Review of ‘The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2012’ in Black Static #39

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Peter Tennant reviewed a significant amount of Australian horror in the latest edition of UK-based magazine Black Static (TTA Press); he kindly gave a very detailed story-by-story review of The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2012.

As an overview of the volume, he said the following:

“One of the things that always strikes me about the Australian genre scene is how prevalent women writers and editors appear to be … that strong female presence is reflected both in the makeup of this feature, with six of the eight books under consideration either written or edited by women, and the contents of THE YEAR’S BEST AUSTRALIAN FANTASY & HORROR 2012 (Ticonderoga Publications paperback, 488pp, £16.99), with twenty of the thirty four pieces it contains coming with a female by-line.

The book appears to follow a similar format to the Datlow/Windling helmed Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror of several years back. It opens with the editors, Liz Grzyb (Fantasy) and Talie Helene (Horror), giving an overview of the year in genre from an Australian perspective, then continues with a brief necrology and a tribute to the writer Paul Haines by Cat Sparks. It ends with contributors’ notes, a recommended reading list and a roundup of the various awards within the community. Sandwiched between those two slices of reality is the fiction, and a very substantial filling it is indeed … that demonstrates the genres of Horror and Fantasy are in good health on the other side of the world.

Another thing that strikes me about the Australian scene is that there is more overlap between the genres, with writers happy to flit between Horror and Fantasy, avoiding the kind of labelling and pigeonholing that passes for the norm elsewhere.”

For the full review, and many other excellent reviews, interviews, and fiction, purchase your copy of Black Static #39 from TTA Press; also available from selected newsstands and booksellers, in the UK and internationally.

 

Black Static #39 includes a review of:
The Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror Volume 3Title : The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2012

Format : Hardback Book (ISBN 978-1921857485) RRP AU $55.00

Format : Trade Paperback (ISBN 978-1921857492) RRP AU $35.00

  • Finalist – the Aurealis Award for Best Anthology

 

‘The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2012’ is a Finalist in the Aurealis Awards

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2013 Aurealis Awards finalists announced

After a record number of entries, the finalists for the 2013 Aurealis Awards have been announced. Read the press release announcing the finalists.

The Aurealis Awards are Australia’s premier speculative fiction awards. Winners of the 2013 Aurealis Awards and the Peter McNamara Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony, on the evening of Saturday 5 April 2014 at the Great Hall, University House, Australian National University, Canberra.

Doors open at 7pm for a reception, and the ceremony begins at 8pm.

Booking Details at www.aurealisawards.com

The 2013 Aurealis Awards Finalists

BEST ILLUSTRATED BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL

  • Savage Bitch by Steve Carter and Antoinette Rydyr (Scar Studios)
  • Mr Unpronounceable Adventures by Tim Molloy (Milk Shadow Books)
  • Burger Force by Jackie Ryan (self-­‐published)
  • Peaceful Tomorrows Volume Two by Shane W Smith (Zetabella Publishing)
  • The Deep Vol. 2: The Vanishing Island by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer (Gestalt Publishing)

BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK

  • Kingdom of the Lost, book 2: Cloud Road by Isobelle Carmody (Penguin Group Australia)
  • Refuge by Jackie French (Harper Collins)
  • Song for a scarlet runner by Julie Hunt (Allen & Unwin)
  • The four seasons of Lucy McKenzie by Kirsty Murray (Allen & Unwin)
  • Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan (Hachette Australia)
  • Ice Breaker: The Hidden 1 by Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORTFICTION

  • ‘Mah Song’ by Joanne Anderton (The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories, FableCroft Publishing)
  • ‘By Bone-­‐light’ by Juliet Marillier (Prickle Moon, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • ‘Morning Star’ by D.K. Mok (One Small Step, an anthology of discoveries, FableCroft Publishing)
  • ‘The Year of Ancient Ghosts’ by Kim Wilkins (The Year of Ancient Ghosts, Ticonderoga Publications)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

  • The Big Dry by Tony Davies (Harper Collins)
  • Hunting by Andrea Host (self-­‐published)
  • These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
  • Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near (Random House Australia)
  • The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn (University of Queensland Press)

BEST HORROR SHORT FICTION

  • ‘Fencelines’ by Joanne Anderton (The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories, FableCroft Publishing)
  • ‘The Sleepover’ by Terry Dowling (Exotic Gothic 5, PS Publishing)
  • ‘The Home for Broken Dolls’ by Kirstyn McDermott (Caution: Contains Small Parts, Twelfth Planet Press)
  • ‘The Human Moth’ by Kaaron Warren (The Grimscribe’s Puppets, Miskatonic Press)
  • ‘The Year of Ancient Ghosts’ by Kim Wilkins (The Year of Ancient Ghosts, Ticonderoga Publications)

BEST HORROR NOVEL

  • The Marching Dead by Lee Battersby (Angry Robot Books)
  • The First Bird by Greig Beck (Momentum)
  • Path of Night by Dirk Flinthart (FableCroft Publishing)
  • Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near (Random House Australia)

BEST FANTASY SHORT FICTION

  • ‘The Last Stormdancer’ by Jay Kristoff (Thomas Dunne Books)
  • ‘The Touch of the Taniwha’ by Tracie McBride (Fish, Dagan Books)
  • ‘Cold, Cold War’ by Ian McHugh (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Scott H Andrews)
  • ‘ShortCircuit’ by Kirstie Olley (Oomph: a little super goes a long way, Crossed Genres)
  • ‘The Year of Ancient Ghosts’ by Kim Wilkins (The Year of Ancient Ghosts, Ticonderoga Publications)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL

  • Lexicon by Max Barry (Hachette Australia)
  • A Crucible of Souls by Mitchell Hogan (self-­‐published)
  • These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Allen & Unwin)
  • Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix (Jill Grinberg Literary Management)
  • Ink Black Magic by Tansy Rayner Roberts (FableCroft Publishing)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT FICTION

  • ‘The Last Tiger’ by Joanne Anderton (Daily Science Fiction)
  • ‘Mah Song’ by Joanne Anderton (The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories, FableCroft Publishing)
  • ‘Seven Days in Paris’ by Thoraiya Dyer (Asymmetry, Twelfth Planet Press)
  • ‘Version 4.3.0.1’ by Lucy Stone (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #57)
  • ‘Air, Water and the Grove’ by Kaaron Warren (The Lowest Heaven, Pandemonium Press)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

  • Lexicon by Max Barry (Hachette)
  • Trucksong by Andrew Macrae (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • A Wrong Turn At The Office Of Unmade Lists by Jane Rawson (Transit Lounge)
  • True Path by Graham Storrs (Momentum)
  • Rupetta by Nike Sulway (Tartarus Press)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

  • The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2012 by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Eds), (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • One Small Step, An Anthology Of Discoveries by Tehani Wessely (Ed) (FableCroft Publishing)
  • Dreaming Of Djinn by Liz Grzyb (Ed) (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year: Volume Seven by Jonathan Strahan (Ed) (NightShade Books)
  • Focus 2012: Highlights Of Australian Short Fiction by Tehani Wessely (Ed) (FableCroft Publishing)

BEST COLLECTION

  • The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories by Joanne Anderton (FableCroft Publishing)
  • Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • Caution: Contains Small Parts by Kirstyn McDermott (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • The Bride Price by Cat Sparks (Ticonderoga Publications)
  • The Year of Ancient Ghosts by Kim Wilkins (Ticonderoga Publications)