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March, 2012:

Feral Camels, Eat Their Flesh…

Mar 27th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
4 comments

“About 200 camels have been removed from South Australia’s remote Aboriginal lands as part of a feral camel management project.

Aboriginal people have been trained to muster the camels, creating an industry and turning an environmental problem into a source of income for the APY Lands.

The camels are transported to Queensland abattoirs for processing.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-27/feral-camels-apy-lands/3914786

Wise. Best to eat them before they eat you…

Doo-dah! Doo-dah!

(for the uninitiated – http://jasonfischer.com.au/?page_id=16)

Several Deloreans

Mar 23rd, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
No comments yet

You gotta love search-terms. Using the you-beaut Jetpack stat thingy, I found that two people have arrived at this website by searching for the terms “several deloreans” and “camel death”.

Hope this helps my anonymous visitors. Don’t say I never give you anything :-)

My acceptance speech from Writers of the Future

Mar 21st, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
2 comments

The good folks over at the Writers of the Future contest have rereleased the video of the 2010 awards ceremony. They’ve chopped the 2 hr + video into accessible 5 minute chunks, organised into order of the award recipients! Most excellent. Here you see me and my illustrator Seth J Rowanwood collect our award statues, and thank the folks who got us there. Added bonus – a crooked bow-tie that apparently drove my poor mother crazy :-)

If you’re a budding SF writer or illustrator, you could do worse than to enter this contest. Info can be found here:

http://writersofthefuture.com

Goddamnit, that was MY idea

Mar 21st, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
2 comments

Me, circa 2004: “Hey, wouldn’t it be awesome to write a sweeping epic, with sentient elephants who have established a complex society and family groups? I think I’ll call it Tusk.”

 Me (in a bookstore, circa 2005): “Goddamnit, that was MY idea!”

Me, circa 2009: “I’ve got a great idea to pitch to that zombie series: postapocalyptic world, sassy teenage girl, skilled with a bow and arrow. I’m gonna write that sucker.”

 Me, circa 2012 (everytime I see this poster): “Goddamnit, that was MY idea!”

Me, circa 2006: “OMG, best idea ever. So, when Ned Kelly was holed up at Glenrowan? And there was that train bringing all of the policemen to arrest him? What if it NEVER arrived? It would change everything! That’s a great idea for an alternate history novel! I’m gonna research it RIGHT NOW.”

Me, about 15 minutes of internet research later: “GODDAMNIT THAT WAS MY IDEA.”

In further good news…

Mar 19th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
2 comments

I just sold my story “Rolling for Fetch” to Aurealis Magazine. This will be appearing in issue #49.

“The drive train went underneath the muscle itself, something like the innards of an old clock, a mesh of gears and cogs. Then the winder cranks, one in each leg, protruding between the peroneus longus and the tibialis anterior, reminding the world that anyone mad enough to actually go through with this was not a human now. More a wind-up toy with a death-wish.

Finally, a pair of wheels were connected to the bottom of the rig, hooked up to the drive-train dangling from each bleeding leg. The most popular option was a pneumatic tyre with knobbly grip, one foot in diameter, filled with smart-gel to ward off punctures, magic goop to heal over little nicks and tears.

Good suspension was a must.

When Whip survived this procedure, shook off the inevitable infection, unlearnt the life-long art of walking and earnt his gangdanna, he had the right to call himself a skeg.”

More info about Aurealis Magazine here: http://www.aurealis.com.au/

Cover Art Revealed for “Everything is a Graveyard”

Mar 19th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
1 comment

Over at Ticonderoga Publications, the cover-art for my upcoming short story collection “Everything is a Graveyard” has just been revealed. This artwork comes courtesy of the talented Jason Paulos, the chap who is also responsible for my “After the World” covers. The astute might notice a pranged Torana, a gun-toting feral, and yes, what appears to be an enormous drop-bear…

“Everything is a Graveyard” comes out in October 2013, and I’m currently doing my best to make sure the fiction within matches this bad-ass cover-art :-) Huge thanks to Russell B Farr for making this all happen (and for the epic title font).

More info here:

http://ticonderogapublications.com/index.php/our-books/147-everything-is-a-graveyard/221-jason-paulos-cover-for-everything-is-a-graveyard

Social Media, Ahoy!

Mar 18th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
No comments yet

I’ve been buggerizing around with Facebook to try and use it as a Business Tool, and have just created the following author page:

https://www.facebook.com/jasonfischerauthor

Feel free to “like” and follow this, all of the public author-related stuff should end up on here. Most of my social media presence involves the propogation of bad puns and various nonsense, so this is for Teh Serious. My normal account is of a private/personal nature, so this is your best bet for stuff related solely to my writing (although the writing stuff should appear on both). I’m hoping to get the blog posts mirrored onto this page too, though I’m a luddite and it’s bound to go wrong :-)

Ditmar Awards Pimpage – With Megafauna

Mar 16th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
8 comments

Once again, the Aussie SF awards season bears down on us, much like a time-travelling hyper-intelligent diprotodon. It could be establishing a beach-head for a megafauna invasion, but it’s much more comforting to imagine this hippo-sized wombat is merely visiting. Perhaps to sample the local genre writing, nominate its favourite reads from 2011, and perhaps convince the Parliament of Ancient Marsupials that our culture is worth preserving.

“Don’t worry, I’m totally legit” – Drusilla, the Ditmar Diprotodon

 Nominations have just opened for the 2012 Ditmar Awards, Australia’s version of the Hugos. Until May 13th, “natural persons active in fandom, or from full or supporting members of the national convention of the year of the award” can submit nominations in the various categories. Sorry Drusilla. It’s probably for the best that the megafauna are exempt from this process (unless they sign up for the Natcon, which seems a handy loophole) .

Nomination forms are here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2012/nominations.html

Ditmar rules are here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules

And a staggeringly huge list of potential nominees can be found here, with the caveat that some of the listings might not be valid or in the correct categories: http://wiki.sf.org.au/2012_Ditmar_eligibility_list

In keeping with the ancient traditions of fandom (according to microfiche brought to the present day by Drusilla the Ditmar Diprotodon), here is a list of my eligible work. For information only, you should of course only nominate the people and works from 2011 that most rocked your socks.

Best Novella/Novelette:

After the World: Corpus Christi (After the World #4, Black House Comics)

Best Short Story:

A Clockwork Arthur (After the World #3, Black House Comics)

Eating Gnashdal (Anywhere But Earth, Couer De Lion)

Hunting Rufus (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)

Goggy (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)

‘Twas a quiet year at Fisch Industries, but in my defence I was writing lots of novel and novella length things :-)  If you want to read any of these works, send me a message/email/carrier pigeon and I’ll do my best to hook you up.

Rock the vote!

The Chronic Rift: “Viral” Roundtable Interview

Mar 11th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
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A couple of weeks ago, the authors involved in Steven Savile’s “Viral” series got together over Skype to discuss the books. The result can now be heard over at the Chronic Rift podcast. It was great fun to discuss how the concept came about, and how we all grabbed a different viewpoint to explore the same idea. “Viral” is geared mainly towards fans of political and military thrillers, so if you’re into fast-paced,  foot-to-the-floor fiction, these are the books for you.

Of some interest is the fact that book one (“Viral: -30-”) is now comfortably within the top #100 best sellers on the Nook, #23 in the stonkingly massive Thriller category, and is now #2 in the Military category. Colour me GOBSMACKED. The Viral series is still exclusive via Barnes and Noble; in about a month it will open up to other markets so I’ll keep the Kindle readers amongst you posted :-)

Interview page is here: http://www.chronicrift.com/node/1856

And the actual sound-file of the interview can be saved via this link: http://m.podshow.com/media/23007/episodes/312095/chronicrift-312095-03-10-2012.mp3

RIP Paul Haines

Mar 10th, 2012
by Jason Fischer.
No comments yet

This week Australia lost one of its bravest genre writers to cancer, Paul Haines. Today friends and colleagues from all over the country are flying in to his funeral, and his passing has left a massive hole in the local SF landscape. Despite his often brutal and unforgiving fiction, he was equal parts hilarious and lovely. Paul’s star was extinguished way too soon. In his writing, he never pulled a punch, and it’s almost criminal that such a rotten disease has stolen one of our best talents.

The folks at Thirteen O’Clock have put together a retrospective of his career and considerable achievements.

http://www.thirteenoclock.com.au/the-definitive-paul-haines/

His livejournal documents his tough and often heartbreaking journey:

http://paulhaines.livejournal.com/

RIP you crazy bastard :-(

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