Finalists for the International Aeon Award 2010

From the Albedo One website:

After great and heated debate, the Aeon Award judges have now chosen the top six stories from the shortlist of the International Aeon Award 2010 Short Fiction Contest. Choosing only 6 stories from an overall shortlist of 24 excellent works has been an agonising task, and it may be some time before the judges agree to talk to one another again! Below you will find the names of the top 6 shortlisted stories. Our congratulations to the authors, and our sincere commiserations to the authors of the fine stories that did not make the top 6. Thank you all for entering your excellent work and supporting the Aeon Award writing competition in its goal to promote the writing of fantasy, horror and science fiction.

• Aethra
• Pinocchio
• Room of Empty Frames
• Mandurang
• Carnival
• The Monster of Venice

The top 6 stories have now gone to our esteemed panel of Grand Judges, Ian Watson, Mike Resnick, Anne McCaffrey and Sam Millar, for the final decision on the three winning stories, which will win the Grand Prizes of €1000, €200 and €100, as well as publication in Albedo One. Author names have been withheld to ensure impartiality as the judging proceeds.

And finally, don't forget that the Aeon Award 2011 writing contest is now open to submissions!

Aeon Award 2011 Launched

Irish speculative fiction magazine Albedo One (with which I am a contributing editor) has announced the launch of the Sixth International International Aeon Award Short Fiction Contest. The Aeon Award is a writing competition, and its goals are to promote writers and writing in the speculative fiction genres.

The contest is open to writers from all nationalities for stories of up to 10,000 words long, that are previously unpublished in English. Grand Prize is €1000 and publication in Albedo One. Second and third place prizes are €200 and €100 euro and publication in Albedo One. The contest is open from January 1st 2011 to the end of November 2011.An entry fee of 7 euro applies, which can be paid online via PayPal on the Aeon Award contest guidelines page.

I got my tale "Black Water" shortlisted to seventh place many years ago, which then got me involved in working with the Albedo One team, so you never know what might happen if you enter.

2010 Aeon Award Final Round Shortlist

From the Albedo One website:

The judges are ready to announce the additions to the shortlist of the International Aeon Award 2001 Short Fiction Contest after the end of the final round of consideration, which ran from October 1 to November 30, 2010. Thank you to all who entered and supported this writing competition. Congratulations to the shortlisted authors (the additions are highlighted in italics in the list below) and sincere commiserations to those whose stories were not shortlisted this time. The judges will now embark on the process of re-reading all the shortlisted stores and deciding on the top six stories. These will then be sent to our esteemed Grand Judges, Ian Watson, Anne McCaffrey, Mike Resnick and Sam Millar for the final decision on the top three winning stories that will earn their authors €1000, €200 or €100, alongside publication in Albedo One, Ireland's science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine.

• Blue
• Passage of Time
• Mandurang Jacket
• The Monster of Venice
• Room of Empty Frames
• From Such Tiny Acorns Do Mighty Squirrels Grow
  Cinnamon Planet
• I Hate You Perso
• Aethra
• The Martian Sky
• Poacher
• Starchaser
• Waiting for the Rain
• The Machine
• A Digital Agony
• Mirror Image
• The More Things Change
• Carnival
• Pinocchio
• Sensitive
• Autopsy
• Milford Sound
• Damn Nation

Don't forget, the International Aeon Award 2011 Short Fiction Contest will open to entries from January 1 2011.

Albedo One 38 Released

Just received notice that Issue 38 of Albedo One is back front the printers and available for purchase in print and low-cost pdf formats.

This issue's fiction is by Bruce McAlister, Aaron Polson, Priya Sharma, Matthew F. Perry, Martin Belderson and a story from Allison Francisco, which was placed third in the Aeon Award 2008 contest.

Issue 38 also features an in-depth interview with Jim Gunn, as well as book reviews from regular columnists Juliet E. McKenna and, yes, that's right, me. Further review contributions come from Peter Loftus, John Kenny and Peter McClean. My reviews are for Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds, Saturn's Children by Charles Stross, The Opposite of Life by Narrelle Harris and Horn by Peter M. Ball.

The cover is truly excellent, one of the best speculative fiction pieces that I've seen in a long time, by U.S. artist Jacob Probelski. Check out his folios here, here and here.

I'm proud to be member of the Albedo One team. I don't do much but write reviews and the occasional interview, well one inteview. I think it is a top notch magazine regardless.

Aeon Award 2010 Launched

Also from the Albedo 1 site:

Albedo One is proud to announce the launch of the Fifth International International Aeon Award Short Fiction Contest, 2010. The goals of the Aeon Award are to promote writers and the writing of speculative fiction, be it science fiction, fantasy, horror or anything unclassifiable or in-between. The contest is open to writers from all nationalities for stories of up to 8000 words long, that are previously unpublished in English. The Grand Prize is 1000 euro and publication in Albedo One. Second and third place prizes are 200 and 100 euro and publication in Albedo One.

The contest is open from January 1st 2010 to the end of November 2010, after which the winning stories are chosen by our Grand Judge, respected SF author, Ian Watson (see Ian's homepage here). Since 2004, the Aeon Award has helped promote exceptional work of authors in speculative fiction. Aside from winning the cash prizes and publication in Albedo One, winning and shortlisted stories have been given Honourable Mentions or been reprinted in prestigious volumes such as the Year's Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois, and the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant. Other winning stories have been translated and published in prestigious European magazines, like Galaxies SF, edited by Pierre M. Gevart. The Aeon Award is therefore a great opportunity to promote your work. A modest entry fee of 7 euro applies, which can be paid easily and securely online via PayPal on our contest guidelines page, here.

Aeon Award 2009 Winners

From the Albedo One site:

Albedo One is proud to announce the winners of the Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest. This ran from January 1st 2009 to November 30th 2009. All stories shortlisted for the contest are listed below, with the names of each author now revealed.

Grand Judge Ian Watson chose the winners. First place went to "Frogs on My Doorstep" by Annette Reader. Watson described the story as "very intriguing and full of emotional impact. The alternate world concept is handled very convincingly, and is reminiscent of the recent work of Chris Beckett." Reader receives the €1000 Grand Prize and publication in Albedo One.

Second place goes to "Bridges" by Nick Wood. Watson said the story, featuring a future South Africa in which apartheid never ended, is "politically acute and powerful, with its heart in the right place… and is in many ways a 'textbook story', because it's so well done." Second prize is €200 and publication in Albedo One.

Third place goes to "Canis Lupus, Rosa Canina" by Judith Brown. Watson said "the story is nasty, but brilliantly written, with masterly descriptions of landscape and powerful imagery." Third prize is €100 and publication in Albedo One.

Thank you to all who entered and supported the contest in 2009!

• A Falcon Sharp and Passing - Donald Mead
• Canis Lupus, Rosa Canina - Judith Brown
• Frogs on my Doorstep - Annette Reader
• Something Other - David Heaton
• Bridges - Nick Wood
• Fenn, Brother of Francis - Susan McElheran
• He Who Picks the Bones - Frank W. Haubold (translated by Jason Roberts)
• Trimble Does Time - Gerard Farrell
• In the Boughs of his Blood Orange Tree a Vampire Sat to Dream of Love - Ian Wild
• Stars in the Skies - Jennifer Harwood-Smith
• Don't Go Playing with Naiads - Alice Godwin
• The Girl in the Blue Bikini - Peter Loftus
• Once, When the Sun Rose in the West - Susan Lanigan
• Deconstruction - Alexis Boddy
• Reflected Glory - Peter Loftus
• Conversion - Jennifer Harwood-Smith
• All the Beautiful Lights of Heaven - Russ Colson
• Star in a Glass - Vaughan Stanger
• Wailing Wheel - Joe Nazare
• Angele Dei - Chandler Kaiden
• Lost Things - Jennifer Harwood-Smith
• On the Feast of Stephen - Cyril Simsa
• The Art of the Intractable - Nathan Jones
• Gordon Street - Katharine Clayden
• Pirate Copies - Ian D. Martin

Remember, the Aeon Award 2010 is now open for entries to November 30th 2010. Details can be found here

I'm a Guest at GenCon Australia

I'm going to be a guest at GenCon Australia this year, after circumstances prevented me from attending last year. Held at the Brisbane Convention Centre 18-20 September 2009, so the event is less than a week away. Time to pack my carry-on luggage and go.

I'll be on various seminars as I've detailed below, talking about my fiction writing including The Spiraling Worm and Cthulhu's Dark Cults, my work with Albedo One and some tips on the magazine's Aeon Award for short speculative fiction with an annual price of 1,000 Euros, and on my gaming writing for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

I also hope to run a couple of sessions of a demonstration Call of Cthulhu role-playing game based on a scenario I wrote. Which scenario that will be I will keep as mystery for the moment, but needless to say, it is one on this list. In between all of that I hope to catch up with people and meet a whole lot of new people. So I'll be busy, but if you are there, please say hello.

Friday

Hot Tips for Fiction Writers (Seminar Room 1, 2pm): Join Karen Miller, David Conyers, and Matt Farrer as they give away the hot tips that all aspiring writers should know.

Fights, Chase Scenes and Other Action (Seminar Room 1, 11 am): Want to know how to keep a reader on the edge of their seat? Join writers Kylie Chan, David Conyers and Marianne De Pierres as they discuss how to writer a killer action scene.

Saturday

The Writer’s Journey (Seminar Room 1, 12 pm): Join Marianne De Pierres, Kylie Chan, and David Conyers as they talk about the journey from aspiring writer to published author.

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself (Seminar Room 3, 6 pm): Want to scare your players? Join game designers David Conyers and Ryan Naylor as they discuss the techniques they use when writing for horror games.

Sunday

Gaming and Writing (Seminar Room 1, 4 pm): How do you make the jump from playing games to becoming a writer? Join Matt Farrer, David Conyers, and Ryan Naylor as they talk about how they made the jump from gamer to author.

How to Make a Really Good Bad Guy (Seminar Room 1, 2 pm): What makes the perfect bad guy? Join authors Matt Farrer and David Conyers as they discuss the very best of the very worst.