Not long after I posted that Scar Tissue and Other Stories is currently free to download at Clan Destine Press, I received some lovely news:
I’m delighted that it’s in such wonderful company and I urge you all to check out the nominees and support Australian authors and publishers in these difficult times by picking up a book or two!
This year I entered the Sisters in Crime Australia Scarlet Stiletto Awards for the very first time. The awards, hosted by Sisters in Crime and a number of generous sponsors, are for crime stories written by Australian women and with female protagonists.
I am absolutely thrilled to have received the Body in the Library first place with my ghost story, ‘Jane’.
An Australian Literature research student meets a ghost in a state-of-the-art private library on a remote bush property. She tries to unravel the mystery of the ghost’s origins while the dangers of the present, both human and natural, loom.
The awards night was fabulous! Most of the 26 shortlisted authors (out of 186 entrants) were there, some coming from interstate. Jane Clifton was a marvellous MC, and did a fantastic interview with the ever-lovely Sigrid Thornton (with whom she co-starred in the iconic TV series Prisoner).
Congratulations to all my fellow short-listed authors, and category winners! Huge thanks to Sisters in Crime and the award sponsors, especially the fabulous Athenaeum Library!
A big thank you too to Lindy Cameron, who looked me in the eye when I told her I’d never written for the awards and instructed me, in no uncertain terms, that this year I had to enter.
Books and Publishing has a full list of the winning entries.
If you’d like to read ‘Jane’ and the other award-winning stories, you can pick up Scarlet Stiletto: The Ninth Cut 2017:
(Amazon.com)You can also find out more about the awards at Sisters in Crime.
This week I learned that Walking Shadows was nominated for a Chronos Award in the Best Long Fiction category. I’m obviously chuffed to bits, especially as the nominations are sent in by members of Melbourne’s Continuum convention. Thank you Continuum People!
The Chronos Awards, according to the award site, “recognise excellence in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by Victorians”. It’s particularly nice to be included in the short list for an award for Victorian creators at a Melbourne convention – and with a book that is set so firmly in my chosen home town.
I’m also very proud to be sharing nomination in that category with great writers like Jason Nahrung, Paul Collins and Felicity Dowker and fabulous editors Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene for their Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror collection. Whatever the results of the award, it’s fabulous to be in such excellent company, in this and the other categories as well.
The Chronos Awards are very handsome too: sort of steampunky. (Here is a photo of Kirstyn McDermott’s 2011 award for Madigan Mine, which is another terrific book.)
Whether or not you’re going to Continuum or intend to vote in the Chronos Awards, have a look at the nominations and sample some of the great work being done by Victorian-based writers, artists, editors and bloggers, including:
by Jason Nahrung (Twelfth Planet Press)
by Narrelle M. Harris (Clan Destine Press)
by Paul Collins (Ford Street Publishing)
edited by Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie (Peggy Bright Books) containing Five Ways to Start a War by Sue Bursztynski and The D_d by Adam Browne
(FableCroft Publishing) containing Steve Cameron’s Fireflies and The Mornington Ride by Jason NahrungIf you’re a member of the convention, you can vote in the Chronos Awards before 20 May 2013. If you’re not a member of the convention, you can join up! I’ll be on several panels, including a short version of my Writing Sex and Intimacy workshop (strictly for the over 18s). And if you can’t get to the con but would like to vote, you can get a voting membership for $5.
Nominations for the 2012 Chronos Awards are open until 18 March, so if you read or saw some terrific specfic, horror or fantasy in 2011 by a Victorian, you should consider sending in a nomination.
If you’re not familiar with the Chronos Awards, they were introduced to celebrate “excellence in Victorian SF, Fantasy and Horror”. It’s a great opportunity for the Victorian fan community to recognise the talent in its midst. A work needs four nominations to make it onto the ballot, so obviously the more people who are involved in the nominatino process, as well as the voting, the more representative the awards are.
A list of works eligible for nomination is under construction, but I thought I would highlight a few works on this blog as well. Where I’ve reviewed the item, I’m linking to my review of the work.
This list is a very limited idea of the bodhy of work that’s eligible for nomination. If you’ve been impressed by a Victorian’s work in 2011, please take a moment to contact the Continuum 8 awards committee to send them your nominations.