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It's Ditmar nomination time. If you've read something Australian that was published in 2010, then this means you have a chance to make your love known. There's an eligibility list here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/2011_Ditmar_eligibility_list but if you know something that's not on it, you can nominate it anyway. Also tell other people about it. Make sure its brilliance is known.
The Ditmars are about fans and it's really important that all fans (not just the usual suspects) get involved and make their voices heard.
The nomination form is here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html If you need someone to vouch for you and you know me (through this blog, through FB, because you heckled me last convention, because you made the mistake of reading one of my novels and emailing me about it) then feel free to use my name. Email me to let me know, though, so that when someone says "What's this about?" I can say "Ha, that [insert name here], they're not only an active member of fandom, they're rabid and should probably be put down." If something else is appropriate, I shall say something else. Not everyone I know is rabid, after all. The Ditmar rules don't say you have to be Australian or live in Australia to nominate works, but you *will* need to have a membership for the NatCon if you want to vote, down the track (fine print here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules )
I've seen all sorts of lists by writers and editors this year, saying "This is my complete list of things eligible." I'm not going to do that to you. Do you know how *much* I wrote last year? Scary amounts! I nearly died, remember? My response to near-death is obviously to write. Other people bungee-jump or climb mountains. This doesn't mean (alas) that all my writing is good.
I'll give you just enough information on my stuff so that you can add me to the list of lists* and then forget about it. The two pieces of which I'm proudest are Baggage (I want every story nominated! I so love those writers.) and the interview I did with James Enge, Joel Shepherd and Kay Kenyon over at Bibliobuffet ( http://www.bibliobuffet.com/bookish-dreaming/archive-index-bookish-dreaming/1402-talking-to-pyr-110710 ). Technically, all my BiblioBuffet work is professional (William Atheling category) and my blog and other reviews and the articles I do for Steam Engine Time and SF Commentary are fan, even though they're mostly critical (so many possible ways of thinking about them as critical - my mind turns to puns). And that's the closest to a list of my work you're getting.
The most interesting Ditmar category this year is Best Novel. Last year, Kaaron Warren's novel was so much the standout that, if it had *not* won, I would have been really upset (even though mine was short-listed). This year there are a whole range of outstanding novels, but I think one single one is going to be harder to pin down. Also, the short stories are just incredible. I counted up to fifty that were worth nominating and then I stopped counting, because it was all too much. What this means is that we all should put in our nominations. The more of us participate, the more it's likely that the right works will emerge from this huge pile of talent.
I have to admit, I rather like it that we have a huge pile of talent, rather than a huge pile of something else. It's rather cool writing spec fic in Australia at this moment in time. Whenever I look, there's someone else emerging... (I wonder if I can persuade someone to let me exploit all this talent and do another anthology, sometime.)
*The list of lists is the list you make so you can tell someone you thought of nominating them. It does not refer to actual nomination. It's important I clarify.
The Ditmars are about fans and it's really important that all fans (not just the usual suspects) get involved and make their voices heard.
The nomination form is here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2011/nominations.html If you need someone to vouch for you and you know me (through this blog, through FB, because you heckled me last convention, because you made the mistake of reading one of my novels and emailing me about it) then feel free to use my name. Email me to let me know, though, so that when someone says "What's this about?" I can say "Ha, that [insert name here], they're not only an active member of fandom, they're rabid and should probably be put down." If something else is appropriate, I shall say something else. Not everyone I know is rabid, after all. The Ditmar rules don't say you have to be Australian or live in Australia to nominate works, but you *will* need to have a membership for the NatCon if you want to vote, down the track (fine print here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules )
I've seen all sorts of lists by writers and editors this year, saying "This is my complete list of things eligible." I'm not going to do that to you. Do you know how *much* I wrote last year? Scary amounts! I nearly died, remember? My response to near-death is obviously to write. Other people bungee-jump or climb mountains. This doesn't mean (alas) that all my writing is good.
I'll give you just enough information on my stuff so that you can add me to the list of lists* and then forget about it. The two pieces of which I'm proudest are Baggage (I want every story nominated! I so love those writers.) and the interview I did with James Enge, Joel Shepherd and Kay Kenyon over at Bibliobuffet ( http://www.bibliobuffet.com/bookish-dreaming/archive-index-bookish-dreaming/1402-talking-to-pyr-110710 ). Technically, all my BiblioBuffet work is professional (William Atheling category) and my blog and other reviews and the articles I do for Steam Engine Time and SF Commentary are fan, even though they're mostly critical (so many possible ways of thinking about them as critical - my mind turns to puns). And that's the closest to a list of my work you're getting.
The most interesting Ditmar category this year is Best Novel. Last year, Kaaron Warren's novel was so much the standout that, if it had *not* won, I would have been really upset (even though mine was short-listed). This year there are a whole range of outstanding novels, but I think one single one is going to be harder to pin down. Also, the short stories are just incredible. I counted up to fifty that were worth nominating and then I stopped counting, because it was all too much. What this means is that we all should put in our nominations. The more of us participate, the more it's likely that the right works will emerge from this huge pile of talent.
I have to admit, I rather like it that we have a huge pile of talent, rather than a huge pile of something else. It's rather cool writing spec fic in Australia at this moment in time. Whenever I look, there's someone else emerging... (I wonder if I can persuade someone to let me exploit all this talent and do another anthology, sometime.)
*The list of lists is the list you make so you can tell someone you thought of nominating them. It does not refer to actual nomination. It's important I clarify.