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.

The winners of the Aurealis Awards were announced on the weekend.  Winners included Garth Nix, Isobelle Carmody, Juliet Marillier and others.

I want to complain and whine, I do. It’s been a long, stressful week and things aren’t going to settle down for a week or two, is my guess. I’d intended to whine, but in an amazing feat of self-control, I’ve decided instead to tell you what’s good right now. First, three weeks ago my eldest daughter Jessica started school. She has an intellectual disability, and this was her first start in a mainstream school. As you can imagine, we were damn nervous about it, but determined to give her the best chance we could, and so far it’s working. With minor hiccups, she’s settling in, making friends and doing ok. Not much else that’s happening could blemish that. Second, I delivered Best Short Novels: 2006. I think it’s a good book, though I have no distance on these things. I do know that Andrew Wheeler and the team at the Book Club are a pleasure to deal with. Professional, on the ball, and good in most every way. Third, I received the dvds of the first half of season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, which was so cool I actually learned how to download the next seven eps by bit torrent. Fourth, I’m reading Justina Robson’s very cool and very good fun new novel. Fourth, despite a major hiccup, The Starry Rift, my young adult SF anthology should be delivered mid-week (if I can get the intro done) and it rocks. Fifth, a new Eels cd was released last week, and it’s swell. Sixth, some very cool people have decided to put their faith in me to do some more work, more on which later.

There is another thing that I’ve come to appreciate this past week. I fell into editing anthologies, almost by chance it seemed. I was disappointed when the first set I did, in Australia, weren’t renewed. I was grateful to Bob Silverberg, Karen Haber, Byron Preiss, and Marty Greenberg for letting me get involved with their year’s best SF and year’s best fantasy, and insanely happy when the Book Club let me do Best Short Novels. Now what I realise is this: I love it. I love editing a year’s best volume. It can be a royal pain in the ass at times, and the deadlines should be for short order cooks, not editors, but it’s a beautiful thing. You read millions of words of fiction, some shitty, some some golden, and you sift out the gold, assemble it in a book, and give it to readers. It’s a very personal thing. I’m very lucky.

Nick Evans got himself a blog a while back. This was a good thing because Nick is funny. I hadn’t realised though, that in keeping with his love of cutting edge technology, he’d gotten himself a podcast too. He posted the first instalment of his occasional podcast, Short Segments from Shit Books, last week. Check it out. Warning: This is not for the sensitive, especially if you think you’ve written a shit book and might be mentioned.

And to distract myself from the fun news about iBooks, a meme. I spotted this one on Andrew Wheeler’s blog, and which he found elsewhere. The idea, basically, is name the ten most played songs on your iPod or on iTunes, allowing only one track per artist.

1. Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois, Sufjan Stevens — I love this gentle, folky piece that opens Stevens Illinoise! album. I bought it just before I went to the States last year, and listed to it over and over as we flew into and out of Chicago on the way to World Fantasy. It seemed the perfect soundtrack.
2. I’m All for You, Joe Lovano — This is one of Lovano’s more beautiful and romantic pieces from an album that seems to be perfect when I need to just slow down and relax.
3. Just a Song Before I Go, Crosby, Stills and Nash — Although this is the most played CSN track I have, it’s not my favorite. Oddly, I think it gets onto the ‘most played’ list because it’s the first track on the album and I tend to skip through it on my way to other stuff.
4. Mona Lisas and Madhatters, Elton John — I came to this track via the Buckshot Lefonque cover version. It’s perfect pop, melancholic and inspirational. I don’t think John has recorded anything better.
5. Mornings Eleven, The Magic Numbers — Last year was the year of following the critics. I bought a lot of stuff because it was well reviewed, even though a lot of it proved to be junk. The Magic Numbers debut wasn’t junk. “Mornings Eleven” is the kind of pop that the Mommas and Poppas would make if they starting up today.
6. Isfahan, Joe Henderson — Nothing tops Johnny Hodges playing this stunningly beautiful Ellington/Strayhorn piece. That said, Henderson gives it a real go. He recorded it for Lush Life, a tribute to Strayhorn back in the mid-90’ss, which is one of my favorite albums.
7. I Hear a Rhapsody, Bill Evans & Jim Hall — Hall and Evans recorded two simply lovely records together back in the ’60s, Undercurrent and Intermodulation. This gentle, elegiac track comes from the better of the two, Undercurrent.
8. Theme from Blinking Lights, Eels — This is a little misleading. This almost nursery-like piece opens Blinking Lights, one of my favorite albums from last year, and most played. It really only makes sense when heard with the tracks which follow. That said, it could convert you to the Eels easily.
9. Jailbreak, AC/DC — Sometimes you need to head bang. It’s that simple. Getting stressed, annoyed, need to wind down. Crank up Acka/Dacka on the iPod and go for it. This one grabs you from the opening riff, and doesn’t let go.
10. Jungleland, Bruce Springsteen — This is a rarity. One of my favorite songs of all time, a favorite since I first heard it in Musgroves record store in 1979, and still a favorite today. Lush, romantic, overblown, this is teen rock drama at its very best. I love this song to distraction.