Kirstyn’s novel, Perfections, is being printed in paperback and digital copies by Twelfth Planet Press, and is being launched this weekend at Continuum (I may wear my top hat). Read all about it here.
Also at Continuum, I’ll be helping Rosaleen Love launch her latest collection, the newest addition to the Twelve Planets series (now 13!), The Secret Lives of Books. It’s very clever, slightly eclectic in style, and altogether wonderful. Yes, damn it, I think a top hat is well in order!
There is new shiny on the bookshelf: Kirstyn snared the Aurealis Award for best horror novel with Perfections. The novel previously won the Shadows, too. Yup, pipped me (and others) again, she did, and rightly so. Perfections is one of those novels where every word is in its place, every concept beautifully revealed, and the story lingers long after the cover is closed.
If you run an eye down this list of winners, announced in Sydney on Saturday night, you’ll see Margo Lanagan is still riding the wave with her novel Sea Hearts (psst: Coeur de Lion is working on releasing a digital version of X6, in which the original novella from which the novel sprang first appeared, along with the remarkable ‘Wives’ by Paul Haines), and also kicking goals with her most excellent Cracklescape collection.
Cat Sparks pictures from the night are here
Kaaron Warren‘s ‘Sky’, from her Through Splintered Walls collection, is again in the winner’s circle. Here’s a heads up: Kirstyn’s collection in the same Twelve Planets series is to be launched at Continuum next month.
The awards are always a great event, with lots of catching up, and meeting new people, too. Highly recommended if you want a peep at what’s happening in the Australian spec fic scene: the finalists make a damn fine reading list.
In accepting the Peter Mac for her awesome contribution to Australian writing through roles in such events and organisations as the Queensland Writers Centre (and now Brisbane Writers Festival), Fantastic Queensland and Clarion South, Kate Eltham spoke about the tribe that is the spec fic community and it supports and nurtures its own. The awards are the perfect example of inclusivity, respect and support. Next year they’re in Canberra, probably around March. Looking forward to it already!
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION (TOLD PRIMARILY THROUGH WORDS)
Brotherband: The Hunters (Random House) by John Flanagan
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION (TOLD PRIMARILY THROUGH PICTURES)
Little Elephants (Penguin) by Graeme Base
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
‘The Wisdom of the Ants’ (Clarkesworld) by Thoraiya Dyer
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
(Joint winners)
Dead, Actually (Allen and Unwin) by Kaz Delaney
Sea Hearts (Allen and Unwin) by Margo Lanagan
BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL
Blue (Giramondo) by Pat Grant
BEST COLLECTION
That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote (self-published) by KJ Bishop
BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six (Night Shade Books) edited by Jonathan Strahan
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
‘Sky’ (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press) by Kaaron Warren
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Perfections (Xoum) by Kirstyn McDermott
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
‘Bajazzle’ by Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press)
BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Sea Hearts (Allen and Unwin) by Margo Lanagan
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
‘Significant Dust’ (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press) by Margo Lanagan
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
The Rook (HarperCollins) by Daniel O’Malley
PETER MCNAMARA CONVENORS’ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
Kate Eltham
KRIS HEMBURY ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD
Laura Goodin
The Australian Shadows awards were announced last night, and Kirstyn is bringing home a skull trophy for best novel — Perfections! Huzzah!
The full winners’ list — note the double to Kaaron Warren!
NOVEL: Kirstyn McDermott, Perfections (Xoum)
LONG FICTION: Kaaron Warren, ‘Sky’ (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)
SHORT FICTION: Martin Livings, ‘Birthday Suit’ (Living with the Dead, Dark Prints Press)
COLLECTION: Kaaron Warren, Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press)
EDITED PUBLICATION: Surviving the End, ed Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press)
Very pleased to see Salvage among the six nominations for best novel of 2012 in the Ditmar Awards. The awards are popularly nominated and voted upon, so perhaps can be seen more as a measure of awareness within fandom, which makes the listing very cool.
Salvage and Blood and Dust are both finalists for best horror novel in the Aurealis Awards, and Blood and Dust is up for best novel in the Australian Shadows, so the Ditmar nom balances the books nicely!
There was a little confusion with Salvage, due its word count being precariously balanced on the cut-off 40,000-word mark between novella and novel. My fault, really: I should’ve got a final-version count from the publisher rather than going off an earlier version. We’re talking a difference of one or two sentences, but enough to tip it over into novel territory.
Also up for the Ditmar is a star-studded field, including Kirstyn’s Perfections — also a finalist in Aurealis and Shadows.
The awards will be announced at Conflux in Canberra in April. (Edit: I originally said the awards would be presented at Continuum in June; sorry Conflux!)
Once again, the Ditmars show the stature of podcasts and the internet in the realm of fan publications, and strong fields elsewhere. Here’s the full list:
Best Novel
Best Novella or Novelette
Best Short Story
Best Collected Work
Best Artwork
Best Fan Writer
Best Fan Artist
Best Fan Publication in Any Medium
Best New Talent
William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review
In the same week that the Aurealis Awards listed Blood and Dust and Kirstyn’s Perfections as finalists for best horror novel of 2012, lightning has struck twice: both books were announced last night as finalists for the Australian Shadows best horror novel.
This time, the pair is keeping company with Lee Battersby‘s Corpse Rat King.
That short-list of three is overshadowed by the short fiction award finalists — eight of ’em! That’s a long short-list! I blame Kaaron Warren, who has not only three of the four yarns in her Through Splintered Walls collection listed there, but the fourth in long fiction (kind of a middle ground between short and novel) AND the collection itself. Pretty awesome, huh?
Here’s the full list, with winners to be announced on April 12.
NOVEL
LONG FICTION
SHORT FICTION
COLLECTION
EDITED PUBLICATION
Happy dancing here in the shadow of Wendouree Tor with the word that both Salvage and Blood and Dust are finalists for the Aurealis Awards’ best horror novel of 2012, AND Kirstyn’s Perfections is also in the running! Yes, we’re going head to head!
This is my first short-listing in the AAs — The Darkness Within was highly commended in a year when there was no short-list — so it’s a hell of a thrill to have two, quite disparate titles listed.
The fourth book in the finalists’ list is by fellow Victorian Jason Franks, who I met earlier this year at Oz Horror Con. He’s very cool and very passionate about his craft, so I’m looking forward to tracking down his Bloody Waters — it’s his first novel, following some well-received graphic novels. Nice, eh?
Indeed, the Aurealis finalists make for an excellent recommended reading list.
Another thrill is to see other writers by my publishers Xoum and Twelfth Planet Press making an impression on the lists.
And check out the science fiction novel section — SIX titles in a category usually a bit light on, and offering a whole lot of variety.
Interesting, too, to see self-published works making the short-lists, and the number of multiple nominations — Margo Lanagan, Jonathan Strahan, Jo Anderton and Kaaron Warren in the thick of it, amongst others. Wow, it’s a quality field all over. Congratulations, y’all!
The awards will be presented in Sydney on May 18.
FANTASY NOVEL
FANTASY SHORT STORY
SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
HORROR NOVEL
HORROR SHORT STORY
YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through words)
CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through pictures)
ILLUSTRATED BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL
ANTHOLOGY
COLLECTION
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When I’ve told people we’re moving to Ballarat, there are two comments that usually follow: ‘Why?’ and, ‘It’s cold, y’know. Like, freezing.’
To the latter, the simple answer is, y’know, coats. But the former is a bit more long winded, to do with property prices in Melbourne, and how Ballarat is as close as we could get to spitting distance of the big smoke, and how it’s got a uni and a writers’ centre and a literature festival (hey, it’s Victoria: what town doesn’t have a literature festival? or a market…), and so on. I liken it to being on the Sunshine Coast and working in Brissie, without the coast. Or the ranges, for that matter. Okay, so it’s got a train and it’s got two lanes of divided road with a respectable stretch of 110kmh in between, and it takes about same amount of time, traffic (an hour and a bit) and rail gods (90 minutes and a bit) allowing.
Ballarat’s a tidy town, brimming with neat cottages and such, and history oozing out its mine shafts. No river to speak of, but lots of culverts, and a very fine lake with swans. I’m told it has a very good Irish pub, obviously that friend’s first memory of a previous visit, and a very fine bakery, too — my friends have broad tastes, clearly. Plus — OMG — an absinthe bar!
Kirstyn and I are looking forward to exploring the place, and the surrounds — for instance, the Pyrenees wine district, which I’m told does a very drinkable shiraz, which is what I want in a wine region. Oh yes. AND we’ve spotted a cafe with a view of the cemetery from the al freso dining area — w00t!
By the end of February, we’ll be Ballaratians. Some might pronounce the former Ballah-ratt-e-ans, but I’m thinking of going for Bal-ah-ray-shuns. I guess Rats could also come up. B-Rat is just far too street. I’m stopping now.
So, a new address, our own patch of suburban dirt with a line already dotted out for a future chook pen, I believe. Excitements!
To go with the new house, new books (though the books came first, to be honest), one apiece: my outback vampire road-trippin’ blood-lettin’ romp, Blood and Dust, and Kirstyn’s dark tale of family secrets, an amazing game of make believe and how what you wish for can be a tad detrimental, Perfections. Both are available now in digital formats (all of ’em) thanks to the small but passionate team at Xoum.
There will be some kind of ceremony to mark the arrival of these two yarns into the wilds, but it’s been delayed by the move. One thing to be said for e-books — no packing!
A Hills hoist of our own
You can’t get much more Christmassy than outback vampires spreading mayhem in a Monaro, can you? That’s what publisher Xoum thought, too, and they’re spreading some Blood and Dust at tinsel time, just to keep it real.
Blood and Dust is now available digitally, at Amazon, iBooks … all over the place.
Also out: Kirstyn’s Perfections, at the Xoum website and Amazon(and all the rest)!
And of course, Salvage is still available in paperback ($17.50 inc postage) and for Kindle.
This is the cover for Blood and Dust, my outback vampire novel coming soonish to digital shelves everywhere thanks to Aussie publisher Xoum. I quite like it! (Honestly, the art dept has fkn nailed it, yeah?)
The cat has kind of slipped out of the bag on this one, but it’s nice to be able to share the horror joy. The story’s more than 10 years and four major iterations in the making, and for those who know — this is the story of Kevin, the vampire. And yes, the Monaro is still there …
You might have also noticed recently another lurvly book cover hitting the interwebs:
Why yes, I have read an unedited version of this novel by Kirstyn McDermott, and yes, it is very good. Coming soonish, too!