Vintage Misogyny

Given that it's Women in Horror month, I thought I'd post some old adverts that, as a woman, I find utterly horrifying.

Behold.

















Here's the source.

AHWA News Digest 31.01.10

AHWA NEWS DIGEST [18.01.10-31.01.10]

The following digest of recent horror news is compiled from pieces published to HorrorScope and the Australian Horror Writers' Association website.

Blood, Boggarts and Battlestars: An Introduction to Speculative Fiction with Margo Lanagan
Come to the New South Wales Writers Centre, and dig around in the three genres that make up spec fic today: science fiction, fantasy and horror. Tutor Margo Lanagan is passionate about genre fiction, and keen to impart this love of the fabulous to her students. Lanagan explains how she has crafted a hands-on course to get students writing in genre right away. "This workshop will be a learn-by-doing experience. There won’t be a lot of theory; instead I’ll send you off into space, or the dark forest, or into the murderer’s arms, to see what you encounter, to see what you find and bring back." New South Wales Writers Centre, Saturday 6 March, 10am – 4pm.

Writing Imaginary Worlds with Richard Harland
Do you have ideas for invented worlds and alternative realms? Perhaps you should be writing in the imaginative genres of speculative fiction. The New South Wales Writers' Centre has just the course for you! Fantasy, science fiction and horror not only demand more imagination than other genres but also a high level of narrative technique. This workshop shows how to turn your imaginative ideas into a fully fleshed-out story – strategies for involving the reader in another world, conveying foreground and background at the same time, ‘defining’ a mystery, building to a climax … and not forgetting the very important art of pitching to a publisher! New South Wales Writers Centre, Sunday 9 May, 10am – 4pm.

Eclecticism #11
Eclecticism #11 is up and running, and ready to download for free from the website. Issue #11 features the haunting theme 'Ghost Story' and the work of: Keith Nunes, Myra King, Mark Smith-Briggs , Trost, Lynley Stace, Nicholas Deigman, Allan Wilson, E. Armanious, Chantel Schott, and featured artist Katie Ryan.

Aurealis Awards Winners
The Aurealis Award winners for 2009 were announced at the thirteenth annual Aurealis Awards ceremony at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane on Saturday 24 January 2010. Click through to view a complete list of winners in all categories, and links to down-loadable Judges Reports.

Continuum 6 - Future Tense
The killer robots are beating down the front door while the mutant hordes gather at the back; your emotional inhibitor is on the fritz again and your computer has started calling you "Dave"; the world outside is a burning wasteland, but that's OK, there's an ice age right around the corner; so climb into your nutrient tank and get comfy - it's going to be a lovely apocalypse. This year’s guests of honour include: futurist writer and virtual reality pioneer Mark Pesce (Hyperpeople, ABC’s New Inventors) and Aurealis-award winning author Kim Westwood (The Oracle, The Daughters of Moab). Panel discussions, workshops, readings and more. Continuum 6 are host to the awards night for the Chronos Awards for excellence in Victorian science fiction, fantasy and horror in 2009. ether Convention Space, 26-28 February.

Victorian Writers Centre Upcoming Events & Year-Long Programs
The Victorian Writers Centre are offering a range of professional development and creative writing courses and workshops. Select highlights include Hook a Publisher with a Great Proposal Masterclass with Sheila Hollingworth; Inside Publishing & Editing – A Head Start weekend workshop with Christine Nagel; Year of SF & Fantasy with Paul Collins; Year of the Novel – Advanced with Andrea Goldsmith. For the full program, see www.vwc.org.au.

JUMP National Mentoring Program for Young and Emerging Artists
Are you a creative, young Australian on the cusp of a great artistic career? You’ve got the talent, the vision and the drive it’s going to take – but do you have the professional skill set, one on one support and national network to match? JUMP can make sure that you do. Applications to be a mentee or mentor in the inaugural JUMP program in 2010 must be submitted to Youth Arts Queensland by 5pm (Brisbane time), Friday 26 February.

Hugo Awards Nominations
The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. They were first awarded in 1953, and have been awarded every year since 1955. The 2010 Hugo Awards will be presented in Melbourne, Australia during Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention. Members of Aussiecon 4 who joined before February 1, and members of Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, are eligible to nominate people or works from 2009 in various categories. Nominations for the 2010 Hugo Awards will close 13 March.

Submitting News

If you have news about Australian and New Zealand Horror publishing and film, or news of professional development opportunities in the field, feel free to submit news to Talie Helene, AHWA News Editor. Just visit HorrorScope, and click on the convenient email link. (International news is not unwelcome, although relevance to Antipodean literary arts practitioners is strongly preferred.)

For information on the Australian Horror Writers' Association, visit australianhorror.com.

This AHWA NEWS DIGEST has been compiled, written, and republished in select Australian horror haunts by Talie Helene. Currently archived at the AHWA MySpace page, and Southern Horror; hosted at the social networking sites Darklands and A Writer Goes On A Journey; and hosted by AHWA members Felicity Dowker, Brenton Tomlinson, Scott Wilson, and Jeff Ritchie (Scary Minds: Horror's Last Colonial Outpost).

If you would like to support the AHWA News effort by hosting a copy of the AHWA News Digest on your blog or website, contact Talie to receive a fully formatted HTML edition of the digest by email.

Aurealis Awards Stoush

So I'd heard from various sources that every year there's some sort of AAs stoush on the intermanets.  Someone is always unhappy about something to do with some aspect of the AAs, I was told.  I waited and waited this year to see evidence of this, and...none came.  Egads, thought I, could the planets have aligned? Could there be no loud voices of dissent? Could the Aussie SF community truly be grooving along in relative harmony?

Nahhhhh.

The stoush has started today on the Southern Horror Yahoo Group.  I personally am very uncomfortable with this, largely because certain allegations and comments are being made about people who are not part of the SHYG and therefore have no knowledge of what's being said about them and thus no chance to defend themselves.  I find this distasteful.  Hence, this post.

Without naming names or going into too many specifics, some of the assertions made have included:-

• the background of the judges (i.e. not writers) makes them potentially unable to perform adequately in their role as judges
• lots of the judges are from QLD so their choices are biased towards QLDers
• the horror judges don't understand horror and thus their choices are not acceptable representations of horror works

To me, all the above points are...silly.  I know how hard the judges have worked and they seem perfectly capable to me.  I don't see the alleged QLD bias.  I don't see any inadequacies in the judges' backgrounds or their performance.  I didn't see any issues with the horror choices (though I was one of them, so have a clear bias of my own there) and anyway, awards are subjective things by definition.  One person's definition of horror may differ wildly from another's.

I honestly don't understand the outcry.

I also find it pretty offensive to suggest the judges may be deliberately biased or hopelessly incompetent, and that, subsequently, the works shortlisted and/or the winning works were unworthy.  Hell, I got my arse handed to me in my category, not once, but twice over.  You don't see me here sniping about Paul winning the short horror award only because the judges didn't understand true horror (they don't appreciate my genius! WHY DON'T THEY LOVE ME?!), or because they like ex Kiwis, or whatever.  All the winners won because the (perfectly competent) judges believed those works were the best.  And that is 100% ok with me.

Perhaps I'm just excruciatingly naive, blindingly biased, both, or some other heady combo of factors is affecting my 20/20 vision.

What do you think?

Aurealis Awards Judges' Reports Are Up

Over here.  And here's my bit(s):-

Felicity Dowker, 'Jesse's Gift', Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40

‘Jesse’s Gift’ is a very disturbing story. The image of the Ice Cream Man is nightmarish and vivid, using the awful tension of a horror character in a child’s world. The relationship between the two children is very believable, bringing a strong sense of poignancy and fatalism to the horror.

Conclusion

The entries that made both the novel and short story lists of finalists distinguished themselves. The panel was pleased to see entries that departed from the current craze of vampire stories, and those that were ‘blood-sucking’ at least adding some original elements. The finalists are unafraid to explore a genre that has been misunderstood and neglected, but is becoming a growing power in Australian speculative literature. They evoked powerful and uncomfortable imagery without resorting to 'shock tactics'. The stories were unsettling, frightening and occasionally disturbing, but all with a purpose.
 

2009 Aurealis Award Winners Announced

I couldn't make it to the awards ceremony, so it was most gratifying to find myself in the midst of an impromptu Twitter AAs party instead. Thanks to Margo and Tansy for the toasts, cupcakes and general merriment, and thanks to whoever ran the @aurealisawards Twitter account for your constant updates throughout the event. Special thanks also to Donna Hanson for her super speedy ceremony updates and to Scott Westerfeld for going the extra mile and describing what everyone was wearing.

Ok, so with no further ado, here are the worthy winners!

best science fiction novel

Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, Allen & Unwin

best science fiction short story

Peter M. Ball, ‘Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens’, Apex Magazine May 2009

best fantasy novel

Trudi Canavan, Magician's Apprentice, Orbit

best fantasy short story - Joint winners

Christopher Green, ‘Father’s Kill’, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #24

Ian McHugh, 'Once a Month, On a Sunday’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd

best horror novel

Honey Brown, Red Queen, Penguin Australia

best horror short story - Joint winners

Paul Haines, 'Wives', X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing

Paul Haines, 'Slice of Life - A Spot of Liver', Slice of Life, The Mayne Press

best anthology

Jonathan Strahan (editor), Eclipse 3, Night Shade Books

best collection

Greg Egan, Oceanic, Gollancz

best illustated book/graphic novel

Nathan Jurevicius, Scarygirl, Allen & Unwin

best young adult novel

Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan Trilogy: Book One, Penguin

best young adult short story

Cat Sparks, ‘Seventeen’, Masques, CSFG

best children’s (8-12 years) novel

Gabrielle Wang, A Ghost in My Suitcase, Puffin Books

best children’s (8-12 years)
short fiction/illustrated work/picture book

Pamela Freeman (author), Kim Gamble (illustrator), Victor's Challenge, Walker Books Australia

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners!

Attention, Public Transport Users!

Please, for the love of all that you hold dear and sacred, please, please, please, refrain from brushing your hair and clipping or filing your nails on public transport.

It.  Is.  Disgusting.

If I am sitting near you and you whip out a brush or comb and have at yourself, you immediately shower me with your head detritus, including but not limited to strands of your hair and flaky dead pieces of your scalp.  This may come as a great shock to you, but I don't enjoy this experience.  It makes me vomit in my mouth and leads me to homicidal thoughts.

Similarly, if I am sitting anywhere in your general vicinity and you produce a nail clipper or nail file and commence making parts of your nails disappear, guess what? Those disappearing parts go somewhere - yes, that's right, all over me! Your impromptu manicure causes great chunks of severed fingernail to fly madly about, hitting all in their path, and a thick cloud of filed nail dust to descend like the poisonous gas it is.

Next you'll be crapping on the seat and flinging that at my head.

There's this thing in your house (presumably) called a bathroom.  Use that to conduct matters of personal hygiene in, and spare your fellow travellers on the number 57 West Maribyrnong tram* the most basic of common courtesies in so doing.

In all seriousness, I am repeatedly driven to energetically wonder...what the fuck is wrong with you?

* not my actual tram line...perhaps I don't even catch a tram...I'm not telling you either way, in case you try to travel with me whilst pooing on my head.

I Can Resist Anything But Temptation

So I've given in and decided that I am going to Continuum. Hope to see you there!