The Aurealis offices with be closed from 27 June – 4 July and will be open again from 5 July.

Weblog items appear first at our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/aurealisXpress
This is just a small selection of the items posted.

Check it out: Aurealis Magazine has a Facebook Page http://bit.ly/ax0oDx

Read Gary Kemble's Bug Hunt and other "One Book Many Brisbanes 5" winning stories http://bit.ly/bzMNU0

Big 4 Interviews at Burn Bright: Richard Harland, Isobelle Carmody, Alison Goodman, Kate Forsyth, Kim Wilkins  http://bit.ly/9owy6c and Margo Lanagan http://bit.ly/bLFWcB

Voyager Online reports that Maria Quinn, author of The Gene Thieves, has passed away http://bit.ly/dimGCC

Free wallpaper from Professional Artist Hugo nominee Shaun Tan at Tor.com http://bit.ly/abVpIt

Read Alert has details/links/video about the adaptation for film of Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing http://bit.ly/cAphs0

Email or tweet us details of your Oz SF-related events for our aurealisXpress Blog Calendar http://bit.ly/a0htl3

Garth Nix – "Adapt or perish: why authors need to prepare for the e-book era" http://bit.ly/aYQhoO

The following updates and details are now available at the Aussiecon 4 website.

* A Customs Broker has been appointed.

* The program participant and program ideas forms are now online.

* Art Show bookings are open.
        
* Dealers Room bookings are open.

* Fan table bookings are open.

* Short Story Competition closing 31 May.
       
* Site Selection voting open.

* Hotel Bookings.

* Disability Services: register your needs.

* See who else is attending other than the Guests of Honour.

After 15 years the Aurealis Awards, Australia's premier awards for Speculative Fiction, finally make it to Sydney. Chimaera Publications, the publishers of Aurealis magazine and owner of the Aurealis Awards and book imprint, have reached agreement for SpecFaction NSW Inc to administer the Awards for 2010.

The Awards’ founder, Dirk Strasser says, “Fantastic Queensland took the Aurealis Awards to a new level during its six years, and all the signs indicate that SpecFaction NSW Inc will maintain this standard of excellence. With Sydney now joining past hosts Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, we can truly claim the Aurealis Awards as fully national.”

To allow sufficient time for entries this year, the nomination period will extend to 31 December 2010 and the Awards ceremony will be late April/early May 2011.

The Awards website will continue to be at www.aurealisawards.com. The Co-convenors are Nathan Burrage and Susan Wardle, and general queries should go to nscrypt@gmail.com until the website has been updated. If you wish to register an expression of interest in being on one of the judging panels for this year, please email the Judging Coordinator, Keith Stevenson, at aajudges@optusnet.com.au.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Zealand is please to announce this year's finalists for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards.
 
Something Better Than Death by Lucy Sussex, published in Aurealis #42, and Paul Haines' Spot of Liver from TMP's Slice of Life are amongst the finalists in the Short Story category.
 
The voting will occur at Au Contraire – the national science fiction convention being held in Wellington, New Zealand over the weekend of the 27 – 29 August 2010. All Au Contraire attendees and SFFANZ members are entitled to vote. For more information about Au Contraire — including how to obtain tickets to attend — please visit their website.

Weblog items appear first at our Twitter page: http://twitter.com/aurealisXpress

Teen Writers Get Serious with Melina Marchetta. NSW Writers Centre workshop April 24th http://bit.ly/b9oBIV

Aussiecon 4's Hugo Ballot is now online. Deadline 31st July 2010 http://bit.ly/9ySAua

Larbalestier, Harland & Murray shortlisted for Ethel Turner Prize, NSW Premier's Literary Award http://bit.ly/dp6Txj

Deborah Biancotti, Kaaron Warren, Amanda Pillar & Jennifer Brozek took out the Australian Shadows Awards http://bit.ly/9edoIm

Jonathan Strahan: New book cover for Legends of Australian Fantasy!! http://brizzly.com/pic/1WKH

The Book Show asks "how are local writers coping with the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena?" http://bit.ly/cT7U29

Kate Eltham shares 3 books that have had an impact in her life for ABC RN's Off the Shelf segment http://bit.ly/cfpdqa mp3 or stream

New Galactic Suburbia podcast up! http://bit.ly/cb5SUn Episode 2 & 3

Karen Healey (@kehealey) – Writing From A Strange Land: The Imaginative Displacement of Margaret Mahy http://bit.ly/cnNRHJ @strangehorizons

Recommend "strongly Australian" stories for @editormum75's reprint anthology Australis Imaginarium http://bit.ly/boSzjG

Read Alert has Shaun Tan's Adelaide Festival Award acceptance speech http://bit.ly/9GKeG7

Melina Marchetta on The Conversation Hour http://bit.ly/a6SoRh mp3 download

Up now TISF 17: Ben Peek reads 'Under The Red Sun', Keith reviews Mirror Space. Free at www.tisf.com.au or iTunes.

Australian Spec Fic blog carnival, March 2010 http://bit.ly/9HRWbZ

The Aurealis office will be closed during school holidays, 27 March – 11 April.

The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) has selected thirteen of the best and scariest works of horror fiction from 2009 as the finalists in the annual Australian Shadows Award, the highest honour for horror, dark fantasy, and paranormal fiction in Australia and New Zealand. And one of those is Aurealis issue 42 in the edited publication category.

More information can be found at the Australian Horror Writers Association website.

Recent links of interest @AurealisXpress:

The latest issue of aurealisXpress is out for Aurealis subscribers. Includes an interview with Garth Nix and, thanks to Madman Entertainment, a competition to win the 1960s classic cartoon Gigantor, Collection 1 and the Korean disaster movie, Haeundae on DVD

 

Cartoon Network will air “Deltora Quest” animated series in April http://bit.ly/b6dM5i 

 

@KathLangrish interviews Kate Forsyth for "An Australian Perspective…about writing fantasy" http://bit.ly/dijoVB 

 

LA Times announces 2009 Book Prize finalists | Sean Tan nominated in Young Adult Lit for Tales from Outer Suburbia http://bit.ly/aEhTHO 

 

Meet Melina Marchetta at SLV March 14th http://bit.ly/bCy83l also a the short video interview with Melina.

 

Syd Mead, concept artist for Blade Runner, Tron, Aliens, Star Trek, will appear at the Orpheum in March http://bit.ly/cfBef 

 

Foz Meadows on Solace and Grief @ Fancy Goods http://bit.ly/cQpQiT 

 

Paul Collins interview @ KidsLife | The stuff of legends: writing for the world of fantasy adventure http://bit.ly/c3N42M 

 

Maria V Snyder interviews Glenda Larke http://bit.ly/bGHJyT plus a contest to win The Last Stormlord 

 

Trespass Magazine (@trespassmag) interview with Foz Meadows http://bit.ly/dlg0IC 

 

February has been Aussie Month at The Clock Monkey: Interviews & Reviews of Australian authors http://bit.ly/a9xdlH ~ thx to @EllaPress 

"Keeping the magic alive: Australia and eBooks" by @renailemay http://bit.ly/d2d3p0 ~ thanks to @KimFalconer 

Garth Nix joins Mary Pope Osborne, Cory Doctorow & Mindy Klasky on The Author Hour http://bit.ly/bfITr0 audio & transcript 

 

Margo Lanagan’s (@MargoLanagan) workshop Blood, Boggarts and Battlestars: An Introduction to Speculative Fiction, 6th March @ NSWWC http://bit.ly/c4wc4r 

 

Tor.com interview with Garth Nix from late last year. I missed this one at the time.http://bit.ly/ckUYSI 

 

Paul Haines has (Aurealis Award winning) Wives & A Spot of Liver avail. at his website for your consideration http://bit.ly/cbJfkE 

 

You can pick up free e-copies of Horn, A Book of Endings and Siren Beat from Twelfth Planet Press till March http://bit.ly/cl67TH 

 

90 interviews for the 2010 Australian Specfic Snapshot! Here's the roundup by @kathrynlinge: http://bit.ly/9phNvH 

 

Here's Stuart Mayne’s (@AurealisEd) 2010 Australian Specfic Snapshot interviewhttp://bit.ly/bQcdkf 

 

2009 Nebula Awards Nominations: http://tinyurl.com/ycfxheq 

 

Writers Read: Narrelle Harris http://bit.ly/d9YDke 

 

ABC RN's Lingua Franca talks to the creator of the Na'vi language

(Avatar).http://bit.ly/dcdQX9 Stream or download, also transcript available.

 

The Small Picture Podcast interviews KJ Taylor (The Griffin's Flight) http://bit.ly/aCD0Av 

 

Sean Williams Interview @ The Long Write Blog http://bit.ly/9pLtGM 

 

Joel Shepherd interview @nethspace http://bit.ly/cWnv9y 

 

Patrick Ness Oz/NZ Tour details http://bit.ly/cub0uX 

 

February's Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival is up at Ripping Ozzie Reads http://bit.ly/aq4YRw

 

NSW Writers' Centre has an interview with Margo Lanagan (@margolanagan) in their February Newsletter http://bit.ly/bY5bar

 

Garth Nix is February's Writer in Residence at insideadog.com.au. His first post is here:http://bit.ly/9ZB9KN 

 

Up now TISF 16: Matthew Chrulew reads 'Beast Machine Fableaux', Keith reviews The Terminator Gene. Free at www.tisf.com.au or iTunes. 

Launch of @fozmeadows Solace & Grief by @ScottWesterfeld at Books Kinokuniya, Sydney, March 7 at 12.30pm http://bit.ly/aXp1025

Entries are now being accepted for the 2010 Katharine Susannah Prichard Speculative Fiction Awards.  

Writers of all ages are invited to submit their work. A fee per manuscript of $7.00 applies, however young writers under 20 years are particularly encouraged to enter and may submit their work for FREE!
Cash prizes are awarded, and winners will be invited to read at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday 15 August 2010 at KSP Writers Centre.
 
Stories must be between 1500 and 3500 words, with all forms of Speculative Fiction welcomed.