All posts by Jason Fischer

Fisch Industries: The State of Play

Writing

So, we’ve reached the end of the financial year. I’ll be honest with y’all, 2011/2012 was extremely busy, and I came within a whisker of burning out. I wrote over 200,000 words of new fiction, including the current draft of my novel “Papa Lucy and the Boneman”. I also wrote three complete novellas, three or four short stories, a swag of pitches and proposals, as well as all the online buggerising around, social networking and such.

In truth, I did all this in about 10 months – for the last 2 I’ve been taking things very easy. Like anyone bitten too often by the writing bug, I’ve toyed with the idea of just chucking in the towel. And like anyone bitten too often by the writing bug, I laugh at people who say this (including myself). Last couple of weeks I’ve been back on board in force, trying to meet the last swag of deadlines, and planning my time over the next 6 months or so.

Refreshed. Ready. I intend a frontal assault on the Word-Castle, where I will storm the walls. In coming months, I intend to roundhouse several nouns and adverbs in the face, and flush thousands of paragraphs out of hiding. 

Finally, some AWESOME and EXCITING news coming soon. The moment it’s all official-like, you can be sure to find out about it here 🙂 I will say one word only: Tamsyn.

PS: here, have a link to an online Elements of Style. Highly recommended for writer-types.

http://www.bartleby.com/141/

Winners – AHWA Short Story and Flash Fiction Competition 2012

Announcement, Winner!

Well, it’s all official and such. The results for this year’s AHWA Short Story and Flash Fiction Competition are as follows:

SHORT STORY COMPETITION
WINNER: “Always a Price”, Joanne Anderton
HONOURABLE MENTION: “Life, Death and Customer Service”, Nicholas Stella

FLASH COMPETITION:
WINNER: “Blood Lilies”, Shauna O’Meara
HONOURABLE MENTION: “Fragments of a Botanical Journal”, Matthew J Morrison

(more info here http://australianhorror.com/index.php?view=57)

Congrats to the winners, and well done to all who entered. I was especially chuffed to see Jo win the short story contest – all entries were blind-judged, so we had no idea who the authors were until we’d made our decision. Jo is going great guns with her writing, and her story in Midnight Echo #6 was top-shelf.

Many thanks to fellow judges Alan Baxter and Felicity Dowker, and huge high-fives to Martin Livings for wrangling this thing, and keeping it together when we judges got all Battle Royale on each other. I have it on good authority that the winners will be getting the plague through the post soon. Erm, I meant their plaques, of course 🙂

Australian Horror Writers Association – 2012 Mentor Program

Pimping, Writing

Over at the Australian Horror Writers Association page, the Mentor Program for 2012 has just been announced:

http://www.australianhorror.com/index.php?view=104

There’s a bunch of great folks giving their time to the program this year, and I’m lucky enough to also be on this list. No matter what you’re working on, chances are there’s an AHWA mentor who can help you with your project. I’m specifically interested in working with novellas/short stories, and I look forward to helping my mentoree get their work into shape.

All the relevant details are at the above link, but if you’ve got any questions, please feel free to contact me or the AHWA. It should be noted that the Mentor Program is only open to AHWA members, but membership is cheap and you get many benefits (such as this program, the short fiction contests, Midnight Echo, comraderie, and all sorts of goodies).

Tamsyn Tweets!

Pimping

Of all the friends requests to get! A certain Tamsyn Webb (resident of Gravesend, Kent) has gotten hold of a working mobile phone, and can be found on Twitter via the following link:

http://twitter.com/TamsynWebb

Last I heard, things were getting pretty tough over there, but apparently these folks have thrown up some sort of barricade to keep out the neighbours. You know, the ones that are dead but still walk around? If it’s not on the news yet, I’d be asking some serious questions…

Tamsyn in action – I imagine something dead and walking is about to wear that arrow. IN THE FACE.

Tamsyn seems quite happy to chat to folks (well, for as long as Twitter lasts, given that all other communications with the UK seem to be failing). We’re quietly working on the telling of her adventures, which is hard given that she can only write to me 140 characters at a time.

Here’s what we’ve come up with so far, if you’re interested then by all means order a copy in. Her share of the profits will go towards new archery kit, baked beans, ramen noodles and medicine. Okay, apparently she just wants chocolate.

http://aftertheworld.com.au/

2011 Australian Shadows Awards

Awards

The list of winners and honourable mentions for the 2011 Australian Shadows Awards has been released into the wild.

http://australianhorror.com/index.php?view=304

And colour me tickled pink, we’ve nabbed an Honourable Mention for our editing work on Midnight Echo #6! Huge congrats to Russ Farr for winning with Dead Red Heart, and of course these congrats are extended to all winners and HMs. Special kudos go to our authors Joanne Anderton and Andrew J McKiernan, who also got individual HMs for their Midnight Echo stories.

And massive high-fives to my co-editors, David Conyers and David Kernot 🙂 well done, chaps!

Karaoke State Finals

Karaoke

So, I gathered up the posse on Saturday and descended on the State Finals for the Karaoke World Championship. Representing the Rex Hotel were my good self and Vonnie Barber, and we went up against the venue winners from pubs far and wide for the chance to represent South Australia in the Nationals. There were folks who travelled all the way from Mt Gambier and Whyalla just to sing, and it was an excellent night.

The place was absolutely packed, and there must have been 500 people in the room. The competition consisted of two rounds, and each contestant got two songs to sing. There were all sorts of fancy outfits and gimmicks, including someone who did a burlesque routine, and some joker who got up and sang “I’m Just a Gigolo” in a pimp outfit 🙂

Didn’t make the grade this time, but there’s always next year 🙂 The winner was absolutely outstanding, and everyone sung their hearts out. A top night, made awesome by my cheer-posse who ate, drank and made merry. Special guest was my wife’s 85 year old granny, who said she had to hear me sing to believe it. Closed off my tilt at the title with Joe Cocker’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On”, complete with harmonica stylings.

Been a long time away from the karaoke mic, but I’m back with a vengeance. You don’t need me to tell you that I’m entering this thing next year – and looking at singing lessons in the mean-time 🙂 Gotta kick it up a notch, y’all!

Conversations in the Fisch-Bowl #1: Lisa L Hannett

Fisch-Bowl

Welcome to “Conversations in the Fisch-Bowl”, a new and hopefully regular fixture on this, the Fisch-blog. From time to time I’ll add to this Conversation, where I’ll allow a special guest to pontificate on matters high and low. My first guest is the incredibly talented Lisa L Hannett (whose name actually contains the word “talent”, so there you go). Lisa is a fellow Adelaidean, survivor of Clarion South, viking fancier and an all-round champ. She recently came home with two Aurealis Awards, and is really starting to blaze a trail with her writing. In a very short time she’s placed rave-worthy stories in top genre markets, brought out an award-winning collection, and possibly constructed a longship out of spare award trophies. Welcome to the Fisch-Bowl, Lisa.

(Image nicked from Lisa’s blog, photo by Cat Sparks)

1)       Lisa, you are a Canadian who moved to South Australia to study Scandinavians. Your award-winning “Bluegrass Symphony” is a speculative exploration of southern-fried Americana. Are you geographically confused, or just collecting countries?

A little from Column A, a little from Column B? I mean, really, who in their right mind decides to write a PhD about medieval Iceland after moving to the other side of the globe? In Canada, I lived a hop, skip and a jump away from Iceland! And now it’s so very far away! *shakes head* But seriously, I think it all comes down to curiosity. Basically, I want to learn more, all the time, about everything. I want to be immersed in new experiences and new ‘worlds’ whenever I can, instead of just touching on things superficially. It’s the same urge that drives a lot of writers and a lot of readers out there, I’d say – we want to get stuck into a new location (real or imagined) and really feel what it’s like to live there. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had the chance to live in some fascinating places – Canada, Taiwan, Korea, Australia – but instead of quenching my curiosity, living in these different countries has actually fuelled it. So my writing does end up being a kind of collection of countries, and geographically confused, but that’s fine. It’s an accumulation of my interests, and I’ve no doubt that my stories will morph into different (and, let’s be honest, weirder) places the longer I live. I don’t think I’m unique in this at all, by the way. Other writers have just as many incongruent interests – like zombies and karaoke, you know, just for example – and manage to interweave them into really compelling stories.

2)       This month saw you land an Aurealis Awards double-whammy: Best Collection and Best Horror Short Story. It can safely be said that you’ve arrived. How does it feel to be Lisa Hannett right at this point in time? Where are you hoping to guide your ascendant career?

It’s funny. Winning the Aurealis Awards was honestly like a wonderful dream – I still can’t quite believe it’s real – but I don’t feel like I’ve “arrived” because of them. Don’t get me wrong, it was an incredible honour to have my work acknowledged at the Awards. Absolutely incredible. But I was so excited just to see my name on the shortlists with people like Paul Haines, Margo Lanagan, Deb Biancotti, Angela Slatter, Tansy Rayner Roberts — I mean, WOW! What company! Next to having my book published in the first place, that was the coolest. And I also know that I’m still a tadpole in this pond. I’ve been an avid reader my entire life, but I’ve only been writing for four years. I still have a hell of a lot of work to do before I feel like I’ve “arrived” – if I ever feel that way! There are still so many books I want to write, so many aspects I want to improve in my writing, so many new projects on the horizon… So as much as it feels pretty awesome to have won these awards, I can’t help but feel that they mark only one moment in my career – hopefully not the arrival, but the beginning.

3)       While I still believe you to be the bastard love-child of Joe R Lansdale and Margo Lanagan, you are in fact your own entity (saving the occasional transcontinental brain-meld with Angela Slatter). What is the sort of legacy you hope to forge for yourself as a writer?

I think I need a t-shirt, or at least a coffee cup, that says “Bastard love-child of Joe R Lansdale and Margo Lanagan.” It’s official: that is the best compliment ever! As for a legacy… hmmmmmm, I feel a bit pompous talking about a legacy, actually! How about we focus on the ‘hope’ part of that question instead? I hope to put words together in weird and beautiful ways. That’s a long-standing inspiration, so perhaps it’s the closest I’ll get to pinpointing my legacy at this stage. I hope to keep writing stories that are combinations of ugliness and loveliness, horror and hope, humanity and monstrosity. I hope that people will read those words and those stories and respond to them – ideally in a positive way, but even negative reactions are fine so long as it means they’re being read, absorbed, discussed, thought about, even a little bit, before they are forgotten. (Of course, I hope these stories will be more memorable than forgettable…)   

4)      You’re all over this short fiction gig like a cheap suit. Like Conan, your victories cannot easily be counted. Are you working on any novels, and if not, why not?

Yes, I’ve got a couple of longer works on the go at the moment. The first is a dark fantasy novel called The Familiar, which, thanks to a Project Grant from Arts SA, I’ve been focusing on since January this year. It’s the first book in a series of three (not quite a trilogy in the Lord of the Rings sense, but three books that will have important connections) and it’s about witches and shapeshifting lunatics in a world that wants to be rid of both. I’m a fairly slow-and-steady type of writer, so it’ll take me a few months yet to finish this book, but it’s coming along! Meanwhile, I’ve been working with Angela Slatter on our collection, Midnight and Moonshine (which I’ll talk about while wearing my pimp hat…) but I’m also working on a mosaic novel called Lament for the Afterlife, which is set in the same world as ‘The Good Window’, a story I had published in Fantasy in 2009.

After that, the follow-ups for The Familiar are also on the cards, as well as a few novels I’ve got in embryonic stages: one is a romp through the underworld called Steam; another, called Feast, follows the gastronomic adventures of an unfortunate sous-chef as he blunders his way through life; and while researching The Familiar, I was struck with ideas for three other novels that I’m dying to write (two works of historical/weird fantasy, and another book of linked tales).

All I need now is a clone.

5)      Here, take this pimp hat and swagger-stick. Promote whatever you like, and don’t forget to HUSTLE.

*dons pimp hat*

I’m really excited about Midnight and Moonshine, which Angela Slatter and I have been co-writing for several months now. It’s a collection of interconnected stories inspired by our combined love of history, fairy tale, Norse mythology and fantasy. The stories span over a thousand years, beginning around the 9th century and ending in the 20th. The narratives follow the trials and tribulations of two families (of humans and Fae) as they progress from Ásgarðr into our world, from Scandinavia down the east coast of North America, and eventually ending up in the Deep South. (Talk about a collection of countries!) My own collection, Bluegrass Symphony, explored dark, creepy and often horrific aspects of the pseudo-“Southern-fried” American States, but Midnight and Moonshine delves into fun and magical elements in that setting. There are Fae Queens and disappearing children, werewolves and 1920s flappers, giants and ice palaces — and hopefully people will have as much fun reading these stories as we’ve had writing them. Midnight and Moonshine is being published by Ticonderoga Publications in November 2012.

—

Many thanks for visiting the Fisch-Bowl, Lisa. Please, sprinkle some of those food flakes into the water on your way out. Next guest to be announced soon!

Table of Contents announced for The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011

Publication

Some great news – alongside a swag of my peers and colleagues, one of my stories will be appearing in the Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011. This will be “Hunting Rufus”, which first appeared in Midnight Echo #5. Congratulations everybody, if it’s anything like the last volume it will be top-shelf. Kudos to everyone at Ticonderoga Publications, especially Talie and Liz, experts at herding kittens (aka authors) with their spaghetti lassos.

And just LOOK at that cover. Gorgeous!

(from http://ticonderogapublications.com/) 

Ticonderoga Publications are delighted to announce the line-up of the second volume of The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror.

Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled 32 fantastic stories and poems first published in 2011, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers.

The contents are:

  • Peter M Ball “Briar Day” (Moonlight Tuber)
  • Lee Battersby “Europe After The Rain” (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
  • Deborah Biancotti “Bad Power” (Bad Power, Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Jenny Blackford “The Head in the Goatskin Bag” (Kaleidotrope)
  • Simon Brown “Thin Air” (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • David Conyers and David Kernot “Winds Of Nzambi” (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
  • Stephen Dedman “More Matter, Less Art” (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
  • Sara Douglass & Angela Slatter “The Hall of Lost Footsteps” (The Hall of Lost Footsteps, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Felicity Dowker “Berries & Incense” (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Terry Dowling “Dark Me, Night You” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
  • Jason Fischer “Hunting Rufus” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
  • Christopher Green “Letters Of Love From The Once And Newly Dead” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
  • Paul Haines “The Past Is A Bridge Best Left Burnt” (The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Brimstone Press)
  • Lisa L Hannett “Forever, Miss Tapekwa County” (Bluegrass Symphony, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Richard Harland “At The Top Of The Stairs” (Shadows and Tall Trees #2, Undertow Publications)
  • John Harwood “Face To Face” (Ghosts by Gaslight, HarperCollins)
  • Pete Kempshall “Someone Else To Play With” (Beauty Has Her Way, Dark Quest Books)
  • Jo Langdon “Heaven” (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
  • Maxine McArthur “The Soul of the Machine” (Winds of Change, CSFG)
  • Ian McHugh “The Wishwriter’s Wife” (Daily Science Fiction)
  • Andrew J McKiernan “Love Death” (Aurealis #45, Chimaera Publications)
  • Kirstyn McDermott “Frostbitten” (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Margaret Mahy “Wolf Night” (The Wilful Eye – Tales From the Tower #1, Allen & Unwin)
  • Anne Mok “Interview with the Jiangshi” (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • Jason Nahrung “Wraiths” (Winds of Change, CSFG)
  • Anthony Panegyres “Reading Coffee” (Overland, OL Society)
  • Tansy Rayner Roberts “The Patrician” (Love and Romanpunk, Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Angela Rega “Love In the Atacama or the Poetry of Fleas” (Crossed Genres, CGP)
  • Angela Slatter “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter” (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
  • Lucy Sussex “Thief of Lives” (Thief of Lies, Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Kyla Ward “The Kite” (The Land of Bad Dreams, P’rea Press)
  • Kaaron Warren “All You Can Do Is Breathe” (Blood and Other Cravings, Tor)

In addition to the above incredible tales, the volume will include a review of 2011 and a list of recommended stories.

The editors will shortly begin reading for the third volume of The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror.

The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011 is scheduled for publication in July 2012 and can be pre-ordered at indiebooksonline.com. The anthology will be available in hardcover, ebook and trade editions.

Karaoke Update

Winner!

My assault on the Karaoke World Championship continues. Last night my cheer-posse and I descended on the Rex Hotel, for the venue finals. A great night of song and fun, and the hosts have to be commended for putting on a great show. End result, I came 2nd for the night, and along with the winner I will be competing in the State Finals in a couple of weeks.

First time I’ve competed in this level of singing, and I quickly learnt a couple of things. It’s SOP to have a change of costume between your songs (serious!). It’s also a bad idea to stick to only the one artist/group. Variety and versitility can have an effect on your final score. One kind soul also suggested not looking at the screen so often, and learning all of the words. True, and a quick squiz at the offical KWC Youtube clips (world champions at the international finals) proves that these folks are more or less singing as pros – entertaining the crowd, dancing, and belting it out with full confidence. Turns out it’s serious business!

Next, the State Finals await. Bring it on 🙂