2015 Ditmar Awards nominees

The shortlist for the 2015 Ditmar Awards, recognizing annually the achievement in Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror and fandom, has been announced. The winners will be announced at the 2015 Australian National SF Convention, Swancon 40, held in Perth between 2nd and 6th of April.

 Best Novel

“The Lascar's Dagger” by Glenda Larke (Hachette)

“Bound” (Alex Caine 1) by Alan Baxter (Voyager)

“Clariel” by Garth Nix (HarperCollins)

“Thief's Magic” (Millennium's Rule 1) by Trudi Canavan (Hachette Australia)

“The Godless” (Children 1) by Ben Peek (Tor UK)

Best Novella or Novelette

“The Ghost of Hephaestus” by Charlotte Nash, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)

“The Legend Trap” by Sean Williams, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)

“The Darkness in Clara” by Alan Baxter, in SQ Mag 14 (IFWG Publishing Australia)

“St Dymphna's School for Poison Girls” by Angela Slatter, in Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3 (Review of Australian Fiction)

“The Female Factory” by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter, in The Female Factory (Twelfth Planet Press)

“Escapement” by Stephanie Gunn, in Kisses by Clockwork (Ticonderoga Publications)

Best Short Story

“Bahamut” by Thoraiya Dyer, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)

“Vanilla” by Dirk Flinthart, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)

“Cookie Cutter Superhero” by Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)

“The Seventh Relic” by Cat Sparks, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)

“Signature” by Faith Mudge, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Collected Work

“Kaleidoscope” edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios (Twelfth Planet Press)

“The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013” edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

“Phantazein” edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)

Best Artwork

Illustrations, Kathleen Jennings, in Black-Winged Angels (Ticonderoga Publications)

Cover art, Kathleen Jennings, of Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)

Illustrations, Kathleen Jennings, in The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings (Tartarus Press)

Best Fan Writer

Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work

Tsana Dolichva, for body of work

Bruce Gillespie, for body of work

Katharine Stubbs, for body of work

Alexandra Pierce, for body of work

Grant Watson, for body of work

Sean Wright, for body of work

Best Fan Artist

Nalini Haynes, for body of work, including "Interstellar Park Ranger Bond, Jaime Bond", "Gabba and Slave Lay-off: Star Wars explains Australian politics", "The Driver", and "Unmasked" inDark Matter Zine

Kathleen Jennings, for body of work, including Fakecon art and Illustration Friday series

Nick Stathopoulos, for movie poster of It Grows!

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

“Snapshot 2014” - Tsana Dolichva, Nick Evans, Stephanie Gunn, Kathryn Linge, Elanor Matton-Johnson, David McDonald, Helen Merrick, Jason Nahrung, Ben Payne, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Helen Stubbs, Katharine Stubbs, Tehani Wessely, and Sean Wright

“It Grows!” - Nick Stathopoulos

“Galactic Suburbia” - Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch

“The Writer and the Critic” - Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond

“Galactic Chat” - Sean Wright, Helen Stubbs, David McDonald, Alexandra Pierce, Sarah Parker, and Mark Webb

Best New Talent

Helen Stubbs

Shauna O'Meara

Michelle Goldsmith

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

Reviews in The Angriest, Grant Watson

The Eddings Reread series, Tehani Wessely, Jo Anderton, and Alexandra Pierce, in A Conversational Life

Reviews in Adventures of a Bookonaut, Sean Wright

“Does Sex Make Science Fiction Soft?” in Uncanny Magazine 1, Tansy Rayner Roberts

Reviews in FictionMachine, Grant Watson

The Reviewing New Who series, David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Tehani Wessely

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!

2014 Kitschies Awards

There are several genre awards that keep my attention close to them, always providing a few more titles and authors to read. One such award is the Kitschies, which proved to be true to its words of highlighting “the most progressive, intelligent and entertaining genre literature” over the time. It is no different this year, my faith in the Kitschies adding further building bricks on my tower of books I wish to read being rewarded by their recently announced 2014 shortlist. The winners of the 2014 Kitschies Awards will be announced on March, 4^th.

 The Red Tentacle (Novel)

“Lagoon” by Nnedi Okorafor (Hodder & Stoughton)

“Grasshopper Jungle” by Andrew Smith (Egmont)

“The Peripheral” by William Gibson (Viking)

“The Way Inn” by Will Wiles (4th Estate)

“The Race” by Nina Allan (NewCon Press)

The Golden Tentacle (Debut)

“Viper Wine” by Hermione Eyre (Jonathan Cape)

“The Girl in the Road” by Monica Byrne (Blackfriars)

“Memory of Water” by Emmi Itäranta (HarperCollins)

“The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers (Self-Published)

“The People in the Trees” by Hanya Yanagihara (Atlantic Books)

The Inky Tentacle (Cover Art)

“The Ghost of the Mary Celeste” design by Steve Marking, lettering by Kimberly Glyder (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)

“A Man Lies Dreaming” cover by Ben Summers (Hodder and Stoughton)

“Through the Woods” cover by Emily Carroll and Sonja Chaghatzbanian (Faber and Faber)

“The Book of Strange New Things” cover by Rafaela Romaya and Yehring Tong (Canongate)

“Tigerman” cover by Glenn O'Neill (William Heinemann)

The Invisible Tentacle (Natively Digital Fiction)

“echovirus12” created/curated by Jeff Noon @jeffnoon, Ed @3dgriffiths, James Knight @badbadpoet, violet sprite @gadgetgreen, Richard Biddle @littledeaths68, Mina Polen @polen, Uel Aramchek @ThePatanoiac, Graham Walsh @t_i_s_u, Vapour Vox @Wrong_Triangle

“Kentucky Route Zero, Act III” by Cardboard Computer

“80 Days” by Inkle Studios

“Sailor's Dream” by Simogo

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!

Free fiction - Conrad Williams edition

Conrad Williams is one of the masters of modern British horror, the author of seven novels, four novellas and two collections of short stories and also the editor of one anthology. He is the winner of the 2010 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel, “One” (reviewed here on my blog), the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel, “The Unblemished”, the 2008 British Fantasy Award for Best Novella, “The Scalding Room”, and the 1993 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer. The first two novels published by Conrad Williams are available for free download until February 17^th, so if you fancy a copy of “Head Injuries” (Amazon US/UK) and “London Revenant” (Amazon US/UK) you can grab one by following the link of your choice.

David has been summoned to Morecambe, a place he hoped he'd never see again. It's winter and the English seaside town is dead. David knows exactly how it feels.

Empty for as long as he can remember, he depends too much on a past filled with the excitements of drink, drugs, and emotionless sex. The friends – Helen and Seamus – who sustained him are here now, and together they aim to pinpoint the source of the violence that has suddenly exploded into their lives.

They drive each other further into a territory of fear, suspicion, and threat as old bitternesses are rekindled, ancient haunts are revisited.

The phantoms of the past are coalescing and something is coming home to roost.

A madman is pushing people under Tube trains...

Adam Buckley thinks he knows who it is, but has problems of his own to deal with. Damaged from a recent break-up, his narcolepsy worsening, he learns that his friends have become suicidally obsessed with finding insane, unexplored parts of London.

He glimpses figures in the subterranean gloom, half recognised faces at parties to which he can't recall being invited, indications of a life lived yet never remembered. As his confusion deepens, so too does the threat of violence. In peeling back so many of the city's faces, he fears that the skull beneath the skin might well be known to him.

Cover art - "Updraft" by Fran Wilde

Fran Wilde’s “Updraft” is one of my most anticipated books of 2015 and there is a good reason for this. Actually, there are a couple more reasons than one, but the most important thing is that I am waiting with anticipation the month of September when “Updraft” will be released by Tor Books. I’ve discovered Fran Wilde’s writings through her short stories, this wonderful method of discovering excellent fiction and broadening the list of writers to read, “The Topaz Marquise”, “The Naturalist Composes His Rebuttal” and “Nine Dishes on the Cusp of Love” being the tales that made me very interested in Fran Wilde’s writing career. Further to the point, short and longer fiction are two different beasts and I am always curious how some of my favorite authors make the transition from one to the other, a curiosity soon to be satisfied in this case by the release of “Updraft”. Fran Wilde’s series of interviews “Cooking the Books” are a delight and delicious treat that gorged my voracious appetite for genre fiction in the most original way. And last, but not least, the synopsis of “Updraft” sounds very enticing, a city of living bones, flying devices and a secretive governing body are all elements that draw me toward the novel. We also have a cover to go with the synopsis and although I cannot honestly say that it is among the best books covers I’ve seen (a consideration entirely subjective), it still does a very good job in capturing the atmosphere and concept implied by the synopsis. The city of bones receives a face, with the towers of bones and the lights shining through them, the glider holds the same promise of adventure as the synopsis does and the clouds and sky reflect the feeling of depth promised by the presentation of the novel. I might not be as thrilled by this cover as I am by others but overall the artwork is definitely a solid job. I have no regret whatsoever in placing Fran Wilde’s novel on my list of most anticipated books of 2015, not that there was any trace of such a thing, because only by the sound and looks of it “Updraft” is a book I would like to read in any condition.

A new edition for Gary McMahon's "The Bones of You"

Since I’ve talked this week about limited editions, printed and electronic books I would also like to point out another title hitting a wider market. Gary McMahon’s “The Bones of You” was released in 2013 by Earthling Publications in an edition limited to 500 numbered hardcovers and 15 lettered, traycased hardcover copies, but this month, DarkFuse has made available “The Bones of You” in both paperback and ebook formats. Unfortunately, so far, I didn’t get the chance to read this novel, but considering the tremendous work done by Gary McMahon until now I am certain that “The Bones of You” would successfully meet even the highest expectations. The cover artwork for the new edition is nowhere near as good as the one of the limited edition, Edward Miller’s cover is amazing, but that is hardly an impediment for the opportunity given to more readers of enjoying Gary McMahon’s “The Bones of You”.

Adam Morris moves into a cheap rental property in the suburbs. He's divorced and now only sees his daughter, Jessica, every other weekend. He's a broken man trying to start a new life.

When strange events start to occur in the run-up to Halloween, Adam suspects there's a link to the old, abandoned house next door.

Soon he learns about a dead killer named Katherine Moffat and the terrible things she did to her victims in the cellar. As Adam uncovers more details regarding past events in the house next door, he realizes that he and Jessica might be in real danger.

Before long, he is caught up in a mortal struggle to prevent the lingering influence of 'Little Miss Moffat' from destroying everything he has tried so hard to protect.

This is a story about ghosts, a dead serial killer, and a man struggling to be a good father to his young daughter. This is also a story of pain and pathos, love and hate, abuse, addiction and desire.

It's also the story of Little Miss Moffat and the Radiant Children ....

Kaaron Warren's "The Gate Theory" comes to print

I am not the one to deny the practicality of e-books and e-readers, their handiness is extremely welcomed when standing on a long queue or sitting in a waiting room, the heavy tomes become more easily to handle, there is no panic for additional space on bookshelves and out of print titles can be found in this medium now. But my love for printed books runs deeper, in my opinion there is no comparison between an e-book and a physical one, I find it difficult to experience with an e-reader the excitement of leafing through a new book, the feeling of turning the pages back and forth, returning to a favorite scene or simply admiring a cover artwork. This sentiment is more acute when it comes to my favorite writers and their works. As much as I am in dire need of more space in my personal library I am happier when I just can pull a favorite book out of my bookshelves, in order to revisit its story, instead of just going through all the buttons and staring at a screen. To offer my latest concrete situation I’ll point out Kaaron Warren’s “The Gate Theory”. Kaaron Warren is an extremely talented writer and one of my favorite authors and “The Gate Theory” is a collection that I loved to read. However, “The Gate Theory” was released only in electronic format and despite being the proud owner of a copy I would have still liked to see this little short story collection on my bookshelves next to the other Kaaron Warren’s books I hold. To my delight, this wish will soon become true, because Cohesion Press is planning to release a print edition of “The Gate Theory”. The good news do not stop here though, this print edition comes with an improved cover, one representing the duality of light and shadow, of opened and closed doors through the lettering as well, the author’s name and the title being highlighted in black and white now. Plus, the printed edition of the book includes a new story, original to this collection, entitled “The Gate Theory” too. I, personally, cannot wait to see Kaaron Warren’s “The Gate Theory” taking its rightful place on my personal library.

Title spotlight - "Savages" by K.J. Parker

My expenses and Subterranean Press are not on the best of terms. There isn’t a question about Subterranean Press not having an attractive catalogue of titles, on the contrary, I can constantly find excellent writers and interesting titles among their publishing work and the editions I acquired over time are very beautiful and come in an impressive presentation. However, I always found their pricing a bit too much for me and it takes a little more effort to stretch my finances in that direction. There are some titles published by Subterranean Press though for which I am willing to push against my expenditure limit, I did it last year with K.J. Parker’s “Academic Exercises” and I’ll do it again this year for K.J. Parker’s “Savages”. How could I not? I am a great admirer and an avid reader of K.J. Parker’s works, her/his fiction is full of intricate details with amazing and wonderful effects on the grand plan of the plot, the characters are always lively protagonists, excellently rendered, often resourceful and ambiguous in their morality. I find myself unable to point out one such character I haven’t fall in love with. “Savages” is K.J. Parker’s latest novel, an epic fantasy that promises more treats in the line of this brilliant author, a richly detailed story with an intriguing worldbuilding and exciting characters. Extreme odds, politics, intrigue and deception, colorful characters such as a master military strategist, a pacifist who inherits an arms business, a forger and corrupt bureaucrats are all elements that pick my interest for any fantasy novel, but when such a novel has K.J. Parker’s mark on it I can say with precision that I am not ready to let this title pass me by. Perhaps “Savages” would be available from another publisher too, with a more accessible pricing, but since I have no patience when it comes to K.J. Parker’s recently announced works I’ll start turning my pockets and wallet inside out while giving them a big shake in the process, even more so considering that the Subterranean Press edition is limited to only 1000 copies.

An unnamed man wakes to find himself facing the loss of everything that matters most to him. Against all odds, he escapes with his life and heads out into the turbulence of the wider world, recreating himself, step by step, as he goes along.

That wider world is dominated by an empire that has existed for decades in a state of near perpetual war. A host of colorful characters will help to shape the destiny of the empire, and its constantly shifting array of allies and adversaries; among them, a master military strategist, a former pacifist who inherits his father’s moribund arms business, a beautiful forger and a very lucky counterfeiter. Each of them, together with corrupt bureaucrats and the nomadic 'savages' of the title, plays a part in a gradually unfolding drama of conflict and conquest played for the highest of stakes.

A story of war, politics, intrigue, deception, and survival, Savages is a hugely ambitious, convincingly detailed novel that is impossible to set aside. Filled with schemes, counter-schemes, sudden reversals of fortune, and brilliantly described accounts of complex military encounters, it is, by any measure, an extraordinary entertainment, the work of a writer whose ambition, range, and sheer narrative power have never been more thoroughly on display.