by Jason Fischer | Feb 28, 2015 | Uncategorized
Last night, the conveners released their shortlist for the 2014 Aurealis Awards. Seems it’s time to crack open the Tia Maria and put on some footy franks, because one of my stories is up for a gong! Up for Best Science Fiction Short Story is my pulpy SF piece “The Glorious Aerybeth”, which appeared in Canada’s OnSpec Magazine last year.
I find myself sharing this shortlist with many wonderful friends and colleagues, and am always tickled pink when I sneak onto one of these things. It’s a little surreal to get some recognition for my science fiction, as I’m typically a fantasy or horror writer. Added bonus, I’m sharing a shortlist with Garth Nix, whose writing I have idolised for years! He is one of the writers who first inspired me to pick up the pen, which makes this a very cool moment.
“Winners of the 2014 Aurealis Awards and the Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony, on the evening of Saturday 11 April at the University House, Canberra. Details of the evening and a link to the online booking website are available at www.aurealisawards.org“
Complete Aurealis shortlist is as follows:
BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Fireborn, Keri Arthur (Hachette Australia)
This Shattered World, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
The Lascar’s Dagger, Glenda Larke (Hachette Australia)
Dreamer’s Pool, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Afterworlds, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin Books Australia)
Daughters of the Storm, Kim Wilkins (Harlequin Enterprises Australia)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“The Oud”, Thoraiya Dyer (Long Hidden, Crossed Genres Publications)
“Teratogen”, Deborah Kalin (Cemetery Dance, #71, May 2014)
“The Ghost of Hephaestus”, Charlotte Nash (Phantazein, FableCroft Publications)
“St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls”, Angela Slatter (The Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3)
“The Badger Bride”, Angela Slatter (Strange Tales IV, Tartarus Press)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Aurora: Meridian, Amanda Bridgeman (Momentum)
Nil By Mouth, LynC (Satalyte)
The White List, Nina D’Aleo (Momentum)
Peacemaker, Marianne de Pierres (Angry Robot)
This Shattered World, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
Foresight, Graham Storrs (Momentum)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“The Executioner Goes Home”, Deborah Biancotti (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 11 Issue 6)
“Wine, Women and Stars”, Thoraiya Dyer (Analog Vol CXXXIV nos 1&2 Jan/Feb)
“The Glorious Aerybeth”, Jason Fischer (OnSpec, 11 Sep 2014)
“Dellinger”, Charlotte Nash (Use Only As Directed, Peggy Bright Books)
“Happy Go Lucky”, Garth Nix (Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Book of the Dead, Greig Beck (Momentum)
Razorhurst, Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
Obsidian, Alan Baxter (HarperVoyager)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“The Executioner Goes Home”, Deborah Biancotti (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 11 Issue 6)
“Skinsuit”, James Bradley (Island Magazine 137)
“By the Moon’s Good Grace”, Kirstyn McDermott (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 12, Issue 3)
“Shay Corsham Worsted”, Garth Nix (Fearful Symmetries, Chizine)
“Home and Hearth”, Angela Slatter (Spectral Press)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
The Astrologer’s Daughter, Rebecca Lim (Text Publishing)
Afterworld, Lynnette Lounsbury (Allen & Unwin)
The Cracks in the Kingdom, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Clariel, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
The Haunting of Lily Frost, Nova Weetman (UQP)
Afterworlds, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin Books Australia)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“In Hades”, Goldie Alexander (Celapene Press)
“Falling Leaves”, Liz Argall (Apex Magazine)
“The Fuller and the Bogle”, David Cornish (Tales from the Half-Continent, Omnibus Books)
“Vanilla”, Dirk Flinthart (Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press)
“Signature”, Faith Mudge (Kaleidoscope, Twelfth Planet Press)
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
Slaves of Socorro: Brotherband #4, John Flanagan (Random House Australia)
Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy, Karen Foxlee (Hot Key Books)
The Last Viking Returns, Norman Jorgensen and James Foley (ILL.) (Fremantle Press)
Withering-by-Sea, Judith Rossell (ABC Books)
Sunker’s Deep: The Hidden #2, Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)
Shadow Sister: Dragon Keeper #5, Carole Wilkinson (Black Dog Books)
BEST COLLECTION
The Female Factory, Lisa L Hannett and Angela Slatter (Twelfth Planet Press)
Secret Lives, Rosaleen Love (Twelfth Planet Press)
Angel Dust, Ian McHugh (Ticonderoga Publications)
Difficult Second Album: more stories of Xenobiology, Space Elevators, and Bats Out Of Hell, Simon Petrie (Peggy Bright Books)
The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, Angela Slatter (Tartarus Press)
Black-Winged Angels, Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga Publications)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Kisses by Clockwork, Liz Grzyb (Ed) (Ticonderoga Publications)
Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios (Eds), (Twelfth Planet Press)
Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction, Dominica Malcolm (Ed) (Solarwyrm Press)
Reach for Infinity, Jonathan Strahan (Ed) (Solaris Books)
Fearsome Magics, Jonathan Strahan (Ed) (Solaris Books)
Phantazein, Tehani Wessely (Ed) (FableCroft Publishing)
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/ILLUSTRATED WORK
Left Hand Path #1, Jason Franks & Paul Abstruse (Winter City Productions)
Awkwood, Jase Harper (Milk Shadow Books)
“A Small Wild Magic”, Kathleen Jennings (Monstrous Affections, Candlewick Press)
Mr Unpronounceable and the Sect of the Bleeding Eye, Tim Molloy (Milk Shadow Books)
The Game, Shane W Smith (Deeper Meanings Publishing)
(original post here – http://aurealisawards.org/2015/02/27/announcement-2014-aurealis-awards-shortlist/)
by Jason Fischer | Jan 15, 2015 | Meaningful Post
At the end of 2013, I started a novel, wrote the first 45% in a blaze of clattering keys – then shelved it for a year. Real Life and Study got in the way of things, and just when I pulled my nose out of the books, a couple of opportunities to write commissioned short pieces landed on my desk. Once those were squared away, I got back into my novel (empty earth thriller yet to be named).
The best news is, it’s falling out of my head just as quickly as when I first started it, which tells me the idea holds water. Early on, I’d cobbled together a thorough outline, detailing what each chapter would do to contribute to the story arc as a whole…
…which I’ve already started deviating from. I’ve changed horses midstream, and you know what? It’s okay.
No plan survives contact with the enemy. In this case, the enemy is my squirrelly writer hind-brain, which churns and burps out words into my fingers, which I then type with and wait a minute I’ve said too much.
Anyhow, I can’t think of a time when I’ve been 100% faithful to my outlines, even while the 1st draft word vomit is splattering all over the page. Safe to say, I’m probably not alone here – author Fiona McIntosh is also a notorious pantser, whose planning of her fantasy works involved a synopsis/outline she rarely kept to, a rough world map, and an idea of which famous actor resembled which of her characters.
She would then proceed to write some of the greatest page-turning works I’ve encountered. The Quickening books honestly kept me up into the small hours, despite the fact that they were pantsers of the highest order.
I’d like to think of my outlines as a plan – and the beauty of plans is that if Plan A isn’t working, there is a Plan B, Plan C etc. In my own process, it works best to let that writer goblin trapped in my subconscious write what flows best – keeps it interesting, and keeps the story itself honest. If that means my writer goblin pisses all over my intended finish line, hey, I’m cool with that.
“Well, of course the Space Goats are going to form an alliance with the Tin Can Cartel. They’ve both been attacked by the Shenanigans Society, and their differences aren’t that hard to overcome in the face of a shared enemy.” – Jason’s Writer Goblin, about 2 in the morning.
So if anyone wants me, I’ll be standing over this half-finished idea, watching my word-vomit fall upon it in a pleasing manner.
Namaste,
Fisch.
