So the Ditmar Awards have now closed to nominations for another year. I expect the shortlisted finalists will be announced in August. A hearty ‘good onya’ to everyone who nominated and best of luck to everyone who is in contention. I’ll be fascinated to see the composition of this year’s shortlist.

This also concludes my free fiction bonanza-thon. The PDFs of Shards, Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves, and “Chasing Jormungand” have been taken down. Should any of these be shortlisted for the Ditmars, I’ll consider making them available again during the voting period, but until then, ‘ave a good weekend!

Aussie horror author Geoff Brown has just posted a glowing review of Shards.  From Geoff’s insights in the review, he has a good grasp on how flash fiction works and was not sparing in his praise for the stories in Shards, so I tip my hat to you, sir!

The best bit (for me) was this passage:

Shane’s writing is deep and thought-provoking, maintaining a thin veneer of civilisation but hinting at the darkest depths of fear and the human condition. He writes like a surgeon, a good surgeon, operates; with as little as necessary, no waste, no excess. Every word has a place, and there’s a place for every word. The stories work on a bigger level, each leaving you with the feeling that there was a complete tale there, no matter how short. Some writers work shorts like parts of a longer piece, giving you fragments of the story and leaving you to figure out the rest, but Shane gives you totality. You leave his writing feeling dirty, but at least you don’t feel used and left wanting.

Emphasis mine.

Geoff also had good stuff to say about Andrew’s fantabulous illustrations (lavishly accompanying every story in the collection). Of the art, he said:

Each piece sets the mood well for its written counterpart, sometimes complimenting the story, while at other times almost expanding or adding to the tale that follows. McKiernan shows a brilliant sense of what stands out in the mind of a reader and then brings those images to life with a frightening style and ability beyond most artists working today in the smaller presses. If the book was worth getting because of the writing, the artwork contained within is the icing on the cake

You can read the full review at Geoff’s blog.

While the Ditmar Award nomination period is open (until July 23), I’m offering Shards as a free download! Otherwise, you can purchase the book from Brimstone Press (which I urge you to do – you won’t be disappointed!)

Shards is eligible for the Ditmar Awards in the Collected Work and Best Artwork categories.

The first review for Cthulhu’s Dark Cults has been published by Innsmouth Free Press.

The reviewer has mixed feelings about the collection – or more accurately, criticism about the level of depth the stories possess in exploring the nature of the Mythos cults. My novella “Requiem for the Burning God” wasn’t singled out one way or another, although the only mention of my story was a positive one:

Many stories left open-ended conditions easily adapted into scenarios for those playing Call of Cthulhu games, although there are few that would leave most readers with a sense of “Wow, I’ve absolutely GOT to play this out….” Top candidates would include the aftermath of Peter A. Worthy’s “Old Ghost”, Shane Jiraiya Cummings’ South American mining thriller “Requiem For the Burning God” and William Jones’ “Covenant of Darkness”.

It’s a good analytical review. I’m now looking forward to the next reviews when they come out.

There have been some exciting developments on the Aussie horror front today.

First of all, the Australian Shadows Awards are open for business (nicely coinciding with the opening of the Aurealis Awards and nominating period for the Ditmar Awards).

The judging line-up is awesome: Stephanie Gunn and Craig Bezant return for their second year and they are joined by ScaryMinds’ Jeff Ritchie. The guest judges are Chuck McKenzie, Kaaron Warren, and Rocky Wood.

Most significantly, for the first time, the AHWA is offering a prize pool of $750 for the winners ($250 each for the winners of the three categories). It’s an exciting time for Aussie horror!

The other cool piece of news is that zombiephile Chuck McKenzie has created a spin-off review site from HorrorScope dedicated to zombie reviews. NecroScope will feature all zombies, all the time, and should be a fun place to drop into if you like all things undead. Bookmark it now: http://zombiefictionreview.blogspot.com/

Be warned, writers, this is a martial arts-related post (for a change). I’ve been practicing a lot of Chanbara techniques lately, and in particular, my spear and naginata techniques. I know Chanbara is a combat sport rather than a true martial art, but even so, the techniques I’m practicing are direct, practical, and above all, useful!

To give me some pointers, I checked Youtube out tonight, specifically looking for practical naginata techniques. I found some good stuff, and I also found the video below. Bear in mind these guys are the same clowns who have questioned my ninjutsu heritage. If this video is real ninjutsu, then Hanzo Hattori must be turning in his grave! It’s like the art of falling down! FAIL, fellas, FAIL.

PS. Unless you REALLY know what you’re doing, never spin and turn your back to an opponent in a weapon fight (see the line of guys near the end of the video).

PPS. Before any martial arts trawlers drop in to correct me – yes, I’m aware that the weapon Hatsumi is using is a bisento, a heavier anti-cavalry polearm. I know some schools use it as a naginata training aid, but using a cavalry weapon like this just looks ridiculous (particularly when the guy can barely hold the weapon!).

We’ve reached the end of the Ditmar Award posts (finally! some of you say), but I’ll go out with something of a bang.

Ditmar nominations are open until July 23. From now until then, I will be making three of my most significant works of 2009 available as FREE DOWNLOADS.

Yes, that’s right, you can download my work for free for Ditmar Award consideration until July 23.

These works are:

Collected Work (and Best Artwork for Andrew’s illustrations)

Shards (Brimstone Press)

Almost forty short, sharp tales – all illustrated by Andrew J. McKiernan

Described by bestselling author Jonathan Maberry as “a guided tour of the darkest backroads of the imagination … wonderfully moody and creepy” and ScaryMinds’ Jeff Ritchie thusly: “Shane Jiraiya Cummings with Shards shows he is not only a master of the flash fiction style of writing but has pretty much written the definitive statement on how it should work.”

Shards is my debut collection and represents the best of my flash fiction drawn from pro and semi-pro markets such as Shadowed Realms, Dark Wisdom, Horror Literature Quarterly, ASIM, Borderlands, and Shadow Box. Several of the stories therein are award nominees or honourable mentions in Year’s Best anthologies. This collection is the real deal and well worth your attention!

Novella

Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves (Damnation Books)

My best work of fiction published to date, Phoenix is the quintessential Australian post-apocalyptic dark fantasy story.

Stephen M. Irwin said of Phoenix: “Robert E. Howard meets Cormac McCarthy? Lovecraft meets London? Imagine no longer; Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves weaves its own unique magic, binding ancient sorcery and modern apocalypse together on the plains of Western Australia.”

Want to read a story that’s crosses the mythology around bushfires with Stephen King’s The Gunslinger. This is it. Enjoy!

Short Story

Chasing Jormungand (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #38)

What can I say about this story? It’s my first published humorous SF story. It was written at Clarion South. It’s written in second person perspective. Best of all, it’s about rival groups of scientist chasing yawns through Sydney’s subways. Yes, scientists chasing yawns.

You’ll never guess how the protagonist defuses the situation when it turns life threatening. For all its perceived silliness, this is, in fact, a finely crafted story.

Read it and I bet you won’t be able to resist yawning!

♦

So that’s it from me. Here is the business end of things.

1. Any active member of fandom can nominate works (odds are if you’re reading this, you’re good. AHWA members, your membership should be sufficient).

2. Full Ditmar Award rules and categories are here.

3. Nominations can be made via this online form.

4. Nominations close July 23.

Good luck and happy nominating!