so, bills came in. book bills, tax bills, sudden dead car bills. ipod cancelled. sigh. tv card for pc cancelled. sigh. next time.

Bangladesh defeated Australia in a one-day game last night. There’s no way to sugar coat it. They played well, and Australia, who strode arrogantly towards this UK summer, is somewhat in disarray. While all the early talk was whether the Aussies would finish the summer undefeated, it’s all now of whether they can get their acts together. I don’t know what happened. It’s mystifying. On paper the Australians are the best team playing in the UK right now. I’m hoping everything right’s itself, but tonight’s game against England is sure to prove a real test of character. I’m betting Symonds will play, and I even wonder about Lee.

Charles Stross has made his new novel Accelerando available to download for free at www.accelerdando.org. Go download it, check it out, and see what all of the fuss is about. This is the latest, hottest, smartest thing in SF. You’ll still need a print copy, trust me, but this’ll give you a taste.

As we move towards the end of the financial year short term chaos looms, but order is on the horizon. Gordon is kindly, happily building new IT systems for Chez Coode Street. Anne is on her way to visit. Ipods beckon, as do Melbourne and Continuum. A visit to the accountant today, some painful check writing and things should once again be on a reasonable level, at least until October.

With that in mind, let me point you towards John Clute’s review of Brad Denton’s scathingly brilliant Laughin’ Boy which, as Clute points out “rubs our ears in the junk noise and anguish of America” and is “one of the funniest novels of the past decade”. The comedy was so dark that one of Locus‘s reviewers was unable to read it, but I loved it. Magnificent stuff, and one of the novels of the year.

The 2005 Australian National Science Fiction Achievement ‘Ditmar’ Awards were presented at Thylacon, the 44th Australian National Science Fiction Convention, on Saturday 11 June 2005, in a ceremony at the Wrest Point Hotel, Hobart, Tasmania. Tbe winners were:

Best Novel

The Crooked Letter, Sean Williams (HarperCollins Australia)

Best Collected Work

Black Juice, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin Australia)

Best Novella/Novelette

“The Last Days of Kali Yuga”, Paul Haines (NFG Magazine, August 2004)

Best Short Story

“Singing My Sister Down”, Margo Lanagan (Black Juice)

Best Professional Artwork

Kerri Valkova for the cover to The Black Crusade (Chimaera Publications)

Best Professional Achievement

Clarion South committee

Fan Achievement

Conflux convention committee

Fan Artist

Sarah Xu

Fanzine

The Bullsheet, ed Edwina Harvey & Ted Scribner

Fan Writer

Bruce Gillespie

Best New Talent

Paul Haines

The organisers also presented two further awards, not Ditmars, at the ceremony.

William Atheling Jnr Award for Criticism or Review (tie)

Robert Hood, for his review of Weight of Water at HoodReviews; and

Jason Nahrung for “Why are publishers afraid of horror” (BAM, Courier Mail, 20 March 2004)

The Peter McNamara Achievement Award

Jonathan Strahan