You might remember some time ago, I did a spot of co-writing with prolific author Steven Savile. The project was VIRAL, a series of military thriller novellas. Others working on this project included Keith R DeCandido, Jordan Ellinger and Alex Black.

Well, the whole project has been given a facelift. We’ve got new cover-art (above) and Steve has massaged the text into a true novel, with a new beginning and conclusion for those who might have read the individual volumes.

VIRAL tells the story of a new kind of war, where public health meets the war on terror. From the refugee camps of Kenya to the streets of New York, shadowy forces push the world to the brink of doom. Told from the point of view of a journalist, an epidemiologist, a CIA operative and a local doctor, VIRAL is the story of a war fought with vaccination needles…

Right now, you can pick up the deluxe new version of VIRAL for a song:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VIRAL-ebook/dp/B00CPE5BZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368145263&sr=8-1&keywords=viral+steven+savile

Our stable of authors included two established tie-in writers, an ex-Ministry of Defence staffer, and an Army Scout. These were great fun for us to write, and I hope you enjoy them too!

Perhaps I should elaborate with some highlights. In a bulleted list. 

• 20,000 brilliant conversations
• 1 or 2 awkward ones (don’t ask) but these become future anecdotes, so WIN.
• the chance to hang out with my many brilliant writer/publisher/editor peeps. Usually they are mere electrons on the interwebz, but for one four day stretch they were molecular and great.
• Several pitches to agents and publishers. Terrifying but a great feeling of accomplishment for getting through what turned out to be fine.
• Getting on panels with people I admire, and chatting to folks about all sorts of stuff. I was on the “Zombies are Hungry” panel, the “Geeks are Cool” panel, and the “Australian Landscapes” panel.
• Being in the audience at the Star Wars panel, and hijacking it to set up an elaborate pun. For what it’s worth, “ENDOR’S GAME” will happen, and it must happen.
• Random bar and cafe of doom.
• Ditmar Awards. Many worthy recipients, but I took special pleasure this year in seeing my mentee David McDonald pick up the Best New Talent award. Kudos dude, for your star is ascendant!
• Book Launches GALORE. As Cat Sparks said “there is a launch approximately ever 4.5 minutes”. Many of these launched books then proceeded to sell out of all copies, which is all things good.
• Speaking of book launches – I officially launched my zombie novel “Quiver”. Was great to meet a bunch of new readers, sign copies for my mates, and blushed in the background while Cat Sparks said a bunch of nice things about me into a microphone. The posters were a hit (thanks to Baden Kirgan at Black House) and by Sunday all copies of the book had been sold.

So here, have some photos of the “Quiver” launch (nicked from Cat’s Flickr feed). To summarise, it was a great convention. When it was all over I shuffled into the airport, tired, suitcase full of books, and very, very happy.

(images copyright Cat Sparks and purloined from http://www.flickr.com/photos/42956650@N00/)

Tis with great pleasure that I announce my zombie-tastic “Pigroot Flat” (oh ye of the reverse Wolf-Creek infamy) has been selected for inclusion in the next volume of the  Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2012.

Here’s the official spiel, including the drool-worthy list of contributors. Seriously, I’m chuffed to elbow my way into this lot. The editors have done a great job on this since the first volume, and with the brilliant opening essays, great story selection etc, I can see this series becoming an institution in genre circles.

THE YEAR’S BEST AUSTRALIAN FANTASY & HORROR 2012

EMBARGOED UNTIL 22/04/2013

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

Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled 34 fantastic stories and poems first published in 2012, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers.

The contents are
Joanne Anderton, “Tied To The Waste”, Tales Of Talisman
R.J.Astruc, “The Cook of Pearl House, A Malay Sailor by the Name of Maurice”, Dark Edifice 2
Lee Battersby, “Comfort Ghost”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56
Alan Baxter, “Tiny Lives”, Daily Science Fiction
Jenny Blackford, “A Moveable Feast”, Bloodstones
Eddy Burger, “The Witch’s Wardrobe”, Dark Edifice 3
Isobelle Carmody, “The Stone Witch”, Under My Hat
Jay Caselberg, “Beautiful”, The Washington Pastime
Stephen Dedman, “The Fall”, Exotic Gothic 4, Postscripts
Felicity Dowker, “To Wish On A Clockwork Heart”, Bread And Circuses
Terry Dowling, “Nightside Eye”, Cemetary Dance
Tom Dullemond, “Population Management”, Danse Macabre
Thoraiya Dyer, “Sleeping Beauty”, Epilogue
Will Elliot, “Hungry Man”, The Apex Book Of World SF
Jason Fischer, “Pigroot Flat”, Midnight Echo 8
Dirk Flinthart, “The Bull In Winter”, Bloodstones
Lisa L. Hannett, “Sweet Subtleties”, Clarkesworld
Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter, “Bella Beaufort Goes To War”, Midnight And Moonshine
Narrelle Harris, “Stalemate”, Showtime
Kathleen Jennings, “Kindling”, Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear
Gary Kemble, “Saturday Night at the Milkbar”, Midnight Echo 7
Margo Lanagan, “Crow And Caper, Caper And Crow”, Under My Hat
Martin Livings, “You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet”, Living With The Dead
Penelope Love, “A Small Bad Thing”, Bloodstones
Andrew J. McKiernan, “Torch Song”, From Stage Door Shadows
Karen Maric, “Anvil Of The Sun”, Aurealis
Faith Mudge, “Oracle’s Tower”, To Spin A Darker Stair
Nicole Murphy, “The Black Star Killer”, Damnation And Dames
Jason Nahrung, “The Last Boat To Eden”, Surviving The End
Tansy Rayner Roberts, “What Books Survive”, Epilogue
Angela Slatter, “Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”, This Is Horror Webzine
Anna Tambour, “The Dog Who Wished He’d Never Heard Of Lovecraft”, Lovecraft Zine
Kyla Ward, “The Loquacious Cadaver”, The Lion And The Aardvark: Aesop’s Modern Fables
Kaaron Warren, “River Of Memory”, Zombies Vs. Robots
In addition to the above incredible tales, the volume will include a review of 2012 and a list of highly recommended stories.

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

The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2012 is scheduled for publication in July 2013 and can be pre-ordered at indiebooksonline.com. The anthology will be available in hardcover, ebook and trade editions.

For further information please contact Russell B. Farr, Ticonderoga Publications, editor@ticonderogapublications.com

Anyway, a picture speaks a thousand words. So have several

In the thick of it – selling books left, right and centre.

Unwittingly, con-goers run the gauntlet of desperate authors….

One happy author, posing with a GIANT poster of his book.

The Black House Comics crew – top bunch of folks!

“…QUIVER encapsulates many of the tried and true formulas common to survival horror; the building of fortifications, scavenging, zombie (or coffin-dodger) hoards and their migration, the fall of Government and the rise of independent parties, but the most important component of this zombie post apocalyptic concoction is the humans themselves who are commonly more inhumane than the walking dead. Fischer goes to great lengths to portray a dead world whose living souls are rotten and more menacing than those who threaten to end mans existence.”

The rest of the review can be read here:

http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/review-quiver-by-jason-fischer.html

“The book is a big read that should have a few people squirming as the gore hits the page, but Fischer never drops his narrative edge from first page to last page. A solid example of decent writing in a ghetto sub genre Quiver kept my attention, and more importantly didn’t bounce me off the page, as the journey went increasingly more surreal.”

The rest of the review can be found here: http://www.scaryminds.com/reviews/2013/book161.php

Check out the rest of the Scaryminds site while you’re visiting, these folks are nothing if not prolific when it comes to following and covering the releases in local genre fiction.

http://www.australianhorror.com/index.php?view=325

Be still, my rotten undead heart, but my story “Pigroot Flat” has made the grade! I join several talented folks as a finalist in the Short Fiction category. There are some great results here, and added points to the AHWA for putting on a great online awards ceremony (and for milking the suspense just shy of a lynch mob breaking out). Well done to everybody involved in Aussie horror fiction and everyone fortunate enough to nab a finalist berth…and now for three weeks of being on tenterhooks.

Many’s the time I’ve walked into a bookstore and looked at the spot where, one day, my books were going to appear. The (many) moments I had doubt about what I was doing, I’d stand there, and make a promise to myself to never give up.

Today, a novel appeared in that spot, with my name on the cover. Let’s call that a good beginning