Press/Media
The following are media sources that recognise the work of FQ. Some are concerned with us directly, while others refer to our projects, members, or otherwise related achievements. We hope you'll share the enjoyment of our successes.
Better over the border
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news MON 24 JAN 2005, Page 016
Realms of fantasy
By: Richard Finnila
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news FRI 01 OCT 2004, Page 059
Brisbane on the map, Wilkins on the money sf files
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 01 MAY 2004, Page M10
No Title (media 04)
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 03 JAN 2004, Page M06
No Title (media 05)
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 27 SEP 2003, Page M08
Purely Spec
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 08 MAR 2003, Page M01
Clarion South rewarded
By: (none)
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 25 JUN 2005, Page M08
Writers excel at boot camp
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news THU 29 JAN 2004, Page 019
No Title (media 09)
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 28 JUN 2003, Page M08
Clarion calls sf files
By: Jason Nahrung
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 11 DEC 2004, Page M08
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news MON 24 JAN 2005, Page 016
Better over the border
By: Jason Nahrung
NEW South Wales writers dominated the Aurealis Awards for Australian speculative fiction, presented in Brisbane on Saturday night, winning both Golden Aurealis trophies and the convenors' award.
Margo Lanagan's Singing My Sister Down won the Golden Aurealis for best short story of 2004, while Richard Harland's novel The Black Crusade took the book prize.
This was the first year the Golden Aurealis awards were presented, being a best of the best judged from the winners of the five categories.
Lanagan's story was one of two finalists in the young adult division to come from her anthology, Black Juice.
Harland also won the fantasy short story division with his Catabolic Magic, printed in Aurealis 32.
The Peter McNamara Conveners' Awards went to Cat Sparks, who edited AGOG! Smashing Stories which provided four finalists and two winners at the awards. Sparks also had a short story among the finalists.
This was the first year the awards were run by the Fantastic Queensland group.
Other winners:
Science fiction, novel: Maxine McArthur, Less Than Human;
short story: Brendan Duffy, Come to Daddy, (Agog! Smashing Stories)
Fantasy, novel: Sean Williams, The Crooked Letter;
short story: Richard Harland, Catabolic Magic (Aurealis 32) tied with Louise Katz, Weavers of the Twilight (Agog! Smashing Stories)
Horror, novel: Richard Harland, The Black Crusade;
short story: Paul Haines, The Last Days of Kali Yuga (NFG #4)
Young adult novel: Scott Westerfeld, Midnighters: The Secret Hour;
short story: Margo Lanagan, Singing My Sister Down (Black Juice)
Children's long fiction: Colin Thompson, How To Live Forever;
short fiction: Gary Crew & Steven Woolman, Beneath the Surface.
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news FRI 01 OCT 2004, Page 059
Realms of fantasy
By: Richard Finnila
Brisbane's the place to be for both readers and writers of speculative fiction, writes Richard Finnila
DO YOU fancy fantasy or revel in reality? Whether it's fairytales or crime scenes, the battle between the fantasy and reality genres has never been stronger.
The Brisbane speculative fiction market -- encompassing fantasy, horror and science fiction genres -- is booming.
As part of the Brisbane Writers Festival, fantasy novelists Amitav Ghosh, Juliet Marillier, Zoran Zivkovic and Andy Griffiths will extol the virtues of reading fantasy as opposed to reality.
Guest panellist and World Fantasy Award winner Zivkovic estimates that 90 per cent of everything that has been written over the past 5000 years has been based on fantasy.
He says it's part of a human's engineering to hunger for something to read that stretches the imagination.
``What distinguishes us from all other creatures is the ability to imagine,'' Zivkovic says.
Robert Hoge, who spearheads the Fantastic Queensland writers club, which is aimed at building the state's fantasy writing industry, says it's no coincidence that Brisbane has a very strong market for fantasy books.
``The thing that is different here in Brisbane is that readers are unrelenting and local writers are committed to them,'' Hoge says.
Writers and readers regularly meet at workshops and functions arranged by the many book clubs scattered across the city.
Hoge says the relationship between writers and readers has helped the industry to blossom to the point where Brisbane now has nearly a dozen popular speculative fiction writers.
Of course the workshops also have helped authors to find out exactly what readers want to read.
Ask any author and they will tell you fantasy is one of the most difficult genres to crack, and if you've ever met a fantasy reader, you'll know why.
Natalie Billing from Borders Books in Brisbane's CBD says ``fantasy fanatics'' are the most demanding of all readers.
``I've turned up to work more than a few times in the morning to see a few fans beating down the door waiting to get a copy of a new book,'' Billing says with a laugh.
``These people constantly amaze me. They are the university types, the real intelligent ones who want to read something new.''
Stephanie Smith, acquisitions editor for the Voyager publishing company, says Australia's speculative fiction market really took off 10 years ago. ``It started in Australia with writers like Sara Douglass, Traci Harding and Sean Williams,'' she says.
``Fantasy writing is all about magic, sorcery and fairytale plots that are usually based on some sort of quest to discover something.''
There are 15 Australian fantasy writers attached to the Voyager label, many of whom export their books.
Smith says the resurgence in fantasy in recent years has been pushed along by the popularity of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter novels.
Up-and-coming Brisbane author Kate Eltham says she could not think of any other place in the world to begin her writing career.
The talented 27-year-old author, who writes fantasy short stories, says the great relationship between writers and readers in Brisbane had helped many fledgling writers to climb the ladder towards success.
``We're all really good friends and go out together and help each other. It's a real community,'' she says.
Eltham is a founding director of Clarion South Writers Workshop, a six-week bootcamp for writers preparing for a professional career.
She says the Brisbane Vision Writers group and Fantastic Queensland writers group also help to facilitate growth in this burgeoning genre.
What it boils down to, Eltham says, is that up-and-coming writers like herself get to meet publishers.
``I've been writing for a while and so when I stumbled on this community I took advantage of it,'' Eltham says.
``You can talk to just about any author you want. They are all very accessible and the best thing is that they can put you in contact with publishers -- it's very much who you know in this industry.''
The Reality Vs Fantasy talkfest will take place tonight at the Powerhouse Theatre from 8.30, $15/$10. Bookings: 3255 0254
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 01 MAY 2004, Page M10
Brisbane on the map, Wilkins on the money sf files
By: Jason Nahrung
THE plan to put Queensland on the speculative fiction map received a mighty boost at last weekend's national convention in Canberra. Brisbane not only won its bid to host the 2006 natcon, to be called Conjure, but also announced that it would administer the Aurealis Awards for the next two years.
Convention and awards are projects of the Fantastic Queensland group, which was supported in Canberra by Brisbane Marketing.
Other Queensland projects flying flags were EnVision writing workshop (places still available) and Clarion South (which has opened for applications).
* DITMAR award winners announced at Canberra were:
Best Novel: The Etched City, Kirsten Bishop
Novella: La Sentinelle, Lucy Sussex
Short Story: Room for Improvement, Trudi Canavan
Collected Work: Tie between Agog! Terrific Tales (Catriona Sparks) and Forever Shores (Peter McNamara and Margaret Winch)
Artwork: Agog! Terrific Tales, Catriona Sparks
Fan Writer: Bruce Gillespie
Fan Artist: Les Petersen
Fan Production: Elsewhere Launch, Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild
Fanzine: The Australian SF Bullsheet, Edwina Harvey & Edwin Scribner
The William Atheling Jr Award: Bruce Gillespie
Best New Talent: Kirsten Bishop
The Peter McNamara Achievement Award went to Jack Dann.
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 03 JAN 2004, Page M06
No Title
By: Jason Nahrung
BARBECUES, art lessons, writing workshops and readings are being run in conjunction with the Clarion South writers workshop, and everyone's invited.
Starting on Tuesday, most of the Summer of Speculative Fiction events are free, and many involve the Clarion tutors and local authors.
Brisbane City Council libraries also are hosting talks by speculative fiction authors Karen Brooks, Paul Brandon, Marianne de Pierres (whose debut novel Nylon Angel should hit our shelves in February), and workshops by Cory Daniells, Louise Cusack, Gary Crew and Kim Wilkins.
For children, check out SF-themed pantomimes The Magic Faraway Tree (based on the Enid Blyton book), Merlin the Magician and Circus Bizirkus: Achoo!
Some of the highlights of the festival include a panel with Terry Dowling and de Pierres about the Australian landscape in SF on January 15, barbecues with authors on January 17 and February 7, the Clarion students presenting their work on January 29, and a chance to meet Tor Books editor David Hartwell at events on January 23 and 24.
A fun night should be the open microphone on February 5, when aspiring authors can take their prose for a test run, with musical interludes from Celtic band Sunas which includes, in the great tradition of authors being frustrated musicians, Paul Brandon on guitar.
The Summer of Speculative Fiction runs until February 10, and is organised by Brisbane City Council and Fantastic Queensland. Its aim is to increase the public's familiarity with the speculative fiction genre. Locations for events vary. Details and program: www.clarionsouth.org/sosf/program.htm.
THOSE interested in writing speculative fiction could do worse than attend one of the Queensland Writers Centre's workshops with Sean Williams. With 15 novels under his belt, Williams is a multiple award winner with another Aurealis nomination last year for Orphans of Earth (written with Shane Dix). He presents a young writers masterclass on July 2, a workshop and masterclass on July 3 and 4, and takes part in a seminar about the state of the genre on July 7.
His visit coincides with the QWC's wordpool program and the EnVision writing workshop -- last year's inaugural EnVision was a huge boost for both participants and lecturers, and this year's seems likely to be even better.
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 27 SEP 2003, Page M08
No Title
By: Jason Nahrung
BRISBANE-based Vision speculative fiction writing group launch their first anthology, Glimpses, at the Brisbane Writers Festival, which also features a number of spec fic writers among the panellists. The anthology contains more than 20 stories canvassing the gamut of spec fic, from writers across the country but mostly based in Queensland.
Adelaide-based writer Sean Williams, pictured, has torn himself from a ridiculously busy deadline schedule to launch Glimpses at 1.30pm on the Roof Terrace at QPAC on October 4, following his panel on Australian landscapes. Also staying around for the launch will be MC and fellow panellist Kim Wilkins.
Paul Brandon, who has his second, Brisbane-based novel due out this year, is also on the landscapes panel, which will be chaired by Pulp Fiction's Ron Serduik.
Williams backs up at 4.30pm for a panel about the writer's life.
The next day, he's back at the Roof Terrace talking about making money out of writing.
Also on the Sunday, look for Brisbane spec fic writer Louise Cusack on a panel moderated by compatriot Cory Daniells discussing the romantic illusion of mapping.
* VISION has birthed another monster, in a roundabout fashion. From Vision came the drive for Fantastic Queensland, which, with Brisbane City Council support, was able to fulfil a long-standing plan to run a writing workshop for spec fic writers. The first EnVision was held in July, with planning under way for a follow-up next year, but it also has spawned a manuscript service.
To be run by the first four EnVision tutors (Cory Daniells, Marianne de Pierres, Kim Wilkins and Louise Cusack), the service is touted as offering manuscript development as opposed to assessment. Writers will not only get an original MS appraised but exercises to improve writing skills and the chance to have their rewrite assessed as well.
Details: www.sf-envision.com
* ELLEN Datlow and Terri Windling have released their 16th annual anthology listing the year's best fantasy and horror short stories, and Australian writers and publications have made an impression.
Agog, Redsine and Passing Strange all published several of the esteemed pair's honourable mentions.
This is Windling's last hurrah as the anthology's horror editor; she wants more time to concentrate on her own writing.
Details: http://www.endicott-studio.com/ybhome.html
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 08 MAR 2003, Page M01
Purely Spec
By: Jason Nahrung
Space travel, witches, warlocks, vampires ... JASON NAHRUNG discovers why it's boom-time for speculative fiction
BRISBANE'S fig trees home to Irish fairies? The ghost of an English lad haunting the halls of a city university, his spirit tied to a satanic book being used for purposes most foul?
And Brisbane with an international reputation as the creative home for writers whose main preoccupation is answering the question: What if?
If this all sounds like pure fantasy to you, then you're in for a surprise. Not only have the fairies in fig trees and ghosts in the university halls turned up in the plotlines of books by Brisbane writers Paul Brandon and Kim Wilkins but they are far from alone.
There's a growing band of writers establishing Brisbane as a hotbed of speculative fiction. No longer consigned to the stereotypical geek audience, speculative fiction, an umbrella title encompassing fantasy, horror, science fiction and the many permutations in between, has provided record-breaking movies and some of Australia's latest success stories in writing.
Thanks partly to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the genre has moved into the mainstream, bringing stories of goblins, magicians, vampires and alien life forms to housewives, professionals, children and students. Fantasy in particular is big business, named last year in the Australian Financial Review as the second most popular fiction category after general fiction, worth $26 million in retail sales in 2001.
Australian author Garth Nix has had his latest book, Abhorsen, perched in The New York Times children's bestsellers list for three weeks, but it's not just a boys' game. While the genre was once male-dominated by the likes of Tolkien, Stephen King and William Gibson, women are increasingly represented as they follow the lead of stalwarts like Ursula LeGuin.
Alice Springs author Jennifer Fallon recently clinched a lucrative deal with a US publisher, and fellow Aussies Sara Douglass and Kate Forsyth are among those selling hundreds of thousands of copies overseas.
In Brisbane, one of the big names in spec fic is Kim Wilkins, who has explored several facets of the genre, firstly with her Gothic horror novels, then her young adult series based on a psychic student detective, and now her dark urban fantasy Europa Suite series rooted in Scandinavian mythology. She has no doubts Lord of the Rings has boosted interest in fantasy.
``I think (Rings director) Peter Jackson has more to do with it than any author at the moment. Fantasy and science fiction have always had a dedicated, motivated, clearly defined and well-networked following, but Lord of the Rings has really brought it to the masses.''
It has gained added impetus as audiences turn to escapist entertainment in times of global uncertainty and insecurity. Of course, science fiction in particular always has served to question ethics of the day -- Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and George Orwell's 1984 are prime examples -- and that trend continues in the dark fantasy genre, where the many forms of fear are given flesh in words.
Above all, while science fiction can be used to examine the world, fantasy offers escape from it.
In Australia the publishing powers are centred in Sydney and Melbourne, but the growth of strong, vibrant networks in regional centres has seen Perth and Canberra, and now Brisbane, assert themselves as strongholds of speculative fiction.
Such is its potential, Brisbane City Council and the Department of State Development have backed a push to foster the growth of speculative fiction industries such as filmmaking, television programs and computer games.
Continued BAM 2
Purely Spec: facts on fiction
From BAM 1
With a resurgence of small-press titles, some anchored in Queensland, providing new markets, the scene has been set for an expansion in writing collectives supporting and pushing the genre.
From its founding membership of six in 1996, the Vision writers group has grown to a national network of more than 120, ranging from students to retirees.
``Other cities have their successful authors, and prominent writing groups,'' Vision president Robert Hoge says. ``But Brisbane is particularly blessed because both of those groups have come together.
``With people like Cory Daniells, Marianne de Pierres, Redsine editor Trent Jamieson, Geoff Maloney and Craig Bolland actively involved in Vision, I think we can say there is a real convergence.
``And even people not involved at an organisational or critiquing level, like Kim Wilkins or Louise Cusack, at least give us their active support.''
Vision members Shane Brown and Chris McMahon have scored multiple nominations in this year's Aurealis awards, and other members continue to make their presence felt in national publications.
Andromeda Spaceways, Orb and the Agog: Terrific Tales anthology will have releases at the national spec fic convention in Perth at Easter.
Two of Vision's founding members, Daniells and de Pierres, have landed three-book deals with international publishers, and continue to be involved in Vision's widening areas of endeavour.
These coalesced in January when the Fantastic Queensland organisation was formed with support of the council and the Department of State Development.
FQ president Richard Pitchforth says the organisation wants to make Queensland Australia's internationally recognised centre for the creation, commercial development and celebration of speculative fiction.
``Queensland has a lively reputation for its speculative fiction. We'd like to see that work not only be published more but also regularly used as a basis for Australian and international film, television, computer games and other media productions -- preferably locally made.''
The Brisbane City Council's interest flows from its belief that economic growth will be partly fuelled by creative industries as more traditional industries such as manufacturing head to areas of lower labour costs.
The council has supported a number of clusters, such as electronic game development and filmmaking, and the council's community policy chairman Cr David Hinchliffe says speculative fiction dovetails nicely with those industries.
``It's about a vibrant and viable community, but mostly it's about money,'' he says, and quotes figures showing creative industries were worth about $5.5 billion a year to Queensland.
One plan is for FQ to have its own independent press, and the first publication would ideally be an anthology, already compiled, of short stories from Vision members, entitled Glimpses.
Anthology editor Stephen Thompson, who has had a screenplay picked up by SBS, says the anthology highlights the often overlooked place of magical and urban realism in the genre, adding that the press would not constrain itself to the mainstream elements of spec fic.
``A lot of spec fic is a brand of magic realism or urban fantasy,'' he says.
``When the ordinary Joe hears the words science fiction, horror and fantasy they think of aliens, spaceships, bloodlust and wizards. The Vision anthology, for example, has no spaceships, a couple of aliens, little blood and only one wizard.''
Possibly the weightiest FQ project in terms of international recognition is the awarding of the first Clarion writers' workshop outside the United States. Two Clarions run in the US, the oldest has been going for more than 30 years, and both have the reputation for being a trying but rewarding ``boot camp'' which count writers of the calibre of Kim Stanley Robinson among their attendees.
Clarion South, to be held in Brisbane in January and February next year, puts a group of writers into a six-week live-in workshop under the tutelage of successful writers and editors Nalo Hopkinson, David G. Hartwell, Brisbane's Wilkins, Jack Dann, Lucy Sussex and Terry Dowling.
``There's not a lot around aimed at, and specifically for, writers on the verge of breaking through,'' says Hoge.
``And teaching at that sort of intensity is something special -- a whole order of magnitude greater than a one or two-day workshop.''
The Brisbane City Council, with a $15,000 grant, and The Australia Council for the Arts are backing the project, initially pursued by Vision members Grace Dugan, Kate Eltham and de Pierres.
Clarion South also will incorporate a number of community events aimed at widening understanding of spec fic and encouraging new writers.
In the lead-up to Clarion, a five-day EnVision workshop will be conducted in July, featuring Brisbane writers Louise Cusack, Wilkins, de Pierres and Daniells.
It aims to help spec fic writers fine tune their skills, and provide professional feedback on a manuscript with a view to getting it published.
Clarion South tutor Dann is upbeat about the growing Queensland presence, and Australians' place in the world market.
Dann co-edited an award-winning spec fic anthology Dreaming Down Under in 1999, which combined with an international spec fic conference in Melbourne that same year to draw attention to Antipodean talent. Now he has helped compile an anthology showcasing the current crop of Australian, English and American horror writers, Gathering the Bones.
``The mainstream interest surprised me,'' Dann says, noting that The Women's Weekly has serialised one of the stories.
``Clarion South is actually quite a big deal,'' Dann says. ``The guys in Queensland went out and did the legwork and put it together. It was a big job. One tool Queensland has in its favour is (Premier Peter) Beattie is pro arts, and the Queensland Writers Centre is very pro-active.''
Queensland Writers Centre marketing manager Samantha Bake says spec fic and crime have always been among the centre's most popular workshops, with the trend continuing this year with appearances by Nix, Wilkins and Delia Falconer.
Last year's Brisbane Writers Festival also featured a number of panels involving writers of spec fic, including internationals Jasper Fforde, Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier, as well as a number of Aussie talents including Wilkins and fantasy writer Cecilia Dart-Thornton.
Clarion South runs from January 4 for six weeks. Details: www.clarionsouth.org
EnVision: July 4-5, 7-9. Details: www.powerup.com.au/~coryd/envision.html
Queensland Writers Centre: www.qwc.asn.au
Fantastic Queensland: www.fantasticqueensland.com
Vision: www.visionwriters.com.au
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 25 JUN 2005, Page M08
Clarion South rewarded
QUEENSLAND'S Clarion South writing workshop has been recognised for best professional achievement at the annual Ditmar awards, announced at the national science fiction convention in Hobart.
Brisbane's workshop is the only Clarion to be held outside of the US. A six-week live-in workshop for emerging writers, the third will be held in 2007.
The Courier-Mail speculative fiction reviewer Jason Nahrung shared the William Atheling Jr award for criticism and review with Robert Hood.
Other winners include: Best Novel: The Crooked Letter, Sean Williams; Best Collected Work: Black Juice, Margo Lanagan; Best Novella/Novelette: The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Paul Haines (NFG magazine, August 2004); Best Short Story: Singing My Sister Down, Margo Lanagan (Black Juice ).
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news THU 29 JAN 2004, Page 019
Writers excel at boot camp
By: Jason Nahrung
IT'S been called a boot camp for wannabe writers, but Australia's first contingent of Clarion South writers has impressed their drill sergeants.
The workshop, specialising in speculative fiction (horror, science fiction, fantasy), is a first for the southern hemisphere, and is being run at Griffith University's Nathan campus. It follows the US Clarion method, which involves a group of writers living on campus being tutored by a different industry professional each week for six weeks.
Clarion South has presented some of Australia's top writers as well as international tutors in award-winning Canadian Nalo Hopkinson and Tor editor David Hartwell.
Hopkinson and Hartwell, who have both tutored at Clarions in the US, have been impressed by the Australian writers. Hartwell has even chosen a story by one for inclusion in his highly regarded Year's Best Fantasy compilation (pending contract finalisation).
It has helped that most of the 17 participants aren't raw recruits in the writing game -- many already have been published, and a few have been involved in small press.
Hopkinson and Hartwell say the experience has shown itself in daily critique meetings.
Hopkinson says the group's sessions have a communal feel, with the tutors feeling they have been learning as well.
``I've had several books published so in that way I'm more accomplished, but others have done a lot more editing than me, so it's an exchange,'' she says.
``It feels like a group of peers.
``I'm not so sure art can be taught -- and I call writing an art. The best you can do is try to communicate, and keep trying new ways and see what clicks. It's a hit-and-miss, organic process.''
Hopkinson, who was raised in the Caribbean before moving to Canada, says attending a Clarion workshop in the US was a key to her writing career.
``Clarion really fired me up to get to the next level of my writing. I really wanted to pursue my writing.''
Those at Clarion South are drawn from around Australia, pared back from more than 40 applicants based on submitted work.
For Melbourne's Andrew Macrae, 32, Clarion is a means of honing his writing skills, although he clearly had a formidable array since he won entry with the first short story he'd ever written.
``It's phenomenal, the amount you learn in such a short time. I think I've learnt more in the past three weeks than I would have in 18 months of going to writing groups. Everyone is so generous with their knowledge and experience. There is a competitive atmosphere and a lot of pressure, but it's not a nasty sort of competitiveness.''
Nalo Hopkinson hosts Thinking Aloud, readings from Clarion South writers, tonight at Gilhooley's City, Albert St, Brisbane, 7pm to 9pm. Free.
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 28 JUN 2003, Page M08
No Title
By: Jason Nahrung
FOR all the talk of bridges, tunnels and gas-powered buses, it seems the future Brisbane will still be subject to traffic snarls.
At least that's the impression to be gained from perusal of the 16 entries in the Museum of Brisbane's Bite the Blue Sky short story competition. Members of the city's speculative fiction writing group, Vision, were asked to project the city's future in 1000 words as part of the museum's first exhibition, to open at City Hall in October.
The winner was Shane Brown, pictured, who has been landing stories in just about any publication worth putting on a CV, and even scored a few Aurealis nominations to boot.
``Shane not only receives $500 for his troubles but will also have his story printed and available to take home to the expected 75,000 visitors who will attend the exhibition while it runs,'' says Vision president Robert Hoge.
Judges also awarded highly commendeds to stories by Kate Eltham and Chris Quin.
Entries ranged from cyberpunk to urban fantasy to science fiction, and the quality of the stories suggests many should find a print home well before their predictions come true.
IT'S a big week for the Brisbane speculative fiction fraternity, kicking off on Tuesday night with the launch of the Queensland Writers Centre's Wordpool program at the Terminus Hotel in South Brisbane.
Of particular interest to SF fans will be the program of July 29, subtitled Dark Dreaming, hosted by Kim Wilkins and featuring hard-working Louise Cusack among the panellists.
Cusack launches Glimmer in the Maelstrom, the third book of her Shadow Through Time trilogy, at Angus and Robertson in Post Office Square, Brisbane, on Wednesday evening.
She backs up on Friday for EnVision, at which she is one of four Queensland authors tutoring 20 speculative fiction writers from as far south as Melbourne in the fine art of refining manuscripts over five days.
Also in Brisbane next week is Melbourne's Lucy Sussex, pictured, running a host of workshops and classes for the QWC, and also dropping in to the EnVision-meets-Clarion-South fundraising dinner at Dymocks in Macarthur Chambers on Friday night. A panel at the dinner will look at what happens after writers have got their first book on the shelf. Panellists include authors Wilkins, Cory Daniells, Marianne de Pierres, Paul Brandon and Karen Brooks.
Courier Mail, Edition 1 - First with the news SAT 11 DEC 2004, Page M08
Clarion calls sf files
By: Jason Nahrung
THREE overseas writers will be among the line-up at next year's Clarion South workshop in Brisbane.
In its second year, the workshop has attracted two writers from the US and one Canadian to join 14 Australians (including two Queenslanders) who will subject themselves to the intensive six-week program.
Four Australian and two American tutors -- Sci-Fiction magazine editor Ellen Datlow and SF author Michael Swanwick -- will conduct the workshop at Griffith University's Nathan Campus in January-February.
Clarion South director Kate Eltham says the workshop will build skills and professional opportunities for the participating writers by exposing them to successful authors.
``Clarion South is based on a successful model that was established in the US more than 30 years ago,'' Eltham said. ``Brisbane is the only place outside the US to offer this opportunity to writers.''
Datlow will be guest of honour at the Aurealis Awards presentation ceremony on January 22, and will present an industry seminar for finalists on January 23.
The finalists are due to be announced on December 15.
The ceremony is to take place at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. The free event is followed by a cocktail party at Cafe San Marco, South Bank. $25 a person
Details: www.clarionsouth.org
www.aurealisawards.com.
