Alisa Krasnostein identifies speculative fiction as “the ultimate genre of escape”. The appeal of the genre, she believes, is that “no matter how alien the aliens or how fantastical the creatures, they’re all still reflections of humanity.” Alisa states, “I love the genre because it constantly seeks to understand ‘the other’. And because when used well, it can be used to understand, reflect, and critique society and our values. I’ve always been a science fiction and fantasy fan, and for that I blame my mother who is far, far cooler than me.”

You can read the full article on their website.

For the last four years, the Chronos Awards have honoured excellence in Victorian SF, Fantasy and Horror. These awards are presented at Continuum, this year’s Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

The Chronos Awards are selected by ballot. The cut off date for voting is Sunday 20 May 2012.

Awards Process

Nominations open for a month or two, a month or more before the Awards will be presented. Votes are then cast in the month before the awards are announced. Nominations are accepted from any active fan; voters must be a member of the convention hosting the awards. However, an inexpensive “voting membership” (just for voting) is available from the Continuum Foundation.

Visit the Continuum 8 site for more details.

–Nikky

In the words of Kaaron Warren, Through Splintered Walls contains four stories inspired by the Australian landscape: ‘Sky’, ‘Road’, ‘Mountain’ and ‘Creek’.

In an interview with Anthony R. Cardno, Kaaron Warren spoke about her inspiration for each piece:

‘Sky’ is a horror-SF novella about a finger found in cat food and where it came from. I think it’s one of my most disturbing stories. I had to work hard to allow it to fall the way it fell. I’m writing about abhorrent people and practices and trying to make them sympathetic. That’s part of the trick of horror writing, I think. Making awful things seem believable.

‘Road’ was inspired by the many roadside memorials you see [when] you travel anywhere in Australia. They are heartbreaking, I think. So I wrote a nasty ghost story about them.

‘Mountain’ began when a truck hull of cat food overturned on Clyde Mountain, the main route from Canberra to the coast. The thing was, the truck was cleaned out. People stole that cat food; almost all of it. And this greed chocked me, and started me thinking about what there was on the mountain that made people behave that way.

‘Creek’ is a sad story about loss, love and women who quake.

Through Splintered Walls will be launched in June at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne.

Kaaron Warren has published over 70 short stories, three short story collections and three novels. Her most recent achievement has been her Bram Stoker Award nomination for her short story ‘All You Can Do Is Breathe’ (Blood and Other Cravings, Tor Books).

To find more on Kaaron’s writing and up-coming publications feel free to visit her blog at http://kaaronwarren.wordpress.com/

–Nikky

Agent Sydney cites a number of reasons behind the decline in Australian readership: competitive overseas pricing and international marketplace, Australia’s literary niche and genre fiction readers shifting to international authors to find books in their preferred genre. Access to news of new releases in Australian fiction also, for how can you buy a title if you do not know it exists?

As Agent Sydeny summarises in her blog:

the loop-de-loop, in short, looks like this – no genre fiction published = no genre fiction bought = no incentive to publishers to publish it = no genre fiction published.

In a vox pop on Champagne and Socks, written by Twelfth Planet Press’ Alisa Krasnostein, Alisa put one question to her readers:

When was the last time you bought and Australian novel?

In the comments that followed, several titles came up multiple times:

Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Feb 2012)

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Feb 2012)

Debris by Jo Anderton (Oct 2011)

The Last Stormlord by Glenda Lark (Sept 2011)

Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood (Aug 2011)

Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan (March 2011)

It is wonderfully refreshing to see that all of these titles are recent, some as recent as last month. Though many people were left scratching their heads as to when and how often they do buy Aussie novels.

While one poll is not going to give any steadfast ‘this is how it is’ result, it does show some signs that the Australian speculative fiction market, at least, is alive and kicking.

– Nikky

In celebration of her Aurealis Award shortlistings, including for her Bad Power collection, Deborah Biancotti is offering giveaways of both Bad Power and Ishtar over at her blog. All you gotta do is answer her question: who’s your favourite fictional woman, & what makes her so awesome?

Or .. if Showtime is more up your alley, head over to Goodreads where we have some copies to giveaway. We have 2 copies to USA/GB/Canadian readers:

and 1 copy to Aussie readers!

With record entries over thirteen categories, SpecFaction NSW has released their shortlist for the 2011 Aurealis Awards. Out of 700 entries three Twelfth Planet collections and two of our Young Adult short stories made it onto the shortlists. Huge congratulations are in order to Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, Nightsiders by Sue Isle and Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts who are finalists in the collection category. “The Patrician” by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Love and Romanpunk) and “Nation of the Night” by Sue Isle (Nightsiders) also feature as finalists in the Young Adult Short Story category.

To read these fantastic series visit our online store.

The judges will be announcing the winners at the Aurealis Awards ceremony on Saturday May 12^th.  Details can be found at: www.aurealisawards.com

– Nikky

Deborah Kalin is an Australian author based in Melbourne. A student of Clarion South 2005, she is the author of the Binding books (Shadow Queen and Shadow Bound, published by Allen and Unwin), and her short fiction has appeared in Postscripts Magazine and ASIM. An original voice of Australian fiction, her work has been described as “striking, infuriating, endlessly surprising and wonderfully disturbing” (Aurealis). She once slept through a hurricane, although in her defence it was only a category one and the tree falling on the house did manage to wake her.

Our final lineup, then, is:

Nightsiders by Sue Isle

Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex

Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti

Showtime by Narrelle M Harris

Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren

Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan

Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer

with titles to be announced for Deborah Kalin, Kirstyn McDermott, Cat Sparks and Rosaleen Love.

Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan

Paperback • xxpp • RRP AUS$18

ISBN 978-0-9872162-4-3

Cover design by Amanda Rainey

Coming August 2012

A presence haunts an old dresser in an inner-city share house. Shining sun-people lure children from their carefree beachside lives. Sheela-na-gigs colonise a middle-aged man’s outer and inner worlds. And a girl with a heavy conscience seeks relief in exile on the Treeless Plain.

These stories from four-time World Fantasy Award winner Margo Lanagan are all set in Australia, a myth-soaked landscape both stubbornly inscrutable and crisscrossed by interlopers’ dreamings. Explore four littoral and liminal worlds, a-crackle with fears and possibilities.
.

Table of Contents

• Introduction by Jane Yolen

• The Duchess Dresser
• Isles of the Sun
• Significant Dust
• Bajazzle

Run your own race.

You’re a writer, so I’m just going to assume you’ll be hearing a lot of advice about how and when and what to write. This will often appear be based on your success/pending success/unlikehood of success as perceived by the advisor – or it may just be random. Something you’ve come across online, say. Either way, you may find yourself tempted to take it to heart. ‘Oh, I’m not talented or disciplined or smart enough, I’m too derivative to be respected or too lyrical to be popular.’ You know. Stuff like that.

But here’s what you have to remember:

You’re running your own race.

This means you set the pace & the direction. YOU do. Both. Pace AND direction.

Read the rest of her piece at Tuesday Therapy blog or check out Deborah Biancotti’s Twelfth Planet Press books – Bad Power and A Book of Endings.