Have you ever been to Ambergris? Described, and believe me I quote, as “Funny, bawdy, profane, tragic, and sometimes heartbreaking” Jeff Vandermeer’s City of Saints and Madmen is a mosaic novel, a shattered mirror of story, myth and mystery the kind of which you rarely stumble across. In all honesty it’s the kind of book that shouldn’t work. It should be terrible. It’s not. It’s actually strange and rich and wonderful. It’s just been published by Bantam in a cool new edition, which you should definitely check out. And, if that dip into the heady whirlpool of Amergris enchants and beguiles, get ready for Shriek: An Afterword which follows in August.
Daily Archives: 28 February, 2006
Ditmar nominations announced
Conjure, the 45th National Australian Science Fiction Convention, has released the nominees for the 2006 Australian National Science Fiction Achievement ‘Ditmar’ Awards. Voting is open until 11 April 2006. The deadline for postal ballots is 4 April 2006.
BEST NOVEL
• Magic or Madness, Justine Larbalestier, Razorbill (March 17, 2005)
• Drowned Wednesday, Garth Nix, Harpercollins Pub Ltd (May 31, 2005)
• Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness, Scott Westerfeld, Eos (March 1, 2005)
• Peeps, Scott Westerfeld, Razorbill (August 25, 2005)
• Uglies, Scott Westerfeld, Simon Pulse (February 8, 2005)
• Geodesica: Ascent, Sean Williams & Shane Dix, Ace (January 25, 2005)
• No Award
BEST NOVELLA OR NOVELETTE
• Passing of the Minotaurs, Rjurik Davidson, Scifi.com April 2005
• The Red Priest’s Homecoming, Dirk Flinhart, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #17
• Countless Screaming Argonauts, Chris Lawson, Realms of Fantasy
• The Memory of Breathing, Lynn Triffitt (Battersby), Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #17
• The Grinding House, Kaaron Warren, The Grinding House, CSFG Publishing
• No Award
BEST SHORT STORY
• Summa Seltzer Missive, Deborah Biancotti, Ticonderoga Online #6
• Leviathan, Simon Brown, Eidolon SF: Online
• Once Giants Roamed the Earth, Rosaleen Love, Daikaju!, Agog Press
• Matricide, Lucy Sussex, SciFiction
• Fresh Young Widow, Kaaron Warren, The Grinding House, CSFG Publishing
• No Award
BEST COLLECTED WORK
• Shadowed Realms, Angela Challis & Shane Jiraiya Cummings, www.shadowedrealms.com.au
• Years Best Australian SF & Fantasy, Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt, MirrorDanse
• Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales, Robert Hood & Robin Penn, Agog! Press
• A Tour Guide in Utopia, Lucy Sussex, MirrorDanse Books
• The Grinding House, Kaaron Warren, ed. Donna Maree Hanson, , CSFG Publishing
• No Award
BEST ARTWORK
• The Blood Debt-cover, Greg Bridges, The Blood Debt, Sean Williams (HarperCollins Australia)
• The Grinding House – cover, Robin Evans, The Grinding House, Kaaron Warren, ed. Donna Maree Hanson, CSFG
• Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview – cover, Nick Stathopoulos, Australian Speculative Fiction – A Genre Overview; Donna Hanson
• Fell #3, Ben Templesmith, Image Comics, Warren Ellis, Ben Templesmith
• No Award
BEST FAN WRITER
• Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Writer/reviewer, Horror Scope
• Bruce Gillespie, Writer/reviewer, Steam Engine Time and Science Fiction Commentary , *brg*, Earl Kemp’s ezines
• Stephanie Gunn, Writer/reviewer, Horror Scope
• Martin Livings, Skeletor_Hordak, LiveJournal web comic
• Bill Wright, Interstellar Ramjet Scoop, Published by Bill Wright
• No Award
BEST FAN ARTIST
• Dick Jenssen , Artwork in American fan Earl Kemp’s ezines eI20 (June 2005) and eI23 (Dec 2005), Published via efanzines.com
• Dick Jenssen, Ditmar Graphics (cover illustrations), IRS (5 issues, 2005) published by Bill Wright
• Elaine Kemp, ConSensual a Trois interior artwork, ConSensual a Trois, April 2005
• Shane Parker, Conflux Poster Art, Conflux
• No Award
BEST FAN PRODUCTION
• Edwina Harvey, The Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet, Website and Newsletter
• Alisa Krasnostein, ASIF!: Australian Specfic In Focus, http://asif.dreamhosters.com/doku.php
• Tony Plank, Inkspillers website, www.inkspillers.com
• Conflux Committee, Conflux 2, Conflux 2 convention
• Continuum Committee, Continuum 3, Continuum 3 convention
• No Award
BEST FANZINE
• Horrorscope, Shane Jiraiya Cummings et. al., ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com
• Ticonderoga Online, Russell B Farr, website
• ASif! Australian Spec Fic in Focus, Alisa Krasnostein, asif.dreamhosters.com
• Interstellar Ramjet Scoop, Bill Wright (ed), Interstellar Ramjet Scoop
• No Award
THE WILLIAM ATHELING JR. AWARD
• Ferocious Minds: Polymathy and the New Enlightenment, Damien Broderick, Wildside Press
• Australian Speculative Fiction: a genre overview, Donna Maree Hanson
• Aus Speculative Fiction
• Divided Kingdom: King Kong vs Godzilla, Robert Hood, King Kong is Back: Benbella Books
• Body Parts, Chris Lawson, Borderlands
• PK Dick: The Exhilaration and the Terror, Rosaleen Love, Borderlands
• The 2005 Snapshot Australian Speculative Fiction writers, editors, publishers, Ben Peek, http://www.tabula-rasa.info/Snapshot/
• No Award
BEST NEW TALENT
• Lyn Battersby/Triffit
• Rjurik Davidson
• Justine Larbalestier
• Karen Miller
• No Award
BEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
• Damien Broderick and Wilson de Silva and Kylie Ahern, COSMOS Magazine, COSMOS magazine
• Robert Dobson, Robert Hoge, Kate Eltham, Heather Gammage, Clarion South 2005, Clarion South Workshop
• Donna Maree Hanson, Australian Speculative Fiction: a genre overview, Australian Spec. Fiction Project
• Michael Rymer, Screenwriting and directing, Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.0, Sci-Fi Channel
• Jonathan Strahan, for co-editing Best Short Novels: 2005 (SFBC), Science Fiction: Best of 2004 (ibooks), and Fantasy: Best of 2004 (ibooks)
• No Award
BEST FAN ACHIEVEMENT
• Donna Maree Hanson, Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview
• Alisa Krasonstein, ASif! Australian Spec Fic in Focus webzine
• No Award
Ditmar nominations announced
Conjure, the 45th National Australian Science Fiction Convention, has released the nominees for the 2006 Australian National Science Fiction Achievement ‘Ditmar’ Awards. Voting is open until 11 April 2006. The deadline for postal ballots is 4 April 2006.
Aurealis Awards
The winners of the Aurealis Awards were announced on the weekend. Winners included Garth Nix, Isobelle Carmody, Juliet Marillier and others.