A Bunch of News

I don't usually do news posts (because I honestly don't have time to) but a few exciting and noteworthy things have all come to my attention at once.

Glenda Larke's Havenstar, which was first published in 1999 and then quickly went out of print when the publisher folded, was re-released as an ebook late last year — link to SmashWords. Now Havenstar is being re-released in dead tree form as well! Here's the announcement on Glenda's blog and the full story of its initial publication.

New ebook cover

      

New print cover

The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild releases an anthology of short stories by Australian writers (not necessarily Canberrans) every year. For the first time, they are going to release one in ebook form, with the rest to follow. The first anthology that's been ebookified is Winds of Change, coincidentally the one with one of my stories in it ("Time Capsule"). Read more here. I have it on good authority that they're currently in the process of ebookifying more of their catalogue.

The next bit of news I actually stumbled across accidentally, when Tehani of FableCroft uploaded a new cover to Goodreads. Tansy Rayner Roberts's Mocklore Chronicles are going to be re-released by FableCroft! Interestingly, this is another two books which went out of print when the publisher folded. Splashdance Silver was first published in 1998 and has just come out from FableCroft, Liquid Gold, the second book, was originally published in 1999 and will be coming soon and the third book, Ink Black Magic, will be published for the first time after that. I have a copy of Spashdance Silver, which I read, er, around ten years ago, when I was in high school. I honestly don't remember if I ever got the chance to read Liquid Gold. I have a clear memory of my friend obtaining a copy from a seconds sale (hey, it was well out of print by then) and then later losing it in storage but I can't remember if she had the chance to lend it to me in between. Anyway, Tansy included a variety of where to buy links on her announcement blog.

I think that the best thing about the ebook revolution is the opportunity to easily make out of print books available again. Especially when the reason they went out of print had nothing to do with their individual sales records.

And finally, it seems that awards season is well and truly upon us and Ditmar nominations are open. Tehani has a summary of the process on her blog. But the short version is you can nominate if you're an attending or supporting member of this year's NatCon (Conflux 9) or if you're active in fandom. Here is the official page.

It turns out that I'm actually eligible for a few Ditmars this year, much to my vague surprise. If you would like to nominate me (for example for the reviews on this blog), I've listed my eligible things below. And if you're looking for inspiration regarding what books to nominate, I've reviewed several eligible novels and collections.

Ditmars I'm eligible for:

Short Stories
Story name links to the page where you can read that story online. "Chosen" and "Red Rover" are only flash fiction (<1000 words) but "Addiction" is a bit more substantial.

• “Chosen”, The Lorelai Signal, July-Sept 2012 Issue
• “Addiction”, Comets and Criminals, Issue #3, June 2012
• “Red Rover”, Infinitas Newsletter, January 2012 edition

Fan Writer

Tsana Dolichva, for body of work including reviews in Tsana's Reads and Reviews (ie all my 2012 reviews)

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

Any review from 2012... there are 119 to choose from. You can pick your favourite from my index page where I've marked the more recent 2013 reviews with * to more easily distinguish the eligible 2012 reviews.

Works I've reviewed that are eligible for Ditmars themselves:

Novels:

• And All the Stars by Andrea K Höst
• A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
• Hal Spacejock: Baker's Dough by Simon Haynes  
• Beneath a Rising Moon by Keri Arthur
• Besieged by Rowena Cory Daniells
• Bridge of Swords by Duncan Lay
• Coyote by Rhonda Roberts
• Exile by Rowena Cory Daniells 
• The Dark Divide by Jennifer Fallon
• Hoodwink by Rhonda Roberts
• Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts
• Sanctuary by Rowena Cory Daniells
• Shifting Reality by Patty Jansen 
• Shine Light by Marianne de Pierres
• The Corpse Rat King by Lee Battersby
• The Interrogation of Ashayla Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina
• The Traitor Queen by Trudi Canavan
• Walking Shadows by Narrelle M Harris 
• Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier    
• The Price of Fame by RC Daniells

Novellas/Novelettes (not listing the ones in the collections below separately though):

• Salvage by Jason Nahrung
• The King's Man by Rowena Cory Daniells 
• Hal Junior: The Missing Case by Simon Haynes  

Skipping short stories because they're all contained within the collections below...

Collected works:

• Crackescape by Margo Lanagan 
• Showtime by Narrelle M Harris
• Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren

Although I probably skipped some things because at this stage of staring at lists my eyes are starting to glaze over.