Alan Baxter's Blog, page 65

Emerging Writers Festival reminder

This is a reminder repost:

The Emerging Writers’ Festival is coming around again from May 24 – June 3. You may remember that I went up to Brisbane last year and took part. I’ll be involved again, this time in Melbourne. It’s a brilliant event and well worth your time whether you’re new and emerging or an old hand at penmonkeying. I’m on a panel again, this time about what happens after you’re published:

Post-Publication, Saturday 3pm, 26th May
Congratulations – you’ve been published! Now what? Our writers share their experiences and advice on what awaits once your work is out in the world. With Ali Alizadeh, Alan Baxter, Emmett Stinson and Stella Young. Hosted by Sam Cooney.

But that panel alone is a tiny fraction of all the awesome stuff going on as part of EWF 2012. There’s loads of information here and a full program of events here.

So much good stuff. And you can keep up to speed on Twitter with the #ewf12 hashtag and by following @EmergingWriters. Be there!

And don’t forget that The Emerging Writer, a brilliant book, is also out now. Details here.

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Excellent promo video for Notions Unlimited

You may remember a while ago that Chuck McKenzie had a Tuesday Toot slot here at The Word, talking about his new specialist bookshop in Melbourne. The shop is called Notions Unlimited and specialises in speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy and horror titles, as well as related genres such as paranormal romance, media tie-ins (Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.), graphic novels, manga, roleplaying supplies, art books, non-fiction, and some esoteric titles. They have a major focus upon Australian small-press, with a great range of titles available, and have a commitment to providing a level of in-store customer service that guarantees the best browsing/shopping experience possible. (That’s from the website, so it must be true.)

This, folks, is the future of the bookshop – Chuck’s a great bloke and he’s setting a brilliant example.

They have a website here and a Facebook page here.

Anyway, Chuck has recently put together a promo video for Notions Unlimited and it’s excellent – worth a watch even if you’re not anywhere near Melbourne and have no intention of ever being there. Here, watch:

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The Emerging Writer – an insider’s guide to your writing journey

The Emerging Writer: An Insider’s Guide to Your Writing Journey

Every writer has to find their own way to emerge – there is no set route, no absolute path and no road that must be followed. But there is a lot we can learn from those who have travelled before us: how to get there more directly, how to bypass the road blocks, traverse the peaks and valleys, or which is the most scenic route.

The Emerging Writer is an insider’s guide full of valuable advice from fellow travellers – a resource you can keep within arm’s length, for when you need to consult that map again to help you find your way.

Inside you will find information on:

How to create publication opportunities
Understanding your value and getting paid
Why you shouldn’t write what you know
Managing your digital domain
… And much more!

Why am I blogging about this? Two reasons, the first of which should be blindingly freaking obvious – this is a brilliant book, full of excellent information for writers, both emerging and otherwise. The other reason is because I’m one of the contributors. See that bit above about Managing your digital domain? I wrote that bit. Look who else is in this book:

Contributors include: Esther Anatolitis, Karen Andrews, Van Badham, Alan Baxter, Alan Bissett, Sophie Black, Matt Blackwood, Jen Breach, Stephanie Convery, Sam Cooney, Christopher Currie, Christy Dena, Jacqui Dent, Leah Gerber, Keri Glastonbury, Tully Hansen, Rebecca Harkins-Cross, Douglas Holgate, Kirstin Innes, Tait Ischia, Johannes Jakob, Tiggy Johnson, Rachael Kendrick, Sophie Langley, James Le, Geoff Lemon, Lawrence Leung, Julien Leyre, Andrew Marlton, Hugh McGuire, Ryan Paine, Amra Pajalic, Maria Papas, Liam Pieper, Bhakthi Puvanenthiran, Aden Rolfe, Benjamin Solah, Rosanna Stevens, John Weldon.

The print version of The Emerging Writer is on sale exclusively at the Emerging Writers’ Festival, so get along to a festival event and snap up a copy before they sell out. As a special offer, the first 100 copies of the book sold at EWF will include an exclusive ticket to the glamorous launch party at the National Gallery of Victoria! An ebook version will also be available to purchase – visit www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/book for links to the online retailers.

Don’t miss out on this. The Emerging Writers Festival is a brilliant event, for writers at all stages in their careers. I’m honoured to be presenting there again this year, on Saturday 26th in the Town Hall. Get along, learn lots, meet people and grab your copy of The Emerging Writer. If you can’t get to the festival, grab an e-copy of the book anyway.

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2011 Nebula Awards Winners

The 2011 Nebula Awards were presented on Saturday, May 19 at the Nebula Awards Weekend, held in Arlington, Virginia. Walter Jon Williams was Toastmaster, and Astronaut Michael Fincke was the keynote speaker. Connie Willis was honored with the 2011 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for her lifetime contributions and achievements in the field.

Following are the full shortlists across all categories, with the winners in bold.

Novel

Among Others,  Jo Walton (Tor)God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade)The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace)Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey)Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime)

Novella

“The Man Who Bridged the Mist”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 10-11/11)“With Unclean Hands”, Adam-Troy Castro (Analog 11/11)“The Ice Owl”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 11-12/11)‘‘Kiss Me Twice’’, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s 6/11)“The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary”, Ken Liu (Panverse Three)Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

Novelette

‘‘What We Found’’, Geoff Ryman (F&SF 9-10/11)“Six Months, Three Days”, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com 6/8/11)“The Old Equations”, Jake Kerr (Lightspeed 7/11)“The Migratory Pattern of Dancers”, Katherine Sparrow (GigaNotoSaurus 7/11)“Sauerkraut Station”, Ferrett Steinmetz (GigaNotoSaurus 11/11)“Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4)“Ray of Light”, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog 12/11)

Short Story

“The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)“Her Husband’s Hands”, Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed 10/11)“Mama, We Are Zhenya, Your Son”, Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed 4/11)“Shipbirth”, Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s 2/11)“Movement”, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s 3/11)“The Axiom of Choice”, David W. Goldman (New Haven Review Winter ’11)“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife” The Adjustment BureauAttack the BlockCaptain America: The First AvengerHugoMidnight in ParisSource Code

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard UK; Carolrhoda)Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial)The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow; Gollancz as Fire and Thorns)The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury USA)Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown)Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown)

Octavia Butler and John Clute received the Solstice Award. Bud Webster received the SFWA Service Award.

(From Locus Online.)

Haven giveaway at Thirteen O’Clock

Over at the Thirteen O’Clock website we’re giving away three copies of Season 2 of Haven. Here’s the blurb:

Haven, Maine appears to be just another lively, New England seaside town, complete with quaint shops, scenic beaches and a busy harbor. But when FBI Agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) first arrived on a routine case, she encountered the mysterious underside of Haven. Her investigation lead her to discover that Haven has a secret: it’s home to a number of people suffering from supernatural afflictions.

Audrey found that she is uniquely qualified to handle these supernatural events – referred to in local legend as “the Troubles” – and after discovering that Haven might hold clues about her own mysterious past, she chooses to stay in the town to do so.

Haven, based on the Stephen King novella “The Colorado Kid”, is the story of Audrey’s entry into this seemingly normal town. Across the seasons, Audrey’s quest to understand herself and the great mysteries of Haven will drive her ever deeper down the rabbit hole.

Do you want a copy? If so, just leave a comment over at the post on the Thirteen O’Clock site and tell us you want in and we’ll randomly pick three winners in a week or two. We’ll have a full review of Season 2 up there soon.

PLESE NOTE! This offer is only open to Australian residents.

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2011 Aurealis Awards winners

Australian Spec Fic had its night of nights on Saturday, with the presentation of the 2011 Aurealis Awards at The Independent in North Sydney. As ever it was an excellent event – top marks to SpecFaction for putting on another flawless presentation.

It’s always a great opportunity to hang out with old friends and meet a few people for the first time, or meet the meatbags of friends who had previously only been virtual. I really love the strength of this community and I’m proud to be a part of it. After lubricating at the Rydges bar, we all trooped to The Independent Theatre for more drinks, nibbles and then the presention, brilliantly MCd by the lovely Kate Forsyth.

Slideshow presentations by Cat Sparks and Rob Hood were brilliant (the cow being a particular highlight), but the real joy was watching the tremedous efforts of great Aussie writers get rewarded with shiny trophies, especially as some good friends were among the recipients. I also got to collect the award for Best Sci Fi Short Story on behalf of Robert N Stephenson, who couldn’t be there to collect it himself. I hope I did justice to his speech, which I read from my iPhone after frantically searching it out as I ran to the stage. There are dangers to live-tweeting an event if you suddenly find yourself required to participate.

I’ll repost the full shortlist below, with the winners in bold. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!

FANTASY NOVEL

The Undivided by Jennifer Fallon (HarperVoyager)

Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman (Hachette)

Stormlord’s Exile by Glenda Larke (HarperVoyager)

Debris by Jo Anderton (Angry Robot)

The Shattered City by Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperVoyager)

FANTASY SHORT STORY

“Fruit of the Pipal Tree” by Thoraiya Dyer (After the Rain, FableCroft Publishing)

“The Proving of Smollett Standforth” by Margo Lanagan (Ghosts by Gaslight, HarperVoyager)

“Into the Clouds on High” by Margo Lanagan (Yellowcake, Allen & Unwin)

“Reading Coffee” by Anthony Panegyris (Overland)

“The Dark Night of Anton Weiss” by D.C. White (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Machine Man by Max Barry (Scribe Publications)

Children of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy (HarperVoyager)

The Waterboys by Peter Docker (Fremantle Press)

Black Glass by Meg Mundell (Scribe Publications)

The Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood (HarperVoyager)

SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

“Flowers in the Shadow of the Garden” by Joanne Anderton (Hope, Kayelle Press)

“Desert Madonna” by Robert Hood (Anywhere but Earth, Couer de Lion)

“SIBO” by Penelope Love (Anywhere but Earth, Couer de Lion)

“Dead Low” by Cat Sparks (Midnight Echo)

“Rains of la Strange” by Robert N Stephenson (Anywhere but Earth, Couer de Lion)

HORROR NOVEL

NO SHORTLIST OR WINNING NOVEL – TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS AWARDED TO:

The Broken Ones by Stephen M. Irwin (Hachette)

The Business of Death by Trent Jamieson (Hachette)

HORROR SHORT STORY – TIE

“And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living” by Deborah Biancotti (Ishtar, Gilgamesh Press)

“The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt” by Paul Haines (The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Brimstone Press)

“The Short Go: a Future in Eight Seconds” by Lisa L. Hannett (Bluegrass Symphony, Ticonderoga Publications)

“Mulberry Boys” by Margo Lanagan (Blood and Other Cravings, Tor)

“The Coffin Maker’s Daughter” by Angela Slatter (A Book of Horrors, Quercus)

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Shift by Em Bailey (Hardie Grant Egmont)

Secrets of Carrick: Tantony by Ananda Braxton-Smith (black dog books)

The Shattering by Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin)

Black Glass by Meg Mundell (Scribe Publications)

Only Ever Always by Penni Russon (Allen & Unwin)

YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

“Nation of the Night” by Sue Isle (Nightsiders, Twelfth Planet Press)

“Finishing School” by Kathleen Jennings (Steampunk! An anthology of fantastically rich and strange stories, Candlewick Press)

“Seventy-Two Derwents” by Cate Kennedy (The Wicked Wood – Tales from the Tower Volume 2, Allen and Unwin)

“One Window” by Martine Murray (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower Volume 1, Allen and Unwin)

“The Patrician” by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Love and Romanpunk, Twelfth Planet Press)

CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through words)

The Outcasts by John Flanagan (Random House Australia)

The Paradise Trap by Catherine Jinks (Allen & Unwin)

“It Began with a Tingle” by Thalia Kalkapsakis (Headspinners, Allen & Unwin)

The Coming of the Whirlpool by Andrew McGahan (Allen & Unwin)

City of Lies by Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)

CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through pictures)

The Ghost of Annabel Spoon by Aaron Blabey (author and illustrator) (Penguin/ Viking Books)

Sounds Spooky by Christopher Cheng (author) and Sarah Davis (illustrator) (Random House Australia)

The Last Viking by Norman Jorgensen (author) and James Foley (illustrator) (Fremantle Press)

The Deep: Here be Dragons by Tom Taylor (author) and James Brouwer (illustrator) (Gestault Publishing)

Vampyre by Margaret Wild (author) and Andrew Yeo (illustrator) (Walker Books)

ILLUSTRATED BOOK / GRAPHIC NOVEL – TIE

Hidden by Mirranda Burton (author and illustrator ) (Black Pepper)

Torn by Andrew Constant (author) and Joh James (illustrator ), additional illustrators Nicola Scott, Emily Smith (Gestalt Publishing)

Salsa Invertebraxa by Mozchops (author and illustrator) (Pecksniff Press)

The Eldritch Kid: Whiskey and Hate by Christian Read (author) and Michael Maier (illustrator) (Gestalt Publishing)

The Deep: Here be Dragons by Tom Taylor (author) and James Brouwer (illustrator) (Gestault Publishing)

ANTHOLOGY

Ghosts by Gaslight edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers (HarperVoyager)

Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010 edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

Ishtar edited by Amanda Pillar and KV Taylor (Gilgamesh Press)

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 5 edited by Jonathan Strahan (Night Shade Books)
Life on Mars edited by Jonathan Strahan (Viking)

COLLECTION

Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet Press)

Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines (Brimstone Press)

Bluegrass Symphony by Lisa Hannett (Ticonderoga Publications)

Nightsiders by Sue Isle (Twelfth Planet Press)

Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth Planet Press)

OTHER AWARDS

Peter McNamara Convenors’ Award went to the Galactic Suburbia podcast team.

Kris Hembury Encouragement Award went to Emily Craven of Adelaide.

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My kind of lounge room

I want this so badly…

Sometimes the story’s NOT the thing!

Following the daft church sign posted previously, I thought I’d stick with religion after reading this today at Michael Fridman’s blog. Seriously, sometimes humanity makes me want to drown things…

People Believe a LOT of Nonsense on Evolution, Creationism, Religion

I’m not talking about creationists, that goes without saying. I’m talking about the fact that a very high percentage of arguments by people who claim that evolution and religion are compatible are in fact nonsense. Via Jerry Coyne, an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that made me lose my faith in humanity just a little more. In terms of both the article and the comments. It’s a microcosm of the kind of muddle-headed thinking that often comes up when evolution and religion are discussed together. Here we go:

The article is about a theory advanced by Dan McAdams (a professor of psych specialising in narrative psychology) about public acceptance of evolution is so low in the US. According to McAdams, humans make sense of their lives through narratives. We constructing them about ourselves and also respond to them when others advance them. Evolution may be a wonderful and elegant explanation, but it’s a bad narrative. No purpose, no quest, no protagonists/antagonists. “You can’t really feel anything for this character—natural selection,” McAdams says. Sounds like a great parody on the Onion but he’s serious! And according to this analysis, evolution will always be an uphill battle.

The biblical story of creation, in contrast, couldn’t be richer. Talk about drama! Characters who want things, surprising reversals, heroes, villains, nudity. There’s a reason it outsells On the Origin of Species, and it may be why scientists haven’t had more success at moving the needle of public opinion.

Without denigrating the field of narrative psychology, this is beyond ridiculous. Thankfully the whole article was succinctly demolished in the third comment so I don’t even have to do anything:

Surely the obvious comment is that the US is anomalous among developed (and relatively highly educated) countries in its high level of skepticism about evolution. This argues strongly against explanations grounded in universal human psychology, but supports religious explanations, since the US is also highly anomalous in its level of adherence to Biblical religions.

Of course the other obvious point is that plenty of other scientific theories are just as unnarrative without people having a problem accepting them. Again, a stray commenter’s few sentences are right on target.

Poppycock. Does gravity require a narrative? Do magnets require character development? Do people inquire about agency and plot development before taking medicine? The need for myths and legends may be powerful – but if it excludes the acceptance of science, it’s the culprit not the solution.

It goes on and Michael does a good job of covering the whole topic. It’s interesting stuff from the point of view of storytelling and so on, even if it is vexing. Read it all here.

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A bit of holy word abuse

It’s been a while since I had a nonsensical church sign here, but this one amused me today. In fact, it really confused me – it doesn’t make any sense at all. It doesn’t even rhyme.

Is it an oblique reference to accidental pregnancy? Because, let’s be honest, any of life’s blunders are rarely wonderful.

I don’t even…

Ditmar Awards – you MUST vote

I’ve said this before and I’m going to say it again, but let me start out with a caveat: Yes, I am nominated for a Ditmar Award this year, in the Best New Talent category. Of course I would love your vote and, if you do vote for me, you’re a great person and you have my heartfelt gratitude. You’re also one of the cool kids. But this post is bigger than that, so I just wanted to get that out of the way early.

Here’s the meat of this post:

If you are eligible to vote in the Ditmar Awards, you MUST vote in the Ditmar Awards.

The Ditmars are a popular vote award, which means they’re a popularity contest. While we’d love to think that only the best work gets recognised, and while that certainly is a part of it, it’s naive to think that there are not other factors at play. People voting for their friends, or voting against people they don’t like, or getting together with pals and discussing who they’re going to vote for in order to consolidate their efforts and so on. Yes, it’s a type of corruption, to a degree. But it’s exactly how popular vote awards always have worked and always will. That’s just a simple fact. I know the committee in charge does all they can to make the process as fair and transparent as possible, but the very nature of the beast can’t be changed.

The only way to lessen the impact of that kind of activity and increase the likelihood that the awards are a balanced and fair expression of talent and worth is to have as big a pool of voters as possible so the activities of any dedicated and active few don’t dominate or skew anything. Therefore:

If you are eligible to vote in the Ditmar Awards, you MUST vote in the Ditmar Awards.

EDIT: Following this post I got a couple of messages which basically questioned whether it was directed at anyone or group in particular. It’s not. It’s directed at everyone. Myself included. I’ve chatted with friends about the awards and said, “So, you gonna vote for me then?” *wink, wink* They may or may not vote for me, but that’s potentially corrupting the result. We all talk about the awards, talk about voting and so on. That’s why I said above about how that’s just how popular vote awards work and you can’t change the nature of the beast. You can, by adding your voice, make that beast a lot fairer and a better example of merit. If you did think this was all about you, I can only ask: Narcissist much?

Eligibility to vote comes from being a member of this year’s Continuum convention in June (where the Awards will be given) or being a member of last year’s NatCon, which was SwanCon in Perth.

If you weren’t at SwanCon last year and can’t get to Continuum this year, but you want your voice heard, you can buy a supporting membership of Continuum here: http://continuum.org.au/join/ which entitles you to vote, as per the Ditmar rules. (You also get a copy of the convention handbook, your name printed in the members list (optional) and access to the Continuum members email list.)

Voting is incredibly easy, and the preferred voting method is via the online form. I just made my votes and it took less than five minutes. It’s as simple as filling in your name and email, typing a few numbers in a few boxes and clicking Save. You do that here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2012

Other voting options are:

The official ballot paper, including postal address information, may be downloaded as a PDF format file from: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2012/2012_Ditmar_ballot.pdf

And votes will be accepted via email to: ditmars@sf.org.au

I’ll reprint below the full shortlist, so you can study that and think about what/who to vote for. If you’re not sure about any particular category, just don’t vote in that category, but don’t let that stop you from voting at all. If there’s any category that you have an opinion on, vote in it!

No one can complain about the results of a popular award if they were eligible to vote and didn’t. Only as many voters as possible will give anything like a balanced and fair view in keeping with the broader view of the community and fandom. So, hop to it!

Here’s the full shortlist for all categories:

Best Novel
* The Shattered City (Creature Court 2), Tansy Rayner Roberts (HarperCollins)
* Burn Bright, Marianne de Pierres (Random House Australia)
* Mistification, Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot Books)
* The Courier’s New Bicycle, Kim Westwood (HarperCollins)
* Debris (The Veiled Worlds 1), Jo Anderton (Angry Robot Books)

Best Novella or Novelette
* “The Sleeping and the Dead”, Cat Sparks, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press)
* “Above”, Stephanie Campisi, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)
* “The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt”, Paul Haines, in The Last Days of Kali Yuga (Brimstone Press)
* “And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living”, Deborah Biancotti, in Ishtar (Gilgamesh Press)
* “Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)
* “Below”, Ben Peek, in Above/Below (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Short Story
* “Breaking the Ice”, Thoraiya Dyer, in Cosmos 37
* “Alchemy”, Lucy Sussex, in Thief of Lives (Twelfth Planet Press)
* “The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker”, Martin Livings and Talie Helene, in More Scary Kisses (Ticonderoga Publications)
* “All You Can Do Is Breathe”, Kaaron Warren, in Blood and Other Cravings (Tor)
* “Bad Power”, Deborah Biancotti, in Bad Power (Twelfth Planet Press)
* “The Patrician”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Love and Romanpunk (Twelfth Planet Press)

Best Collected Work
* The Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press)
* Nightsiders by Sue Isle, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
* Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
* Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
* Ishtar, edited by Amanda Pillar and K. V. Taylor (Gilgamesh Press)

Best Artwork
* “Finishing School”, Kathleen Jennings, in Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories (Candlewick Press)
* Cover art, Kathleen Jennings, for The Freedom Maze (Small Beer Press)

Best Fan Writer
* Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work including reviews in Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus! and Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth
* Alexandra Pierce, for body of work including reviews in Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus!, Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth, and Randomly Yours, Alex
* Robin Pen, for “The Ballad of the Unrequited Ditmar”
* Sean Wright, for body of work including “Authors and Social Media” series in Adventures of a Bookonaut
* Bruce Gillespie, for body of work including “The Golden Age of Fanzines is Now”, and SF Commentary 81 & 82

Best Fan Artist
* Rebecca Ing, for work in Scape
* Lisa Rye, for “Steampunk Portal” series
* Dick Jenssen, for body of work including work in IRS, Steam Engine Time, SF Commentary and Scratchpad
* Kathleen Jennings, for work in Errantry (tanaudel.wordpress.com) including “The Dalek Game”
* Rhianna Williams, for work in Nullas Anxietas Convention Programme Book

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium
* SF Commentary, edited by Bruce Gillespie
* The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
* The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
* Galactic Chat, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Sean Wright
* Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Pierce

Best New Talent
* Steve Cameron
* Alan Baxter
* Joanne Anderton

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review
* Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, for “2010: The Year in Review”, in The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010 (Ticonderoga Publications)
* Damien Broderick and Van Ikin, for editing Warriors of the Tao: The Best of Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Literature (Borgo Press)
* David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely for “Reviewing New Who” series, in A Conversational Life
* Alexandra Pierce and Tehani Wessely, for reviews of Vorkosigan Saga, in Randomly Yours, Alex
* Russell Blackford, for “Currently reading: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke”, in Metamagician and the Hellfire Club

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