March, 2011:

2011 Ditmar Awards Shortlists

I went offline for a few days, and returned to see that the 2011 Ditmar Awards Shortlists have been released into the wild. Lots of great works, and like the recent Aurealis shortlists it looks like a solid selection in all categories. Even cooler, my Writers of the Future winning short story “The House of Nameless” has been shortlisted in the Best Short Story category

Best Short Story
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* “All the Love in the World”, Cat Sparks (Sprawl, Twelfth Planet Press)
* “Bread and Circuses”, Felicity Dowker (Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
* “One Saturday Night With Angel”, Peter M. Ball (Sprawl, Twelfth Planet Press)
* “She Said”, Kirstyn McDermott (Scenes From the Second Storey, Morrigan Books)
* “The House of Nameless”, Jason Fischer (Writers of the Future XXVI)
* “The February Dragon”, Angela Slatter and Lisa L. Hannett (Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)

And even better, every single person in this category is a peep or a buddy of mine, with strong samples of their writing represented in the short-list. It’s just too close to call, but the good news is, I’m gonna be happy for someone no matter what the result

The complete shortlist can be found here, and I gotta say, right across the board it’s a beauty.

http://2011.swancon.com.au/natcon-fifty-ditmar-awards/

Congratulations to everyone who rated a mention, commiserations to those who missed out. And many, many thanks to those who put my story forward in their nomination form, it’s great to know that folks enjoyed it enough to enter it into the Ditmars. The free e-book version of “The House of Nameless” can still be found here, for those attendees who are looking at their form and trying to suss out their final vote: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525

Thanks again!

Midnight Echo #6 Table of Contents

Mar 25th, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

5 comments

Without further ado, it’s time to announce the Table of Contents for issue #6 of Midnight Echo, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association. The theme for the issue was science fiction/horror, and we’ve picked some absolute beauties for you!

“Out Hunting for Teeth” by Joanne Anderton
“Trawling the Void” by Alan Baxter
“Silver-Clean” by Jenny Blackford
“Graveyard Orbit” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
“More Matter, Less Art” by Stephen Dedman
“Seeds” by Mark Farrugia
“Earth Worms” by Cody Goodfellow
“The Wanderer in the Darkness” by Andrew J McKiernan
“Dead Low” by Cat Sparks
“Surgeon Scalpelfingers” by Helen Stubbs

This issue will also contain interviews with Chris Moore and another well known sci fi author who will be announced later, and all sorts of other bits and pieces. I can promise you some great fiction from these fantastic authors, who’ve done a top job of exploring our SF/Horror theme, as originally conceived by David Conyers. These are all quite meaty reads, and we’ve done our best to keep it all killer, no filler.

Many thanks to my fellow co-editors, David Conyers and David Kernot, who were absolute legends in helping pull this together, and to Leigh Blackmore and the rest of the Midnight Echo team for their hard work behind the scenes. Not sure of the actual publication date just yet, but will post more when this information comes to light.

Congratulations to the successful authors!

Pooch Hooch

Mar 23rd, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

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Aurealis Awards – Finalist!

Mar 22nd, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

2 comments

The shortlists for this year’s Aurealis Awards have just been released into the wild, and can be read here:

http://aurealisawards.com/finalists2010.pdf

So bust out the Crayolas and colour me tickled pink, I’m a Finalist! How exciting, and somewhat humbling that my book has snuck in next to these other two amazing writers and their works:

HORROR Novel

After the World: Gravesend, Jason Fischer, Black House Comics
Death Most Definite, Trent Jamieson, Orbit (Hachette)
Madigan Mine, Kirstyn McDermott, Pan Macmillan

Oh Gravesend, you’re the little engine that could a huge congrats to everyone else who made this year’s shortlists. I don’t envy the work of the judges in any category, that’s one solid list.

Midnight Echo #5 review

Mar 21st, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

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The fifth issue of Midnight Echo has just been reviewed at Scaryminds, and of my two stories the reviewer says:

“Included are of course Jason Fischer’s award winning flash piece Goggy, I can’t praise this piece enough, it’s quintessential flash while get a real chill happening.”

“Jason Fischer has been kicking some goals on the short story front just recently, and Hunting Rufus continues a recent sub-genre trend of the killer kangaroo yarn. Absolutely loved this story with it’s almost apocalyptic nod at the conclusion.”

The rest of the review can be read here: http://www.scaryminds.com/reviews/2011/magazine11.php

Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the camels.

Mar 21st, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

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doo-dah, doo-dah…

Because that’s how they rolled?

Mar 18th, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

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I can say with some authority that 80s permed ladies wearing leopard print leotards almost never appeared during any Dungeons and Dragons game. At least, not the ones I went to. This is probably for the best, we were 15 and unlikely to cope.

Aurealis #44 Review

Mar 17th, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

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Over at the SF Site, prolific short-fiction reviewer Rich Horton has looked at the fiction offerings from Aurealis #44. Of my story “gunning for a tinkerman”, he says:

“Jason Fischer offers another piece in the same milieu as his story from #42, “for want of a jesusman.” “gunning for a tinkerman” features a former “jesusman,” Lanyard Everett, looking for another despised character, a “tinkerman,” who keeps mechanical things going but is blamed for the state of their strange world. His journey on a cranky “skiff” (a sort of landboat) brings him against a monstrous snake, sinister witches, and a town of “crooked men.” It’s a dark and cynical tale of multiple betrayals.”

The rest of the review can be read here: http://www.sfsite.com/03b/au340.htm

This story is in the same setting as the emergent Project Lucy, the full name being “Papa Lucy and the Boneman”. Yep, a jesusman novel is in the works :-)

Datlow Honorable Mention list & last minute Ditmar touting

Mar 13th, 2011

by Jason Fischer.

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Ellen Datlow has just released the extended Honorable Mention list from her reading for Best Horror of the Year Vol 3. I was very pleased to see my story “gunning for a tinkerman” (Aurealis #44) rated a mention, and was also happy to see several of my esteemed colleagues and buddies land on the same list with their own pieces. I won’t run out a laundry list, there’s just too many of them you know who you are!

The complete list is here http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/334109.html & here http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/334359.html . As always I’m astounded at just how much short fiction Ellen Datlow reads every year, she’s the very definition of a voracious reader.

So hey, the emergence of this list is some pretty good timing, seeing as the nomination period for the Ditmar Awards is about to close. If you enjoyed “gunning for a tinkerman” or any of my other stories, please feel free to fire up this handy nomination form and list it (along with any other Aussie works you found worthy – there’s quite a few on Ellen’s list amongst other places). Form here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html

Here is my complete list of eligible works, for your information: http://jasonfischer.com.au/?p=478

And a final reminder, my Writers of the Future winning story “The House of Nameless” can still be downloaded for free via this link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525. It’s had a massive spike in downloads over the last few days, which can only be a good thing. Really happy with how well this is doing (and yes, this is also eligible for Best Short Story in the Ditmars, should you be so inclined).