February 2011

HOUSEKEEPING: I’ve registered everyone who asked to be registered via email. If you don’t like your username (generally taken from your email name), let me know and I’ll resubscribe you with the username of your choice.

HORRORSCOPE lists its favourite Australian horror and dark fantasy works for 2010.

NEIL GAIMAN married Amanda Palmer in January…the tenuous Australian link being that they sort-of honeymooned in Tasmania.

After a summer closure, submissions to AUREALIS re-open again on Monday 7 February 2011. Also, with the resignation of editor Stuart Mayne, Aurealis were looking for a new editor or editorial team as of January 2011. If you have editing experience, you can email publisher@aurealis.com.au to find out if they’re still looking…

Author Gerry Huntman would like to bring to your attention IFWG PUBLISHING, which, while based in the US, has an Australian owner and has three Australian writers on its books, including Gerry himself. Gerry’s book Guardian of the Sky Realms is available now online and soon through Australian bookstores.

The AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS ASSOCIATION was started in August 2010 and created to support and promote Australian SF/F writers.

The DRUMMERS DOWNUNDER are groups of Terry Pratchett fans meeting monthly. The next meetings are both Monday 7 February 2011 from 7pm, at Maloneys on the corner of Pitt and Goulburn Streets (across the road from World Square), in Sydney, and at the Vic Hotel, 226 Hay St, Subiaco, for the inaugural Perth branch meeting.

NEW RELEASES

WORTHY CAUSE I: Fablecroft Publishing has released a limited edition ebook AFTER THE RAIN as a fundraiser for the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal. It’s available until 15 February 2011, and all donations will go to the appeal. (http://fablecroft.com.au)

ABOVE/BELOW is the latest novella double from Twelfth Planet Press. Set in the same world, from two very different perspectives, Ben Peek and Stephanie Campisi tell the story of what happened when the city of Loft fell from the sky. (www.twelfthplanetpress.com)

HALF MOON by Dale Renton is out now from Winterbourne Publishing. A mage discovers corruption at the heart of his guild…a young hunter finds a man murdered by a sword…darkness rises again and their two peoples must come together or lose everything. It’s available now in ebook or print format from your favourite online retailer, or you can buy it directly from the publisher for a 30% discount over RRP. (http://www.winterbournepublishing.com.au)

DEMON GATES, Book 1 of the Nexus Wars Saga, by Robert Day is now available as an ebook via Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Smashwords. The races of Kil’Tar have lived free from the threat of the Demon hordes, banished behind sealed portals into the void. But now the seals are breaking! Can Valdieron, the last descendant of a long dead race of Dragon Riders, accept his legacy or will he falter and forsake the land of Kil’Tar to demonic destruction?

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

The 2011 HUGO AWARDS nominations are now open. Nominating ballots can be submitted by Renovation members and by all supporting and attending members of Aussiecon 4. Deadline for nominations is Saturday, March 26. (http://www.thehugoawards.org)

Australian author SARA CREASY‘s first book Song of Scarabaeus (Eos) has just been shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award for distinguished science fiction! More info here: http://keithstevenson.com/CDLblog/2011/01/19/aussie-makes-philip-k-dick-shortlist/. (Submitted by Keith Stevenson)

The NORMA K HEMMING AWARD marks excellence in the representation of positive images of race, sexuality, gender, disability and social diversity in Australian speculative fiction and related arts and media. Entries close 28 February 2011 and the award will be presented at Swancon 36 in April. (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~asff/hemming.htm)

The New Zealand SIR JULIUS VOGEL AWARDS opened for nomination on 1 January and will close on 31 March, 2011. The Awards recognise achievement in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by New Zealanders and initial nominations are open to everyone, so if you’ve liked a book, TV show, or movie by one of our neighbours, make a nomination. (http://sffanz.sf.org.nz/sjv/sjvAwardsRules_2011.shtml)

CONVENTIONS

WORTHY CAUSE II: The 2011 Australian National Convention (Swancon Thirty Six | Natcon Fifty) will be held only a few weeks after the 20th anniversary of LYN McCONCHIE’s first professionally published short story, The Sar Shan Kelpie which appeared in the March 1991 issue of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine. Lyn is an invited guest at Swancon. With Lyn’s permission, Jean Weber is administering a special fund-raising drive to raise money to pay for her airfare and accommodation. More info here: http://www.wrevenge.com/new/?page_id=80. (Submitted by Jean Weber)

WORTHY CAUSE III: The Doctor Who Club of Australia is happy to announce that JANET FIELDING and MARK STRICKSON, who played companions Tegan and Turlough during the 1980s, will be guests at Whovention: Celebration Part One on the first weekend in March. There will be a charity auction with all proceeds going to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal. (http://www.dwca.org.au)

Nullus Anxietas 3, the Australian Discworld Convention 2011, will be held in April, with pTerry attending. (http://ausdwcon.org/)

Hotel bookings for RENOVATION, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, have opened. (www.renovationsf.org/hotels.php)

Got more news? Add it in the comments and/or send an email to have it included in next month’s issue.