Aurealis Awards Shortlists

The Aurealis Awards shortlists are out and I'm so delighted to see some of my favourite authors on the lists, including Glenda Larke and Juliet Marillier - and my Clarion South mate, Jason Fischer. (shortlisted in Best Fantasy Novella) is there, too.

It's especially exciting because Western Australia makes a good showing - Glenda Larke and Juliet Marillier (both shortlisted in Best Fantasy Fiction and also in the Sara Douglass Book Series Award section) are based here as is Meg McKinlay (Best Children's Fiction) and Stephanie Gunn, who is shortlisted twice (in the Best Fantasy Novella section for novellas in Ticonderoga Publications' Hear Me Roar and Bloodlines) is also local. As well, editor Jonathan Strahan has two anthologies shortlisted in the Best Anthology section.

Local publishers are also well represented with Fremantle Press, Ticonderoga Publishing, and Twelfth Planet Press all featuring. Both Ticonderoga Publications and Twelfth Planet are shortlisted numerous times in a number of different categories. Quite an achievement for these two small presses.

Congratulations to all who have shortlisted. You can see the complete list here and I don't know about you but I'm now heading off to read as many of these books as I can.

Edit: I have realised that I should have included Shaun Tan in the WA success stories since he was also shortlisted. I did think about it but somehow it slipped my mind when it came to writing the post.

Of Ditmars, Hugos, Stellas and Other Things.

Actually it's more awards than other things. They just keep coming - shortlists, winner lists and more.

These are the ones I've come across today - although I freely admit that some have been around for a while and I just haven't got to blogging about them. I'm linking to them on account of being too overwhelmed by other stuff right now to do much more.

The Australian Indie Book of the Year 2013 - winners were announced on 25 March.

The Stella Prize - shortlist out.

Ditmar Awards - shortlist open for voting.

Hugo Awards - shortlist out.

It's especially nice to see my Clarion South tutor, Margo Lanagan featuring in numerous places as well as yet another tutor, fellow Western Australian Lee Battersby, appearing on the Ditmar shortlist.

There are a pleasing number of other Western Australians on the various lists including editors Liz Grzyb, Alisa Krasnostein and Jonathan Strahan and publishers, Ticonderoga Publications and Twelfth Planet Press.

Congratulations to all winners and finalists.

Aurealis Awards Shortlist 2012

The shortlist for the 2012 Aurealis Awards has been released and the complete shortlist is available here.

The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony in Sydney on May 18. I've read a number of the books and stories on the list and I have to say I do not envy the judges their task in having to choose  only one from some very fine work. Selecting a best from any section will not have been easy.

On a purely parochial basis, I'm delighted to see so many Western Australian residents figuring on it. Among them are Jonathan Strahan (three listings), Juliet Marillier, Liz Grzyb and Martin Livings as well as publishers Ticonderoga Publications and Twelfth Planet Press, both with multiple listings. I'm also delighted to see two of my Clarion South tutors, Margo Lanagan and Robert Hood.

Congratulations to all who have made it this far and good luck for the final selection.

Locus 2011 Recommended Reading List

is up on the Locus On-line website.The list is put together by a consensus of the magazine's editors and reviewers. There's a strong field and I'm pleased to see among them a number of Australian authors, editors and publishers, including one of my Clarion South fellows, Peter M. Ball, who features twice. Three of our Clarion South tutors appear as well - Margo Lanagan, Kelly Link and Gardner Dozois. Congratulations to Western Australian publishers, Ticonderoga Publications and Twelfth Planet Press, too, on the list for story collections, and local editor, Jonathan Strahan.
Other Aussies on the list include Jo Anderton, Terry Dowling, Thoraiya Dyer, Greg Egan, Alison Goodman, Ian McHugh, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Lucy Sussex, Kaaron Warren and Kim Westwood. Congratulations to all.

More Congratulations

This time it's the World Fantasy Awards (for works published in 2009) announced at the World Fantasy Convention on October 31. Among the winners are Margo Lanagan (one of the awesome tutors at Clarion South 2007) who was awarded Best Novella for Sea-Hearts and Western Australian editor, Jonathan Strahan, winner of the Special Awards - Professional category for his work in editing anthologies. The full results can be found here.

And it's already February!

Where has January gone, that's what I'd like to know. There was much barking at the front door this morning with Jaz getting highly stressed. When I went to look out there was a bunch of kids in school uniform and on bikes. You know what this means, don't you? School has gone back. School Has Started Again! Do you wonder why I wonder where January went? Scary, that's what it is - especially as not very much seems to have happened during the month.

Well some things have, I guess. Some of it good, some bad. As the bad is connected to the global economy I can hardly do anything about it. The good on the other hand is a series of small joys - a bundle of books bought with my Christmas and birthday money. It's taken years but I've finally convinced most of my family that book vouchers or money are the way to go for me. That gives maximum pleasure in the browsing, the choosing and the reading - and, of course, is where much of my time has gone, it being too hot to be outside.

This year the list is (plus some supplementary purchases that I am not convinced Pisces believes were essential):

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. What can I say? Wow!

The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller. Another Wow!

The New Space Opera ed by Gardiner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. Thoroughly enjoyed it

The Awakening by Bevan McGuiness. I'll be interested to see the rest of this series.

The Aware by Glenda Larke. The first book in the trilogy The Isles of Glory. I missed it when it first came out and so came back to read it after I had enjoyed the following two books. I'm glad I did.

Dreaming Again ed. Jack Dann. A collection of speculative fiction stories well worth reading including several by some of my Clarion South mates - Ben Francisco, Chris Lynch, Christopher Green, Jason Fischer and Peter M. Ball.

On the still to read pile are:

The Daughters of Moab by Kim Westwood

Cosmic Logos by Traci Harding

Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh

A Forest of Stars by Kevin J. Anderson

The Accidental Sorcerer by K. E. Mills

And just to show I do read other than speculative fiction sometimes:

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Aurealis Awards

Well deserved congratulations to all the winners, especially Western Australians, K. A. Bedford, Best Science Fiction novel for Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait, Jonathan Strahan, editor Best Anthology for The Starry Rift and Shaun Tan, Best Illustrated Book for Tales From Outer Suburbia (even if he has abandoned us for brighter lights). Best collection winner, Magic Dirt by Sean Williams was published locally by Ticonderoga Publishing run by Russell B. Farr and also deserves a mention in the West Aussie list of achievers.

Edit: In West Aussie successes I omitted to mention Trent Jamieson who is not a West Australian but took out Best Young Adult Short Story for Cracks in Shiny Issue 2 put out by Twelfth Planet Press which is Western Australian.

It was good to see Simon Brown, one of the Clarion South 2007 tutors, win Best Science Fiction Short Story for The Empire in Dreaming Again. Coincidentally I had just finished reading this without realising it was a finalist and enjoyed it thoroughly.

The complete list of winners is here but after looking at that you could go here and make the list of finalists a reading checklist. This was a extremely strong field and the judges must have had a very difficult time separating out the winners from such quality. I've read enough of the finalists to want to read the rest. I think you'd enjoy them too.