Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for the 2007 Ditmar Awards.

The presentation of the Ditmar Awards, for work published in the previous calendar year (2006), was held Saturday 9th June, at Convergence 2, the 46th National SF Convention.

Novel

• Carnies. Martin Livings, Lothian
• Prismatic. Edwina Grey, Lothian
• The Mother. Brett McBean, Lothian
• The Pilo Family Circus. Will Elliot, ABC Books (W)
• The Silver Road. Grace Dugan, Penguin

Novella/Novelette

• Aftermath. David Conyers, Agog! Ripping Reads, Agog! Press
• The Dead of Winter. Stephen Dedman, Weird Tales, #339
• The Devil in Mr Pussy (Or how I found God inside my wife). Paul Haines, C0ck, Couer de Lion Publishing (W)
• The Souls of Dead Soldiers are for Blackbirds, Not Little Boys. Ben Peek, Agog! Ripping Reads, Agog! Press
• Under the Red Sun. Ben Peek, Fantasy Magazine #4, Prime Books
• World’s Whackiest Upper Atmosphere Re-Entry Disasters Dating Game. Brendan Duffy, Agog! Ripping Reads, Agog! Press
• (Fifth place nomination a tie)

Short Story

• Burning from the Inside. Paul Haines, Doorways for the Dispossessed, Prime Books
• Cold. Kirstyn McDermott, Shadowed Realms #9
• Honeymoon. Adam Browne and John Dixon, C0ck, Couer de Lion Publishing
• Surrender 1: Rope Artist. Deborah Biancotti, Shadowed Realms #9
• The Bat's Boudoir. Kyla Ward, Shadowed Realms #9
• The Fear of White. Rjurik Davidson, Borderlands #7 (W)
• (Fifth place nomination a tie)

Collected Work

• Agog! Ripping Reads edited by Cat Sparks. Agog! Press
• C0ck edited by Keith Stevenson & Andrew Macrae
• Doorways for the Dispossessed edited by Paul Haines and Geoffrey Maloney, Prime Books
• The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol.2 edited by Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt, Mirrordanse Books (W)
• Eidolon I edited by Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne, Eidolon Books

Artwork

• 26Lies/1Truth, cover art by Andrew MacRae, Wheatland Press (W)
• Agog! Ripping Reads, cover art by Cat Sparks, Agog! Press
• Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century cover art by Cat Sparks, Wesleyan University Press
• The Devoured Earth, cover art by Greg Bridges, HarperCollins Press
• The Arrival, cover art by Shaun Tan, Lothian

Fan Writer

• Stephanie Gunn
• Shane Jiraiya Cummings
• Danny Oz (W)
• Miranda Siemienowicz
• Mark Smith-Briggs
• Matthew Tait
• (Fifth place nomination a tie)

Fan Artist

• Christopher Johnstone
• Jon Swabey (W)

Fan Production

• ASif website, Alisa Krasnostein – Executive Editor (W)
• Inkspillers website, Tony Plank
• Outland, Directed by John Richards
• Tabula Rasa website, David Carroll
• The Bullsheet website & ezine, Edwina Harvey & Ted Scribner

Fanzine

• AntipodeanSF, editor Ion Newcombe
• ASIF – Australian Specfic in Focus, editor Alisa Krasnostein
• The Captain's Log, Austrek clubzine. Edited by Clare McDonald
• Ethel the Aardvark, MSFC clubzine
• HorrorScope, editor Shane Jiraiya Cummings (W)

Professional Achievement

• Angelia Challis for establishing Brimstone Press as a mass market publisher
• Bill Congreve for Mirrordanse Press and 2 issues of the Australian Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy (W)
• Russell B Farr for Ticonderoga Publications
• Gary Kemble for work on ABC’s Articulate and promoting the genre through radio and other mediums
• Alisa Krasnostein for providing new paying markets for readers and writers of both fiction/ non fiction, art as well as forums for reviews/interviews within the speculative fiction genre, enhancing the profile of Australian speculative fiction.
• Justine Larbalestier, for editing Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Fan Achievement

• Marty Young for his work establishing and promoting the Australian Horror Writers Association
• Alisa Krasnostein for establishing ASIf (W)
• Tony Plank for establishing and maintaining the Inkspillers website

New Talent

• Stephanie Campisi
• David Conyers
• Shane Jiraiya Cummings
• Alisa Krasnostein (W)
• Brett McBean

The William Atheling Jr Award

• Miranda Siemienowicz for her review of Paraspheres appearing in Horrorscope
• Justine Larbalestier for Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (W)
• Robert Hood for Man and Super-Monster: A History of Daikaiju Eiga and its Metaphorical Undercurrents. Borderlands #7
• Grant Watson for Bad Film Diaries – Sink or Swim: The Truth Behind Waterworld. Borderlands #8
• Kathryn Linge for her review Through Soft Air, ASif

    Ron Serdiuk has been announced as the new director of the Aurealis Awards for 2007. Ron began his career as bookseller with Galaxy Bookshop in Sydney before joining the sales division of HarperCollins, Scholastic and the National Gallery of Australia. In 1995 he opened his own bookshop, Pulp Fiction, in Brisbane which specialises in science fiction. fantasy, horror and crime fiction. Pulp Fiction sponsors the Golden Aurealis Award.

 

Sophie Masson, prolific fanasy author and aurealis contributor, has started a new blog for her new younger readers fantasy series – the Thomas Trew series. It's intended to give extra information on the series and to provide a contact point with readers. Sophie says, "It's a bit of an experiment, so we'll see how it goes!"

 

Expressions of interest are being sought for two positions as Director and Assistant Director of the 2007 Aurealis Awards. Information on the positions can be found on the Aurealis Awards website.

An interview conducted by Aurealis Art Director, Andrew McKiernan with Alastair Reynolds can be found at the interviews section of the website.

Alastair Reynolds was in Australia this year to promote his new books, Galactic North and Pushing Ice published by Gollancz. Born in North Wales, Alastair Reynolds has a Ph.D. in astronomy and since 1991 has lived in the Netherlands where he works as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency. His books have been short listed for major British SF awards. Chasm City won the British Science Fiction Award.

We've added two new sections to the Aurealis website.

Go to Aurealis interviews and read interviews with top Australian and international SF authors such as Damien Broderick and Aurealis "old girl" Trudi Canavan. Coming in March is an interview with internatinally renowned Hard SF author Alastair Reynolds.

Go to the book reviews section of the website to access rviews of the latest SF books form Australia and around the world.

Subscribers are able to access these features in aurealisXpress, our monthly ebulletin months before all regular visitors to the website.

Subscribers also have the benefit of winning great prizes in aurealisXpress each month. Next month we'll be giving away an entire collection of Alastair Reynolds books, including Revelation Space and Pushing Ice, thanks to Gollancz and Hachette Livre Australia. Two lucky winners this month will each win two Doctor Who audio books, courtesy of ABC Books.

Be sure to subscribe to Aurealis to access these benefits.

The 2006 Aurealis Award winners were announced at a ceremony in Brisbane on the 27th of January. All of us involved with Aurealis magazine and Chimaera Publications heartily congratulate award winners and all who entered their work into the Aurealis Awards.

The winners for 2006 are:
Science Fiction novel
K-Machines by Damien Broderick (Avalon)

Science Fiction short story
"The Seventh Letter" by Sean Williams (Bulletin Summer Reading Edition)

Fantasy novel
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan)

Fantasy short story
"A Fine Magic" by Margo Lanagan (Eidolon 1)

Horror novel [tie]
The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott (ABC Books)
Prismatic by Edwina Grey (Lothian)

Horror short story
"Dead of Winter" by Stephen Dedman (Weird Tales)

Young Adult novel
Monster Blood Tattoo by DM Cornish (Omnibus

Young Adult short story
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Lothian)

Childrens novel
Melissa, Queen of Evil by Mardi McConnochie (Pan Macmillan)

Childrens short story [tie]
"The True Story of Mary Who Wanted to Stand on Her Head" by Jane Godwin (Allen & Unwin)
"Woolvs in the Sitee" by Margaret Wild & Anne Spudvilas (Penguin)

Golden Aurealis novel
The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott (ABC Books)

Golden Aurealis short story
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Lothian)

Peter McNamara Convenors Award
Bill Congreve

Aurealis magazine has been successful in its grant application from the Australia Council Literature Board for 2007. This will mean increased pay rates for authors appearing in issues #38 and #39 to be published in 2007. Now is the time to send us your best story for consideration. See our guidelines. Now is also the time to take out a subscription to Aurealis as our policy has always been to fast-track the reading and evaluation of submissions from subscribers.

The 11th annual Aurealis Awards Ceremony will be at 6.00pm on Saturday 27th January 2007 at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, 420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Queensland.  This event will be teeming with authors, publishers, literary agents and readers, including hosts Kim Wilkins and Sean Williams, US editor Gardner Dozois and Aurealis magazine editor Stuart Mayne.

Everyone is welcome at this celebration of Australian achievement in speculative fiction brought to you by Fantastic Queensland.  Tickets are $27.50 and include post-ceremony tail function where drinks and food will be served. They can be purchased online from the Judith Wright Centre box office (www.jwcoca.qld.gov.au and find the Aurealis Awards under ‘what's on’) or in person from the Judith Wright Centre box office (Ph 07 3872 9000 Monday to Friday 12noon-4pm) or in person from Pulp Fiction bookshop, Brisbane, (Ph 07 3236 2750).  The 2006 Aurealis Awards Short Lists are available on http://www.fantasticqueensland.com/~aurealisawards/home.html.

 

Alastair Reynolds, author of Revelation Space and other hard science fiction novels will be in Canberra and Sydney during January 2007 to coincide with the release of his two new titles Pushing Ice and Galactic North.

Friday 5th January
5pm Gaslight Books Signing
E-mail:gasbooks@gaslightbooks.com.au
Address: Unit 10, 83 Wollongong St, Fyshwick, Canberra, ACT
Details: public signing/meet-and-greet.

Saturday 6th January
2pm Infinitas Books Signing
E-mail: bookshop@infinitas.com.au
Address: Shop 22 Civic Arcade 48-50 George St, Parramatta
Details: public signing/meet-and-greet

Thursday 11th January
5pm Galaxy Books Talk & Signing
E-mail: davidl@galaxybooks.com.au
Address: 143 York St, Sydney, 2000
Details: In-store Talk & Signing

Alastair Reynolds was born in South Wales. He has a Ph.D. in astronomy and since 1991 he has lived in the Netherlands, where he works as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency. His books have been short listed for the major SF prizes including the Arthur C. Clarke and the British SF Awards. Chasm City won the British Science Fiction Award.