Ditmar Awards Shortlist Announced

Wow, it really is awards season, isn't it? Now we have the Ditmar Awards ballot announcement. You can read the official page here which also includes voting instructions. Don't forget to vote if you're eligible!

The full list is copied below with links to my reviews where they exist and some light commentary.
 
 
Best Novel

• Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
• Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth (Random House Australia)
• Suited (The Veiled Worlds 2), Jo Anderton (Angry Robot)
• Salvage, Jason Nahrung (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Perfections, Kirstyn McDermott (Xoum)
• The Corpse-Rat King, Lee Battersby (Angry Robot)

I see I'm going to have to read both Perfections and Sea Hearts (which I already own) before voting. Ay. Too many books, too little time.

Best Novella or Novelette

• “Flight 404”, Simon Petrie, in Flight 404/The Hunt for Red Leicester (Peggy Bright Books)
• “Significant Dust”, Margo Lanagan, in Cracklescape (Twelfth Planet Press)
• “Sky”, Kaaron Warren, in Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press) 

Yay, a category where I've read all the stories.

Best Short Story

• “Sanaa’s Army”, Joanne Anderton, in Bloodstones (Ticonderoga Publications)
• “The Wisdom of Ants”, Thoraiya Dyer, in Clarkesworld 75
• “The Bone Chime Song”, Joanne Anderton, in Light Touch Paper Stand Clear (Peggy Bright Books)
• “Oracle’s Tower”, Faith Mudge, in To Spin a Darker Stair (FableCroft Publishing) 

Unfortunately I haven't read any of these yet, but I have a review copy of Jo Anderton's The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories waiting for me, which contains both of her stories and Thoraiya Dyer's story is free to read on Clarksworld's website (in both audio and text forms) so at least I can knock some of these over before voting.

Best Collected Work

• Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Epilogue, edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)
• Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
• Light Touch Paper Stand Clear, edited by Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie (Peggy Bright Books)
• Midnight and Moonshine by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter, edited by Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications)
• The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

Best Artwork

• Cover art, Nick Stathopoulos, for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56 (ASIM Collective)
• Cover art, Kathleen Jennings, for Midnight and Moonshine (Ticonderoga Publications)
• Illustrations, Adam Browne, for Pyrotechnicon (Coeur de Lion Publishing)
• Cover art and illustrations, Kathleen Jennings, for To Spin a Darker Stair (FableCroft Publishing)
• Cover art, Les Petersen, for Light Touch Paper Stand Clear (Peggy Bright Books)

Best Fan Writer

• Alex Pierce, for body of work including reviews in Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work including reviews in Not If You Were The Last Short Story On Earth
• Grant Watson, for body of work including the “Who50” series in The Angriest
• Sean Wright, for body of work including reviews in Adventures of a Bookonaut

Best Fan Artist

• Kathleen Jennings, for body of work including “The Dalek Game” and “The Tamsyn Webb Sketchbook”

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

• The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
• Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Pierce
• Antipodean SF, Ion Newcombe
• The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
• Snapshot 2012, Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge, David McDonald, Helen Merrick, Ian Mond, Jason Nahrung et. al.
• Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, et. al.
• Galactic Chat, Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Sean Wright

Best New Talent

• David McDonald
• Faith Mudge
• Steve Cameron
• Stacey Larner

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

• Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge, David McDonald, and Tehani Wessely, for review of Mira Grant’s Newsflesh, in ASIF
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, for “Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy. Let's Unpack That.”, in tor.com
• David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Tehani Wessely, for the “New Who in Conversation” series
• Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, for “The Year in Review”, in The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011
• Rjurik Davidson, for “An Illusion in the Game for Survival”, a review of Reamde by Neal Stephenson, in The Age