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.

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!

I’ve posted a bunch of stuff over the last few weeks about my recommendations for this year’s Ditmar Awards, so to make it easy for the casual browser, I’ve compiled my recommendations and the links to the original posts (which explain in greater detail my choices and offer some extra information) right here.

So in summary, I’ve given the thumbs up to:

Novels

• The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin (Hachette Australia)
• Shadow Queen by Deborah Kalin (Allen & Unwin)
• Worldshaker by Richard Harland (Allen & Unwin)
• Slights by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot)

Novelette/Novella

• “The Message” by Andrew J. McKiernan (Midnight Echo #2, AHWA)
• Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Damnation Books)
• After the World: Gravesend by Jason Fischer (Black House)

Short Story

• “Shadow of Drought” by Joanne Anderton (Midnight Echo #2)
• “Six Suicides” by Deborah Biancotti (A Book of Endings)
• “Black Water” by David Conyers (Jupiter #24)
• “Losing Tahlia” by Jason Crowe (Midnight Echo #2)
• “Chasing Jormungand” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (ASIM #38)
• “Wrack” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Shards)
• “for want of a jesusman” by Jason Fischer (Aurealis #42)
• “Behind Dark Blue Eyes” by Robert Hood (Exotic Gothic 3)
• “The Dumbshow” by Andrew J. McKiernan (Masques)
• “A Tour in the City of Assassins” by Kyla Ward (Ticon4)
• “The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall” by Kaaron Warren (Exotic Gothic 3)
• “Black Peter” by Marty Young (Festive Fear)

Collected Work

• Shards by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press)
• Midnight Echo #2, edited by Angela Challis & Shane Jiraiya Cummings (AHWA)
• Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror Volume 3, edited by Angela Challis (Brimstone Press) **
• Slice of Life by Paul Haines (The Mayne Press)
• Festive Fear, edited by Stephen Clark (Tasmaniac Publications)
• Grants Pass, edited by Amanda Pillar & Jennifer Brozek (Morrigan Books)
• Eclecticism, edited by Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press)

** A bit of trivia: none of the Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror anthology series has ever been nominated for any Australian awards. Volume 3, published in 2009, was the last.

Artwork

• Andrew J. McKiernan (for Shards illustrations)

Fan Artist

• Dave Schembri (for Midnight Echo)

Fan Publication

• HorrorScope, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings et al.
• ScaryMinds, edited by Jeff Ritchie [a late new entry!]
• A Writer Goes on a Journey, edited by Nyssa Pascoe
• Specusphere, edited by Stephen Thompson
• Studies in Australian Weird Fiction, edited by Benjamin Szumskyj

Fan Writer

• Talie Helene (HorrorScope)
• Chuck McKenzie (Horrorscope)
• Shane Jiraiya Cummings (HorrorScope)
• Stephanie Gunn (HorrorScope)
• Craig Bezant (Horrorscope)
• Matthew Tait (HorrorScope)
• Tony Owens (HorrorScope)
• Troy King (HorrorScope)
• Mark Smith-Briggs (Horrorscope)
• Brenton Tomlinson (Horrorscope)
• Robert Hood (Horrorscope and Undead Backbrain)
• Juliet Bathory (Sinister Reads)
• Satima Flavell (Specusphere)

Achievement

• Angela Challis for the Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror series  [a late new entry]
• Marty Young for his five years work as President (and founder) of the Australian Horror Writers Association.
• Talie Helene for her work as AHWA News Editor.
• Juliet Bathory for Sinister Reads.

William Atheling Jr Award

• “The Dead Walk! … Into a Bookstore Near You” by Chuck McKenzie (Eye of Fire #1, August 2009, Brimstone Press)

New Talent

• Stephen M. Irwin
• H. M. Brown
• Greig Beck
• Deborah Kalin
• Jason Crowe
• Pete Kempshall
• Christopher Green

I have one more Ditmar post left in me. It will be about my own work and its place in the Aussie spec fic landscape from last year. There may well be some freebies attached to that post, but this is to be confirmed. Stay tuned!

At first, I didn’t think I could come up with a good set of new talent recommendations, primarily because I read less short fiction last year. However, when I put my mind back to some of the great debut novels from last year, everything fell into place.

The ‘new talents’ I’ll put forward are:

• Stephen M. Irwin (author of The Dead Path, shortlisted for the Australian Shadows Award and Aurealis Award). Irwin is my pick for this category. The Dead Path is an awesome debut horror novel and has been picked up by enthusiastic publishers in the UK and USA, making him a global threat (but in a cool kind of way).
• H. M. Brown (author of Red Queen, winner of the Aurealis Award for horror novel). Another strong debut novelist with a bright future ahead (and her second book, The Good Daughter is out this month but it appears to have more of a YA/lit slant rather than spec fic).
• Greig Beck (author of Beneath the Dark Ice and Return of the Prophet). Greg flew under my radar somewhat in 2009, but he’s now released two supernaturalish action thriller (in the Matthew Reilly vein) and is definitely a guy to watch.
• Deborah Kalin (author of Shadow Queen and Shadow Bound). Deb’s debut fantasy novel in early 2009 was a promising effort, and she has some good credits amongst her handful of published stories (Shadowed Realms, Postscripts). Definitely a rising star!
• Jason Crowe. Jason caught my attention with a gritty, surreal story in Midnight Echo #2 (“Losing Tahlia”). It’s a rare Australian story set in a beachside suburb, and blends dark magic, sacrifice, and surfie culture seamlessly. Jason has followed up with stories in Midnight Echo #3 and #4, ASIM, and pro-zine Shroud.
• Pete Kempshall. The other short story writer on my list. The first story I read of Pete’s was his creepy crime thriller in Voices. Since then, Pete’s kicked on with several stories sold to publishers such as Apex Publications, Morrigan Books, and Twelfth Planet Press. He’s also debuted as an editor with Morrigan, co-editing Scenes from the Second Storey with Amanda Pillar.
• Christopher Green – a belated entry (see the comments) but certainly worthy. Chris has racked up a few Aurealis Award and Australian Shadows Award nominations in short order and is deserving of your consideration.

Several members of the AHWA crit groups appear to be doing well, but I haven’t read much of their work (yet). For their feats, check out the AHWA crit group page. The most prolific writers of these groups are:

• Mark Farrugia
• Amanda Spedding
• Alan Baxter

Any other suggestions on awesome new talents are very welcome!

So that’s it from me. I’m going to summarise my Ditmar posts this weekend as a convenient guide for any interested parties. Keep an eye out for it soon!

Two posts in one here, namely because I don’t have enough recommendations to fill two separate posts!

The Best Achievement category is a toughie. While a few individuals had great years, I’m largely drawing a blank on standout achievements/events/milestones etc. The outstanding achievements I can recall include:

• Marty Young is retiring as President (and founder) of the AHWA after five glorious years. I think that deserves an individual recognition.
• Talie Helene stepped down as AHWA News Editor recently, but she had an exceptional 2009 (look through the HorrorScope posts from last year to see what I mean).
• Juliet Bathory established Sinister Reads and volunteered her heart out for it, which was a great effort.

I’d appreciate other people’s thoughts on the outstanding achievements of 2009.

As for the William Atheling Jr. Award for Criticism or Review, I only have one (very fine) recommendation in that category this year:

• “The Dead Walk! … Into a Bookstore Near You” by Chuck McKenzie (Eye of Fire #1, August 2009, Brimstone Press)

This was a brilliant long article on the zombie fiction phenomenon and filled with wit and insightfulness. Eye of Fire #1 can be downloaded for free from here. [Edit: broken link has been fixed!]

Last but not least, New Talent …