An uncertain day yesterday.  Marianne had to play trumpet with her band at local Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.  Such things are sufficiently dull that even she didn’t want us to go.   That said, a small part of me wonders when and if she’ll opt for citizenship herself.   She’s been here ten years nearly (this May, I think), and it’s been on her mind.  Speaking of ten years, we had a lovely time for our anniversary.  Thanks to my brother, we spent a very pleasant evening in a king suite at the local Hilton where he works.  Arrived in the afternoon after some shopping, then some time together, dinner down at the Hyatt restaurant, back to the hotel for a quiet night, then up for breakfast, then home.  Lovely, and a nice way for Marianne and I to reconnect with one another a little.  The last few years have been so hectic and stressful that we’ve kind of lost touch with one another a bit, so these moments are very precious.

I ended up taking the girls to the beach in the morning. Trigg was fun. Got there about 9.30am, spent some time in the water then building sandcastles.  The girls intermittently loved it, were bored, loved it, were taken aback at the surf, were bored, loved it, and so on.  A quiet afternoon at home, then over to Stephen’s to watch the Australia Day fireworks, which was nice.

I heard this morning about the Newbery/Printz results, which are amazing. Yay Neil! Yay Margo!   I also had some news about some stressful stuff. Not resolved yet, but hopefully soon.  I also finished reading my first book of 2009 today, Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink.   A fascinating book that left me wondering why no-one seems able to write as well or as interestingly about science fiction.

The Aurealis Awards are being announced as I write this (congratulations to everyone!) and I’m delighted to say that The Starry Rift won the inaugural Aurealis Award for Best Anthology. Margo Lanagan accepted the award for me, and this is what I had her say:

“I’d like to thank the Aurealis Awards judges for recognising The Starry Rift with the inaugural Aurealis Award for Best Anthology. Unlike novels or short stories, which are clearly the work of one person, an anthology is the work of a village. I first proposed editing The Starry Rift to Sharyn November at Viking in 2004. It took four years, stories from fifteen fabulously talented and very generous writers, a wonderful cover from Stephan Martiniere, work from Sharyn and her Viking team, and more tolerance from my family than you could possibly imagine. I’d like to thank each and every member of The Starry Rift village, because truthfully this is their award.”

I stand by that completely, but would add an extra thank you to the ever wonderful Sharyn November and Marianne, Jessica and Sophie.  Off for 10th Wedding Anniversary dinner now. The celebration is even brighter!

A quick one before I go. The estimable Fabrice Doublet is writing about Eclipse Two over at the Asimov’s Boards.  Check it out. And, thanks, Fabrice!

Well, today is my 10th wedding anniversary.   Marianne and I are headed off for a night away and won’t be back until tomorrow some time.  Expect little to no blogging, twittering or email response.  I should be back Sunday evening, I guess, and respond to emails late Sunday or sometime Monday.

Well, I received my details in the mail from the good folk at Anticipation yesterday. With the Locus Recommended lists all finished, I thought I’d take a moment to nominate for the Hugo Awards using their online nomination form.  The process was, as it should be, simple, painless and easy.  I can’t wait to see the final ballot, which I guess will be out some time in late March.  Nominating and voting are private, but no matter what work you want to support, please nominate!  The process is only as good as the number of people involved.