more early pressies

[adelaidesean]

I'm pleased to report that Geodesica: Descent and "The Seventh Letter" (my first short story in six years) were both nominated this week for Aurealis Awards.

I'm cautiously excited. The field is very strong (also nominated are Lee Battersby, K A Bedford, Damien Broderick, David Conyers, Stephen Dedman, and Andrew McGahan) and my fortune in the SF department of the AAs has been pretty poor in recent years. These are my seventh and eighth nominations since The Dark Imbalance won in 2001. (For a complete list of my awards and nominations, see here.)

Mind you, winning is just a bonus, really. Being nominated is the main thing. For that I am very grateful.

Update: Note that, out of the eight authors nominated in the SF category, four are South Australian. I am nothing if not parochial. :-)

And:
“Fans of Book 1 of Sean Williams' ‘Cataclysm' series will have to have Book 2…Williams has a passion for building fantastic landscapes and riveting action, and The Blood Debt is a top pick for prior fans who will enjoy smooth, easy transition into this ongoing adventure.”
- California Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, December 2006

Comments

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

Nicely done, sir!

[frogworth.livejournal.com]

"The Seventh Letter"... how do we, at this point in time, go about finding a copy?

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

It's available in the Bulletin Summer Reading Editon, which should be everywhere in Australia at the moment. At some point I might make it available through my website.

Merry Xmas, btw. :-)

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you, old boy. :-)

[frogworth.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and a happy late Hannukah to you, or something ;)
Congrats on your nominations, I'll be barracking for you inasmuch as it's possible... I'll go and seek out the Bulletin Summer Reading Ed, didn't know if it was still out now. GreaT!

[angriest.livejournal.com]

I never have a problem with not winning awards I get nominated for, except when I feel whatever *did* win didn't deserve it. The number of times I've been nominated for something, but was actually barracking for nominee #2 to win, and then nominee #3 gets the prize instead. So annoying!!

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

I think it's the job of awards to be controversial, so strange results are to be welcomed, even if they are completely puzzling sometimes. :-)

I'm not saying, btw, that I should have won any of the awards I was nominated for in the last five years. Nor am I saying that I feel as though I should win this year. It's great that the field is so strong at the moment that a clear winner doesn't stand out at all. That can only be a good thing for the field of local spec fic, and readers of the same.

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

yeah I think it just came out - saw it at my newsagency the other day. I'm grabbing me a copy for the hols, although have of course already read Sean's story :-)

[frogworth.livejournal.com]

Got it! Yay. Will read it soon :)

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

Then email me to discuss!!!

[frogworth.livejournal.com]

*heh* Sure thing!

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Yikes! :-)

[frogworth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we won't actually tell you our thoughts or anything, but we'll make sure we publicly discuss the fact that we're discussing you ;)

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed. The cheque is in the mail. :-)

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

My ears are burning already. :-)

Or is that the thunderstorm rolling over Adelaide this very second?

Exciting.

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

Woot!

[frogworth.livejournal.com]

Ah, that was a delight :) Thanks Sean, reminded me a little of our Greg Egan back in the day...

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Thanks, my friend. That's a very fine comparison!

[damienw]

I think it's the job of awards to be controversial phew, that's lucky :-)

Actually I think this was a really strong year for local genre works, especially for short work.

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

I agree. Judging the horror section was much tougher than I expected it to be. That we came up with a solid shortlist for novels, for the first time in ages, was enormously pleasing.

[arradius.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

I read the seventh letter the other day when I found out that we had a spare copy of the magazine.
Quite impressed - I've not read any of your work that hasn't been sci-fi or fantasy before!

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I had a conversation with Amanda just yesterday about whether "Letter" was SF or not. I think it is, because it's speculative with a contemporary setting and the occasional mention of medical science. As it has no aliens or spaceships, she had assumed it to be mainstream. Horses for courses, I guess. :-)

I've written a couple of mainstream-ish pieces, both published in Mitch? anthologies. Maybe I should find out if they're still in print and put them online somewhere...

PS. Love your icon.

[arradius.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on one's interpretation perhaps?
I have to say, It's great to be able to interact with an author about his fiction online!

I can get access to anything that's in newspapers and most mags because I work for media monitors, but I'd love to know if there are any of your works in anthologies that I haven't found so far.

Thanks - I'm not above pushing my political opinion around online - but only through LJ icons ;)

Congratulations

[(Anonymous)]

Hey - congratulations again!
--Lou

Well done

[(Anonymous)]

All the best on the Awards Sean, even though I'm up against you on this one.

Regards
David Conyers

Re: Well done

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Thanks, David. Congratulations to you, too. I'll be happy if a South Australian wins. :-)