Insert Title Here is an unthemed anthology with a swag of dark stories, including work by Joanne Anderton, Robert Hood, Marienne de Pierres, Dan Rabarts, Sara Larner, Matthew Morrison, Thoraiya Dyer and Daniel Simpson.

The launch is penciled in for 10am on Saturday the 4th of April, but keep an eye on the publisher’s or Swancon’s websites for confirmation closer to the event.

Swancon is Western Australia’s annual speculative fiction convention “that is invested in all kinds of media. You will find panels and discussion about games, film, literature, and graphic novels. If you are interested in science fiction or fantasy of almost any flavour, we will have something for you.”

Swancon 40 runs from 2-6 April, 2015, in Perth, and this year will be celebrating 40 years.

A farmer is confronted by two desperadoes;
A tourist does her terrible best to evade a tracker and his dog;
A teenager discards his civilised mask inside a lonely roadhouse.

This collection of 28 short stories propels the reader through a kaleidoscope of Australian lowlife. In a range of styles, from dirty realism to noir, Deborah Sheldon pens the kind of fiction that is tough enough to shock, yet tender enough to hurt. An exploration of what it means to be human in the face of brutality, Mayhem: Selected Stories, is perfect reading for pulp novices and crime aficionados alike.

Praise for Deborah Sheldon:

“[This is] short fiction told masterfully. Sheldon’s stories have that rare ability to speak volumes between each word. There are pieces of life’s puzzles the reader must complete, wonderfully unsettling strips of humanity that linger in the mind long after closing the book.” – Craig Bezant, Dark Prints Press

“Deborah Sheldon explores the rich vein of violence that runs through Australian society… The merely disconcerting and the deadly are juxtaposed and those who don’t know the difference, pay the price.” – Antonia Hildebrand, Polestar Writers’ Journal

“Sheldon specialises in the little moments that reveal the chaos and terror beneath.” – Elizabeth Rutherford-Johnson, The Short Review (UK)

A bit about the book, in Deborah’s words… 

Mayhem: selected stories comprises 28 of my crime and dark-themed short stories. Most were originally published by magazines such as Island, Crime Factory, [untitled], Tincture Journal, and Shotgun Honey. Every story nagged at me to be written. A line of dialogue, an opening sentence, a plot point, a thematic arc – something in each piece compelled me to work on it. Personally, I love the short story form. I buy and devour plenty of short story collections every year; my bookshelves are laden with them.

My favourite character is always the protagonist of the story I’m currently writing. By that rationale, I have 28 favourite characters in ‘Mayhem: Selected Stories’. My job was to tell each of their stories as honestly as possible.

Mayhem: selected stories is now available direct from the publishers, Satalyte Publishing (soon available everywhere).

The successful Pozible crowd-funding campaign for Cranky Ladies began on March 1 and ran until March 31, coinciding with Women’s History Month.

The anthology examines or celebrates real cranky* ladies from history, with stories from a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities, and time periods. The anthology is around 125,000 words in total, with original cover art by Kathleen Jennings.

*The definition of “cranky” is rather broad, and stems somewhat more from a tendency to buck societal standards of the era than a true inherent crankiness.

Table of Contents:

See FableCroft Publishing for more details.

Robert Hood is a highly respected, award-winning author, considered by many to be one of Australia’s grand masters of horror and weird fiction. Though over his 40-year career (to date) he has published speculative fiction of all kinds, he has notably produced 43 short stories that feature ghosts, hauntings and spectral horrors. These memorable tales display his ability to make the fantastic real, to embrace weirdness, and create human characters whose inner and outer lives, haunted by mortality, are laid bare and revealed to be our own worst nightmares. Ranging from melancholy reflections on life and death, through disquieting tales of dark humour and vengeance, to chilling visions of ghostly apocalypse, Hood’s stories are sure to draw you into a terrifying world that in the end is revealed to be irrefutably our own.

Peripheral Visions is a one-of-a-kind reference collection that includes all of Hood’s 43 ghost stories to date, three of them especially written for this volume.

“Rob Hood is Australia’s master of dark fantasy, seducing the reader with stories that are lavishly grim and rife with a quirky, unpredictable inventiveness.” (Sean Williams)

“Rob Hood is so good at what he does, he’ll have you believing in ghosts by the end of the first story in this brilliant collection.” (Kaaron Warren)

Peripheral Visions is a large volume of work, with a word count over 220k. In trade paperback format it will be published in two volumes, spaced over a month. Here is the appearance of the two covers, when laid side-by-side.

A single volume hardcover edition will also be published, with internal illustrations by Nick Stathopoulos. The exciting part of this publishing effort is a signed, limited hardcover edition, which can be pre-ordered now. There are only 200 limited edition copies available (numbered), each of which includes a Nick Stathopoulos-designed signature page, and a bonus ‘chap-ebook’ containing several zombie stories, titled Haunted Flesh: Stories of the Living Dead. These editions will disappear quickly, so we recommend interested readers pre-order now. IFWG Publishing Australia will not be repeating this offer.

The offer:

• Hardcover Book: 6.14″ x 9.21″ (156mm x 234mm), creme paper, plain cloth binding with spine imprint, and matt cover sleeve.
• 43 stories: a mix of short stories, novelettes and a novella. Over 220k words of fiction, spanning the period 1986 to present. Three stories, including the novella, are new, published for the first time here.
• The book will also contain extensive notes on all stories, and a table that registers the complete publishing history of each story, including all reprints, and any awards or short listing for awards.
• An introduction by World Fantasy Awards winner, Danel Olson.
• The book is divided into six categories of ghost stories:
  • Haunted Places
  • Haunted Families
  • Haunted Minds
  • Haunted Youth
  • Haunted Vengeance
  • Haunted Realities
• Each category of the book will include an illustration by Nick Stathopoulos, as well as a frontispiece.
• Each book will have a signature page (also illustrated/designed by Nick Stathopoulos), signed by Robert Hood, and numbered from 1 to 200. The sequence number provided will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. There will never be any other signed limited editions produced for sale, beyond this 200.
• Each purchaser will also get, as an added bonus, a chap-ebook titled Haunted Flesh: Stories of the Living Dead, containing several zombie stories, totalling to approximately 20k in word count.

Orders:

From Out of the Dark is a SF/H anthology set in the gap between galaxies, in the immense darkness of space with all the frightening aspects and contemplation billions of light years of unseeable entities can bring.

A collection of 10 short stories by 10 unique writers, including Tony Shillitoe, Gene Stewart and Gregory L. Norris. Some stories travel the same road, some not so close, some are classic space opera and some are strangely different. But these are not just first encounters. This is not horror added the SF or SF added to horror by slight of hand. These are journeys into places we cannot and will never imagine outside of telescopes and maths.

Edited by Robert N Stephenson (Altair Australia Publishing), an award winning author of novels and non fiction/fiction collections, with over 100 short stories published across the world. As an editor, Robert has edited over 30 full length novels, as well as Altair Magazine for 3 years, and other anthologies in SF and Horror.

The current rules, including Award categories can be found HERE.

You must include your name with any nomination. Nominations will be accepted only from natural persons active in fandom, or from full or supporting members of Swancon 40, the 2015 Australian National SF Convention. Where a nominator may not be known to the Ditmar subcommittee, the nominator should provide the name of someone known to the subcommittee who can vouch for the nominator’s eligibility. Convention attendance or membership of an SF club are among the criteria which qualify a person as “active in fandom”, but are not the only qualifying criteria. If in doubt, nominate and mention your qualifying criteria. If you received this email directly, you almost certainly qualify.

You may nominate as many times in as many Award categories as you like, although you may only nominate a particular person, work or achievement once. The Ditmar subcommittee, which is organised under the auspices the Standing Committee of the Natcon Business Meeting, will rule on situations where eligibility is unclear. A partial and unofficial eligibility list, to which everyone is encouraged to add, can be found HERE.

While online nominations are preferred, nominations can be made in a number of ways:

1. online, via this form.

2. via email to ditmars [@] sf.org.au; or

3. by post to:
Ditmars
6 Florence Road
NEDLANDS WA 6009
AUSTRALIA

In keeping with the Notions Unlimited Bookshop philosophy of building Community – both around the shop itself, and putting our customers in touch with the wider Australian genre community – we’re looking at holding a Genre Community Open Day at some point over the next month or so, where our customers can meet with people representing genre-themed products, businesses and events, and learn more about what going on out there.

So: if you’re involved with organising an upcoming sci-fi convention, or are in the process of marketing a short horror film, or publish fantasy fiction, or are making and selling dragon figurines in your spare time, we want to hear from you! Once we have an idea of numbers of potential exhibitors, we’ll be able to let people know about dates, times and costs*.

Contact Chuck at info@notionsunlimitedbookshop or on (03) 9773-1102.

* Costs are likely to be minimal, with a token amount payable by exhibitors to cover hire of tables for the day, etc. Full details will be made available asap.

$30,000 FELLOWSHIP TO SUPPORT NSW WRITERS

Minister for the Arts, George Souris, today called on NSW-based writers to apply for the 2014 NSW Writer’s Fellowship, worth $30,000.

Mr Souris said the fellowship would support a program of professional development for established or mid-career professional writers of fiction, literary non-fiction, children’s and young adult literature, poetry, scripts for performance, literary digital and new media work, and graphic novels.

“This fellowship is being offered as part of the NSW Government’s ongoing support for the professional growth of NSW-based writers,” Mr Souris said.

“The fellowship will provide the writer with new opportunities to progress in their writing career. The money can be used to support national and international travel, mentorships, internships, residencies, short-term workshops, courses and training, research and the creation of new work.

“This is an exciting opportunity for NSW’s talented writers. I particularly encourage writers living in regional communities to apply for the fellowship.”

Mr Souris said the fellowship winner will also have the opportunity to participate in one of two residencies on offer from the State Library of NSW and the City of Sydney.

“The State Library of NSW is offering a residency for up to 12 months including a dedicated desk in the Fellow’s Room, as well as introductions to the Library’s collections experts to assist in their research. The writer will undertake a public engagement about their work during or after the residency, and contribute an article to the Library’s SL Magazine on an aspect of their project.“

The City of Sydney is offering a residency for up to 12 months including studio space and access to places to work in its extensive library network. As part of this residency the writer will undertake a public engagement, such as a talk, reading, question and answer session, workshop or blog.”

The 2014 NSW Writer’s Fellowship is offered by Arts NSW. Applications close on Monday, March 17, 2014. An independent peer assessment panel will assess the applications. The winner of the fellowship will be announced in May 2014.

Further information on the Fellowship can be found at www.arts.nsw.gov.au

Media contact:Hugh Cavill 0408 235 997

Every year, the NSW Readers Advisory Working Group in collaboration with the State Library of New South Wales runs a seminar on a different literary genre, as part of their Public Library Services. These events are attended by librarians from all parts of New South Wales. They aim to enhance their ability to advise and assist readers who are interested in that kind of fiction.

This year, it’s horror, and attendees have been asked to read at least one horror story, with suggestions encompassing the classics as well as more recent works by Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman and Kelly Link. “I was surprised to find that I’d already read more horror than I’d thought,” says co-coordinator Ellen Forsyth.

The State Library has liaised with the Australian Horror Writer’s Association to provide an intriguingly varied program. Kaaron Warren, multi-award-winning author of the likes of Slights and The Grinding House will prove that horror writers are quite nice people really, with serious things to say about the world. Author, actor and long-time State library member Kyla Lee Ward will discuss how libraries and horror writers can assist each other, and the work of the AHWA and its American counterpart.

With local stalwart Keith Whelan presenting on writing horror and Becky Siegel (author of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror) skyping in from Illinois, this promises to be a lively and surprising day, with the potential to create ongoing links between writers and what is now more than ever, the vital gateway of the library.

Horror at the Metcalfe
Public Library Services
Wednesday, 12 March 2014 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM (EST)
Sydney, NSW

Attendance is limited to professional librarians, but AHWA members interested in putting themselves forward for library visits are asked to contact Kyla on kylaw [@] tabula-rasa.info

When: FRIDAY, 30 MAY 2014
Venue: City of Greater Dandenong Civic Centre and Library,
225 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong,
Victoria

Speakers include Kevin Burgemeestre, Gary Crew, Meredith Costain, Tom Danby, Leigh Hobbs, Tristan Bancks, and Deborah Abela.

Features of the day include specialist bookstalls, lively discussions and debates, lucky door prizes, networking opportunities with like-minded colleagues, 10% discount vouchers valid for all of 2014 from INT BOOKS, and much more.

Registration forms and further information can be found at: http://www.fordstreetpublishing.com/cnet/images/stories/downloads/keeping-books-alive-2014.pdf