A couple of weeks ago I went up to Sydney for the Aurealis Awards.  My short story, Inksucker was nominated in the YA short story category.  It didn’t win, but it was wonderful just to be nominated, especially given that the winning story was by Margo Lanagan, one of my Clarion South tutors.

Two of my fellow Clarion South students won awards – Angela Slatter for Best Collection and Lisa Hannett and Angela for the story they co-wrote.

The judges report has some nice things to say about the stories.
http://www.aurealisawards.com/judgesreports2010.pdf

The best part of the weekend was catching up with lots of writing friends and making some new friends.

I haven’t written many new short stories in the last year, my focus has been on writing my YA novel, The Way of Dragons.  Last weekend, I finally finished the first draft.  There is still a lot of work to be done revising it, but it’s a great feeling to get such a big chunk of the work out of the way.

The first draft came in at 105,000 words, which is a little long for a YA book.  The story’s basic premise involves a young man joining a monastery in order to find the cure for his sister that has been poisoned by a dragon.  It features encrypted dragon eggs, cloud painting monks and forbidden numbers.

After I’ve revised the novel I’ll be sending it out for crits.  After that I’ll have to decide what to do with the novel.  The traditional route would be to send it to an agent or publisher, but of course these days there are a plethora of web sites discussing the merits of self-publishing for ebook readers.  Although self-publishing options through Amazon are looking increasingly attractive, I’m still going to first pursue publication through one of the major houses.

I’m really excited Inksucker has been shortlisted for an Aurealis Award in the YA Short Story category.  The story was originally published in Worlds Next Door, an anthology edited by Tehani Wessely.

It’s also great that a bunch of my fellow students (plus teachers) from Clarion South, along with some other writing friends, have been nominated as well.  It’s wonderful to be in the same company as the other nominated writers.  Just two years ago I attended the awards ceremony, as part of my time as Clarion.  Now to be a finalist is especially rewarding.

The complete list of the finalists.

http://www.aurealisawards.com/finalists2010.pdf

Great news: the wonderful Shaun Tan won an Oscar for the short film based on his book, The Lost Thing.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/28/3150766.htm

I had the chance to meet Shaun at WorldCon in September last year.  He illustrated a story of mine I had published in Aurealis years ago.  Now I can say I’ve had a story illustrated by an Oscar winner.

Sad news: Clarion South is on hold indefinitely.  I attended Clarion South in 2009.  It’s a 6-week writing workshop that provides a tremendous boost to anyone serious about writing speculative fiction.  The workshop was one of the best experiences of my life and I made some wonderful friends there.  The workshop was held ever two years, but due to financial plans the 2011 workshop was rescheduled for 2012.  Now that has been put on hold indefinitely.

http://www.clarionsouth.org/

Unfortunately we’ve been unable to lock in a viable venue option that would allow us to run the workshop at an acceptable cost to writers. The cheapest option would still more than double tuition fees.

So, with regret, we must tell you that at this stage the workshop is on hold indefinitely.

We know many of you will be disappointed, and so are we. Clarion South has been a great experience for us and we’re proud of the great writers in Australia and overseas that the workshop has helped.

In the meantime we will continue to look for a venue that enables to run the workshop in the format for which it has become famous. We will alsoinvestigate other configurations and opportunities that might give the workshop a future in Australia.

Sushi:

A new all-female sushi chef restaurant has opened in Tokyo.  Traditionally sushi chefs have always been men.  The excuse for this is:

The No. 1 reason most chefs cite as to why girls can’t make sushi: they’re too hot. “The temperature of a woman’s hands is higher, and when you’re handling fresh fish, this isn’t good…”

The new restaurant only employs female chefs.  As the restaurant is located in Akihabara, there is a catch…

Kazuya Nishikiori, the middle-aged owner of Nadeshico, says he wanted to create a new model for working women in Japan. But he later explains he’ll only hire women who are between the ages of 18 and 25 to work behind the counter. “After all, our slogan is ‘fresh and kawaii,”‘ he explains, invoking the ubiquitous word for “cute.” “If someone wanted to work here and was 30, I’d put her in the back.”

Hot Women Serving Cold Fish Make for Raw Feelings in Tokyo
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254304576117193420193936.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#articleTabs=article

The Strange Horizons Readers’ Poll is almost closed.

http://strangehorizons.com/poll/

My story Hokkaido Green is eligible, as is The Duke of Vertumn’s Fingerling, by one of my fellow Clarionites, Elizabeth Carroll.

It is nomination season for speculative fiction awards.

My stories are eligible for a bunch of awards.  The Hugo Awards, the Ditmar Awards and the Chronos Awards are all open for nominations.

My eligible stories from last year include:

Hokkaido Green, Strange Horizons

Salary Ninja, Port Iris

Stone Flowers, Fantasy

Mr. Nine & the Gentleman Ghost, Weird Tales

Inksucker, Worlds Next Door

If I had to choose one story to recommend, then it would be Hokkaido Green.

Chronos Awards (for residents of Victoria)

Nomination form: http://continuum.org.au/chronos-awards/

There is a list of eligible works at http://confound.wikispot.org/2011_Chronos_Award_Eligibles

To my surprise, someone nominated for Best Fan Writer and my WorldCon report for best fan writing.

Ditmar Awards (for Australian citizens & residents)

Nomination form: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html

A long list of eligible works is at http://wiki.sf.org.au/2011_Ditmar_eligibility_list

I particularly enjoyed:

Novellas / Novelettes

• A Glimpse of the Marvellous Structure (and the threat it entails), Sean Williams, in Godlike Machines

Short Stories

• “All the Love in the World”, Cat Sparks, in Sprawl
• “The Duke of Vertumn’s Fingerling“, Elizabeth Carroll, in Strange Horizons

Collected Works

• Worlds Next Door
• Godlike Machines

Hugo Awards (only members of last year’s and this year’s World Con are able to nominate works).

Particular favorites include (in addition to works mentioned above):

Novelettes:

• The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window by Rachel Swirsky

Short Stories:

A Sweet Calling by Tony Pi

The Gold Silkworm by Tony Pi

Standard Loneliness Package by Charles Yu

Related Works:

• Packing For Mars by Mary Roach