The Aurealis Awards are now open for nominations. See the site for more details, including a list of the Judges.

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This month's Spec Fic Blog Carnival is being hosted at HorrorScope.

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Some upcoming events at the Victorian Writers' Centre include:

The Hero's Journey with Paul Collins, 28th June. There's a special offer to non VWC members for this workshop. Please mention “VWC PROMO DEAL” to receive a special discount at the VWC membership rate of $100 / $90 concession. OFFER CLOSES MIDDAY, MONDAY 22 JUNE. Bookings are essential to receive this offer. Phone 9654 9068.

Genre Publishers Tell All with "a guest editor" from black dog books, Stuart Mayne (Aurealis Magazine) and Janet Rowe (Five Mile Press), June 30th.

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Australian spec-fic and horror author/illustrator (and Aurealis magazine's Art Director!) Andrew J McKiernan now has a new website: http://www.andrewmckiernan.com
Find samples from the forthcoming "SHARDS: Short Sharp Tales" collection by Shane Jiraiya Cummings & Andrew J McKiernan in the Image Gallery, as well as illustrations that have appeared in Aurealis magazine, Orb Speculative Fiction, and a number of other collections and anthologies.
The site also contains a full bibliography of works published, plus two pieces of previously unpublished fiction to read for free: "The Memory of Water" and "Last Words".

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Some miscellaneous items of interest from the newspaper sites: Alison Croggon won the Pascall Prize for criticism, an interview with author Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and top Oz scientists and science broadcasters (including Sean Williams) share their favourite science books – fact or fiction.

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Two long articles on the forthcoming graphic novels, The Example and Flinch, feature interviews with creator Tom Taylor: "In a superhero-free world" from The Australian, and "Tom Taylor on The Example and Flinch" from Cool Shite.

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Some recent author interviews found around the blogosphere include: Kaaron Warren at Luke Reviews, Paul Collins at We love YA, and Kim Wilkins at Grinding to Valhalla.

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Richard Harland has created a 145 page Writing Tips Website full of solid advice for fantasy, speculative fiction and genre writers.

www.writingtips.com.au is as big as a small book and totally FREE. Richard says he took four months off from his own fiction writing—“it started out as a small service for aspiring writers and just kept growing and growing!”

The tips cover everything from getting published to good writing habits, from dialogue and action to naming and point-of-view. Check it all out at www.writingtips.com.au.

And look for an interview with Richard in June's aXp.

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Some recent items of interest from ABC TV include:

Collectors had a segment on an Astro Boy collector. The video is available to stream or download.

Margaret and David review Terminator Salvation on At the Movies. There's a transcript and the video is available to stream or download.

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The Ditmar Award winners were announced at Conjecture this weekend past. They are:

Best Novel – Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (published by Allen & Unwin)

Best Novella – "Painlessness" by Kirstyn McDermott (GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator #2)

Best Short Story (tie) – "This Is Not My Story" by Dirk Flinthart (ASIM #37) and "The Goosle" by Margo Lanagan (The Del Rey Book of Australian Science Fiction, Del Rey)

Best Collected Work – Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann (Harper Voyager)

Best Artwork – Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)

Best Fan Writer – Rob Hood

Best Fan Artist – Cat Sparks for Scary Food Cookbook (Agog! Press)

Best Fan Publication – ASif! Australian Speculative Fiction In Focus edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Gene Melzack (Twelfth Planet Press)

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review – "Popular genres and the Australian literary community: the case of fantasy fiction" by Kim Wilkins (Journal of Australian Studies, Vol 32, Issue 2)

Best Professional Achievement – Angela Challis for Black: Australian Dark Culture Magazine and Brimstone Press

Best New Talent – Felicity Dowker

Also awarded were:

The A. Bertram Chandler Award – Rosaleen Love

The Peter McNamara Award – Sean Williams

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