Jason Fischer's Blog, page 4
March 9, 2017
“Welcome to World Building” workshop with Jason Fischer – May 20, 2017
Coming soon at the SA Writers Centre – my world-building workshop is always great fun to run, and people always leave brimming with ideas for stories. If you’re interested in creating a fictional world, this workshop is for you! Suitable for all ages.
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Do you dream of creating your own written universe where all the rules are made by you? Are you imagining a world of dragons, or a space station where aliens meet and trade? If so then Aurealis Award-winning writer Jason Fischer will guide you through the steps needed to create your own world and setting, either to kickstart your own stories and comics, or just for fun.
This workshop is a hands on and interactive way to learn how to build worlds with words, and will involve drawing maps, creating creatures, and talking about the natural laws observed by writers when creating their fantasy settings.
Cost: Full price $90 / Members $60 (Login to register with the Member Price)
Suitable for beginners and writers at any level interested in learning creative ways to enhance their world building skills.
Jason Fischer has won an Aurealis Award and the Writers of the Future Contest, and his writing has been included on multiple awards shortlists including the Aurealis, Ditmars and the Australian Shadows Awards. He is the author of dozens of short stories, with a novel, a collection, comics and computer game also under his belt. He enjoys karaoke and loves puns more than life itself.
‘Fun and interactive. We need this type of workshop more often!’ – May 2016
‘I really enjoyed the interaction with fellow writers in the room.’ – May 2016
Price: A$90.00
Start Time: 2:00 pm End Time: 5:00 pm
Date: May 20, 2017 
Address: SA Writers Centre Level 2 187 Rundle Street Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia
Registration details are here:
https://sawriters.org.au/event-registration/?ee=474
March 5, 2017
New e-book available now! “Seven Threads” by Jason Fischer
Seven Threads is a mini-collection to introduce new readers to the work of Australian fantasy author Jason Fischer. Stories in this collection include the Aurealis Award winning novella “Defy the Grey Kings” and “The House of Nameless”, winner of the Writers of the Future contest.
Follow these seven threads through Fischer’s fantastic worlds, through grim futures, through heroics and heartbreak. Described by reviewers as “an impressive talent” and “a strong new voice with a distinctive vision”, these stories of Fischer’s are a great sampler and a taste of his unpredictable imagination.
“If you haven’t been reading Jason Fischer, your literary diet is lacking in zest, zing, and essential vitamins.” – Gardner Dozois, multiple Hugo Award winning editor.
Available now on the Kindle via this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XFKYYQ4
(Smashwords version and other vendors available soon)
February 21, 2017
Island Magazine Issue #148 – “She Says” by Jason Fischer
My story “She Says” will be appearing in issue #148 of Island Magazine, which will be available in stores on the 27th February 2017. This story explores the viewpoint of a non-verbal autistic teen, trapped with a Paralympian athlete in a city full of dangers.
It pleases me no end when one of my stories is selected for a literary market, given that I have earnt my writing chops in the supposed ghetto of genre fiction. It’s a thrill that I can deliver stories at this level, and I hope that readers enjoy my tale! As the father of a delightful autistic boy, it’s a real honour and a responsibility to tell stories where a person with an intellectual disability can be the hero of the day. I hope to write many more!
You can find out more about Island Magazine via their website at https://islandmag.com/, or you can pick up a copy at your local newsagent. Island Magazine can also be found online at the following places:
Facebook: @islandmagtas Twitter: @islandmagtas Instagram: @islandmagtas
February 20, 2017
Aurealis Awards 2016 Shortlist
I will admit to jumping around and smiling like a loon when I read today’s Aurealis Awards shortlist. My novella “By the Laws of Crab and Woman” (originally published by the fine folks at the Review of Australian Fiction) is a finalist in the Best Fantasy Novella category for 2016.
I share this short-list with many of my friends and heroes, and many gob-smackingly awesome works have rated a berth on the HMS Aurealis 2016. Kudos to the judges, a glass raised to all of my fellow finalists, and a happy fuzzy glow for the healthy state of Australian speculative fiction.
https://aurealisawards.org/2017/02/20/2016-aurealis-awards-shortlist-announcement/
As Molly Meldrum would say, do yourself a favour, and check out my shortlisted story over at Review of Australian Fiction. The relevant issue of RAF can be purchased via this link: http://reviewofaustralianfiction.com/product/volume-17-issue-6/
(NOTE: I shared this issue with my fellow ink-scribe Laura Goodin, who critiqued the life out of my story and deserves at least some of the credit for today’s good news!)
November 24, 2016
NEW STORY – “Ladyflies” by Jason Fischer, available at Review of Australian Fiction
If the gonnery was the hand that watched over Teper, the five main gonnes were its fingers. Her mother told her stories of how the gonnes used to shine brightly, but now they were pitted and thick with rust, patched with steel plates and welds. The gonnes tracked the moon the way a sunflower tracks its brighter cousin, clicking and groaning, old metal squealing in protest each time the main housing shifted along the big cog.
Her home, and now she was forever barred from it. She’d grown up knowing that her mother would bare her neck to her when her apprenticeship had ended, and so she’d studied the crumbling charts, crawled into the dustiest corners with oil-can and metal rasp. She’d spent long hours on the battlements, watching the moon for movement, surrounded by the reaching towers of the big gonnes.
Aster, the first gonne Teper had raised, old and ponderous. Termut and Gadagain, the twins, always moving in concert, known to trick the shell-loaders into favouring them over the others. Clareud the fine, fitted only for the smaller shells but capable of reaching targets above the clouds, and perhaps to the surface of the Moon itself.
Finally, big Ruubar, the last line of defence should the other gonnes fail. Ruubar was squat and swift, and once the dead Monitor had let Amel try it out on a target balloon. From sleep to murder, the largest gonne took a little under five seconds, and Amel’s ears had rung for days from that one fusillade.
Now all of it was in the hands of the tooth-woman, the new Monitor. Amel mourned the loss of her future, but more so she was worried that the reaver wouldn’t work the gonnes properly. There were so many things Amel’s mother had taught her, and now it was all down to a thug blindly fumbling at the controls.
‘It’s up to me,’ she said. ‘I have to defeat the Monitor.’
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This is an excerpt from my latest novella “Ladyflies”, now available over at Review of Australian Fiction. You heard right, 20,000 words of novella, so in this issue of RAF you are getting extra bang for your buck. This story is an open homage to one of my favourite books “The Gate to Women’s Country” by the late Sheri S Teper, and is an extrapolation of the ideas explored in what I think of as her seminal work.
This issue is now available via the following link: http://reviewofaustralianfiction.com/product/raf-136-volume-20-issue-4/
But hey! You can do one better. Why not try a three-month subscription to Review of Australian Fiction? That way you can show your support for a great fiction venue, one that has showcased bucketloads of great writers over the last few years.
http://reviewofaustralianfiction.com/product/raf-three-month-subscription/
October 19, 2016
“Defy the Grey Kings” now available at PodCastle
I have long adored the Escape Artists trio of podcasts. Today I am tickled pink to see my story “Defy the Grey Kings” turned into a beautiful piece of narration, and it is now available for your listening pleasure over at PodCastle.
http://podcastle.org/2016/10/18/podcastle-438-defy-the-grey-kings/
Even better, this month is Aurealis month over PodCastle, and they promise to have several of the winning and finalist stories from last year in the weeks to come. If you don’t subscribe to PodCastle now, I highly recommend you click that button 
April 26, 2016
Spec Fic and Fantasy Festival – SA Writers Centre
If you’re in Adelaide and are a fan of speculative fiction or fantasy writing, make sure you get along to the SA Writers Centre Spec Fic and Fantasy Festival. Yours truly shall be there with a bevy of talented folks, and it promises to be an absolute treat!
We’re going to deliver a bunch of great panels, live readings of our work, and workshops galore. I’m excited that such an event is being held in Adelaide, and tickled pink to be involved
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It’s time to crack out of your cryostasis and join us for one of the most spectacular Spec Fic and Fantasy Fests in the multiverse. Dock your Tardis, Delorean, heli cab or space ship at Level 2/187 Rundle Street, 7 and 8 May (unless it’s already the future, in which case… hurry! Go backwards…!)
A galaxy of stars including: Gillian Rubinstein, Sean Williams, Jason Fischer, Ben Chandler, DM Cornish, Lisa L Hannett, Tony Shillitoe, Jo Spurrier and Tehani Wessely will be creating an unforgettable atmosphere and two days of premium advice, learning, workshops and panels that will blow your flux capacitor and melt your chronoscope!
Bookings are essential. DOWNLOAD THE FULL PROGRAM HERE.
March 25, 2016
AUREALIS AWARD WINNER! Best Fantasy Novella
Well slap me with a fish and call me Gilgamesh, for my story “Defy the Grey Kings” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies has just picked up the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella. I am pleasantly shocked, and am pleased that my story has been so well received!
Many thanks to the other finalists and to the judges, whose workload seems to grow year by year. If you’re interested in reading this award-winning epistle, click ye here.
The full list of this year’s Aurealis Award winners can be found here. Huzzah!
March 22, 2016
BY THE LAWS OF CRAB AND WOMAN – new story now available at Review of Australian Fiction
For her heresy, Reft climbed up to the House of the Pale Daughters. The law dictated that she take the penitent’s path, so she stood barefoot and bleeding in the front courtyard, picking thorns and slivers of glass from her feet.
Reft held a crab on a leash, a juvenile almost up to her waist in height. Its shell was fresh after a recent moult, streaked with blue and orange. Like the other crabbers, Reft had fastened a platform to its back, drilling deep into the hardening shell. From now on, as the crab grew, the platform would grow, and by adulthood it would have entire buildings bristling from its back.
The inner door to the House opened, a thick slab of stone that turned easily on a pivot hinge. One old woman pushed it open with the tips of her fingers. She was like a piece of driftwood in a robe, flinty eyes buried in a maze of scars.
“Reft the heretic,” she said. “You have come.”
Reft fussed nervously about the crab, unpacking the trunks and crates that she’d lashed firmly to its back. With the tip of a coral knife, she parted the wax seal around the lid of an amphora.
It was honey, gold and thick, filled right up to the brim.
“What does this get me?” Reft asked.
“Death,” the crone said.
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This is the opening passage to my new story “By the Laws of Crab and Woman”, which is now available at the Review of Australian Fiction. I share this issue with the amazingly talented Laura E Goodin, and her story Regent of the Tiny Queen is a joy to read! Check the issue out via the following link: http://reviewofaustralianfiction.com/issues/volume-17-issue-6/
February 19, 2016
“Defy the Grey Kings” is an Aurealis Award Finalist!
The shortlists for the 2015 Aurealis Awards have hit the wilds. I’m pleased to say that my story “Defy the Grey Kings” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #180 is a finalist in the Best Fantasy Novella category. Absolutely chuffed to find myself in such good company, and Australian SF seems to be very healthy indeed. Congrats to all!
2015 Aurealis Awards – Finalists
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
A Week Without Tuesday, Angelica Banks (Allen & Unwin)
The Cut-Out, Jack Heath (Allen & Unwin)
A Single Stone, Meg McKinlay (Walker Books Australia)
Bella and the Wandering House, Meg McKinlay (Fremantle Press)
The Mapmaker Chronicles: Prisoner of the Black Hawk, A.L. Tait (Hachette Australia)
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
The Undertaker Morton Stone Vol.1, Gary Chaloner, Ben Templesmith, and Ashley Wood (Gestalt)
The Diemenois, Jamie Clennett (Hunter Publishers)
Unmasked Vol.1: Going Straight is No Way to Die, Christian Read (Gestalt)
The Singing Bones, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)
Fly the Colour Fantastica, various authors (Veriko Operative)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“In Sheep’s Clothing”, Kimberly Gaal (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #61)
“The Nexus Tree”, Kimberly Gaal (The Never Never Land, CSFG)
“The Miseducation of Mara Lys”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)
“The Heart of the Labyrinth”, DK Mok (In Memory: A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett, Sorin Suciu)
“Blueblood”, Faith Mudge (Hear Me Roar, Ticonderoga Publications)
Welcome to Orphancorp, Marlee Jane Ward (Seizure)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Bullets”, Joanne Anderton (In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep, AHWA)
“Consorting with Filth”, Lisa L Hannett (Blurring the Line, Cohesion Press)
“Heirloom Pieces”, Lisa L Hannett (Apex Magazine, Apex Publications)
“The Briskwater Mare”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)
“Breaking Windows”, Tracie McBride (Aurealis #84)
“Self, Contained”, Kirstyn McDermott (The Dark, TDM Press)
BEST HORROR NOVELLA
“Night Shift”, Dirk Flinthart (Striking Fire, FableCroft Publishing)
“The Cherry Crow Children of Haverny Wood”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)
“The Miseducation of Mara Lys”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)
“Wages of Honey”, Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)
“Sleepless”, Jay Kristoff (Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, Penguin)
“Ripper”, Angela Slatter (Horrorology, Jo Fletcher Books)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“The Giant’s Lady”, Rowena Cory Daniells (Legends 2, Newcon Press)
“The Jellyfish Collector”, Michelle Goldsmith (Review of Australian Fiction Vol. 13 Issue 6)
“A Shot of Salt Water”, Lisa L Hannett (The Dark, TDM Press)
“Almost Days”, DK Mok (Insert Title Here, FableCroft Publishing)
“Blueblood”, Faith Mudge (Hear Me Roar, Ticonderoga Publications)
“Husk and Sheaf”, Suzanne Willis (SQ Mag 22, IFWG Publishing Australia)
BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“Lodloc and The Bear”, Steve Cameron (Dimension6, coeur de lion)
“Defy the Grey Kings”, Jason Fischer (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Firkin Press)
“Broken Glass”, Stephanie Gunn (Hear Me Roar, Ticonderoga Publications)
“The Flowers that Bloom Where Blood Touches the Earth”, Stephanie Gunn (Bloodlines, Ticonderoga Publications)
“Haunting Matilda”, Dmetri Kakmi (Cthulhu: Deep Down Under, Horror Australis)
“Of Sorrow and Such”, Angela Slatter (Tor.com)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“2B”, Joanne Anderton (Insert Title Here, Fablecroft)
“The Marriage of the Corn King”, Claire McKenna (Cosmos)
“Alchemy and Ice”, Charlotte Nash (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #61)
“Witnessing”, Kaaron Warren (The Canary Press Story Magazine #6)
“All the Wrong Places”, Sean Williams (Meeting Infinity, Solaris)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
“Blood and Ink”, Jack Bridges, Prizm Books
“The Molenstraat Music Festival”, Sean Monaghan (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
“By Frogsled and Lizardback to Outcast Venusian Lepers”, Garth Nix (Old Venus, Random House)
BEST COLLECTION
The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After, Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press)
Striking Fire, Dirk Flinthart (FableCroft Publishing)
Cherry Crow Children, Deborah Kalin (Twelfth Planet Press)
To Hold the Bridge, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
The Fading, Carole Nomarhas (self-published)
The Finest Ass in the Universe, Anna Tambour (Ticonderoga Publications)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Hear Me Roar, Liz Grzyb (ed.) (Ticonderoga Publications)
The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2014, Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (eds.) (Ticonderoga Publications)
Bloodlines, Amanda Pillar (ed.) (Ticonderoga Publications)
Meeting Infinity, Jonathan Strahan (ed.), (Solaris)
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 9, Jonathan Strahan (ed.) (Solaris)
Focus 2014: highlights of Australian short fiction, Tehani Wessely (ed.) (FableCroft Publishing)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin)
Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)
The Fire Sermon, Francesca Haig (HarperVoyager)
Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)
Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
The Hush, Skye Melki-Wagner (Penguin Random House Australia)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
No Shortlist Released
BEST FANTASY NOVEL
In The Skin of a Monster, Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin)
Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, Alison Goodman (HarperCollins)
Day Boy,Trent Jamieson (Text Publishing)
The Dagger’s Path, Glenda Larke (Hachette Australia)
Tower Of Thorns, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Skin, Ilka Tampke (Text Publishing)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Crossed, Evelyn Blackwell (self-published)
Clade, James Bradley (Penguin)
Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
Their Fractured Light, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
Renegade, Joel Shepherd (Kindle Direct)
Twinmaker: Fall, Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin)
SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD
The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin [The King’s Bastard (2010), The Uncrowned King (2010), The Usurper (2010), The King’s Man (2012), King Breaker (2013)], Rowena Cory Daniells (Solaris Press)
The Watergivers [The Last Stormlord (2009), Stormlord Rising (2010), Stormlord’s Exile (2011)], Glenda Larke (HarperVoyager)
The Lumatere Chronicles [Finnikin of the Rock (2008), Froi of the Exiles (2011), Quintana of Charyn (2012)], Melina Marchetta (Penguin Random House)
Sevenwaters [Daughter of the Forest (2000), Son of the Shadows (2001), Child of the Prophecy (2002), Heir to Sevenwaters (2009), Seer of Sevenwaters (2011), Flame of Sevenwaters (2013)], Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Laws of Magic [Blaze Of Glory (2007), Heart Of Gold (2007), Word Of Honour (2008), Time Of Trial (2009), Moment Of Truth (2010), Hour Of Need (2011)], Michael Pryor (Random House Australia)
Creature Court [Power and Majesty (2010), Shattered City (2011), Reign of Beasts (2012)], Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperVoyager)
