinthart
“Ghosts” by Stephanie Gunn
“Sleepers” by Kaia Landelius
“Solitary” by Dave Luckett
“Cold comfort” by David McDonald
“The Mornington Ride” by Jason Nahrung
“What books survive” by Tansy Rayner Roberts
“The last good town” by Elizabeth Tan

Nominated.

Boy, that came out of the blue!

I certainly didn't expect to be nominated for Best New Talent in this year's Ditmar Awards. Thank you to all those who voted. And congratulations to Jo Anderton and Alan Baxter, who also happen to be shortlisted with me. Both writers produce great pieces, and are really cool in person.

I also need to mention my crit buddy, David McDonald, who has been nominated for the William Atheling Jr Award, as part of a team alongside Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely. Well done and congratulations.

And congratulations to everyone else who made the list. It's great to be recognised and receive validation by being shortlisted at national level. I, for one, really appreciate it.

Interplanetary Remix, Take 444.

But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

(You Can't Always Get What You Want - Jagger/Richards)

We all need God above
We all need a little time
We all need money and love
But when we got all we need, it's never enough

(Rodeo Drive - Terry Scott Taylor)

Santa Claus is comin' and the kids are gettin' greedy
It's Christmas time
They know what's in the stores because they've seen it on the TV
It's Christmas time

(Christmastime - Larry Norman)

I need a new car. I need a new phone. I need a bigger house.

I'm an English teacher. And as such, I sometimes recognise we confuse the words need and want. How about those in the world who really need things. Like clean water, food, education, peace, freedom and so on.

A couple of years ago Arran and I came up with an idea. Rather than give each other Christmas cards and small presents (usually chocolate - which I really don't need more of) we have a communal card which we all sign for each other. And then we donate the money we've saved on cards and gifts to Oxfam. This year we raised closed to a thousand dollars, and 'purchased' 6 donkeys and 2 goats.

Personally, I know what I want, but what do I need? (And I won't list those things that I think I need - otherwise I'd sound trite and cliched.)

Since this is a writer's blog, I certainly want to publish more. And I do need my friends.

So, in no real order, writerly thanks to Arran and Peter (friends, colleagues and first-readers).

Thanks to David McDonald (new friend, comrade-in-arms, peer and crit-buddy).

Thanks to Gitte Christensen (comrade-in-arms, encourager and peer).

Thanks to Paul Haines (friend, mentor and music buddy).

Thanks to editors and publishers who have taken a chance with my work over the past 12 months (Keith Stevenson, Tehani Wessely & Jodi Cleghorn).

Thanks to writers, editors, fellow travellers and readers I was published alongside, people I met on forums, at cons, workshops, festivals, meetings, discussion groups and book launches. (Too many to mention)

Thanks to my family and my in-laws (encouragers, and ever-proud).

Thanks to my best friend, Fenna (encourager, motivator, dreamer, teacher and critic).

Mostly, thanks to my wife, Lindsey. (for absolutely everything).

Have a Merry Christmas. And I hope you get what you need.

Epilogue's Table Of Contents.

I'm thrilled to be part of Fablecroft's 'Epilogue' (working title: Apocalypse Hope). Edited by Tehani Wessely, this anthology collects stories set after an apocalypse, but each with an element of hope.

And check out this TOC:

“Time and tide” by Lyn Battersby

“Fireflies” by Steve Cameron

“Sleeping Beauty” by Thoraiya Dyer
“The Fletcher Test” by Dirk Flinthart
“Ghosts” by Stephanie Gunn
“Sleepers” by Kaia Landelius
“Solitary” by Dave Luckett
“Losses beyond the kill point” by Kathleen Martin
“Cold comfort” by David McDonald
“Mornington Ride” by Jason Nahrung
“The last good town” by Elizabeth Tan

Excited much?  Fablecroft is a publisher I've been hungry for, just to have Tehani choose to include my work.

Due June 2012.

A Most Excellent Week.

Yes, I'm still grinning. Anywhere But Earth is beautiful, lovely to look at and hold. And now that I'm reading it, I find it even more delightful (and I haven't even reached my story yet!)

It seems to be doing well on Amazon, having climbed many thousands in their ranking system (although that could reflect only a handful of sales) and has broken into the top 100 of Amazon's SF Anthology list.

It's available in eBook and paperback here.

And, of course, I'm heading up to Sydney for the launch next Saturday. (info here) Hope to see you there.

But beyond that, I've received very positive feedback on a story (send positive vibes in that direction, please), rewritten and subbed two more, and subbed a third that was just waiting for the right market.

Which means I now have TEN stories out in the submission wildwoods.

And that is a personal record.

I am cautiously optimistic for at least three of those stories. And I expect to hear back from editors on a couple in the next week or so.

But then again, submission land is a strange and weird place that works in mysterious ways.

Speaking of which, two excellent posts on submission caught my attention this week. Tehani Wessely and Alisa Krasnostein are both lovely people and excellent editors, and I'm not just saying that because I'm hopeful of selling stories to their presses. I would point out I met them at Worldcon last year, and they certainly have their evil sides, as in when they held me down and forced me to purchase their books.

But they are currently producing high quality anthologies through their award winning and respected presses, FableCroft and Twelfth Planet. 

If you're interested in subbing, and doing it right, the advice in these posts is invaluable.