The 2011 Scorecard

At the end of year I like to do a writing retrospective of the year that was and a look forward to future publications. Previous year scorecards can be found here.

I’m still managing to achieve around five short story / novella publications a year. This year they comprised of four horror, one science fiction and one sf/horror blend. I’m writing far more science fiction these days but I’m obviously selling more horror, hopefully that balance will change. The first two stories are part of my Harrison Peel series, the first original Peel stories since The Spiraling Worm came out in 2007:

• The Eye of Infinity (Perilous Press, USA)
• “The Masked Messenger” with John Goodrich in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #53 (Australia)
• “The Advertising Imperative” in Ticon4
• “Winds of Nzambi” with David Kernot in Midnight Echo #6 (Australia) which incidentally won the Australian Horror Writers Association’s Short Story Competition
• “The Nightmare Dimension” in Rage Against the Darkness (Brimstone Press, Australia)
• “An Angel of Frequency” in Melbourne by Dusk (Australia).

My favourite of my own work of this year would easily be The Eye of Infinity.

On the award front of was nominated for the Australian Shadows Award with my horror short story “Dream Machine”, published in Scenes from the Second Storey from Morrigan Books in 2010.

I also co-edited with David Kernot and Jason Fischer Midnight Echo 6, the Science Fiction Horror Issue, which is now my second edited publication. I interviewed Charles Stross and Chris Moore for this issue.

 

For Albedo One #40 I reviewed Wireless by Charles Stross, Year’s Best SF 15 by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, Cosmos #36 by Wilson da Silva, plus some online reviews. I also participated in Shane Jiraiya Cummings’ online discussions of the future of e-publishing, and provided cover art for two issues of Jupiter Magazine.

 

I didn’t write that much this year, and still didn’t get started on my novel. I put that down to turmoil in the global markets which forced me to move jobs and cities against (Sydney back to Adelaide), and settling into a new job. My situation is much more stable than it has been in about six years.

 

Publications coming out in 2012 that I can talk about include:

• “Expectant Green” with John Kenny in Jupiter #35 (United Kingdom)
• “The Road to Afghanistan” in What Scares the Bogeyman? (Fantom Enterprises, USA)
• “Romero 2.0” with Brian M. Sammons in Undead & Unbound (Chaosium Inc., USA)
• “The R’lyeh Singularity” with Brian M. Sammons  in Cthulhu Unbound 3 (Permuted Press, USA)
• “Nomad Flora” in Darwin’s Evolutions (USA).

I’ve also got two anthologies coming out in 2012, the first is Cthulhu Unbound 3 which I co-edited with Brian M. Sammons and features novellas from Cody Goodfellow, D.L. Snell, Tim Curran and a Harrison Peel collaboration with Brian M. Sammons. The other is Undead & Unbound also co-edited with Brian M. Sammons which will feature horror stories from authors such as Cody Goodfellow, Gary McMahon, C.J. Henderson, Damien Walters Grintalis and others. I’m also co-editing with David Kernot and Jeff Harris Extreme Planets, a science fiction/space opera anthology for which we are currently seeking submissions.

 

Thanks this year to David Kernot, Cody Goodfellow, Olivia Kernot, Brian M. Sammons, Paul Drummond, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, John Kenny, Frank Ludlow, Bob Neilson, Peter Loftus, Angela Challis, Marty Young, Jason Fischer, Jacob Kier, Jeff Harris, Glynn Owen Barrass, C.J. Henderson, Ian Redman, and many others too numerous to name here.