Jason Fischer's Blog, page 12

New Review of “Quiver” from Scaryminds

Scaryminds do love them some Aussie horror, and it was great to see them do a lengthy review of my first novel, “Quiver”. It was not without moments of tough love, but all’s fair in the world of reviewing. Having reviewed for many years before writing in earnest, I have nothing but love for anyone who’d take the time to read my work and express an opinion about it.

“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.

Australian Shadows Awards 2012

Hot on the heels of the Aurealis shortlists, the results are now out for the 2012 Australian Shadows Awards shortlists.

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.

A Very Nice Feeling

So, I’ve been doing this writing thing for most of my life, but I got serious about it almost 10 years ago now. I’ve been selling my fiction since about 2006, and have seen my scribbling appear in various anthologies, magazines and websites. I’ve been to group book signings, seen my work appear in collections on bookstore shelves, but it never felt *legitimate*. To my mind, these weren’t my books, they were books I had some work published in.

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

New Guest Blog-Post over at Wednesday Writers

Today, I’ve had the pleasure of guest-blogging over at David McDonald’s site for the “Wednesday Writers” feature. I’m currently mentoring David via the Australian Horror Writers Association, and it was most kind of my talented mentee to give me an opportunity to talk about “Quiver”, how it came about, and the fix-up/mosaic novels that inspired me to put it together. 

http://www.davidmcdonaldspage.com/2013/03/wednesday-writers-jason-fischer/

 

Couple more things

Over at On Fiction Writing, I’ve been interviewed for the infamous Rack! Check it out via this link:

http://onfictionwriting.com/rack/Jason-Fischer/62/

And I’ve just sold a collaboration with author Martin Livings to good old Antipodean SF! “Art, Ink” will be appearing in issue #180, and it feels great to return to the place that bought my first ever story. Ion’s a legend, and all those undead camels, brutal Jesusmen, killer kangaroos and such? It’s basically all his fault for encouraging me

Author Appearances in April – FischFest 2013

While not exactly starving and moping in a garret, there are sometimes big stretches of time where I don’t get to conventions or other cool Writery Things. This year, I attempt to mitigate this by taking two interstate trips with a couple of weeks of each other.

First up, I’m going to be at Melbourne Supanova this year. Dymocks have kindly asked me to sign copies of my new novel “Quiver” at their signing table, which is pretty cool. I’m a Supanova virgin so very excited to see what mainstream conventions have to offer. At the very least, I want to high-five the Hoff, and get Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie to say a swear word.

Secondly, I’m going to be at Conflux in Canberra. Not only will this see the official launch of Quiver, but I’m on a swag of panels, catching up with a tonne of most excellent people, and generally having a great time.

My Conflux itinerary is as follows (and note, they haven’t nailed exact times down so this could change):

Friday:

Zombie Panel

Ticonderoga Author spot,

Saturday:

“Quiver” book launch at morning tea time

Geeks Are Cool (after the book launch).

Sunday:

Australian Landscapes

 

If you’re going along to any of these things, make sure to say hello! April’s going to be manic and boonta and all things good.

Drusilla the Ditmar Diprotodon, Part Deux

“Hey you! Nominate my boy, or I’ll slap you upside the head with my swagger stick!”

Of course, Drusilla the Ditmar Diprotodon is my friend first and foremost. So when I called on her to help me pimp my own work for this year, why she slapped on her purple pimp hat quicker than you can say “giant marsupial”.

Without further ado, here are my eligible works for the 2013 Ditmar Awards, as endorsed by Drusilla the Ditmar Diprotodon.

BEST NOVEL:

Quiver, Jason Fischer, Black House Comics

BEST SHORT STORY:

“Pigroot Flat”, Jason Fischer, in Midnight Echo 8

“Rolling for Fetch”, Jason Fischer, in Aurealis 49

Also, Drusilla would like to make a special mention of the following:

BEST FAN ARTIST:

Kathleen Jennings for “The Tamsyn Webb Sketchbook”

——

There are literally OODLES of other eligible works, as listed here:

http://wiki.sf.org.au/2013_Ditmar_eligibility_list

And details about the nomination process can be found here:

http://conflux.org.au/2013/02/19/ditmar-award-nominations-open/

Good luck with your nomination!

Thus Spake Drusilla the Ditmar Diprotodon

Some of you might remember last year when I introduced you to Drusilla, the Ditmar Diprotodon. This time-travelling spokesmammal of Australian SF has apparently remained in our time-stream, mostly for the fiction. Rumours of the secret megafauna invasion are still largely exaggerated and (for now) she is an ambassador of literature and peace. Today, she joins me on the Fisch-blog to talk about all things Ditmar.

JF: Hi Drusilla the Ditmar Diprotodon, thanks for stopping by.

DDD: My pleasure, Jason. Thanks for the huge bushel of vegetation.

JF: I’d do the same for any of my guests. Now, my sources tell me that you’re a passionate advocate of the Ditmar Awards.

DDD: Indeed. I think it’s wonderful to reward creative minds. We had a similar popular-vote award back in the Pleistocene Epoch, “The Mammal’s Choice Award”. Though our categories were more along the lines of Best Survivor, Species Viability, Most Effective Predator and the like. We still had a Fan Art category though.

JF: Megafauna are nothing if not organised. So, Drusilla, do you know who you are nominating in this year’s Ditmar Awards?

DDD: Oh yes! I’ve perused the 2013 Ditmar Eligibility List and cobbled together a list of my favourite books, novellas, short stories and even some reviews and podcasts that I got into last year. The beauty of the Ditmar is that I can nominate as many things in as many categories as I like. You don’t dilute or divide your nomination by doing so.

JF: So, if you were a creative type nominating your own work (which is okay to do) it doesn’t hurt you at all to list other works in the same category?

DDD: Indeed. You’re a mug if you don’t. I think that this mechanism effectively neutralises any self-touting – by the time the self-nominations are tallied up, the real results would come from the additional “I also liked this stuff” nominations.

JF: So, you’re saying the system works?

DDD: I know the Ditmars are not without their own controversies. Nary a year goes by without some sort of battle royale about the results, accusations of bloc voting, all of that drama. It reminds me in many ways of the “Mammal’s Choice Award” of 50,000 BCE. Brutor the Marsupial Lion was accused by many of rigging the vote for Most Effective Predator, but it turned out he really was the Most Effective Predator, as numerous corpses attested to.

JF: So do you think there was bloc voting, both now and then?

DDD: Probably. But that’s the law of the savana. No doubt many of Brutor’s relatives put their paws to the ballot, but it was probably a statistical blip when compared to the other terrified votes. At least the result was accurate! The Ditmar nomination process resembles a circus of touting and enormous lists of eligible works, but I think it’s a necessary process. After the initial flurry of activity, the overall numbers would float to the surface, and then the most representative value appears on that final ballot paper.

JF: I heard mention that you were frustrated by one of the rules?

DDD: Yes. As a fan, I was stymied by rule 4.1 “Nominations will be accepted only from natural persons active in fandom”. Stupid homo sapiens, of course you try to keep the fun all to yourselves. But ultimately I got around it by signing up to each Natcon, and I quote “or from full or supporting members of the national convention of the year of the award.”

JF: That’s clever.

DDD: [munching sounds]

JF: We need another wheelbarrow of lettuce in here.

Here is the official Ditmar spiel for those who are interested:

Nominations for the 2013 Australian SF (“Ditmar”) awards are now open

and will remain open until one minute before midnight Canberra time on

Wednesday, 20th of March, 2013 (ie. 11.59pm, GMT+10). Likewise, postal

nominations must be postmarked no later than Wednesday, 20th March, 2013.

The current rules, including Award categories can be found at:

http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules

You must include your name with any nomination. Nominations will be

accepted only from natural persons active in fandom, or from full or

supporting members of Conflux 9, the 2013 Australian National SF

Convention. Where a nominator may not be known to the Ditmar

subcommittee, the nominator should provide the name of someone known to

the subcommittee who can vouch for the nominator’s eligibility.

Convention attendance or membership of an SF club are among the criteria

which qualify a person as “active in fandom”, but are not the only

qualifying criteria. If in doubt, nominate and mention your qualifying

criteria.

You may nominate as many times in as many Award categories as you like,

although you may only nominate a particular person, work or achievement

once. The Ditmar subcommittee, which is organised under the auspices the

Standing Committee of the Natcon Business Meeting, will rule on

situations where eligibility is unclear. A partial and unofficial

eligibility list, to which everyone is encouraged to add, can be found here:

http://wiki.sf.org.au/2013_Ditmar_eligibility_list

While online nominations are preferred, nominations can be made in a

number of ways:

1. online, via this form:

http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2013/nominations.html

2. via email to ditmars@sf.org.au; or

3. by post to:

Ditmars

6 Florence Road

NEDLANDS WA 6009

AUSTRALIA

So make sure you nominate to get your favourite Australian work for the year 2012 onto the ballot.

 

AWMonline Writing Race

Hey folks!

Just a quick missive to tell you about something cool – on the 27th of February at 8pm (Qld time), I’m going to be the special guest at the weekly Writing Race as run by the lovely folks at the Australian Writers Marketplace Online.

So, if you’re keen, sign up at the website, buckle in and get ready to write your fingers off! I’ve also been told I need to wear a crazy captain’s hat, so I shall do my best to dress up my bald scone. I’ve done this once before and it was great fun, very encouraging environment for us writer-types.

Here are some details. The relevant website is www.AWMonline.com.au

What is a Writing Race?

A Writing Race is a self-directed, one-hour writing session done in the company of online peers as part of a Forum convened by a Race Captain and moderated by AWM staff. Captains are sometimes Special Guests – successful writers who share their experience and encouragement.

Who can join in?

Anyone can join in the Writing Races. Writing Races are attended by beginner, emerging and established authors. This gives beginner and emerging writers the opportunity to write in the company of leading industry professionals, and provides published authors with support and encouragement to meet their contractual deadlines.

How do I participate?

If you subscribe to AWMonline, log in to your AWMonline account, and go to “Forums” under the “Writing Resources” tab. Click on the current Writing Race (they are labelled by date). If you are a guest, simply click on the home page Forum button and click on the current Writing Race. Tell us what you hope to achieve in your hour of writing. Then when the starting pistol sounds, get writing! After an hour, finish up and let us know how you went.

Do I have to show my writing to everyone?

No, you do your writing in your own private document, just as you always do. The Race Captain will only ask about your word count (or other goals) you achieved during the race. Some Racers like to share their favourite snippet at the end of the race. Racers are all very supportive of each others’ work.

Do I have to be really fast?

No, you can write at your own pace. You might even do some research, scene planning, or editing. We are there to have fun and honour our craft by finding the time to write. Most Racers are pleasantly surprised at how productive they are during a Race.

Who organises the Writing Races?

The Writing Races are organised by Queensland Writers Centre, a not-for-profit organisation that publishes The Australian Writer’s Marketplace and AWMonline as part of our commitment to providing resources and opportunities for writers.

For more information about AWMonline Writing Races, see our blog http://blog.AWMonline.com.au, follow us on Twitter @AWMonline, or like our Facebook page The Australian Writer’s Marketplace Online. Inquiries please contact admin@AWMonline.com.au

Because I’m a promotional NINJA

No matter what I do with this writing thing, I like to have fun with it. Some of you may know that I have a new book “Quiver” available here. As a commercial artist it is of course in my best interests to promote my own product, but there’s nothing worse than spamming all and sundry with “BUY MY BOOK”.

With that in mind, I’ve taken a different tack. The protagonist of my book is a teenage girl, and as such she is by default all over the social networking. So if you’d like to chat to Tamsyn Webb, she is now on Twitter and Facebook! She is known to respond to readers with her usual sass and dry wit.

http://twitter.com/tamsynwebb

http://www.facebook.com/tamsyn.webb.9

One thing that backfired on me, er, I mean her. She is of course 17 years old, which means that Facebook won’t allow her profile to be completely public. So just friend away, friendo. You can then hear all about her adventures, and how the lack of chocolate is starting to get to her.