More Award Nominations And Another Sale.

I'm having a great run at the moment.

I've recently posted about this. I had two personal rejections from quality pro-level magazines, a positive review in Publishers Weekly, the release of After Death, a sale to Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and a nomination for a Ditmar Award.

Then, to top things off, yesterday I received a copy of After Death, and it truly looks fantastic. Congratulations to the editor, Eric J. Guignard. During the afternoon I received word that I'd finally sold my Melbourne vampire-noir story. I'm truly excited about that one. And then late last night I was informed I'd been nominated for two Chronos Awards - Best Short Story for Fireflies (in Epilogue, published by FableCroft) and Best Fan Writer. (For my reviews in Dark Matter and this blog)

Voting for these awards is important. And, of course, I would appreciate any support from anyone who deems my work worthy.

Eligibility and voting information for the Ditmar Awards can be found here.

Eligibility and voting information for the Chronos Awards can be found here.

Congratulations to all the nominees.

An Excellent Week.

It's been raining pretty much all weekend so far.  And it's been great not to feel the need to write an assignment, or do some marking, or get out into the garden. Instead I've been relaxing with my wife and watching DVDs.

And just enjoying myself.

After the waiting, waiting, waiting of last week, this week has been completely different. (or, as I heard an idiot say recently, a complete 360 degree turn)

Not only have I thoroughly enjoyed the buzz of receiving a glowing review from Thoraiya Dyer (Yes, Gitte, still floating),  but I appear to have passed the first two units of my university course. I've also had some minor success at work which I might be able to talk about soon, and I received the latest issue of Dark Matter (#6 - containing four reviews I wrote).

Oh yeah, and I sold another story.

Yes, one of those stories I had hopes for has found a home - and an excellent home it is too. It's amazing what a sale and a good review will do for your spirits, not to mention self confidence.  Doubts, get thee behind me!

On top of all that, I was able to finally sort out the comments on my blog - so they're working again.

Feel free to use them to tell me how things are going for you.

Summer's Almost Gone.

When I was much younger, my favourite show on TV was The D-Generation. And then a few year's later it was The Late Show. And then over the years I've pretty much loved everything The D-Generation and Working Dog has produced, whether on TV or on the radio. In fact, for a while in the 80s, I dreamt of being part of their shows.

So when I bumped into Santo Cilauro in a supermarket down along the Great Ocean Road, and simply said "Santo" as if I was meeting up with an old friend, Santo smiled with a look of puzzlement as though he had no recollection of who I was and yet should have. (Sorry about that, Santo!) We chatted for a few minutes, I apologised for interrupting his shopping, and then he wished me a good holiday. It was only later that I realised I forgot to ask him what Working Dog were planning next.

I also booked tickets to go and see Hawkwind.  Yes, not only am I an SF tragic, but I'm also a an old metalhead. And so much the better if you can combine the two. Should be a good evening though.

In between all this I've started reviewing books for Dark Matter. That's been kind of cool too. Check out Issue One online. Issue two is well into production and should be with us soon.

And then I've been watching lots of film and reading lots of books too.  I even liked Bran Nue Dae, which I didn't think I would enjoy at all. But Mary Poppins was indeed a highlight of the summer.

Practically perfect in every way.