The Australian Science Fiction Foundation
Encouraging The Appreciation Of Science Fiction In Australia
Join S.T. Joshi in an evening of conversation and discussion on the works of H P Lovecraft and hear a performance by Edward Neeman & Eloise Fisher of Larry Sitsky’s Necronomicon.
Joshi is a leading authority on H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, and other writers, mostly in the realms of supernatural and fantasy fiction.
Continuum 15: Other Worlds is happening in Melbourne over the coming long weekend of June 7 till June 10. Bestselling novelist Kate Elliott and the award-winning writer and translator Ken Liu are this year's Guests of Honour.
ASFF committee members Rose Mitchell, James Allen, and Geoff Allshorn will host "A Brief History of Post-Aussiecon Fandom - the 80s and 90s". The panel will take place in the Barrayar Room on Friday June 7th, from 7pm - 8pm.
There will be a table for the Australian Science Fiction Foundation, shared with the Australian Fan Funds, in the Dealer's Room.
Finally, the ASFF will present the 2019 A. Bertram Chandler Award and 2019 Norma K. Hemming Award during the Continuum Awards/Ditmars ceremony on Saturday 8 June, 2019 at the Jasper Hotel in Melbourne, from 4pm till 6pm. Entry is available through purchasing a Continuum membership or via a Ditmar Awards ticket.
The NAFF is administered by the ASFF to assist fans across Australia to make it to the annual National Australian Convention (Natcon). The winner of this year's NAFF is Stephen Dedman. He will attend Continuum 15, held in Melbourne at the Jasper Hotel from Friday June 7 till Monday 10, 2019.
More information about NAFF winners is available at the NAFF site <http://ozfanfunds.com/?page_id=10>
The 2019 Norma K Hemming Awards will be presented during the Continuum Awards ceremony on Saturday 8 June, 2019.
Continuum is Melbourne’s annual fan run speculative fiction and pop culture convention. In 2019 the convention will be held over the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend in June at Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.
The Awards ceremony will take place at 4pm on Saturday 8 June, in the Magrathea Room at the Jasper Hotel. All Continuum events are ticketed, and you must purchase a membership or event ticket to attend. Full weekend, day membership and individual event tickets are available.
To attend the Awards ceremony only (which also includes the annual Ditmar Awards, the Peter McNamara Award and Chandler Award presentations, in addition to the Norma) costs $20.00 per ticket.
Here they are, the winners of the 2018 Nebula Awards, announced in Los Angeles at the SFWA Awards conference in May 2019. This is yet another recommended reading, and more, list.
WINNER: The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publishing)
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
The Aurealis Awards administrators are seeking expressions of interest from Australian residents who would like to judge for the 2019 Aurealis Awards. Judges are volunteers drawn from the Australian speculative fiction community, from diverse professions and backgrounds, including academics, booksellers, librarians, published authors, publishing industry professionals, reviewers and enthusiasts. The only qualification necessary is a demonstrated knowledge of and interest in their chosen category (good time management skills and an ability to work in a team in an online environment are also essential).
All judges must be willing and able to read digital entries in either mobi or epub format, which we accept in all categories. Graphic Novel entries may also be submitted in PDF. Print is still sometimes sent by entrants but we do not require it.
Panel sizes may vary among categories—and from year to year—depending on the perceived workload required and the availability of judges for a particular category. However, each panel will consist of at least three judges, one of which will be the panel convenor.
The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top ten finalists in each category of the 2019 Locus Awards.
Winners will be announced during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 28-30, 2019; Connie Willis will MC the awards ceremony.
These selections form a good basis for a selected quality SF reading list from the pool of recent books and magazines.
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager US; Hodder & Stoughton)
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress (Tor)
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell (Titan US; Titan UK)
Elysium Fire, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Orbit US)
Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)
Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch (DAW; Gollancz)
Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown; Jo Fletcher)
The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (Tor)
Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com Publishing)
Ahab’s Return, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss (Saga)
The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley (MCD)
The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer (John Joseph Adams)
In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams)
Unlanguage, Michael Cisco (Eraserhead)
We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk)
Coyote Songs, Gabino Iglesias (Broken River)
The Hunger, Alma Katsu (Putnam; Bantam Press UK)
The Outsider, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
The Listener, Robert McCammon (Cemetery Dance)
Cross Her Heart, Sarah Pinborough (HarperCollins UK/Morrow)
The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan UK)
Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren (Omnium Gatherum)
The Aurealis Awards 2018 were announced on May 4 2019 in Melbourne. If nothing else this is a great suggested reading list of great speculative fiction. Every Aussie SF fan is urged to read these books and stories, all published in 2018:
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
The Endsister, Penni Russon (Allen & Unwin)
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
Tales from The Inner City, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“The Sea-Maker of Darmid Bay”, Shauna O’Meara (Interzone #277, TTA Press)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Sub-Urban”, Alfie Simpson (Breach #07)
BEST HORROR NOVELLA
Crisis Apparition, Kaaron Warren (Dark Moon Books)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“The Further Shore”, J Ashley Smith (Bourbon Penn #15)
BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“The Staff in the Stone”, Garth Nix (The Book of Magic, Penguin Random House)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“The Astronaut”, Jen White (Aurealis)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
Icefall, Stephanie Gunn (Twelfth Planet Press)
BEST COLLECTION
Tales from The Inner City, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Jonathan Strahan (Solaris)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Catching Teller Crow, Ambelin Kwaymullina & Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Allen & Unwin)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren (Omnium Gatherum)
BEST FANTASY NOVEL – TIE
City of Lies, Sam Hawke (Penguin Random House)
The Witch Who Courted Death, Maria Lewis (Hachette Australia)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Lifel1k3, Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
THE SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD
Blackthorn & Grim [Dreamer’s Pool (2014), Tower of Thorns (2015), Den of Wolves (2016)], Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
CONVENORS’ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE – TIE
Cat Sparks, The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction (PhD exegesis, Curtin University)
Kim Wilkins, Lisa Fletcher, and Beth Driscoll, Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction in the 21st Century (http://www.genreworlds.com/)
For more information including shortlists, please visit the Aurealis Awards Pages online.