Examining the Ditmars - Best Collected work

Well the Ditmars have closed but we can still have fun discussing them can’t we.  I have read all but Paul Haines work.  On reputation alone though he deserves a spot in what is a very tight field.

Some notable exclusions are Lisa Hannett’s Bluegrass Symphony and Margo Lanagan’s Yellow Cake*

BEST COLLECTED WORK

• The Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press)
• Nightsiders by Sue Isle, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Ishtar, edited by Amanda Pillar and K. V. Taylor (Gilgamesh Press)

I’d personally be very happy with any of them winning.  The selections are only some of the top quality fiction being produced by Australian writers. 

It’s good to see both Australian and International presses represented too, perhaps adding weight to Coode Street’s observation that we are now starting to see small press offerings expand beyond our isolated geography. 

Slightly dodgy speculation**

Although Tansy appears all over these nominations I think she’ll have the weight of time against her - L&R was released early in 2011, likewise Sue Isle who whose Nightsiders was the first in the Twelve Planets released.  Those releasing works later in the year might have the advantage of freshness. 

Biancotti has two horses in this race – Bad Power and one third of the Ishtar collection.  Aside from being a bloody good writer, Bad Power was released in late 2011 around the middle of the season and Ishtar shortly after from memory. 

Ishtar also features Cat Sparks and Kaaron Warren, both writers in top form.  Credit to them and their editors for producing a hard hitting collection.

All this makes it very hard to suggest a winner without knowing what the voting populace is like - Bad power and Ishtar feel like  tighter collections, in that the stories are more closely related to one another or at least thy feel that way.  Does this mean they are more likely to win?  Who knows?

Best of luck to all the writers & publishers.

---

* I am sure there are other books of equal vitality that haven’t popped up on my radar either.

**Largely talking rubbish here.  I haven’t been in the scene long enough, nor do I know the community well enough to really make an informed guess on who’s likely to win.

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Examining the Ditmars - Best Short Story

Next up is the best short story category

Best Short Story

• “Breaking the Ice”, Thoraiya Dyer, in Cosmos 37
• “Alchemy”, Lucy Sussex, in Thief of Lives (Twelfth Planet Press)
• “The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker”, Martin Livings and Talie Helene, in More Scary Kisses(Ticonderoga Publications)
• “All You Can Do Is Breathe”, Kaaron Warren, in Blood and Other Cravings (Tor)
• “Bad Power”, Deborah Biancotti, in Bad Power (Twelfth Planet Press)
• “The Patrician”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)

Again this is a highly competitive list.  I have read half of it: Bad Power, The Patrician and Alchemy, and the rest of the finalists are all well known for quality work.

Thoraiya won an Aurealis with another short, Livings and Helene are well known and Kaaron Warren is almost omnipresent.

Out of those I have read and that appear above I think Bad Power possibly has the edge(my favourite Love and Romanpunk story didn’t make it).

Your thoughts?

PS Don’t forget to vote

---

Did you enjoy this review? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Let’s talk Ditmars - Best Novella or Novelette

 

The eligibility list for this category was a much more manageable 51.  Embarrassingly I own all but one of the nominations below but have only read one.  That will hopefully be rectified by the time I get to Continuum (see, not giving up hope).

• "The Sleeping and the Dead", Cat Sparks, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press)
• "Above", Stephanie Campisi, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)
• "The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt", Paul Haines, in The Last Days of Kali Yuga (Brimstone Press)
• "And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living", Deborah Biancotti, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press)
• "Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary", Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)
• "Below", Ben Peek, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)

It’s interesting to note that the category is really dominated by a couple of collections and three publishers.  Above/Below is a Twelfth Planet Press double and both novellas are nominated.  Ishtar Contains both Cat Sparks and Deb Biancotti’s novellas and is from Mark Deniz’s Gilgamesh Press.  Paul Haines’ story was produced by the now New Zealand Brimstone Press. 

It’s good to see both local and international presses too.  If you listen to the latest Coode Street Podcast you’ll note that Jonahan Strahan talks about the split in Australians published overseas and those published and well known locally.  I think this list is comprised of people that straddle those separate areas quite well.

As with the Best Novel category I think this is another strong selection, from writers who are or were(sadly Paul Haines passed away from cancer) hitting their straps.

I may have to return to this field after I have read the stories.  If we go on Ben Peek’s assurances, we can rule him out. Roberts would have to be a favourite being nominated across the ballot, but I am not sure if that works for or against her.  As for the rest, well, another “too close to call”.

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Let’s Talk Ditmars–Best Novel Finalists

 

Professional Awards – Best Novel Category

• The Shattered City (Creature Court 2) Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperCollins)
• Burn Bright, Marianne de Pierres (Random House Australia)
• Mistification, Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot Books)
• The Courier’s New Bicycle, Kim Westwood (HarperCollins)
• Debris (The Veiled Worlds 1), Jo Anderton (Angry Robot Books) 

In manually counting total number of entries listed as eligible for this category (approximately 180) it readily became apparent that there were quite a few books that could easily have held a spot above. 

And I suppose this is comforting, because it says, to me at least, that speculative fiction in Australia is rockin’ it.

Those that could have

So what follows are books that I have read or have sufficient feedback about that I wouldn’t have been surprised to see above.  So if you’re stuck for a reading list check out those above but these below here as well. 

• Black Glass, Meg Mundell, Scribe Publications.
• Bus Stop on a Strange Loop, Shaune Lafferty Webb, Winterbourne Publishing.
• Roil, Trent Jamieson, Angry Robot Books.
• Stormlord's Exile, Glenda Larke, HarperCollins.
• The Undivided, Jennifer Fallon, HarperCollins.
• Thyla, Kate Gordon, Random House Australia.
• When We Have Wings, Claire Corbett, Allen & Unwin.

That eligibles list is worth checking through all in itself.  Like I said the scene is pretty healthy and there’s some quality fiction for everyone’s tastes.  There’s several not above that are still in my tbr pile.

Where’s my money?

If I was a betting man (I’m not) I’d not be putting money down.  They are five utterly different books showcasing the diversity of the Genre. The Shattered City is surprise inclusion in that its a book two in a series,  but it was a damn fine read and raised the bar on Roberts’ already unique take on fantasy.  Burn Bright is mature YA with vampiric influences and it  mixes dystopic elements with youth culture, and some social commentary – something fresh in the genre.   Mistification I haven’t read but again some very good things have been said about this dark fantasy.  The Courier’s New Bicycle, gives as near future dystopia with a tinge of cyberpunk plus genderqueer. Debris a debut novel gives a science fantasy, with a thread of dystopia and a smattering of steampunk.

This category is I think too close to call.

Edit:  It might be obvious to some but checkout the gender breakdown 100% Female

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Galactic Suburbia Episode 58

In this Episode the Galactic Suburbanites Hugo & Ditmar nominated Galactic Suburbanites cover the Ditmar shortlist which features quite a lot of Tansy in both the Professional and Fan Categories.  Indeed this year’s Ditmars feature projects by all three of the show’s hosts.

There’s also mention of Deb Biancotti making the Shirley Jackson shortlist for a work that’s being considered for both a Ditmar and an Aurealis award.  It’s always good to see different awards structures come to the same conclusion.

There was also a good discussion on writers or creatives changing direction or mediums and how they can be damned if the do and damned if they don’t.  Case in point Stephenie Meyer who’d be labelled as a one trick pony if she stayed writing vampire fiction and labelled as a failure when she moves into making movies.

As always, worth a listen.

As always you can download here (about 30 mb) or stream from the thingywhatsit below

Podcast Powered By Podbean

 

And welcome to those new readers that have started following the blog via the widget.

---

Did you enjoy this review? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

I will be discussing the Ditmar shortlist

but not today.  Some may have wondered if  my relative silence was as a result of a head injury after the fainting fit induced by being nominated for 2 Ditmars, it was thankfully not the case.  Though I did have a rather sleepless night which wasn’t  good considering Friday was my first day back at work.

But work is good, work means the likelihood of getting to Continuum 8 is greater.  So expect some sporadic quietness around these parts as I jump upon any paying work.

I do intend to do a post on each of the Ditmar Categories in the lead up to the event.  There’s some great people and product in that list and I have read a great deal of them in the past year, so feel invested in the awards already.  So tomorrow or the next day.

I am celebrating my wife's 39 and 12 months birthday this weekend which will also take up much of my time.

But before I go check out Trent Jamieson’s release details for the sequel to Roil(sadly not on the list despite my nominating efforts).

Trent Jamison talks Night’s Engines

The Nightbound Land has been with me since around 1999 and since then I’ve been married, moved house several times, changed jobs, sold short stories and, eventually, novels. It’s one of those projects that I should have perhaps let go long before it sold, but I never could.

I’ve learnt almost everything I know about writing books by writing these. And, to be honest, delivering Night’s Engines put me in a bit of a spin at the end of 2011. There’s so many books I want to write, so many different things that I am working on, but when I delivered that book – my fifth in two years – it really felt like I’d pulled a big chunk of my heart out of my chest and dropped it on my desk. To say it was hard to get going on things again is an understatement. Which isn’t to say that I haven’t been writing, but there’s been a rather large element of aimlessness to it.

Read On….

Oh and expect a review of The Return Man by V.M. Zito and Westwood’s, The Courier's New Bicycle in the coming week.

---

Did you enjoy this review? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Voting & Nominating

 

We the people

You may have noticed that there’s a nifty little  badge in the boxes on the right hand side of the blog.  I am entered in the Sydney Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blog 2012 Competition.  My atrocious spellen and gramma should prevent me from winning the judged section. 

All is not lost, however, as they have a people’s choice section which you may vote in if you so choose. So if you are doing nothing this morning knock yerself out.

---

Ditmars

In other nominating news; today is the last day that you can nominate peeps for the Ditmars. 

The list of eligibles is here.  The nominations forms are here. 

It’s participation that makes the awards worthwhile.  So get your nominatin’ on.

 

---

Obligatory NAFF Begging

I have been nominated to run in this years fan fund for the National Science Fiction Convention to be held in Melbourne.

If you appreciate the work that I do in Australian Speculative Fiction Fandom and you have a spare $5, you can vote for me here and help send me to the National Conference.

Ditmar Eligibles–How I got my boyfriend to read comics.

>>>Transmission Interrupted<<<

Ditmar Nomination Closure Warning

Just a post to let you know that if you intended to nominate any of the folks on this fine list here.  Then tomorrow is your last chance.  Well you have till 11.59pm.

Nomination forms can be found here

>>> resuming normal bloggage<<<

I am partial to the odd comic now and again as I may have mentioned.  So I offer up for your perusal

How I got my boyfriend to read comics.

Producing approximately 11 issues last year this podcast is the brainchild of Zoe who along partner Chris viciously dissect the comics world. Yes that’s right women read and enjoy comics.

Even if you’re not into comics it might be worth a try.

You can find the blog and links to mp3’s here.

 

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Ditmar nomination period closes tomorrow

Just a post to let you know that if you intended to nominate any of the folks on this fine list here.  Then tomorrow is your last chance.  Well you have till 11.59pm.

Nomination forms can be found here

I did want to cover some more fan sites that are eligible for nomination but time has got away from me.

Still I will try and sneak in a couple, and if you a reading this after the nomination period closes well at least you will have discovered some more fan produced material.

Eclecticism e-zine

I offer you the Eclectism e-zine, a free quarterly publication of Horror and Dark Fantasy.  Craig Bezant, the editor has the issues loaded on to the Issu service which makes reading this pdf online a fairly pleasant process.  The production quality is professional as you will see.

Open publication - Free publishing - More australia

 

---

Thankfully you can still sponsor me for NAFF

I have been nominated to run in this years fan fund for the National Science Fiction Convention to be held in Melbourne.

If you appreciate the work that I do in Australian Speculative Fiction Fandom and you have a spare $5, you can vote for me here and help send me to the National Conference.

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Have you Ditmared yet?

By which I mean have you nominated your favourite, novels, short stories and critical works, fan publications?  Well you have until Sunday to do so.

>>GO HERE NOW<<

My plan was to do a few more Ditmar posts in order to raise the profile of some excellent people and publications, because one of the biggest excuses people offer for not nominating is lack of knowledge in the field. 

That being said, no one on the face of the planet could have enough knowledge of the field of eligible nominees to be able to give a comprehensive assessment on their own.

We need to rely on the wisdom of the crowd so to speak, a cacophony of voices and opinions. 

Participate it’s free.

And in this post I would like to present Antipodean SF entered in the Best Fan Publication section. 

Antipodean SF is an online resource housing fiction, reviews and news on Speculative Fiction down under.  It releases one issue a month at www.antisf.com.au and past issues can be accessed via the National Library of Australia Archive here.

The current issue includes works of fiction, reviews and a link to their audio casts.

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter. .

Unearthing Gems - More Ditmar Eligibles

Having wrangled possums out of my roof and engaged in some amateur archaeology (the house is 120 years old, very interesting the things you find discarded in your roof – 32 volt wiring, false ceilings) I sat down to scour the fan production category of the Ditmar Eligible list.

And I am finding some absolute gems;  fan work that probably should see wider circulation or maybe it does. It just doesn’t get to me.

You see I have lived in relative isolation my whole life.  Growing up in Alice Springs I was well into my teens by the time we got commercial television. 

I only have 3-4 early copies of Aurealis because newsagents seemed to get them in intermittently, and its always been too bloody expensive to go anywhere from Alice Springs – still is in fact.

The Internet coincided with the start of my university degree and here I am nearly 20 years later, in the middle of a wheat field in rural SA, having just finished an interview with an award winning novelist, in another country, via Skype( that cost me nothing).
The world is at my fingertips or it should be.
I am reading Issue 82 of SF Commentary, part of the 40th Anniversary Edition. Yep a fan mag that has been running 40 years.  And I am blown away by the history, the quality of the writing and the contributors.  Last year’s editions are available free of charge online here.

I can’t help thinking though that we should be paying for this stuff and that a blog web page with web 2.0 functionality advertising its existence, wouldn’t be too bad an idea either. Working out how to make it available in ebook formats might be worthwhile as well.  Indeed perhaps this is a topic for a fan panel/workshop?
This sort of work deserves wider distribution.

I am not convinced that the internet necessarily expands the SF & F community, rather than just creating a community that just happens to exist in Cyberspace. Your thoughts?

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Of Ditmars and discovery

Greg Chapman comments on a raft of awards in his post, the Awards season and Trudi Canavan chimes in with It’s Aussie SF Awards Time Again.

In addition to this I give you another fanzine discovery – Interstellar Ramjet Scoop a fanzine edited by by Bill Wright.

You can find the index of past issues here.

 

 

 

 

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Angry Robot comes to the party with Ditmar Titles

Angry Robot is offering 50% off eligible Ditmar award titles.  This works out to be three books:

Kaaron Warren’s Mistification, Jo Anderton’s Debris and Trent Jamieson’s Roil

Now you don’t have to have read a mountain of books to nominate for the Ditmars, the only thing you need to have done(besides being a fan) is read an enjoyed one book.  I have read two of the above – I would have no hesitation in nominating either. 

So if you’re stuck for a good book to nominate, have a go at one of the above

Angry Robot Offer

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Mwoar Ditmar

Trent Jamieson reminisces over the growth of SF & F writing in Australia in

Ditmar Eligibility List

Keith Stevenson lets us know what Coeur de Lion had out in 2011 that was eligible in :

Ditmar votes

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

More Ditmar posts round up

Still working at trying to have a crack at looking at some Ditmar eligibles.  Until such time as I am able to here’s a round up from some of the authors:

Joanne Anderton with

On nominations (was om nom nominations…)

Alan Baxter with

2012 Ditmar Awards now open for nominations

Patty Jansen with

Ditmar Award pimpage

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

More Ditmar Pimpage

I am still planning on doing some coverage of the works in the Eligible list but until I get around to it here’s some Ditmar posts from Dr Lisa Hannett and Super Librarian Sue Bursztynski:

• Ditmar Award Nominations Open

It feels like only yesterday that I last mentioned the Ditmar Awards on this website, but apparently a year has passed already! Ditmar nominations are now open — until April 13, 2012.

There is an incredible list of eligible works and potential nominees this year (as is also the case with the Aurealis Awards) — so many great stories for us to read, so much great writing happening in Australia at the moment! [read more]

 

• Ditmar Time

It's that time again. Time to nominate your favourite Aussie artists and writers, so that one in each category can go up on the platform at this year's National Convention, Continuum, to collect the award that's our answer to the Hugos.[read more]

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.

Ditmar Nominations and Eligibility

There’s been a few posts from authors already letting us know what they have produced that is eligible. I’ll append them on the end (including me).

What iz teh Ditmarz?

The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Natcon to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction (including fantasy and horror) and science fiction fandom. They are named for Ditmar "Dick" Jenssen, an Australian fan and artist, who financially supported the awards at their inception. (Source: http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_Award).

In essence our national Science Fiction award recognising Authors, Artists, Academics and Fans.

 

The times they are a changing?

Fandom is changing, as is publishing.  Where once somebody would have sweated blood to produce a fanzine using the school  work  a photocopier and hand stapler, then posted them out to a mailing list.  Now, well now we have even seen professional magazines like Aurealis abandon print and much fan discussion has moved online.

While some may argue that since the barriers to publication have dropped, so have standards I'd counter with - access has improved and science fiction readers are a pretty diverse an sophisticated lot capable of sorting wheat from chaff.

I hadn't thought about my own fan work until I came across Ian Mond’s post on Hugo categories here.  Mondy challenges the category of Best Fanzine, arguing it could be replaced with Best Blog.  It got me thinking.

 

Authors and Social Media

I actually hadn’t thought about it until I came across Mondy’s post above but it turns out I did some work last year that a) I am proud of last year b) is eligible for the Ditmars.

You can check out the eligibility list here.  If any of your favourite authors are missing (remember the rules for eligibility though) feel free to make a suggestion in the comments and I can add it to the list.  The Ditmar rules are located here.

I am eligible to be nominated for:

Best Fan Publication along with Alisa Krasnostein,Tansy Rayner Roberts for Galactic Chat,

and

Best Fan Writer for body of work including "Authors and Social Media" series at Adventures of a Bookonaut.

 

Nominations

Nominations can be posted here. 

You will note it’s a fairly comprehensive form and you have to be known, or active in fandom to nominate. My physical attendance at fan events has been limited until recently owing to living very remotely. 

But my blogging and participation online I believe constitutes being active and so should it for you dear reader, who may never have been able to attend a convention, yet contribute to the conversation through forum discussions, comments and perhaps your own blog/publications.

There’s a swathe of eligible works, from people I respect and know, to people and publications I have never heard of.  The more the merrier, we want a robust field to chose from.

I harbour no illusions about my work, there are quite a few fans that have produced work that is professional all bar the money exchanging hands.  I encourage you, if you are so inclined to check out the eligibility list, note your favourites or discover some new ones.

I intend to go through the list myself and discuss some of the works I discover and post about them here.

I will leave you with a couple of posts from authors who have commented on the Ditmars themselves, mentioning their own eligibility.  Some in fandom feel uncomfortable about authors or those eligible mentioning that fact, as if by drawing fans attention to it, that it’s self promotion or campaigning, that there is a gaming of the system. 

I side with Paul Cornell on that idea.  The more the merrier, the more we have to chose from, the more fans know about what works are available, the more robust the field is, the less chance of a mutual back slapping affair.

On that note, I will not mention my own eligibility again.  I will, as all good fans should, mention every author or fan I think is deserving of a nomination.

 

Current posts floating about the Ditmars:

(feel free to add your own or others in the comments)

Do the Ditmar dance

Ditmar Awards Pimpage – With Megafauna

It’s Ditmar nominating time!

---

Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to read more? You can subscribe to the blog through a reader,by Email or Follow me on twitter.