Ends and beginnings, 2016 edition

Author with awardIn the spirit of recounting the good things that happened to me in this global annus horribilis, here’s my year in review. In (mostly) chronological order…

My writing year kicked off in earnest (I’m sure I wrote stuff before then, but I can’t be sure) in March, when I attended Contact. Held in Brisbane over the Easter long weekend, this was the 55th Australian National Science Fiction Convention and I enjoyed it heartily.

It featured the first Aurealis Awards that I was involved with (as judge for SF short story category) and much live-tweeting by me. I also won a Ditmar Award for Best New Talent, which was surprising and inspiring to my work since. (Except for the part where I dropped my pin on the floor of the stage, but I am at peace with my clumsiness.) To the Australian speculative fiction community, thank you for welcoming me and honouring me.

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There and back again

A quick update after a quiet couple of months (I’m almost finished a few stories, I promise!).

In May I travelled to Madison, Wisconsin for WisCon, a feminist science fiction convention. I met some interesting people, bought more books than I thought I could fit in my suitcase (I was wrong and my suitcase is an enabler), and was enriched by the panels and discussion I attended. Of course, I liveblogged what I could.

Back at home, I was interviewed by the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, who are set to release the ebook version of The Never Never Land on the first of July. It’ll be available on Smashwords and elsewhere.