Ditmars and Aurealis Awards

It's awards time here in Australia, with everyone in the industry busy nominating works for eligibility in both the Ditmar and Aurealis Awards.

Since the Ditmar's is a popularity vote, many members of the industry are posting their select choices on various website and online journals everywhere. Many of those sites are very informative and helpful on the best of 2009 in Australian speculative fiction publishing.

I unfortunately can't be helpful because I just haven't read enough this year to form an objective opinion on what has been published by Australians in 2009, although what I have read I have enjoyed. What I can do is point you towards my publications if you want to vote for me. Since you're looking at my online journal anyway and have read this far, I figure you have some interest in my writing. So here they are:

Best Novella/Novellete Category

• David Conyers "Black Water", Jupiter 24
• David Conyers "The Octagon", Jupiter 26

Best Short Story Category

• David Conyers "The Lord of the Law", The Fourth Black Book of Horror, Mortbury Press
• David Conyers "The Garden Fortress", Thrilling Tales #4, Rainfall Books
• David Conyers & Brian M Sammons "Six-Legged Shadows" Monstrous, Permuted Press

Voting is simple, just go to this website and vote as many times as you want for whoever you want. You have to be an active member in the industry, such as a writer, editor, publisher, artist, reviewer, and so forth. Voting closes 23 July 2010 Australian time.

If you do vote for any of my stories, thank you!

Aurealis Awards to move to Sydney

I know this news has been out for a while now, but the Aurealis Awards are going to move to Sydney. This is good news to me, for obvious reasons, which means I might be able to attend the event. Nothing like a networking opportunity within the Australian speculative fiction community, and just a chance to meet some of the players in the industry I've only known for so long via email. It's sorely needed on my behalf.

The 2009 Scorecard

I've decided at the end of each year I will summarise what I have achieved in writing, as a record as much for myself as to share with those who read my blog. I did the same last year, and comparing the two my output in 2009 was slightly better than last year, although no novel yet.

All of my new short stories this year were published overseas, and included:

• "Six-Legged Shadows" with Brian M. Sammons in Monstrous (Permuted Press)
• "Black Water" in Jupiter 24
• "The Octagon" in Jupiter 26
• "The Garden Fortress" in Thrilling Tales #4 (Rainfall Books)
• "The Lord of the Law" in The Fourth Black Book of Horror.

Reprints include:

• "Subtle Invasion" in Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror Vol 3 (Brimstone Press)
• "Homo Canis" in Midnight Echo #2 (Australian Horror Writers Association) also received an honourable mention in Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year Vol 1
• "Stomach Acid" with Brian M. Sammons in Cthulhu Unbound 2 (Permuted Press).

Other publications include:

• "Virtual Worlds and Imagined Futures" an interview with Greg Egan in Albedo One 37
• "The Burning Stars" Call of Cthulhu scenario in Terrors from Beyond (Chaosium) which is gaining incredibly positive reviews and feedback from gamers everywhere
• Several reviews for Albedo One.

Other achievements include a Ditmar nomination for my science fiction tale "Soft Viscosity" in 2012 (Twelfth Planet Press), I attended GenConOz as a guest, and I sold several stories to various magazines and anthologies, one of which is a science fiction tale appearing in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. I'm also editing a new anthology of Cthulhu Mythos tales with Brian M. Sammons that will be published by Permuted Press, and I'm editing a collection of Call of Cthulhu gaming scenarios for a yet to be named publisher.

Several books with my stories which didn't come out this year but might in 2010 included:

• "Emergency Rebuild" in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 43
• "Sister of the Sands" in Cthulhu's Dark Cults (Chaosium) (which I incidentally edited way back in 2007)
• “Subtle Invasion” in Best New Tales of the Apocalypse (Permuted Press)
• "Dream Machine" in Scenes from the Second Storey (Morrigan Books)
• "The Hag of Zais" in Eldritch Steel (Elder Signs Press)
• "Sweet as Decay" with David Witteveen in Macabre (Brimstone Press)
• "The Swelling" reprinted at Innsmouth Free Press
• A new Harrison Peel tale has also been sold, but I've been asked to keep closed lipped about this one until the publisher makes an announcement.

I had hoped to output more this year, but a redundancy and now having to change states for financial/work reasons, I guess has affected my output. Hopefully once I'm settled in Sydney in the new year, that will all change.

2009 Aurealis Awards Finalists Announced

The finalists for the 2009 Aurealis Awards have just been announced here. Congratulations to everyone who has been nominated. It is especially nice to see that Peter M. Ball has as many nominations as he does. His novella Horn was the most original speculative fiction story I read by an Australian this year. Greg Egan also has a nomination for Best Collection with Oceanic, so it is good to see him back in the awards again.